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American Morning

Israeli Troops Met With Protests As Gaza Evacuation Proceeds; Iraqis Negotiate New Deadline for Constitution; Mothers of Fallen Soldiers Comment on Sheehan's Protest

Aired August 16, 2005 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR, DAYBREAK: I'm Kelly Wallace in today for Carol Costello. "American Morning" starts right now.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Thanks, Kelly.

I'm Soledad O'Brien. Overnight developments in the Middle East. The most intense conversations, some 500 protestors arrested, this as the deadline fast approaches for Jewish settlers to get out of Gaza. And now reports Israel is asking the U.S. to give another $2 billion to relocate the settlers. We're live with the very latest.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN NEWS ANCHOR, DAYBREAK: I'm Carol Costello in for Miles today.

A story still breaking in Japan. A major 7.2 magnitude earthquake. Injuries reported, a tsunami watch ordered. We are live in Tokyo with more.

O'BRIEN: And some new clues into the deadly crash of a jetliner in Greece. Have investigators found a mechanical problem that might explain that crash? Live reports ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Miles has the day off today.

COSTELLO: I'm Carol Costello sitting in for him. It is deadline day in the Middle East.

O'BRIEN: Yes, in fact, that deadline fast approaching, now just ten hours away. All Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip must be out, or be forced out by Israeli troops. Many have already left, but it's estimated more than 5,000 settlers will have to be moved by force.

Israeli soldiers have dismantled a gate leading to the largest settlement complex, but as many as 500 right-wing pullout protesters have been arrested trying to infiltrate the settlements. Guy Raz is in Gaza, at the Neveh Dekalim settlement, one of the largest ones there.

Guy, good morning to you. Give me a sense of what the resistance is like. And as that deadline gets closer is the resistance building do you think?

GUY RAZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, tension surely is palpable at this moment. The resistance we've seen throughout the day has been the most intense we've seen here over the past week. Behind me is the main road leading into the largest of the 21 Jewish settlements. Throughout the day, many protesters blocked that road.

Now police and soldiers have been trying to use that road and to keep it clear to move in containers and moving vehicles for those residents who are prepared to leave. But the demonstrators at one point, burning trash bins and creating a barricade, in fact, in an attempt to obstruct that traffic; now, throughout the day that's been going on back and forth between demonstrators and police and soldiers.

Early this morning at first light, police broke down the main gate into this settlement. They entered, and they cleared the main road leading into the settlement. Police again say, in a bid to make sure that moving vehicles and containers could come into the settlement.

Now, they did make several arrests. At least nine of these demonstrators were arrested here at this settlement. Now, of course, this is the last day before the evacuations will begin. They're expected to begin about 10 hours from now, any time after midnight local time. And it's still not clear which settlements will be evacuated first, but there's considerable speculation that this one here, Neveh Dekalim, will be among the first to be evacuated. In part, because it's one of the largest and most hard-line settlements here in the Gaza Strip -- Soledad?

O'BRIEN: Guy, I have to imagine that it's been incredibly emotional for these soldiers to have to move their own people out.

RAZ: There's no question about it. Many soldiers have been preparing psychologically for this for many, many months -- in fact, for the past year. At the same time, it's very, very difficult for many of these soldiers to do it.

This is the largest peace-time operation in Israeli military history. Some 60,000 soldiers involved in this process, and they are seen by many of the settlers as, in a sense, messengers from a government that these settlers and the hard-line opponents of the plan, they regard the soldiers of messengers of that government, which they oppose.

So, of course, it's very difficult for many of these soldiers. We've spoken to many of them. They say they're following their orders. They're doing their job. It will be carried out with efficiency over the next three weeks. Soledad?

O'BRIEN: Guy Raz for us this morning. Guy, thanks. Obviously, we'll continue to check in with you throughout the morning and the afternoon as well.

According to the Associated Press, Israel says it needs major financial help to relocate the settlers. The United States is sending experts to assess just how much money Israel needs. Israel already gets $2 billion a year from the U.S., says it needs an additional $2 billion for the relocations. A State Department spokesman says the bush administration has not yet committed to any money -- Carol?

COSTELLO: Negotiators in Iraq are back at work today trying to draft a constitution before hitting a new deadline. Time ran out on them last night, so the parliament gave the would-be framers another week to finish their charter.

President Bush is praising the process, but the missed deadline a clear setback for U.S. policy. Suzanne Malveaux live at the White House this morning.

Good morning, Suzanne. What's the president saying about this?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You're absolutely right. It is a major setback for the administration.

But the Bush campaign has been involved in two campaigns. One, of course, to try to get the Iraqis to the point they can govern themselves. Also, the second campaign to convince the American people the Iraq war was well worth it.

President Bush, as well as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, are really at the forefront of the campaign orchestrated, of course, to give the message, look, democracy is messy here. We believe the Iraqis ultimately will be successful.

President Bush releasing a statement yesterday saying, "I applaud the heroic efforts of Iraqi negotiators and appreciate their work to resolve remaining issues through continuing negotiation and dialogue. Their efforts are a tribute to democracy and an example that difficult problems can be solved peacefully through debate, negotiation, and compromise."

Also, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice trying to down play what some administration officials see as a possible embarrassment to the administration for insisting on that deadline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SEC. OF STATE: We are witnessing democracy at work in Iraq. The new constitution will be the most important document in the history of the new Iraq. We're confident that they will complete this process and continue on the path toward elections for a permanent government at the end of the year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Carol, U.S. officials say worst-case scenario is that the Iraqi government could have been dissolved, starting all over, they say. At least that hasn't happened. You can bet they're in overdrive trying to meet that next deadline on Monday -- Carol?

COSTELLO: I'll betcha. Suzanne Malveaux live at the White House this morning.

America's ambassador to Iraq was at the assembly meeting as the drama unfolded. We'll talk to him live later this morning.

In Afghanistan this morning, 17 Spanish troops were killed in a helicopter crash in the western city of Heart. The troops were serving under NATO command as part of a peace keeping effort. They are the first Spanish troop fatalities in Afghanistan. Spanish prime minister's office tells CNN, there was no indication the helicopter was brought down by hostile fire. But a Spanish defense ministry spokesman tells CNN partner station, CNN Pluth (ph), that another helicopter in the vicinity also made an emergency landing.

O'BRIEN: A powerful earthquake off the coast of Japan triggered small tsunamis and could be felt hundreds of miles away. The magnitude 7.2 quake hit off the coast of northern Japan, about 50 miles northeast of the town of Sendai. Witnesses say they could barely stand up. Train services were disrupted, still are. The power is out for thousands of people. The quake even shook skyscrapers in Tokyo, about 220 miles south. Atika Shubert is live for us in Tokyo; she joins us via videophone.

Atika, give us a sense of the injuries and the damage, too.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, considering it's such a powerful earthquake, actually, Japan was quite lucky there weren't more damages caused.

Most of those injured and damages actually happened in the Myagi Prefecture, which is the area closest to the epicenter. At least 39 people were injured, three of them seriously.

And most of those came from a sports complex, actually at an indoor pool, where the ceiling collapsed. There were more than 200 people in the sports complex at the time, but fortunately, only about 19 people were injured, one of them seriously. Emergency workers were able to get there quickly and pull them out.

There were also a number of other cases of damages to homes in particular, minor damages. One small wooden house that actually collapsed outside Tokyo. Now emergency personnel and police are going around to the buildings to make sure they're structurally sound and people can still stay there -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Atika, when you consider that 10 years ago there was an earthquake about the same size in western Japan, and more than 6,000 people were killed in that one, what do you think was the difference? Why do people live this time and the last time they did not?

SHUBERT: The big difference here was actually the epicenter. In the case of the Koba (ph) and more recently, the Nigata earthquake, the epicenter was also inland, and that caused a lot of damage because, obviously towns and cities were located right over the epicenter. This time, however, the epicenter was actually 80 kilometers, a little more than 50 miles out to sea. The initial concern was actually tsunami waves.

As you mentioned, those tsunami waves turned out to be very small, only a little more than four inches in height when they came ashore; so no damage there. And because the nearest area in Myagi was quite a ways from the epicenter, it seems it was spared from a lot of damage.

O'BRIEN: Atika Shubert joining us by videophone from Tokyo. Atika, thanks. Carol?

COSTELLO: Helios Airways is now a focus of investigators looking into that deadly plane crash in Greece. Police in Cyprus raided the airlines' offices on Monday. A day after 121 people were killed when Helios Flight 522 crashed near Athens, en route to the Czech Republic. Chris Burns joins us via videophone. He is in Athens this morning.

Chris, tell us the latest.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, the investigation intensifying. That search in Larnica, Cyprus, was aimed at trying to find out more about that very plane, the Boeing 737 300 that went down on Sunday killing all 121 aboard.

They believe, at this point, that it was some sort of catastrophic loss of cabin pressure, but they want to look at maintenance records. And that's mainly what they were trying to get to, those documents, in the offices of Helios Airlines.

Meanwhile, there is testimony also, which we don't know the details of, but from the former chief mechanic of the company who quit in January of this year. And so he obviously is going to have some very important information in this investigation, Carol.

Meanwhile, members of the National Transportation Safety Board, from the United States, are here on the ground. They are helping with the expertise; part of an agreement that, if an American-made airliner goes down anywhere, that the U.S. should be able to participate in the investigation, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Chris, this mechanic, might he talk about the air conditioning problems on board that plane before? I know it had problems before.

BURNS: Yes. Well, he did. And what he said was that last year there was an incident -- a problem with air conditioning. In fact, so bad that three people were treated for injuries, apparently respiratory. So there was a problem there.

And meanwhile, the autopsies are going on as well. At least 20 bodies have been autopsied, including the flight attendant who was believed to have been the one trying to save the plane from crashing. All those people were still alive when the plane went down, but they did have oxygen deficiency pointing to that same problem. Carol?

COSTELLO: Chris Burns live in Athens this morning.

The Navy is investigating the emergency landing of one of its transport planes. The C-2 Greyhound had to make a belly landing Monday at Naval Airfield in Norfolk, Virginia, because its landing gear malfunctioned. All 25 passengers and crew made it out safely. Naval air force officials say the landing was a textbook maneuver.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

COSTELLO: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, two women who lost their sons in Iraq react to that anti-war protest in Crawford, Texas. Find out what they think about Cindy Sheehan's demands.

O'BRIEN: Plus, a possible political scandal for Arnold Schwarzenegger. We'll take a look at the allegations of an affair and a cover-up.

COSTELLO: And in health news, the FDA places unprecedented restrictions placed on an acne drug linked to birth defects. But do they go far enough? That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: In Crawford, Texas, Cindy Sheehan continues her protest outside President Bush's ranch. She's been there since August 6 and she vows to stay there until the president meets with her. Her son was killed in Iraq. She wants to talk to the president about pulling U.S. troops out of the region.

Do other military mothers agree with her? Jan Johnson lost her son, Justin, in the war. She's at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Good morning to you. Thanks for talking with us this morning.

JAN JOHNSON, LOST SON IN IRAQ WAR: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Your son, Justin served, in fact, with Cindy Sheehan's son, Casey. Tell me how you feel when you see the videotape of Cindy Sheehan and the protest she now has in Crawford, Texas.

JOHNSON: I'm not for the protest. I believe that we should stay the course. We need to be there. To me, in a way, she's disgracing Casey, because Casey was over there trying to serve his country and help the Iraqi people. And by what she's doing, it's kind of taken away from the meaning of his death, I believe.

O'BRIEN: She has made, as I'm sure you well know, many requests to meet with President Bush. That's part of the reason she's camped out right near his ranch. Do you think that, in fact, he should meet with her?

JOHNSON: No, I don't.

O'BRIEN: Why not?

JOHNSON: I think, if he does, he's starting a whole new ball game as far as setting a precedent. When she leaves, then other people are going to be wanting to meet with him if they have a disagreement about one of his policies. So I think he's just, you know, protecting himself as far as that goes, by not meeting with her.

O'BRIEN: I want to bring in Rosemary Palmer. Rosemary lost her son, Edward, in the war as well.

Rosemary, tell me about the circumstances of Edward's death.

ROSEMARY PALMER, LOST SON IN IRAQ WAR: He was in a troop carrier that was blown up by three mines stacked on top of each other. And all in the vehicle were killed.

O'BRIEN: When you se the pictures of Cindy Sheehan and her protests in Crawford, Texas, do you feel the same way that Jan Johnson feels, that it's disrespectful to her son's memory?

PALMER: Not at all. One of the things our sons died for was the rights for people to have free expression. Cindy's down there because she firmly believes in what she's doing, and I think the more George Bush stands up and says, no, I'm not going to meet with this woman, the bigger icon he makes of her. And because of the growing dissatisfaction with the way the war is going, the longer he holds out, the more support she's going to have.

O'BRIEN: You think he should meet with her, even though he has already had a meeting with her.

PALMER: That was -- that was a meeting of a very grief- stricken mother right after it happened. I think that, at this point, it makes more sense to meet with her than to continue to set up this conflict. At this point, he's starting to come off as Darth Vader versus Luke Skywalker, you know, the force of evil to many people, which I don't think he wants that image to come across to people. And so she's gaining more support because of his refusal.

O'BRIEN: I know you agree, clearly, with her right to protest, but do you agree with her protest? Would you go out there and join the protesters?

PALMER: Well, actually, I'm going to a vigil tomorrow evening to support her here in Cleveland, in Cleveland Heights, just because I think that she has the right to say that. And our view has been all along, fight the war right, or get out.

Since our son was killed two weeks ago, 28 more guys have died. And the American people have gotten to the point of, oh, it's another one, it's another two. It just doesn't make the impact it needs to make. You know, we're losing a lot of our guys. And, in part, it's because there are not enough people there to do the job.

O'BRIEN: Ms. Johnson, I want to bring you back in. You've been listening to what Ms. Palmer has to say when she says fight it right or get out. What do you think?

JOHNSON: Well, I think it does need to be fought right, but to do that, we've got to stay there. People say, let's bring the guys home. Well, we bring the guys home, and then the terrorists are going to come see us here, is the way I firmly believe. And because of that, my husband leaves next week to go to Iraq to join the Georgia Guard, where his guys are at right now.

O'BRIEN: Jan Johnson and Rosemary Palmer, thank you very much for talking with us. Again, I know you're both grieving mothers, and we really appreciate your time.

PALMER: Thank you.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Carol?

COSTELLO: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, two airlines, two big problems. Delta stock slips to an all-time low. Plus why the White House refuses to step in to avert a possible strike at Northwest Airlines. We're "Minding Your Business" just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A major U.S. airline is on the verge of striking, but do not look to the White House to intervene. With that, plus the latest on problems at Delta, Ali Velshi is in for Andy Serwer. He's "Minding Your Business" this morning.

More problems for Delta?

ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we were talking about this yesterday. It feels like we've been talking about this for a long time.

Delta, yesterday, as we watched the stock through the course of the day, very heavy trading. They were supposed to come out with a report last night that they were initially supposed to come out with a week ago. They delayed it because they said they had problems with the credit card processing company. And they need to renegotiate.

Well, last night, they came out with their financials, and it was a pretty grim picture. Now with respect to the problem that delayed them, the credit cards, they've extended the deal they've got with the credit card processors, so they can continue to tickets and take your Visa and Master Card. That's great.

They've sold Atlantic Southeast Airlines, to SkyWest for $425 million to give them a little bit of money to get through the end of year, but they say very clearly, not enough money to get them through the end of year. This doesn't stave off bankruptcy for them. They have burned through -- this is a company that lost $5 billion last year.

So, when they say they're going to have financial problems this year, I don't know what that means. Delta may not be out of the woods yet.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about Northwest. Because they actually could strike. I mean, the pilots and airlines attendants?

VELSHI: The mechanics mainly.

COSTELLO: Oh, the mechanics.

VELSHI: Yes, 5,400 mechanics and associated workers, some cleaners and things like that, set to strike on Saturday. They voted on this almost a month ago. They were given 30 days to cool off. The 30 days ends on Saturday night.

We're not sure what's going to happen. Delta says they've got enough people to sub in for them if these guys go on strike. And they've also got substitute flight attendants in case flight attendants don't want to cross the picket line.

Now, the news here is the White House said yesterday, the government said, a strike at Northwest wouldn't substantially interfere with interstate commerce. As a result, they're not setting up an emergency board, and don't expect the president to intervene if they strike.

COSTELLO: So it won't be like back in the '80s with President Reagan.

VELSHI: That's right.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Ali.

Soledad?

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, controversy for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. We've got the latest on allegations of an affair and a payoff to cover it up. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Good morning, welcome back, everybody. Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello, in for Miles today.

Coming up, the controversial drug Accutane, the government is taking some aggressive steps to track the popular drug Accutane. We'll tell you why.

O'BRIEN: The FDA commissioner is going to join us, in fact, in just a few minutes to explain a first-of-it's kind national registry. We'll take a look at what the stumbling blocks might be there.

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