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American Morning

Iraqi Abductions; National Guard Reporting for Duty; Selling Their Kids?

Aired June 05, 2006 - 08:59   ET

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

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kareen Wynter on the U.S.- Mexico border in Arizona, where National Guard troops begin their border mission just a few hours from now. I'll tell you where they're coming from and why they're concerned.
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash on Capitol Hill, where the Senate will begin debate on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. It's not expected to pass, so why bring it up? One hint, the word begins with a "P".

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Dozens of passengers quarantined on a cruise ship as their Hawaiian dream vacation turns into a sickening nightmare.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And possible good news for cancer patients. The latest evolution of cancer drugs now let doctor actually target just the bad cells.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Lothian on a farm in Adel, Iowa, where we're taking a look at how folks here are dealing with the high cost of fuel.

It all begins on AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Dan.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to word that's now coming to us right out of Iraq. Fifty people abducted around Baghdad.

CNN's John Vause is following the story. He's in Baghdad.

John, the details of the little bit that we're getting at this hour really sort of strange. It involves the police, doesn't it?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes or no, Soledad. At this stage what we're being told by the interior ministry is that gunmen dressed to look like Iraqi commandos driving at least a dozen cars which were painted to look like Iraqi police cars kidnapped these people, at least 50 people, from downtown Baghdad from three different transportation companies.

These companies were all together in the one street. It seems the gunmen just grabbed anybody who was nearby, whether driver (ph) staff or office workers. They even dragged passengers who were heading by bus to either Syria or to Jordan. And also taken was the owner of one of the transportation companies and his two sons. This is the largest locally-owned transportation company in Iraq.

According to witnesses, this was an operation which took well over an hour. And there was some conflicting reports that at one stage it was thought that this was some kind of official raid being carried out by Iraqi forces. The Iraqi prime minister's office, though, tells us that is not the case. This is, in fact, by all accounts, a mass kidnapping -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: So then do they think that the police may have been involved, or do they think people who were pretending to be the police are the ones who pulled this mass kidnapping off?

VAUSE: Well, it looks like these gunmen were dressed as police. There's still obviously the possibility that police was involved in some level. But this is -- if it was, in fact, gunmen dressed in fake uniforms to look like the police, it would not be the first time.

A few weeks ago, north of Baghdad, near the city of Baquba, 13 people were kidnapped by gunmen dressed as police. So it's not uncommon for this to happen. It's quite easy to buy these fake uniforms on the street. So the -- it's possible that this could be, in fact, just gunmen dressed as police -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: John Vause for us this morning.

John, thanks.

Obviously John is going to continue to watch the story as it develops for us. We're just getting the details now -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The National Guard reporting for duty today along the U.S.-Mexican border. They're the first contingent of Operation Jump Start. Eventually, 6,000 National Guard troops will back the U.S. Border Patrol there.

CNN's Kareen Wynter live now from San Luis, Arizona, with more.

Good morning, Kareen.

WYNTER: Good morning to you, Miles.

That's right, we're seeing President Bush's new immigration plan in action. Those troops arriving from Utah on Saturday, and they'll be coming here along the border just a few hours from now.

They have a number of responsibilities, the first of which involve building a new road system there. They want to clear away some of the gravel and make it easier for Border Patrol agents to maneuver when they spot anyone along that border crossing into the country illegally. Some other field work they'll be doing, installing high-tech lighting similar to stadium lights, as well as, of course, fortifying the border by building fences. We spoke with one captain -- or we heard from one captain, rather, who said that they're concerned, among many things, regarding the temperature here, Miles. It can get way into the triple digits at times, and they say they're concerned regarding heat casualties.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. TALON GREEFF, NATIONAL GUARD: We have concerns around just the weather. It's going to be a lot hotter than what we're used to in Utah. Not as hot as what we were used to in Iraq. So, you know, I'm concerned about heat casualties and that kind of thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: And this will involve a supportive role. These troops will not be assisting in terms of law enforcement. They'll be here for two weeks, Miles, before their deployment ends. And after that we'll be seeing troops from other Southwest border areas. For example, California and New Mexico also make their way in -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Kareen Wynter on the border.

Thank you very much.

In Texas, a virtual border patrol. Texas is ready to set up Web cameras on its border with Mexico. Texas Governor Rick Perry says the cameras will be trained on hotspots and common routes. Anyone can watch anywhere in the world as long as you can get on the Internet. There will be a toll-free number. People can call to report suspicious activity -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Happening "In America" this morning, a search in Texas today for a missing 5-day-old baby girl. Police say a woman posing as a nurse took Priscilla Maldonado from home. Authorities say the fake nurse befriended the baby's mother at the hospital when Priscilla was born. The baby's got jaundice and needs medical care.

In Carlsbad, California, an alleged con man is behind bars today because TV viewers recognized him. James Albert McDowell (ph) was arrested hours after he was profiled on "America's Most Wanted". He allegedly persuaded women to open joint checking accounts with him by saying he was going die soon from inoperable face cancer.

A wayward California black bear is back in the wild after spending some time in the suburbs of Altadena. The bear was seen roaming through a back yard before animal control officers were able to chase it up a tree and then shoot it with tranquilizer darts. He finally came down on his own early this morning and was escorted back to the woods.

In Hawaii, dozens of cruise ship passengers had a little bit of a curveball thrown into their inter-island cruise. About 60 passengers on the Pride of Aloha were quarantined for 24 hours after they exhibited symptoms of the stomach flu.

Passengers were given $200 of an onboard credit as compensation. My guess is they're not that happy with that. The cruise ended on Sunday.

And the wildfire in Sedona, Arizona, is almost out. Firefighters say the 800-acre fire is 95 percent contained. They're still on the lookout for hotspots. A fire about a hundred miles north of Phoenix destroyed three homes.

M. O'BRIEN: An Arizona couple's run from the law ends with a sorry tale of kidnapping and selling their own children. Jessica Heird and Edward Leader in jail this morning, caught Friday after four years on the run.

Robert Santos of our affiliate KGTV has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When she took the kids, I was in shock. I couldn't function no more and I never knew what to do.

ROBERT SANTOS, REPORTER, KGTV (voice over): Angelica Heird gained custody of her two grandchildren in 2002 after her daughter Jessica was deemed an unfit parent by an Arizona court. Jessica Heird was 16 and listed as a runaway.

A year later, Mojave County issued a warrant for her arrest. Federal authorities believed she and her boyfriend, Edward Leader, kidnapped their two children and took them to Tijuana, where U.S. authorities tracked them down four years later.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not guilty of anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have nothing on me. No, they told me that I was fine.

SANTOS: The couple spent some time in a Tijuana jail Friday after they were caught by U.S. marshals and Mexican authorities. They're suspected also of selling at least one of their children, possibly two while in Mexico. One, an 18-month-old girl the couple had in Tijuana. The reason the kids were sold still unclear.

Dr. Neil Ribber (ph) handles many custodial cases where children are often neglected.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know what was going on with these parents. We don't know whether they were psychologically disturbed to begin with. We don't know whether they are into drugs. We don't know whether they had some kind of a crisis situation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After a while you don't know your kids anymore.

SANTOS: The children's grandmother explained she was at work and the kids were left with their great grandmother when she says her daughter took them away supposedly for a doctor's appointment. She drove six hours from Arizona to see if and when she'll get them back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I searched for them for four years. I fought for them, so I want to have them home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: That came from our affiliate KGTV and reporter Robert Santos.

Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: What a bizarre story.

President Bush is preaching to his base today as he pushes for a ban on same-sex marriages. His remarks come as the Senate prepares to debate the issue this afternoon.

Americans seem pretty evenly split on the issue. A new Gallup poll found 50 percent support a congressional -- a constitutional ban on gay marriage, 47 percent are opposed. But is it just politics pure and simple?

Let's get right to CNN's Ed Henry this morning. He's at the White House.

And Dana Bash is on Capitol Hill. We begin with Dana this morning.

Hey, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Soledad.

Well, when you get to this point in the election year five months out, everything is political. But the president and also congressional Republicans campaigned on this issue last time around two years ago. So many conservatives are asking, what took so long?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Gay rights activists are gearing up to blanket Capitol Hill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does anyone need any help?

BASH: And urge senators to vote against a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

JOE SOLMONESE, HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN: I think what we're really talking about this week is a conversation, both from the White House and in the leadership in the Senate, about writing discrimination into the Constitution. And that couldn't be more out of step with where the American people are right now.

BASH: But for social conservatives, prohibiting same-sex marriage is a top priority. These ads are targeting senators in more than a dozen states.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Homosexual activists don't care if children are deprived of a mom or dad. Only a constitutional amendment can protect marriage from attack.

BASH: In 2004, President Bush and Republican congressional leaders talked up a federal ban on gay marriage to galvanize social conservatives in key swing states.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because the union of a man and woman deserves an honored place in our society.

BASH: Since then, the president has been virtually silent.

And veteran activists, like Richard Vigurie, say it's just one reason the Republican rank and file are unhappy with their leadership in Washington.

RICHARD VIGURIE, CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST: They just feel they've been betrayed. They feel abandoned by the president, by his aides in the White House, by the Republican leaders in the House and the Senate. I've never seen conservatives so frustrated, disappointed and many of them, quite frankly, angry.

BASH: That's exactly why conservative organizers say Congress must debate issues like the gay marriage ban if Republicans want disillusioned conservatives to vote this November.

PETER SPRIGG, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: We don't have an interest in re-electing a Republican Congress if they're not willing to fight for pro-family issues.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: No one expects this to get the two-thirds majority needed to change the Constitution, but the federal ban very well could get more than 50 votes this time. That would be more than the last time the Senate voted two years ago. And supporters say that is important because they say it shows their point of view has momentum -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Dana Bash for thus morning.

Dana, thanks.

Now let's turn to Ed Henry, who is live at the White House.

Ed, good morning.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Why is the president pushing this issue today?

HENRY: Well, the official reason from White House spokesman Tony Snow is that the courts across the country, various courts, have gotten involved, are muddying the waters, and it's time for Congress to speak with one voice and settle this once and for all. But let's face facts.

There's another big reason. The president has a political problem. Conservatives feel like they delivered this president's re- election in 2004 and then they saw him turn away from same-sex marriage as an issue and instead focus his political capital on Social Security reform in 2005. That failed miserably, and now conservatives are saying, look, if you want us to turn out on the polls in 2006 for the midterm elections, let's hear you talk about some of these key social issues that you campaigned on in 2004.

And the problem for the president is, if those conserve of its stay home and don't hear him speaking out on this, his agenda is going to be dead in the final two years of his administration if Republicans lose control of Congress -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: That's sort of the Republican side. Democratic side, though, some people could say, well, it could be a diversion. Right? Things not going so well in Iraq, lots of bad news out lately. Raise an issue that's certainly very emotional, even when the polls show that Americans are kind of split right down the middle.

HENRY: That's right. Some top Democrats like Joe Biden, Rahm Emanuel, are saying, look, after some of the bloodiest weeks in both Iraq and Afghanistan, maybe the president wants to divert attention from some of that bad news and focus on these social issues that he agrees with conservatives on. What's fascinating about that is it's sort of come full circle.

In the last campaign, you saw Democrats charging that Karl Rove and this White House were -- they were constantly trying to change the subject from domestic issues and other problems to the war on terror because that was the president's strong suit. I think this is a clear indication things have flipped now. And it appears that the war on terror, specifically the war in Iraq, has become an albatross for this president -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ed Henry for us at the White House.

We're going to hear from the president in just a little bit in the afternoon. CNN is going to have live coverage of the president's remarks scheduled for 1:45 p.m. Eastern Time.

Still to come this morning, the Pentagon is pledging a thorough investigation of that alleged massacre in Haditha. Ahead, we're going to talk to a former Marine and military lawyer about the legal ramifications of this case.

M. O'BRIEN: Then, promising new treatments in the battle against breast cancer. Some with the potential to stop cancer cells in their track.

S. O'BRIEN: And later, an alleged terror plot from Canada to tell you about. Officials now confirm -- they say the men had contact with respect suspects in the U.S.

What does this mean for our security in this country? We'll take a look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) M. O'BRIEN: The Pentagon is vowing a thorough investigation, though not a rush to judgment, in the wake of an alleged Marine massacre in Haditha. Two dozen civilians killed by Marines there last November. The initial report, of course, was that it was a roadside bomb. The story has changed significantly in subsequent months.

Gary Solis is a former military lawyer and judge who served two tours of duty as a Marine in Vietnam. He's now a professor at Georgetown University Law School. He joins us from Washington.

Mr. Solace, good to have you with us.

GARY SOLIS, MILITARY LAWYER: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Twenty-four civilians killed. No matter which way it came out, whether it was so-called justified, collateral damage, whatever the military term would be, if there were 24 civilians killed in an operation like that wouldn't it normally be automatically be investigated?

SOLIS: Yes, that certainly would raise questions. You're not going to have 24 civilians killed by an enemy IED. So how did they die? And, of course, that's one of the issues that's being looked into by the two investigations that are ongoing.

M. O'BRIEN: Are you a little -- kind of shocked that this was not investigated from the outset? Because there wasn't an investigation for quite some time.

SOLIS: Perhaps not shocked, but certainly surprised. You would think that a commander who received a report like this would have looked into it immediately to discover just what was going on, because commanders don't accept blindly whatever reports are submitted by their subordinates.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, the culture of any military organization, and in particular the Marine Corps, is to protect your brother on the battlefield. And that perhaps makes it difficult for investigators to do their job, does it not?

SOLIS: Well, the key phrase that you used, Miles, was protect their brothers on the battlefield. Now, Marines do, as do soldiers, protect their brothers on the battlefield and sisters, but that doesn't extend to covering up for criminality. And all of our soldiers, the best led, the best educated and best trained that we've ever seen, know that there are certain things which are simply unacceptable on the battlefield. And high on that list is the killing of noncombatants.

M. O'BRIEN: What happened then? Was this a failure of leadership? And we're talking about, you know, junior leadership, lieutenants and sergeants, that kind of thing.

SOLIS: Well, of course sergeants are the backbone -- NCOs are the backbone of the Corps, as they are in the Army, as are junior officers. They're the ones that are, as they say, where the rubber meets the road. They're the ones who meet the enemy. So we have to depend on them for leadership and good judgment in combat.

So, what happened? Well, that would be reading the tea leaves, I guess. And we'll find out when the investigation is released.

M. O'BRIEN: Is there -- did those junior leaders, did they get the wrong message somehow throughout all of this?

SOLIS: Well, presuming that the facts that are alleged turn out to be proven true, it certainly was a breakdown in leadership. I mean, that's what NCOs and officers are there for.

They are to be the breaks on the conduct of their subordinates. They are the professionals, the more experienced individuals. They are the ones who are supposed to say, wait a minute, guys, we're professionals. We don't go around targeting noncombatants, so back off. Because it's understandable that in a situation where one of your brothers is blown away, you're going to be first frightened. That fright immediately turns to anger, and you want to lash out at somebody.

And that's why we have leaders on the spot. And those leaders are NCOs and young officers.

M. O'BRIEN: There's a lot of people on the Democratic side of the aisle who was saying this really -- Secretary Rumsfeld is ultimately responsible for this. It comes at a time when the "L.A. Times" out with a report today saying the Pentagon has decided to omit from its new detainee policies a part of the Geneva Convention which says you should not humiliate and degrade prisoners.

I guess there is a subtle message, or maybe a not so subtle message that comes from statements like that which say don't worry so much about the Geneva Convention.

SOLIS: Well, that is worrisome that they may omit it from their report, but the Geneva Convention remains binding whether or not it's included in the report or in guidance. We have ratified the Geneva Conventions, and having ratified them under Article 6 of the Constitution, it's the law of the land. It's not as if we had a choice as to which parts we would observe and which we would ignore.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Final thought here.

Over the weekend, another incident we talked about last week in Ishaqi. The military saying that there was -- that was completely justified in the case there when 11 civilians were killed by the U.S. military there. The Iraqi government, however, saying this -- the Iraqi government saying, "We should continue its own investigation until the truth can be found." This would be coming from an aide to the prime minister there.

Does the Iraqi government have any sort of jurisdiction in this?

SOLIS: No. We have an agreement with the Iraqi government, as I understand it, that we will have jurisdiction over all criminality that may be committed by our troops in country. So just as the international criminal court does not have jurisdiction in this case, I don't believe that the Iraqi government does. And certainly we would not be handing over our soldiers or Marines to the Iraqi government in this current stage for trial.

No, these individuals are going to be tried by a general court- martial if it turns out that they have committed some offense. And I think the American public, as well as the military, can depend on the Uniform Code of Military Justice to provide a fair trial with just results.

M. O'BRIEN: Gary Solis, Georgetown University law professor, thanks for your time.

SOLIS: My pleasure.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: A new study says strict parents have overweight kids. What's the link? We're going to explain just ahead this morning.

LOTHIAN: I'm Dan Lothian with a calf on a farm in Adel, Iowa. We won't be talking to him. We'll be talking to the farmer about how high fuel prices have impacted his operation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Health headline this morning.

A strict home might lead to fat children. A new study out this morning says first graders with strict mothers are five times more likely to be overweight. That's compared to children from homes where parents set the rules but are flexible about it. Neglectful parents are twice as likely to have fat first graders.

It's almost hard to believe, but today marks an ominous anniversary. It was 25 years ago today that the first cases of AIDS were documented. Since being discovered, AIDS has killed tens of millions of people.

A small health study, only 62 women took part, but it could be significant for women with breast cancer. The study finds that women who took yoga classes during breast cancer treatment reported functioning better physically. And overall, they felt better about their health in general.

And in today's "House Call," a major international cancer conference under way in Atlanta. Doctors there are focused on targeted treatments honing in on what makes cancer grow and new drugs to fight it.

Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us from the CNN Center in Atlanta with details.

Hey, Elizabeth. Good morning. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Soledad, you'll be hearing that word "targeted" more and more often when it comes to cancer treatments. What researchers try to do is they look at the actual cancer cell and go inside it to find out what makes it tick, and then design treatments that actually combat that mechanism.

What we're talking about today is an experimental drug called Tykerb, and what they found in a study is that it actually delayed the spread of breast cancer tumors in some women. Let's take a specific look at what it does.

It targets the HER-2 protein inside the breast cancer cell. And what they found is that it may prevent cancer spread to the brain because the drug crosses that blood-brain barrier, unlike some other drugs that don't. However, it is not a cure and it is not FDA approved. It's still experimental.

That not a cure part is really, really important. There's two reasons why it's not a cure.

One, all they know right now is that this drug managed to delay the progression, delay the spread or the growth of breast cancer cells. For the women who took it, plus chemotherapy, it took about eight and a half months for those breast cancer cells to spread or grow. When they didn't take the drug, it took about four and a half months.

Another reason that it's not a cure is that this drug could only potentially work for about one out of five women with breast cancer, because they only have the certain type of breast cancer that this targeted mechanism works on -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: So would this be the only drug that the breast cancer patient would take?

COHEN: No. Even if you're one of those one out of those -- you're one of those one out of five women, it probably won't be the only drug that you would take. You would take it with chemotherapy, as the women did in the study, and you might also take it with another drug called Herceptin. That's another targeted drug.

The important thing is, is that cancer doctors say more and more they're seeing cancer treatment as a cocktail. You hear that with HIV a lot, a cocktail of drugs, not just one drug.

S. O'BRIEN: The implication not just for breast cancer but for all cancers are pretty big.

COHEN: Right, the implication -- actually, doctors are sort of thinking -- they're not saying it too loudly -- buy they're thinking that maybe this drug might work on other cancers as well. But certainly this targeted approach, this approach of looking at the cell, looking inside or on the surface of the cell to see what makes it grow, and then try to outfox that mechanism, that's the future of cancer treatment.

S. O'BRIEN: Elizabeth Cohen, our medical correspondent, in Atlanta this morning.

COHEN: Thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Elizabeth -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: It is one of Canada's larger counterterrorism operations ever. Seventeen terror suspects under arrest accused of plotting an attack in Toronto. Were they planning anything here in the U.S.?

And a developing story this morning. A mass kidnapping in Iraq. At least 50 people abducted by gunmen dressed as police commandos. The latest from Baghdad.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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