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American Morning
Latest On the U.S. Offensive On Falluja; Latest Developments In the Peterson Trial; Interview With Kay Bailey Hutchison
Aired November 08, 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.
Coalition forces lay the groundwork for an all out assault. Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces now ready to enter the heart of the insurgency.
Day four for deliberations in Scott Peterson's case. Why the task at hand is likely to be difficult for the jury.
And a country still reeling from a deadly earthquake just about a month ago rocked again by another strong tremor, 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.
8:00 here in New York on this Monday.
Good to have you along with us today.
Soledad is out.
Kelly Wallace is back in with us today -- good to have you back.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be here.
HEMMER: As we continue this hour, U.S. and Iraqi forces getting ready for a major assault on Falluja. But assuming the coalition gains control of the town from the insurgents, will they be able to hang onto it? We'll talk to a CNN military analyst. General Terry Murray is up with us in a moment here.
WALLACE: Also, Bill, we've been talking how last week was huge, huge, huge, huge for President Bush and other Republicans. But with the nation still deeply divided, many people wonder how Mr. Bush will reach out to Democrats.
In a moment, we'll talk to Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas about that.
HEMMER: All right, after some time off last week, Jack is back with us on a Monday morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And I misspoke earlier. The movie I was talking about with Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise was "Collateral" not "Collateral Damage." I am humbly and deeply apologetic for the misstatement.
WALLACE: It still was a great movie.
CAFFERTY: Yes. It was good.
Coming up in "The Cafferty File," celebrities who don't have enough to do, which may be most of them. One of them is suing another of them over a fence for millions.
And women who think they can look younger by sticking needles into themselves and it's got nothing to do with Botox. It's kind of yucky, actually.
HEMMER: It sounds like it hurts, too.
CAFFERTY: It's icky.
HEMMER: Thanks, Jack.
Daryn Kagan is at the CNN Center now watching the headlines for us.
Hey Daryn -- good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Bill.
Now in the news, a high level Palestinian delegation is heading to France to visit the ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. A makeshift shrine of candles and flowers has sprung up outside the Paris military hospital. The 75-year-old Arafat has been in a coma for more than three days. Arafat's wife has denounced the planned visit by top officials.
Here in the U.S., a sentencing hearing is set today for former St. Louis Blues player Mike Danton. The former NHL star pleaded guilty last July to charges stemming from a murder for hire case. Prosecutors said the former NHL star wanted to kill his agent. Danton faces seven to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Some conservative groups are vowing to keep Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter from the Senate Judiciary Committee. At issue is a comment that Specter made suggesting any Supreme Court justice nominees intent on overturning "Row v. Wade" would likely not win Senate approval. Specter says the quote was misconstrued and that he has no litmus test for judges.
And gas prices are inching downward. The average price of gas fell almost $0.03 in the past two weeks. The national average for a gallon of self-serve regular is now just over $2. Lower crude oil prices are credited for that drop. People will take any break they can get -- Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: Lower, but they've got a long way to go, right, Daryn? KAGAN: You've got to drive across town to get to that gas station.
HEMMER: I'm telling you.
KAGAN: Yes.
HEMMER: Thanks.
In Iraq now, outside of Falluja, 10,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops or more now getting ready for an assault on that town. Heavy fighting said to be under way on the outskirts of Falluja.
Karl Penhaul embedded again now with the U.S. Marines, as he was last spring, by way of video phone now in the desert.
Karl -- what do you have there?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Bill.
We're about one and a half miles from the northern edge of Falluja. The northern edge of Falluja is over there. Throughout much of the day, we've heard fire coming from .150 millimeter artillery batteries. We've also heard tanks just to our south open fire on insurgent positions just on the eastern edge of the city.
We understand from one of the battalion commanders that the main targets that have been hit today are also (INAUDIBLE) in been in action there. But the main targets that have been hit are small insurgent positions manned by four or five insurgents armed with assault rifles, and they've been acting as forward observers, forward observers so that they can try and direct mortar fire onto U.S. Marine tank and infantry positions outside the city limits.
Now, behind me several platoons of U.S. Marine infantry are dug in in a makeshift network of trenches, those trenches precisely to defend them against the possibility of mortar attacks while they wait in this area, until they get the order to move in and assault Falluja. And that will mark the start of the ground offensive.
Now, of course, at first light we did get news that on the western edge of the city, Marines and Iraqi commandos took control of the hospital. The hospital there, in fact, lies just outside the western edges of the main city. More significantly, perhaps, the Marines in that commando unit took control of two of the major bridges across the Euphrates. One of those bridges, of course, though, highly symbolic. That was where insurgents hung the murdered and mutilated bodies of four U.S. Blackwater contractors last March. That was really what sparked the offensive against Falluja in April and May of this year -- Bill.
HEMMER: Karl Penhaul by way of video phone there, as he pointed out, north of the town of Falluja.
We will be in touch as soon as we get more on developments there on the ground. It's about 4:00 local time in the afternoon there in Iraq.
And U.S. commanders warning to expect the most brutal urban fighting since the Vietnam War.
General Terry Murray fought in Vietnam; also fought in Operation Desert Storm before he retired back in 2001.
He's our CNN military analyst this morning from D.C. And General -- good morning to you.
A thank you for your time.
GEN. TERRY MURRAY (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: What is the U.S. up against there in Falluja today?
MURRAY: I don't think there's much threat on a large scale. In other words, this is a force inside of Falluja that possesses largely small arms -- machine guns, rocket propelled grenades, maybe some mortars. But the reality is once we get into the city -- and that's where most of the fighting will take place -- once we get into the city, most of the advantages of firepower and technology are overcome by the environment. And it becomes a close in battle, which plays into the hands of the terrorists.
HEMMER: You said a number of things to our producers last night. I want to kind of draw it out a little bit for our viewers this morning and get a better understanding.
In part, you say when you fought in urban warfare in Vietnam more than 30 years ago, you say today the concepts are the same, but the equipment is different.
What do you mean by the concept, General?
MURRAY: Well, in other words, the great advantage to the insurgent when he is fighting in an urban environment is that he has the protection of the civilians. Now, there may only be 50,000 civilians left in the city, but the fact is the insurgents take advantage of using civilians as shields.
Beyond that, when you are operating in an environment that is an urban environment, a built up area, it becomes a close in battle, where the rifle and the pistol and small arms are much more important than are some of the long range arms that we can use, artillery and air support. So it becomes a very, very different close in battle inside an urban area.
HEMMER: Two more things you say. One of them is this. This battle could take five days or five weeks.
What determines that time?
MURRAY: The key question, Bill, is how many of the insurgents and terrorists and foreign fighters have remained in Falluja. We know that some of the civilians have left, a great majority, perhaps. What we don't know if whether we've got a thousand fighters in Falluja or 5,000 fighters. And the length of time that we spend there -- because this is a very large objective for the number of troops that are going in.
What will determine how long we'll be there is how many of the foreign fighters and the insurgents in general occupy the city and do they possess the will to fight? Do they also have command and control capabilities that permit them to integrate their defense, as opposed to having pockets of bad guys here and pockets of bad guys there?
And once the coalition forces get into the city and begin working street to street, block to block, I would expect within the first 24 hours we'll know how serious this fight is going to be.
HEMMER: One final point, General.
You say the guerrillas will come back.
Why are you so certain of that?
MURRAY: Well, again, Bill, I base it on my experience from Vietnam. While I didn't spend time in Hue or in Danang, where we were fighting guerrillas at times, I spent a great deal of time out in the jungles, out in the rice paddies. And what our experience was when we cleared a vill (ph) in the month of April, let's say, if we were back through that area a month or two months later and it was an area that was sympathetic to the insurgents, the insurgents would come back and get aid and comfort from the civilian populace.
And consequently the long range solution here in Falluja, as in all of Iraq, is going to be political, not military.
HEMMER: General, thanks.
Terry Murray down there in Washington.
Appreciate your comments and your analysis.
Thank you very much.
MURRAY: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Kelly.
WALLACE: Thanks, Bill.
The waiting game resumes today in Redwood City, California as jurors deciding the fate of Scott Peterson return to work. Peterson is accused of murdering his wife Laci and their unborn child.
CNN's David Mattingly now on what's before the jury.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are some of the last pictures taken of Scott and Laci Peterson together, less than two weeks before her disappearance, a time when their closest friends and family believed them to be the picture of a happy couple. The photographs were among more than 50 exhibits released Friday by the court that tried Scott Peterson for murder.
They included the gun found in his truck and the date book where he made reference to an important date for Amber, Amber Frey, his former secret girlfriend. They're just a fraction of the 300 plus pieces of evidence and nearly 200 witnesses presented for the jury to consider as they try to determine whether or not Scott Peterson killed his wife.
ROBERT TALBOT, PROFESSOR OF LAW: One of the things I think that jurors are struggling about is that they've been hearing things for five months and it's very difficult to retain things for five months.
MATTINGLY: It's a task made even more difficult by a case with no murder weapon or cause of death. After just 2 1/2 days of deliberations, the jury of six men and six women called it a week and residents of the burgeoning tent city of media outside the courthouse moved from stand by to stand down.
PAULA CANNY, LEGAL ANALYST: Whether it's their spouse or their mother in law or the media, every one of those people know that no matter what they decide, it's going to be second guessed.
MATTINGLY: As they deliberate, the jurors have also lost their freedom. They were sequestered for the weekend at a local hotel with limited TV viewing, no access to news and no income phone calls.
HOWARD VARINSKY, PROSECUTION JURY CONSULTANT: It's a prison, in a way. I mean it's very isolating and it's very empty in a way. And I've never - I've spoken to a number of jurors who have been sequestered in major cases and I've not ever heard one that was happy about it.
MATTINGLY: Jurors are due to get back to business Monday morning, led by a foreman who is both a doctor and a lawyer.
(on camera): He is also one juror who appeared to take detailed notes. He left the courtroom with a stack of notebooks in hand, clearly to be used as he guides the jury through these life and death deliberations.
David Mattingly, CNN, Redwood City, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And the jury will resume its deliberations at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, 8:00 a.m. Pacific this morning -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Kelly, 12 minutes past the hour now.
From overseas, investigators in England say suicide may have caused the deadly derailment of a high speed commuter train over the weekend. The accident happened Saturday, Saturday night, west of London, near the town of Reading. Seven were killed, 150 others injured, when the train, going about 100 miles an hour, slammed into a car parked on the tracks. Officials say the car's driver made no attempt to escape before impact.
Let's shift our focus now.
Back to weather and Chad Myers on a Monday looking across the country for us.
It's chilly in the Northeast, but it's November. It happens -- good morning, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's all relative, Bill, exactly.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WALLACE: Still to come here, Yasser Arafat's health still somewhat of a question, but in life and in death, he plans to keep himself at the heart of the Palestinian conflict.
HEMMER: Also, a new kind of doctor. Sanjay in a moment here on a medical practice that can make all the difference if you are hospitalized.
WALLACE: And another trail blazing Texas Republican, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, on what the election means and her new book, with a unique approach to social change.
That's all right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: ... homage to those trail blazing women, past and present, whose success has paved the way for others.
Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is a pioneer in her own right, the first woman to represent the Lone Star State in the Senate.
Her new book is titled "American Heroines: Spirited Women Who Shaped Our Country."
Senator Hutchison joins us now in New York City.
Great to see you.
SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, AUTHOR, "AMERICAN HEROINES": Thank you, Kelly.
It's great to be here.
WALLACE: Of course, we'll talk about your book. But let's talk a little bit of politics, shall we?
Social conservatives believe that they helped President Bush get reelected. One of them, James Dobson, of the group Focus on the Family, on one of the Sunday shows yesterday saying President Bush and Republicans have two years, a little longer, to get the social conservative agenda passed or else they'll "pay a big price."
Your reaction to that?
HUTCHISON: Well, I think certainly people of faith were a very important part of this election. There's no doubt about it. And when people come out and they're excited, they also want to see their agenda go through. And I think some of the things that they're talking about are very important, like faith-based initiatives, trying to help faith-based institutions give social services, because they can do a better job than government in many ways.
Those are some of the things that they'll be looking at.
WALLACE: You know, they're also putting a lot of pressure on moderate Republican Senator Arlen Specter, who hopes to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who made some comments that he tried to soften, but basically said if President Bush sends up nominees for judges who want to overturn "Row v. Wade," that's a mistake. Social conservatives now say that Arlen Specter shouldn't have that chairmanship.
What's your position?
HUTCHISON: Well, I think Arlen has really backed off anything that looked like he was telling the president that he couldn't appoint people who might overturn "Row v. Wade." I think that all of us will be questioning Arlen because the president, this is a very important right of the president, to appoint Supreme Court justices, and Congress needs to work with him. The Senate needs to work with him for his nominees. And he's going to nominate people who are strict constructionists, who don't make law from the bench.
WALLACE: So is his position in jeopardy? Is that what I'm hearing?
HUTCHISON: Well...
WALLACE: That if we're going to question Senator Specter, is his position in jeopardy?
HUTCHISON: I wouldn't say it's in jeopardy, but I think he will be questioned closely, that he will cooperate with the president and that he will support the nominees of the president, yes, I think he will.
WALLACE: Talk to us about bipartisanship. President Bush obviously winning by more than three million votes over Senator John Kerry. He feels he has a mandate.
How much are we going to see Senator -- President Bush reaching out and trying to bring Democrats on board? Or is he going to have his agenda and just try to get a few Democratic votes to get it passed in the Senate and the House? HUTCHISON: I think the president will reach out to the Democrats and try to come up with bipartisan solutions to some of the major issues facing our country, like Social Security reform and tax reform, which would be a big one to tackle. And he will try.
But it does take a hand reaching the other way, too. And I think the president did try four years ago and he didn't have that other hand coming back. Now, maybe because of the election, we will have that better opportunity.
WALLACE: Let's get to the book.
The book is wonderful, "American Heroines."
Let's talk about some of the people, though, you chose to profile and why. A couple of people, Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross; Astronaut Sally Ride; pilot Amelia Earhart.
Why some of these women and why their stories?
HUTCHISON: I picked the first woman who broke barriers in a field to profile. So I have Amelia Earhart for aviation. I have Clara Barton for the Red Cross. I have women, World War 2 journalists who broke the barriers.
Then I interview contemporary women still breaking barriers in those fields. So after Amelia Earhart, I interviewed our first woman astronaut, Sally Ride. After Margaret Chase Smith, the senator, I invalid Gerry Ferraro and Sandra Day O'Connor.
So I tie it together and show how women have broken barriers and how they have made our country this strong country that it is.
WALLACE: And of course, you focus a bit on women in politics. You talk about Madeleine Albright, the first secretary of state.
HUTCHISON: Yes.
WALLACE: We talked about Sandra Day O'Connor.
Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser.
How have women and the posts that they now hold changed American politics as we know it?
HUTCHISON: Kelly, I think our women coming into the mix, like Condoleezza Rice, like our women senators, have put their experiences into the whole solution. And therefore the solution is better and it is more representative of the whole country. And the women that I've profiled have perseverance, they have absolute commitment to what they're trying to do. So they started education for girls.
They started the Red Cross. They started the political ascendancy of women. They started the journalism feats that -- I have the first woman Pulitzer Prize winner, Marguerite Higgins. I have Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Althea Gibson in sports, and then Nadia Comaneci and Jackie Joyner-Kersee are my contemporary women.
So I think whatever field you love, you can read about the women who broke the barriers in that field. And what it's done is made America stronger. And I think when we see what happens in Afghanistan and Iraq, where women have been suppressed, you really can appreciate that we've helped America become what it is.
WALLACE: Well, we have to leave it there.
We love celebrating women here.
The book, "American Heroines: The Spirited Women Who Shaped Our Country."
Senator, thanks for being with us.
HUTCHISON: Thank you, Kelly.
WALLACE: And best of luck with the book.
We appreciate it.
HUTCHISON: Thanks.
WALLACE: Bill.
HEMMER: Kelly, in a moment here, U.S. and Iraqi forces getting the green light to take on insurgents in Falluja. Back to that story in a moment.
Also, a federal judge considers giving John Hinckley greater freedom.
Back in a moment here on a Monday edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back.
And back to Jack, The Question of the Day.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Bill.
No secret that President Bush owes a debt of gratitude to his conservative base, who turned out in huge numbers to help him win the recent election over John Kerry. And he owes them for that. The exact form of the thank you note Mr. Bush plans to send, though, remains unknown. The question we're fiddling with here this morning is how far will the president go to repay his debt to conservatives?
Peter in Houston writes: "He won. They lost on cultural issues. He need not consult with them for the simple reason that he will not run again. In fact, how do you compromise on abortion, embryonic stem cell research and same-sex marriage? You can't. Take no prisoners here." George in Chicago: "If Bush tries to push through yet another gay marriage amendment before Congress implements the recommendations of the 9/11 Commissions, you'll see the culture war really come to a head."
Robert in Houston, Texas writes: "Bush will stiff the Christian conservatives. He'll give lip service to a constitutional amendment, but he will spend his capital on unpopular Supreme Court justice appointments, excessive tax cuts and the destruction of the Social Security program as we know it."
And Paul in Hellertown, Pennsylvania: "I'm not sure if we should be alarmed concerning the influence of the religious right, but the word on Capitol Hill is President Bush has ordered turbans for John Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld" -- I would pay money to see Donald Rumsfeld in a turban -- and a burqa for Condoleezza Rice."
Silly.
WALLACE: That gets the humorous award of the day.
CAFFERTY: Well, a very small award.
WALLACE: Small, small.
CAFFERTY: It wasn't that funny.
WALLACE: A tough judge you are.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
WALLACE: Yes, yes, yes.
All right, still to come here on AMERICAN MORNING, a new kind of doctor who's practically at your beck and call when you're in the hospital.
Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired November 8, 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.
Coalition forces lay the groundwork for an all out assault. Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces now ready to enter the heart of the insurgency.
Day four for deliberations in Scott Peterson's case. Why the task at hand is likely to be difficult for the jury.
And a country still reeling from a deadly earthquake just about a month ago rocked again by another strong tremor, 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.
8:00 here in New York on this Monday.
Good to have you along with us today.
Soledad is out.
Kelly Wallace is back in with us today -- good to have you back.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be here.
HEMMER: As we continue this hour, U.S. and Iraqi forces getting ready for a major assault on Falluja. But assuming the coalition gains control of the town from the insurgents, will they be able to hang onto it? We'll talk to a CNN military analyst. General Terry Murray is up with us in a moment here.
WALLACE: Also, Bill, we've been talking how last week was huge, huge, huge, huge for President Bush and other Republicans. But with the nation still deeply divided, many people wonder how Mr. Bush will reach out to Democrats.
In a moment, we'll talk to Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas about that.
HEMMER: All right, after some time off last week, Jack is back with us on a Monday morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And I misspoke earlier. The movie I was talking about with Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise was "Collateral" not "Collateral Damage." I am humbly and deeply apologetic for the misstatement.
WALLACE: It still was a great movie.
CAFFERTY: Yes. It was good.
Coming up in "The Cafferty File," celebrities who don't have enough to do, which may be most of them. One of them is suing another of them over a fence for millions.
And women who think they can look younger by sticking needles into themselves and it's got nothing to do with Botox. It's kind of yucky, actually.
HEMMER: It sounds like it hurts, too.
CAFFERTY: It's icky.
HEMMER: Thanks, Jack.
Daryn Kagan is at the CNN Center now watching the headlines for us.
Hey Daryn -- good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Bill.
Now in the news, a high level Palestinian delegation is heading to France to visit the ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. A makeshift shrine of candles and flowers has sprung up outside the Paris military hospital. The 75-year-old Arafat has been in a coma for more than three days. Arafat's wife has denounced the planned visit by top officials.
Here in the U.S., a sentencing hearing is set today for former St. Louis Blues player Mike Danton. The former NHL star pleaded guilty last July to charges stemming from a murder for hire case. Prosecutors said the former NHL star wanted to kill his agent. Danton faces seven to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Some conservative groups are vowing to keep Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter from the Senate Judiciary Committee. At issue is a comment that Specter made suggesting any Supreme Court justice nominees intent on overturning "Row v. Wade" would likely not win Senate approval. Specter says the quote was misconstrued and that he has no litmus test for judges.
And gas prices are inching downward. The average price of gas fell almost $0.03 in the past two weeks. The national average for a gallon of self-serve regular is now just over $2. Lower crude oil prices are credited for that drop. People will take any break they can get -- Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: Lower, but they've got a long way to go, right, Daryn? KAGAN: You've got to drive across town to get to that gas station.
HEMMER: I'm telling you.
KAGAN: Yes.
HEMMER: Thanks.
In Iraq now, outside of Falluja, 10,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops or more now getting ready for an assault on that town. Heavy fighting said to be under way on the outskirts of Falluja.
Karl Penhaul embedded again now with the U.S. Marines, as he was last spring, by way of video phone now in the desert.
Karl -- what do you have there?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Bill.
We're about one and a half miles from the northern edge of Falluja. The northern edge of Falluja is over there. Throughout much of the day, we've heard fire coming from .150 millimeter artillery batteries. We've also heard tanks just to our south open fire on insurgent positions just on the eastern edge of the city.
We understand from one of the battalion commanders that the main targets that have been hit today are also (INAUDIBLE) in been in action there. But the main targets that have been hit are small insurgent positions manned by four or five insurgents armed with assault rifles, and they've been acting as forward observers, forward observers so that they can try and direct mortar fire onto U.S. Marine tank and infantry positions outside the city limits.
Now, behind me several platoons of U.S. Marine infantry are dug in in a makeshift network of trenches, those trenches precisely to defend them against the possibility of mortar attacks while they wait in this area, until they get the order to move in and assault Falluja. And that will mark the start of the ground offensive.
Now, of course, at first light we did get news that on the western edge of the city, Marines and Iraqi commandos took control of the hospital. The hospital there, in fact, lies just outside the western edges of the main city. More significantly, perhaps, the Marines in that commando unit took control of two of the major bridges across the Euphrates. One of those bridges, of course, though, highly symbolic. That was where insurgents hung the murdered and mutilated bodies of four U.S. Blackwater contractors last March. That was really what sparked the offensive against Falluja in April and May of this year -- Bill.
HEMMER: Karl Penhaul by way of video phone there, as he pointed out, north of the town of Falluja.
We will be in touch as soon as we get more on developments there on the ground. It's about 4:00 local time in the afternoon there in Iraq.
And U.S. commanders warning to expect the most brutal urban fighting since the Vietnam War.
General Terry Murray fought in Vietnam; also fought in Operation Desert Storm before he retired back in 2001.
He's our CNN military analyst this morning from D.C. And General -- good morning to you.
A thank you for your time.
GEN. TERRY MURRAY (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: What is the U.S. up against there in Falluja today?
MURRAY: I don't think there's much threat on a large scale. In other words, this is a force inside of Falluja that possesses largely small arms -- machine guns, rocket propelled grenades, maybe some mortars. But the reality is once we get into the city -- and that's where most of the fighting will take place -- once we get into the city, most of the advantages of firepower and technology are overcome by the environment. And it becomes a close in battle, which plays into the hands of the terrorists.
HEMMER: You said a number of things to our producers last night. I want to kind of draw it out a little bit for our viewers this morning and get a better understanding.
In part, you say when you fought in urban warfare in Vietnam more than 30 years ago, you say today the concepts are the same, but the equipment is different.
What do you mean by the concept, General?
MURRAY: Well, in other words, the great advantage to the insurgent when he is fighting in an urban environment is that he has the protection of the civilians. Now, there may only be 50,000 civilians left in the city, but the fact is the insurgents take advantage of using civilians as shields.
Beyond that, when you are operating in an environment that is an urban environment, a built up area, it becomes a close in battle, where the rifle and the pistol and small arms are much more important than are some of the long range arms that we can use, artillery and air support. So it becomes a very, very different close in battle inside an urban area.
HEMMER: Two more things you say. One of them is this. This battle could take five days or five weeks.
What determines that time?
MURRAY: The key question, Bill, is how many of the insurgents and terrorists and foreign fighters have remained in Falluja. We know that some of the civilians have left, a great majority, perhaps. What we don't know if whether we've got a thousand fighters in Falluja or 5,000 fighters. And the length of time that we spend there -- because this is a very large objective for the number of troops that are going in.
What will determine how long we'll be there is how many of the foreign fighters and the insurgents in general occupy the city and do they possess the will to fight? Do they also have command and control capabilities that permit them to integrate their defense, as opposed to having pockets of bad guys here and pockets of bad guys there?
And once the coalition forces get into the city and begin working street to street, block to block, I would expect within the first 24 hours we'll know how serious this fight is going to be.
HEMMER: One final point, General.
You say the guerrillas will come back.
Why are you so certain of that?
MURRAY: Well, again, Bill, I base it on my experience from Vietnam. While I didn't spend time in Hue or in Danang, where we were fighting guerrillas at times, I spent a great deal of time out in the jungles, out in the rice paddies. And what our experience was when we cleared a vill (ph) in the month of April, let's say, if we were back through that area a month or two months later and it was an area that was sympathetic to the insurgents, the insurgents would come back and get aid and comfort from the civilian populace.
And consequently the long range solution here in Falluja, as in all of Iraq, is going to be political, not military.
HEMMER: General, thanks.
Terry Murray down there in Washington.
Appreciate your comments and your analysis.
Thank you very much.
MURRAY: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Kelly.
WALLACE: Thanks, Bill.
The waiting game resumes today in Redwood City, California as jurors deciding the fate of Scott Peterson return to work. Peterson is accused of murdering his wife Laci and their unborn child.
CNN's David Mattingly now on what's before the jury.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are some of the last pictures taken of Scott and Laci Peterson together, less than two weeks before her disappearance, a time when their closest friends and family believed them to be the picture of a happy couple. The photographs were among more than 50 exhibits released Friday by the court that tried Scott Peterson for murder.
They included the gun found in his truck and the date book where he made reference to an important date for Amber, Amber Frey, his former secret girlfriend. They're just a fraction of the 300 plus pieces of evidence and nearly 200 witnesses presented for the jury to consider as they try to determine whether or not Scott Peterson killed his wife.
ROBERT TALBOT, PROFESSOR OF LAW: One of the things I think that jurors are struggling about is that they've been hearing things for five months and it's very difficult to retain things for five months.
MATTINGLY: It's a task made even more difficult by a case with no murder weapon or cause of death. After just 2 1/2 days of deliberations, the jury of six men and six women called it a week and residents of the burgeoning tent city of media outside the courthouse moved from stand by to stand down.
PAULA CANNY, LEGAL ANALYST: Whether it's their spouse or their mother in law or the media, every one of those people know that no matter what they decide, it's going to be second guessed.
MATTINGLY: As they deliberate, the jurors have also lost their freedom. They were sequestered for the weekend at a local hotel with limited TV viewing, no access to news and no income phone calls.
HOWARD VARINSKY, PROSECUTION JURY CONSULTANT: It's a prison, in a way. I mean it's very isolating and it's very empty in a way. And I've never - I've spoken to a number of jurors who have been sequestered in major cases and I've not ever heard one that was happy about it.
MATTINGLY: Jurors are due to get back to business Monday morning, led by a foreman who is both a doctor and a lawyer.
(on camera): He is also one juror who appeared to take detailed notes. He left the courtroom with a stack of notebooks in hand, clearly to be used as he guides the jury through these life and death deliberations.
David Mattingly, CNN, Redwood City, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And the jury will resume its deliberations at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, 8:00 a.m. Pacific this morning -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Kelly, 12 minutes past the hour now.
From overseas, investigators in England say suicide may have caused the deadly derailment of a high speed commuter train over the weekend. The accident happened Saturday, Saturday night, west of London, near the town of Reading. Seven were killed, 150 others injured, when the train, going about 100 miles an hour, slammed into a car parked on the tracks. Officials say the car's driver made no attempt to escape before impact.
Let's shift our focus now.
Back to weather and Chad Myers on a Monday looking across the country for us.
It's chilly in the Northeast, but it's November. It happens -- good morning, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's all relative, Bill, exactly.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WALLACE: Still to come here, Yasser Arafat's health still somewhat of a question, but in life and in death, he plans to keep himself at the heart of the Palestinian conflict.
HEMMER: Also, a new kind of doctor. Sanjay in a moment here on a medical practice that can make all the difference if you are hospitalized.
WALLACE: And another trail blazing Texas Republican, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, on what the election means and her new book, with a unique approach to social change.
That's all right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: ... homage to those trail blazing women, past and present, whose success has paved the way for others.
Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is a pioneer in her own right, the first woman to represent the Lone Star State in the Senate.
Her new book is titled "American Heroines: Spirited Women Who Shaped Our Country."
Senator Hutchison joins us now in New York City.
Great to see you.
SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, AUTHOR, "AMERICAN HEROINES": Thank you, Kelly.
It's great to be here.
WALLACE: Of course, we'll talk about your book. But let's talk a little bit of politics, shall we?
Social conservatives believe that they helped President Bush get reelected. One of them, James Dobson, of the group Focus on the Family, on one of the Sunday shows yesterday saying President Bush and Republicans have two years, a little longer, to get the social conservative agenda passed or else they'll "pay a big price."
Your reaction to that?
HUTCHISON: Well, I think certainly people of faith were a very important part of this election. There's no doubt about it. And when people come out and they're excited, they also want to see their agenda go through. And I think some of the things that they're talking about are very important, like faith-based initiatives, trying to help faith-based institutions give social services, because they can do a better job than government in many ways.
Those are some of the things that they'll be looking at.
WALLACE: You know, they're also putting a lot of pressure on moderate Republican Senator Arlen Specter, who hopes to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who made some comments that he tried to soften, but basically said if President Bush sends up nominees for judges who want to overturn "Row v. Wade," that's a mistake. Social conservatives now say that Arlen Specter shouldn't have that chairmanship.
What's your position?
HUTCHISON: Well, I think Arlen has really backed off anything that looked like he was telling the president that he couldn't appoint people who might overturn "Row v. Wade." I think that all of us will be questioning Arlen because the president, this is a very important right of the president, to appoint Supreme Court justices, and Congress needs to work with him. The Senate needs to work with him for his nominees. And he's going to nominate people who are strict constructionists, who don't make law from the bench.
WALLACE: So is his position in jeopardy? Is that what I'm hearing?
HUTCHISON: Well...
WALLACE: That if we're going to question Senator Specter, is his position in jeopardy?
HUTCHISON: I wouldn't say it's in jeopardy, but I think he will be questioned closely, that he will cooperate with the president and that he will support the nominees of the president, yes, I think he will.
WALLACE: Talk to us about bipartisanship. President Bush obviously winning by more than three million votes over Senator John Kerry. He feels he has a mandate.
How much are we going to see Senator -- President Bush reaching out and trying to bring Democrats on board? Or is he going to have his agenda and just try to get a few Democratic votes to get it passed in the Senate and the House? HUTCHISON: I think the president will reach out to the Democrats and try to come up with bipartisan solutions to some of the major issues facing our country, like Social Security reform and tax reform, which would be a big one to tackle. And he will try.
But it does take a hand reaching the other way, too. And I think the president did try four years ago and he didn't have that other hand coming back. Now, maybe because of the election, we will have that better opportunity.
WALLACE: Let's get to the book.
The book is wonderful, "American Heroines."
Let's talk about some of the people, though, you chose to profile and why. A couple of people, Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross; Astronaut Sally Ride; pilot Amelia Earhart.
Why some of these women and why their stories?
HUTCHISON: I picked the first woman who broke barriers in a field to profile. So I have Amelia Earhart for aviation. I have Clara Barton for the Red Cross. I have women, World War 2 journalists who broke the barriers.
Then I interview contemporary women still breaking barriers in those fields. So after Amelia Earhart, I interviewed our first woman astronaut, Sally Ride. After Margaret Chase Smith, the senator, I invalid Gerry Ferraro and Sandra Day O'Connor.
So I tie it together and show how women have broken barriers and how they have made our country this strong country that it is.
WALLACE: And of course, you focus a bit on women in politics. You talk about Madeleine Albright, the first secretary of state.
HUTCHISON: Yes.
WALLACE: We talked about Sandra Day O'Connor.
Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser.
How have women and the posts that they now hold changed American politics as we know it?
HUTCHISON: Kelly, I think our women coming into the mix, like Condoleezza Rice, like our women senators, have put their experiences into the whole solution. And therefore the solution is better and it is more representative of the whole country. And the women that I've profiled have perseverance, they have absolute commitment to what they're trying to do. So they started education for girls.
They started the Red Cross. They started the political ascendancy of women. They started the journalism feats that -- I have the first woman Pulitzer Prize winner, Marguerite Higgins. I have Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Althea Gibson in sports, and then Nadia Comaneci and Jackie Joyner-Kersee are my contemporary women.
So I think whatever field you love, you can read about the women who broke the barriers in that field. And what it's done is made America stronger. And I think when we see what happens in Afghanistan and Iraq, where women have been suppressed, you really can appreciate that we've helped America become what it is.
WALLACE: Well, we have to leave it there.
We love celebrating women here.
The book, "American Heroines: The Spirited Women Who Shaped Our Country."
Senator, thanks for being with us.
HUTCHISON: Thank you, Kelly.
WALLACE: And best of luck with the book.
We appreciate it.
HUTCHISON: Thanks.
WALLACE: Bill.
HEMMER: Kelly, in a moment here, U.S. and Iraqi forces getting the green light to take on insurgents in Falluja. Back to that story in a moment.
Also, a federal judge considers giving John Hinckley greater freedom.
Back in a moment here on a Monday edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back.
And back to Jack, The Question of the Day.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Bill.
No secret that President Bush owes a debt of gratitude to his conservative base, who turned out in huge numbers to help him win the recent election over John Kerry. And he owes them for that. The exact form of the thank you note Mr. Bush plans to send, though, remains unknown. The question we're fiddling with here this morning is how far will the president go to repay his debt to conservatives?
Peter in Houston writes: "He won. They lost on cultural issues. He need not consult with them for the simple reason that he will not run again. In fact, how do you compromise on abortion, embryonic stem cell research and same-sex marriage? You can't. Take no prisoners here." George in Chicago: "If Bush tries to push through yet another gay marriage amendment before Congress implements the recommendations of the 9/11 Commissions, you'll see the culture war really come to a head."
Robert in Houston, Texas writes: "Bush will stiff the Christian conservatives. He'll give lip service to a constitutional amendment, but he will spend his capital on unpopular Supreme Court justice appointments, excessive tax cuts and the destruction of the Social Security program as we know it."
And Paul in Hellertown, Pennsylvania: "I'm not sure if we should be alarmed concerning the influence of the religious right, but the word on Capitol Hill is President Bush has ordered turbans for John Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld" -- I would pay money to see Donald Rumsfeld in a turban -- and a burqa for Condoleezza Rice."
Silly.
WALLACE: That gets the humorous award of the day.
CAFFERTY: Well, a very small award.
WALLACE: Small, small.
CAFFERTY: It wasn't that funny.
WALLACE: A tough judge you are.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
WALLACE: Yes, yes, yes.
All right, still to come here on AMERICAN MORNING, a new kind of doctor who's practically at your beck and call when you're in the hospital.
Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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