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American Morning
More U.S. Troops Headed to Iraq; President Bush Seeking Support on Plans for Iran
Aired June 21, 2006 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: New details are emerging about the deaths of two American soldiers in Iraq. We'll check-in with family members and learn more about the lives of those two young soldiers.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: More U.S. troops are headed to Iraq -- 21,000 given the order to get ready for their deployment.
S. O'BRIEN: And Iraq is on the president's agenda, as well, at today's summit in Vienna, Austria. President Bush also seeking support on plans for Iran.
ROBERTS: Dry conditions leading to more wildfires out West. Firefighters in several states still a long way from getting those spreading wildfires under control.
S. O'BRIEN: And why Namibia to give birth to baby Shiloh?
Angelina Jolie tells Anderson Cooper.
We're going to have more of his xii just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts in this week for Miles.
Happy Wednesday morning to you.
S. O'BRIEN: Two more American families -- military families -- now know the personal sacrifice of war and the painful loss it can bring home.
The families of Thomas Tucker and Kristian Manchaca, first reported missing, now confirmed dead.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim joins us from Brownsville, Texas.
That's where Kristian Manchaca grew up -- hey, Keith, good morning.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad.
And this is the home of Private Kristian Manchaca's mother, Maria. And relatives here have been telling us about the painful wait for details as to what happened to the young soldier they loved so much.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Kristian Manchaca became a man in the Army. But in the eyes of his family, he will still be remembered as the boy who grew up in Houston and Brownsville.
JUAN VASQUEZ, KRISTIAN MANCHACA'S COUSIN: I think I was the male role model for him, you know?
OPPENHEIM (on camera): He looked up to you?
VASQUEZ: Right.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Juan Vasquez is Kris's big cousin. He told me when Kris was sent to Iraq last year, the family was supportive, but worried. And their concern grew when Kris came home for a visit about a month ago.
(on camera): Did he seem kind of in tough shape from the experience he had had so far?
VASQUEZ: Well, according to my aunt and uncle, he was having trouble sleeping most of the time. Yes.
OPPENHEIM: You think he was nervous?
VASQUEZ: He was very nervous.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Vasquez says his cousin told him he had several close calls in Iraq, escaping a roadside bombing without injury and surviving an insurgent ambush during the first few months of his tour of duty. Then, last week, Manchaca was reported missing after insurgents attacked a checkpoint he was patrolling south of Baghdad.
Now the family is waiting for the results from DNA testing that could verify Kris Manchaca's body has been found.
VASQUEZ: I think deep down inside I know it's him and he is -- he is dead.
OPPENHEIM (on camera): But you want to hold onto some hope?
VASQUEZ: Right.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): It is hard to hold onto hope when the family hears regular news reports Kristian Manchaca may have been tortured. But just what happened is hard to think about, much less discuss.
Juan Vasquez fights back tears as relatives gather at the home of Kris's mother and wait for confirmation that the body of a fallen soldier is coming home.
(END VIDEO TAPE) OPPENHEIM: The U.S. military is telling the family that the body believed to be that of Private Manchaca will be sent to Dover, Delaware for DNA testing on Thursday. And the family is hoping the remains will come here, to Brownsville, by this weekend so they can start planning a funeral as soon as possible -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, such sad, sad news for that family.
Thanks very much, Keith.
Later this morning, we're going to be talking with Kristian Manchaca's uncle, Mario Vasquez -- John.
ROBERTS: Happening overnight in Iraq, one of Saddam Hussein's attorneys is found shot to death in Baghdad. A fellow lawyer says Khamees al-Ubaidi was abducted by insurgents who were dressed as Iraqi police. This is the third person on Hussein's defense team to be killed.
Also this morning, a car bomb attack outside a Sadr City restaurant. Baghdad police say at least two people were killed in that incident.
An important debate on Iraq is scheduled in the Senate today. Democrats are introducing two resolutions that call for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq beginning by year's end. Republicans are deeply critical of both plans.
Senator John Kerry wants all the troops home by July of 2007, as does measure's co-sponsor, Russ Feingold.
Senator Carl Levin's proposal calls for an open-ended redeployment out of Iraq.
Here's what he told me earlier on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: There's a significant agreement, a consensus among Democrats, that we have too much of an open-ended commitment and that we've got to have a phased redeployment begin by the end of the year. That is no way it is cut and run. You'll hear that all day long. But there's no way that can fairly be characterized as cut and run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The Pentagon is telling 21,000 new troops to get ready to go to Iraq. Beginning in August, combat soldiers and Marines from Texas, Alaska and Colorado will replace troops who are coming home. There are about 127,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines in Iraq.
Iraq just one of the items on the president's agenda in Vienna, Austria today. President Bush meeting with European Union leaders there. Also on tap, the issue of Iran's nuclear ambitions.
CNN's Elaine Quijano is live in Vienna -- good morning, Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John.
And for President Bush, this summit is a chance to demonstrate that the United States and the European community are on the same page when it comes to Iran's nuclear ambitions.
President Bush's decision last month to allow the United States to join in direct talks with Iran, along with international partners, was welcomed in European capitals.
President Bush, though, is continuing to make clear that the U.S. will only return to the table if Iran suspends its uranium enrichment activities in a way that can be verified.
So Iran certainly big on the agenda.
Also up for decision, global trade, energy and funding for Iraq's reconstruction efforts.
But behind closed doors, European officials are expected to press President Bush about what to do about the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. European leaders have said that they want Guantanamo shut down because, they have argued, that to hold detainees without charges runs counter to American ideals.
For his part in recent weeks, President Bush has signaled that he wants Guantanamo closed eventually. And, John, one thing U.S. officials here are telling us is that we can expect a summit declaration out of these meetings today saying, in essence, referring to human rights and a respect for human rights when it comes to fighting the war on terror -- John.
ROBERTS: As we have seen time and time again, where the president goes, the protests follow.
The protests there in Vienna, are they any more, any less vocal than what we've seen in other cities around the world?
QUIJANO: Well, certainly relatively quiet compared to other places that we have seen President Bush travel. There was, this morning, a small protest, about 300 people or so, who gathered at a train station here in Vienna, demonstrating during President Bush's visit.
We should tell you that this evening we are expecting a much larger demonstration, several thousand people expected there, as well as anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. She is expected to be there tonight. And she was actually spotted at that demonstration earlier today -- John.
ROBERTS: Elaine Quijano in Vienna, Austria.
Thanks very much.
President Bush is scheduled to make remarks in Vienna at the bottom of the hour.
We'll bring you live coverage of that, as soon as it happens.
S. O'BRIEN: Several Western states are battling wildfires this morning. We're watching dozens of fires in New Mexico, in Colorado and in California.
The largest is in Arizona, where an 1,800 acre wildfire is getting closer to homes near Sedona. People have been evacuated. More than 450 firefighters are on the ground. They're installing sprinklers and clearing brush. The fire there is only about 5 percent contained.
time for a check of the forecast at seven minutes past the hour.
Chad's got that -- hey, Chad, good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, a controversy over two soldiers killed in Iraq. This time we're talking about two young men who were killed back in 2004.
Were they murdered by the Iraqi troops they were training?
That's ahead.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: A pair of American soldiers may have been murdered by the Iraqi troops they were training.
Army Specialist Patrick McCaffrey and First Lieutenant Andre Tyson were killed near Balad two years ago. Now the Army believes the Iraqi troops intentionally fired on them.
One family will be briefed today.
Nadia McCaffrey's son was killed in Iraq two years ago tomorrow.
Ms. McCaffrey, thank you for talking with us.
I certainly appreciate it.
Tell me -- the story is just so sad and so incredibly horrible.
What did the military originally tell you what happened to your son?
NADIA MCCAFFREY, SON KILLED IN IRAQ: What was told to us was that my son was killed in an ambush just after it happened last year -- well, two years ago now. And that's basically all we have ever heard from the military.
S. O'BRIEN: You continued to press and continued to press.
Did you suspect that it was not as the military had first told you?
MCCAFFREY: I had doubts, yes. I wasn't sure at all about what they said and I had details that the soldier gave us, fortunately. One of them even wrote a report just after the killing and sent -- they have published that report. It was right there. The only thing missing was the visual witness from -- from the site.
So we had -- and many other soldiers have, you know, reported and sent e-mails and talked to us, so.
S. O'BRIEN: So you felt what the soldier, the eyewitness was telling you, wasn't really matching up to what the military was telling you.
I know you went through Senator Barbara Boxer, who eventually got in touch with the Pentagon and eventually you got a call back from the doctors.
At that point, they sent you pictures, too.
Tell me about those conversations.
What did you discover?
MCCAFFREY: Senator Boxer was very efficient. And just after I had contacted her, she sent a letter immediately to the Pentagon and things started to move right there.
Two nights ago, a meeting was arranged and the meeting will take place, actually, today, this afternoon.
S. O'BRIEN: The military investigation now seems to say that your son was murdered by some of the Iraqi officers who were patrolling with them on that day almost two years ago now, that, from what we can determine, two gunmen opened fire and then a third gunman jumped into the vehicle itself and started shooting. Your son was hit eight times by different bullets.
When you -- when you start hearing these reports, that it wasn't an ambush, but, in fact, Iraqi officers who were patrolling with your son who they now believe killed your son, what's your reaction to that?
MCCAFFREY: Patrick was never at ease and he constantly said, "Mom, we are risking our life every day, all the time, just permanently."
He also mentioned that there was a bounty on their head and when he said that at the time, I didn't realize that he meant on the soldiers who were training the Iraqis. So that meant him. And he was not sure about his safety at all. S. O'BRIEN: The military has said this. This is from Paul Boyce. He is a U.S. Army spokesman. He said this: "We continue to have confidence in our operations with Iraqi soldiers and have witnessed the evolution of a stronger fighting army for the Iraqi people."
Do you believe the military intentionally has misled you for going on two years now about what happened to your son?
MCCAFFREY: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Are you just furious?
MCCAFFREY: People need to know the truth. I think if this happened to my son, it has happened, I'm sure, to other people, and it will happen again. Now something is very wrong somewhere and we need to know what it is. We need to stop this.
S. O'BRIEN: Nadia McCaffrey joining us this morning.
Thank you so much for talking with us.
Our deepest condolences to your family, as well.
MCCAFFREY: Thank you for having me.
ROBERTS: Sixteen minutes now after the hour.
Coming up in just about 15 minute's time, we're expecting to hear from President Bush. He is set to speak live from Vienna, Austria at the bottom of the hour.
And we'll have that for you live here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Nineteen minutes after the hour.
Divorce is very hard for a family, especially the children. But now it seems there is a troubling new phenomenon that is making it even tougher. Some call it brainwashing, where one parent teaches the children to hate the other parent.
CNN's Jason Carroll joins us now to explain -- good morning to you, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John.
You know, this is something that's probably been going on as long as divorces have been going on. People just probably just didn't have a name for it.
Well, it's called Parental Alienation Syndrome. Sometimes it can be very difficult to determine who is at fault. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): It is the end of another family get- together at the Opperman home. These should be happy occasions but there are only bittersweet for Jeff Opperman. They remind him of a time before his contentious divorce, before he was alienated from his youngest son, a son who now wants nothing to do with him.
JEFF OPPERMAN, DIVORCED FATHER: I remember the child who would come get me at night when he had a bad dream. I remember the child who wanted to play baseball with me. That child doesn't exist anymore.
CARROLL: The last time Opperman saw his youngest son, he was 11 years old. That was six years ago. Now Opperman's only connection to him are through class photos, sent to him by his son's school once a year. His mother did not want us to show his face.
OPPERMAN: It's incredibly difficult for me. One day a year, when these pictures show up, I am transported back in time and I relive the pain, all the anger, all the frustration of losing my child to parental alienation.
CARROLL: Opperman's ex-wife told CNN she didn't bad mouth him and encouraged her children to have a relationship with their father, adding Opperman is being vindictive.
Parental Alienation Syndrome, or PAS -- some psychologists call it a form of brainwashing. It's what happens during a divorce when one parent deliberately destroys a child's relationship with the other parent, by bombarding the child with negative comments and feelings of hostility.
DR. RICHARD WARSHAK, PSYCHOLOGIST: It's as though they're developing the kind of hatred that people develop when they have a racial hatred, when they hate people just because they are of another race. They focus only on perceived negatives.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hated my dad. I hated myself.
CARROLL: For years, this 17-year-old girl, whose identity we concealed for her privacy, believed her father wanted nothing to do with her after her parents' nasty divorce. She was just eight when she says her mother started telling her that her father never wanted to see her again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought he didn't love me. I thought he didn't want me anymore. I felt if my own dad didn't love me or want me, then who would?
CARROLL: But when she got older and visited her father, she realized she had been lied to all of these years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really made me see that my dad couldn't be the person my mom was making him out to be. He was so loving.
CARROLL: So loving, in fact, she decided to move in with him and is much happier now.
Those who have studied PAS say most children never return to the alienated parent.
WARSHAK: What's washed out of their minds are any memory of having a good relationship with the parent. They really act, in many ways, like victims of cults do.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
CARROLL: And the young girl that you saw there in silhouette received therapy. Psychologists say that is one of the best ways for children and parents to deal with PAS.
ROBERTS: So here's the -- who's the real victim here, though? The parent that's been alienated, or the child who's been taught to hate the parent on the other side?
CARROLL: I think a lot of psychologists would argue that ultimately children are the ultimate victims here, that there are psychological effects that stick with them well into adulthood.
ROBERTS: Yes, I mean it's just terrible that you would use children as a weapon.
CARROLL: Yes. It happens every day.
ROBERTS: You know, unless there was some real problem with the parent, not some sort of perceived thing or just some Machiavellian game that they're playing.
CARROLL: Um-hmm.
ROBERTS: Jason, thanks.
A great report.
Jason's report, by the way, first aired on "PAULA ZAHN NOW," which you can see weeknights at 8:00 Eastern.
S. O'BRIEN: Coming up in just a few minutes, we're expecting to hear from President Bush. He's making remarks from Vienna, Austria.
We're going to bring that to you live when it happens.
Stay with AMERICAN MORNING.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Millions of Americans are sandwiched between generations, caring for their children and their parents. One way to ease their burden is a community approach to elder care, and it's kind of a throwback for baby boomers.
Our Miles O'Brien now with another installment of Welcome To The Future.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
LOUISE: I never in a million years thought that this would have been a scenario.
I'm 49 years old, I have two children. My parents just moved here. We moved them up here to be closer to us. We have become a sandwich generation because we end up still having the kids at home and then we're taking care of our parents.
You cannot rely on Social Security to take you through your golden years. It doesn't work anymore.
I want them to be comfortable and I want them to be healthy.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Don't we all?
But keeping our parents happy and healthy as they age while we boomers figure out how to pay for our kids' college tuition is no small task.
So what's the best way to take the squeeze out of the sandwich? Some say it takes a village.
(voice-over): This man, elder care expert Dr. William Thomas, sees a future where community is key.
DR. WILLIAM THOMAS: In the 20th century, old age was about leisure and independence and retirement. In the 21st century, aging is going to be about community, interdependence and darned good neighbors.
M. O'BRIEN: For boomers, it's a flashback to the communes of the '60s, so-called inter-generational co-housing communities, planned by the residents, usually densely packed homes built around a central courtyard and a common house where meals are prepared and shared.
There are playgrounds for kids or grandkids, too.
THOMAS: Twenty years from now, America will have constructed so many useful and clever alternatives to the nursing home that those institutions are no longer necessary.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Summertime, oh.
Yes, it summertime officially. What was it, 8:26? Two minutes and 30 seconds until summer, 2006.
ROBERTS: Already. Already I'm getting a tan. You know, it happens that quickly.
I love summertime. It's absolutely the best time of the year.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, me, too. I'm so happy. Even the last week kind of felt like summer here.
ROBERTS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Officially, today is the day and now is the time.
ROBERTS: Yes, and it was the same way in Washington, very hot and very humid. Although this weekend it's supposed to be very nice in New York.
S. O'BRIEN: I know.
ROBERTS: High around 80, nice and dry. It shouldn't be too bad.
S. O'BRIEN: That's what Chad is promising us.
ROBERTS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: We'll see what happens.
Welcome back, everybody.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts in for Miles O'Brien this week.
Good Wednesday morning to you.
S. O'BRIEN: We're expecting to hear from President Bush. As we've been telling you all morning, he's in Vienna.
We're going to bring you his remarks live when they happen.
He'll be also talking along with the Australian chancellor and the European Commission president. The three have been meeting. They've been wrapping up their talks and then they'll come out, make remarks and take questions.
Other stories making news now.
Carol has got that.
She's in the newsroom this morning -- hey, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Good morning to all of you.
Thousands more military men and women are being sent to Iraq. Four major combat brigades from Texas, Alaska and Colorado have been told they'll be deployed as part of the latest troop rotation. About 21,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines will replace troops scheduled to return home. But the assignments could change depending on security conditions in Iraq. We're watching dozens of wildfires out West, literally. In Arizona, a massive wildfire just outside of Sedona is getting closer to hundreds of homes. Nearly 1,800 acres have been destroyed. The fire only about 5 percent contained. And the National Weather Service says a fire in southern Colorado is moving like a freight train. Some 4,500 acres have been destroyed so far. More than 250 homes evacuated.
Fires also raging in California and in New Mexico.
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