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American Morning
'Operation Swarmer'; The Winning Number?; Damage Toll
Aired March 17, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien.
The biggest air assault since the start of the Iraq war. What's the goal? We'll tell you in a live report.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Bob Franken in historic Annapolis, Maryland, home of the Naval Academy. But when you talk about the Iraq war, you get a variety of opinions.
S. O'BRIEN: Bob is going to be live for us this morning.
Questions also this morning about how many troops are needed in Iraq and when those troops are going to come home?
And an update on those Texas fires.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY, TEXAS: We've still got very low humidity. We've still got vast areas of the state that are under extreme drought conditions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Parts of the state charred for miles in every direction, still, no help from the weather.
M. O'BRIEN: Jessica Simpson snubs the president. And this morning, find out what her father has to say about it.
And it's a day to be Irish, an enormous number of Americans, including we O'Briens, celebrating our heritage on St. Patrick's Day.
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome, everybody, and happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you.
Straight to Iraq this morning and that major military offensive that is under way north of Baghdad. It's called "Operation Swarmer." It's now in its second day. Nine hundred U.S. and Iraqi troops are involved -- that's down from 1,500 military -- carried aboard 50 helicopters as that operation got started on Thursday. The mission described as the largest air assault in Iraq since the U.S. invasion three years ago this Sunday. And it's happening around the town of Samarra, about 75 miles north of the capital. Let's get right to our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson. He is embedded with the U.S. and Iraqi troops near Samarra.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Colleen (ph), the operations are still ongoing. As we've been flying around this area, we've been able to see in some places farms cordoned off, surrounded, searches going on at those farms.
On another farm near where we flew, I could see perhaps several dozen troops out walking through the fields. We're told that that is where the weapon caches are, the weapons. Six weapons caches that have been discovered so far have been buried. That's what the troops are looking for when they go to these farms.
We're told the area that they are searching has about 1,500 people living there, perhaps about 150 different farm buildings. They say they have -- so far they've searched about 50 of those buildings, arrested or detained about 50 people. We know 17 of those have been released. They say they are not aware of having captured any high- value targets, not aware of having a specific high-value person on their target list.
They are continuing with this operation. They say it could continue for some time more. The best estimate they can give us is a number of insurgents. They believe in this area there's about 100 people. That is out of about 1,500 people who live in this area.
The operations, we're told, 800 Iraqi troops, about 700 U.S. troops. The operations are conducted such that a cordon is put around the area, often by Iraqi troops. Iraqi and U.S. troops approach the objectives. And then we're told when the troops get to the farm buildings, it is the Iraqi troops who go in first and talk to the families.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson for us this morning with an update.
A little bit later this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, we talk to General Richard Myers, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the progress of the war -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: As the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion approaches on Sunday, the U.S. death toll continues to climb. Two thousand three hundred eleven Americans have died since the war began, at least 1,808 of those lost lives as a result of hostile action.
Just how many troops does the U.S. need in Iraq and for how long? You think those questions would have been answered by now. You'd be wrong, though.
CNN's Tom Foreman with our report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the start of the Iraq war, the question has been debated, how many Americans will have to fight there and for how long? One assessment came before the first shot was fired from the then Army Chief of Staff.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: General Shinseki, could you give us some ideas to the magnitude of the Army's force requirement for an occupation of Iraq?
GEN. ERIC SHINSEKI, FMR. ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF: Something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers are probably, you know, a figure that would be required.
FOREMAN: That comment was widely criticized as overly cautious, overly pessimistic, especially after the invasion force of 165,000 coalition troops took Baghdad in a few weeks.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.
FOREMAN: But a few months later, the insurgency took off, fueled by long-standing ethnic differences, just as General Shinseki predicted. And ever since, hopes for bringing significant numbers of American troops home have risen only to fall.
Saddam Hussein was captured. American troops stayed the same. The interim Iraqi government took over. American troops stayed. A Constitution was written, full elections were held, tens of thousands of Iraqis were trained as soldiers and police officers and each development brought calls for more American troops coming home.
REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Our military has done everything that has been asked of them. U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. It's time to bring the troops home.
FOREMAN: But the military, while talking vaguely of troop reductions now and then, has consistently kept around 130,000 to 150,000 fighting men and women in Iraq.
(on camera): Various military strategists have said announcing a date for a troop reduction would be foolish, letting insurgents mount an offensive at a critical moment.
(voice-over): Furthermore, historically, predicting how many troops are needed for any war has been tricky business, and this is war.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No one said that combat operations weren't ongoing. Those operations continue.
FOREMAN: Nevertheless, nearly three years after combat started, that central question remains, how many American troops for how long? Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: General John Abizaid, the head of the U.S. Central Command, says that the U.S. is still on track to begin troop reductions soon, but he won't give an exact time or an exact number -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Victims of Hurricane Katrina who were denied insurance claims for damage to their homes could be getting some help from a whistle-blower. A lawyer for 4,000 of those victims in Texas says somebody inside the insurance business has given him memos that show that inspectors were pressured to change data so claims could be denied. A spokesman for the insurance industry says those allegations are unfair.
To Texas now, the winds that have pushed devastating wildfires across the Texas panhandle finally starting to ease. Damage, though, has been done. Lives, livestock lost, about a million acres scorched, businesses utterly destroyed.
CNN's Ed Lavandera has the very latest for us from Texas this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Residents of the Texas panhandle are finally hearing the word they've been praying for all week, rain. Forecasters say several days of rain are expected this weekend to help the hundreds of firefighters who are still working to put out hot spots. Eight hundred and fifty thousand acres of land have burned here since last Sunday.
Texas Governor Rick Perry toured the area on Thursday. And he says he's requesting federal assistance to help out the people who have been affected by the fire, especially those in the cattle industry. Officials here estimate as many as 10,000 head of cattle were killed by the fire, threatening to put many of these people out of business.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Gray County, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Some good news for folks trying to recover from those killer tornadoes in the Midwest first part of the week, President Bush has declared a major disaster in several Missouri counties. That clears the way for federal money to rebuild hundreds of homes and businesses wiped out by tornadoes over the weekend. Nine people died in those storms in all.
In Hawaii, meanwhile, work goes on in the rain, trying to relieve pressure on some of those old dams. They are worried about another collapse, like the one that killed seven people earlier this week. Most of those earthen dams on that island are about a century old. Time for a check of the weekend forecast. Chad Myers at the Weather Center, and he's hovering over Hawaii, appropriately.
Hello, -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Just trying to look at what the radar looks like now.
Good morning, Miles, or good night, I guess, Hawaii, for you.
Rain kind of between islands now, at least that's some good news. There will be a break this morning, a break today and then tomorrow back into the rainfall pattern for Hawaii that you've seen for a while.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you.
S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, I sure hope not.
M. O'BRIEN: Yikes.
S. O'BRIEN: That'd be terrible.
All right, Chad, thank you very much.
Still to come this morning, we continue to follow a developing story in Iraq, the biggest air assault since the invasion began. Troops are now scouring the countryside for insurgents. It's called "Operation Swarmer."
M. O'BRIEN: Then a highly caffeinated battle in the war on terror. How Starbucks is doing a latte to keep us safe.
S. O'BRIEN: And we also have results of a new SUV crash test. Find out which ones get an A for safety and which ones don't.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: And this would be a scene from last year's St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City.
S. O'BRIEN: I'm like, wow, they're getting started early this year.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's right, or late, depending on which way you look at it. Largest St. Patrick's Day Parade in the world, 150,000 marchers, 148,000 of them will be sober, not, not, no.
S. O'BRIEN: No, please, please, that's an old joke, although they do say 22 gallons of beer consumed per capita by all Americans annually.
M. O'BRIEN: Today?
S. O'BRIEN: No, per capita by all Americans, not just today.
M. O'BRIEN: Total. OK.
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
M. O'BRIEN: Carol Costello in the newsroom.
Good morning, -- Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles. Good morning to all of you.
We're just getting this news in to CNN. It's about Slobodan Milosevic. You remember he officially died of a heart attack, but there were these rumors swirling around that there was something more nefarious in the works, like he was poisoned.
Well CNN just got this word. I'm going to read it off my computer. An interim toxicology examination of Slobodan Milosevic's body indicate there have been no indications of poisoning. That's according to a United Nations tribunal judge. Those tests were done by Dutch investigators.
On to the rest of the headlines this morning.
The U.S. and Iran agreeing now to hold talks, not about the nuclear program, but about Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the U.S. is willing to talk about -- talk to Iran about stabilizing Iraq but gave no timeline for those talks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: We will see when and if those talks take place, but that discretion has been there for Zal Khalilzad for some time. And I'm sure that we'll talk about his exercise of it. This isn't a negotiation of some kind. We found it useful to exchange information and to talk. And if we do, it will be about Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Secretary Rice is in Australia for security talks. She's also meeting with Japanese officials there.
The House is giving President Bush more money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lawmakers approved nearly $92 billion in spending, bringing the cost of those conflicts to nearly $400 billion so far. The spending measure will also help rebuild the hurricane- ravaged Gulf. The Senate is working on its version of the bill.
Andrea Yates will be tried again for drowning her children. A Texas appeals court cleared the way for retrial. There were some concerns the second trial might be considered double jeopardy. The trial is set to start up again on Monday. New crash test ratings are out, seven sport utility vehicles have earned the highest ratings. They are the 2006 Ford Explorer -- good for Ford -- the Honda Pilot, the Hyundai Tucson, the Mercedes Benz M-L Class, Nissan Murano and the Subaru B-Nine Tribeca and the 2007 Ford Explorer Sport Trac.
As a side note, none of these cars did that well in rollover testing. The tests were done by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
So there you go, Chad, the top seven.
MYERS: Green. Where's your green?
COSTELLO: I forgot.
MYERS: I hated that when I was in elementary school and I forgot to wear green, then you get pinched by all the girls. Actually, I liked it.
COSTELLO: I thought you would have -- exactly.
MYERS: Good morning, everybody.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thank you very much.
MYERS: You're welcome.
Let's talk business news now with Carrie Lee and GM.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Guess if this news is good or bad.
S. O'BRIEN: I was going to say with more bad news, worse than thought.
LEE: I know. Well, GM has delayed its 2005 filing for its financials. And now we're getting some more details. The numbers, unfortunately, for the company are going to be worse than expected. They are raising total losses by $2 billion, to $10.6 billion, mainly due to an increase in GM's estimate of what it's going to have to pay employees at Delphi.
This is GM's bankrupt former parts owner. They're still in labor negotiations. GM's involved with the negotiations, still, because it relies heavily on Delphi for parts. They spun that group off in 1999.
Also, GM raising restructuring charges to $1.7 billion. And they delayed the filing, as I said, but they are going to file later this month.
GM shares about 22 bucks now. They were $70 five years ago. So think about that investment, you really would have lost a lot of money. S. O'BRIEN: Yes, well it's just -- I mean, you have helped us by just joining us with a string of bad news about GM. I mean, every time we talk about GM it's been bad news.
LEE: I know, it's tough for the U.S. auto industry, that's for sure. That's for sure.
M. O'BRIEN: Would you buy the stock now? I don't know.
LEE: I don't think I would.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: I don't think I would.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Well they've got to work out this Delphi problem, because that's really sucking them down.
LEE: Yes, they have to -- well you've got to see some momentum from this company.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: They need to get this stuff behind them, and then, maybe, maybe better investment going forward.
Also Starbucks stepping up security here. They are putting some security in their cargo containers. They're installing hi-tech sensors that will detect tampering with cargo containers filled with coffee beans shipped from Guatemala to the U.S. and Europe.
Now this comes after the Homeland Security Department put a study together, and Starbucks participated in the study, found that the containers can be opened secretly during shipment. Basically you can add or remove items without people knowing. So they're installing these sensors in the containers. Sensors made by General Electric. Not that they had any problems, but they did find that there were some holes in the current system.
S. O'BRIEN: And when you see that it's such a small percentage of those containers are really being inspected anyway,...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: ... I mean, you can see the big problem there.
LEE: Yes. So Starbucks stepping up, and sounds like a good idea for them.
M. O'BRIEN: But no exploding coffee beans that we know of?
LEE: No. M. O'BRIEN: But this is -- OK.
LEE: But the potential for problems, which of course they want to avoid that.
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: In the future, Miles, maybe.
LEE: So, by the way, futures looking up. We've seen three fresh four-and-a-half year highs for three days in a row for stocks. So looking up again for this morning.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Carrie, thank you.
LEE: OK.
M. O'BRIEN: Keep it rolling, -- Carrie.
LEE: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
It's time for Irish Coffee this morning, or coming up, a preview. Here's -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Wish I had some Irish Coffee right about now, yes, full strength.
Still to come, Jessica Simpson tries to make amends with President Bush after snubbing his fund raiser.
And today everybody is Irish, right, but you better know your Irish trivia first. Like, do you know how many people plan to wear green today? Some fun facts for you to ponder while you're eating your corned beef and cabbage this morning, because I know you're having that for breakfast.
"Morning Coffee" is coming your way next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Hope they're paying attention to the old song, we outnumber you, 33 million Irish-Americans.
S. O'BRIEN: We outnumber you, because you're Italian, not wearing your green today, because you're not Irish.
COSTELLO: I don't know, there are a lot of Italian-Americans in this country, so I would love to know the number of Italian-Americans here, because I think we outnumber you.
S. O'BRIEN: The gauntlet -- we got you, baby.
M. O'BRIEN: Those fighting words. COSTELLO: Anyway, it's time for some "Morning Coffee," and what would a morning be without an update on Jessica Simpson, because Jessica Simpson loves President Bush, really loves him, just wouldn't want to meet him at a political fund raiser.
Yes, it is time for our Jessica follow-up this morning. There she is on Capitol Hill dressed Angelina Jolie when she's at the U.N. style, no cleavage, no discernable makeup, small jewelry, very businesslike.
M. O'BRIEN: It looks like "Legally...
S. O'BRIEN: Like who is that?
COSTELLO: I know, exactly.
M. O'BRIEN: Doesn't it feel like "Legally Blonde" kind of thing, you know, with the Reese Witherspoon...
COSTELLO: It does, actually.
M. O'BRIEN: ... kind of thing? Yes. Anyway.
COSTELLO: If only.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: Anyway, she talked about observing a little girl with a cleft palate, and said she then realized that the purpose of life is to go through it smiling.
S. O'BRIEN: That's the purpose of life, finally we know.
COSTELLO: My gosh, the purpose of life -- yes, anyway, her cause is Operation Smile. It's an organization that provides free surgery to children with cleft palates. And that's really about all she said, because when reporters started shouting questions asking her why she refused to go to a Republican fund raiser, even though she would get to meet President Bush face to face, she simply smiled. But...
M. O'BRIEN: Well that's the purpose in life.
COSTELLO: That's right...
M. O'BRIEN: So she smiled.
COSTELLO: ... Miles.
But her dad and her manager and handler, he does all of those things, he did have something to say, and it goes something like this. He says we are huge fans of President Bush and of his family, his girls. Jessica loves the heck out of him.
S. O'BRIEN: We just won't see him at a fund raiser.
COSTELLO: No. No. OK, well it is St. Patrick's Day, and it's time for a few more fun facts.
S. O'BRIEN: Good.
COSTELLO: OK, so here they are, so you can have these fun facts along with your Irish Coffee. Thirty-four point five million people in the United States claim Irish ancestry. Three hundred eighty nine breweries are in the United States.
S. O'BRIEN: Why do we automatically go to the breweries?
COSTELLO: Immediately, because I thought...
M. O'BRIEN: For the beer.
S. O'BRIEN: You did a minute ago.
M. O'BRIEN: I think it's for the beer.
COSTELLO: But, I mean, isn't that something, though, St. Patrick was a real person. He was a great man. He was a saint. And we celebrate his day by drinking ourselves silly.
S. O'BRIEN: It's true.
COSTELLO: It's weird.
S. O'BRIEN: You have a point there.
COSTELLO: And 93.3 million, by the way, --...
M. O'BRIEN: Hard to defend, isn't it?
COSTELLO: ... yes -- plan on wearing green.
You know I was wondering where green beer came from. So David Clinch, whose on our International Desk, I asked him one day, in Ireland, because he's from Ireland, do they have green beer? Daggers came out of his eyes.
M. O'BRIEN: No, no.
COSTELLO: No, because you wouldn't want to mess up a Guinness, because Guinness...
M. O'BRIEN: No.
COSTELLO: They wouldn't want to taint the beer, no.
S. O'BRIEN: That wouldn't even work. Right. Right.
COSTELLO: So it didn't start in Ireland, and no one is really sure where it started. I mean, did it start at some college somewhere?
S. O'BRIEN: Probably started with a bunch of drunks in America.
M. O'BRIEN: Isn't it Chicago with the river turning green and all that, or is that, I don't know?
S. O'BRIEN: Well they did the river, I'm sure, before then.
M. O'BRIEN: Well we'll have to get...
COSTELLO: Does that have anything to do with beer, I don't know?
M. O'BRIEN: We'll get our crack staff on that.
COSTELLO: But it's weird, because -- and the other weird thing is that universities celebrate -- kids at universities, actually, not the university itself, but kids celebrate St. Patrick's Day on the Thursday before St. Patrick's Day, unless, of course, it falls on a Thursday. Why?
M. O'BRIEN: I don't know.
S. O'BRIEN: Longer weekend to have a big party would be my guess.
M. O'BRIEN: I don't know.
COSTELLO: So these are things to ponder on this St. Patrick's Day.
S. O'BRIEN: We'll ponder them.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Carol.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Carol.
This morning, we're going to meet the other O'Briens. We mentioned millions and millions of O'Briens. Irish eyes will be smiling when Miles O'Brien meets Miles O'Brien.
COSTELLO: Lordy.
What is that on your head?
S. O'BRIEN: And Soledad O'Brien -- that's a tiara on my head, and Miles, oh my.
M. O'BRIEN: What's that in my pipe is what you might want to ask.
S. O'BRIEN: Soledad O'Brien is going to meet...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: ... Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: This will be very interesting.
S. O'BRIEN: Actually, I'm serious.
M. O'BRIEN: Our old doppelgangers, if you know what I mean. S. O'BRIEN: We'll talk to them ahead this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: That's in our 9:00 hour.
M. O'BRIEN: Our morning's top stories are straight ahead, including that new air assault to try to hunt down insurgents in Iraq. We will go live to Nic Robertson who is embedded with troops on the scene. We hope to make contact with him.
And we are nearing the third anniversary of the war. We sent out AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken to find out how Americans feel about it now.
Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: A massive operation now under way to drive Iraqi insurgents out from one of their strongholds. U.S. troops take captives and seize weapons.
FRANKEN: I'm Bob Franken in historic Annapolis, Maryland. You can see a lot of the yachts that make their regular berth here. We're going to also hear a variety of opinions on the war in Iraq. That's coming right up.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Bob. We'll get to that in just a moment.
Welcome back, everybody.
M. O'BRIEN: Good to have you with us this morning.
That big offensive continues in Iraq north of Baghdad this morning. It's called "Operation Swarmer," now in its second day. Currently, 900 U.S. and Iraqi troops involved. At the outset there were 1,500 military total carried in aboard 50 helicopters. Carefully coordinated attack. The mission described as the largest air assault in Iraq since the U.S. invasion three years ago this Sunday. It's happening around the town of Samarra. That's about 75 miles north of the capital.
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