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American Morning
A Congressional Report Set to be Released Today Critical of CIA's Pre-Iraq War Intelligence; Examining New Terror Warning from Department of Homeland Security
Aired July 09, 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Terror threats in the U.S., Osama bin Laden himself may be the one planning and pulling the strings.
Has John Kerry gotten the bounce he needed from John Edwards? What the numbers have to say today.
And a wild sight in the skies over Texas, and a hard landing, too, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Good morning, everyone.
Eight o'clock here in New York on a Friday.
Soledad continues her time off and Heidi Collins is still getting up early along with us.
Good to have you here, though.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.
HEMMER: U.S. intelligence again at the heart of so many of our stories today, and our headlines, as well. A new Senate report coming out in a few hours on CIA failures; criticism, too, of the agency, possibly George Tenet. Also, those latest terrorism threats being talked about in Washington. Reports on both of those stories in a moment. And we'll talk about with a terrorism expert today what's changed in the last few days to cause the alarm. We'll get to all that in a moment here.
COLLINS: Also, President Bush back on the campaign trail today, going where he has gone many times before -- Pennsylvania. We'll look at how this plays into the White House reelection strategy.
HEMMER: Pennsylvania is getting a lot of attention this week so far.
COLLINS: Yes, they are.
HEMMER: Jack Cafferty.
COLLINS: Says Jack Cafferty now.
HEMMER: Yes.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Remember that story Tuesday, the "New York Post," the edition that on the front page incorrectly reported that Dick Gephardt and not John Edwards would be the Democratic vice presidential nominee? Do you remember that monkey? Well, there's a report out this morning about where the "Post" got the story and you won't believe where it came from.
By the way, did I mention that the "New York Post" is owned by the same company that owns the "F" word network down the street here? The same company.
COLLINS: We haven't heard that.
CAFFERTY: The same company, News Corp., yes.
Also, if you're feeling a little tired at work and you happen to work in New York City, there's a hustle born here every day. Now we've got a company that's selling nap time in the city. So you can go buy a nap on your lunch hour.
COLLINS: Tie me up.
CAFFERTY: Go figure.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
The CIA bracing for the public release of what is said to be a scathing report on intelligence prior to the war in Iraq.
In Washington, David Ensor covering the story for us -- David, good morning.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
We understand that this report, more than 400 pages long, reaches over 100 conclusions about how U.S. intelligence handled what it had on Iraq prior to the war and many or most of those conclusions are not complimentary.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR (voice-over): Outgoing Central Intelligence Director George Tenet takes a beating in the Senate committee report just a day after he said farewell at the CIA after seven years in charge.
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: These have been eventful years, filled with exhilaration and triumph, with pain and sorrow, and, yes, with questions about our performance.
ENSOR: Sources say the 400-page committee report is blistering about failures of U.S. intelligence gathering and analysis on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and on possible ties to al Qaeda before the war. SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: It is an accurate, hard hitting and well deserved critique of the CIA.
JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: George Tenet has a lot of 'splaining to do, as Desi Arnez would say.
ENSOR: According to sources, the report says the CIA relied too much on a defector's claim that this was a biological weapons truck. All now agree it is not. That it relied too much on its own nuclear expert, who was convinced that aluminum tubes smuggled in by Saddam's government were for making enriched uranium. Others said he was wrong. That it should have more quickly identified as forgeries documents suggesting Iraq was trying to buy raw uranium in Niger.
DAVID KAY, FORMER CIA IRAQ WEAPONS INSPECTOR: This is a major failing and it is going to take presidential action, along with support in the Congress, before you're going to straighten it out. It's not going to be internally reformed.
ENSOR (on camera): Democrats are not happy that the report does not cover how the Bush administration may, they say, have misused the intelligence in the run-up to the war. That topic will be covered in another report not likely to come out until after November.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: Democrats are not happy about the fact the report will not cover the way that intelligence was used or, they suggest, possibly misused in the run-up to the war. There will be another report on that, but we're told that won't come out until after the November election -- Bill.
HEMMER: David, as we await the report later today, what is the talk in Washington about why George Tenet is stepping down? Is there talk among the sources you have that he knew this report was coming, that he knew it would be critical and he had to step down when he did several weeks ago?
ENSOR: This is only the first of three critical reports that are due out this summer. It was going to be a rough summer for George Tenet no matter how you look at it. No doubt, after seven years -- he's the second longest serving CIA director -- he's tired. He'd like to have more time with his family and make more money and various other things. But at the same time, it was going to be a pretty hot summer.
It would seem that one of the factors may have been better to take these reports as a private citizen than still sitting in a hot seat -- Bill.
HEMMER: David, thanks.
David Ensor in D.C. We await later this morning -- Heidi.
COLLINS: In 17 days, the Democratic faithful will gather in Boston for the party's convention. Homeland security officials fear it could be a prime target for terrorists, along with the August GOP convention in New York.
Secretary Tom Ridge says there's reason to believe al Qaeda will attempt to disrupt the election.
Earlier right here on AMERICAN MORNING Ridge said the U.S. cannot afford the luxury of speculating on whether al Qaeda is already in this country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: The experiences we've had over the past couple of weeks with taking down al Qaeda cells with our allies in Great Britain, Italy and Jordan, where they not only apprehended al Qaeda terrorists, but also the means by which they were going to conduct the attacks, the explosives -- that apparently they were looking to use some truck bombs over there. So we have to act every single day. It's not only the people who are here, but the means to conduct an attack are here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And joining us now from London, terrorism expert M.J. Gohel.
He's the director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation.
Mr. Gohel, thanks so much for your time this morning.
You know, Tom Ridge says that al Qaeda is planning to attack the U.S. before the November election. We heard it yesterday, we heard it again this morning. Yet he can't name a time or a method of the attack.
If this information comes from credible sources, as he says it does, wouldn't that warning come with some sort of more specific information?
M.J. GOHEL, TERRORISM EXPERT: Well, yes, I'm afraid I think this is what's giving rise to a number of cynical and skeptical voices who feel that maybe there is some electioneering going on here. But on the other hand, Tom Ridge did refer to Jordan, to Italy and to the U.K., where some major arrests have taken place. In Jordan, there was a dirty bomb plot, it is alleged. In Italy, a number of suspects have been arrested, linked to the Madrid train bombing cell. And that particular cell appears to be very large and extensive, somewhat unusually.
And, of course, in the U.K., a large number of British Pakistanis were arrested recently and they were in possession of half a ton of ammonium nitrate. Now, it's possible that some information came through. But if that information came through, then one wonders why the national color coded threat level has not been raised from the present yellow to orange.
COLLINS: Well, and he did talk about that. He said it's very expensive to maintain a level and to put the monetary funding into it to move it from yellow to the next level, which would be orange.
But it sounds to me like you're saying that it's very possible there is new information out there and that this was not just a reminder.
GOHEL: Well, yes. I mean it's well known that the USA is enemy number one for the global Jihad movement, that these jihadis will reserve the most devastating attacks for the USA and right now is, of course, a highly symbolic time for the terrorists to attack the USA, because, as you mentioned in the intro, that the Democratic convention is due to take place this month in Boston. The next month is the Republican Party convention and four months from now are the U.S. presidential elections.
The terrorists would like to send out a message that they can disrupt the elections in the most powerful democratic country in the world. So it's a highly tempting time for the terrorists.
COLLINS: But you say, and it's interesting that you say, in Madrid, the effect was very different. Terrorists bombed just days before the election there in order to get the incumbents out of office. If it happened here, you think the effect would be the opposite of that.
GOHEL: Well, the thing is this, that I think one has to look at the mind set in Europe and in Britain and the USA. In Europe, the people normally tend to blame the incumbent government when some kind of a terrorist atrocity takes place, as happened in Spain.
I think in the USA, the public attitude normally is to rally around the incumbent government. So I would say that -- and this is all speculation, of course -- that if an attack were to take place close to the November elections, it should help the incumbent administration. If it takes place now, then of course the public has four months to recover from it and so it could help the opposition.
But this is all speculation.
COLLINS: Terrorism expert M.J. Gohel this morning.
Thanks so much for your insight on that, sir.
Appreciate it.
GOHEL: My pleasure.
HEMMER: The State of Pennsylvania has 21 electoral votes. Today, President Bush heads there today. It's been a state that's gotten a lot of attention, with the Democrats gathering there on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. That trip to the battleground state all comes as the White House shifting some of its own campaign tactics.
Dana Bash live on the front lawn explains this -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
And the Bush campaign realizes that one surefire way to keep the White House away from John Kerry is to keep John Kerry from winning Pennsylvania when you look at the electoral map. So the president will take his campaign bus on a tour through three towns in Pennsylvania; interesting, three rural towns. And there are a lot of registered Democrats in these areas who voted for Mr. Bush last time. But those are the same voters the Kerry campaign thinks it will have better luck with now that John Edwards is on the ticket.
Now, we heard the president start to make the argument in North Carolina earlier in the week that the senator from Massachusetts, as he called it -- code for liberal -- does not share the values of Southerners. He'll make the same argument to rural voters today in Pennsylvania. And, as a matter of fact, his campaign is running a TV ad there at this point to try to help make that point.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM BUSH CAMPAIGN AD)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was in combat, yet Kerry found time to vote against the Laci Peterson law that protects pregnant women from violence. Kerry has his priorities. Are they yours?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, one of the first lines we heard literally minutes after Senator Kerry picked John Edwards from the Bush campaign is that Senator Edwards is liberal. The Republican National Committee put his voting record up on their Web site immediately to try to prove that. One Bush official I talked to this morning said that what they think the Kerry-Edwards ticket is trying to do is sell themselves as "the swans of the heartland" but they're really the ducklings of the far left.
That is the argument we're going to hear from the president today. Expect some new lines from him to try to make that point -- Bill.
HEMMER: Dana Bash at the White House.
Thanks -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Last night on "LARRY KING," John Kerry gave his first sit down interview since choosing John Edwards as his running mate. In it, he criticized the Bush administration while promoting the new addition to the Democratic ticket.
Here now, Frank Buckley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator John Edwards became John Kerry's running mate this week, but in an appearance on "LARRY KING LIVE," Kerry said Republican Senator John McCain was considered early on. SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John and I chatted briefly about whether or not we should even explore it. And I think in his heart he felt it was not something he wanted to do. And in the end, we saw issues about it and we didn't pursue it.
BUCKLEY: And Kerry defended against charges that Edwards, a first term senator from North Carolina, wasn't experienced enough to be a vice president.
KERRY: He has more experience as a candidate for vice president of the United States than George Bush did as a candidate for president and he has better judgment.
BUCKLEY: Kerry also criticized the Bush administration on its war on terror and the war in Iraq.
JOHN KERRY: They misled America about certain weapons that were, in fact, available. Whether it was intentional or not, I can't tell you. What's more important to me -- I mean people can make mistakes of intelligence -- is breaking one's own word as president in the manner in which you actually take your nation to war. When you say you're going to build an international coalition and do the diplomacy, do it. They didn't. When you say you're going to go to war as a last resort and it really is the last thing we want to do, mean it. They didn't. They rushed to war.
BUCKLEY: Appearing with Kerry, his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, whom the senator said he consults on everything, not, he pointed out, as a policy adviser, but as his wife. Still, Heinz Kerry alluded to at least having sway over Senator Kerry's choice of Edwards as running mate.
LARRY KING, HOST: Did you sign off on this?
TERESA HEINZ KERRY: Hmmm, well, let's put it this way, if it had been unacceptable, he would have known it.
BUCKLEY: Kerry says he also consulted others, including former President Clinton and Al Gore about running mates before settling on John Edwards.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Kerry and Edwards this morning attend two breakfast receptions in New York before traveling on to events in West Virginia and New Mexico.
HEMMER: In politics, they call it a bounce -- that bump in the polls after a significant event or announcement. John Kerry's hoping for that bounce with John Edwards now on his team.
And Bill Schneider, our senior political analyst, watching the numbers for us, live in D.C. -- Bill, good morning there.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: We have two polls we can look at. Zogby, within the margin of error, has Kerry-Edwards up by two points over Bush-Cheney. A Princeton Survey came out, too, a nine point advantage in that polling.
Is this the kind of bounce they were looking for, or does it have to be more significant than just nine points, Bill?
SCHNEIDER: Oh, well this the bounce they were expecting to get. It averages, in several polls, to about five points. Edwards was a popular choice. Edwards is a happy warrior, in contrast to John Kerry, who's never called a happy warrior; or, for that matter, in contrast to his opponent, Dick Cheney. You know, the White House, or, rather, the Bush-Cheney campaign, has already put a memo out saying that by the end of the Democratic convention, which is the end of this month, they expect Kerry and Edwards to have a 15 point lead. That's called pre-spin.
If they do have a 15 point lead, the Bush-Cheney campaign will say well, that's what we expected. And if they don't, if it's a little smaller, they'll say hmmm, they didn't do as well as expected.
HEMMER: Let's talk about the terror alerts that came out yesterday. I was talking with Tom Ridge about 45 minutes ago.
We want to play a portion of the interview that we conducted here on AMERICAN MORNING. The question about politics entering into the announcements from yesterday. It's swirling in certain circles.
Let's listen to Tom Ridge, how he addressed that question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIDGE: A secretary of homeland security doesn't do politics. His primary responsibility is to integrate an entire country, the people and the resources, to protect and defend America, pure and simple. Those who will want to characterize yesterday's press statement or my appearance on this show today as political, they have to deal with the unreality of their statement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: That is candid. It is straightforward.
How do they ride that delicate act when people perceive things other than what's happening in D.C. that we heard yesterday?
SCHNEIDER: Well, of course, the Democrats are saying this is being done for political reasons, they didn't even raise the color code. But that creates a problem. Democrats are really on the spot here because if they start saying this is driven by politics, then it looks like they're trying to make a political charge out of what could be a very serious situation.
I think your guest you had on a few minutes ago from London was, in fact, very well informed about this. If the attack -- if there is, god forbid, an attack on the United States, the immediate response will benefit President Bush, because when Americans are frustrated and angry and vengeful, they will support their president. But that effect could wear off fairly quickly when Americans start asking some difficult questions, primarily, did the war in Iraq make the United States more secure or more vulnerable?
HEMMER: We're also going to hear many comparisons to Madrid on March 11, several months ago.
SCHNEIDER: Yes, but it's a totally different situation.
HEMMER: Yes, indeed.
Thanks, Bill.
Bill Schneider in D.C. -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Sixteen minutes past the hour now and time for a look at some of the other news with Fredricka -- good morning, Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, Heidi.
Thank you.
The Iraqi resistance in Iraq is apparently stronger than previously thought. According to U.S. military officials cited by the Associated Press, the actual number of Iraqi fighters could be as high as 20,000, dwarfing earlier estimates of 5,000. Sources also telling the A.P. that the leaders are well armed Sunnis angry about losing power in Iraq and not foreign fighters.
Meanwhile, a pair of hostages are being threatened in Iraq. In a video statement aired on the Arabic language network Al Jazeera, insurgents threatened to behead to Bulgarians within 24 hours if the U.S. does not release all Iraqi prisoners. The Bulgarian government says it is discussing the situation with U.S. officials.
A Japanese woman kidnapped by North Korea decades ago has been reunited with her daughters and husband. Charles Jenkins and his family reunited in Indonesia. Jenkins, a U.S. Army sergeant, is accused of deserting the Army and faces extradition to the U.S. The family is meeting in Jakarta because Indonesia does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
Here in the U.S., Martha Stewart will face sentencing next week. A judge yesterday rejecting Stewart's request for a new trial based on claims that a government ink expert lied on the witness stand at her first trial. Experts saying Stewart is likely to get 10 to 16 months in prison.
And in Minnesota, a family returning home to find their house in flames. Officials say an explosion, possibly caused by a gas leak, leveled the home yesterday. The house next door was also damaged. No injuries were reported.
Back to you -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Wow.
All right, Fred, thanks so much for that.
We'll talk again soon.
The great ball of fire spotted in the skies above Oklahoma and Texas Wednesday night was probably a meteor crashing into the Earth's atmosphere. A police officer dashboard camera captured the likely meteor streaking across the night sky, flaring up and then disappearing. Thousands of people across Oklahoma and Texas called the National Weather Service to report seeing the celestial event.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: An amazing story out of California. California scientists hoping some monkeys' latest achievement may help humans eventually. They say the monkeys recently were able to move a cursor on a computer screen simply by thinking about it. It's believed some day this could lead to new techniques allowing disabled people to move prosthetic limbs using the power of their own mind. I love that story. I love that possibility. If I could just get Jack Cafferty to shine my shoes.
COLLINS: Do it without actually doing it, just thinking about it?
HEMMER: I'm thinking. I'm thinking. I'm thinking.
COLLINS: I'm skeptical.
HEMMER: I'm hoping.
COLLINS: All right, well, still to come, here's another story similar to this. You can't talk to the dead, but if one man has his way, the dead will talk to you. Cafferty has that, as well.
HEMMER: That's right.
Also ahead, one of the biggest recalls in U.S. history. It turns out those cheap little toys in the gumball machine might be poisonous. We'll check into that in a moment.
COLLINS: Plus, a look at the Kerry-Edwards lovefest. Some folks think they might be laying it on a little thick. Give Me A Minute ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone.
Back to Jack and "The File."
CAFFERTY: Shine your shoes? Is that what you're hoping for?
HEMMER: You know, I did it for you once. You've got to return the favor some day.
CAFFERTY: You did it for me because you lost a bet.
HEMMER: Well, yes (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
CAFFERTY: It was not a favor. It was nothing gratuitous on your part.
HEMMER: I paid for it. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
CAFFERTY: Nothing magnanimous.
HEMMER: I paid for it. I mean there's no question about it.
CAFFERTY: You know, you lost a bet you had to pay.
HEMMER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COLLINS: OK, OK, OK!
CAFFERTY: Time now to go back to the now famous Tuesday edition of the "New York Post" that incorrectly reported Richard Gephardt was Senator Kerry's pick for vice president. I love this story. The "New York Times" is reporting this morning that the "Post" had a very high ranking source for that story, one Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corporation, which owns the "New York Post" and, by the way, also owns the "F" word network down the street here in New York City.
Apparently, according to the "Times," Murdoch called in the tip to the "Post" news desk on Monday night. According to the "Times," an unnamed source at the "Post" told staffers they would lose their jobs if they discussed it with the media. We would be the media here.
A "Post" spokesman says they stand by their denial that Mr. Murdoch was the source of the story that was wrong on the front page of the "New York Post" Tuesday. The newspaper, did I mention, is also owned by News Corp., which owns the Fox News Network, the same outfit.
All right, other things. There soon may be a way for the dead to talk from the hereafter. Just in case you're not hearing enough conversation in your life, you can go to the cemetery and the dead can talk to you soon. A guy in California has filed a patent application for a tombstone with a video screen which will allow dead ones to play back messages to their loved ones who are still on this side of the dirt. The headstone has a flat touch screen that is remote control operated. There will also be an option for an Internet connection.
It could be coin operated. It could be swiped with a credit card. The designer says people could tell their life stories or, as in the case probably with my ex-wife, for example, have the final say in a long running argument.
One final story. A New York company that's selling sleep. Metro Naps, located in the Empire State Building, offers customers refuge from the city in the form of a quiet darkened room and special napping pods. There's one there. Get this, it costs you $14. You can sleep for 20 minutes. They recommend the short nap, since longer naps can leave you more groggy and they probably cost more. If you're planning on becoming a regular, Metro Naps also offers monthly passes beginning at $65 a month. Or, if you want to sleep for free, you can simply turn on the Fox News Network and you're out like that.
COLLINS: I'm so moving on.
Thanks, Jack.
Still to come, some people think Ken Lay avoided charges for so long because he was close to the president. But maybe that relationship is working against it. Give Me A Minute, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING quick news at cnn.com/am, there for you all the time online.
In a moment, the military gets its first chance to clear up some of the confusion behind a Marine's disappearance in Iraq and the claim he was held hostage. Was it a hoax and where is he now?
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired July 9, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Terror threats in the U.S., Osama bin Laden himself may be the one planning and pulling the strings.
Has John Kerry gotten the bounce he needed from John Edwards? What the numbers have to say today.
And a wild sight in the skies over Texas, and a hard landing, too, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Good morning, everyone.
Eight o'clock here in New York on a Friday.
Soledad continues her time off and Heidi Collins is still getting up early along with us.
Good to have you here, though.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.
HEMMER: U.S. intelligence again at the heart of so many of our stories today, and our headlines, as well. A new Senate report coming out in a few hours on CIA failures; criticism, too, of the agency, possibly George Tenet. Also, those latest terrorism threats being talked about in Washington. Reports on both of those stories in a moment. And we'll talk about with a terrorism expert today what's changed in the last few days to cause the alarm. We'll get to all that in a moment here.
COLLINS: Also, President Bush back on the campaign trail today, going where he has gone many times before -- Pennsylvania. We'll look at how this plays into the White House reelection strategy.
HEMMER: Pennsylvania is getting a lot of attention this week so far.
COLLINS: Yes, they are.
HEMMER: Jack Cafferty.
COLLINS: Says Jack Cafferty now.
HEMMER: Yes.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Remember that story Tuesday, the "New York Post," the edition that on the front page incorrectly reported that Dick Gephardt and not John Edwards would be the Democratic vice presidential nominee? Do you remember that monkey? Well, there's a report out this morning about where the "Post" got the story and you won't believe where it came from.
By the way, did I mention that the "New York Post" is owned by the same company that owns the "F" word network down the street here? The same company.
COLLINS: We haven't heard that.
CAFFERTY: The same company, News Corp., yes.
Also, if you're feeling a little tired at work and you happen to work in New York City, there's a hustle born here every day. Now we've got a company that's selling nap time in the city. So you can go buy a nap on your lunch hour.
COLLINS: Tie me up.
CAFFERTY: Go figure.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
The CIA bracing for the public release of what is said to be a scathing report on intelligence prior to the war in Iraq.
In Washington, David Ensor covering the story for us -- David, good morning.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
We understand that this report, more than 400 pages long, reaches over 100 conclusions about how U.S. intelligence handled what it had on Iraq prior to the war and many or most of those conclusions are not complimentary.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR (voice-over): Outgoing Central Intelligence Director George Tenet takes a beating in the Senate committee report just a day after he said farewell at the CIA after seven years in charge.
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: These have been eventful years, filled with exhilaration and triumph, with pain and sorrow, and, yes, with questions about our performance.
ENSOR: Sources say the 400-page committee report is blistering about failures of U.S. intelligence gathering and analysis on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and on possible ties to al Qaeda before the war. SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: It is an accurate, hard hitting and well deserved critique of the CIA.
JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: George Tenet has a lot of 'splaining to do, as Desi Arnez would say.
ENSOR: According to sources, the report says the CIA relied too much on a defector's claim that this was a biological weapons truck. All now agree it is not. That it relied too much on its own nuclear expert, who was convinced that aluminum tubes smuggled in by Saddam's government were for making enriched uranium. Others said he was wrong. That it should have more quickly identified as forgeries documents suggesting Iraq was trying to buy raw uranium in Niger.
DAVID KAY, FORMER CIA IRAQ WEAPONS INSPECTOR: This is a major failing and it is going to take presidential action, along with support in the Congress, before you're going to straighten it out. It's not going to be internally reformed.
ENSOR (on camera): Democrats are not happy that the report does not cover how the Bush administration may, they say, have misused the intelligence in the run-up to the war. That topic will be covered in another report not likely to come out until after November.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: Democrats are not happy about the fact the report will not cover the way that intelligence was used or, they suggest, possibly misused in the run-up to the war. There will be another report on that, but we're told that won't come out until after the November election -- Bill.
HEMMER: David, as we await the report later today, what is the talk in Washington about why George Tenet is stepping down? Is there talk among the sources you have that he knew this report was coming, that he knew it would be critical and he had to step down when he did several weeks ago?
ENSOR: This is only the first of three critical reports that are due out this summer. It was going to be a rough summer for George Tenet no matter how you look at it. No doubt, after seven years -- he's the second longest serving CIA director -- he's tired. He'd like to have more time with his family and make more money and various other things. But at the same time, it was going to be a pretty hot summer.
It would seem that one of the factors may have been better to take these reports as a private citizen than still sitting in a hot seat -- Bill.
HEMMER: David, thanks.
David Ensor in D.C. We await later this morning -- Heidi.
COLLINS: In 17 days, the Democratic faithful will gather in Boston for the party's convention. Homeland security officials fear it could be a prime target for terrorists, along with the August GOP convention in New York.
Secretary Tom Ridge says there's reason to believe al Qaeda will attempt to disrupt the election.
Earlier right here on AMERICAN MORNING Ridge said the U.S. cannot afford the luxury of speculating on whether al Qaeda is already in this country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: The experiences we've had over the past couple of weeks with taking down al Qaeda cells with our allies in Great Britain, Italy and Jordan, where they not only apprehended al Qaeda terrorists, but also the means by which they were going to conduct the attacks, the explosives -- that apparently they were looking to use some truck bombs over there. So we have to act every single day. It's not only the people who are here, but the means to conduct an attack are here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And joining us now from London, terrorism expert M.J. Gohel.
He's the director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation.
Mr. Gohel, thanks so much for your time this morning.
You know, Tom Ridge says that al Qaeda is planning to attack the U.S. before the November election. We heard it yesterday, we heard it again this morning. Yet he can't name a time or a method of the attack.
If this information comes from credible sources, as he says it does, wouldn't that warning come with some sort of more specific information?
M.J. GOHEL, TERRORISM EXPERT: Well, yes, I'm afraid I think this is what's giving rise to a number of cynical and skeptical voices who feel that maybe there is some electioneering going on here. But on the other hand, Tom Ridge did refer to Jordan, to Italy and to the U.K., where some major arrests have taken place. In Jordan, there was a dirty bomb plot, it is alleged. In Italy, a number of suspects have been arrested, linked to the Madrid train bombing cell. And that particular cell appears to be very large and extensive, somewhat unusually.
And, of course, in the U.K., a large number of British Pakistanis were arrested recently and they were in possession of half a ton of ammonium nitrate. Now, it's possible that some information came through. But if that information came through, then one wonders why the national color coded threat level has not been raised from the present yellow to orange.
COLLINS: Well, and he did talk about that. He said it's very expensive to maintain a level and to put the monetary funding into it to move it from yellow to the next level, which would be orange.
But it sounds to me like you're saying that it's very possible there is new information out there and that this was not just a reminder.
GOHEL: Well, yes. I mean it's well known that the USA is enemy number one for the global Jihad movement, that these jihadis will reserve the most devastating attacks for the USA and right now is, of course, a highly symbolic time for the terrorists to attack the USA, because, as you mentioned in the intro, that the Democratic convention is due to take place this month in Boston. The next month is the Republican Party convention and four months from now are the U.S. presidential elections.
The terrorists would like to send out a message that they can disrupt the elections in the most powerful democratic country in the world. So it's a highly tempting time for the terrorists.
COLLINS: But you say, and it's interesting that you say, in Madrid, the effect was very different. Terrorists bombed just days before the election there in order to get the incumbents out of office. If it happened here, you think the effect would be the opposite of that.
GOHEL: Well, the thing is this, that I think one has to look at the mind set in Europe and in Britain and the USA. In Europe, the people normally tend to blame the incumbent government when some kind of a terrorist atrocity takes place, as happened in Spain.
I think in the USA, the public attitude normally is to rally around the incumbent government. So I would say that -- and this is all speculation, of course -- that if an attack were to take place close to the November elections, it should help the incumbent administration. If it takes place now, then of course the public has four months to recover from it and so it could help the opposition.
But this is all speculation.
COLLINS: Terrorism expert M.J. Gohel this morning.
Thanks so much for your insight on that, sir.
Appreciate it.
GOHEL: My pleasure.
HEMMER: The State of Pennsylvania has 21 electoral votes. Today, President Bush heads there today. It's been a state that's gotten a lot of attention, with the Democrats gathering there on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. That trip to the battleground state all comes as the White House shifting some of its own campaign tactics.
Dana Bash live on the front lawn explains this -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
And the Bush campaign realizes that one surefire way to keep the White House away from John Kerry is to keep John Kerry from winning Pennsylvania when you look at the electoral map. So the president will take his campaign bus on a tour through three towns in Pennsylvania; interesting, three rural towns. And there are a lot of registered Democrats in these areas who voted for Mr. Bush last time. But those are the same voters the Kerry campaign thinks it will have better luck with now that John Edwards is on the ticket.
Now, we heard the president start to make the argument in North Carolina earlier in the week that the senator from Massachusetts, as he called it -- code for liberal -- does not share the values of Southerners. He'll make the same argument to rural voters today in Pennsylvania. And, as a matter of fact, his campaign is running a TV ad there at this point to try to help make that point.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM BUSH CAMPAIGN AD)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was in combat, yet Kerry found time to vote against the Laci Peterson law that protects pregnant women from violence. Kerry has his priorities. Are they yours?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, one of the first lines we heard literally minutes after Senator Kerry picked John Edwards from the Bush campaign is that Senator Edwards is liberal. The Republican National Committee put his voting record up on their Web site immediately to try to prove that. One Bush official I talked to this morning said that what they think the Kerry-Edwards ticket is trying to do is sell themselves as "the swans of the heartland" but they're really the ducklings of the far left.
That is the argument we're going to hear from the president today. Expect some new lines from him to try to make that point -- Bill.
HEMMER: Dana Bash at the White House.
Thanks -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Last night on "LARRY KING," John Kerry gave his first sit down interview since choosing John Edwards as his running mate. In it, he criticized the Bush administration while promoting the new addition to the Democratic ticket.
Here now, Frank Buckley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator John Edwards became John Kerry's running mate this week, but in an appearance on "LARRY KING LIVE," Kerry said Republican Senator John McCain was considered early on. SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John and I chatted briefly about whether or not we should even explore it. And I think in his heart he felt it was not something he wanted to do. And in the end, we saw issues about it and we didn't pursue it.
BUCKLEY: And Kerry defended against charges that Edwards, a first term senator from North Carolina, wasn't experienced enough to be a vice president.
KERRY: He has more experience as a candidate for vice president of the United States than George Bush did as a candidate for president and he has better judgment.
BUCKLEY: Kerry also criticized the Bush administration on its war on terror and the war in Iraq.
JOHN KERRY: They misled America about certain weapons that were, in fact, available. Whether it was intentional or not, I can't tell you. What's more important to me -- I mean people can make mistakes of intelligence -- is breaking one's own word as president in the manner in which you actually take your nation to war. When you say you're going to build an international coalition and do the diplomacy, do it. They didn't. When you say you're going to go to war as a last resort and it really is the last thing we want to do, mean it. They didn't. They rushed to war.
BUCKLEY: Appearing with Kerry, his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, whom the senator said he consults on everything, not, he pointed out, as a policy adviser, but as his wife. Still, Heinz Kerry alluded to at least having sway over Senator Kerry's choice of Edwards as running mate.
LARRY KING, HOST: Did you sign off on this?
TERESA HEINZ KERRY: Hmmm, well, let's put it this way, if it had been unacceptable, he would have known it.
BUCKLEY: Kerry says he also consulted others, including former President Clinton and Al Gore about running mates before settling on John Edwards.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Kerry and Edwards this morning attend two breakfast receptions in New York before traveling on to events in West Virginia and New Mexico.
HEMMER: In politics, they call it a bounce -- that bump in the polls after a significant event or announcement. John Kerry's hoping for that bounce with John Edwards now on his team.
And Bill Schneider, our senior political analyst, watching the numbers for us, live in D.C. -- Bill, good morning there.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: We have two polls we can look at. Zogby, within the margin of error, has Kerry-Edwards up by two points over Bush-Cheney. A Princeton Survey came out, too, a nine point advantage in that polling.
Is this the kind of bounce they were looking for, or does it have to be more significant than just nine points, Bill?
SCHNEIDER: Oh, well this the bounce they were expecting to get. It averages, in several polls, to about five points. Edwards was a popular choice. Edwards is a happy warrior, in contrast to John Kerry, who's never called a happy warrior; or, for that matter, in contrast to his opponent, Dick Cheney. You know, the White House, or, rather, the Bush-Cheney campaign, has already put a memo out saying that by the end of the Democratic convention, which is the end of this month, they expect Kerry and Edwards to have a 15 point lead. That's called pre-spin.
If they do have a 15 point lead, the Bush-Cheney campaign will say well, that's what we expected. And if they don't, if it's a little smaller, they'll say hmmm, they didn't do as well as expected.
HEMMER: Let's talk about the terror alerts that came out yesterday. I was talking with Tom Ridge about 45 minutes ago.
We want to play a portion of the interview that we conducted here on AMERICAN MORNING. The question about politics entering into the announcements from yesterday. It's swirling in certain circles.
Let's listen to Tom Ridge, how he addressed that question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIDGE: A secretary of homeland security doesn't do politics. His primary responsibility is to integrate an entire country, the people and the resources, to protect and defend America, pure and simple. Those who will want to characterize yesterday's press statement or my appearance on this show today as political, they have to deal with the unreality of their statement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: That is candid. It is straightforward.
How do they ride that delicate act when people perceive things other than what's happening in D.C. that we heard yesterday?
SCHNEIDER: Well, of course, the Democrats are saying this is being done for political reasons, they didn't even raise the color code. But that creates a problem. Democrats are really on the spot here because if they start saying this is driven by politics, then it looks like they're trying to make a political charge out of what could be a very serious situation.
I think your guest you had on a few minutes ago from London was, in fact, very well informed about this. If the attack -- if there is, god forbid, an attack on the United States, the immediate response will benefit President Bush, because when Americans are frustrated and angry and vengeful, they will support their president. But that effect could wear off fairly quickly when Americans start asking some difficult questions, primarily, did the war in Iraq make the United States more secure or more vulnerable?
HEMMER: We're also going to hear many comparisons to Madrid on March 11, several months ago.
SCHNEIDER: Yes, but it's a totally different situation.
HEMMER: Yes, indeed.
Thanks, Bill.
Bill Schneider in D.C. -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Sixteen minutes past the hour now and time for a look at some of the other news with Fredricka -- good morning, Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, Heidi.
Thank you.
The Iraqi resistance in Iraq is apparently stronger than previously thought. According to U.S. military officials cited by the Associated Press, the actual number of Iraqi fighters could be as high as 20,000, dwarfing earlier estimates of 5,000. Sources also telling the A.P. that the leaders are well armed Sunnis angry about losing power in Iraq and not foreign fighters.
Meanwhile, a pair of hostages are being threatened in Iraq. In a video statement aired on the Arabic language network Al Jazeera, insurgents threatened to behead to Bulgarians within 24 hours if the U.S. does not release all Iraqi prisoners. The Bulgarian government says it is discussing the situation with U.S. officials.
A Japanese woman kidnapped by North Korea decades ago has been reunited with her daughters and husband. Charles Jenkins and his family reunited in Indonesia. Jenkins, a U.S. Army sergeant, is accused of deserting the Army and faces extradition to the U.S. The family is meeting in Jakarta because Indonesia does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
Here in the U.S., Martha Stewart will face sentencing next week. A judge yesterday rejecting Stewart's request for a new trial based on claims that a government ink expert lied on the witness stand at her first trial. Experts saying Stewart is likely to get 10 to 16 months in prison.
And in Minnesota, a family returning home to find their house in flames. Officials say an explosion, possibly caused by a gas leak, leveled the home yesterday. The house next door was also damaged. No injuries were reported.
Back to you -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Wow.
All right, Fred, thanks so much for that.
We'll talk again soon.
The great ball of fire spotted in the skies above Oklahoma and Texas Wednesday night was probably a meteor crashing into the Earth's atmosphere. A police officer dashboard camera captured the likely meteor streaking across the night sky, flaring up and then disappearing. Thousands of people across Oklahoma and Texas called the National Weather Service to report seeing the celestial event.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: An amazing story out of California. California scientists hoping some monkeys' latest achievement may help humans eventually. They say the monkeys recently were able to move a cursor on a computer screen simply by thinking about it. It's believed some day this could lead to new techniques allowing disabled people to move prosthetic limbs using the power of their own mind. I love that story. I love that possibility. If I could just get Jack Cafferty to shine my shoes.
COLLINS: Do it without actually doing it, just thinking about it?
HEMMER: I'm thinking. I'm thinking. I'm thinking.
COLLINS: I'm skeptical.
HEMMER: I'm hoping.
COLLINS: All right, well, still to come, here's another story similar to this. You can't talk to the dead, but if one man has his way, the dead will talk to you. Cafferty has that, as well.
HEMMER: That's right.
Also ahead, one of the biggest recalls in U.S. history. It turns out those cheap little toys in the gumball machine might be poisonous. We'll check into that in a moment.
COLLINS: Plus, a look at the Kerry-Edwards lovefest. Some folks think they might be laying it on a little thick. Give Me A Minute ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone.
Back to Jack and "The File."
CAFFERTY: Shine your shoes? Is that what you're hoping for?
HEMMER: You know, I did it for you once. You've got to return the favor some day.
CAFFERTY: You did it for me because you lost a bet.
HEMMER: Well, yes (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
CAFFERTY: It was not a favor. It was nothing gratuitous on your part.
HEMMER: I paid for it. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
CAFFERTY: Nothing magnanimous.
HEMMER: I paid for it. I mean there's no question about it.
CAFFERTY: You know, you lost a bet you had to pay.
HEMMER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COLLINS: OK, OK, OK!
CAFFERTY: Time now to go back to the now famous Tuesday edition of the "New York Post" that incorrectly reported Richard Gephardt was Senator Kerry's pick for vice president. I love this story. The "New York Times" is reporting this morning that the "Post" had a very high ranking source for that story, one Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corporation, which owns the "New York Post" and, by the way, also owns the "F" word network down the street here in New York City.
Apparently, according to the "Times," Murdoch called in the tip to the "Post" news desk on Monday night. According to the "Times," an unnamed source at the "Post" told staffers they would lose their jobs if they discussed it with the media. We would be the media here.
A "Post" spokesman says they stand by their denial that Mr. Murdoch was the source of the story that was wrong on the front page of the "New York Post" Tuesday. The newspaper, did I mention, is also owned by News Corp., which owns the Fox News Network, the same outfit.
All right, other things. There soon may be a way for the dead to talk from the hereafter. Just in case you're not hearing enough conversation in your life, you can go to the cemetery and the dead can talk to you soon. A guy in California has filed a patent application for a tombstone with a video screen which will allow dead ones to play back messages to their loved ones who are still on this side of the dirt. The headstone has a flat touch screen that is remote control operated. There will also be an option for an Internet connection.
It could be coin operated. It could be swiped with a credit card. The designer says people could tell their life stories or, as in the case probably with my ex-wife, for example, have the final say in a long running argument.
One final story. A New York company that's selling sleep. Metro Naps, located in the Empire State Building, offers customers refuge from the city in the form of a quiet darkened room and special napping pods. There's one there. Get this, it costs you $14. You can sleep for 20 minutes. They recommend the short nap, since longer naps can leave you more groggy and they probably cost more. If you're planning on becoming a regular, Metro Naps also offers monthly passes beginning at $65 a month. Or, if you want to sleep for free, you can simply turn on the Fox News Network and you're out like that.
COLLINS: I'm so moving on.
Thanks, Jack.
Still to come, some people think Ken Lay avoided charges for so long because he was close to the president. But maybe that relationship is working against it. Give Me A Minute, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING quick news at cnn.com/am, there for you all the time online.
In a moment, the military gets its first chance to clear up some of the confusion behind a Marine's disappearance in Iraq and the claim he was held hostage. Was it a hoax and where is he now?
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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