Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Iraq Insurgency; Dead Guy Photos; Trail of Terror
Aired June 09, 2006 - 06:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening this morning, DNA samples from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi now at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia. The FBI expects to have test results back no later than Monday morning.
Top Democrats try to remove Congressman William Jefferson from the Ways and Means Committee. That's a powerful one. That was the result of a secret ballot vote last night. Jefferson is at the center of a bribery investigation.
A couple of pilots are safe now thanks to a creative Coast Guard crew. When they learned a small plane on its way to Hawaii was in trouble, the Coast Guard plane dropped flares to make a makeshift runway on the water, helping the pilot judge how to ditch an ailing plane. Ditching at night is a difficult thing. A containership bound for China picked up the two people.
Atta boy.
Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead. It doesn't mean the insurgency is, of course. Already, there's talk of a new leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and Iraq today is preparing for reprisals.
CNN's John Vause is live for us in Baghdad this morning.
John, good morning. Is essentially the concern that the insurgents will refocus their attacks and now focus more on U.S. troops?
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now we've heard from Al Qaeda in Iraq, posting on a number of Web sites, saying that they do have a new leader. They haven't said who he is, but we've heard from U.S. forces that it could be a man known as Abu al-Masri.
He's Egyptian-born, trained in Afghanistan. He's an expert at making IEDs. The U.S. military believes he set up an al Qaeda cell in Baghdad in 2002.
But it's important to note that Al Qaeda in Iraq, this small group of foreign fanatical fighters, has only been a small part of the insurgency. The other part of the violence here, the homegrown insurgency, has always mostly focused on U.S. and Iraqi forces. The worst of this violence has always been homegrown. There has been the sectarian violence, on the one hand, the Shiites and the Sunnis, and then there's been those who are fighting the occupation. They want the U.S. forces out no matter what the cost.
The prime minister has said in the past that the security situation here is complicated and he's right. He said today in "The Washington Post," "We believe we will soon reach a tipping point in our battle against the terrorists as Iraqi security services increase in size and capacity, taking more and more responsibility away from the multinational forces."
And, of course, that is the hope, that soon these Iraqi security forces will be able to take the place of the U.S. troops here, and also the British troops down south. The prime minister says he has a plan in place to restore law and order in Baghdad. He'll put that into practice fairly soon. They're working on another plan for the rest of the country, in particular the notorious Sunni Triangle north of here.
So for the U.S. troops, obviously the ongoing violence will continue. The hope is, though, that civilians will not be the target as they have been by Zarqawi and his al Qaeda fighters -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: John Vause for us this morning. He's in Baghdad.
John, thanks -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: The Bush administration now offering some details on the hunt for Zarqawi. It appears it was a mix of luck, betrayal and dogged persistence that led to his demise.
Officials say the key was the capture of some al Qaeda operatives in Jordan last month. They say someone inside Zarqawi's inner circle offered a crucial piece of information that Zarqawi had a so-called spiritual adviser, and then following him then led them to Zarqawi.
And what about that $25 million bounty on Zarqawi's head? Iraq's prime minister says it will be paid, but, of course, the U.S. State Department writes the checks. And officials there are saying it appears is no one is eligible for the big bucks. They concede Jordan, the government, that is, helped by offering information, but the State Department says governments are not eligible for the reward, just individuals -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: A triple killer in Virginia is getting a second chance. About an hour before Percy Walton was to be executed, Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine ordered a delay. He's allows an independent commission to look into claims that Walton is mentally ill. The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down a stay of execution request.
A Maryland man is charged with planning to attack an abortion clinic. Police say he hid a bomb in his friend's closet. Well, officers tried to disable it. It went off prematurely. Nobody was hurt. The explosion, though, set off that fire in that house right there.
Hundreds of evacuations in Chester County, South Carolina, to tell you about. An old cotton mill has been on fire since Tuesday morning. Firefighters are keeping watch. They're letting it burn itself out, though. Five hundred people in the area have been evacuated because of the thick smoke.
True-blue friend gets the Purple Heart. Aaron (ph), the German Shepherd, was shot in the jaw while chasing a suspect. He kept on going, though, caught the man. The Oklahoma Fraternal Order of Police awarded him with a Purple Heart last night -- and a standing O.
Elizabeth McNeil vowed to get her college degree before her grandchildren. And she did it. Eighty-two years old, McNeil graduated from Harvard University.
You go, girl.
In some respects, though, she's no different than some of her classmates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH MCNEIL, GRADUATED FROM HARVARD AT 82: Well, I'm a procrastinator. And actually, I wrote my essay on procrastination and turned it in about a half an hour before it was due.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: It beats turning it in a half an hour late. McNeil spent nine years getting her liberal arts degree. She retired last year after 25 years with Harvard's health services department.
M. O'BRIEN: Truly young at heart, isn't she? You're never too old.
S. O'BRIEN: Good for her. And it probably was free, too, because if you work for Harvard...
M. O'BRIEN: She's got a deal, right?
S. O'BRIEN: Probably got a little bit of a deal there. Oh, good for her.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's get a check of the forecast. Rob is in for Chad Myers on this Friday.
Good to have you with us again, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good to be here, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MARCIANO: Back to you guys.
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Busy guy. Thanks, Rob. M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Rob.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, from TV to newspapers to the Web, that picture we were showing you yesterday of Abu Musab al- Zarqawi is everywhere. We're going to take a look at why for people like him, seeing is believing.
M. O'BRIEN: Then, your cable bill may soon be going down, all thanks to the phone company. We'll have details on that.
S. O'BRIEN: And fans are arriving in Germany for the kickoff of the World Cup. Here's a statistic for you, one in six people worldwide will be watching. We've got a report from Munich just ahead.
First, though, a look at some of the other news we're talking about this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: A call for peace in Somalia tops our look at stories that CNN correspondents around the world are covering today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alphonso Van Marsh in Nairobi, where Kenyan officials say it's time to give peace a chance in Somalia. Somalia, Kenya's neighbor to the north, pretty much in a state of anarchy for more than 15 years.
Somali warlords, some of them reportedly backed by the United States, say that they're trying to regroup after being forced out of the capital, Mogadishu. Fighters loyal to the Islamic Courts Union say they're in control now and that they want to bring stability to the war-torn nation. But there are concerns that the Islam-based union, which some elements the United States accuses of harboring al Qaeda terrorists, may try to turn an unstable Somalia into a safe haven for terrorists.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Rivers is Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and Mount Merapi is continuing to remain a threat here. The volcanologists are saying there has been a slight decrease in volcanic activity over the last 24 hours, but there are still episodes of hot ash being spewed out of this volcano, of rivers of lava flowing down the sides. And more worryingly, there are now reports of people beginning to go back to their homes on the side of the mountain, well within the danger zone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Becky Anderson in Munich, and just in just a few hours' time, we'll get kickoff in Germany 2006, the World Cup. Now, the first game will be held in the stadium behind me when three times winners and the host, Germany, play Costa Rica.
Now, just listen to some of these facts. There are 32 nations playing in 12 cities across Germany over the next month. That's 64 games with 736 players playing.
Now, there are 3.2 million tickets to these games. They've all been sold out. But for those who can't get a ticket to the games, well, they'll be watching it on TV.
And if you thought the audience for the Super Bowl was big, well, just listen to this. There will be something like a billion people watching the finals on July the 9th. That's one in six people around the world. This is truly a huge, huge competition.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: For more on these stories or any of our top stories, go right to our Web site, CNN.com -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Twenty-four hours now since the U.S. military first showed us visual proof of Zarqawi's demise. He joins a morbid rogues gallery of deceased revolutionaries, fascists, criminals and terrorists.
Jeanne Moos has more, but be warned, some of these images are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is one thing to hear about it. It is another thing to see it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a picture of Zarqawi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
MOOS (on camera): Yes, they got him. That's him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.
MOOS (voice-over): Over and over we saw it on every network. Death neatly framed.
CALDWELL: We had wiped off a lot of the blood and other debris because there was not a need to portray it in any kind of -- dehumanizing his body.
MOOS: The last time the U.S. military released body photos, they showed the sons of Saddam Hussein. Talk about dehumanizing. A doll maker named Herobuilders wasted no time cranking out the before and after dual-headed Uday doll. Saddam's sons and al-Zarqawi join other fugitives put on display, like Che Guevara, the Latin American revolutionary who was finally gunned down in Bolivia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was laid out, and he sort of looked like Christ-like. It was a complete, utter and utter P.R. disaster.
MOOS: A martyr in the making, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was no martyr. He went from a fascist who swaggered to one who swung...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now the bodies are hung by their feet.
MOOS: ... executed and strung upside down with his mistress.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They tied her skirt so it didn't show.
MOOS: Hitler avoided that kind of display by killing himself and having his body burned. Al-Zarqawi never saw the bombs coming.
CALDWELL: There are far worse graphic pictures that were inappropriately felt to share with anybody.
MOOS: Though they did share a bloodier one at the Operation Iraqi Freedom Web site, the modern way for the victor to share the human spoils. Ironic these photos came out the same day other highly anticipated images began surfacing.
(on camera): In our current pop culture, pictures like these of the Brangelina baby are the ones that are worth millions.
Which picture are you more interested in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, of course this one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have to say Brangelina baby. I'm not interested in seeing a photo of a dead man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What a contrast. I mean, the beginning of life and the end.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, we're going to take you to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's hometown in Jordan to get their reaction to his death this morning.
And then later, in business news, how the nation's top cigarette companies are getting around all the no smoking laws.
Those stories ahead.
Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, former House majority leader Tom DeLay walks away from Congress today. He leaves under an ethical cloud. DeLay defended his hardball tactics and conservative politics in a fiery final speech yesterday.
Phone companies will be able to bring you cable TV under a bill that's just passed the House. It's supposed to increase competition and save money, ending the system where companies have to negotiate a deal with every community they want to do business in.
A DNA sample from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, now. Work's going on around the clock, we're told, and they expect test results back on Monday at the very latest.
M. O'BRIEN: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was a ninth grade dropout, a bully, a thug, and a petty criminal who managed to turn himself into an infamous mass murderer with a big following. The question now, how will he be viewed in death? Will he become a martyr?
For more on that, we turn to his home country of Jordan, where he made his mark first as a terrorist and where there's disagreement about his legacy.
Here's CNN's Kevin Flowers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEVIN FLOWERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: While much of the world knows Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the terrorist scourge behind beheadings and car bombings in Iraq, Jordanians will forever remember him as the mastermind behind this: nearly simultaneous suicide bombings targeting tourists and others in the country's capital last November.
Some 60 people were killed, with bombs exploding at three popular hotels. Thirty-eight died here as they were celebrating a wedding. It was the first large-scale terrorist attack in the small kingdom and served as a wakeup call that Jordanians were not immune to the violence raging in their next door neighbor, Iraq.
The Jordanian government was well-acquainted with Zarqawi. A full decade before becoming public enemy number one in Iraq, Jordanian intelligence was tracking its native son.
GEN. ALI SHURKI, ADVISER TO KING HUSSEIN: He started to plan attacks against tourists coming into Jordan..
FLOWERS: He was imprisoned in 1992 for conspiring to overthrow the monarchy, but later freed under an amnesty granted by the king. Then sentenced to death in absentia for his role in planning the 2002 assassination of an American diplomat in Amman. But it was his grisly handiwork in last year's hotel bombing that brought thousands of Jordanians to the streets in vocal opposition to his tactics.
In his hometown, news of Zarqawi's death has been met with more ambivalence. "We do know if he was fighting for Islam or his beliefs," this resident says. "If he was fighting for Islam, may god let his soul rest in peace. If he was not, god will judge him." And for some of his family members, pride and admiration for Zarqawi's legacy. "He is the martyr of Islam," his brother-in-law says. "And he is the imam of all Muslims. I'm happy about his martyrdom. This is not a death. It is martyrdom."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: That was Kevin Flowers in Amman.
Jordanian security agencies were vital in helping track down al- Zarqawi -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Andy Sewer is "Minding Your Business" coming up next.
Good morning, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": Good morning, Soledad.
Big tobacco is going smokeless. Maybe you can guess why.
Plus, Polo Ralph Lauren is going for free.
So where did all of those clothes go? An interesting question.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that is an interesting question. But you'll have the answer for us just ahead.
Andy, thank you.
Also this morning, a major breakthrough to tell about you in the fight against cancer. The FDA has approved a vaccine that attacks the sexually transmitted virus responsible for many cervical cancers. It's controversial, though. Drug makers targeting young girls. Does it send the wrong message about sex?
That story's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Meet Al Gore, movie star. His film, "An Inconvenient Truth," is a hit at the box office. It's putting him in big demand for magazine covers, to a skit on "Saturday Night Live," to last night's appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." That doesn't mean, though, he's seeking an even bigger stage.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO: People are talking about you maybe running for president again.
(APPLAUSE)
AL GORE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I know -- well, I appreciate the reaction and the question, but I -- I was joking earlier. I have said plenty of times, I do not have plans to be a candidate again. I've been there and done that.
LENO: You're still being treated like a movie star. Do you like this? Do you like this?
GORE: Well, you know, it's not all easy. For example, I'm in this huge feud with Lindsay Lohan now.
LENO: Really? Wow. Wow.
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: Wow. Can you -- can you give us a little bit more?
GORE: No, she knows what she did.
LENO: Really? Wow!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERWER: That was good.
M. O'BRIEN: That was pretty good.
SERWER: That was well delivered, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: A great delivery.
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: That's so funny.
M. O'BRIEN: You have to wonder if he was that loose on the campaign trail...
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: ... how would things -- would his fortunes have been different? Anyway...
SERWER: Pretty unequivocal, right? Was he, do you think?
S. O'BRIEN: What do you mean?
SERWER: That he's not going to run?
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, no, no.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, no. I saw him...
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Some wiggle room. OK.
M. O'BRIEN: I saw some wiggle room in that one. S. O'BRIEN: There is...
M. O'BRIEN: There's always wiggle room.
S. O'BRIEN: There's always wiggle room, exactly.
Let's talk business news. What have you got for us?
SERWER: We're talking about a couple of tobacco companies, the nation's two biggies, Philip Morris, RJR Reynolds. They are getting into the smoke-free tobacco business. The reasons are obvious.
Fifty percent less smoking per capita now than in 1980. That's number one. And number two, if you do smoke, you can't smoke indoors practically anywhere.
So they're rolling out these little pouch numbers. RJR has a product called Snoose (ph) which they're introducing in Portland, Oregon, and Austin, Texas.
Marlboro has something called Toboco (ph), which I looked it up, that's a city in Madagascar. Seriously.
M. O'BRIEN: Or it's a hot sauce, isn't it?
SERWER: No.
And Indianapolis. And these little pouches, they say you don't chew them or you don't spit. Well, it remains to be seen.
M. O'BRIEN: So what do you do?
SERWER: If you put tobacco in your mouth, you don't spit?
M. O'BRIEN: You don't swallow. That's not a good idea.
SERWER: Well, I guess that's not gong to be a good idea. Of course, UST dominates this business with Copenhagen and Skoal and products like that. So interesting to see.
M. O'BRIEN: So yet another way to get cancer, I guess.
SERWER: Yes. It's not good for you.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: And it's not good for you if you chew tobacco.
M. O'BRIEN: Kids, don't try that at home, OK?
SERWER: Right.
Polo Ralph Lauren is getting rid of fur. And this is bowing to to pressure from PETA, of course. They've been putting pressure on the apparel maker for quite some time. And they say they're going to get rid of all fur on all their clothes this year, by this year's holiday season.
Now, they still have a bunch of fur clothes in stock. And they say there's probably about 1,200 units, as they say in the business, which is not much.
And what are they going to do? They're going to give them to charity.
So it's kind of funny that they can't sell it to high-end people on, you know, the upper east side of Manhattan or Hollywood, but then homeless people can wear fur clothes. A little funny there, I think.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.
SERWER: But, I guess, what are you going to do? You don't want to destroy them. It's still clothes.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
SERWER: The animals are already not around.
M. O'BRIEN: Kind of hard to ask for a quarter if you're wearing a mink, don't you think?
SERWER: I guess. There may be scenes coming up.
M. O'BRIEN: Would that make it difficult? Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: That's a good point.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: In the next half-hour we're going to talk about executive pay. Some new outrageous stories, surprise, surprise, to tell you about.
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Andy, thanks.
SERWER: Thanks.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Andy.
Let's get a check of the forecast. Here's Rob -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Hey, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Rob. Hello, Rob. Hello, rob!
MARCIANO: Just checking the latest e-mail.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, we so got you.
S. O'BRIEN: He was not there.
M. O'BRIEN: He was shopping for minks. Shopping for minks online. (WEATHER REPORT)
MARCIANO: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
M. O'BRIEN: Stepping up security in Iraq just in case al Qaeda decides to strike back in response to the death of Abu Musab al- Zarqawi.
S. O'BRIEN: Zarqawi taken out, but what about Osama bin Laden? We'll have an update from Afghanistan on the hunt for the world's most wanted terrorists.
M. O'BRIEN: New information now on the suspected terror plot in Canada. Prosecutors say suspects may have been planning a 9/11-style airplane attack.
S. O'BRIEN: And an important cancer vaccine is now given the go- ahead. The drug's approval could save the lives of millions of women.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Lothian in Mason City, Iowa, where we wrap up our series, "Paying the Price in the Heartland." This morning, I am at an ethanol plant where business is booming.
I'll tell you why coming up in about 40 minutes on this AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: And good morning. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us on this Friday.
In Iraq today, hope and apprehension on the day after. Iraq's new interior minister is calling it a new beginning now that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead, but Iraqi leaders are also admitting they are bracing for violence and retaliation.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
