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Coalition Demands Disarmament in Fallujah, Spanish Troops Pulling Out; Woodward Book Likely to Hurt Bush in Polls; 90-Second Pop: "The Restaurant," "The Apprentice," "Kill Bill"; McDonald's CEO Dies

Aired April 19, 2004 - 09:30   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.


BILL HEMMER, CO-HOST: Our top stories again here at the half hour.
The U.S. Army said they would be withdrawing some troops from outside the Iraqi town of Najaf. Military sources say they're prepared to give negotiators a chance before moving in against the rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. More on this throughout the day here.

Meanwhile, also in Iraq, the top administrator, Paul Bremer, says it's now clear Iraqis will not be able to handle their own security after the handover on June 30.

The Islamic militant group Hamas, also in the Middle East, vowing revenge for the death of its leader. Hundreds of Palestinians hit the streets yesterday mourning Abdel Rantisi, who was killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza on Saturday. Many Palestinians also blame the U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice says the U.S. had no prior knowledge of that attack from the weekend.

In the two years before the 9/11 attacks, defense officials reportedly dismissed the possibility of terrorist hijacking planes and crashing them into the Pentagon.

According to "USA Today" the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, outlined such scenarios in their exercises, but the drills never took place because it reports the Pentagon called them unrealistic.

The trial of the former NBA star Jayson Williams resuming today. That trial's been on hold for three weeks after a dispute over evidence. Defense attorneys sought a dismissal, but the judge said no to that last week. The judge will allow the defense to recall witnesses relating to the new evidence.

Many mid-sized cars are falling short during side-impact testing involving SUVs or pickups. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety handed out failing grade to several mid-sized cars after recent crash tests. Top marks went to the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord when they were equipped with side impact airbags.

Now, 9:32 here in New York City.

(WEATHER REPORT) SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: President Bush's top man in Iraq, Ambassador Paul Bremer, is beginning to make the case for the role of the U.S. forces in that country after June 30. That is when sovereignty is set to be handed over to the Iraqis. This just as a large contingent of coalition soldiers is about to begin to leave.

Jim Clancy at the Iraqi capital for us this morning.

Jim, good morning.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

And I want to bring you up-to-date on some breaking developments that have just come in in the last few minutes here in Baghdad.

Major announcement by the U.S.-led coalition here in Baghdad, saying that the U.S. forces around Fallujah are going to go into a new phase, that they are going to allow -- they're going to move back the curfew there, most importantly begin joint patrols with Iraqi police to try to restore order.

There are a lot of moves that are being making, conciliatory moves that are being made by the U.S. side. But all of it is really hinging on a call for the fighters inside Fallujah to hand in their heavy weaponry, hand in their rocket-propelled grenades, hand in any SAM missiles they have. All of this kind of weaponry and turn it over. Also to surrender foreign fighters.

Now, these are big "if's," but clearly, the coalition bending over backwards to try to end a standoff that has been very costly, indeed, on the Iraqi side. More than Iraqi -- a thousand Iraqis said to have been killed in the last 2 1/2 weeks of fighting in and around Fallujah. A bold move there.

Meantime in the south, the other hot spot that the U.S. has been looking at, Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia Muslim cleric, really praising the move by Spain to pull out its forces sooner rather than later, calling on his armed militiamen, who are outlawed and the U.S. wants to target, calling on them to halt all attacks against the 1,400 Spanish troops that are in Iraq right now.

The U.S. general here on the ground, General Ricardo Sanchez saying this may encourage Moqtada al-Sadr to just pull back. The Polish commander of coalition troops in that sector, in the south central sector, saying it's leaving them scrambling for troops and the U.S. is going to have to fill the gap.

Paul Bremer already saying once again on the record in stronger terms than ever before it appears that the Iraqi security forces, everybody had hoped would be a little bit more ready by now, simply aren't and the U.S. and other coalition nations are going to have to pick up the slack on that front -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Jim Clancy for us this morning, thanks for that report -- Bill. HEMMER: Soledad, was President Bush determined to go to war in Iraq, or was that decision a last resort? The question one of the many focuses of Bob Woodward's new book, providing a behind the scenes account of the run up to the Iraq war.

Woodward says the president did not clue in many of his closest advisors but made the decision after the CIA director assured him about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB WOODWARD, "THE WASHINGTON POST": George Tenet is sitting on the couch, stands up and says, "Don't worry; it's a slam dunk case." And the president challenges him again, and Tenet says, "The case, it's a slam dunk."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: That from "60 Minutes" last night. More on the fall-out today from the book that's out today. CNN political analyst Carlos Watson back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Nice to see you.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you, Bill.

HEMMER: What do you think is the most significant bit of news that we're hearing so far from this book?

WATSON: I think in many ways this is kind of a third shoe dropping, if you will. You remember the Paul O'Neill book six months ago, and then Paul O'Neill also was on "60 Minutes." Then we saw the Richard Clarke book, another bestseller that ends up on "60 Minutes." And now this book.

I think the credibility problem that the president is having, that has mainly been on the Democratic side and mainly been among some independents, is now going to expand into his Republican base.

HEMMER: Go back to that little piece from "60 Minutes" last night. Does it hurt the president more, or does it hurt George Tenet?

WATSON: I actually think it ultimately hurts the president, when you go through the whole piece. Because here's what people are left to wonder.

One, they knew that he was going to plan, but you wonder if he bypassed maybe the most popular American political figure around, Colin Powell. Remember, Powell finds out about the decision to go to war after one of our Saudi allies, Prince Bandar.

No. 2, you hear us going after evidence that even the president is not sure is good evidence up front and kind of questions George Tenet; ultimately buys off on it.

Three, you get a portrait of Dick Cheney, his vice president, as someone who seems, in Powell's words, in many ways, almost to have a fever about going to war.

I think this hurts the president, whose numbers on Iraq have already dropped, as you recall, from the 60s and 70s in terms of approval into the 40s.

HEMMER: What's the incentive for the White House to let a guy like Bob Woodward interview 75 members of the administration? Have you thought about that?

WATSON: Yes! There are two things that come to mind here.

First and foremost, remember, just two years ago, Woodward produced another book on the decision to go to war...

HEMMER: "Bush at War."

WATSON: ... and ultimately in that book, the president seemed like a strong and resolute leader. And so I'm sure in many ways people thought, "Hey, that was not a bad take, but hopefully this next one will be good." I'm sure there was at least a little bit of that.

Yes, but don't forget, this is Bob Woodward. And there's always a sense that if you don't cooperate with them, he's going to get the information anyhow. So you'd rather have your perspective out.

Last but not least, the president has said that he thinks this is an important historical document about going to war even when you don't have the full support of people around you. And he wanted to get that message out for future leaders.

HEMMER: Finally, in terms of politics, how long do these books linger in terms of their effectiveness? You mentioned Paul O'Neill. I imagine a lot of folks in our audience even forgot about that book that came out, what, six or eight months ago that we were talking about for several days at that point.

WATSON: I think these books, like a lot of things, have a short half life, probably a month, but I do think this will move the polls. I do think you'll see a three or four-point bump.

But here's what's significant. This whole year, if you think about it, Bill, politically, we're seeing old media, mainly books have an impact. We know television has an impact on elections. We've heard this year that the Internet has an impact, but now we've seen three books already. Don't forget Joe Wilson, the former ambassador, his book comes out soon. President Clinton is likely to have a book that comes out soon.

So these books, even if they only last for a month, will continue -- are likely to continue to have an impact.

HEMMER: Nice to see you, Carlos.

WATSON: Good to see you.

HEMMER: Thanks for joining us here in New York. Later tonight, more questions, more answers. Bob Woodward is the guest of Larry King, 9 p.m. Eastern Time, 6 p.m. on the West Coast. You'll see it in prime time later tonight here on CNN -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a leader in the fast food industry dies. Andy Serwer will join us with how this could affect the company and the market -- Bill.

HEMMER: Also this morning, it's tough being fired. We'll take a look at the life after for Donald Trump's dropouts. That's "The Apprentice," the postscript. Still to come on "90-Second Pop" in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BRAK)

O'BRIEN: Ready or not, it is time for "90-Second Pop." Today, "The Restaurant's" second helping, life after "The Apprentice" and "Bill" kills at the box office.

Here to discuss, Andy Borowitz, who just, concisely, had a piece that aired yesterday in "The New York Times."

ANDY BOROWITZ, AUTHOR, "GOVERNOR ARNOLD": Right. Thank you.

TOURE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE": Bravo. Bravo.

O'BRIEN: A little applause.

That was very funny. Also, "New York" magazine's contributing editor, Sarah Bernard joins us, and Toure, contributing editor for "Rolling Stone" magazine. He's supposed to be on a pedestal tonight but he's bailing out! I'm outing you. Yes, I know. Sorry.

TOURE: I take it very personally.

On a more positive note, Salman Rushdie got married over the weekend, so congratulations to him.

SARAH BERNARD, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Salman Rushdie got married, so congratulations to him.

Let's start with "The Restaurant."

BERNARD: The restaurant, I know, debuts tonight. Second season.

O'BRIEN: But behind the scenes is so much even more interesting than...

BERNARD: It is. It totally is. There's a feud going on between Rocco DiSpirito, the star of the show, and Jeffrey Chodorow, who is his backer.

Now what's interesting about this is last year when Rocco started doing this, he said this is either going to make his career or be the biggest mistake of his life.

(CROSSTALK)

BERNARD: And what's happening is, it's actually kind of both. I mean, you can say now that he is arguably the most famous chef in America. His pots and pans on PVC have sold $3 million.

But at the same time, he's lost respect in the culinary world. His other crown jewel restaurant has been demoted to two stars from stars.

O'BRIEN: After, apparently, he let "The New York Times" magazine reviewer wait and hour and 40 minutes...

BERNARD: An hour and a half for their meal. Not a good idea. So also, what can solve this? A very good second season with a lot of drama.

So I do believe that they are suing each other. They obviously have problems.

O'BRIEN: I love how they work toward a solution in a television show.

BERNARD: But they're really amping it up, and they're playing out their feud on TV. So if it's a successful season and it brings people into the restaurant, maybe they'll make up in the end.

TOURE: Every week of the show, and you're getting sued and you suck and you're losing money! And service is slow.

O'BRIEN: Then the restaurant is not really doing it.

BOROWITZ: Like I say, this is why I go to Appleby's. Because you check into a restaurant like this, everybody is suing everybody. You're lucky to ever get your bread.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's talk about "The Apprentice."

TOURE: It goes on and on and on.

O'BRIEN: And the losers, apparently, are doing all right.

BOROWITZ: The losers are the winners. It's like a presidential election or something. It's so strange.

But no, I mean, I got some -- I guess Kwame has got a big deal with KFC.

O'BRIEN: Right.

BOROWITZ: That seems to be. So they're all -- like, all of the guys who were the rejects are doing -- are doing really well. I guess Omarosa, I heard, is going to be named to the axis of evil.

BERNARD: I wonder why the guys, the loser guys are getting job offers and the women are getting offers to pose in their underwear!

TOURE: Hello, bad idea!

O'BRIEN: I was going to say, it's not like they accidentally showed up and someone had them take their clothes off and they took their picture.

TOURE: Exactly.

BERNARD: They had no idea that would happen.

TOURE: What made them think the "FHM" thing was a good idea? This is a bad idea. The only reason they won when they were winning on the show was because of sex. And this just furthers that all they have to offer in a business is...

O'BRIEN: It doesn't scream businesswoman when you're there in your underwear.

BOROWITZ: This is such a reversal because usually women, like, pose in their undergarments and then they get involved with Trump. So it's like a very same -- it's like a kind of -- there's a disconnect.

BERNARD: It works both ways. He doesn't mind if it's afterwards, you know? It's fine.

O'BRIEN: Can we talk about "Kill Bill"?

TOURE: How much time do we have? How much fun was this?

O'BRIEN: You loved the first one?

TOURE: Daryl Hannah's greatest moment in film ever, I think.

O'BRIEN: Was it better than "Splash"? Better than "Splash"?

TOURE: Better than "Wall Street," better than everything. Better than the fight with JFK in the street, everything.

O'BRIEN: That wasn't a movie!

Can you talk about the fact that "The Passion" was not in the top five?

BERNARD: Toure is going to be very happy about that.

O'BRIEN: It was a very good weekend for Toure.

A great weekend?

TOURE: "The Prince and Me" did better than "The Passion." I'm happy.

O'BRIEN: Well, I am -- then I'm happy if you're happy. And just because you're dissing me and not going to be on the panel tonight with me! You know what? As long as you're happy. It feels so good.

TOURE: And if you had to go to interview Eminem, what would you do?

O'BRIEN: I'd tell Eminem that I have a panel that I have to do and I made commitments.

TOURE: Oh, my goodness. That one again.

BOROWITZ: Tell him I said hi, by the way.

O'BRIEN: You guys, as always...

BOROWITZ: It's been too long.

O'BRIEN: Way too long, right? You guys, as always, thank you so much. I appreciate it -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Soledad. In a moment here, the sudden death of the chairman and CEO of McDonald's. The news just breaking two hours ago. Andy covers that next for us next here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Well, the sudden death of McDonald's chairman and CEO, stunning news earlier today for his family and the company, certainly. Andy Serwer's minding your business, checks back in for us on this story.

Good morning, Andy.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, yes.

Sad news for McDonald's this morning. Jim Cantalupo, the CEO of the company, age 60, died this morning of an apparent heart attack in Orlando, Florida, a company convention there.

You can see, he joined the company 30 years ago, became the CEO in January of 2003, engineered a really remarkable turn-around, Bill.

This company was growing two ways: No. 1, by expanding its stores and then also by trying to do better within its stores, doing better service.

Falling way short on the service end. Cantalupo decided to ratchet back the expansion plans and focus on service within the stores. That had been working very, very well. Same store sales up dramatically, the stock price up from the low teens to nearly $30.

The stock is down this morning on the news this morning, as you might imagine. And we're looking at Charlie Bell, who is the COO, a 43-year-old Australian, as the possible successor.

HEMMER: OK. Andy, off and running on a Monday, then. SERWER: That's it.

HEMMER: Soledad?

O'BRIEN: Final chance to check in with Jack for the question of the day.

JACK CAFFERTY: Thanks, Soledad.

The question is this: is it a mistake to try to negotiate with the insurgents in Iraq? And some of the e-mails we've gotten are as follows.

Noel in California, "No negotiation. Give the enemy a deadline to disarm. When they fail to do so, let them have all we've got. No more hiding behind women, children, or religious sites."

Crystal in Martinsville, Virginia: "Negotiating with those insurgents is all but impossible. They resent us, blame us and want us out of their country. How many more lives must be lost before the U.S. gets the picture? I say bring the boys home; let the U.N. negotiate."

Carolyn from Savannah, Georgia, says, "Mo, we should not negotiate, but if Jesse Jackson would like to take the place of a hostage, my regard for his sincerity in butting into this situation would skyrocket."

Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Not likely, but interesting.

HEMMER: You know, the thing, the problem that Jackson has in all this, who do you talk to? You know? To whom do you make this appeal if you have any shot at getting this guy released?

O'BRIEN: Right.

HEMMER: Tough to find.

Thank you, Jack.

CAFFERTY: You're most welcome.

HEMMER: Coming up on CNN next hour, nine years after the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, a remembrance and a continuing legal battle, too.

At two minutes past the hour, ten minutes away, there will be a moment of silence for the 168 victims on this day, nine years ago. Daryn has that next hour.

We're back in a moment here with Andy, Jack and Soledad right after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Known for both her beauty and brains, Jordan's Queen Rania is an eloquent and passionate spokesperson for her country.

Committed to bridging the gap between the Middle East and the West, she and her husband, King Abdullah II, have friendly ties with the United States and are recognized for their modern approach to governing.

Rania has not been afraid to take on controversial issues at home, speaking out for women's and children's rights. She has taken on taboo subjects like child abuse and a practice known as honor killings, the customs of murdering female relatives who have committed adultery or lost their virginity before marriage.

In what many call a fairy tale life, Rania, a Palestinian from a middle class family, fell in love with a prince. She became Jordan's queen in 1993 when, from his deathbed, King Hussein unexpectedly named his son successor.

They now have three children, and Rania considers motherhood her most important role.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: About five minutes away from a memorial service in Oklahoma City, 9:02 central time, exactly nine years since that truck bomb exploded, ripping apart the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. A hundred and sixty-eight dead that day, the country's deadliest act of domestic terrorism.

Survivors and relatives gathering now at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. They will read the names of the victims and observe 168 seconds of silence.

Timothy McVeigh executed for that bombing. His accomplice, Terry Nichols, has been convicted in federal court. Today he is on trial for murder in state court with the possibility of a death penalty.

Victims and survivors attending the trial will hold a private observance at noon Central Time in a church behind the courthouse. Part of the scene today in Oklahoma City.

O'BRIEN: Obviously, just getting underwear. We should mention that these pictures are coming to us from our affiliate KOCO in the area today. Really moving ceremony. And of course, each and every year that they do this anniversary, it's utterly heartbreaking.

HEMMER: But later today, we'll also take you to the memorial there in downtown Oklahoma City that now stands in the site of the federal building. From the time the bomb went off to the day they opened the memorial, six years had passed. And again, it is the cornerstone, the memorial for that from nine years ago. O'BRIEN: No question about that. Well, of course, obviously Daryn Kagan is going to be continuing to discuss all of this as she takes over for us for the next several hours.

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 19, 2004 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CO-HOST: Our top stories again here at the half hour.
The U.S. Army said they would be withdrawing some troops from outside the Iraqi town of Najaf. Military sources say they're prepared to give negotiators a chance before moving in against the rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. More on this throughout the day here.

Meanwhile, also in Iraq, the top administrator, Paul Bremer, says it's now clear Iraqis will not be able to handle their own security after the handover on June 30.

The Islamic militant group Hamas, also in the Middle East, vowing revenge for the death of its leader. Hundreds of Palestinians hit the streets yesterday mourning Abdel Rantisi, who was killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza on Saturday. Many Palestinians also blame the U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice says the U.S. had no prior knowledge of that attack from the weekend.

In the two years before the 9/11 attacks, defense officials reportedly dismissed the possibility of terrorist hijacking planes and crashing them into the Pentagon.

According to "USA Today" the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, outlined such scenarios in their exercises, but the drills never took place because it reports the Pentagon called them unrealistic.

The trial of the former NBA star Jayson Williams resuming today. That trial's been on hold for three weeks after a dispute over evidence. Defense attorneys sought a dismissal, but the judge said no to that last week. The judge will allow the defense to recall witnesses relating to the new evidence.

Many mid-sized cars are falling short during side-impact testing involving SUVs or pickups. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety handed out failing grade to several mid-sized cars after recent crash tests. Top marks went to the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord when they were equipped with side impact airbags.

Now, 9:32 here in New York City.

(WEATHER REPORT) SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: President Bush's top man in Iraq, Ambassador Paul Bremer, is beginning to make the case for the role of the U.S. forces in that country after June 30. That is when sovereignty is set to be handed over to the Iraqis. This just as a large contingent of coalition soldiers is about to begin to leave.

Jim Clancy at the Iraqi capital for us this morning.

Jim, good morning.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

And I want to bring you up-to-date on some breaking developments that have just come in in the last few minutes here in Baghdad.

Major announcement by the U.S.-led coalition here in Baghdad, saying that the U.S. forces around Fallujah are going to go into a new phase, that they are going to allow -- they're going to move back the curfew there, most importantly begin joint patrols with Iraqi police to try to restore order.

There are a lot of moves that are being making, conciliatory moves that are being made by the U.S. side. But all of it is really hinging on a call for the fighters inside Fallujah to hand in their heavy weaponry, hand in their rocket-propelled grenades, hand in any SAM missiles they have. All of this kind of weaponry and turn it over. Also to surrender foreign fighters.

Now, these are big "if's," but clearly, the coalition bending over backwards to try to end a standoff that has been very costly, indeed, on the Iraqi side. More than Iraqi -- a thousand Iraqis said to have been killed in the last 2 1/2 weeks of fighting in and around Fallujah. A bold move there.

Meantime in the south, the other hot spot that the U.S. has been looking at, Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia Muslim cleric, really praising the move by Spain to pull out its forces sooner rather than later, calling on his armed militiamen, who are outlawed and the U.S. wants to target, calling on them to halt all attacks against the 1,400 Spanish troops that are in Iraq right now.

The U.S. general here on the ground, General Ricardo Sanchez saying this may encourage Moqtada al-Sadr to just pull back. The Polish commander of coalition troops in that sector, in the south central sector, saying it's leaving them scrambling for troops and the U.S. is going to have to fill the gap.

Paul Bremer already saying once again on the record in stronger terms than ever before it appears that the Iraqi security forces, everybody had hoped would be a little bit more ready by now, simply aren't and the U.S. and other coalition nations are going to have to pick up the slack on that front -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Jim Clancy for us this morning, thanks for that report -- Bill. HEMMER: Soledad, was President Bush determined to go to war in Iraq, or was that decision a last resort? The question one of the many focuses of Bob Woodward's new book, providing a behind the scenes account of the run up to the Iraq war.

Woodward says the president did not clue in many of his closest advisors but made the decision after the CIA director assured him about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB WOODWARD, "THE WASHINGTON POST": George Tenet is sitting on the couch, stands up and says, "Don't worry; it's a slam dunk case." And the president challenges him again, and Tenet says, "The case, it's a slam dunk."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: That from "60 Minutes" last night. More on the fall-out today from the book that's out today. CNN political analyst Carlos Watson back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Nice to see you.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you, Bill.

HEMMER: What do you think is the most significant bit of news that we're hearing so far from this book?

WATSON: I think in many ways this is kind of a third shoe dropping, if you will. You remember the Paul O'Neill book six months ago, and then Paul O'Neill also was on "60 Minutes." Then we saw the Richard Clarke book, another bestseller that ends up on "60 Minutes." And now this book.

I think the credibility problem that the president is having, that has mainly been on the Democratic side and mainly been among some independents, is now going to expand into his Republican base.

HEMMER: Go back to that little piece from "60 Minutes" last night. Does it hurt the president more, or does it hurt George Tenet?

WATSON: I actually think it ultimately hurts the president, when you go through the whole piece. Because here's what people are left to wonder.

One, they knew that he was going to plan, but you wonder if he bypassed maybe the most popular American political figure around, Colin Powell. Remember, Powell finds out about the decision to go to war after one of our Saudi allies, Prince Bandar.

No. 2, you hear us going after evidence that even the president is not sure is good evidence up front and kind of questions George Tenet; ultimately buys off on it.

Three, you get a portrait of Dick Cheney, his vice president, as someone who seems, in Powell's words, in many ways, almost to have a fever about going to war.

I think this hurts the president, whose numbers on Iraq have already dropped, as you recall, from the 60s and 70s in terms of approval into the 40s.

HEMMER: What's the incentive for the White House to let a guy like Bob Woodward interview 75 members of the administration? Have you thought about that?

WATSON: Yes! There are two things that come to mind here.

First and foremost, remember, just two years ago, Woodward produced another book on the decision to go to war...

HEMMER: "Bush at War."

WATSON: ... and ultimately in that book, the president seemed like a strong and resolute leader. And so I'm sure in many ways people thought, "Hey, that was not a bad take, but hopefully this next one will be good." I'm sure there was at least a little bit of that.

Yes, but don't forget, this is Bob Woodward. And there's always a sense that if you don't cooperate with them, he's going to get the information anyhow. So you'd rather have your perspective out.

Last but not least, the president has said that he thinks this is an important historical document about going to war even when you don't have the full support of people around you. And he wanted to get that message out for future leaders.

HEMMER: Finally, in terms of politics, how long do these books linger in terms of their effectiveness? You mentioned Paul O'Neill. I imagine a lot of folks in our audience even forgot about that book that came out, what, six or eight months ago that we were talking about for several days at that point.

WATSON: I think these books, like a lot of things, have a short half life, probably a month, but I do think this will move the polls. I do think you'll see a three or four-point bump.

But here's what's significant. This whole year, if you think about it, Bill, politically, we're seeing old media, mainly books have an impact. We know television has an impact on elections. We've heard this year that the Internet has an impact, but now we've seen three books already. Don't forget Joe Wilson, the former ambassador, his book comes out soon. President Clinton is likely to have a book that comes out soon.

So these books, even if they only last for a month, will continue -- are likely to continue to have an impact.

HEMMER: Nice to see you, Carlos.

WATSON: Good to see you.

HEMMER: Thanks for joining us here in New York. Later tonight, more questions, more answers. Bob Woodward is the guest of Larry King, 9 p.m. Eastern Time, 6 p.m. on the West Coast. You'll see it in prime time later tonight here on CNN -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a leader in the fast food industry dies. Andy Serwer will join us with how this could affect the company and the market -- Bill.

HEMMER: Also this morning, it's tough being fired. We'll take a look at the life after for Donald Trump's dropouts. That's "The Apprentice," the postscript. Still to come on "90-Second Pop" in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BRAK)

O'BRIEN: Ready or not, it is time for "90-Second Pop." Today, "The Restaurant's" second helping, life after "The Apprentice" and "Bill" kills at the box office.

Here to discuss, Andy Borowitz, who just, concisely, had a piece that aired yesterday in "The New York Times."

ANDY BOROWITZ, AUTHOR, "GOVERNOR ARNOLD": Right. Thank you.

TOURE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE": Bravo. Bravo.

O'BRIEN: A little applause.

That was very funny. Also, "New York" magazine's contributing editor, Sarah Bernard joins us, and Toure, contributing editor for "Rolling Stone" magazine. He's supposed to be on a pedestal tonight but he's bailing out! I'm outing you. Yes, I know. Sorry.

TOURE: I take it very personally.

On a more positive note, Salman Rushdie got married over the weekend, so congratulations to him.

SARAH BERNARD, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Salman Rushdie got married, so congratulations to him.

Let's start with "The Restaurant."

BERNARD: The restaurant, I know, debuts tonight. Second season.

O'BRIEN: But behind the scenes is so much even more interesting than...

BERNARD: It is. It totally is. There's a feud going on between Rocco DiSpirito, the star of the show, and Jeffrey Chodorow, who is his backer.

Now what's interesting about this is last year when Rocco started doing this, he said this is either going to make his career or be the biggest mistake of his life.

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BERNARD: And what's happening is, it's actually kind of both. I mean, you can say now that he is arguably the most famous chef in America. His pots and pans on PVC have sold $3 million.

But at the same time, he's lost respect in the culinary world. His other crown jewel restaurant has been demoted to two stars from stars.

O'BRIEN: After, apparently, he let "The New York Times" magazine reviewer wait and hour and 40 minutes...

BERNARD: An hour and a half for their meal. Not a good idea. So also, what can solve this? A very good second season with a lot of drama.

So I do believe that they are suing each other. They obviously have problems.

O'BRIEN: I love how they work toward a solution in a television show.

BERNARD: But they're really amping it up, and they're playing out their feud on TV. So if it's a successful season and it brings people into the restaurant, maybe they'll make up in the end.

TOURE: Every week of the show, and you're getting sued and you suck and you're losing money! And service is slow.

O'BRIEN: Then the restaurant is not really doing it.

BOROWITZ: Like I say, this is why I go to Appleby's. Because you check into a restaurant like this, everybody is suing everybody. You're lucky to ever get your bread.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's talk about "The Apprentice."

TOURE: It goes on and on and on.

O'BRIEN: And the losers, apparently, are doing all right.

BOROWITZ: The losers are the winners. It's like a presidential election or something. It's so strange.

But no, I mean, I got some -- I guess Kwame has got a big deal with KFC.

O'BRIEN: Right.

BOROWITZ: That seems to be. So they're all -- like, all of the guys who were the rejects are doing -- are doing really well. I guess Omarosa, I heard, is going to be named to the axis of evil.

BERNARD: I wonder why the guys, the loser guys are getting job offers and the women are getting offers to pose in their underwear!

TOURE: Hello, bad idea!

O'BRIEN: I was going to say, it's not like they accidentally showed up and someone had them take their clothes off and they took their picture.

TOURE: Exactly.

BERNARD: They had no idea that would happen.

TOURE: What made them think the "FHM" thing was a good idea? This is a bad idea. The only reason they won when they were winning on the show was because of sex. And this just furthers that all they have to offer in a business is...

O'BRIEN: It doesn't scream businesswoman when you're there in your underwear.

BOROWITZ: This is such a reversal because usually women, like, pose in their undergarments and then they get involved with Trump. So it's like a very same -- it's like a kind of -- there's a disconnect.

BERNARD: It works both ways. He doesn't mind if it's afterwards, you know? It's fine.

O'BRIEN: Can we talk about "Kill Bill"?

TOURE: How much time do we have? How much fun was this?

O'BRIEN: You loved the first one?

TOURE: Daryl Hannah's greatest moment in film ever, I think.

O'BRIEN: Was it better than "Splash"? Better than "Splash"?

TOURE: Better than "Wall Street," better than everything. Better than the fight with JFK in the street, everything.

O'BRIEN: That wasn't a movie!

Can you talk about the fact that "The Passion" was not in the top five?

BERNARD: Toure is going to be very happy about that.

O'BRIEN: It was a very good weekend for Toure.

A great weekend?

TOURE: "The Prince and Me" did better than "The Passion." I'm happy.

O'BRIEN: Well, I am -- then I'm happy if you're happy. And just because you're dissing me and not going to be on the panel tonight with me! You know what? As long as you're happy. It feels so good.

TOURE: And if you had to go to interview Eminem, what would you do?

O'BRIEN: I'd tell Eminem that I have a panel that I have to do and I made commitments.

TOURE: Oh, my goodness. That one again.

BOROWITZ: Tell him I said hi, by the way.

O'BRIEN: You guys, as always...

BOROWITZ: It's been too long.

O'BRIEN: Way too long, right? You guys, as always, thank you so much. I appreciate it -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Soledad. In a moment here, the sudden death of the chairman and CEO of McDonald's. The news just breaking two hours ago. Andy covers that next for us next here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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HEMMER: Well, the sudden death of McDonald's chairman and CEO, stunning news earlier today for his family and the company, certainly. Andy Serwer's minding your business, checks back in for us on this story.

Good morning, Andy.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, yes.

Sad news for McDonald's this morning. Jim Cantalupo, the CEO of the company, age 60, died this morning of an apparent heart attack in Orlando, Florida, a company convention there.

You can see, he joined the company 30 years ago, became the CEO in January of 2003, engineered a really remarkable turn-around, Bill.

This company was growing two ways: No. 1, by expanding its stores and then also by trying to do better within its stores, doing better service.

Falling way short on the service end. Cantalupo decided to ratchet back the expansion plans and focus on service within the stores. That had been working very, very well. Same store sales up dramatically, the stock price up from the low teens to nearly $30.

The stock is down this morning on the news this morning, as you might imagine. And we're looking at Charlie Bell, who is the COO, a 43-year-old Australian, as the possible successor.

HEMMER: OK. Andy, off and running on a Monday, then. SERWER: That's it.

HEMMER: Soledad?

O'BRIEN: Final chance to check in with Jack for the question of the day.

JACK CAFFERTY: Thanks, Soledad.

The question is this: is it a mistake to try to negotiate with the insurgents in Iraq? And some of the e-mails we've gotten are as follows.

Noel in California, "No negotiation. Give the enemy a deadline to disarm. When they fail to do so, let them have all we've got. No more hiding behind women, children, or religious sites."

Crystal in Martinsville, Virginia: "Negotiating with those insurgents is all but impossible. They resent us, blame us and want us out of their country. How many more lives must be lost before the U.S. gets the picture? I say bring the boys home; let the U.N. negotiate."

Carolyn from Savannah, Georgia, says, "Mo, we should not negotiate, but if Jesse Jackson would like to take the place of a hostage, my regard for his sincerity in butting into this situation would skyrocket."

Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Not likely, but interesting.

HEMMER: You know, the thing, the problem that Jackson has in all this, who do you talk to? You know? To whom do you make this appeal if you have any shot at getting this guy released?

O'BRIEN: Right.

HEMMER: Tough to find.

Thank you, Jack.

CAFFERTY: You're most welcome.

HEMMER: Coming up on CNN next hour, nine years after the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, a remembrance and a continuing legal battle, too.

At two minutes past the hour, ten minutes away, there will be a moment of silence for the 168 victims on this day, nine years ago. Daryn has that next hour.

We're back in a moment here with Andy, Jack and Soledad right after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Known for both her beauty and brains, Jordan's Queen Rania is an eloquent and passionate spokesperson for her country.

Committed to bridging the gap between the Middle East and the West, she and her husband, King Abdullah II, have friendly ties with the United States and are recognized for their modern approach to governing.

Rania has not been afraid to take on controversial issues at home, speaking out for women's and children's rights. She has taken on taboo subjects like child abuse and a practice known as honor killings, the customs of murdering female relatives who have committed adultery or lost their virginity before marriage.

In what many call a fairy tale life, Rania, a Palestinian from a middle class family, fell in love with a prince. She became Jordan's queen in 1993 when, from his deathbed, King Hussein unexpectedly named his son successor.

They now have three children, and Rania considers motherhood her most important role.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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HEMMER: About five minutes away from a memorial service in Oklahoma City, 9:02 central time, exactly nine years since that truck bomb exploded, ripping apart the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. A hundred and sixty-eight dead that day, the country's deadliest act of domestic terrorism.

Survivors and relatives gathering now at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. They will read the names of the victims and observe 168 seconds of silence.

Timothy McVeigh executed for that bombing. His accomplice, Terry Nichols, has been convicted in federal court. Today he is on trial for murder in state court with the possibility of a death penalty.

Victims and survivors attending the trial will hold a private observance at noon Central Time in a church behind the courthouse. Part of the scene today in Oklahoma City.

O'BRIEN: Obviously, just getting underwear. We should mention that these pictures are coming to us from our affiliate KOCO in the area today. Really moving ceremony. And of course, each and every year that they do this anniversary, it's utterly heartbreaking.

HEMMER: But later today, we'll also take you to the memorial there in downtown Oklahoma City that now stands in the site of the federal building. From the time the bomb went off to the day they opened the memorial, six years had passed. And again, it is the cornerstone, the memorial for that from nine years ago. O'BRIEN: No question about that. Well, of course, obviously Daryn Kagan is going to be continuing to discuss all of this as she takes over for us for the next several hours.

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