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American Morning
Another Deadly Day in Iraq; Round Two for Condoleezza Rice
Aired January 19, 2005 - 07:00 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, AMERICAN MORNING: Condoleezza Rice back in the Senate hot seat. How tough will senators get during day two of her confirmation hearing?
And a nationwide manhunt now on for a couple accused of kidnapping their own children. Foster parents making their plea on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning. Welcome everybody.
Round two for Condoleezza Rice this morning. She goes back before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in two hours. Questions, as you well know, got a little tense at times yesterday. We'll talk with one of the Democrats who was there, Senator Joe Biden, find out what he thought of Condoleezza Rice's answers.
HEMMER: Also, Sanjay is back again today here in New York, the "New You Revolution". Today, meet a grandmother who has added incentive to get in shape. Her son and daughter are serving in Iraq. She's watching their son, her grandchild. Her goal is to get fit before her family returns from overseas. There is incentive plenty. You will meet her a bit later in this hour.
O'BRIEN: That's great.
In fact, we start with Iraq this morning. With just 11 days to go before elections there, a wave of car bombings in and around Baghdad today killed at least 25 Iraqis. For the latest development on the story, let's go live to CNN's Jeff Koinange; he's in Baghdad for us this morning.
Jeff, good morning.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
There seems no let-up in that wave you talked about, wave of attacks across Baghdad and beyond.
First stop, right outside the Australian embassy. Suicide car bomber detonated himself, killing a bystander, wounding up to five. Among them, two Australian soldiers. Less than a half hour later, an even more powerful car bomb, this one right outside the Iraqi national emergency headquarters. And 18 killed in that, 13 of them Iraqi policemen, up to 20 wounded.
And yet another third car bomb, this one right outside an Iraqi military base. Two soldiers killed in that. And then in the southern entrance to Baghdad, yet another car bomb. Four people killed in that. Two Iraqi guardsmen and one U.S. soldier wounded in that.
So there seems no let-up in the insurgent attacks as the country gears up toward landmark elections, now just 11 days away -- Soledad?
O'BRIEN: No indications that that will slow anytime soon. Jeff Koinange for us in Baghdad this morning.
Jeff, thank you. Bill.
HEMMER: Back in this country, Condoleezza Rice on the fast track to becoming the next secretary of State. She returns to the hot seat this morning for day two of her hearings. Ed Henry is back in the room on Capitol Hill.
Good morning, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
That's right. More questions for Dr. Rice this morning after nearly 10 hours of grilling yesterday, including a high profile clash between Dr. Rice and the man who was hoping to be sworn in as president tomorrow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice over): Some of the sharpest questioning of Condoleezza Rice came from John Kerry, who hoped to spend this week getting ready for his inauguration and putting the finishing touches on a Kerry Cabinet. Instead, the former Democratic presidential nominee was grilling President Bush's pick for secretary of State about Iraq.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: The current policy is growing the insurgency, not diminishing it. We went in to rescue Iraq from Saddam Hussein. Now, I think we have to rescue our policy from ourselves.
HENRY: Rice stood her ground, saying the world is better off with Saddam Hussein out of power. But she also tried to strike a conciliatory tone by acknowledging mistakes.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SEC. OF STATE NOMINEE: This was never going to be easy. It was always going to have ups and downs. I'm sure that we have made multiple, many decisions, some of which were good, some of which might not have been good.
HENRY: The hearing grew even more tense when Democrat Barbara Boxer charged Rice's loyalty to President Bush led her to hype the threat from Hussein in the buildup to the war in Iraq.
SEN. BARBARA BOXER, (D) CALIFORNIA: This is my personal view, that your loyalty to the mission you were given to sell this war overwhelmed your respect to the truth.
HENRY: Rice bristled at the allegation.
RICE: I have to say that I have never, ever lost respect for the truth in the service of anything. I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my integrity.
BOXER: Rice said the administration is determined to force Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear ambitions and vowed to confront major issues like peace in the Middle East.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: Outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell is supposed to have a farewell bash early this morning, but that has been put on standby because of all of this questioning dragging on for Condoleezza Rice.
She will come back in at 9:00 this morning, in the room behind me. There will be more questions and then the committee will have their own business and actually vote on her nomination probably later this morning, push it over to the full Senate for a vote Thursday -- Bill.
HEMMER: Ed Henry, thanks, on Capitol Hill. We'll be in touch throughout the day.
Joe Biden, the Democratic senator from Delaware, in a moment we'll talk to him in Wilmington about his thoughts and reflections from yesterday. Stay tuned for that.
Soledad?
O'BRIEN: But first let's talk to Jack about the question of the day, because, of course it relates to al this Condoleezza Rice stuff.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Absolutely.
Specifically, to that exchange between Condoleezza Rice and Barbara Boxer. The senator from California, at the center of what was kind of an ugly incident during the confirmation hearings.
She accused Condoleezza Rice of lying. She said, quote, "Your loyalty to the mission overwhelmed your respect for the truth." In her 12-minute attack on Dr. Rice, Senator Boxer failed to ask the National Security Adviser a single question. Not one.
The purpose of confirmation hearings, as I understand them, is to elicit information from the person being confirmed about how they plan to do this job. Not one question. Instead, Senator Boxer used her time to lecture Rice in a condescending, moral tone about the Iraq war. A week ago, it was Senator Boxer who was the only member of the Senate to vote against certifying President Bush's election victory. Here's the question. Was Barbara Boxer out of line accusing Condoleezza Rice of lying? Am@cnn.com is the e-mail address.
HEMMER: Thanks, Jack.
Let's put that question out to Senator Biden, with us now in Wilmington, Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Senator, good morning to you. Thanks for your time.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS CMTE.: Good morning. How area you?
HEMMER: You said last night you were not impressed with Condoleezza Rice. Why not?
BIDEN: Were you? A secretary of State who is either unwilling or unable to answer whether or not the dollar should be reserved currency for the United States of America, whether or not our indebtedness in terms of the T-bills owned by China and Japan affect our conduct of foreign policy.
Saying there are 120,000 trained troops, the implication being that they can supplant American forces, when that's simply not true. There are 120,000 troops in uniform. That's why I wasn't impressed.
There didn't seem to be any sense on her part, when I asked her the question, knowing what we know now, does she think it would have been better to have more troops going into Iraq, like others in the administration suggested. She was at the center of that decision. She said, I wouldn't presume to suggest how many troops there should be. I don't know what the function of a national security adviser is, then.
HEMMER: Is your suggestion that she was being evasive or dishonest?
BIDEN: I really don't know. I don't think she was being dishonest in the sense she was lying. I think there is this dance, particularly in this administration, with their nominees, of not answering any direct inquiries and sort of sticking to the line.
But it just disappointed me, because I know her well. I like her a great deal. I've had scores of meetings with her. And I wanted to discuss the differences that she saw, as she said, in her role as staff person. That's how she characterized it, and it's literally true, as the national security adviser and her role as a principal.
The debate you guys and women are having on your station and every other station in the nation, is she going to be more of an independent voice, giving him independent advice, as secretary of State, in a different role. And she didn't impress me that she was likely to do that.
HEMMER: You're still going to vote for her, right?
BIDEN: Yes, I am. Because I think the president is entitled to his nominee. I think she is an honorable, decent person. In that case, president has a right to pick who he -- I quite frankly fault the administration for not having a policy.
You notice when asked about what the policy in Iran was, what the policy in Korea was. I asked, I said, if the Lord Almighty came down and guaranteed there would be no more nuclear attempts -- to build a nuclear weapon or have a nuclear policy in Iran. And eliminated their long-range missiles like the Europeans negotiating, would we be willing to strike a deal with them in terms of recognition, in effect, of that?
She said, we have a lot of other problems with them. I mean, I don't quite get it.
HEMMER: Let's try -- you know, Senator, let's keep it on Iraq for a second here.
BIDEN: OK, sure.
HEMMER: There is this wide-ranging number that was given about the number of Iraqi trained forces.
BIDEN: Yes.
HEMMER: At 120,000. Yesterday, you said in front of the committee, it's more like 4,000.
BIDEN: That is exactly right.
HEMMER: How do we marry these numbers and believe which one is the truth?
BIDEN: Well, I think you should probably -- you guys have a lot of sources in the military. I would go to your correspondents in the field, you have there, you ask any of them whether they think there's 120,000 Iraqi forces trained. The 4,000 number came from the military last time I was in Iraq.
HEMMER: But what I'm trying to understand, this is a huge difference of numbers.
BIDEN: Sure it is.
HEMMER: Only 11 days from an election.
BIDEN: Let me make it clear. Let me make it clear.
There are probably 120,000 forces that have been given a uniform. There are nowhere near 120,000 Iraqis showing up in the military or the police forces every day. There are there are nowhere near 120,000 forces trained to shoot straight, equipped and able to do the job of securing Iraqis national interests. And even the secretary of Defense, as you recall, because you reported it, about three months ago, two months ago. He said, no, we have 90,000 trained now. The fact of the matter is, you ought to get the General Patrais (ph) and others and ask them. You guys have incredible sources.
HEMMER: Thank you, Senator. Appreciate your time. About to lose the line in Wilmington.
BIDEN: Thanks, an awful lot.
HEMMER: Joe Biden, we'll be listening later today. At 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time, day two begins for Condoleezza Rice. Live coverage here on CNN when that starts.
Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Time to check the other stories making news this morning. Heidi Collins in for us this morning.
Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning, to you guys. And good morning, everybody.
"Now in the News" this morning: The Palestinians promising to deploy security forces near the border with Israel to try and prevent future attacks. This as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been meeting in Gaza, with militant leaders, to work out a truce. The attempt at talks was disrupted yesterday after a suicide bomber killed at least one Israeli near a Gaza checkpoint. Talks will resume today.
Japan issued a brief tsunami warning this morning. Reports from the area say waves reached no more than 12 inches high after a powerful earthquake hit the country's eastern coast. No reports of injuries or damage from the 6.8 magnitude quake.
In New York, jury selection begins for the trial of Bernard Ebbers, accused of planning an $11 billion accounting fraud, leading to the downfall of WorldCom, now operating as MCI. The bankruptcy is considered the largest ever in American business history.
And NASA says its rover has found something pretty unusual on Mars. Scientists say the strange rock, the Opportunity rover has been riding on appears to actually be a meteorite. Here is a closer look now. Scientists are calling it Heat Shield rock and say it could offer clues as to how the Red Planet's surface changes.
HEMMER: That rover is still going?
COLLINS: Still going strong. Energizer Bunny.
HEMMER: They're getting their money's worth this time.
O'BRIEN: And a lot of money it was. HEMMER: True.
O'BRIEN: Inauguration festivities got off to an early start, believe it or not, last night in Washington, D.C., at a concert for young people. The crowd went wild when President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush took the stage and were greeted by their daughters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and Mrs. Laura Bush.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The president encouraged the young crowd to volunteer. Other performers included "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard, and splash singer Hilary Duff, and the band Three Doors Down. Have you ever heard of that band?
HEMMER: Nope.
O'BRIEN: I didn't think so.
Coverage of the president's second inaugural all day on CNN at 3:30, Eastern you can watch our special coverage of "The Inauguration of George W. Bush: The Road Ahead".
Plus, we'll be live from Washington, D.C. tomorrow with special coverage of events leading up to the swearing-in of the president. AMERICAN MORNING comes to you live from Washington starting at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.
HEMMER: My office is four doors down, though. Does that qualify?
Here's Chad Myers' first look at the forecast. Cold again today.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
O'BRIEN: Well, guess what's coming up this morning?
HEMMER: Yes, day three.
O'BRIEN: "New You Revolution". Remember last year, it was resolution. This year, it's revolution. Day three, this morning we have the story of a woman, her son is in Iraq. She's a grandma. She is taking on some extra burdens for him. Taking a toll on her health. We'll get that.
HEMMER: Also, a no-nonsense cop fed up with government bureaucracy, how he's protecting his hometown by doing more with less. You'll meet him this morning.
O'BRIEN: And a mother and father accused of kidnapping their own children at gunpoint. The children's foster parents making a plea for their return. Their story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A nationwide manhunt continues this morning for a couple suspected of abducting two small children. It happened on Saturday morning in Boone County, North Carolina. The children were taken at gunpoint from their foster parents. James Lee Canter and Alisha Chambers are the parents of the children. They are also wanted on drug charges.
This morning, I spoke with the foster parents, whose identity we've protected.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were just having a quiet Saturday morning. We -- I was having a cup of coffee. My husband was in the shower. My daughter was downstairs playing.
I had just gotten Paul dressed, tied his boots and he was playing with his trucks and I heard a car and got up to look to see who it was. And saw some people coming up the steps. I opened the door and realized it was Alisha. And said, hey, what you need? What can I do for you?
And they started pushing their way in. James said that they were here for the kids. They wanted their kids, and I started to resist, said, now and started to push them out, but James pulled a gun out. And they came on in. Paul saw Alisha and so, of course, he ran to her. Alisha picked him up and passed him to James.
Said, "Come to daddy." Paul pulled back and looked at him like he wasn't sure what was going on. But Alisha grabbed Breanna and they were gone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Police are following up on leads from across the country in this case. Joining us this morning from Boone, North Carolina, is the Wautauga County Sheriff Mark Shook. He is heading up the investigation.
Nice to see you, Sir. Thanks so much for being with us. Where does the investigation stand this morning?
SHERIFF MARK SHOOK, WAUTAUGA CO., N.C.: Right now, we're still following leads that came in over the night. We're talking to family members and getting information on possible locations. We have talked to other authorities in Tennessee, also. That's assisting us in leads over there also.
O'BRIEN: You said you're talking to family members. There was concern it was, in fact, family members who were helping them out, as they're on the lam. Do you think that's still the case?
SHOOK: Yes, ma'am. Mr. Canter has an extensive family in this area and a lot of acquaintances. Some family members are cooperating with us. Some family members are not. But all in all, we're getting very much cooperation from most of the family members.
O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of where the part of the investigation is right now, as far as retrieving the weapon and tracking down the car. How far have they gotten?
SHOOK: We actually have the car that they fled the scene in, and the weapon that was used at the house. We recovered that Saturday afternoon.
O'BRIEN: So are you feeling confident that you're actually pretty close on their trail?
SHOOK: Yes, ma'am, I do.
O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of the condition of the house was in and the children were in when they were taken from these parents, some eight months ago?
SHOOK: It was a single-wide mobile home. The condition was very unkept. Trash all over the floor, parts of the meth lab, the toxic waste and the chemicals were sitting right beside the baby formula. Babies' toys in the floor, near some of this equipment.
O'BRIEN: Are you concerned that the parents could harm their own children, kill their children?
SHOOK: I don't think that they would harm them intentionally. It's just the condition that they're running in, being wanted for a meth lab, the way they went inside the house with a firearm to retrieve the kids. The high-speed chase they led the Johnson County, Tennessee, deputies on. I think just their lifestyle, in itself, is what's putting the kids in danger.
O'BRIEN: As you saw a just few moments ago when we were talking to the foster mother, she and wanted to conceal her identity and not face the camera, because she's concerned about her safety. Who is she concerned about coming to get her, because obviously, she had some kind of a relationship with the parents.
I mean, they had visitation rights and she knows the parents. So do you think her concerns are valid? Who should she be concerned about?
SHOOK: She should be concerned for her safety. Any victim of crime that happened like that should be concerned of possible repercussions. The family of Mr. Canter, they are a very close, very tight-knit family. And, you know, they're a very proud people. So she does have concerns of a possibility of repercussion.
O'BRIEN: Mark Shook is the sheriff of Wautauga County.
Thank you for talking with us. We'll check back with you hopefully it will be all resolved very soon.
SHOOK: Thank you, ma'am. HEMMER: It was one of the hottest stocks in town. Now, it's being forced to fill a very big hole. Andy explains that in "Minding Your Business", that is next on AMERICAN MORNING, live in New York City, where it is 11 chilly degrees here at daybreak, 7:22. Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Once a Wall Street darling, there is trouble at Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The sweet story, not so sweet any more. Andy Serwer, first check, "Minding your Business".
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, COLUMNIST, "FORTUNE": Good morning.
More like more trouble at Krispy Kreme. We have been talking about this one for weeks.
The board of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, yesterday, forcing out the CEO, Scott Livengood in the wake of a federal investigation, weak sales and accounting problems.
The new CEO is a gentleman named Stephen Cooper, a turnaround expert, who worked at Enron and Polaroid.
In the spring of 2003, I traveled to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where the where Krispy Kreme is headquartered and met with Scott Livengood for a story I was doing at "Fortune" magazine.
There I am, with Scott Livengood, and asked him about the company. He assured me everything was on the up and up. Well, it wasn't. He also gave me several business cards at that meeting. You can see here, I was curious why he gave me more than one.
It turns out, Soledad, you might be interested to hear this. Present this card at your local Krispy Kreme doughnut shop and receive one dozen original glazed doughnuts free. You can see it, it says that right there.
We're going to put this to the test.
O'BRIEN: Oh, but he doesn't work there anymore.
SERWER: The CEO's forced out yesterday. We'll see if they still honor this card today. Tune into the 8:00 hour, we'll find out the answer to the mystery problem.
HEMMER: We'll tune in for sure.
SERWER: I know you guys will be here. We can count on that.
O'BRIEN: If we're eating Krispy Kreme...
SERWER: Then it will work.
O'BRIEN: ...then it will have worked.
SERWER: The stock went up yesterday. Interestingly, the CEOs love that, when they get thrown out and the stock goes up. It's got a ways to get back to the $50 mark where it hit in the spring of 2003, $49 dollars, I should say.
Markets actually good overall yesterday. Some excitement about earnings. We are in earnings season. IBM and Yahoo! came out yesterday after the bell looking good. Motorola, there was concern about earnings so futures looking a little weak this morning.
HEMMER: Good luck with your card.
SERWER: Yeah, you're self-interested a little bit, aren't you?
O'BRIEN: How many of those did you get?
SERWER: Just a couple. That's enough, right?
O'BRIEN: All right. I think they'll work. Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: OK, we'll see.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.
HEMMER: Sneak peak at "90 Second Pop" in a moment.
How much free stuff does one billionaire need? The freebie list for the Donald's wedding keeps growing.
Also, if it ain't broke, why fix it? Will viewers go for the "American Idol" makeover? That is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired January 19, 2005 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Condoleezza Rice back in the Senate hot seat. How tough will senators get during day two of her confirmation hearing?
And a nationwide manhunt now on for a couple accused of kidnapping their own children. Foster parents making their plea on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning. Welcome everybody.
Round two for Condoleezza Rice this morning. She goes back before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in two hours. Questions, as you well know, got a little tense at times yesterday. We'll talk with one of the Democrats who was there, Senator Joe Biden, find out what he thought of Condoleezza Rice's answers.
HEMMER: Also, Sanjay is back again today here in New York, the "New You Revolution". Today, meet a grandmother who has added incentive to get in shape. Her son and daughter are serving in Iraq. She's watching their son, her grandchild. Her goal is to get fit before her family returns from overseas. There is incentive plenty. You will meet her a bit later in this hour.
O'BRIEN: That's great.
In fact, we start with Iraq this morning. With just 11 days to go before elections there, a wave of car bombings in and around Baghdad today killed at least 25 Iraqis. For the latest development on the story, let's go live to CNN's Jeff Koinange; he's in Baghdad for us this morning.
Jeff, good morning.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
There seems no let-up in that wave you talked about, wave of attacks across Baghdad and beyond.
First stop, right outside the Australian embassy. Suicide car bomber detonated himself, killing a bystander, wounding up to five. Among them, two Australian soldiers. Less than a half hour later, an even more powerful car bomb, this one right outside the Iraqi national emergency headquarters. And 18 killed in that, 13 of them Iraqi policemen, up to 20 wounded.
And yet another third car bomb, this one right outside an Iraqi military base. Two soldiers killed in that. And then in the southern entrance to Baghdad, yet another car bomb. Four people killed in that. Two Iraqi guardsmen and one U.S. soldier wounded in that.
So there seems no let-up in the insurgent attacks as the country gears up toward landmark elections, now just 11 days away -- Soledad?
O'BRIEN: No indications that that will slow anytime soon. Jeff Koinange for us in Baghdad this morning.
Jeff, thank you. Bill.
HEMMER: Back in this country, Condoleezza Rice on the fast track to becoming the next secretary of State. She returns to the hot seat this morning for day two of her hearings. Ed Henry is back in the room on Capitol Hill.
Good morning, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
That's right. More questions for Dr. Rice this morning after nearly 10 hours of grilling yesterday, including a high profile clash between Dr. Rice and the man who was hoping to be sworn in as president tomorrow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice over): Some of the sharpest questioning of Condoleezza Rice came from John Kerry, who hoped to spend this week getting ready for his inauguration and putting the finishing touches on a Kerry Cabinet. Instead, the former Democratic presidential nominee was grilling President Bush's pick for secretary of State about Iraq.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: The current policy is growing the insurgency, not diminishing it. We went in to rescue Iraq from Saddam Hussein. Now, I think we have to rescue our policy from ourselves.
HENRY: Rice stood her ground, saying the world is better off with Saddam Hussein out of power. But she also tried to strike a conciliatory tone by acknowledging mistakes.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SEC. OF STATE NOMINEE: This was never going to be easy. It was always going to have ups and downs. I'm sure that we have made multiple, many decisions, some of which were good, some of which might not have been good.
HENRY: The hearing grew even more tense when Democrat Barbara Boxer charged Rice's loyalty to President Bush led her to hype the threat from Hussein in the buildup to the war in Iraq.
SEN. BARBARA BOXER, (D) CALIFORNIA: This is my personal view, that your loyalty to the mission you were given to sell this war overwhelmed your respect to the truth.
HENRY: Rice bristled at the allegation.
RICE: I have to say that I have never, ever lost respect for the truth in the service of anything. I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my integrity.
BOXER: Rice said the administration is determined to force Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear ambitions and vowed to confront major issues like peace in the Middle East.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: Outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell is supposed to have a farewell bash early this morning, but that has been put on standby because of all of this questioning dragging on for Condoleezza Rice.
She will come back in at 9:00 this morning, in the room behind me. There will be more questions and then the committee will have their own business and actually vote on her nomination probably later this morning, push it over to the full Senate for a vote Thursday -- Bill.
HEMMER: Ed Henry, thanks, on Capitol Hill. We'll be in touch throughout the day.
Joe Biden, the Democratic senator from Delaware, in a moment we'll talk to him in Wilmington about his thoughts and reflections from yesterday. Stay tuned for that.
Soledad?
O'BRIEN: But first let's talk to Jack about the question of the day, because, of course it relates to al this Condoleezza Rice stuff.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Absolutely.
Specifically, to that exchange between Condoleezza Rice and Barbara Boxer. The senator from California, at the center of what was kind of an ugly incident during the confirmation hearings.
She accused Condoleezza Rice of lying. She said, quote, "Your loyalty to the mission overwhelmed your respect for the truth." In her 12-minute attack on Dr. Rice, Senator Boxer failed to ask the National Security Adviser a single question. Not one.
The purpose of confirmation hearings, as I understand them, is to elicit information from the person being confirmed about how they plan to do this job. Not one question. Instead, Senator Boxer used her time to lecture Rice in a condescending, moral tone about the Iraq war. A week ago, it was Senator Boxer who was the only member of the Senate to vote against certifying President Bush's election victory. Here's the question. Was Barbara Boxer out of line accusing Condoleezza Rice of lying? Am@cnn.com is the e-mail address.
HEMMER: Thanks, Jack.
Let's put that question out to Senator Biden, with us now in Wilmington, Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Senator, good morning to you. Thanks for your time.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS CMTE.: Good morning. How area you?
HEMMER: You said last night you were not impressed with Condoleezza Rice. Why not?
BIDEN: Were you? A secretary of State who is either unwilling or unable to answer whether or not the dollar should be reserved currency for the United States of America, whether or not our indebtedness in terms of the T-bills owned by China and Japan affect our conduct of foreign policy.
Saying there are 120,000 trained troops, the implication being that they can supplant American forces, when that's simply not true. There are 120,000 troops in uniform. That's why I wasn't impressed.
There didn't seem to be any sense on her part, when I asked her the question, knowing what we know now, does she think it would have been better to have more troops going into Iraq, like others in the administration suggested. She was at the center of that decision. She said, I wouldn't presume to suggest how many troops there should be. I don't know what the function of a national security adviser is, then.
HEMMER: Is your suggestion that she was being evasive or dishonest?
BIDEN: I really don't know. I don't think she was being dishonest in the sense she was lying. I think there is this dance, particularly in this administration, with their nominees, of not answering any direct inquiries and sort of sticking to the line.
But it just disappointed me, because I know her well. I like her a great deal. I've had scores of meetings with her. And I wanted to discuss the differences that she saw, as she said, in her role as staff person. That's how she characterized it, and it's literally true, as the national security adviser and her role as a principal.
The debate you guys and women are having on your station and every other station in the nation, is she going to be more of an independent voice, giving him independent advice, as secretary of State, in a different role. And she didn't impress me that she was likely to do that.
HEMMER: You're still going to vote for her, right?
BIDEN: Yes, I am. Because I think the president is entitled to his nominee. I think she is an honorable, decent person. In that case, president has a right to pick who he -- I quite frankly fault the administration for not having a policy.
You notice when asked about what the policy in Iran was, what the policy in Korea was. I asked, I said, if the Lord Almighty came down and guaranteed there would be no more nuclear attempts -- to build a nuclear weapon or have a nuclear policy in Iran. And eliminated their long-range missiles like the Europeans negotiating, would we be willing to strike a deal with them in terms of recognition, in effect, of that?
She said, we have a lot of other problems with them. I mean, I don't quite get it.
HEMMER: Let's try -- you know, Senator, let's keep it on Iraq for a second here.
BIDEN: OK, sure.
HEMMER: There is this wide-ranging number that was given about the number of Iraqi trained forces.
BIDEN: Yes.
HEMMER: At 120,000. Yesterday, you said in front of the committee, it's more like 4,000.
BIDEN: That is exactly right.
HEMMER: How do we marry these numbers and believe which one is the truth?
BIDEN: Well, I think you should probably -- you guys have a lot of sources in the military. I would go to your correspondents in the field, you have there, you ask any of them whether they think there's 120,000 Iraqi forces trained. The 4,000 number came from the military last time I was in Iraq.
HEMMER: But what I'm trying to understand, this is a huge difference of numbers.
BIDEN: Sure it is.
HEMMER: Only 11 days from an election.
BIDEN: Let me make it clear. Let me make it clear.
There are probably 120,000 forces that have been given a uniform. There are nowhere near 120,000 Iraqis showing up in the military or the police forces every day. There are there are nowhere near 120,000 forces trained to shoot straight, equipped and able to do the job of securing Iraqis national interests. And even the secretary of Defense, as you recall, because you reported it, about three months ago, two months ago. He said, no, we have 90,000 trained now. The fact of the matter is, you ought to get the General Patrais (ph) and others and ask them. You guys have incredible sources.
HEMMER: Thank you, Senator. Appreciate your time. About to lose the line in Wilmington.
BIDEN: Thanks, an awful lot.
HEMMER: Joe Biden, we'll be listening later today. At 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time, day two begins for Condoleezza Rice. Live coverage here on CNN when that starts.
Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Time to check the other stories making news this morning. Heidi Collins in for us this morning.
Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning, to you guys. And good morning, everybody.
"Now in the News" this morning: The Palestinians promising to deploy security forces near the border with Israel to try and prevent future attacks. This as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been meeting in Gaza, with militant leaders, to work out a truce. The attempt at talks was disrupted yesterday after a suicide bomber killed at least one Israeli near a Gaza checkpoint. Talks will resume today.
Japan issued a brief tsunami warning this morning. Reports from the area say waves reached no more than 12 inches high after a powerful earthquake hit the country's eastern coast. No reports of injuries or damage from the 6.8 magnitude quake.
In New York, jury selection begins for the trial of Bernard Ebbers, accused of planning an $11 billion accounting fraud, leading to the downfall of WorldCom, now operating as MCI. The bankruptcy is considered the largest ever in American business history.
And NASA says its rover has found something pretty unusual on Mars. Scientists say the strange rock, the Opportunity rover has been riding on appears to actually be a meteorite. Here is a closer look now. Scientists are calling it Heat Shield rock and say it could offer clues as to how the Red Planet's surface changes.
HEMMER: That rover is still going?
COLLINS: Still going strong. Energizer Bunny.
HEMMER: They're getting their money's worth this time.
O'BRIEN: And a lot of money it was. HEMMER: True.
O'BRIEN: Inauguration festivities got off to an early start, believe it or not, last night in Washington, D.C., at a concert for young people. The crowd went wild when President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush took the stage and were greeted by their daughters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and Mrs. Laura Bush.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The president encouraged the young crowd to volunteer. Other performers included "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard, and splash singer Hilary Duff, and the band Three Doors Down. Have you ever heard of that band?
HEMMER: Nope.
O'BRIEN: I didn't think so.
Coverage of the president's second inaugural all day on CNN at 3:30, Eastern you can watch our special coverage of "The Inauguration of George W. Bush: The Road Ahead".
Plus, we'll be live from Washington, D.C. tomorrow with special coverage of events leading up to the swearing-in of the president. AMERICAN MORNING comes to you live from Washington starting at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.
HEMMER: My office is four doors down, though. Does that qualify?
Here's Chad Myers' first look at the forecast. Cold again today.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
O'BRIEN: Well, guess what's coming up this morning?
HEMMER: Yes, day three.
O'BRIEN: "New You Revolution". Remember last year, it was resolution. This year, it's revolution. Day three, this morning we have the story of a woman, her son is in Iraq. She's a grandma. She is taking on some extra burdens for him. Taking a toll on her health. We'll get that.
HEMMER: Also, a no-nonsense cop fed up with government bureaucracy, how he's protecting his hometown by doing more with less. You'll meet him this morning.
O'BRIEN: And a mother and father accused of kidnapping their own children at gunpoint. The children's foster parents making a plea for their return. Their story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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O'BRIEN: A nationwide manhunt continues this morning for a couple suspected of abducting two small children. It happened on Saturday morning in Boone County, North Carolina. The children were taken at gunpoint from their foster parents. James Lee Canter and Alisha Chambers are the parents of the children. They are also wanted on drug charges.
This morning, I spoke with the foster parents, whose identity we've protected.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were just having a quiet Saturday morning. We -- I was having a cup of coffee. My husband was in the shower. My daughter was downstairs playing.
I had just gotten Paul dressed, tied his boots and he was playing with his trucks and I heard a car and got up to look to see who it was. And saw some people coming up the steps. I opened the door and realized it was Alisha. And said, hey, what you need? What can I do for you?
And they started pushing their way in. James said that they were here for the kids. They wanted their kids, and I started to resist, said, now and started to push them out, but James pulled a gun out. And they came on in. Paul saw Alisha and so, of course, he ran to her. Alisha picked him up and passed him to James.
Said, "Come to daddy." Paul pulled back and looked at him like he wasn't sure what was going on. But Alisha grabbed Breanna and they were gone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Police are following up on leads from across the country in this case. Joining us this morning from Boone, North Carolina, is the Wautauga County Sheriff Mark Shook. He is heading up the investigation.
Nice to see you, Sir. Thanks so much for being with us. Where does the investigation stand this morning?
SHERIFF MARK SHOOK, WAUTAUGA CO., N.C.: Right now, we're still following leads that came in over the night. We're talking to family members and getting information on possible locations. We have talked to other authorities in Tennessee, also. That's assisting us in leads over there also.
O'BRIEN: You said you're talking to family members. There was concern it was, in fact, family members who were helping them out, as they're on the lam. Do you think that's still the case?
SHOOK: Yes, ma'am. Mr. Canter has an extensive family in this area and a lot of acquaintances. Some family members are cooperating with us. Some family members are not. But all in all, we're getting very much cooperation from most of the family members.
O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of where the part of the investigation is right now, as far as retrieving the weapon and tracking down the car. How far have they gotten?
SHOOK: We actually have the car that they fled the scene in, and the weapon that was used at the house. We recovered that Saturday afternoon.
O'BRIEN: So are you feeling confident that you're actually pretty close on their trail?
SHOOK: Yes, ma'am, I do.
O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of the condition of the house was in and the children were in when they were taken from these parents, some eight months ago?
SHOOK: It was a single-wide mobile home. The condition was very unkept. Trash all over the floor, parts of the meth lab, the toxic waste and the chemicals were sitting right beside the baby formula. Babies' toys in the floor, near some of this equipment.
O'BRIEN: Are you concerned that the parents could harm their own children, kill their children?
SHOOK: I don't think that they would harm them intentionally. It's just the condition that they're running in, being wanted for a meth lab, the way they went inside the house with a firearm to retrieve the kids. The high-speed chase they led the Johnson County, Tennessee, deputies on. I think just their lifestyle, in itself, is what's putting the kids in danger.
O'BRIEN: As you saw a just few moments ago when we were talking to the foster mother, she and wanted to conceal her identity and not face the camera, because she's concerned about her safety. Who is she concerned about coming to get her, because obviously, she had some kind of a relationship with the parents.
I mean, they had visitation rights and she knows the parents. So do you think her concerns are valid? Who should she be concerned about?
SHOOK: She should be concerned for her safety. Any victim of crime that happened like that should be concerned of possible repercussions. The family of Mr. Canter, they are a very close, very tight-knit family. And, you know, they're a very proud people. So she does have concerns of a possibility of repercussion.
O'BRIEN: Mark Shook is the sheriff of Wautauga County.
Thank you for talking with us. We'll check back with you hopefully it will be all resolved very soon.
SHOOK: Thank you, ma'am. HEMMER: It was one of the hottest stocks in town. Now, it's being forced to fill a very big hole. Andy explains that in "Minding Your Business", that is next on AMERICAN MORNING, live in New York City, where it is 11 chilly degrees here at daybreak, 7:22. Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Once a Wall Street darling, there is trouble at Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The sweet story, not so sweet any more. Andy Serwer, first check, "Minding your Business".
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, COLUMNIST, "FORTUNE": Good morning.
More like more trouble at Krispy Kreme. We have been talking about this one for weeks.
The board of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, yesterday, forcing out the CEO, Scott Livengood in the wake of a federal investigation, weak sales and accounting problems.
The new CEO is a gentleman named Stephen Cooper, a turnaround expert, who worked at Enron and Polaroid.
In the spring of 2003, I traveled to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where the where Krispy Kreme is headquartered and met with Scott Livengood for a story I was doing at "Fortune" magazine.
There I am, with Scott Livengood, and asked him about the company. He assured me everything was on the up and up. Well, it wasn't. He also gave me several business cards at that meeting. You can see here, I was curious why he gave me more than one.
It turns out, Soledad, you might be interested to hear this. Present this card at your local Krispy Kreme doughnut shop and receive one dozen original glazed doughnuts free. You can see it, it says that right there.
We're going to put this to the test.
O'BRIEN: Oh, but he doesn't work there anymore.
SERWER: The CEO's forced out yesterday. We'll see if they still honor this card today. Tune into the 8:00 hour, we'll find out the answer to the mystery problem.
HEMMER: We'll tune in for sure.
SERWER: I know you guys will be here. We can count on that.
O'BRIEN: If we're eating Krispy Kreme...
SERWER: Then it will work.
O'BRIEN: ...then it will have worked.
SERWER: The stock went up yesterday. Interestingly, the CEOs love that, when they get thrown out and the stock goes up. It's got a ways to get back to the $50 mark where it hit in the spring of 2003, $49 dollars, I should say.
Markets actually good overall yesterday. Some excitement about earnings. We are in earnings season. IBM and Yahoo! came out yesterday after the bell looking good. Motorola, there was concern about earnings so futures looking a little weak this morning.
HEMMER: Good luck with your card.
SERWER: Yeah, you're self-interested a little bit, aren't you?
O'BRIEN: How many of those did you get?
SERWER: Just a couple. That's enough, right?
O'BRIEN: All right. I think they'll work. Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: OK, we'll see.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.
HEMMER: Sneak peak at "90 Second Pop" in a moment.
How much free stuff does one billionaire need? The freebie list for the Donald's wedding keeps growing.
Also, if it ain't broke, why fix it? Will viewers go for the "American Idol" makeover? That is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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