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American Morning
Democratic Contenders Squared Off Last Night; Jean-Bertrand Aristide Today Former Leader of Haiti
Aired March 01, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The president of Haiti flees the capital, leaving bedlam behind. Will it be up to U.S. Marines to restore order?
Final chances.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John Edwards has been in the Senate for five years. He's talked more in the last five weeks about trade than he has in the entire five years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: With a mountain of Super Tuesday delegates at stake, Democrats try to take the offensive in a contentious debate.
And the battling armies of Middle Earth now conquering Hollywood along the way. A look at "Lord of the Rings" and other Oscar winners on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome.
It's Monday, 8:00 here in New York.
The stories this hour, the former prosecutor, Linda Fairstein, with us in a few moments talking about a critical hearing today in Colorado in the Kobe Bryant matter. Expected to last two days, behind closed doors and features testimony from the woman accusing the NBA superstar of sexual assault. We'll talk about that very unusual move for the court. We'll get to it in a moment.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, presidential politics -- John Edwards, John Kerry. We're going to talk to John Edwards' wife, Elizabeth; also, his daughter Kate. And we'll talk to Senator Kerry's daughter, Vanessa, this morning. Kind of making it a little bit of a family affair.
HEMMER: Yes, I sat down with him yesterday, in fact, here in New York City. It is crunch time for that campaign.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.
HEMMER: Senator Edwards has to do well tomorrow or lese.
Good morning, Jack, smirking again.
O'BRIEN: If you hear groans, that's Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, we've just created -- it is so over.
HEMMER: We'll see.
CAFFERTY: It is so over.
HEMMER: We'll see. It could be.
CAFFERTY: You want to be a couple of lunches up there in the commissary on how many states Edwards wins tomorrow?
HEMMER: Not yet. I don't like that food anyway.
CAFFERTY: Coming up on the Cafferty File, we will give you a sample of the music that the detainees are Guantanamo Bay are listening to, and it ain't the Afghanistan national anthem. And the residents of a Vermont town will go to the polls tomorrow and they might vote to leave the state, take the whole town, move it somewhere else.
HEMMER: That's an interesting story.
O'BRIEN: Really?
HEMMER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Yes. They might do it.
O'BRIEN: Literally?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: They used to be a part of New Hampshire years ago and there's a section of the population that wants to return.
O'BRIEN: Interesting.
CAFFERTY: Sure you don't want that bet on those lunches?
HEMMER: I ain't.
O'BRIEN: The top stories now, shall we?
The Democratic presidential hopefuls are crisscrossing the country today in preparation for Super Tuesday. The contenders squared off last night in the final debate before tomorrow's 10 state political showdown.
Topping the agenda, the economy and the U.S. handling of the crisis in Haiti. We've got more on politics coming up in just a few moments.
The Department of Homeland Security is planning to station U.S. inspectors at international airports. The "Wall Street Journal" cites a U.S. Customs chief who says the plan would aim to identify and catch possible terrorists before they board U.S. bound flights. U.S. Customs is considering seven cities, but has not yet sought support from host countries.
Jury selection gets under way today in the state trial of Oklahoma City bombing suspect Terry Nichols. Nichols faces 161 counts of murder in the 1995 bombing of a federal building. He's already serving a life sentence, but he could get the death penalty if he is convicted in a state trial. Jury selection is expected to last up to two weeks.
Closing arguments are expected to start in the New York trial of Martha Stewart. Last week, the judge threw out the most serious charge of securities fraud against Stewart. The jury could get the case by Wednesday. We've got more in the next half hour.
And in Los Angeles, the top acting Oscars each went to a pair of first time winners. Charlize Theron won best actress for her riveting performance in the movie "Monster" and Sean Penn took home the gold for his portrayal of a vengeful father in "Mystic River." But it was "Return of the King" that ruled the night. The final installment in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was crowned best picture, taking home 11 trophies in all. It won in every single category that it was nominated in.
HEMMER: It's exclusive -- blah, blah, blah.
O'BRIEN: Uh-huh. What?
HEMMER: "Ben Hur" and "Titanic" had the same...
O'BRIEN: Both had 11.
HEMMER: Yes, both with 11, which is just extraordinary for that film, "Lord of the Rings."
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Jean-Bertrand Aristide today is the former leader of Haiti. Aristide now in the Central African Republic. But that may be only a stopover on the way to permanent exile. Late last night the U.N. authorized a multinational force to keep the peace in Haiti. About 50 French troops arriving in Haiti earlier this morning. They join a force of about 200 U.S. Marines that landed overnight. Several hundred more are expected, possibly later today.
An overnight curfew helped to control the widespread looting and violence that took place yesterday in the capital city of Port-au- Prince.
Richard Roth at his post at the U.N. -- Richard, good morning there. Talk about the role of the international force.
What will that role be, Richard?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the role of this peacekeeping force is to keep the peace. And it'll be in Haiti for up to three months, no more than that. And then it's the U.N.'s turn. The Security Council here at the U.N. Sunday evening meeting with a unanimous vote, 15-0, all of the countries saying that there's a crisis in the region in Haiti; also the resolution worrying about the flood, in effect, of refugees.
The Security Council in a Sunday session while the Oscars were on, you might say the Council trying to be the master and commander again of another crisis. Perhaps the force is arriving just in time and concern about anything getting lost in translation, the U.N. was saying we can't go in there with any type of police, military force. In two months. We need more time. For three months, that was the agreement -- back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: Richard, the secretary general, Kofi Annan, does he believe that the resignation for Aristide was the right move?
ROTH: You're never going to get him to say that. We tried. He did speak with the president, the former president, Saturday. But in the end, this Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kofi Annan, would only say the president of Haiti has resigned. He's never going to get involved in that type of discussion. He said Aristide appealed for international assistance. In the end, it wasn't there for him.
HEMMER: Richard, thanks.
Richard Roth across town here in New York at the U.N.
The White House taking criticism, especially from Democrats who want to be president. The candidates yesterday and the Congressional Black Caucus taking criticism toward the White House for not taking action sooner in Haiti.
A bit earlier today, last hour, I talked with the secretary of state, Colin Powell, about that very issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: All those who say we should have gone in earlier were advocating a position that we should go in on the side of a president who really was running a flawed government and a flawed presidency. And we were not prepared to do that and find ourselves trapped once again for an indefinite period supporting an individual who may have been elected democratically, but was not governing effectively or democratically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Colin Powell from earlier.
Now from Washington, former Defense Secretary William Cohen joins us to talk about this.
Good to have you back here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you.
WILLIAM COHEN, CHAIRMAN & CEO, THE COHEN GROUP, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: What do you think about Colin Powell's statement there? Could there have been anything done or was Aristide's time simply run out?
COHEN: Well, it's easy to judge looking in hindsight. But I think Secretary Powell had it about right. Namely, that the United States was in the position of supporting an elected president who was not governing democratically, but autocratically and perhaps engaging in corrupt practices and certainly using violence to quell the opposition.
So, it was a very tough position for the United States. At one time it advocated a compromise position, but there was no political support coming from the opposition, not to mention the rebels.
And so I think that there was no alternative but at the last moment to indicate to Aristide that he had no support coming from the United States and he did the right thing by getting out.
HEMMER: As the former secretary of defense, what is the role right now for these U.S. Marines? How far do they go in trying to keep the peace?
COHEN: I think that we're going to have to have a more significant presence, frankly. To send a couple hundred Marines and some French soldiers in is not going to be sufficient in the short- term in order to get control of the country in terms of quelling the violence.
One of the first things they have to do is, obviously, stabilize the country. But they're going to have to disarm the thugs, murderers, rapists, drug traffickers who are those who are caused -- had caused the uprising, many of them. And so it's going to take, I think, a more significant force and it's going to have to be there for some period of time to establish -- help establish institutions that will at one point help save this country. Because we're going to be engaged in that word nation building. That taboo has been crossed, I think, by the Bush administration. But we're going to have to help engage in nation building in Haiti if the Haitian people have any hope for a future.
HEMMER: Just to be clear here, you don't believe the violence is necessarily over, do you?
COHEN: At this point it appears to be sporadic. But I think a lot depends in terms of the size of the force that the rebels see coming in. If it's a small force, they may continue to try to stir more opposition, more violence. So I think a more significant show of force may be necessary. Hopefully it won't be, but I would rather have more forces going in than to have too few.
HEMMER: You mentioned that phrase nation building. You draw a comparison here in Haiti, going back about 10 years, in 1994, and you apply it to the situation in Iraq today.
Help me understand what you're talking about with that comparison.
COHEN: Well, we're engaged in nation building now in Iraq. We're trying to establish institutions that will help that country to transition to a democratic form of government. We thought those institutions had at least been put in place with a democratically elected president, President Aristide. But obviously it was too little support for that, plus what happened during the year 2000 with the corruption charges on the parliamentary elections. Economic aid was cut off and so we had a tremendous loss of economic opportunity for the Haitian people and a descent into the kind of chaotic anarchy that we have seen in the recent days.
So we have to help put in place -- the international community, not the United States alone -- but the international community put in place institutions which will help move that country to self- government and to hopefully prosperity in the future.
HEMMER: You say hopefully there.
Is some of that wishful thinking?
COHEN: Well, looking at past performance, we've seen a country that has been wracked by military coup after military coup over the past 200 years, ever since it gained liberation from France. And so I think we have to make a determination that we need to make it work. It will require a long-term commitment. There's no short answers to this one.
HEMMER: William Cohen, thanks.
We'll talk again soon.
COHEN: Thank you.
HEMMER: Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Well, this is the full day of first -- rather, the last full day of campaigning before the Super Tuesday presidential contests. More than 1,100 delegates are at stake tomorrow for the Democratic candidates. The 10 state showdown could seal the nomination for Senator John Kerry. But Senator John Edwards has got some other ideas.
And joining us from Atlanta this morning is CNN political analyst Carlos Watson -- nice to see you, Carlos.
Good morning to you.
CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning. O'BRIEN: As you well know, 10 states are up for grabs. Here's where Senator Edwards is putting a lot of his focus -- Georgia, Ohio, Minnesota. But when you take a look at the polls, for Ohio, for example, Senator Kerry leading 59 protect to Edwards' -- Senator Edwards' 28 percent. If you look over at what's happening in Georgia, the polls there show a 45 to 26 lead there.
Give me a sense of what you make of these numbers. Is it pretty much all over for John Edwards at this point?
WATSON: It's a very tough situation. Now, he would point out to us all that the polls have been wrong with him before, that the polls in Iowa and the polls in Wisconsin didn't show him doing nearly as well as he ultimately did. Remember, in both those places he ended up closing within five and six points, and polls showed him down by as much as 20 points two or three days out.
One of the other places where he has a chance, by the way, is Minnesota. Minnesota is a place where they'll do caucuses, not primaries. And it's a place where the Dean supporters formally came out in support of him last week. And so perhaps there's a chance that he might break through in that Midwestern state.
O'BRIEN: OK, but if you say he does not have a ton of support come Wednesday morning, what does he have to do now? Is the pressure to the point where he -- it's time for him to get out of the race?
WATSON: I think it probably will. Remember, he's had a tremendous run. For a guy who was a one term senator, who not much was expected of him, you know, he's lasted through these 10 candidates. He's really the last kind of serious alternative to John Kerry in many ways. And as he looks forward either to a Kerry administration in which he might have a role, perhaps as V.P., perhaps as attorney general, maybe even -- and this is a little bit of a different idea -- as U.N. ambassador, or as he thinks about his own 2008 run, he's got a great future ahead of him.
But there will be an enormous pressure, especially because beginning on March 4th this week, George Bush will start running ads in several states, including some which will be pretty clear contrasts with John Kerry. I think the party will say if you haven't won, let's get behind our own nominee, allow him to raise money and get his message out and unite the party.
O'BRIEN: Al Sharpton has felt very sidelined and he expressed that pretty clearly at this debate where he sort of got into it a little bit with one of the moderators.
Let's first listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. AL SHARPTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we're going to have a discussion just between two and your advocates, you can try that, but that's one of the reasons we're running. We're going to have delegates so that you can't just limit the discussion. And I think that your attempts to do this is blatant and I'm going to call you out on it because I'm not going to sit here and be window dressing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm not going to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) like this.
SHARPTON: Well, then let's -- let all of us speak.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Many people said that actually this debate was one of the more chaotic, a little bit disorganized.
One, would you agree with that?
WATSON: It got a little hot, no two ways about it. They were all sitting at a table and you saw some of the New York sharp elbows come out. And, by the way, Sharpton was not the only one who got into it with the moderators. Kerry at different times and Edwards at different times also got into it with the moderator.
I think for Al Sharpton, tomorrow is a very important day. To the extent that he does well in his home state and does well, in particular, in five or six different congressional districts and walks away with 50 or 60 delegates, Soledad, I think he's on his way to amassing 100 delegates, and therefore arguing pretty strongly for a chance to make a significant speech at the convention.
If he doesn't do well in his own home state, I think the chances are that he won't have a significant role at the convention. And so when we tune in tomorrow, Tuesday, not only John Kerry and John Edwards have something at stake, but Al Sharpton, in many ways, has hopes that are riding on Tuesday night's outcome.
O'BRIEN: Well, many people have lots riding on Tuesday night's outcome.
We will see.
Carlos Watson, nice to see you, as always.
Thanks.
WATSON: Good to see you.
Good morning.
HEMMER: Still to come, Super Tuesday, a family affair for both John Kerry and John Edwards. In a moment, we'll hear from the daughters about dad's fight for the White House. Stay tuned for that.
O'BRIEN: Also, Kobe Bryant's accuser is going to take the stand. Should her sexual past be presented to a jury?
Former prosecutor Linda Fairstein is going to join us, right up next.
HEMMER: Also, the Oscar ceremony and the big story. What happened after the show last night? The low down on the Oscar after parties from someone who was there and is still up this morning to talk about it.
Back in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Police fear a family plot in the case of a Mississippi couple and their 4-year-old son who are missing. Michael, Rebecca and James Hargon vanished from their home on Valentine's Day. Michael's cousin, Earnest Lee Hargon, is due in court today on drug and weapons possession charges. Charges linking him to the family's disappearance could also come this morning. Over the weekend, police searched the property that Earnest owns. He was reportedly involved in an inheritance dispute with his missing cousin. We've got a live report on this story coming up in our next hour.
HEMMER: About 20 minutes past the hour now.
The woman accusing Kobe Bryant of sexual assault is expected to testify tomorrow during a closed door hearing in Colorado. It will be the first time that she and the NBA star will have been in the courtroom together. The hearing is to determine whether or not the woman's sexual past is relevant to this case and whether or not that should be presented to the jury.
Linda Fairstein is a former prosecutor. Now she's a crime novelist. Her new book is called "The Kills" and Linda's with us back here on AMERICAN MORNING live in Naples, Florida to talk about this.
Nice to see you and good morning to you.
LINDA FAIRSTEIN, FORMER PROSECUTOR, AUTHOR, "THE KILLS": Good to see you, Bill.
Thank you.
HEMMER: You make the point quite clearly that this is very unusual in a case that where a state has the rape shield law.
Explain that.
FAIRSTEIN: Rape shield laws are a very new innovation. They were, they came into being in the 1970s in just about every state in this country. They were really designed to protect victims from fishing expeditions, from exploring sexual history that is not relevant to this case. And I must tell you in the overwhelming number of cases, in thousands of cases tried all over this country, Bill, they do just that and they have protected victims very, very well.
HEMMER: So this is unusual, you're saying? This is rare?
FAIRSTEIN: Yes, quite unusual. This is rare and there might be a good reason for it. This is a young woman who did not, according to all reports, make an immediate outcry, did not call 9/11 and actually when she showed up at the hospital, it is not the defense who introduced a second DNA fingerprint profile in this case, it's in her clothing that the second profile was found. And how that came to be there, when it came to be there, the defense has a right, I think, to argue its relevance in this case.
HEMMER: So it's been reported, just to be clear here, it's been reported the defense theory, part of it, anyway, is that perhaps she had imitate contact with a friend, an ex-boyfriend, rather, and a bellman who worked at that resort in Eagle County, is that correct?
FAIRSTEIN: That's correct. The speculation is that it's one or either of those. And, of course, if these events occurred, the imitate contact occurred completely unrelated at a point in time to the allegations against Bryant, I don't think any judge will let them in. The rape shield law will protect those relationships. If, for example, and this is just speculation, if something happened after she left Kobe Bryant's room, it should be, it might be the jury should hear about that.
HEMMER: Is this the kind of hearing, Linda, that could have this case thrown out before it even gets off the ground?
FAIRSTEIN: Well, it could if something surprising comes up for the -- something surprising for the prosecution. I mean one would hope -- in 30 years as a prosecutor, I wish it were different -- but one would hope that the accuser has told the prosecution everything honestly, candidly from the outset. There should not be surprises at a criminal trial. There should not be surprises, certainly for the prosecution, about their own witness. And so certainly something startling could come out. I'd like to think with the prosecutors having done their homework it won't come out that way. But that's what the defense is looking for.
HEMMER: And just to make one more point here, you say usually, 99 percent of cases, the sexual history is irrelevant.
FAIRSTEIN: Correct.
HEMMER: So this is truly an interesting hearing tomorrow.
Linda, thanks.
Linda Fairstein in Naples, Florida today.
Nice to see you.
FAIRSTEIN: Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the power of "The Passion." Mel Gibson's controversial film pays off big at the box office. We'll look at that just ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is off to a big start at the box office. The controversial movie was the top draw over the weekend, bringing in more than $76 million, seventh best of all time. The film has taken in now more than $117 million since it opened in the middle of last week, on Ash Wednesday.
HEMMER: A pretty safe bet internationally that's going to make well over $200 million easily.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.
HEMMER: And do it this month.
Good morning, Jack.
Question of the day.
CAFFERTY: Hi, Bill.
Yes, it's not question of the day, it's time for the Cafferty File.
HEMMER: Oh, that's right, the File. Sorry.
O'BRIEN: Oh. Hemmer, Hemmer, Hemmer.
CAFFERTY: Thank you.
Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
CAFFERTY: People walk on leather soled shoes, so why not on leather floors? Now here's an idea that makes very little sense to me, but you try it on and see what you think. Makers of leather tiles are now, they say, the latest trend for bathroom, bedroom and library floors and walls. I'd buy everything except the bathroom floor. They come in a water resistant variety, although they are not recommended for "heavily used bathrooms."
Get your wallets out. They're very expensive. $42 to $145 per square foot.
HEMMER: Yow!
CAFFERTY: Residents of Killington, Vermont will vote tomorrow on whether or not they should return their town to New Hampshire. Killington, the ski resort town, is 26 miles from the New Hampshire border and was part of New Hampshire in 1761. Killington's town manager says they've spent $20,000 researching the benefits of secession. The result is a two page long resolution that will appear on the Killington town ballot in tomorrow's election, arguably the most exciting thing that's happened there in the last 200 years.
Even if the resolution passes, New Hampshire and Vermont officials will still have to sign off on it. So we can look forward to further stories on that subject.
The Boss might be the latest weapon in the war on terror. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Born in the USA. I was born in the USA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: That's my favorite story. A Spanish man released from GITMO, Guantanamo Bay, the detention center, says he was forced to listen to "Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen. Hamed Abderrahman Ahmad says the prisoners would put wet towels on their heads to avoid hearing the patriotic music. Hamed spent two years in a small cell where the lights were always on. He denies any connection to al Qaeda, but he has applied for a job with Springsteen's touring organization.
HEMMER: Yes, and he could. Not so much a patriotic song, though. That's a song about Vietnam veterans returning from the war and being disillusioned, etc., etc., etc.
O'BRIEN: Maybe he didn't understand the undertones of that.
HEMMER: Yes, perhaps.
What was this guy's name again?
CAFFERTY: Did you say something?
HEMMER: What is that 19 syllables, right?
CAFFERTY: Yes, Hamed Abderrahman Ahmad. You know him.
HEMMER: That's great.
CAFFERTY: He's the guy with the towel on his head down there at GITMO.
HEMMER: Thanks, Jack.
Let's get a break here.
In a moment, what could be the best prescription for heart health? The latest research might make you change your breakfast menu.
Back in a moment.
Like that, Jack.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Bertrand Aristide Today Former Leader of Haiti>
Aired March 1, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The president of Haiti flees the capital, leaving bedlam behind. Will it be up to U.S. Marines to restore order?
Final chances.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John Edwards has been in the Senate for five years. He's talked more in the last five weeks about trade than he has in the entire five years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: With a mountain of Super Tuesday delegates at stake, Democrats try to take the offensive in a contentious debate.
And the battling armies of Middle Earth now conquering Hollywood along the way. A look at "Lord of the Rings" and other Oscar winners on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome.
It's Monday, 8:00 here in New York.
The stories this hour, the former prosecutor, Linda Fairstein, with us in a few moments talking about a critical hearing today in Colorado in the Kobe Bryant matter. Expected to last two days, behind closed doors and features testimony from the woman accusing the NBA superstar of sexual assault. We'll talk about that very unusual move for the court. We'll get to it in a moment.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, presidential politics -- John Edwards, John Kerry. We're going to talk to John Edwards' wife, Elizabeth; also, his daughter Kate. And we'll talk to Senator Kerry's daughter, Vanessa, this morning. Kind of making it a little bit of a family affair.
HEMMER: Yes, I sat down with him yesterday, in fact, here in New York City. It is crunch time for that campaign.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.
HEMMER: Senator Edwards has to do well tomorrow or lese.
Good morning, Jack, smirking again.
O'BRIEN: If you hear groans, that's Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, we've just created -- it is so over.
HEMMER: We'll see.
CAFFERTY: It is so over.
HEMMER: We'll see. It could be.
CAFFERTY: You want to be a couple of lunches up there in the commissary on how many states Edwards wins tomorrow?
HEMMER: Not yet. I don't like that food anyway.
CAFFERTY: Coming up on the Cafferty File, we will give you a sample of the music that the detainees are Guantanamo Bay are listening to, and it ain't the Afghanistan national anthem. And the residents of a Vermont town will go to the polls tomorrow and they might vote to leave the state, take the whole town, move it somewhere else.
HEMMER: That's an interesting story.
O'BRIEN: Really?
HEMMER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Yes. They might do it.
O'BRIEN: Literally?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: They used to be a part of New Hampshire years ago and there's a section of the population that wants to return.
O'BRIEN: Interesting.
CAFFERTY: Sure you don't want that bet on those lunches?
HEMMER: I ain't.
O'BRIEN: The top stories now, shall we?
The Democratic presidential hopefuls are crisscrossing the country today in preparation for Super Tuesday. The contenders squared off last night in the final debate before tomorrow's 10 state political showdown.
Topping the agenda, the economy and the U.S. handling of the crisis in Haiti. We've got more on politics coming up in just a few moments.
The Department of Homeland Security is planning to station U.S. inspectors at international airports. The "Wall Street Journal" cites a U.S. Customs chief who says the plan would aim to identify and catch possible terrorists before they board U.S. bound flights. U.S. Customs is considering seven cities, but has not yet sought support from host countries.
Jury selection gets under way today in the state trial of Oklahoma City bombing suspect Terry Nichols. Nichols faces 161 counts of murder in the 1995 bombing of a federal building. He's already serving a life sentence, but he could get the death penalty if he is convicted in a state trial. Jury selection is expected to last up to two weeks.
Closing arguments are expected to start in the New York trial of Martha Stewart. Last week, the judge threw out the most serious charge of securities fraud against Stewart. The jury could get the case by Wednesday. We've got more in the next half hour.
And in Los Angeles, the top acting Oscars each went to a pair of first time winners. Charlize Theron won best actress for her riveting performance in the movie "Monster" and Sean Penn took home the gold for his portrayal of a vengeful father in "Mystic River." But it was "Return of the King" that ruled the night. The final installment in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was crowned best picture, taking home 11 trophies in all. It won in every single category that it was nominated in.
HEMMER: It's exclusive -- blah, blah, blah.
O'BRIEN: Uh-huh. What?
HEMMER: "Ben Hur" and "Titanic" had the same...
O'BRIEN: Both had 11.
HEMMER: Yes, both with 11, which is just extraordinary for that film, "Lord of the Rings."
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Jean-Bertrand Aristide today is the former leader of Haiti. Aristide now in the Central African Republic. But that may be only a stopover on the way to permanent exile. Late last night the U.N. authorized a multinational force to keep the peace in Haiti. About 50 French troops arriving in Haiti earlier this morning. They join a force of about 200 U.S. Marines that landed overnight. Several hundred more are expected, possibly later today.
An overnight curfew helped to control the widespread looting and violence that took place yesterday in the capital city of Port-au- Prince.
Richard Roth at his post at the U.N. -- Richard, good morning there. Talk about the role of the international force.
What will that role be, Richard?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the role of this peacekeeping force is to keep the peace. And it'll be in Haiti for up to three months, no more than that. And then it's the U.N.'s turn. The Security Council here at the U.N. Sunday evening meeting with a unanimous vote, 15-0, all of the countries saying that there's a crisis in the region in Haiti; also the resolution worrying about the flood, in effect, of refugees.
The Security Council in a Sunday session while the Oscars were on, you might say the Council trying to be the master and commander again of another crisis. Perhaps the force is arriving just in time and concern about anything getting lost in translation, the U.N. was saying we can't go in there with any type of police, military force. In two months. We need more time. For three months, that was the agreement -- back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: Richard, the secretary general, Kofi Annan, does he believe that the resignation for Aristide was the right move?
ROTH: You're never going to get him to say that. We tried. He did speak with the president, the former president, Saturday. But in the end, this Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kofi Annan, would only say the president of Haiti has resigned. He's never going to get involved in that type of discussion. He said Aristide appealed for international assistance. In the end, it wasn't there for him.
HEMMER: Richard, thanks.
Richard Roth across town here in New York at the U.N.
The White House taking criticism, especially from Democrats who want to be president. The candidates yesterday and the Congressional Black Caucus taking criticism toward the White House for not taking action sooner in Haiti.
A bit earlier today, last hour, I talked with the secretary of state, Colin Powell, about that very issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: All those who say we should have gone in earlier were advocating a position that we should go in on the side of a president who really was running a flawed government and a flawed presidency. And we were not prepared to do that and find ourselves trapped once again for an indefinite period supporting an individual who may have been elected democratically, but was not governing effectively or democratically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Colin Powell from earlier.
Now from Washington, former Defense Secretary William Cohen joins us to talk about this.
Good to have you back here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you.
WILLIAM COHEN, CHAIRMAN & CEO, THE COHEN GROUP, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: What do you think about Colin Powell's statement there? Could there have been anything done or was Aristide's time simply run out?
COHEN: Well, it's easy to judge looking in hindsight. But I think Secretary Powell had it about right. Namely, that the United States was in the position of supporting an elected president who was not governing democratically, but autocratically and perhaps engaging in corrupt practices and certainly using violence to quell the opposition.
So, it was a very tough position for the United States. At one time it advocated a compromise position, but there was no political support coming from the opposition, not to mention the rebels.
And so I think that there was no alternative but at the last moment to indicate to Aristide that he had no support coming from the United States and he did the right thing by getting out.
HEMMER: As the former secretary of defense, what is the role right now for these U.S. Marines? How far do they go in trying to keep the peace?
COHEN: I think that we're going to have to have a more significant presence, frankly. To send a couple hundred Marines and some French soldiers in is not going to be sufficient in the short- term in order to get control of the country in terms of quelling the violence.
One of the first things they have to do is, obviously, stabilize the country. But they're going to have to disarm the thugs, murderers, rapists, drug traffickers who are those who are caused -- had caused the uprising, many of them. And so it's going to take, I think, a more significant force and it's going to have to be there for some period of time to establish -- help establish institutions that will at one point help save this country. Because we're going to be engaged in that word nation building. That taboo has been crossed, I think, by the Bush administration. But we're going to have to help engage in nation building in Haiti if the Haitian people have any hope for a future.
HEMMER: Just to be clear here, you don't believe the violence is necessarily over, do you?
COHEN: At this point it appears to be sporadic. But I think a lot depends in terms of the size of the force that the rebels see coming in. If it's a small force, they may continue to try to stir more opposition, more violence. So I think a more significant show of force may be necessary. Hopefully it won't be, but I would rather have more forces going in than to have too few.
HEMMER: You mentioned that phrase nation building. You draw a comparison here in Haiti, going back about 10 years, in 1994, and you apply it to the situation in Iraq today.
Help me understand what you're talking about with that comparison.
COHEN: Well, we're engaged in nation building now in Iraq. We're trying to establish institutions that will help that country to transition to a democratic form of government. We thought those institutions had at least been put in place with a democratically elected president, President Aristide. But obviously it was too little support for that, plus what happened during the year 2000 with the corruption charges on the parliamentary elections. Economic aid was cut off and so we had a tremendous loss of economic opportunity for the Haitian people and a descent into the kind of chaotic anarchy that we have seen in the recent days.
So we have to help put in place -- the international community, not the United States alone -- but the international community put in place institutions which will help move that country to self- government and to hopefully prosperity in the future.
HEMMER: You say hopefully there.
Is some of that wishful thinking?
COHEN: Well, looking at past performance, we've seen a country that has been wracked by military coup after military coup over the past 200 years, ever since it gained liberation from France. And so I think we have to make a determination that we need to make it work. It will require a long-term commitment. There's no short answers to this one.
HEMMER: William Cohen, thanks.
We'll talk again soon.
COHEN: Thank you.
HEMMER: Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Well, this is the full day of first -- rather, the last full day of campaigning before the Super Tuesday presidential contests. More than 1,100 delegates are at stake tomorrow for the Democratic candidates. The 10 state showdown could seal the nomination for Senator John Kerry. But Senator John Edwards has got some other ideas.
And joining us from Atlanta this morning is CNN political analyst Carlos Watson -- nice to see you, Carlos.
Good morning to you.
CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning. O'BRIEN: As you well know, 10 states are up for grabs. Here's where Senator Edwards is putting a lot of his focus -- Georgia, Ohio, Minnesota. But when you take a look at the polls, for Ohio, for example, Senator Kerry leading 59 protect to Edwards' -- Senator Edwards' 28 percent. If you look over at what's happening in Georgia, the polls there show a 45 to 26 lead there.
Give me a sense of what you make of these numbers. Is it pretty much all over for John Edwards at this point?
WATSON: It's a very tough situation. Now, he would point out to us all that the polls have been wrong with him before, that the polls in Iowa and the polls in Wisconsin didn't show him doing nearly as well as he ultimately did. Remember, in both those places he ended up closing within five and six points, and polls showed him down by as much as 20 points two or three days out.
One of the other places where he has a chance, by the way, is Minnesota. Minnesota is a place where they'll do caucuses, not primaries. And it's a place where the Dean supporters formally came out in support of him last week. And so perhaps there's a chance that he might break through in that Midwestern state.
O'BRIEN: OK, but if you say he does not have a ton of support come Wednesday morning, what does he have to do now? Is the pressure to the point where he -- it's time for him to get out of the race?
WATSON: I think it probably will. Remember, he's had a tremendous run. For a guy who was a one term senator, who not much was expected of him, you know, he's lasted through these 10 candidates. He's really the last kind of serious alternative to John Kerry in many ways. And as he looks forward either to a Kerry administration in which he might have a role, perhaps as V.P., perhaps as attorney general, maybe even -- and this is a little bit of a different idea -- as U.N. ambassador, or as he thinks about his own 2008 run, he's got a great future ahead of him.
But there will be an enormous pressure, especially because beginning on March 4th this week, George Bush will start running ads in several states, including some which will be pretty clear contrasts with John Kerry. I think the party will say if you haven't won, let's get behind our own nominee, allow him to raise money and get his message out and unite the party.
O'BRIEN: Al Sharpton has felt very sidelined and he expressed that pretty clearly at this debate where he sort of got into it a little bit with one of the moderators.
Let's first listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. AL SHARPTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we're going to have a discussion just between two and your advocates, you can try that, but that's one of the reasons we're running. We're going to have delegates so that you can't just limit the discussion. And I think that your attempts to do this is blatant and I'm going to call you out on it because I'm not going to sit here and be window dressing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm not going to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) like this.
SHARPTON: Well, then let's -- let all of us speak.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Many people said that actually this debate was one of the more chaotic, a little bit disorganized.
One, would you agree with that?
WATSON: It got a little hot, no two ways about it. They were all sitting at a table and you saw some of the New York sharp elbows come out. And, by the way, Sharpton was not the only one who got into it with the moderators. Kerry at different times and Edwards at different times also got into it with the moderator.
I think for Al Sharpton, tomorrow is a very important day. To the extent that he does well in his home state and does well, in particular, in five or six different congressional districts and walks away with 50 or 60 delegates, Soledad, I think he's on his way to amassing 100 delegates, and therefore arguing pretty strongly for a chance to make a significant speech at the convention.
If he doesn't do well in his own home state, I think the chances are that he won't have a significant role at the convention. And so when we tune in tomorrow, Tuesday, not only John Kerry and John Edwards have something at stake, but Al Sharpton, in many ways, has hopes that are riding on Tuesday night's outcome.
O'BRIEN: Well, many people have lots riding on Tuesday night's outcome.
We will see.
Carlos Watson, nice to see you, as always.
Thanks.
WATSON: Good to see you.
Good morning.
HEMMER: Still to come, Super Tuesday, a family affair for both John Kerry and John Edwards. In a moment, we'll hear from the daughters about dad's fight for the White House. Stay tuned for that.
O'BRIEN: Also, Kobe Bryant's accuser is going to take the stand. Should her sexual past be presented to a jury?
Former prosecutor Linda Fairstein is going to join us, right up next.
HEMMER: Also, the Oscar ceremony and the big story. What happened after the show last night? The low down on the Oscar after parties from someone who was there and is still up this morning to talk about it.
Back in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Police fear a family plot in the case of a Mississippi couple and their 4-year-old son who are missing. Michael, Rebecca and James Hargon vanished from their home on Valentine's Day. Michael's cousin, Earnest Lee Hargon, is due in court today on drug and weapons possession charges. Charges linking him to the family's disappearance could also come this morning. Over the weekend, police searched the property that Earnest owns. He was reportedly involved in an inheritance dispute with his missing cousin. We've got a live report on this story coming up in our next hour.
HEMMER: About 20 minutes past the hour now.
The woman accusing Kobe Bryant of sexual assault is expected to testify tomorrow during a closed door hearing in Colorado. It will be the first time that she and the NBA star will have been in the courtroom together. The hearing is to determine whether or not the woman's sexual past is relevant to this case and whether or not that should be presented to the jury.
Linda Fairstein is a former prosecutor. Now she's a crime novelist. Her new book is called "The Kills" and Linda's with us back here on AMERICAN MORNING live in Naples, Florida to talk about this.
Nice to see you and good morning to you.
LINDA FAIRSTEIN, FORMER PROSECUTOR, AUTHOR, "THE KILLS": Good to see you, Bill.
Thank you.
HEMMER: You make the point quite clearly that this is very unusual in a case that where a state has the rape shield law.
Explain that.
FAIRSTEIN: Rape shield laws are a very new innovation. They were, they came into being in the 1970s in just about every state in this country. They were really designed to protect victims from fishing expeditions, from exploring sexual history that is not relevant to this case. And I must tell you in the overwhelming number of cases, in thousands of cases tried all over this country, Bill, they do just that and they have protected victims very, very well.
HEMMER: So this is unusual, you're saying? This is rare?
FAIRSTEIN: Yes, quite unusual. This is rare and there might be a good reason for it. This is a young woman who did not, according to all reports, make an immediate outcry, did not call 9/11 and actually when she showed up at the hospital, it is not the defense who introduced a second DNA fingerprint profile in this case, it's in her clothing that the second profile was found. And how that came to be there, when it came to be there, the defense has a right, I think, to argue its relevance in this case.
HEMMER: So it's been reported, just to be clear here, it's been reported the defense theory, part of it, anyway, is that perhaps she had imitate contact with a friend, an ex-boyfriend, rather, and a bellman who worked at that resort in Eagle County, is that correct?
FAIRSTEIN: That's correct. The speculation is that it's one or either of those. And, of course, if these events occurred, the imitate contact occurred completely unrelated at a point in time to the allegations against Bryant, I don't think any judge will let them in. The rape shield law will protect those relationships. If, for example, and this is just speculation, if something happened after she left Kobe Bryant's room, it should be, it might be the jury should hear about that.
HEMMER: Is this the kind of hearing, Linda, that could have this case thrown out before it even gets off the ground?
FAIRSTEIN: Well, it could if something surprising comes up for the -- something surprising for the prosecution. I mean one would hope -- in 30 years as a prosecutor, I wish it were different -- but one would hope that the accuser has told the prosecution everything honestly, candidly from the outset. There should not be surprises at a criminal trial. There should not be surprises, certainly for the prosecution, about their own witness. And so certainly something startling could come out. I'd like to think with the prosecutors having done their homework it won't come out that way. But that's what the defense is looking for.
HEMMER: And just to make one more point here, you say usually, 99 percent of cases, the sexual history is irrelevant.
FAIRSTEIN: Correct.
HEMMER: So this is truly an interesting hearing tomorrow.
Linda, thanks.
Linda Fairstein in Naples, Florida today.
Nice to see you.
FAIRSTEIN: Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the power of "The Passion." Mel Gibson's controversial film pays off big at the box office. We'll look at that just ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is off to a big start at the box office. The controversial movie was the top draw over the weekend, bringing in more than $76 million, seventh best of all time. The film has taken in now more than $117 million since it opened in the middle of last week, on Ash Wednesday.
HEMMER: A pretty safe bet internationally that's going to make well over $200 million easily.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.
HEMMER: And do it this month.
Good morning, Jack.
Question of the day.
CAFFERTY: Hi, Bill.
Yes, it's not question of the day, it's time for the Cafferty File.
HEMMER: Oh, that's right, the File. Sorry.
O'BRIEN: Oh. Hemmer, Hemmer, Hemmer.
CAFFERTY: Thank you.
Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
CAFFERTY: People walk on leather soled shoes, so why not on leather floors? Now here's an idea that makes very little sense to me, but you try it on and see what you think. Makers of leather tiles are now, they say, the latest trend for bathroom, bedroom and library floors and walls. I'd buy everything except the bathroom floor. They come in a water resistant variety, although they are not recommended for "heavily used bathrooms."
Get your wallets out. They're very expensive. $42 to $145 per square foot.
HEMMER: Yow!
CAFFERTY: Residents of Killington, Vermont will vote tomorrow on whether or not they should return their town to New Hampshire. Killington, the ski resort town, is 26 miles from the New Hampshire border and was part of New Hampshire in 1761. Killington's town manager says they've spent $20,000 researching the benefits of secession. The result is a two page long resolution that will appear on the Killington town ballot in tomorrow's election, arguably the most exciting thing that's happened there in the last 200 years.
Even if the resolution passes, New Hampshire and Vermont officials will still have to sign off on it. So we can look forward to further stories on that subject.
The Boss might be the latest weapon in the war on terror. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Born in the USA. I was born in the USA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: That's my favorite story. A Spanish man released from GITMO, Guantanamo Bay, the detention center, says he was forced to listen to "Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen. Hamed Abderrahman Ahmad says the prisoners would put wet towels on their heads to avoid hearing the patriotic music. Hamed spent two years in a small cell where the lights were always on. He denies any connection to al Qaeda, but he has applied for a job with Springsteen's touring organization.
HEMMER: Yes, and he could. Not so much a patriotic song, though. That's a song about Vietnam veterans returning from the war and being disillusioned, etc., etc., etc.
O'BRIEN: Maybe he didn't understand the undertones of that.
HEMMER: Yes, perhaps.
What was this guy's name again?
CAFFERTY: Did you say something?
HEMMER: What is that 19 syllables, right?
CAFFERTY: Yes, Hamed Abderrahman Ahmad. You know him.
HEMMER: That's great.
CAFFERTY: He's the guy with the towel on his head down there at GITMO.
HEMMER: Thanks, Jack.
Let's get a break here.
In a moment, what could be the best prescription for heart health? The latest research might make you change your breakfast menu.
Back in a moment.
Like that, Jack.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Bertrand Aristide Today Former Leader of Haiti>
