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American Morning
Iraq Elections; Valentine's Reunion; Grammy Awards
Aired February 14, 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news from Lebanon. A car bomb goes off in downtown Beirut. Details of the destruction just coming in.
A brand new feeling in Iraq. Citizens celebrating victory at the polls. But who will actually lead that country is still far from certain.
In the Michael Jackson case, trying now to uncover the hidden agendas. Big work to find a jury starting today.
And at the grammys...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BONNIE RAITT, SINGER: "Genius Loves...
GARY SINISE, ACTOR: "Genius Loves Company," Ray Charles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The late Ray Charles the big winner at the Grammy Awards. Saluting a legend on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Starting a whole new week here. Good Monday morning, everybody. Happy Valentine's Day.
And good morning to you. Happy V Day.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Same to you.
HEMMER: Thank you very much.
Already a busy morning, watching the news from overseas at this hour.
O'BRIEN: A massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, to talk about. The waterfront blast, which is believed to be a car bomb, could be felt in the hills beyond the city. The main scene of the devastation is outside the Hotel St. George. But the power of the blast spread damage a mile from the smoke and the fire and the debris.
First reports have at least six people dead. The amount of destruction, though, is so enormous. An explosion detonated at lunchtime. Those numbers could change.
Lebanese TV is reporting that former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the motorcade was in the blast area. We're going to get you more information on that as well this morning.
HEMMER: Brent Sadler is working that story in Beirut. We'll get to Brent this hour.
Other stories we're watching, Iraq's election results now announced. And Shiites easily coming away with the most seats in the new national assembly. But they do not have the two-thirds needed to control the new government. What
happens now? A good question. And we'll talk about that this hour.
O'BRIEN: Also, as Iraq's government comes together, big questions for the country next door, Iran. "The Washington Post" is reporting this weekend that drones, those highly sophisticated spy planes, are flying missions over that country. We're going to talk to former CIA director James Woolsey about just how likely that is, and also what it might say about U.S. intentions in the region.
HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty on a Monday.
What's on your mind?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. If you're in search of that perfect last-minute Valentine's gift, maybe a Taser stun gun for the one you love.
The company is going to start marketing a civilian version of this weapon that the police department's been using around the country. They think there's a huge market, that they might, in fact, replace firearms as a way to protect your home. And it's -- I mean, you know, even if your home's not broken into, it may be perfect for the kids or the dog. Kind of, you know, easy way to...
O'BRIEN: We want a crawl that says "This is said with sarcasm."
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: I'm just teasing. And I have a Valentine's gift for you a little bit later.
O'BRIEN: You do?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Is it food?
CAFFERTY: No.
O'BRIEN: Oh. OK. Thanks anyway. Appreciate it.
CAFFERTY: You don't want it if it's not food? O'BRIEN: I'm going to scrounge something up for you in the next three hours too.
CAFFERTY: No, no, no.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.
HEMMER: Let's get to Heidi Collins, back with us again this morning with the headlines now.
Good morning.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you guys. And good morning to you once again, everybody.
"Now in the News" this morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is discussing North Korea's nuclear program with one of its neighbors. Secretary Rice is set to meet today with South Korea's foreign minister, who tells CNN the six-party nuclear talks should continue. North Korea has been pushing for direct talks with the United States.
Another big deal merger in the telephone industry. CNN has learned Verizon Communications is acquiring MCI for about $6.7 billion. Verizon apparently beating out Quest for the deal. Andy Serwer of course will have much more on this coming up in just a little while.
In Santa Maria, California, jury selection set to resume today in the child molestation trial of pop star Michael Jackson. Attorneys for both sides will begin thinning the nearly 250 potential jurors who filled out detailed questionnaires down to 12 jurors and eight alternates. The trial was on hiatus last week after one of Jackson's lawyers suffered a death in the family.
And a baby boy swept away from his parents during the tsunami disaster is going home. DNA test results confirm the infant known as "Baby 81" is the biological son of the couple fighting for custody. The toddler has been the subject of a desperate eight-week custody battle involving as many as nine couples. The family is set to be reunited in court Wednesday.
Feed him a bottle all by themselves.
HEMMER: Luckily a good ending there too.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: Thanks, Heidi.
O'BRIEN: In Iraq this morning a big win for Shiites in last month's elections. Many Sunnis are calling the vote invalid. CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson live in Baghdad this morning with more.
Nic, good morning. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
And certainly the view here overall, if you look across what most people are saying, is that they think that at least the elections were carried out in a transparent way. They say, unlike Saddam Hussein, the results weren't tampered with, there weren't ballot boxes that were stuffed, and that that gave them a lot of faith in their election officials. And that's something they say they haven't really had in politicians and officials in Iraq before. So a lot of people saying, whatever the results, that was a very, very positive step.
Having said that, though, even as the results were coming out, there were some of the minority groups already expressing disappointment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Even before the results were announced, there were complaints. Iraq's sizable Turkmen ethnic minority claiming disenfranchisement. But inside the results hall...
FARID AYER, IECI SPOKESMAN (through translator): We congratulate everybody, those that one and those that didn't.
ROBERTSON: ... a mood of celebration. The elections actually pulled off.
ADIL AL-LAMI, ELECTORAL ADMIN. GEN. DIR. (through translator): The total number of votes for the national assembly, 8,456,266.
ROBERTSON: About 60 percent turnout, a little lower than election day optimism had many believe. The Sunni province of Al Anbar getting just 2 percent of possible voters going to the polls.
AL-LAMI (through translator): The front for the Turkomans of Iraq 73,791 votes.
ROBERTSON: As figures slowly emerged, few surprises. The religious United Iraqi Alliance, backed by Shia Islam's top Iraqi cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, garnering almost half the seats in the interim national assembly. Their politicians quick to espouse inclusivity (ph).
MOUWAFFAQ RUBAIE, UNITED IRAQ ALLIANCE: This is going to be a government of national reconciliation, a government of national unity, a national coalition. All communities, all three communities are going to take literally a very strong position in this government.
ROBERTSON: Likely partners with the UIA, the Kurdish Alliance landing about one quarter of the 275 seats. If the cooperation continues, the grouping quite possibly dominating the new political landscape and taking a lead role in shaping the new constitution.
BARHAM SALAH, KURDISH ALLIANCE: There should be no legislation that will violate the core values of Islam. I think that represents the area of consensus between Iraqi -- different Iraqi political movements and communities. Any attempt to establish a fundamentalist religious state in Iraq will backfire.
ROBERTSON: Current Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's grouping gained about 38 seats. The other parties trailing much farther behind, leading some to question the process that gives little voice to independents and small parties.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: And what happens now? Well, all those political parties beginning the serious process of political horse trading to determine the top jobs in the government. And we're told that could take several weeks at least.
O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson reporting for us this morning. Nic, thank you very much. Appreciate it -- Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad, today's an extra special Valentine's Day for the Ottos of Williamsburg, Virginia. First Lieutenant Shawn Otto just back from Iraq. He's in Fort Dix, New Jersey, in fact.
He was back in Mosul in December when the mess tent was attacked just before Christmas. Nineteen U.S. troops were killed that day.
Trish Otto has not seen her husband since September. He was on a brief leave back then until we got the two together by satellite about 30 minutes ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Lieutenant, welcome back to U.S. soil. What kind of a message do you have for your wife today on Valentine's Day?
1ST LT. SHAWN OTTO, VIRGINIA NATIONAL GUARD: Trish, darling, I'm coming home soon. I'll be there very shortly.
HEMMER: Well, Trish, how does that feel?
TRISH OTTO, HUSBAND RETURNING FROM IRAQ: It feels wonderful. I can't wait to have him back home.
HEMMER: Yes. You're wearing the Valentine red today. A special message? Do you have one for the lieutenant, your husband, today, Trish?
T. OTTO: Just that I love him very much and I'm glad he's going to be home in one piece.
HEMMER: Yes.
Lieutenant, what has this been like for you, being overseas, especially at a time when the attack hit in Mosul. You were at the base at the time. Share some of your thoughts being back home now as a result of that. S. OTTO: It's -- first, let me just say it's wonderful to be back in the states. And I feel like we did a really important mission. And it's good to be home.
But Mosul is a very dangerous place. Every day we basically executed our mission and were under threat from all kinds of terrorist activity.
I'm really happy with the performance of my soldiers. And I think it was a lot easier for us to do it because we were so mission- focused. We didn't really have time to worry about how much we missed our families. But I think it was much harder on the families at home, because they had the uncertainty, they don't really know what's going on and whether or not we were going to come back and so on. So it's good to be home.
HEMMER: Trish, how difficult was that, reflecting back in December? Great to be home, I'm certain of that. And we talked to you again during the time of the attack and about all the tension you had built up inside of you, trying to wait for word from your husband. How difficult was that, Trish?
T. OTTO: It was pretty difficult. I got a call from Shawn, and I knew that he was OK. But just knowing what he was going through was really difficult, not knowing what was going to happen afterwards.
It was difficult just him being away in general. And all the attacks that were happening every single day, it was just a scary thing, just knowing he was out there, just knowing that any soldier was having his life put up every day. You just -- not knowing if he was coming home. Just knowing now that he is coming home now, it's an exciting thing for us to look forward to.
HEMMER: He's going to be home a little later this month. What are your plans, Trish?
T. OTTO: Our plans are that we have a lot of catching up to do. I have just tons of plans.
HEMMER: I bet.
Lieutenant, how about yourself?
S. OTTO: I try not to make too many plans. I just want to be home with my family and put my arms around them and just spend time with them. And it's the one great thing about the Army, is it really makes you appreciate the small things in life, like family time and a cup of coffee, and so on.
HEMMER: I'm certain it does. Listen, say hello to your two boys for us, Trish, will you, Chase (ph) and Caleb (ph) sitting to your right and left. And congratulations.
Lieutenant, welcome home. Thanks for your time today. And Happy Valentine's Day to both of you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Lieutenant Shawn Otto due home in about a week's time, February 23 on the calendar. He's got some paperwork to take care of at Fort Dix. And then they will be reunited in about nine days -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, guess what? "Genius Loves Company," and the Grammys love genius. The late, great Ray Charles was the big winner at the 47th annual Grammy Awards last night in Los Angeles.
CNN's pop culture correspondent Toure was there. He wants to talk a little bit about the highs and the lows.
What should we start with the highs?
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: Oh, of course we're going to start with the highs. But then we're going to get to the lows, of course.
Listen, the Grammys was surprisingly compelling and fun to watch. An all around great show. And then there was J. Lo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOURE (voice-over): The 47th Grammys were a tribute to the late Ray Charles.
JOE ADAMS, RAY CHARLES' MANAGER: Humbly we accept the Grammy. Sincerely, we say thanks.
TOURE: He won eight Grammys, including album and record of the year for "Genius Loves Company: A Collection of Duets," including one with Norah Jones, who grabbed three herself.
NORAH JONES, SINGER: To stand, you know, two feet away from Ray Charles and watch him sing -- and I didn't even want to open my mouth.
TOURE: Alicia Keys won four, including best R&B contemporary. Kanye West lost best new artist to Maroon 5. When we won best rap album, no one knew what he'd say. But he was classy.
KANYE WEST, SINGER: If you have the opportunity to play this game of life, you need to appreciate every moment.
TOURE: His speech moved a lot of people.
BONO, GRAMMY WINNER: It's not jive. He's not doing it because it looks good in the ghetto. He's doing it because it's on his mind and in his heart.
TOURE: Kanye took us to church, performing "Jesus Walks." And Melissa Etheridge, bald from her battle with cancer, brought down the house, covering Janis Joplin's "Another Little Piece of My Heart" with Joss Stone.
The show's only sour note arrived when the J.Lo and Marc Anthony duet devolved into a Spanish soap opera disaster.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TOURE: Did you see the tacky bit? Did you see the gold phone? There were no wardrobe malfunctions, but J.Lo surely had had a career malfunction.
Now, stop me if I'm being too Dr. Phil here, but, look, she seemed to have this weird way of becoming a new person with each relationship. She's like a different being almost. The J.Lo who's with Puffy is not the Jennifer circa Bennifer is not Mrs. Anthony.
I don't know, Soledad, let's call her "La Lopez" now or something. It's just different every day -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: You know what, though? Some people might say at the end of the day, we're all still talking about her. Something's working. All right, Toure. Thanks.
TOURE: Thank you.
HEMMER: Great show last night.
Fourteen minutes past the hour. Check of the weather now on a Monday morning. Here's Chad Myers at the CNN Center.
Good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Bill.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Well, it could be the latest sign the U.S. may be planning an attack on Iran. We're going to talk this morning with former CIA director James Woolsey about a new report out.
HEMMER: Also, terror in a packed mall. A mob of panicked shoppers running from a gunman. We'll talk to an eye witness. What a story he has to tell in a moment.
O'BRIEN: And a former child star gets ready to turn prosecution witness. His allegations against Michael Jackson ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Want to update you now on the breaking news story out of Beirut, Lebanon. We told you about this car bomb that exploded 90 minutes ago. Now we're getting reports that the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, was in the area where the bomb exploded.
CNN has confirmed that he was critically wounded. And now there's a report out of Beirut, LBC, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation there. They are saying that Rafik Hariri has been killed as a result of this explosion. In addition, there is a report that his chief bodyguard is dead. And another report that says eight others in the area were killed as a result.
And again, an apparent car bomb exploded in downtown Beirut a short time ago. The reports we have is that at least the former prime minister is critically wounded. Some local reports say he is dead.
We'll follow this. And as soon as we get more we'll pass it along to you. Brent Sadler, our bureau chief there in Beirut, working the story. Brent will be live in about 11 minutes there from Lebanon -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Here in this country a Sunday afternoon at the mall turned to horror when a gunman opened fire in an Upstate New York shopping mall. It happened yesterday in the town of Ulster. It's about 90 miles north of New York City.
Police say that a 24-year-old man began shooting inside the Best Buy store, continued firing, in fact, as he walked out into the main corridor of the mall. Two people were injured before the shooter ran out of bullets and then eventually surrendered.
Ali Afshar works at the mall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALI AFSHAR, WITNESS: I heard four different gunshots go rat-a- tat, like that. And at that time I made my way from buying my Valentine's Day card, which is near the center court, made it all the way back towards the food court, towards my Smart Sell (ph) kiosk. And at that time, I told my employee that was working there, I told him, you know, to get the hell out of the mall because there was a gentleman with a gun walking down, trying to shoot at people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: One of the victims, a 20-year-old National Guard recruiter, was struck in the knee. He might actually, in fact, have to lose that leg -- Bill.
HEMMER: From 250 down to 12. This morning, attorneys in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial returned to court to begin narrowing down the field of prospective jurors. And they have a job in front of them.
Our senior legal analyst, Jeffery Toobin, stops in this morning.
Good morning to, Jeff.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
HEMMER: Nice to have you here. You're not a fan of the questionnaire, by the way. We went through this last week.
TOOBIN: Absolutely. HEMMER: How would they use the questionnaire now in court?
TOOBIN: Well, the questionnaire is so general that basically it would just be the jumping off point to ask these people what they really think of Michael Jackson. You know, there's -- there are a lot of questions there about, you know, sort of, "Do you know who he is?" But very little about their attitudes towards him, favorable or not. That's what today's going to be all about.
HEMMER: So you can get one thing out of a written answer, but you can get a whole lot about asking somebody face to face.
TOOBIN: Right. And -- but usually in these high-profile cases you'll have a 20 or 30-page questionnaire. This was a seven-page questionnaire. That's what was so surprising.
HEMMER: What kind of a juror is the defense looking for?
TOOBIN: You know, I think the usual sort of cliches about jury selection pretty much do apply here. The defense is going to be looking for idiosyncratic, highly educated people, people who are tolerant, people who, if someone has an unusual life style, will not hold it against them.
HEMMER: Prosecution?
TOOBIN: The prosecution pretty much the opposite, stable, conservative, rooted in the community, married, older, civil service type. People involved in jobs where they've been for a long time.
HEMMER: So that process continues today. In the meantime, though, you have this ABC News, "20/20" exclusive. Corey Feldman was a child star about, what, 20 years ago, at the age of 13?
TOOBIN: I think "star" may be somewhat of an overstatement, but yes.
HEMMER: He's 33 today. Listen to what part of what he is now saying in an interview with ABC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So why does it disturb you now?
COREY FELDMAN, ACTOR: Because when I look at the pieces of evidence, and I see that one of the pieces of evidence is Michael Jackson looking at pornographic material with a child, and the child is 13 other 14 years old, and the fact that I witnessed that exact occurrence in my own life...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: I witnessed that exact occurrence in my own life. Do we understand how he could aid the prosecution yet?
TOOBIN: Look for a big fight at the trial over whether this is admissible or not, because the prosecution will say, look, this is a pattern of behavior. The defense will say, he's not charged with showing pornography to someone. That's simply an attempt to bring in an extraneous, embarrassing act that will certainly just dirty up Michael Jackson in front of the jury without showing that he did the crime that he's alleged, which is abuse, which is very different from looking at pictures.
HEMMER: And the defense has already said they have witnesses that were also child stars, Macaulay Culkin, that may testify on behalf of Michael Jackson, which means you could have, what, dueling child stars in this child?
TOOBIN: Exactly. And that's why the judge may rule the whole thing out of order, because Michael Jackson can't call into evidence every single kid he didn't molest.
I mean, that's -- that's ridiculous. You can't have a trial like that. But, you know, by the same token, the defense -- the prosecution is going to have to be limited on what they can prove if it is -- only if it is tightly relevant to the trial.
HEMMER: More and more interesting. They need 12 jurors and eight alternates?
TOOBIN: I think he's going to have eight alternates, yes. It will probably take a couple weeks this process.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jeff.
TOOBIN: All right.
HEMMER: We'll talk again.
TOOBIN: OK.
HEMMER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: The nation's biggest phone company just got a whole lot bigger. Andy has got the latest on a blockbuster deal and just how it could affect you. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: There's another merger between two major telecom companies to talk about. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Hello. We've actually talked about this a little.
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, FORTUNE MAGAZINE: Good morning.
It was first reported last week, Soledad, rumors of this deal. And now it can be told.
That's right, a big deal, Verizon and -- is buying MCI for $6.7 billion. This is the third big telecom deal within the past two months. You may remember SBC bought AT&T, and then Sprint bought Nextel, rapidly consolidating business.
MCI is the second largest long distance company in the United States, with 14 million customers. But Verizon is actually more interested in its business customers and its government business. That's truly what is a growth business and a profitable business for them.
No word on whether the MCI brand will stay around. That's an interesting question. But, of course, if you're an MCI customer, there won't be any disruptions to the service.
Talk about the markets a little bit. Last week was a good one.
Friday especially. The Dow was up 46 points. You can see here the week. We did pretty well, except for the Nasdaq. It slipped back a little bit.
And real big news here is that we have erased all the losses from January...
O'BRIEN: Oh.
SERWER: ... for the Dow. And we're up for the year. So February's doing OK.
O'BRIEN: All right.
HEMMER: Not a bad 2005.
O'BRIEN: So far.
SERWER: So far.
HEMMER: All right. Thank you, Andy.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
HEMMER: Here's the "Question of the Day."
Good morning.
CAFFERTY: Taser, the stun gun manufacturer, is launching a major marketing campaign for a civilian model of the stun gun that's currently used by the cops and the military. "Chicago Tribune" reports Taser International plans a Taser for home use for about $1,000. Less powerful than the police version.
Taser's announcement comes after a series of critical reports that have caused the company's stock to head due south. The stock was $33 in December. It's $13 now.
SEC investigating charges the company made misleading statements about the safety of the stun gun. An Air Force study reported last week found that multiple shocks from a Taser stun gun led to heart damage in pigs.
Taser president and co-founder Thomas Smith insists that the products are safe. According to the "Tribune," the company wants to see millions of Americans buy Taser stun guns for their homes instead of firearms.
So that would be the question. Would you buy a Taser stun gun for your home?
HEMMER: That video will wake you up, won't it?
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: That screaming into the camera like that?
SERWER: Yes, that's always good stuff.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
O'BRIEN: Interesting question. Thanks, Jack.
A short break and we'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Ahead on "90-Second Pop"...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the Grammy goes to...
O'BRIEN: ... Usher and Alicia Keys were big Grammy winners. But in the end, everybody really loves Ray.
Plus, the most memorable Grammy moment might be the one everybody wants to forget. What is the deal with J.Lo and Marc Anthony?
All that and more later on AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired February 14, 2005 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news from Lebanon. A car bomb goes off in downtown Beirut. Details of the destruction just coming in.
A brand new feeling in Iraq. Citizens celebrating victory at the polls. But who will actually lead that country is still far from certain.
In the Michael Jackson case, trying now to uncover the hidden agendas. Big work to find a jury starting today.
And at the grammys...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BONNIE RAITT, SINGER: "Genius Loves...
GARY SINISE, ACTOR: "Genius Loves Company," Ray Charles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The late Ray Charles the big winner at the Grammy Awards. Saluting a legend on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Starting a whole new week here. Good Monday morning, everybody. Happy Valentine's Day.
And good morning to you. Happy V Day.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Same to you.
HEMMER: Thank you very much.
Already a busy morning, watching the news from overseas at this hour.
O'BRIEN: A massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, to talk about. The waterfront blast, which is believed to be a car bomb, could be felt in the hills beyond the city. The main scene of the devastation is outside the Hotel St. George. But the power of the blast spread damage a mile from the smoke and the fire and the debris.
First reports have at least six people dead. The amount of destruction, though, is so enormous. An explosion detonated at lunchtime. Those numbers could change.
Lebanese TV is reporting that former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the motorcade was in the blast area. We're going to get you more information on that as well this morning.
HEMMER: Brent Sadler is working that story in Beirut. We'll get to Brent this hour.
Other stories we're watching, Iraq's election results now announced. And Shiites easily coming away with the most seats in the new national assembly. But they do not have the two-thirds needed to control the new government. What
happens now? A good question. And we'll talk about that this hour.
O'BRIEN: Also, as Iraq's government comes together, big questions for the country next door, Iran. "The Washington Post" is reporting this weekend that drones, those highly sophisticated spy planes, are flying missions over that country. We're going to talk to former CIA director James Woolsey about just how likely that is, and also what it might say about U.S. intentions in the region.
HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty on a Monday.
What's on your mind?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. If you're in search of that perfect last-minute Valentine's gift, maybe a Taser stun gun for the one you love.
The company is going to start marketing a civilian version of this weapon that the police department's been using around the country. They think there's a huge market, that they might, in fact, replace firearms as a way to protect your home. And it's -- I mean, you know, even if your home's not broken into, it may be perfect for the kids or the dog. Kind of, you know, easy way to...
O'BRIEN: We want a crawl that says "This is said with sarcasm."
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: I'm just teasing. And I have a Valentine's gift for you a little bit later.
O'BRIEN: You do?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Is it food?
CAFFERTY: No.
O'BRIEN: Oh. OK. Thanks anyway. Appreciate it.
CAFFERTY: You don't want it if it's not food? O'BRIEN: I'm going to scrounge something up for you in the next three hours too.
CAFFERTY: No, no, no.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.
HEMMER: Let's get to Heidi Collins, back with us again this morning with the headlines now.
Good morning.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you guys. And good morning to you once again, everybody.
"Now in the News" this morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is discussing North Korea's nuclear program with one of its neighbors. Secretary Rice is set to meet today with South Korea's foreign minister, who tells CNN the six-party nuclear talks should continue. North Korea has been pushing for direct talks with the United States.
Another big deal merger in the telephone industry. CNN has learned Verizon Communications is acquiring MCI for about $6.7 billion. Verizon apparently beating out Quest for the deal. Andy Serwer of course will have much more on this coming up in just a little while.
In Santa Maria, California, jury selection set to resume today in the child molestation trial of pop star Michael Jackson. Attorneys for both sides will begin thinning the nearly 250 potential jurors who filled out detailed questionnaires down to 12 jurors and eight alternates. The trial was on hiatus last week after one of Jackson's lawyers suffered a death in the family.
And a baby boy swept away from his parents during the tsunami disaster is going home. DNA test results confirm the infant known as "Baby 81" is the biological son of the couple fighting for custody. The toddler has been the subject of a desperate eight-week custody battle involving as many as nine couples. The family is set to be reunited in court Wednesday.
Feed him a bottle all by themselves.
HEMMER: Luckily a good ending there too.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: Thanks, Heidi.
O'BRIEN: In Iraq this morning a big win for Shiites in last month's elections. Many Sunnis are calling the vote invalid. CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson live in Baghdad this morning with more.
Nic, good morning. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
And certainly the view here overall, if you look across what most people are saying, is that they think that at least the elections were carried out in a transparent way. They say, unlike Saddam Hussein, the results weren't tampered with, there weren't ballot boxes that were stuffed, and that that gave them a lot of faith in their election officials. And that's something they say they haven't really had in politicians and officials in Iraq before. So a lot of people saying, whatever the results, that was a very, very positive step.
Having said that, though, even as the results were coming out, there were some of the minority groups already expressing disappointment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Even before the results were announced, there were complaints. Iraq's sizable Turkmen ethnic minority claiming disenfranchisement. But inside the results hall...
FARID AYER, IECI SPOKESMAN (through translator): We congratulate everybody, those that one and those that didn't.
ROBERTSON: ... a mood of celebration. The elections actually pulled off.
ADIL AL-LAMI, ELECTORAL ADMIN. GEN. DIR. (through translator): The total number of votes for the national assembly, 8,456,266.
ROBERTSON: About 60 percent turnout, a little lower than election day optimism had many believe. The Sunni province of Al Anbar getting just 2 percent of possible voters going to the polls.
AL-LAMI (through translator): The front for the Turkomans of Iraq 73,791 votes.
ROBERTSON: As figures slowly emerged, few surprises. The religious United Iraqi Alliance, backed by Shia Islam's top Iraqi cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, garnering almost half the seats in the interim national assembly. Their politicians quick to espouse inclusivity (ph).
MOUWAFFAQ RUBAIE, UNITED IRAQ ALLIANCE: This is going to be a government of national reconciliation, a government of national unity, a national coalition. All communities, all three communities are going to take literally a very strong position in this government.
ROBERTSON: Likely partners with the UIA, the Kurdish Alliance landing about one quarter of the 275 seats. If the cooperation continues, the grouping quite possibly dominating the new political landscape and taking a lead role in shaping the new constitution.
BARHAM SALAH, KURDISH ALLIANCE: There should be no legislation that will violate the core values of Islam. I think that represents the area of consensus between Iraqi -- different Iraqi political movements and communities. Any attempt to establish a fundamentalist religious state in Iraq will backfire.
ROBERTSON: Current Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's grouping gained about 38 seats. The other parties trailing much farther behind, leading some to question the process that gives little voice to independents and small parties.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: And what happens now? Well, all those political parties beginning the serious process of political horse trading to determine the top jobs in the government. And we're told that could take several weeks at least.
O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson reporting for us this morning. Nic, thank you very much. Appreciate it -- Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad, today's an extra special Valentine's Day for the Ottos of Williamsburg, Virginia. First Lieutenant Shawn Otto just back from Iraq. He's in Fort Dix, New Jersey, in fact.
He was back in Mosul in December when the mess tent was attacked just before Christmas. Nineteen U.S. troops were killed that day.
Trish Otto has not seen her husband since September. He was on a brief leave back then until we got the two together by satellite about 30 minutes ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Lieutenant, welcome back to U.S. soil. What kind of a message do you have for your wife today on Valentine's Day?
1ST LT. SHAWN OTTO, VIRGINIA NATIONAL GUARD: Trish, darling, I'm coming home soon. I'll be there very shortly.
HEMMER: Well, Trish, how does that feel?
TRISH OTTO, HUSBAND RETURNING FROM IRAQ: It feels wonderful. I can't wait to have him back home.
HEMMER: Yes. You're wearing the Valentine red today. A special message? Do you have one for the lieutenant, your husband, today, Trish?
T. OTTO: Just that I love him very much and I'm glad he's going to be home in one piece.
HEMMER: Yes.
Lieutenant, what has this been like for you, being overseas, especially at a time when the attack hit in Mosul. You were at the base at the time. Share some of your thoughts being back home now as a result of that. S. OTTO: It's -- first, let me just say it's wonderful to be back in the states. And I feel like we did a really important mission. And it's good to be home.
But Mosul is a very dangerous place. Every day we basically executed our mission and were under threat from all kinds of terrorist activity.
I'm really happy with the performance of my soldiers. And I think it was a lot easier for us to do it because we were so mission- focused. We didn't really have time to worry about how much we missed our families. But I think it was much harder on the families at home, because they had the uncertainty, they don't really know what's going on and whether or not we were going to come back and so on. So it's good to be home.
HEMMER: Trish, how difficult was that, reflecting back in December? Great to be home, I'm certain of that. And we talked to you again during the time of the attack and about all the tension you had built up inside of you, trying to wait for word from your husband. How difficult was that, Trish?
T. OTTO: It was pretty difficult. I got a call from Shawn, and I knew that he was OK. But just knowing what he was going through was really difficult, not knowing what was going to happen afterwards.
It was difficult just him being away in general. And all the attacks that were happening every single day, it was just a scary thing, just knowing he was out there, just knowing that any soldier was having his life put up every day. You just -- not knowing if he was coming home. Just knowing now that he is coming home now, it's an exciting thing for us to look forward to.
HEMMER: He's going to be home a little later this month. What are your plans, Trish?
T. OTTO: Our plans are that we have a lot of catching up to do. I have just tons of plans.
HEMMER: I bet.
Lieutenant, how about yourself?
S. OTTO: I try not to make too many plans. I just want to be home with my family and put my arms around them and just spend time with them. And it's the one great thing about the Army, is it really makes you appreciate the small things in life, like family time and a cup of coffee, and so on.
HEMMER: I'm certain it does. Listen, say hello to your two boys for us, Trish, will you, Chase (ph) and Caleb (ph) sitting to your right and left. And congratulations.
Lieutenant, welcome home. Thanks for your time today. And Happy Valentine's Day to both of you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Lieutenant Shawn Otto due home in about a week's time, February 23 on the calendar. He's got some paperwork to take care of at Fort Dix. And then they will be reunited in about nine days -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, guess what? "Genius Loves Company," and the Grammys love genius. The late, great Ray Charles was the big winner at the 47th annual Grammy Awards last night in Los Angeles.
CNN's pop culture correspondent Toure was there. He wants to talk a little bit about the highs and the lows.
What should we start with the highs?
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: Oh, of course we're going to start with the highs. But then we're going to get to the lows, of course.
Listen, the Grammys was surprisingly compelling and fun to watch. An all around great show. And then there was J. Lo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOURE (voice-over): The 47th Grammys were a tribute to the late Ray Charles.
JOE ADAMS, RAY CHARLES' MANAGER: Humbly we accept the Grammy. Sincerely, we say thanks.
TOURE: He won eight Grammys, including album and record of the year for "Genius Loves Company: A Collection of Duets," including one with Norah Jones, who grabbed three herself.
NORAH JONES, SINGER: To stand, you know, two feet away from Ray Charles and watch him sing -- and I didn't even want to open my mouth.
TOURE: Alicia Keys won four, including best R&B contemporary. Kanye West lost best new artist to Maroon 5. When we won best rap album, no one knew what he'd say. But he was classy.
KANYE WEST, SINGER: If you have the opportunity to play this game of life, you need to appreciate every moment.
TOURE: His speech moved a lot of people.
BONO, GRAMMY WINNER: It's not jive. He's not doing it because it looks good in the ghetto. He's doing it because it's on his mind and in his heart.
TOURE: Kanye took us to church, performing "Jesus Walks." And Melissa Etheridge, bald from her battle with cancer, brought down the house, covering Janis Joplin's "Another Little Piece of My Heart" with Joss Stone.
The show's only sour note arrived when the J.Lo and Marc Anthony duet devolved into a Spanish soap opera disaster.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TOURE: Did you see the tacky bit? Did you see the gold phone? There were no wardrobe malfunctions, but J.Lo surely had had a career malfunction.
Now, stop me if I'm being too Dr. Phil here, but, look, she seemed to have this weird way of becoming a new person with each relationship. She's like a different being almost. The J.Lo who's with Puffy is not the Jennifer circa Bennifer is not Mrs. Anthony.
I don't know, Soledad, let's call her "La Lopez" now or something. It's just different every day -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: You know what, though? Some people might say at the end of the day, we're all still talking about her. Something's working. All right, Toure. Thanks.
TOURE: Thank you.
HEMMER: Great show last night.
Fourteen minutes past the hour. Check of the weather now on a Monday morning. Here's Chad Myers at the CNN Center.
Good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Bill.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Well, it could be the latest sign the U.S. may be planning an attack on Iran. We're going to talk this morning with former CIA director James Woolsey about a new report out.
HEMMER: Also, terror in a packed mall. A mob of panicked shoppers running from a gunman. We'll talk to an eye witness. What a story he has to tell in a moment.
O'BRIEN: And a former child star gets ready to turn prosecution witness. His allegations against Michael Jackson ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Want to update you now on the breaking news story out of Beirut, Lebanon. We told you about this car bomb that exploded 90 minutes ago. Now we're getting reports that the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, was in the area where the bomb exploded.
CNN has confirmed that he was critically wounded. And now there's a report out of Beirut, LBC, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation there. They are saying that Rafik Hariri has been killed as a result of this explosion. In addition, there is a report that his chief bodyguard is dead. And another report that says eight others in the area were killed as a result.
And again, an apparent car bomb exploded in downtown Beirut a short time ago. The reports we have is that at least the former prime minister is critically wounded. Some local reports say he is dead.
We'll follow this. And as soon as we get more we'll pass it along to you. Brent Sadler, our bureau chief there in Beirut, working the story. Brent will be live in about 11 minutes there from Lebanon -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Here in this country a Sunday afternoon at the mall turned to horror when a gunman opened fire in an Upstate New York shopping mall. It happened yesterday in the town of Ulster. It's about 90 miles north of New York City.
Police say that a 24-year-old man began shooting inside the Best Buy store, continued firing, in fact, as he walked out into the main corridor of the mall. Two people were injured before the shooter ran out of bullets and then eventually surrendered.
Ali Afshar works at the mall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALI AFSHAR, WITNESS: I heard four different gunshots go rat-a- tat, like that. And at that time I made my way from buying my Valentine's Day card, which is near the center court, made it all the way back towards the food court, towards my Smart Sell (ph) kiosk. And at that time, I told my employee that was working there, I told him, you know, to get the hell out of the mall because there was a gentleman with a gun walking down, trying to shoot at people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: One of the victims, a 20-year-old National Guard recruiter, was struck in the knee. He might actually, in fact, have to lose that leg -- Bill.
HEMMER: From 250 down to 12. This morning, attorneys in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial returned to court to begin narrowing down the field of prospective jurors. And they have a job in front of them.
Our senior legal analyst, Jeffery Toobin, stops in this morning.
Good morning to, Jeff.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
HEMMER: Nice to have you here. You're not a fan of the questionnaire, by the way. We went through this last week.
TOOBIN: Absolutely. HEMMER: How would they use the questionnaire now in court?
TOOBIN: Well, the questionnaire is so general that basically it would just be the jumping off point to ask these people what they really think of Michael Jackson. You know, there's -- there are a lot of questions there about, you know, sort of, "Do you know who he is?" But very little about their attitudes towards him, favorable or not. That's what today's going to be all about.
HEMMER: So you can get one thing out of a written answer, but you can get a whole lot about asking somebody face to face.
TOOBIN: Right. And -- but usually in these high-profile cases you'll have a 20 or 30-page questionnaire. This was a seven-page questionnaire. That's what was so surprising.
HEMMER: What kind of a juror is the defense looking for?
TOOBIN: You know, I think the usual sort of cliches about jury selection pretty much do apply here. The defense is going to be looking for idiosyncratic, highly educated people, people who are tolerant, people who, if someone has an unusual life style, will not hold it against them.
HEMMER: Prosecution?
TOOBIN: The prosecution pretty much the opposite, stable, conservative, rooted in the community, married, older, civil service type. People involved in jobs where they've been for a long time.
HEMMER: So that process continues today. In the meantime, though, you have this ABC News, "20/20" exclusive. Corey Feldman was a child star about, what, 20 years ago, at the age of 13?
TOOBIN: I think "star" may be somewhat of an overstatement, but yes.
HEMMER: He's 33 today. Listen to what part of what he is now saying in an interview with ABC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So why does it disturb you now?
COREY FELDMAN, ACTOR: Because when I look at the pieces of evidence, and I see that one of the pieces of evidence is Michael Jackson looking at pornographic material with a child, and the child is 13 other 14 years old, and the fact that I witnessed that exact occurrence in my own life...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: I witnessed that exact occurrence in my own life. Do we understand how he could aid the prosecution yet?
TOOBIN: Look for a big fight at the trial over whether this is admissible or not, because the prosecution will say, look, this is a pattern of behavior. The defense will say, he's not charged with showing pornography to someone. That's simply an attempt to bring in an extraneous, embarrassing act that will certainly just dirty up Michael Jackson in front of the jury without showing that he did the crime that he's alleged, which is abuse, which is very different from looking at pictures.
HEMMER: And the defense has already said they have witnesses that were also child stars, Macaulay Culkin, that may testify on behalf of Michael Jackson, which means you could have, what, dueling child stars in this child?
TOOBIN: Exactly. And that's why the judge may rule the whole thing out of order, because Michael Jackson can't call into evidence every single kid he didn't molest.
I mean, that's -- that's ridiculous. You can't have a trial like that. But, you know, by the same token, the defense -- the prosecution is going to have to be limited on what they can prove if it is -- only if it is tightly relevant to the trial.
HEMMER: More and more interesting. They need 12 jurors and eight alternates?
TOOBIN: I think he's going to have eight alternates, yes. It will probably take a couple weeks this process.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jeff.
TOOBIN: All right.
HEMMER: We'll talk again.
TOOBIN: OK.
HEMMER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: The nation's biggest phone company just got a whole lot bigger. Andy has got the latest on a blockbuster deal and just how it could affect you. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: There's another merger between two major telecom companies to talk about. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Hello. We've actually talked about this a little.
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, FORTUNE MAGAZINE: Good morning.
It was first reported last week, Soledad, rumors of this deal. And now it can be told.
That's right, a big deal, Verizon and -- is buying MCI for $6.7 billion. This is the third big telecom deal within the past two months. You may remember SBC bought AT&T, and then Sprint bought Nextel, rapidly consolidating business.
MCI is the second largest long distance company in the United States, with 14 million customers. But Verizon is actually more interested in its business customers and its government business. That's truly what is a growth business and a profitable business for them.
No word on whether the MCI brand will stay around. That's an interesting question. But, of course, if you're an MCI customer, there won't be any disruptions to the service.
Talk about the markets a little bit. Last week was a good one.
Friday especially. The Dow was up 46 points. You can see here the week. We did pretty well, except for the Nasdaq. It slipped back a little bit.
And real big news here is that we have erased all the losses from January...
O'BRIEN: Oh.
SERWER: ... for the Dow. And we're up for the year. So February's doing OK.
O'BRIEN: All right.
HEMMER: Not a bad 2005.
O'BRIEN: So far.
SERWER: So far.
HEMMER: All right. Thank you, Andy.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
HEMMER: Here's the "Question of the Day."
Good morning.
CAFFERTY: Taser, the stun gun manufacturer, is launching a major marketing campaign for a civilian model of the stun gun that's currently used by the cops and the military. "Chicago Tribune" reports Taser International plans a Taser for home use for about $1,000. Less powerful than the police version.
Taser's announcement comes after a series of critical reports that have caused the company's stock to head due south. The stock was $33 in December. It's $13 now.
SEC investigating charges the company made misleading statements about the safety of the stun gun. An Air Force study reported last week found that multiple shocks from a Taser stun gun led to heart damage in pigs.
Taser president and co-founder Thomas Smith insists that the products are safe. According to the "Tribune," the company wants to see millions of Americans buy Taser stun guns for their homes instead of firearms.
So that would be the question. Would you buy a Taser stun gun for your home?
HEMMER: That video will wake you up, won't it?
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: That screaming into the camera like that?
SERWER: Yes, that's always good stuff.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
O'BRIEN: Interesting question. Thanks, Jack.
A short break and we'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Ahead on "90-Second Pop"...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the Grammy goes to...
O'BRIEN: ... Usher and Alicia Keys were big Grammy winners. But in the end, everybody really loves Ray.
Plus, the most memorable Grammy moment might be the one everybody wants to forget. What is the deal with J.Lo and Marc Anthony?
All that and more later on AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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