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American Morning
Latest Developments in Iraq; Did FBI Do Enough to Stop Terrorism?
Aired April 13, 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: Did the FBI do enough to stop terrorism or did someone stand in its way? Key questions today in testimony before the 9/11 Commission.
A U.S. helicopter down, Marines in a fierce gunfight. Has the Falluja cease-fire fallen apart?
And hybrid cars break out of the mold. Whether it's an SUV, a truck or a luxury car, it could soon be running on cutting edge technology.
Those stories all ahead 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: Good morning.
Eight o'clock here in New York.
We've got the stories this hour.
The president holds a rare prime time news conference later tonight, set for 8:30 live here on CNN. Is it a matter of political necessity? And, if so, just how urgent is the situation now for the White House? Ron Brownstein, "L.A. Times," CNN political analyst here, has a few thoughts to share on this. We'll get to Ron in a few moments in D.C.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, would you like to know what's in your medical records? Did you know that actually you can look, if you want to? Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to join us to talk about whether or not you should take a peek inside those records.
HEMMER: All right, to Jack Cafferty -- good morning, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill.
Coming up in the Cafferty File, we'll tell you what Barbara Walters has in common with Bill and Hillary Clinton. And an AMERICAN MORNING exclusive, something you will not see on any of the other morning TV shows. We will show you how to blow dry a chicken.
HEMMER: Yes. One of those golden eagles, too?
CAFFERTY: Chicken. HEMMER: I like that.
O'BRIEN: Yes. That's right.
CAFFERTY: We're going to blow dry a chicken.
HEMMER: Thank you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Any reason?
HEMMER: Thanks, Jack.
O'BRIEN: Do you want to just...
CAFFERTY: Because we've got to fill three hours. I don't know. What do you want from me? This is about where it came undone yesterday, you know. We must be careful.
HEMMER: We'll put it together.
O'BRIEN: I believe it's a new low for us. But, you know, not till I see the pictures will I actually comment.
CAFFERTY: Well, you want to stay tuned.
HEMMER: We will. That we will.
CAFFERTY: It's worth looking at.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.
HEMMER: The top stories now. Let's get back to Iraq and again more tough news out of that country today. More U.S. troops are dead today in Iraq. In Falluja, at least two Marines were killed in heavy fighting last night, eight others wounded. Insurgents attacked a building housing the Marines with either mortar or rocket fire. The strike was followed by a firefight. It lasted about an hour.
The A.P. reports a U.S. Apache helicopter also went down earlier today outside of Falluja. Witnesses say it was hit by a rocket. No word on casualties there. The A.P. says U.S. troops trying to get to that wreckage. It came under fire. A live report on the latest on what's happening in Baghdad in a moment here from the Iraqi capital.
Presidential hopeful John Kerry says he wants to "de-Americanize the transformation of Iraq." Senator Kerry says that if he were president, he would go to the U.N. and ask other nations to take a larger role in the country. He also believes U.S. administrator, Ambassador Paul Bremer, should be replaced with a top U.N. aide. Senator Kerry says other countries need to see what is not a "American occupation" in Iraq.
A tense hostage stand-off in Pasadena, California. A video store there ending with three suspects caught. The stand-off ended earlier today without a shot fired. The suspects allegedly tried to hold up a Blockbuster video store and held two employees and eight customers inside. A SWAT team was then called in to help.
Also from California, San Francisco selling a list of its same- sex newlyweds. The city had married more than 4,000 gay and lesbian couples before the state supreme court halted the weddings. The list of names, which will sell for about 65 bucks, could interest those who market products to gay couples. Documents containing the names are already public.
Soon the buzz in D.C. about former anti-terrorism czar Richard Clarke could be which actor plays him in the movie. Columbia Pictures buying the rights to Clarke's best selling book, "Against All Enemies." No financial terms were disclosed. Interestingly enough, just last week he was asked those very questions, about whether or not there was a movie in the works.
O'BRIEN: Oh, you knew.
HEMMER: He did not...
O'BRIEN: That was in the works.
HEMMER: He took a big sidestep to the right there so.
O'BRIEN: Interesting to see how much money he gets for that when that's all made public.
HEMMER: Yes, we'll see. Yes, I think it was a million bucks for the book, so we'll see what happens after this.
O'BRIEN: Hmmm. Interesting. Interesting.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Turning back to Iraq now, some U.S. troops who were set to come home after months in action are instead beginning to deal with those loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
For more on that and the rest of the news from Iraq, let's take you to Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf this morning -- Jane, good morning.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, it's the U.S. military fighting battles on so many fronts at the moment. It seems to be a given that they are going to need about 10,000 more troops here than originally bargained for. Now, a lot of those will be troops who, instead of going home, will be staying, many of those from the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad.
We went south with some of them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF (voice-over): The 1st Armored Division was supposed to be going home from Baghdad. Instead, it's headed south to Karbala, Najaf and Kut, where militia loyal to a radical Shia leader seized control last week. A quick reaction force, along with tanks, helicopters and fighter planes, was deployed in just hours after Muqtada al-Sadr's militia took Kut. The U.S. retook the city. Military officials say it's the biggest and quickest turnaround of forces they can recall.
They turned this desert camp near Kut, home to about 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers, into a U.S. Army base five times the size.
BRIG. GEN. MARK HERTLING, U.S. ARMY: This is about 250 kilometers from where our base of operations is. So this an expeditionary army that turned on a dime, changed mission from one thing to another and went right back into the fight. It's pretty miraculous.
ARRAF: The division was so close to going home, the helicopters had been cleaned and put in shrink wrap at the port. Soldiers had shipped home their things and handed in their ammunition.
Staff Sergeant Filippe Lial, from Kennedy, Texas, has been in Kuwait and Iraq for 18 months. He told his family he'll be here at least three months more.
STAFF SGT FILLIPE LIAL, U.S. ARMY: I called them one day and I was like, hey, I don't think I'm going to make it home. Things are looking crazy here in Iraq. And they were like, yes, we see it on the news.
ARRAF: If it's hard on the soldiers, it's even harder on the families. They're giving up vacations, wedding plans and promises to be home in the spring.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF: And troops from the 1st Armored Division are beginning to build up near the city of Najaf, where they hope they won't have to go in to get radical Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr. Negotiations are still taking place, but that buildup continues.
And just in a development, a related development, the arrest of one of Muqtada al-Sadr's deputies this morning here in Baghdad from this hotel complex. We are now told by the head of -- by a senior military official that he is being released. They said they have determined that he was not contributing to the violence and that he was actually promoting dialogue -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jane Arraf for us this morning.
Jane, thanks a lot -- Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad, later tonight, the president holds his first formal press conference of the year; in fact, the first one since December.
CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein, also a writer with the "L.A. Times," here to talk about that.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Welcome back.
What do you expect to hear from the president tonight?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think the president's news conference is going to be dominated by two dates -- August 6 and June 30. There's going to be a lot of discussion about what he did after he received that presidential daily brief that was released over the weekend, on August 6, 2001, about the potential threat from al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden within the U.S. And, secondly, there's going to be a lot of discussion about the June 30 planned hand over of power to an Iraqi government, a government whose form, membership, authority, power and structure is all still to be determined. So I think those are going to be the two issues that we're going to hear the most about tonight.
HEMMER: So those are the two -- yesterday in the "L.A. Times" you wrote -- I'll just pull just a sentence from the end of your article. You say, "The failures before September 11 have many fathers, but the war in Iraq belongs to Bush alone."
Is this more tonight about Iraq than 9/11, do you think, or not?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think -- I don't know what the balance of the questioning will be, but I do think in the election it is clearly more about Iraq than 9/11. Look, in polling, there is a sense that President Bush did not do enough before 9/11, but there's also a sense that presidential campaign didn't do enough. And I think if we asked whether the FBI, the CIA, the media or the Congress, really, any institution you want to name, people feel almost by definition, because it happened, no one did enough.
I think there is a real resistance on the part of the public to blaming anyone and a tendency, I think, as a result to judge the president more by what he did after 9/11.
Now, on the terrorism front, that's good news for him because it's one reason why his ratings on terrorism stay so high.
But the war in Iraq really is his signature contribution to the strategy of how you combat terrorism in the short run and how you change the Islamic world in the long run. And I do think that ultimately that will reverberate much more powerfully in the judgment people make about him.
HEMMER: If you were flipping through the channels on Sunday morning, Easter Sunday, you heard some grumblings about the president in Crawford, Texas, was this the right place for the president to be after a fierce week of fighting in Falluja?
That goes to the obvious question, why do it tonight? Why now?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think he has to reassert himself as a leader in the debate. I mean as you say, there are a lot of Republicans who are wondering why the president was so out of sight, really, during what has been the most difficult week in Iraq, probably since the fall of Baghdad. And there is a desire to have him sort of reestablish himself as a figure in this debate.
I would say, though, Bill, I think that whatever gains or losses, really, in the short run from the image questions are going to be overshadowed by the results on the ground. Reality trumps arguments in an election where you have an incumbent president. And I do think that while there's a lot at stake tonight in sort of sending the American people a signal that he has a plan for how to deal with Iraq, what's more important is having a plan that actually does deal with Iraq and shows progress. That's where the balance of public opinion is going to lie in the long run.
HEMMER: Yes, and your answer there, typically these are designed not to necessarily make news, but to clarify positions, and do that through that question and A session.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
HEMMER: What's the position of Senator John Kerry through all this?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, Kerry has kept a very low profile. Today he has an op-ed piece in the "Washington Post" reaffirming the view that he stated as early as last September and he really hasn't wavered on since. His argument has been throughout, in terms of the reconstruction, that the U.S. should turn over authority for all of the decisions we mentioned about the Iraqi government, when it comes into being, who it is, when there are elections, who writes the constitution, all of that should be turned over to the U.N., both because he believes it will increase the credibility of the effort inside Iraq. Also, he thinks it will give us a better chance of getting more troops and financial aid from abroad.
The question he faces, obviously, is whether events have overrun that position, whether it is still plausible to turn to the U.N. or to expect significant numbers of troops from other nations, when things are so chaotic there.
But that is the position that he has held. He reaffirmed it yesterday.
Interestingly, yesterday on the campaign trail, he basically endorsed the June 30 date of the hand over of power, which he had earlier criticized, and which some Republicans even have begun to question whether we can, in this environment, realistically expect an Iraqi government to take more control over the situation.
HEMMER: Twelve hours away later today.
Ron Brownstein, thanks, in D.C.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Live later tonight here on CNN. That news conference comes at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the 9/11 Commission convenes less than an hour from now. What questions do they have for FBI officials about the priority that was given to fighting terror?
A commission member, Richard Ben-Veniste, is going to join us, coming up here in just a few minutes.
HEMMER: Also, that key ruling expected today in the Jayson Williams trial. What's at stake in that case?
Ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Time for Mr. Cafferty and the Question of the Day -- good morning.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Mrs. O'Brien.
Tonight, President Bush will hold his twelfth news conference since taking office. Iraq, September 11 probably high on the agenda, as you might expect. In Iraq, this has been the deadliest month yet for U.S. troops. Seventy-three of our kids killed over there. The president said yesterday he's considering overhauling the national intelligence services, which have been criticized for their failures of pre-September 11. There's also, of course, the economy and health care and jobs and the election.
So we thought we'd give you a chance to be in that news conference and you could question the president tonight. What would you ask him?
Tom in Ohio writes this: "My mother just passed away because she was unable to afford her medications and was too ashamed to let anyone know. My question would be when will enough people have died to make it cost-effective to actually help the elderly and middle class in this country instead of letting his buddies and the drug companies get record profits?"
Ray in Orchard Lake, Michigan: "Mr. President, would you support a military draft to stay in Iraq? Our forces are severely over extended. Half our troops won't reenlist, according to a "Stars & Stripes" poll, and I don't see any long lines of recruits eager to jump into this pile of snakes."
You thought I was going to say something else, didn't you?
Dave writes this: "I would ask the president how the investigation is going to learn which of his staff outed Joe Wilson's CIA agent wife." Haven't heard much about that lately, have we?
Susie in Miami, Florida: "President Bush tells us he took no action against al Qaeda in this country because he had no actionable evidence. Why didn't he use the same logic in attacking Iraq?"
And Chris in New Orleans writes: "Mr. President, ultimately where does the buck stop on your watch?"
O'BRIEN: Wow. CAFFERTY: None of these will be asked, of course, tonight.
O'BRIEN: Tougher, tough questioning from the crowd.
CAFFERTY: I wish -- I'm telling you, we should let our audience do these press conferences.
HEMMER: A pretty good variety, too.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Then he would have only had one instead of 12.
O'BRIEN: First and last.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Interesting.
HEMMER: We want to move on to a different story here we talked about at the top of our hour this morning here. Each year at the Academy Awards, more and more stars shunning their limos and pulling up to the red carpet in fuel efficient cars. The car makers figure where Hollywood goes, so, too, does the general public.
But as Fred Katayama reports, green cars may need a little more muscle to satisfy consumers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not Cameron Diaz's Prias. The fuel-efficient, low-emission hybrids that run on gas and electricity are getting much bigger, brawnier and classier. And that could fuel sales. The first hybrid sport utility, the Ford Escape, hits showrooms this summer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's called the Ford Escape hybrid and it couldn't come at a better time.
KATAYAMA: Hybrid leader Toyota is going upscale and up in performance. Its luxury SUV, the Lexus RX400H, sports a muscular V6 engine that boasts 20 percent more horsepower than the regular model.
BRAD NELSON, LEXUS SPOKESPERSON: We're looking to bring up the performance and the fuel economy.
KATAYAMA: And get ready for a hybrid pickup, the Dodge Ram, later this year. Consumers will be able to choose from 30 hybrids by 2008. Soaring gas prices could lure more customers. Honda boasts its Insight can go as far as 700 miles on a single tank, roughly the distance between Detroit and New York. Hybrids account for less than one percent of all vehicles sold, but that's expected to jump to roughly four percent in four years.
But price remains a drag. The average hybrid costs about $4,000 more than a similar non-hybrid vehicle. (on camera): And don't expect to recoup your investment quickly. While motorists will visit the gas station less often, hybrids will take seven to eight years to pay off. Acting green may make you feel better, but it won't save you green in the short run.
Fred Katayama, CNN Financial News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: One other bonus on this story. Drivers at a popular hybrid dealer in Virginia say that state allows them to drive solo on the HOV lanes during rush hour, which, for them, they say, is a bonus.
In a moment here, Kamber and May. The issues Iraq, Senator Kerry's position on the misery index and what they want to hear from the president later tonight.
Back in a moment live in D.C. after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: A foggy morning here in Manhattan.
Welcome back.
Almost 22 past the hour on a Tuesday morning.
April now the deadliest month for the U.S. military since it entered Iraq about a year ago. More than 70 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq so far this month. On the other side, we are told, 700 members of the Iraqi insurgents are dead, as well.
Let's debate that issue today; also, John Kerry's middle class misery report.
Democratic strategist Victor Kamber and former RNC Communications Director Cliff May back with us live in Washington.
Kamber and May we call it.
Good morning, gentlemen.
VICTOR KAMBER, THE KAMBER GROUP, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning.
CLIFF MAY, FOUNDATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES, FORMER REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: Nice to have you both here.
You know, Cliff, one of the many human faces in this war continues to be, over the past week, the hostages taken. Thomas Cahill (ph) is just -- Hamil, rather -- is just one person out of Mississippi.
How does the U.S. fight this, when more than 27 people are either held hostage or unaccounted for at this point? MAY: It's very difficult. I mean, look, we can beat and defeat terrorists and barbarians like this who take hostages, innocent civilians who kill children, who kill women. But it's hard to do it without involving yourself in the same kind of methods, without lowering yourself to the same kind of moral standards the other side has.
What's important is that we learn how to fight what's called the small war, a counterinsurgency, anti-terrorism. We haven't studied that over the past 20 years. We haven't figured out how to do it. But we have to. You can't leave these barbarians in charge of that country.
HEMMER: So you're saying this is learning on the job, aren't you? MAY: I'm afraid that's exactly what it is. Look, the book that is used by the military to fight these kinds of wars was written in 1940. If you were a Pentagon official, the way you got high in your career was not to focus on counterinsurgency and terrorism, and that's been true since the 1950s.
HEMMER: That learning curve has been tough this month alone... MAY: Very tough.
HEMMER: ... with more than 73 dead.
Victor, let's talk about John Kerry's proposal. You can see it in the "Washington Post" today.
How do you get the U.N. involved at this point, if that's the route you want to take?
KAMBER: Well, you just go and ask. I don't think it's a big deal. I don't think it's -- I think what Cliff just said, ironically, I agree, and it's my biggest probably complaint and anger at this administration -- ill prepared, not prepared for what was -- what a common sense would say was going to happen. We were not dealing with a world power when we went to Iraq. We were dealing with petty dictators and small time terrorists. And the fact that we weren't prepared for what was taking place and is taking place, shame on us.
And I'll -- and shame on this administration. And in terms...
HEMMER: But if it turns...
KAMBER: And in terms of going to the world, we now need to say OK, let's -- we made a mistake, we weren't as prepared as we thought in terms of how to respond, we need your help, world. We need you to come with us and join with us. And there's no answer that France and Germany and China and Russia join with us that they'll stop the kind of terrorism that's taking place. But hopefully, hopefully, with the condemnation of the rest of the world against Iraq and these people, we can bring some order. MAY: Bill, it's so hyper-partisan of my friend Victor to say this administration and not also include the previous administration and all the administrations before that.
KAMBER: It doesn't matter. This is the one that's at stake. MAY: OK. But you're turning this for partisan purposes and you're politicizing an important issue.
KAMBER: No. I want to end this war. I want to end dying. MAY: I do, too. Now, let me also point out, when you talk about the U.N., we now know that the U.N. was complicit with Saddam Hussein in stealing billions of dollars of oil wealth from the Iraqi people. We know that when we've turned things over to the U.N. before -- in Kosovo, Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia -- the U.N. let millions of people die.
So when you say turn it over to the U.N., what you're really saying is we don't want to deal with it and we don't really care what happens.
KAMBER: Now we're accusing the U.N. of being terrorists and murderers and criminals... MAY: I didn't say that and you know I didn't.
KAMBER: ... and oil gougers. No different than -- I mean these people that have been kidnapped are Halliburton employees... MAY: Yes.
KAMBER: ... who are there to protect the oil wells of Iraq. MAY: Yes, of Iraq, that's right.
KAMBER: And they're mercenaries. Let's not kid ourselves what's going on here. MAY: Halliburton -- wait a minute, you're saying that Halliburton is the mercenary...
KAMBER: Well, no, I'm saying these people have been hired as mercenaries to protect oil wells. I'm not saying we shouldn't protect the lives of our people. But let's not kid ourselves what's going on there. MAY: Victor, the oil is being protected so it can belong to the Iraqi people, which it hasn't for the past 30 or 40 years. And, by the way, we do know when we -- you should say, as well, that what the U.N. was doing under the U.N. Oil For Food Program is there's some, maybe the worst corruption we've ever seen in the world in terms of the dollar figures, over $5 billion.
KAMBER: No different... MAY: We need an investigation.
KAMBER: No different than the monies we gave Saddam Hussein when we were anti-Iran. MAY: Oh, no, no, no.
KAMBER: I mean when we talk about weapons of mass destruction, where are these weapons today coming from but places like Iran, which now we tend to close our eyes to? MAY: Well...
KAMBER: And we're not even going after weapons of small destruction, which exist there today, which are killing our people. MAY: You do have a good point about Iran. One of the things that nobody wants to talk about, Republicans or Democrats, is the extent to which Iran is stoking the fire, spending millions of dollars on al- Sadr and others who are fighting us.
Why don't people want to talk about it? Because we don't know what to do about Iran... HEMMER: Gentlemen... MAY: It is a terrorist sponsor and it is part of our problem in Iraq.
HEMMER: Let's leave it there.
Appreciate the discussion.
A few other topics we wanted to get to. We're out of time. I apologize about that. We'll get to them again, though.
Also, later tonight with the president, we'll see what he says then and perhaps some of the questions both of you have raised today will be answered.
Victor, thanks; Cliff, as well, in D.C.
Appreciate it -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, watching and waiting on a judge's decision in the manslaughter trial of Jayson Williams. Are the charges against him about to be dropped?
Stay with us.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: In a moment here, the former director of the FBI just one hour away from the 9/11 Commission in public, under oath and live here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 13, 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: Did the FBI do enough to stop terrorism or did someone stand in its way? Key questions today in testimony before the 9/11 Commission.
A U.S. helicopter down, Marines in a fierce gunfight. Has the Falluja cease-fire fallen apart?
And hybrid cars break out of the mold. Whether it's an SUV, a truck or a luxury car, it could soon be running on cutting edge technology.
Those stories all ahead 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: Good morning.
Eight o'clock here in New York.
We've got the stories this hour.
The president holds a rare prime time news conference later tonight, set for 8:30 live here on CNN. Is it a matter of political necessity? And, if so, just how urgent is the situation now for the White House? Ron Brownstein, "L.A. Times," CNN political analyst here, has a few thoughts to share on this. We'll get to Ron in a few moments in D.C.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, would you like to know what's in your medical records? Did you know that actually you can look, if you want to? Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to join us to talk about whether or not you should take a peek inside those records.
HEMMER: All right, to Jack Cafferty -- good morning, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill.
Coming up in the Cafferty File, we'll tell you what Barbara Walters has in common with Bill and Hillary Clinton. And an AMERICAN MORNING exclusive, something you will not see on any of the other morning TV shows. We will show you how to blow dry a chicken.
HEMMER: Yes. One of those golden eagles, too?
CAFFERTY: Chicken. HEMMER: I like that.
O'BRIEN: Yes. That's right.
CAFFERTY: We're going to blow dry a chicken.
HEMMER: Thank you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Any reason?
HEMMER: Thanks, Jack.
O'BRIEN: Do you want to just...
CAFFERTY: Because we've got to fill three hours. I don't know. What do you want from me? This is about where it came undone yesterday, you know. We must be careful.
HEMMER: We'll put it together.
O'BRIEN: I believe it's a new low for us. But, you know, not till I see the pictures will I actually comment.
CAFFERTY: Well, you want to stay tuned.
HEMMER: We will. That we will.
CAFFERTY: It's worth looking at.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.
HEMMER: The top stories now. Let's get back to Iraq and again more tough news out of that country today. More U.S. troops are dead today in Iraq. In Falluja, at least two Marines were killed in heavy fighting last night, eight others wounded. Insurgents attacked a building housing the Marines with either mortar or rocket fire. The strike was followed by a firefight. It lasted about an hour.
The A.P. reports a U.S. Apache helicopter also went down earlier today outside of Falluja. Witnesses say it was hit by a rocket. No word on casualties there. The A.P. says U.S. troops trying to get to that wreckage. It came under fire. A live report on the latest on what's happening in Baghdad in a moment here from the Iraqi capital.
Presidential hopeful John Kerry says he wants to "de-Americanize the transformation of Iraq." Senator Kerry says that if he were president, he would go to the U.N. and ask other nations to take a larger role in the country. He also believes U.S. administrator, Ambassador Paul Bremer, should be replaced with a top U.N. aide. Senator Kerry says other countries need to see what is not a "American occupation" in Iraq.
A tense hostage stand-off in Pasadena, California. A video store there ending with three suspects caught. The stand-off ended earlier today without a shot fired. The suspects allegedly tried to hold up a Blockbuster video store and held two employees and eight customers inside. A SWAT team was then called in to help.
Also from California, San Francisco selling a list of its same- sex newlyweds. The city had married more than 4,000 gay and lesbian couples before the state supreme court halted the weddings. The list of names, which will sell for about 65 bucks, could interest those who market products to gay couples. Documents containing the names are already public.
Soon the buzz in D.C. about former anti-terrorism czar Richard Clarke could be which actor plays him in the movie. Columbia Pictures buying the rights to Clarke's best selling book, "Against All Enemies." No financial terms were disclosed. Interestingly enough, just last week he was asked those very questions, about whether or not there was a movie in the works.
O'BRIEN: Oh, you knew.
HEMMER: He did not...
O'BRIEN: That was in the works.
HEMMER: He took a big sidestep to the right there so.
O'BRIEN: Interesting to see how much money he gets for that when that's all made public.
HEMMER: Yes, we'll see. Yes, I think it was a million bucks for the book, so we'll see what happens after this.
O'BRIEN: Hmmm. Interesting. Interesting.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Turning back to Iraq now, some U.S. troops who were set to come home after months in action are instead beginning to deal with those loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
For more on that and the rest of the news from Iraq, let's take you to Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf this morning -- Jane, good morning.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, it's the U.S. military fighting battles on so many fronts at the moment. It seems to be a given that they are going to need about 10,000 more troops here than originally bargained for. Now, a lot of those will be troops who, instead of going home, will be staying, many of those from the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad.
We went south with some of them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF (voice-over): The 1st Armored Division was supposed to be going home from Baghdad. Instead, it's headed south to Karbala, Najaf and Kut, where militia loyal to a radical Shia leader seized control last week. A quick reaction force, along with tanks, helicopters and fighter planes, was deployed in just hours after Muqtada al-Sadr's militia took Kut. The U.S. retook the city. Military officials say it's the biggest and quickest turnaround of forces they can recall.
They turned this desert camp near Kut, home to about 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers, into a U.S. Army base five times the size.
BRIG. GEN. MARK HERTLING, U.S. ARMY: This is about 250 kilometers from where our base of operations is. So this an expeditionary army that turned on a dime, changed mission from one thing to another and went right back into the fight. It's pretty miraculous.
ARRAF: The division was so close to going home, the helicopters had been cleaned and put in shrink wrap at the port. Soldiers had shipped home their things and handed in their ammunition.
Staff Sergeant Filippe Lial, from Kennedy, Texas, has been in Kuwait and Iraq for 18 months. He told his family he'll be here at least three months more.
STAFF SGT FILLIPE LIAL, U.S. ARMY: I called them one day and I was like, hey, I don't think I'm going to make it home. Things are looking crazy here in Iraq. And they were like, yes, we see it on the news.
ARRAF: If it's hard on the soldiers, it's even harder on the families. They're giving up vacations, wedding plans and promises to be home in the spring.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF: And troops from the 1st Armored Division are beginning to build up near the city of Najaf, where they hope they won't have to go in to get radical Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr. Negotiations are still taking place, but that buildup continues.
And just in a development, a related development, the arrest of one of Muqtada al-Sadr's deputies this morning here in Baghdad from this hotel complex. We are now told by the head of -- by a senior military official that he is being released. They said they have determined that he was not contributing to the violence and that he was actually promoting dialogue -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jane Arraf for us this morning.
Jane, thanks a lot -- Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad, later tonight, the president holds his first formal press conference of the year; in fact, the first one since December.
CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein, also a writer with the "L.A. Times," here to talk about that.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Welcome back.
What do you expect to hear from the president tonight?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think the president's news conference is going to be dominated by two dates -- August 6 and June 30. There's going to be a lot of discussion about what he did after he received that presidential daily brief that was released over the weekend, on August 6, 2001, about the potential threat from al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden within the U.S. And, secondly, there's going to be a lot of discussion about the June 30 planned hand over of power to an Iraqi government, a government whose form, membership, authority, power and structure is all still to be determined. So I think those are going to be the two issues that we're going to hear the most about tonight.
HEMMER: So those are the two -- yesterday in the "L.A. Times" you wrote -- I'll just pull just a sentence from the end of your article. You say, "The failures before September 11 have many fathers, but the war in Iraq belongs to Bush alone."
Is this more tonight about Iraq than 9/11, do you think, or not?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think -- I don't know what the balance of the questioning will be, but I do think in the election it is clearly more about Iraq than 9/11. Look, in polling, there is a sense that President Bush did not do enough before 9/11, but there's also a sense that presidential campaign didn't do enough. And I think if we asked whether the FBI, the CIA, the media or the Congress, really, any institution you want to name, people feel almost by definition, because it happened, no one did enough.
I think there is a real resistance on the part of the public to blaming anyone and a tendency, I think, as a result to judge the president more by what he did after 9/11.
Now, on the terrorism front, that's good news for him because it's one reason why his ratings on terrorism stay so high.
But the war in Iraq really is his signature contribution to the strategy of how you combat terrorism in the short run and how you change the Islamic world in the long run. And I do think that ultimately that will reverberate much more powerfully in the judgment people make about him.
HEMMER: If you were flipping through the channels on Sunday morning, Easter Sunday, you heard some grumblings about the president in Crawford, Texas, was this the right place for the president to be after a fierce week of fighting in Falluja?
That goes to the obvious question, why do it tonight? Why now?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think he has to reassert himself as a leader in the debate. I mean as you say, there are a lot of Republicans who are wondering why the president was so out of sight, really, during what has been the most difficult week in Iraq, probably since the fall of Baghdad. And there is a desire to have him sort of reestablish himself as a figure in this debate.
I would say, though, Bill, I think that whatever gains or losses, really, in the short run from the image questions are going to be overshadowed by the results on the ground. Reality trumps arguments in an election where you have an incumbent president. And I do think that while there's a lot at stake tonight in sort of sending the American people a signal that he has a plan for how to deal with Iraq, what's more important is having a plan that actually does deal with Iraq and shows progress. That's where the balance of public opinion is going to lie in the long run.
HEMMER: Yes, and your answer there, typically these are designed not to necessarily make news, but to clarify positions, and do that through that question and A session.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
HEMMER: What's the position of Senator John Kerry through all this?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, Kerry has kept a very low profile. Today he has an op-ed piece in the "Washington Post" reaffirming the view that he stated as early as last September and he really hasn't wavered on since. His argument has been throughout, in terms of the reconstruction, that the U.S. should turn over authority for all of the decisions we mentioned about the Iraqi government, when it comes into being, who it is, when there are elections, who writes the constitution, all of that should be turned over to the U.N., both because he believes it will increase the credibility of the effort inside Iraq. Also, he thinks it will give us a better chance of getting more troops and financial aid from abroad.
The question he faces, obviously, is whether events have overrun that position, whether it is still plausible to turn to the U.N. or to expect significant numbers of troops from other nations, when things are so chaotic there.
But that is the position that he has held. He reaffirmed it yesterday.
Interestingly, yesterday on the campaign trail, he basically endorsed the June 30 date of the hand over of power, which he had earlier criticized, and which some Republicans even have begun to question whether we can, in this environment, realistically expect an Iraqi government to take more control over the situation.
HEMMER: Twelve hours away later today.
Ron Brownstein, thanks, in D.C.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Live later tonight here on CNN. That news conference comes at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the 9/11 Commission convenes less than an hour from now. What questions do they have for FBI officials about the priority that was given to fighting terror?
A commission member, Richard Ben-Veniste, is going to join us, coming up here in just a few minutes.
HEMMER: Also, that key ruling expected today in the Jayson Williams trial. What's at stake in that case?
Ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Time for Mr. Cafferty and the Question of the Day -- good morning.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Mrs. O'Brien.
Tonight, President Bush will hold his twelfth news conference since taking office. Iraq, September 11 probably high on the agenda, as you might expect. In Iraq, this has been the deadliest month yet for U.S. troops. Seventy-three of our kids killed over there. The president said yesterday he's considering overhauling the national intelligence services, which have been criticized for their failures of pre-September 11. There's also, of course, the economy and health care and jobs and the election.
So we thought we'd give you a chance to be in that news conference and you could question the president tonight. What would you ask him?
Tom in Ohio writes this: "My mother just passed away because she was unable to afford her medications and was too ashamed to let anyone know. My question would be when will enough people have died to make it cost-effective to actually help the elderly and middle class in this country instead of letting his buddies and the drug companies get record profits?"
Ray in Orchard Lake, Michigan: "Mr. President, would you support a military draft to stay in Iraq? Our forces are severely over extended. Half our troops won't reenlist, according to a "Stars & Stripes" poll, and I don't see any long lines of recruits eager to jump into this pile of snakes."
You thought I was going to say something else, didn't you?
Dave writes this: "I would ask the president how the investigation is going to learn which of his staff outed Joe Wilson's CIA agent wife." Haven't heard much about that lately, have we?
Susie in Miami, Florida: "President Bush tells us he took no action against al Qaeda in this country because he had no actionable evidence. Why didn't he use the same logic in attacking Iraq?"
And Chris in New Orleans writes: "Mr. President, ultimately where does the buck stop on your watch?"
O'BRIEN: Wow. CAFFERTY: None of these will be asked, of course, tonight.
O'BRIEN: Tougher, tough questioning from the crowd.
CAFFERTY: I wish -- I'm telling you, we should let our audience do these press conferences.
HEMMER: A pretty good variety, too.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Then he would have only had one instead of 12.
O'BRIEN: First and last.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Interesting.
HEMMER: We want to move on to a different story here we talked about at the top of our hour this morning here. Each year at the Academy Awards, more and more stars shunning their limos and pulling up to the red carpet in fuel efficient cars. The car makers figure where Hollywood goes, so, too, does the general public.
But as Fred Katayama reports, green cars may need a little more muscle to satisfy consumers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not Cameron Diaz's Prias. The fuel-efficient, low-emission hybrids that run on gas and electricity are getting much bigger, brawnier and classier. And that could fuel sales. The first hybrid sport utility, the Ford Escape, hits showrooms this summer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's called the Ford Escape hybrid and it couldn't come at a better time.
KATAYAMA: Hybrid leader Toyota is going upscale and up in performance. Its luxury SUV, the Lexus RX400H, sports a muscular V6 engine that boasts 20 percent more horsepower than the regular model.
BRAD NELSON, LEXUS SPOKESPERSON: We're looking to bring up the performance and the fuel economy.
KATAYAMA: And get ready for a hybrid pickup, the Dodge Ram, later this year. Consumers will be able to choose from 30 hybrids by 2008. Soaring gas prices could lure more customers. Honda boasts its Insight can go as far as 700 miles on a single tank, roughly the distance between Detroit and New York. Hybrids account for less than one percent of all vehicles sold, but that's expected to jump to roughly four percent in four years.
But price remains a drag. The average hybrid costs about $4,000 more than a similar non-hybrid vehicle. (on camera): And don't expect to recoup your investment quickly. While motorists will visit the gas station less often, hybrids will take seven to eight years to pay off. Acting green may make you feel better, but it won't save you green in the short run.
Fred Katayama, CNN Financial News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: One other bonus on this story. Drivers at a popular hybrid dealer in Virginia say that state allows them to drive solo on the HOV lanes during rush hour, which, for them, they say, is a bonus.
In a moment here, Kamber and May. The issues Iraq, Senator Kerry's position on the misery index and what they want to hear from the president later tonight.
Back in a moment live in D.C. after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: A foggy morning here in Manhattan.
Welcome back.
Almost 22 past the hour on a Tuesday morning.
April now the deadliest month for the U.S. military since it entered Iraq about a year ago. More than 70 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq so far this month. On the other side, we are told, 700 members of the Iraqi insurgents are dead, as well.
Let's debate that issue today; also, John Kerry's middle class misery report.
Democratic strategist Victor Kamber and former RNC Communications Director Cliff May back with us live in Washington.
Kamber and May we call it.
Good morning, gentlemen.
VICTOR KAMBER, THE KAMBER GROUP, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning.
CLIFF MAY, FOUNDATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES, FORMER REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: Nice to have you both here.
You know, Cliff, one of the many human faces in this war continues to be, over the past week, the hostages taken. Thomas Cahill (ph) is just -- Hamil, rather -- is just one person out of Mississippi.
How does the U.S. fight this, when more than 27 people are either held hostage or unaccounted for at this point? MAY: It's very difficult. I mean, look, we can beat and defeat terrorists and barbarians like this who take hostages, innocent civilians who kill children, who kill women. But it's hard to do it without involving yourself in the same kind of methods, without lowering yourself to the same kind of moral standards the other side has.
What's important is that we learn how to fight what's called the small war, a counterinsurgency, anti-terrorism. We haven't studied that over the past 20 years. We haven't figured out how to do it. But we have to. You can't leave these barbarians in charge of that country.
HEMMER: So you're saying this is learning on the job, aren't you? MAY: I'm afraid that's exactly what it is. Look, the book that is used by the military to fight these kinds of wars was written in 1940. If you were a Pentagon official, the way you got high in your career was not to focus on counterinsurgency and terrorism, and that's been true since the 1950s.
HEMMER: That learning curve has been tough this month alone... MAY: Very tough.
HEMMER: ... with more than 73 dead.
Victor, let's talk about John Kerry's proposal. You can see it in the "Washington Post" today.
How do you get the U.N. involved at this point, if that's the route you want to take?
KAMBER: Well, you just go and ask. I don't think it's a big deal. I don't think it's -- I think what Cliff just said, ironically, I agree, and it's my biggest probably complaint and anger at this administration -- ill prepared, not prepared for what was -- what a common sense would say was going to happen. We were not dealing with a world power when we went to Iraq. We were dealing with petty dictators and small time terrorists. And the fact that we weren't prepared for what was taking place and is taking place, shame on us.
And I'll -- and shame on this administration. And in terms...
HEMMER: But if it turns...
KAMBER: And in terms of going to the world, we now need to say OK, let's -- we made a mistake, we weren't as prepared as we thought in terms of how to respond, we need your help, world. We need you to come with us and join with us. And there's no answer that France and Germany and China and Russia join with us that they'll stop the kind of terrorism that's taking place. But hopefully, hopefully, with the condemnation of the rest of the world against Iraq and these people, we can bring some order. MAY: Bill, it's so hyper-partisan of my friend Victor to say this administration and not also include the previous administration and all the administrations before that.
KAMBER: It doesn't matter. This is the one that's at stake. MAY: OK. But you're turning this for partisan purposes and you're politicizing an important issue.
KAMBER: No. I want to end this war. I want to end dying. MAY: I do, too. Now, let me also point out, when you talk about the U.N., we now know that the U.N. was complicit with Saddam Hussein in stealing billions of dollars of oil wealth from the Iraqi people. We know that when we've turned things over to the U.N. before -- in Kosovo, Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia -- the U.N. let millions of people die.
So when you say turn it over to the U.N., what you're really saying is we don't want to deal with it and we don't really care what happens.
KAMBER: Now we're accusing the U.N. of being terrorists and murderers and criminals... MAY: I didn't say that and you know I didn't.
KAMBER: ... and oil gougers. No different than -- I mean these people that have been kidnapped are Halliburton employees... MAY: Yes.
KAMBER: ... who are there to protect the oil wells of Iraq. MAY: Yes, of Iraq, that's right.
KAMBER: And they're mercenaries. Let's not kid ourselves what's going on here. MAY: Halliburton -- wait a minute, you're saying that Halliburton is the mercenary...
KAMBER: Well, no, I'm saying these people have been hired as mercenaries to protect oil wells. I'm not saying we shouldn't protect the lives of our people. But let's not kid ourselves what's going on there. MAY: Victor, the oil is being protected so it can belong to the Iraqi people, which it hasn't for the past 30 or 40 years. And, by the way, we do know when we -- you should say, as well, that what the U.N. was doing under the U.N. Oil For Food Program is there's some, maybe the worst corruption we've ever seen in the world in terms of the dollar figures, over $5 billion.
KAMBER: No different... MAY: We need an investigation.
KAMBER: No different than the monies we gave Saddam Hussein when we were anti-Iran. MAY: Oh, no, no, no.
KAMBER: I mean when we talk about weapons of mass destruction, where are these weapons today coming from but places like Iran, which now we tend to close our eyes to? MAY: Well...
KAMBER: And we're not even going after weapons of small destruction, which exist there today, which are killing our people. MAY: You do have a good point about Iran. One of the things that nobody wants to talk about, Republicans or Democrats, is the extent to which Iran is stoking the fire, spending millions of dollars on al- Sadr and others who are fighting us.
Why don't people want to talk about it? Because we don't know what to do about Iran... HEMMER: Gentlemen... MAY: It is a terrorist sponsor and it is part of our problem in Iraq.
HEMMER: Let's leave it there.
Appreciate the discussion.
A few other topics we wanted to get to. We're out of time. I apologize about that. We'll get to them again, though.
Also, later tonight with the president, we'll see what he says then and perhaps some of the questions both of you have raised today will be answered.
Victor, thanks; Cliff, as well, in D.C.
Appreciate it -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, watching and waiting on a judge's decision in the manslaughter trial of Jayson Williams. Are the charges against him about to be dropped?
Stay with us.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: In a moment here, the former director of the FBI just one hour away from the 9/11 Commission in public, under oath and live here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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