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Syrian Troop Pullback; Thousands of Italians Jam Streets at Funeral of Agent Killed by U.S. Forces

Aired March 07, 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: New developments in the Middle East. Syrian troops in Lebanon pulling up stakes this morning. But will it be enough for the U.S.?
Thousands of Italians jam the streets at the funeral of the agent killed by U.S. forces in Iraq.

Two vastly different stories now of what happened in the moments before he died.

And exclusive information this morning on the accused BTK killer. Dennis Rader's statements from behind bars, 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: Good morning, everybody, on a Monday. Good to have you along with us today. Good morning to you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: And good morning to you.

HEMMER: Other stories we're watching, Martha Stewart back in the news again today, and on the move as well today, reportedly being fitted for that electronic ankle bracelet in a few hours.

Also heading into Manhattan for her first day back to work. Jeff Toobin is here this morning talking about the legal issues that still face her, and there are many. So we'll get to that in a moment with Jack.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, controversy at a school in Illinois. An administrator ordering a mother to spank her 6-year-old son for talking and chewing gum. The mother refused. The little boy was suspended. The mother, the son, and the school administrator are our guests this morning. We're going to get both sides of that debate.

HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty on a Monday. Good morning to you, Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Bill.

Another feud between rappers turned violent. A shooting at New York radio station last week. Now the Reverend Al Sharpton wants the government to step in and do something about it. We'll take a look.

HEMMER: All right, Jack, thanks. Developing story starts our morning, though, from overseas. The presidents of Syria and Lebanon meeting now in Damascus, talking about details of a true pullback. Syrian soldiers were seen packing equipment a few hours ago, expected to redeploy in eastern Lebanon. There is still no indication when or even if Syria's decades-long occupation will end, and so the troop withdrawal is being met with suspicion and met with a bit of hope, too.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER (voice-over): Over the weekend, Syria's president, Bashar Assad outlined his plans to redeploy his occupying force in Lebanon. Under the two-phase proposal, Syrian troops would first pull back to the Bekaw (ph) Valley, near the Syrian-Lebanese border, then at some point to the actual border. He offered no timetable for a complete troop withdrawal. The White House says Assad's plan fails to satisfy international calls for Syria to comply with U.N. resolution 1559, calling for a complete withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon.

DAN BARTLETT, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: First things first, let's keep the international focus on removing Syrian troops and secret services from the region, from Lebanon itself.

HEMMER: Syria has been under international pressure to remove some 14,000 troops and intelligence personnel from Lebanon. The pressure has grown since the death three weeks ago of the former Lebanese prime minister in a suicide bomb attack in Beirut. Damascus has denied any involvement in the assassination of Rafik Hariri.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Our Beirut bureau chief is Brent Sadler. He's inside the palace where the presidents are meeting in Damascus. Now for security reasons, he can not leave the palace grounds, so he joins us by telephone.

And, Brent, from the inside, what issues are they looking now and trying to sort out?

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

A top-level meeting down the corridor (INAUDIBLE) between the two presidents. We're expecting it to break up pretty soon. We're understanding we'll get clarification (INAUDIBLE). (INAUDIBLE).

We do know, because I saw along the Beirut Damascus highway a short time ago when I came up to Damascus, that there are large numbers of Lebanese army troops at regular intervals along the highway. That is the main exit that the Syrian troops would take, with their equipment, perhaps their armor, perhaps some guns we may see, and of course their trucks that will move them out of the locations they've been in for decades.

But precisely how many are moving to precisely where in the Bekaw Valley is still unclear at this stage. The Syrians were promising that perhaps some of them would be pulled out altogether, at least that's what security officials would be telling us, but no clarification, still no clear idea, and it may well be that we only get (INAUDIBLE) details after this meeting about the first phase, and not about the second phase, and certainly no clarification, maybe, that it will be in line with what President Bush is demanding -- Bill.

HEMMER: Brent Sadler, thanks for that, inside the palace. Our apologies for the viewers at home, a bit of a tough audio signal there out of the Middle East.

But as Brent's describing this two-phase pullout, we will get more details on this as the meetings continue past noon there local time in the Middle East.

Now, Soledad with more.

O'BRIEN: In Rome, renewed protests against the Iraq war after a freed Italian hostage was shot Friday in Baghdad. The journalist was on her way to the airport after a month in captivity when she says U.S. forces fired on her car without warning. The incident left her wounded and a security agent dead. U.S. military officials say her car ignored multiple warnings to stop.

CNN's Rome Bureau chief, Alessio Vinci, joins us from Rome this morning.

Alessio, good morning.

Today was the state funeral for that security agent in fact who was killed in the incident. Give me a sense of what the mourners were like. Were they angry? .

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, some were.

Nicola Calipari is considered nothing less than a hero here in Italy these days for the way he saved Giuliana's life, by throwing himself on her body and protecting her from the American bullets, and for the fact that he has released other hostages in the past that were held in Iraq.

So certainly, the mood while being very somber among those who participated in this funeral was also one of anger, if you want, because still there are too many questions and unanswered as to what has happened on Friday and why and how did one of Italy's most experienced intelligence officers died under the American fire.

Now, thousands gathered also outside that basilica to pay their last respects. The person who was not there today, however, was Giuliana Sgrena herself, was still recovering at a hospital for the wound that she incurred in the accident on Friday to her left shoulder.

Nevertheless, Giuliana Sgrena has offered her own account of what has happened on Friday. She is disputing what the Americans are saying, and primarily, that first of all, the car was not speeding towards the checkpoint, and secondly, that no warning was given.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANA SGRENA (through translator): I saw my seat in the car full of bullets. Let's call it whatever we want. But the fact of feeling yourself covered with an avalanche of gunfire from a tank that is beside you, that did not give you any warning, that it was about to attack if we did not stop. This is absolutely inconceivable, even in normal situations. Even if they hadn't known that we were there, that we were supposed to come through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VINCI: Now I spoke with Giuliana Sgrena just a few minutes ago, and during the conversation, she confirms again the whole issue of the fact she did not believe actually that the Americans were actually manning a checkpoint. She said the fire came from the side of a tank that was parked on the side of the road.

And also, she conceded, however, that the shooting was not premeditated. However, she hopes the investigation will eventually come up with a responsible, she says, that however, the Americans, especially American soldiers in Iraq, usually live in what she calls a regime of impunity, and so she believes, at least that's her words, she believes that there will be no responsible found for this attack on Friday.

Soledad, back to you.

O'BRIEN: Alessio Vinci for us. Alessio, thank you for the update.

Well, the Vatican hopes that Pope John Paul II can be out of the hospital in time for the beginning of Easter services. In an announcement just over a half hour ago, the pope's condition was said to be improving. Doctors caution him not to use his voice too much.

Sunday, John Paul blessed worshipers from his hospital window without speaking, as he did last week.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: About nine minutes now past the hour.

Back here in New York now, there's still a long road of legal troubles ahead for Martha Stewart. Let's talk about that this morning with our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin here on a Monday.

Good morning to you.

So she's coming into Manhattan, her first official day of work. That's after an appearance up in White Plains. What happens there?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: She's going to meet the new most important person in her life, her probation officer. And basically, he's going to be in charge of having her comply with all of the requirements of probation, that starts with putting on the ankle bracelet, with the monitoring device in it, saying precisely where she can go at what times. She's allowed 48 hours outside of her home to work, to buy food clothing, to see the doctor, if she needs to. So she's got a -- there's a lot of logistical stuff to work out.

HEMMER: The clock starts ticking today, in other words, on the five-month period?

TOOBIN: On the five months, right. And this should probably mean she'll not be allowed those pleasant strolls outside the house that we saw her taking over the weekend. That house arrest really means house arrest. You are confined to your house, and those restrictions should start today.

HEMMER: So it's not like Martha Stewart can go out and ride a horse on some lazy Sunday afternoon if she wants?

TOOBIN: No, she's not, and you don't get days off. I mean, it really is meant to be a substitute for prison, a hell of a lot better than prison, but it is meant to be like prison.

HEMMER: All right, I mentioned the legal hurdles still. On March 17th, she will appeal. She's done her prison time, why appeal?

TOOBIN: Basically, the only issue still pending in the appeal is her status as a convicted felon. If she gets her conviction overturned, and I think the chances of that are very remote, the fact that she is no longer a convicted felon would allow her to become an officer of her company again. That's one of the issues. That's basically the only significant issue still pending, because by the time the appeal is over, she not only will have served her prison sentence, in all likelihood the five months of house arrest will be over too.

HEMMER: What about this SEC charge. Does she still face that for the alleged insider trading?

TOOBIN: Absolutely. That is essentially the same charge as the criminal case, but it's a civil case, and she's also charged with insider trading. People may remember that she was not charged with criminal insider trading, but she is charged with civil insider trading. What almost always happens is those SEC cases settle, and that will probably settle, too.

HEMMER: One more thing. You mention these civil suits. Is it just the SEC that she faces in that category, or are there others?

TOOBIN: No, there are shareholder suits, basically saying that she misled investors and investors want to be compensated for that. Those are very common. Those almost always settle, too. So even though a lot of the cases are out there, it's very unlikely that she'll be in court again. These cases will mostly settle.

HEMMER: It's our understanding we'll probably get a public statement from her today when she comes back to New York, addressing her employees and the people holding shares in her company, too.

Thank you, Jeff, good to talk to you. Here's Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, are U.S. forces closing in on the most wanted man in Iraq? New intelligence and new pictures, why some officials think they are close to catching Al Zarqawi.

HEMMER: Also, the BTK suspect. Are the confession rumors true? One magazine with an exclusive with his lawyers. We'll have a look at that today -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: And a school controversy. A mom says her 6-year-old was suspended because she wouldn't spank him. She joins us just ahead, on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The man suspected of the BTK serial killings is depressed, misses his family. That is part of what Dennis Rader's lawyers shared exclusively with "Time" magazine.

"Time" magazine senior editor Chris Farley joins us this morning.

Nice to see you, Chris, as always.

CHRIS FARLEY, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Thanks for having me, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: My pleasure.

Let's talk a little bit more about the details, and also what everybody really wants to know is the reports about Dennis Rader confessing. Were the attorneys able to confirm that in your story?

FARLEY: No, the attorneys would not confirm that. They would not deny that. They would not really address the question of whether he's confessed or not. Some of this has been reported in other sources. So we did not confirm that in "Time" magazine.

But one thing they'd talk about is his state of mind, the fact that he hasn't seen his wife or kids since his arrest.

O'BRIEN: He seems to ask in the article, it says he seemed to asked a lot about them. Did they say why he hasn't been able to see them yet, and if that's going to change?

FARLEY: Well, we don't know if it's going to change, but his wife has actually left the state. So that's one reason he hasn't been able to contact her. But he's a guy who's very concerned about things around him, he's been very focused in on his defense. When he met with his attorneys, and he's been doing this for hours a day since his arrest, he's taken a lot of notes, he's very much involved in what's going on, trying to focus on what's going to be the next step for him legally.

O'BRIEN: Give me some more details, some that appeared in the article. It seems that he was complaining a little bit about the food. He's complaining a little bit about his own mental health as well.

FARLEY: Well, he found a little pebble in his food apparently, and he said, like, oh, this will give me extra protein, so he's been cracking jokes while in jail, though he has been depressed about being there. He also, of all things, is reading a detective novel, something you maybe wouldn't expect an accused serial killer to be flipping through in prison. But he got it from the prison library, and that's what he's been focusing his time on.

O'BRIEN: Did the lawyers talk to "Time" magazine at all about that is strategy.

FARLEY: Well, one thing that came up, and this is very interesting, is that Steve Osborne (ph), one of Rader's lawyers, said that a change of venue is something they certainly be looking at, and that's something that's got to worry investigators and prosecutors in that state, because there was a lot of criticism of maybe the news conference the arrest of Dennis Rader, of maybe that being over the top, a little too celebratory, and maybe might prejudice the jury pool. And the fact that the lawyers are going to look at a change of venue as one of the strategies has got to be worrying to any possible prosecution.

O'BRIEN: And in fact, the investigators said we got BTK, in essence, in that press conference. There's a book due out about the BTK killings. I think it's due out in two weeks or so. Is there any speculation about the timing of that book and maybe the return of BTK to the public spotlight?

FARLEY: Well, when we talked to people who have been following the case, people who are involved in the case, the book is called "Nightmare in Wichita." It had been rumored to be coming out for a while. Last year, when the local paper, "The Wichita Eagle," did a series on the 30th anniversary of the first killings, parts of this book were revealed, and there's some speculation that perhaps the fact that the book was coming out is something that prompted BTK to resurface again, because serial killers are, by nature, sort of egomaniacs and they want to tell their own story; they don't want someone else to tell their story. The fact the book is coming out may be one reason why BTK resurfaced.

O'BRIEN: Chris Farley of "Time" magazine. That article appears in "Time" magazine this week. Thanks a lot, Chris, as always. Nice to see you.

The exclusive report, the entire exclusive report, is inside the latest issue, in fact, which features a cover story on poverty -- Bill.

HEMMER: Soledad, thanks.

About 19 minutes now past the hour. Breaking news in the business world to talk about already today. A personal scandal involving two executives of the same company, and now there's a shakeup. Andy has that in "Minding Your Business," back in a moment here, live in New York on a Monday morning. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone.

There are changes now at the top two of the world's largest companies. And Andy Serwer has the news, and some of it developing as we're speaking here.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, really startling news. let's get the latest to you right away here. First of all, the CEO of Boeing, Harry Stonesifer (ph) has been asked to step down. This just crossing the tape minutes ago. Here's from the press release: "The board's actions were taken following an investigation surrounding the circumstances involving a personal relationship between Stonesifer and a female executive of the company who did not report directly to him."

Unusually candid for a press release; usually, people leave to pursue other career opportunities.

CAFFERTY: Spend more time with their families.

SERWER: Those sorts of things.

HEMMER: Just a week ago, you were saying how well Boeing was doing. Yes, well, apparently, I've got to the change the top. The interim CEO is the president there.

And also, over the weekend, Sony announcing a new CEO at that company, a non-Japanese, a westerner, on the right there, Sir Howard Stringer, replaces Noboyuka Edei (ph) on left, very unusual for a non- Japanese to run a company like this. Sir Howard runs Sony USA, which has been in charge of the movie and music business, which has done very well, while the hardware business has lagged. Of course it has not been able to keep pace with new technologies like Apple's iPods. And Sir Howard will be on many airplanes flying to Tokyo, and in New York and London, where he lives with his family part-time, trying to integrate the hardware and content part of the business, which Sony has not been able to pull off over the last couple of years.

HEMMER: It's a good point you raise, too, about Japanese culture, too.

SERWER: Very difficult. He doesn't speak Japanese. So he's going to have his work cut out for him.

HEMMER: Ohayo Gozaimusu.

SERWER: I'm not sure what that means, but you, too.

HEMMER: Good morning, my friend.

See you later. Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: See you.

O'BRIEN: Let's get right to Jack and the Question of the Day. It involves rappers.

CAFFERTY: Feud between rapper 50 Cent and The Game is the latest to erupt into violence, a shooting last week at a New York City radio station. Now the Reverend Al Sharpton says it's time for the government to step in. In an interview with "The New York Daily News." Sharpton says he want the music of artists who use violence to be banned for the airwaves for 90 days. These are platinum-selling artists making millions of dollars from albums filled with lyrics like, quote, "You try to touch me you get your brains blown out," unquote.

Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction caused massive outrage. And a shooting involving rappers that caused actual bloodshed gets no attention at all from the FCC. Here's the question, should artists who incite violence be banned from the air? Just don't play their stuff. Am@CNN.com.

O'BRIEN; Interesting question.

HEMMER: And about two and a half hours to chew on it.

Thank you Jack.

More to come on here AMERICAN MORNING right after the break.

Ahead on "90-Second Pop":

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRSTIE ALLEY, ACTRESS: Why can't I just get a show first and then lose the weight?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Art imitating life for Kirstie Alley. But will packing on the pounds mean packing in the viewers.

And one of the biggest stories in America is legally off limits to Jay Leno. He gets by, though, with a little help from a friend. We'll explain that a bit later on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired March 7, 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: New developments in the Middle East. Syrian troops in Lebanon pulling up stakes this morning. But will it be enough for the U.S.?
Thousands of Italians jam the streets at the funeral of the agent killed by U.S. forces in Iraq.

Two vastly different stories now of what happened in the moments before he died.

And exclusive information this morning on the accused BTK killer. Dennis Rader's statements from behind bars, 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: Good morning, everybody, on a Monday. Good to have you along with us today. Good morning to you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: And good morning to you.

HEMMER: Other stories we're watching, Martha Stewart back in the news again today, and on the move as well today, reportedly being fitted for that electronic ankle bracelet in a few hours.

Also heading into Manhattan for her first day back to work. Jeff Toobin is here this morning talking about the legal issues that still face her, and there are many. So we'll get to that in a moment with Jack.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, controversy at a school in Illinois. An administrator ordering a mother to spank her 6-year-old son for talking and chewing gum. The mother refused. The little boy was suspended. The mother, the son, and the school administrator are our guests this morning. We're going to get both sides of that debate.

HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty on a Monday. Good morning to you, Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Bill.

Another feud between rappers turned violent. A shooting at New York radio station last week. Now the Reverend Al Sharpton wants the government to step in and do something about it. We'll take a look.

HEMMER: All right, Jack, thanks. Developing story starts our morning, though, from overseas. The presidents of Syria and Lebanon meeting now in Damascus, talking about details of a true pullback. Syrian soldiers were seen packing equipment a few hours ago, expected to redeploy in eastern Lebanon. There is still no indication when or even if Syria's decades-long occupation will end, and so the troop withdrawal is being met with suspicion and met with a bit of hope, too.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER (voice-over): Over the weekend, Syria's president, Bashar Assad outlined his plans to redeploy his occupying force in Lebanon. Under the two-phase proposal, Syrian troops would first pull back to the Bekaw (ph) Valley, near the Syrian-Lebanese border, then at some point to the actual border. He offered no timetable for a complete troop withdrawal. The White House says Assad's plan fails to satisfy international calls for Syria to comply with U.N. resolution 1559, calling for a complete withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon.

DAN BARTLETT, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: First things first, let's keep the international focus on removing Syrian troops and secret services from the region, from Lebanon itself.

HEMMER: Syria has been under international pressure to remove some 14,000 troops and intelligence personnel from Lebanon. The pressure has grown since the death three weeks ago of the former Lebanese prime minister in a suicide bomb attack in Beirut. Damascus has denied any involvement in the assassination of Rafik Hariri.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Our Beirut bureau chief is Brent Sadler. He's inside the palace where the presidents are meeting in Damascus. Now for security reasons, he can not leave the palace grounds, so he joins us by telephone.

And, Brent, from the inside, what issues are they looking now and trying to sort out?

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

A top-level meeting down the corridor (INAUDIBLE) between the two presidents. We're expecting it to break up pretty soon. We're understanding we'll get clarification (INAUDIBLE). (INAUDIBLE).

We do know, because I saw along the Beirut Damascus highway a short time ago when I came up to Damascus, that there are large numbers of Lebanese army troops at regular intervals along the highway. That is the main exit that the Syrian troops would take, with their equipment, perhaps their armor, perhaps some guns we may see, and of course their trucks that will move them out of the locations they've been in for decades.

But precisely how many are moving to precisely where in the Bekaw Valley is still unclear at this stage. The Syrians were promising that perhaps some of them would be pulled out altogether, at least that's what security officials would be telling us, but no clarification, still no clear idea, and it may well be that we only get (INAUDIBLE) details after this meeting about the first phase, and not about the second phase, and certainly no clarification, maybe, that it will be in line with what President Bush is demanding -- Bill.

HEMMER: Brent Sadler, thanks for that, inside the palace. Our apologies for the viewers at home, a bit of a tough audio signal there out of the Middle East.

But as Brent's describing this two-phase pullout, we will get more details on this as the meetings continue past noon there local time in the Middle East.

Now, Soledad with more.

O'BRIEN: In Rome, renewed protests against the Iraq war after a freed Italian hostage was shot Friday in Baghdad. The journalist was on her way to the airport after a month in captivity when she says U.S. forces fired on her car without warning. The incident left her wounded and a security agent dead. U.S. military officials say her car ignored multiple warnings to stop.

CNN's Rome Bureau chief, Alessio Vinci, joins us from Rome this morning.

Alessio, good morning.

Today was the state funeral for that security agent in fact who was killed in the incident. Give me a sense of what the mourners were like. Were they angry? .

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, some were.

Nicola Calipari is considered nothing less than a hero here in Italy these days for the way he saved Giuliana's life, by throwing himself on her body and protecting her from the American bullets, and for the fact that he has released other hostages in the past that were held in Iraq.

So certainly, the mood while being very somber among those who participated in this funeral was also one of anger, if you want, because still there are too many questions and unanswered as to what has happened on Friday and why and how did one of Italy's most experienced intelligence officers died under the American fire.

Now, thousands gathered also outside that basilica to pay their last respects. The person who was not there today, however, was Giuliana Sgrena herself, was still recovering at a hospital for the wound that she incurred in the accident on Friday to her left shoulder.

Nevertheless, Giuliana Sgrena has offered her own account of what has happened on Friday. She is disputing what the Americans are saying, and primarily, that first of all, the car was not speeding towards the checkpoint, and secondly, that no warning was given.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANA SGRENA (through translator): I saw my seat in the car full of bullets. Let's call it whatever we want. But the fact of feeling yourself covered with an avalanche of gunfire from a tank that is beside you, that did not give you any warning, that it was about to attack if we did not stop. This is absolutely inconceivable, even in normal situations. Even if they hadn't known that we were there, that we were supposed to come through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VINCI: Now I spoke with Giuliana Sgrena just a few minutes ago, and during the conversation, she confirms again the whole issue of the fact she did not believe actually that the Americans were actually manning a checkpoint. She said the fire came from the side of a tank that was parked on the side of the road.

And also, she conceded, however, that the shooting was not premeditated. However, she hopes the investigation will eventually come up with a responsible, she says, that however, the Americans, especially American soldiers in Iraq, usually live in what she calls a regime of impunity, and so she believes, at least that's her words, she believes that there will be no responsible found for this attack on Friday.

Soledad, back to you.

O'BRIEN: Alessio Vinci for us. Alessio, thank you for the update.

Well, the Vatican hopes that Pope John Paul II can be out of the hospital in time for the beginning of Easter services. In an announcement just over a half hour ago, the pope's condition was said to be improving. Doctors caution him not to use his voice too much.

Sunday, John Paul blessed worshipers from his hospital window without speaking, as he did last week.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: About nine minutes now past the hour.

Back here in New York now, there's still a long road of legal troubles ahead for Martha Stewart. Let's talk about that this morning with our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin here on a Monday.

Good morning to you.

So she's coming into Manhattan, her first official day of work. That's after an appearance up in White Plains. What happens there?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: She's going to meet the new most important person in her life, her probation officer. And basically, he's going to be in charge of having her comply with all of the requirements of probation, that starts with putting on the ankle bracelet, with the monitoring device in it, saying precisely where she can go at what times. She's allowed 48 hours outside of her home to work, to buy food clothing, to see the doctor, if she needs to. So she's got a -- there's a lot of logistical stuff to work out.

HEMMER: The clock starts ticking today, in other words, on the five-month period?

TOOBIN: On the five months, right. And this should probably mean she'll not be allowed those pleasant strolls outside the house that we saw her taking over the weekend. That house arrest really means house arrest. You are confined to your house, and those restrictions should start today.

HEMMER: So it's not like Martha Stewart can go out and ride a horse on some lazy Sunday afternoon if she wants?

TOOBIN: No, she's not, and you don't get days off. I mean, it really is meant to be a substitute for prison, a hell of a lot better than prison, but it is meant to be like prison.

HEMMER: All right, I mentioned the legal hurdles still. On March 17th, she will appeal. She's done her prison time, why appeal?

TOOBIN: Basically, the only issue still pending in the appeal is her status as a convicted felon. If she gets her conviction overturned, and I think the chances of that are very remote, the fact that she is no longer a convicted felon would allow her to become an officer of her company again. That's one of the issues. That's basically the only significant issue still pending, because by the time the appeal is over, she not only will have served her prison sentence, in all likelihood the five months of house arrest will be over too.

HEMMER: What about this SEC charge. Does she still face that for the alleged insider trading?

TOOBIN: Absolutely. That is essentially the same charge as the criminal case, but it's a civil case, and she's also charged with insider trading. People may remember that she was not charged with criminal insider trading, but she is charged with civil insider trading. What almost always happens is those SEC cases settle, and that will probably settle, too.

HEMMER: One more thing. You mention these civil suits. Is it just the SEC that she faces in that category, or are there others?

TOOBIN: No, there are shareholder suits, basically saying that she misled investors and investors want to be compensated for that. Those are very common. Those almost always settle, too. So even though a lot of the cases are out there, it's very unlikely that she'll be in court again. These cases will mostly settle.

HEMMER: It's our understanding we'll probably get a public statement from her today when she comes back to New York, addressing her employees and the people holding shares in her company, too.

Thank you, Jeff, good to talk to you. Here's Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, are U.S. forces closing in on the most wanted man in Iraq? New intelligence and new pictures, why some officials think they are close to catching Al Zarqawi.

HEMMER: Also, the BTK suspect. Are the confession rumors true? One magazine with an exclusive with his lawyers. We'll have a look at that today -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: And a school controversy. A mom says her 6-year-old was suspended because she wouldn't spank him. She joins us just ahead, on AMERICAN MORNING.

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O'BRIEN: The man suspected of the BTK serial killings is depressed, misses his family. That is part of what Dennis Rader's lawyers shared exclusively with "Time" magazine.

"Time" magazine senior editor Chris Farley joins us this morning.

Nice to see you, Chris, as always.

CHRIS FARLEY, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Thanks for having me, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: My pleasure.

Let's talk a little bit more about the details, and also what everybody really wants to know is the reports about Dennis Rader confessing. Were the attorneys able to confirm that in your story?

FARLEY: No, the attorneys would not confirm that. They would not deny that. They would not really address the question of whether he's confessed or not. Some of this has been reported in other sources. So we did not confirm that in "Time" magazine.

But one thing they'd talk about is his state of mind, the fact that he hasn't seen his wife or kids since his arrest.

O'BRIEN: He seems to ask in the article, it says he seemed to asked a lot about them. Did they say why he hasn't been able to see them yet, and if that's going to change?

FARLEY: Well, we don't know if it's going to change, but his wife has actually left the state. So that's one reason he hasn't been able to contact her. But he's a guy who's very concerned about things around him, he's been very focused in on his defense. When he met with his attorneys, and he's been doing this for hours a day since his arrest, he's taken a lot of notes, he's very much involved in what's going on, trying to focus on what's going to be the next step for him legally.

O'BRIEN: Give me some more details, some that appeared in the article. It seems that he was complaining a little bit about the food. He's complaining a little bit about his own mental health as well.

FARLEY: Well, he found a little pebble in his food apparently, and he said, like, oh, this will give me extra protein, so he's been cracking jokes while in jail, though he has been depressed about being there. He also, of all things, is reading a detective novel, something you maybe wouldn't expect an accused serial killer to be flipping through in prison. But he got it from the prison library, and that's what he's been focusing his time on.

O'BRIEN: Did the lawyers talk to "Time" magazine at all about that is strategy.

FARLEY: Well, one thing that came up, and this is very interesting, is that Steve Osborne (ph), one of Rader's lawyers, said that a change of venue is something they certainly be looking at, and that's something that's got to worry investigators and prosecutors in that state, because there was a lot of criticism of maybe the news conference the arrest of Dennis Rader, of maybe that being over the top, a little too celebratory, and maybe might prejudice the jury pool. And the fact that the lawyers are going to look at a change of venue as one of the strategies has got to be worrying to any possible prosecution.

O'BRIEN: And in fact, the investigators said we got BTK, in essence, in that press conference. There's a book due out about the BTK killings. I think it's due out in two weeks or so. Is there any speculation about the timing of that book and maybe the return of BTK to the public spotlight?

FARLEY: Well, when we talked to people who have been following the case, people who are involved in the case, the book is called "Nightmare in Wichita." It had been rumored to be coming out for a while. Last year, when the local paper, "The Wichita Eagle," did a series on the 30th anniversary of the first killings, parts of this book were revealed, and there's some speculation that perhaps the fact that the book was coming out is something that prompted BTK to resurface again, because serial killers are, by nature, sort of egomaniacs and they want to tell their own story; they don't want someone else to tell their story. The fact the book is coming out may be one reason why BTK resurfaced.

O'BRIEN: Chris Farley of "Time" magazine. That article appears in "Time" magazine this week. Thanks a lot, Chris, as always. Nice to see you.

The exclusive report, the entire exclusive report, is inside the latest issue, in fact, which features a cover story on poverty -- Bill.

HEMMER: Soledad, thanks.

About 19 minutes now past the hour. Breaking news in the business world to talk about already today. A personal scandal involving two executives of the same company, and now there's a shakeup. Andy has that in "Minding Your Business," back in a moment here, live in New York on a Monday morning. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone.

There are changes now at the top two of the world's largest companies. And Andy Serwer has the news, and some of it developing as we're speaking here.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, really startling news. let's get the latest to you right away here. First of all, the CEO of Boeing, Harry Stonesifer (ph) has been asked to step down. This just crossing the tape minutes ago. Here's from the press release: "The board's actions were taken following an investigation surrounding the circumstances involving a personal relationship between Stonesifer and a female executive of the company who did not report directly to him."

Unusually candid for a press release; usually, people leave to pursue other career opportunities.

CAFFERTY: Spend more time with their families.

SERWER: Those sorts of things.

HEMMER: Just a week ago, you were saying how well Boeing was doing. Yes, well, apparently, I've got to the change the top. The interim CEO is the president there.

And also, over the weekend, Sony announcing a new CEO at that company, a non-Japanese, a westerner, on the right there, Sir Howard Stringer, replaces Noboyuka Edei (ph) on left, very unusual for a non- Japanese to run a company like this. Sir Howard runs Sony USA, which has been in charge of the movie and music business, which has done very well, while the hardware business has lagged. Of course it has not been able to keep pace with new technologies like Apple's iPods. And Sir Howard will be on many airplanes flying to Tokyo, and in New York and London, where he lives with his family part-time, trying to integrate the hardware and content part of the business, which Sony has not been able to pull off over the last couple of years.

HEMMER: It's a good point you raise, too, about Japanese culture, too.

SERWER: Very difficult. He doesn't speak Japanese. So he's going to have his work cut out for him.

HEMMER: Ohayo Gozaimusu.

SERWER: I'm not sure what that means, but you, too.

HEMMER: Good morning, my friend.

See you later. Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: See you.

O'BRIEN: Let's get right to Jack and the Question of the Day. It involves rappers.

CAFFERTY: Feud between rapper 50 Cent and The Game is the latest to erupt into violence, a shooting last week at a New York City radio station. Now the Reverend Al Sharpton says it's time for the government to step in. In an interview with "The New York Daily News." Sharpton says he want the music of artists who use violence to be banned for the airwaves for 90 days. These are platinum-selling artists making millions of dollars from albums filled with lyrics like, quote, "You try to touch me you get your brains blown out," unquote.

Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction caused massive outrage. And a shooting involving rappers that caused actual bloodshed gets no attention at all from the FCC. Here's the question, should artists who incite violence be banned from the air? Just don't play their stuff. Am@CNN.com.

O'BRIEN; Interesting question.

HEMMER: And about two and a half hours to chew on it.

Thank you Jack.

More to come on here AMERICAN MORNING right after the break.

Ahead on "90-Second Pop":

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRSTIE ALLEY, ACTRESS: Why can't I just get a show first and then lose the weight?

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HEMMER: Art imitating life for Kirstie Alley. But will packing on the pounds mean packing in the viewers.

And one of the biggest stories in America is legally off limits to Jay Leno. He gets by, though, with a little help from a friend. We'll explain that a bit later on AMERICAN MORNING.

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