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CNN Saturday Morning News
President Bush Visit European Allies to Discuss Iraq
Aired June 05, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
It is June 5.
Good morning.
I'm Betty Nguyen.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Drew Griffin.
Thanks for being with us.
We have a lot coming up at this hour.
CNN is in Normandy, France in preparation for the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. We'll have a live report from there.
Also ahead, how prepared is the U.S. for a bioterror attack? It depends on whom you ask. We will ask a senior official with the Department of Homeland Security, who will join us live.
And later, it looks like an ordinary pager, but in reality this is an electronic angel. 733 means praying for you.
All that ahead.
But first, these headlines.
NGUYEN: A roadside bomb exploded this morning in Baghdad near the old ministry of transportation building. Iraqi officials say a U.S. military convoy was the target, but no other information is immediately available.
President Bush just left Rome following a second meeting with Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. Mr. Bush is now headed for Paris and a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac ahead of tomorrow's D-Day observance in Normandy.
The Olympic Torch is making its way through Australia this morning. It's part of the 78 day, 48,000 mile journey leading up to the August 13 beginning of the Summer Games in Athens. The Torch arrives in Los Angeles on June 16 for the first of four stops in the U.S.
GRIFFIN: This weekend marks a big moment in history, the 60th anniversary of D-Day. President Bush is now on his way to France.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour joins us live this morning from the American cemetery at Normandy and CNN Rome bureau chief Alessio Vinci is covering Mr. Bush's visit earlier today with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Let's begin with you -- Alessio.
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Drew.
Well, the president spent a total of 36 hours here in Italy, during which he received those of both criticism and praise for the U.S. led war in Iraq. But he left for France telling reporters that he was confident that the United Nations Security Council would approve a new resolution as early as next week.
This meeting, in a meeting with the Italian president -- with the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, the two leaders discussed the details of this third resolution, which now clearly states that the new Iraqi interim government will have a right to send Allied troops home from Iraq if they wish to do so. This is not, of course, the resolution that gives the Iraqis control over U.S. and Allied forces in Iraq, but it is an important concession that will make it easier for it to be approved.
And at a joint news conference later on, after the meeting with the Italian prime minister, Mr. Bush told reporters that a new resolution, this new resolution is aimed at keeping troops in Iraq but with the full support of the international community.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Members of the U.N. Security Council and Iraq's new leaders are working toward a new resolution that will express international support for Iraq's interim government. The Security Council resolution will reaffirm the world's security commitment to the Iraqi nation and encourage other U.N. members to join in helping the Iraqi people as they establish a representative government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VINCI: It was yesterday, however, that the president got a fresh reminder of the opposition that still exists on this side of the ocean for the U.S.-led military intervention in Iraq. Besides tens of thousands of demonstrations in the streets, the president also met with the pope and the pontiff there spoke again about the grave unrest in Iraq, something that he had predicted in the months leading up to the war, as well as calling the recent prisoner abuse a deplorable scandal.
And the president told reporters today that he had told the pontiff that he -- that a full and open investigation will take place in the United States about this scandal -- back to you, Drew.
GRIFFIN: Also, thank you. President Bush right now in the air, heading towards France.
Our Christiane Amanpour is already there.
And, Christiane, he's going to do a little fence mending before the D-Day anniversaries tomorrow.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. We've been told by aides to President Chirac that today, June 5, 2004, will be a day of bilateral meetings, of joint deliberations with the president, between the two presidents on issues of mutual concern. And, of course, Iraq and the U.N. resolution will be top amongst them.
The president will also expect to be greeted by many, many thousands of French protesters. As you know, here the war in Iraq is opposed by something like 85 percent of the French people.
But, where we are, here in Normandy, and especially here at Colleville-Sur-Mer, which is the American war cemetery where more than 9,000 Americans are buried, it is harmony, it's peaceful, there are the French and American flags that have been placed overnight at each one of the crosses and Stars of David that mark the tombs of the fallen.
So the operating word for tomorrow is going to be one of looking forward, of remembering together the huge sacrifice that France, Britain, the United States and other Europeans made together in that great, great alliance that took place 60 years ago this weekend. And so that will be what happens.
And, as such, there have been already memorials, already commemorations, wreath layings. Today, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, the British heir to the throne, has been laying wreaths and commemorating both British sacrifices and, indeed, Canadian sacrifices. A couple of hours ago, he was at the Canadian cemetery, the Canadian war cemetery not far from here, at which more than 2,000 Canadians have been buried, those who were victims of D-Day and also the entire Normandy campaign. They were buried there and also some other 2,000 French Canadian servicemen have been buried further along in another war time cemetery.
We're joined right now by a Canadian veteran.
We're very, very pleased to have you here with us today, Charlie Fox, who was in the air force and who took part on those crucial days.
CHARLIE FOX, CANADIAN VETERAN: Yes, I did. I flew three times on D-Day, on June the 6th and leading up to it. And coming back, this is my first time back to Normandy.
AMANPOUR: The first time in 60 years?
FOX: The first time in 60 years. I did -- when my wife and I were on our 25th wedding anniversary, toured around, but I didn't come to Normandy. And this particular return is very special because my brother was in the army and I actually paid my respects to one of our close friends from Guaf, Ontario (ph), who was buried on July the 30th, and I met my brother there, who was with the 3rd DIB. And he stayed overnight with me.
AMANPOUR: What was that day like?
FOX: The day...
AMANPOUR: Sixty years ago, June 6, when you were flying airborne missions?
FOX: It was, how would I say, we were -- unbelievable...
AMANPOUR: Were you scared?
FOX: Well, it was not -- how would you say, everything seemed to be intensified and we were living on the edge. And for that, I took off in the very first flight at first light. We took airborne at 5:30. I did the three trips on that particular day. The last one, we returned to base in the south of France -- of, pardon me, England -- and I think it was around 11 o'clock, 10 after 11. So it was night flying for the last hour. So it was a very, very long day.
AMANPOUR: I'm going to ask Karen Mandaren (ph) to push into this picture that you're holding. That's you, a young, young man popping out the top of -- did you crash? What happened there?
FOX: No. I was hit by a 190 with a .20 millimeter gun and I've been shot up but never shot down. Actually, this happened a little bit later on over Germany and -- no, over Nimagen, up in Holland. And I did come back about 60 miles to our base. My regular looking after the aircraft is sort of reaching out to pat me on the head. What am I going to do with this wing? How are, as I said, I was shot up several times, but never shot down by ground anti-aircraft guns.
AMANPOUR: Well, you were very, very lucky. So many of your comrades did fall and paid the ultimate sacrifice.
You went on to have another pretty interesting encounter. Somehow you managed to fire at the car that was carrying German Nazi Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.
How did that happen?
FOX: It was late in the afternoon of July the 17th and we took off and it was an armed ruckey (ph), where we're looking for targets of opportunity. We took off, 12 aircraft, broke up into three sections of four. I was leading one section and I spotted this staff car coming towards me at 11 o'clock. I warned the flight that I had a target, not to make it -- keep straight and level. And when the car, the staff car reached coming towards an opening, I timed it so that I made a diving, curving attack from nine o'clock and started firing at about probably 900,000 feet. My guns are harmonized at that amount. And saw strikes along the side, left side of the car.
And as I went over the car, it was curbing off the road and so on. And we continued on looking for another target, which I did get another target.
AMANPOUR: Did you know it was him?
FOX: No.
AMANPOUR: You didn't?
FOX: I had no idea. It was a staff car. I noticed that there were senior officers in it, but I had no idea at that time that that was Rommel. This happened later, because that particular day, the Germans reported that Rommel had been put in the hospital and actually the Americans claimed that a P47 had shot up Rommel. It was 24 hours, 36 hours later that the Germans came back and said that no, it was a Spitfire.
So this is when the fellows with me and the squadron said that had to be it because of the time and place. And so that was it. But it was 60 years ago and I never wanted to make anything of it, because of what, whom Rommel was and what happened to him afterwards.
AMANPOUR: Well, we thank you very much for joining us here today.
Thank you, Charlie Fox, for coming to join us 60 years afterwards...
FOX: I appreciate it. Thank you.
AMANPOUR: ... and for your first visit back to these beaches that you and so many other veterans stormed.
And we will be here all weekend and throughout this day with the commemorations and the anniversary celebrations -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Christiane, we look forward to your live coverage on the anniversary.
Thank you and thank you to that Canadian flier.
NGUYEN: A man who went on a rampage with a bulldozer yesterday in the town of Granby, Colorado is dead. The bulldozer demolished or damaged a concrete plant, the town hall, a bank, a library and a newspaper office. The cab of the large dozer was armored with steel plates and it didn't stop until it was caught in the rubble of one of the demolished buildings. Police say the man was angry about a zoning decision.
GRIFFIN: The horse is in New York for this evening's Belmont stakes. But the Smarty party is in Philly, hometown of Smarty Jones, winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Post time 6:28 Eastern. And Smarty Jones reported ready for his shot at racing's Triple Crown.
NGUYEN: Boy, is he ready. A perfect eight and eight. What a record. Which brings us to our e-mail question of the morning. What is the most impressive feat in sports? Oh, there's a lot to choose from. You can e-mail us now at wam@cnn.com.
GRIFFIN: What newspaper called him the most famously unknown figure in southern California? And now many are mourning his death. Loyd Sigman is dead at 95. He suffered from Parkinson's Disease. Sigman is the guy who invited the Sig alert, messages so familiar to motorists in southern California that warn drivers about freeway traffic jams. For almost 50 years now, millions of Los Angeles drivers have planned their commute across the city's freeways based on information from Sigman's device, the Sig alert.
NGUYEN: If terrorists attack America again and biological weapons are involved, will this country be ready to respond? Find out next on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
GRIFFIN: And later, churches are turning to portable technology to share their faith with those facing challenges. But can the new prayer pagers really help?
First, take a look at these pictures. Something you don't get to see very often -- emotional moments captured on camera in Iraq, giving us a rare glimpse of the lives these soldiers live so far from home.
COMMERCIAL
GRIFFIN: On the home front in the war against terror, Congress agreed this week to reshuffle about $55 million in public health counter-terrorism funds. That money will move from states to cities in an effort to better prepare on the local level for a potential terror attack on U.S. soil. Administration officials warned last month that terrorists could be planning an attack as early as this summer, but how ready are we to respond?
Suzanne Kelly takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE KELLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's just a drill, a dirty bomb explodes in the middle of a major U.S. city. But if a real attack were launched, how ready are we to respond?
DR. CHARLES A. SCHABLE, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: Well, I think the major lesson that we learned from 9/11 is that the nation is prepared to deal with these events, but it is much better prepared to deal with the events post-9/11 then it was before then.
KELLY: Dr. Charles Schable of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta says progress has been made when it comes to communication between agencies and first responders and in the important task of getting information out to the public should an attack occur. He even testified last month before a congressional committee, saying every state has developed an emergency preparedness and response plan and nearly 90 percent of states have trained public health practitioners in responding to terrorism. But where do we stand when it comes to the one place you will likely need the most in the immediate moments after a terror attack?
SCHABLE: Is every single hospital in the United States perfectly prepared? I would be silly if I said yes.
DR. ARTHUR KELLERMANN, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INJURY CONTROL, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: The public should not only be concerned, they should be damn angry about this.
KELLY: Dr. Arthur Kellermann is on the front line, a prominent E.R. physician. He says too little attention is being paid to hospital emergency rooms, the first place victims would go for help.
KELLERMANN: We simply don't have the resources to meet this threat, not at this time. In fact, I would argue that we are less prepared today than we were on September 11, 2001 to respond to any form of terrorist attack, much less a bioterror attack.
KELLY: The doctor cites a number of problems, namely, lack of funding, inadequate facilities, inadequate training of hospital staff and no proper measures in place to keep the hospital staff safe as they attend potential victims. He predicts if an attack happened today, emergency services, including ambulances, E.R. care and trauma care, would all be completely overwhelmed.
KELLERMANN: We have better information technology in your typical Wal-Mart or grocery store than we have in the typical U.S. hospital.
KELLY: As a member of the board of the American College of Emergency Medicine, he says it's a problem echoed across the country, even with the enhanced level of national preparation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they're not expecting the patient.
KELLY: And he remains committed to try and make sure that in light of a potential terror attack, one catastrophe isn't followed by another.
Suzanne Kelly, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: Joining me now from Washington to talk about what needs to be done to be better prepared on the local level is Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, Penrose Albright.
Good morning, sir.
Thank you for joining us.
PENROSE ALBRIGHT, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Good morning.
GRIFFIN: Well, are we prepared or are we not prepared? You just saw the report in which the emergency room doctor says we are not prepared at the emergency room level.
ALBRIGHT: Well, I think there's always room for improvement in our preparation for this particular threat. It's a very scary threat. But I also think it's true that we are far, far better prepared today than we were prior to September 11. I think the events of September 11, and very importantly, the anthrax letter attacks and our examination of the motives of the people who would do these sorts of things to us, have energized certainly the administration to make significant investments in our preparation for -- to combat the threat of bioterrorism.
GRIFFIN: We hear almost weekly stories from the major cities in this country about emergency rooms being overcrowded or emergency rooms basically shutting down because of consolidation in the health care industry.
Are you at all concerned that in the event of a real attack, some kind of catastrophic attack where we have major injuries, we just simply will not have the first responders there to handle the situation?
ALBRIGHT: Well, I think, I think, I think it's very important that we -- we continually assess our ability to respond to an act of terrorism. And I think it is certainly a concern that, that, you know, should a particular event occur, that, you know, we would certainly have potential issues. The way to get at that is, is to do what I believe Secretary Thompson has done, and that is to focus our attention on the, the cities of greatest concern, the areas where we would -- the cities of highest risk and to focus our attention on, on getting those communities better prepared.
As you are probably well aware, the state and local public health funds that were aimed at improving our readiness to bioterrorism have been, have been drawn down at a relatively slow rate. About 30 percent of the -- only about 30 percent of the '03 funds, in fact, have been expanded. So I think Secretary Thompson did a very appropriate thing. He's taken some of those funds and redirected them toward the cities of highest risk.
GRIFFIN: Finally, Dr. Penrose, on the issue of bioterrorism, is there any information that you have that this imminent attack that we have learned about over the past few weeks involves bioterrorism and are we prepared for that?
ALBRIGHT: There is, there are no, there -- to my knowledge, there is no specific intelligence of any kind that would indicate an imminent bioterrorism attack. I think that what's important to note, when we talk about our readiness to deal with bioterrorism, the ability to respond in a -- in the emergency rooms of the nation is only one of many, many pillars associated with that ability to respond and to be prepared to deal with the threat of bioterrorism.
The president just recently signed out a presidential directive on biodefense for the 21st century. And what it does is it lays out to several federal agencies specific responsibilities. In the Department of Homeland Security, which is, of course, where I sit, we have very specific responsibilities to think through what the threat actually is and then to participate in a number of initiatives aimed at improving our ability to detect an attack should it occur, either through environmental sampling -- we have monitors set up in over 30 cities throughout the country to detect an aerosolized attack of a bioterror agent. The president has initiated a new biosurveillance initiative that's aimed at collecting data from public health, from V.A. hospitals, from Defense Department clinics, from veterinary facilities, food poisoning centers and to merge that together at the Department of Homeland Security with threat information so that we can detect an attack, should it occur, in a timely enough manner to treat the people affected.
GRIFFIN: Dr. Penrose Albright, assistant secretary of homeland security, thank you for joining us, sir.
ALBRIGHT: My pleasure.
GRIFFIN: Betty.
NGUYEN: And there's much more to come here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
Do stay with us.
COMMERCIAL
NGUYEN: Harry Potter fans, you have waited long enough. After visiting the Chamber of Secrets, it is time to search for the prisoner of Azkaban. So get some popcorn and brace yourself for the only nationwide release in theaters this weekend.
(VIDEO CLIP FROM "HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN")
NGUYEN: There is a serial killer on the loose. Sirius Black has escaped from the prison of Azkaban after 12 years of incarceration. Black is believed to be Valdimore's right hand man and, naturally, he is seeking to kill Harry Potter. But he's just one of the problems Harry and his friends will have to face during their third year at Hogwarts. The "Hollywood Reporter" says the third film is "deeper, darker, visually arresting and more emotionally satisfying." That's a pretty good review.
GRIFFIN: I tell you what, and every other studio was afraid to let out a release on this weekend. They didn't want to go up against Potter -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Who'd want to do that, really?
GRIFFIN: No way.
MARCIANO: Have you guys seen either of the first two...
NGUYEN: The first two, yes.
GRIFFIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
MARCIANO: The good ones?
NGUYEN: They were great.
GRIFFIN: They were good.
MARCIANO: All right. I'll put it on the list.
GRIFFIN: There you go.
NGUYEN: Better get to it. There's already three now.
MARCIANO: All right, that and -- what's the other one? "The Lord of the Rings."
NGUYEN: Yes.
MARCIANO: It's a whole day right there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
GRIFFIN: We're going to have a quick check of the headlines right now.
Less than an hour ago, President Bush left Rome on his way to France, where the president will meet with French President Jacques Chirac. He'll also take part in the ceremonies commemorating the D- Day anniversary, the 60th.
The man who terrorized a small Colorado town with his armored bulldozer is dead. Police suspect the gunman died of a self-inflicted wound. Earlier, police say he drove his fortified dozer through the town, damaging several buildings, including the town hall there.
NGUYEN: Sixty years ago, thousands of lives were lost on these shores and history was turned around. We'll take you to Omaha Beach next on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
GRIFFIN: And you may have heard about remote prayers. But some churches are taking it a step further to give those in need tangible evidence of their faith.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN KERR: And you know when people are praying for me, they can call it and it will buzz.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COMMERCIAL
GRIFFIN: So many live events taking place right now in Normandy, France. We're bringing you one right now honoring D-Day 60 years ago today. This is actually tape of a parachute jump that happened earlier. Prince Charles is in Normandy, as well. He is visiting a museum that -- the Bridge Museum that honors British glider pilots who glided down onto the Pegasus Bridge as part of the invasion ceremony there.
This is live events happening right now in Normandy, France.
Pope John Paul II arrived in Switzerland a little over an hour ago. It's the 84-year-old pontiff's first pilgrimage in nine months. More than 1,000 police and soldiers providing extra security for the pope there.
The USS Jimmy Carter will be christened by its namesake later this morning. President Jimmy Carter will do the honors of launching the newest Navy Seawolf Class nuclear submarine. Carter, a graduate of the Naval Academy and the first president, and first and only president, to be a submariner.
NGUYEN: Federal prosecutors have interviewed Vice President Dick Cheney as part of an investigation into the leaking of information about the CIA operative. The vice president was questioned about a possible White House leak, which disclosed the identity of Joseph Wilson's wife as an undercover CIA operative. Wilson had accused the Bush administration of making unfounded claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The White House has denied any involvement in the leak of information.
GRIFFIN: They waded through rough waters trying to win a raging war. Allied troops landing on Omaha Beach were blooded, yet determined, as they ran the sands right into a Nazi shooting gallery.
Sunday, of course, marks the 60th anniversary of that day, the Allied attack on German positions in Normandy that turned the tide of World War II.
Tomorrow, CNN will premier "D-Day: A Call To Courage," commemorating the event.
Here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAROLD BAUMGARTEN: It was mostly a fight for survival. Most guys never fired a shot. I fired one shot. Most guys never did. In fact, they were killed in the water or they were hiding -- they were hiding behind the tanks, they were hiding behind dead bodies in the water, they were hiding behind smashed pieces of wood from the assault boats and they were trying to take cover in water.
We're going across the beach. Machine gun spray came from right to left from the bluff. I heard a loud thud on my right front and my rifle vibrated. I turned it over. There was a clean hole in its receiver, which is right in front of the trigger. My seven bullets in the magazine section saved my life, because there was another loud thud behind me on the left, and that soldier was gone.
I looked over to my left and staggering by me without his helmet was Sergeant Clarence Robison from my boat, a gaping hole in the left side of his forehead. His blonde hair was streaked with blood. He was out of it. Anyway, he staggered all the way behind me to the left, knelt down facing the wall, took out his rosary beads and started praying. Then a machine gun up on the bluff to our right cut him down.
A shell went off in front of me. Now, I'm about 110 yards from the sea wall when off in front of me shrapnel caught me here, ripped this cheek off, ripped the roof of my mouth out. I had teeth and gums laying on my tongue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harold Baumgarten made it to the sea wall at the end of Omaha Beach. His run lasted 20 minutes and covered the length of six football fields. While pulling another wounded soldier to the sea wall's relative safety, a second shell fragment gashed the young private's head. Shortly after a medic bandaged his wounds, Baumgarten stumbled across his best friend's lifeless body.
BAUMGARTEN: I started to cry when I saw my buddy. I used to tell my officers, "I'll never be able to kill anybody." I never went hunting, I never killed an animal, I would never be able to kill a human.
The officers used to tell me, "Don't worry, when you get into combat, you'll kill." And they were right. You get -- you get -- I was crying mad, I call it. Mad, meaning really, you get to the point where you go psycho, more or less. You want to kill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: CNN's special airing of "D-Day: A Call To Courage," premiers tomorrow. Among those featured, four American survivors of the D-Day operation, plus interviews with Dwight Eisenhower's son and journalist Walter Cronkite, who covered the invasion. That's tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 4:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.
And tomorrow on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, the man who led the first unit to break off Omaha Beach on D-Day will be our guest.
Al Spunheimer (ph) joins us in the seven o'clock hour tomorrow morning, live from Normandy.
GRIFFIN: In California, Scott Peterson's double murder trial got under way this week. In our Legal Briefs next hour, we're going to take a closer look at the witness testimony so far in that case.
Also coming up next hour, how to keep yourself and your family healthy during summer vacation.
And at nine of course, George Tenet says he's leaving the CIA for personal reasons, but did a highly critical Senate report of the agency give him the nudge?
And the man who will lead Iraq after June 30 already has an invitation to the United States. That story is just ahead.
COMMERCIAL NGUYEN: Turning now to Iraq, the White House says Iraq's newly appointed interim president will attend the G8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia next week. President Iyad Allawi will meet the group of eight leaders and others to discuss political and economic reforms. The G8 summit opens Wednesday.
The handover of sovereignty to Iraq is just 25 days away. With an interim Iraqi government in place, the stage is now set for the power transfer. But in light of continued terrorist attacks and security problems, will the handover be successful?
Let's talk about that with Akbar Ahmed, a professor of international relations at American University in Washington, who joins us this morning.
Thank you for being here.
AKBAR AHMED, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR, "ISLAM AND THE SIEGE": Good morning.
NGUYEN: Good morning.
Well, the interim government is in place. Let's talk about that government. A lot of pressure on their shoulders.
How is that government moving forward? And are they being received very well by Iraqis?
AHMED: Well, a lot will depend on how well and quickly they perform in terms of law and order. Ultimately, everything will depend on that. They've started sensibly; for instance, the balance between a Sunni president and a Shia prime minister. So they're taking the sensitivities on the ground into account.
But, again, very quickly in the saddle controlling law and order.
NGUYEN: A lot of folks talking about U.N. involvement. Let's discuss that for a moment.
How much U.N. involvement will Iraqis see?
AHMED: At the moment, there's a glow, a good glow around the United Nations. But we mustn't forget that only a few months ago, the Iraqis killed the head of the United Nations in Baghdad, because many Iraqis see the U.N. as the lesser evil, if they see the coalition troops as the bigger evil. And a year back they were seeing American troops very much as liberators in a very positive light.
So the situation can change quite quickly on the ground.
NGUYEN: But do you agree that U.N. involvement is necessary to this handover?
AHMED: It's necessary because it opens up the doors. For instance, it opens up the doors to negotiate with the OIC, which represents the Muslim states, requesting them to bring in Muslim troops. And that is absolutely imperative. If you can ask or request Jordan or Pakistan or Bangladesh to send troops so that they act as a buffer between the administration and the people, thereby allowing American troops, coalition troops to withdrawal so that this direct confrontation does not take place, it will be of immense help and it will really bring down the temperature.
Even yesterday we had four American soldiers killed. And this killing must stop.
NGUYEN: With troops pulling out of Najaf and Kufa, troops on both sides, U.S. troops and militia forces there, are you seeing that progress is being made as we lead up to the handover? Is everyone getting prepared?
AHMED: Every is getting prepared. Again, all sorts of opportunities are opening up. I would say that this is a question of how it's going to be handled. It's a very delicate situation, the transfer of power always is. And this is an interim government. We must never forget this. This is a government which will lead to a more permanent structure.
It's fragile. It's in charge of a very, very shifting and I would say almost dangerous situation. The law and order is still far from satisfactory. And this government needs all the support and good luck that we can give it.
NGUYEN: But a lot of power is placed in the interim government's hands. For example, just yesterday Britain and the U.S. said within the resolutions that once the interim government says so, they can leave at any time.
Is this a sign that this government is ready to handle its own affairs and that this deadline will be met on June 30?
AHMED: I think the deadline will be met. Both the United States, the coalition governments and the local interim government are determined about that. At the same time, this does also show us that the new government, the interim government, is determined to flex its muscles, that it is not prepared to be seen as simply a puppet government, the fact that it did stand up and assert itself. And that, in a sense, is a good sign. But that also means there's immense responsibility on its shoulders.
NGUYEN: Absolutely.
Akbar Ahmed, professor at the American University, we thank you for your insight this morning.
AHMED: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Drew.
GRIFFIN: Our fairway forecast is just ahead.
Also coming up...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE KERR, JONATHAN'S FATHER: Someone can come up to you and say I'll pray for you. They may or may not. But if people are calling the pager, you know that somebody prayed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Who is paging -- from your fingertips to god's ears, the power of prayer is going digital. For one little cancer victim, it is like a call from heaven.
COMMERCIAL
NGUYEN: Churches across America have turned to technology to help spread their faith. And for one little boy, it is making a world of difference.
Denise Belgrave reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DENISE BELGRAVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Jonathan Kerr. He's seven years old and he's fighting terminal cancer. His doctor has been working hard since January to save his life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was going to say that his prognosis, statistically speaking, is not excellent. It's not very good. BELGRAVE: But Jonathan has an unexpected weapon helping him in this struggle. It's this.
J. KERR: I mean I know when people are praying for me, they can call it and it will buzz and it (UNINTELLIGIBLE) about me. And he's able to hear it. BELGRAVE: They're called prayer pagers and churches in more than 30 states across America and as far away as Israel are using this modern technology to enhance a very old idea.
B. KERR: Someone can come up to you and say I'll pray for you. They may or may not. But if people are calling the pager, you know that somebody prayed. BELGRAVE (on camera): Nobody knows where or when prayer pagers first started. But Georgianne Hughes of First Methodist Church in Cordele, Georgia was among one of the first to implement the idea.
GEORGIANNE HUGHES, FIRST METHODIST CHURCH, CORDELE, GEORGIA: Those times that we reach out to other people is when we develop meaning. That's the whole purpose that we were put here, to help other people. BELGRAVE (voice-over): Bill Hughes says his first wife relied on the pager during her final days.
BILL HUGHES, FIRST METHODIST CHURCH: The doctor, who eventually told her that there was no treatment options left for her, was amazed when the pager went off about 30 seconds after he made that announcement to her, and the effect was very calming for her, even at that darkest of moments.
J. KERR: I've got you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got me. BELGRAVE: Jonathan's doctor was also surprised by the prayer pager idea. But he clearly sees the value in it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the prayer pager is an outstanding means for his community to support him. BELGRAVE: For Jonathan, the prayer pager is a welcome weapon in the fight of his life.
Denise Belgrave, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: What an uplifting idea.
GRIFFIN: Yes. Whether it works or not, if it helps him...
NGUYEN: Well, a lot of people do believe in the power of prayer.
GRIFFIN: Absolutely.
Well, this could be an advertisement for homeowners insurance. We promise to explain just how this came about, along with some other Wows of the Week, in just a minute.
COMMERCIAL
GRIFFIN: Time now for our Wows of the Week.
And we start in Turkey with the annual rites of summer there. I guess beating your friends beats going to the pool. No one quite sure how the tradition of scarf rip[ping got started, but they just can't stop it. They say it's a lot of fun and nobody gets hurt so far.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes.
GRIFFIN: Things got a little sticky for a Nevada highway patrol and local firefighters. An overturned truck spilled around 100 gallons of carpet glue across the highway. Officials resisted the urge to go ahead with cleaning that up.
And that is it for our Wows of the Week so far.
NGUYEN: We do want to talk to Rob Marciano to see if the weather is enough to say wow today -- hey, Rob.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Time now for a check of our top stories.
President Bush is en route to France for a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac one day before he heads to Normandy to mark the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Earlier today, Bush met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to staying the course in Iraq. And Britain's Prince Charles is also marking the anniversary of D-Day. We want to give you a live look now. The Prince is at the Pegasus Museum, which commemorates the famous action by D Company, which landed in three Horsa gliders on the night of June 6 and captured Pegasus Bridge intact. Now, to give you a little bit of information about the Horsa glider, it's a lot heavier than the American glider, but it can carry more supplies. And the Prince of Wales is there at the museum today helping unveil a replica of the Horsa glider.
GRIFFIN: Well, with Smarty Jones going for the Triple Crown today, we wanted to ask you what's the most impressive feat in sports. A couple of viewers have already written in. This one I didn't think about, but I'm sorry, Will: "I would submit that the most impressive feat in sports is the win, the mother of all cycling races, the Tour de France. Let's cheer Lance Armstrong to an amazing, impressive six straight victory next month." That's from Danny. That wasn't the one I was talking about.
NGUYEN: You were talking about this one.
GRIFFIN: Yes. I had them out of order.
NGUYEN: "It has to be Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game."
I told you there are a lot of them out there to choose from and both of those are very good picks, although I'm thinking Tour de Lance is the man of the hour.
GRIFFIN: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
All right, keep writing if you want. Weekendam@cnn.com or wam@cnn.com.
NGUYEN: Wam!
The next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING begins right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 5, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
It is June 5.
Good morning.
I'm Betty Nguyen.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Drew Griffin.
Thanks for being with us.
We have a lot coming up at this hour.
CNN is in Normandy, France in preparation for the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. We'll have a live report from there.
Also ahead, how prepared is the U.S. for a bioterror attack? It depends on whom you ask. We will ask a senior official with the Department of Homeland Security, who will join us live.
And later, it looks like an ordinary pager, but in reality this is an electronic angel. 733 means praying for you.
All that ahead.
But first, these headlines.
NGUYEN: A roadside bomb exploded this morning in Baghdad near the old ministry of transportation building. Iraqi officials say a U.S. military convoy was the target, but no other information is immediately available.
President Bush just left Rome following a second meeting with Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. Mr. Bush is now headed for Paris and a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac ahead of tomorrow's D-Day observance in Normandy.
The Olympic Torch is making its way through Australia this morning. It's part of the 78 day, 48,000 mile journey leading up to the August 13 beginning of the Summer Games in Athens. The Torch arrives in Los Angeles on June 16 for the first of four stops in the U.S.
GRIFFIN: This weekend marks a big moment in history, the 60th anniversary of D-Day. President Bush is now on his way to France.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour joins us live this morning from the American cemetery at Normandy and CNN Rome bureau chief Alessio Vinci is covering Mr. Bush's visit earlier today with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Let's begin with you -- Alessio.
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Drew.
Well, the president spent a total of 36 hours here in Italy, during which he received those of both criticism and praise for the U.S. led war in Iraq. But he left for France telling reporters that he was confident that the United Nations Security Council would approve a new resolution as early as next week.
This meeting, in a meeting with the Italian president -- with the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, the two leaders discussed the details of this third resolution, which now clearly states that the new Iraqi interim government will have a right to send Allied troops home from Iraq if they wish to do so. This is not, of course, the resolution that gives the Iraqis control over U.S. and Allied forces in Iraq, but it is an important concession that will make it easier for it to be approved.
And at a joint news conference later on, after the meeting with the Italian prime minister, Mr. Bush told reporters that a new resolution, this new resolution is aimed at keeping troops in Iraq but with the full support of the international community.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Members of the U.N. Security Council and Iraq's new leaders are working toward a new resolution that will express international support for Iraq's interim government. The Security Council resolution will reaffirm the world's security commitment to the Iraqi nation and encourage other U.N. members to join in helping the Iraqi people as they establish a representative government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VINCI: It was yesterday, however, that the president got a fresh reminder of the opposition that still exists on this side of the ocean for the U.S.-led military intervention in Iraq. Besides tens of thousands of demonstrations in the streets, the president also met with the pope and the pontiff there spoke again about the grave unrest in Iraq, something that he had predicted in the months leading up to the war, as well as calling the recent prisoner abuse a deplorable scandal.
And the president told reporters today that he had told the pontiff that he -- that a full and open investigation will take place in the United States about this scandal -- back to you, Drew.
GRIFFIN: Also, thank you. President Bush right now in the air, heading towards France.
Our Christiane Amanpour is already there.
And, Christiane, he's going to do a little fence mending before the D-Day anniversaries tomorrow.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. We've been told by aides to President Chirac that today, June 5, 2004, will be a day of bilateral meetings, of joint deliberations with the president, between the two presidents on issues of mutual concern. And, of course, Iraq and the U.N. resolution will be top amongst them.
The president will also expect to be greeted by many, many thousands of French protesters. As you know, here the war in Iraq is opposed by something like 85 percent of the French people.
But, where we are, here in Normandy, and especially here at Colleville-Sur-Mer, which is the American war cemetery where more than 9,000 Americans are buried, it is harmony, it's peaceful, there are the French and American flags that have been placed overnight at each one of the crosses and Stars of David that mark the tombs of the fallen.
So the operating word for tomorrow is going to be one of looking forward, of remembering together the huge sacrifice that France, Britain, the United States and other Europeans made together in that great, great alliance that took place 60 years ago this weekend. And so that will be what happens.
And, as such, there have been already memorials, already commemorations, wreath layings. Today, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, the British heir to the throne, has been laying wreaths and commemorating both British sacrifices and, indeed, Canadian sacrifices. A couple of hours ago, he was at the Canadian cemetery, the Canadian war cemetery not far from here, at which more than 2,000 Canadians have been buried, those who were victims of D-Day and also the entire Normandy campaign. They were buried there and also some other 2,000 French Canadian servicemen have been buried further along in another war time cemetery.
We're joined right now by a Canadian veteran.
We're very, very pleased to have you here with us today, Charlie Fox, who was in the air force and who took part on those crucial days.
CHARLIE FOX, CANADIAN VETERAN: Yes, I did. I flew three times on D-Day, on June the 6th and leading up to it. And coming back, this is my first time back to Normandy.
AMANPOUR: The first time in 60 years?
FOX: The first time in 60 years. I did -- when my wife and I were on our 25th wedding anniversary, toured around, but I didn't come to Normandy. And this particular return is very special because my brother was in the army and I actually paid my respects to one of our close friends from Guaf, Ontario (ph), who was buried on July the 30th, and I met my brother there, who was with the 3rd DIB. And he stayed overnight with me.
AMANPOUR: What was that day like?
FOX: The day...
AMANPOUR: Sixty years ago, June 6, when you were flying airborne missions?
FOX: It was, how would I say, we were -- unbelievable...
AMANPOUR: Were you scared?
FOX: Well, it was not -- how would you say, everything seemed to be intensified and we were living on the edge. And for that, I took off in the very first flight at first light. We took airborne at 5:30. I did the three trips on that particular day. The last one, we returned to base in the south of France -- of, pardon me, England -- and I think it was around 11 o'clock, 10 after 11. So it was night flying for the last hour. So it was a very, very long day.
AMANPOUR: I'm going to ask Karen Mandaren (ph) to push into this picture that you're holding. That's you, a young, young man popping out the top of -- did you crash? What happened there?
FOX: No. I was hit by a 190 with a .20 millimeter gun and I've been shot up but never shot down. Actually, this happened a little bit later on over Germany and -- no, over Nimagen, up in Holland. And I did come back about 60 miles to our base. My regular looking after the aircraft is sort of reaching out to pat me on the head. What am I going to do with this wing? How are, as I said, I was shot up several times, but never shot down by ground anti-aircraft guns.
AMANPOUR: Well, you were very, very lucky. So many of your comrades did fall and paid the ultimate sacrifice.
You went on to have another pretty interesting encounter. Somehow you managed to fire at the car that was carrying German Nazi Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.
How did that happen?
FOX: It was late in the afternoon of July the 17th and we took off and it was an armed ruckey (ph), where we're looking for targets of opportunity. We took off, 12 aircraft, broke up into three sections of four. I was leading one section and I spotted this staff car coming towards me at 11 o'clock. I warned the flight that I had a target, not to make it -- keep straight and level. And when the car, the staff car reached coming towards an opening, I timed it so that I made a diving, curving attack from nine o'clock and started firing at about probably 900,000 feet. My guns are harmonized at that amount. And saw strikes along the side, left side of the car.
And as I went over the car, it was curbing off the road and so on. And we continued on looking for another target, which I did get another target.
AMANPOUR: Did you know it was him?
FOX: No.
AMANPOUR: You didn't?
FOX: I had no idea. It was a staff car. I noticed that there were senior officers in it, but I had no idea at that time that that was Rommel. This happened later, because that particular day, the Germans reported that Rommel had been put in the hospital and actually the Americans claimed that a P47 had shot up Rommel. It was 24 hours, 36 hours later that the Germans came back and said that no, it was a Spitfire.
So this is when the fellows with me and the squadron said that had to be it because of the time and place. And so that was it. But it was 60 years ago and I never wanted to make anything of it, because of what, whom Rommel was and what happened to him afterwards.
AMANPOUR: Well, we thank you very much for joining us here today.
Thank you, Charlie Fox, for coming to join us 60 years afterwards...
FOX: I appreciate it. Thank you.
AMANPOUR: ... and for your first visit back to these beaches that you and so many other veterans stormed.
And we will be here all weekend and throughout this day with the commemorations and the anniversary celebrations -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Christiane, we look forward to your live coverage on the anniversary.
Thank you and thank you to that Canadian flier.
NGUYEN: A man who went on a rampage with a bulldozer yesterday in the town of Granby, Colorado is dead. The bulldozer demolished or damaged a concrete plant, the town hall, a bank, a library and a newspaper office. The cab of the large dozer was armored with steel plates and it didn't stop until it was caught in the rubble of one of the demolished buildings. Police say the man was angry about a zoning decision.
GRIFFIN: The horse is in New York for this evening's Belmont stakes. But the Smarty party is in Philly, hometown of Smarty Jones, winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Post time 6:28 Eastern. And Smarty Jones reported ready for his shot at racing's Triple Crown.
NGUYEN: Boy, is he ready. A perfect eight and eight. What a record. Which brings us to our e-mail question of the morning. What is the most impressive feat in sports? Oh, there's a lot to choose from. You can e-mail us now at wam@cnn.com.
GRIFFIN: What newspaper called him the most famously unknown figure in southern California? And now many are mourning his death. Loyd Sigman is dead at 95. He suffered from Parkinson's Disease. Sigman is the guy who invited the Sig alert, messages so familiar to motorists in southern California that warn drivers about freeway traffic jams. For almost 50 years now, millions of Los Angeles drivers have planned their commute across the city's freeways based on information from Sigman's device, the Sig alert.
NGUYEN: If terrorists attack America again and biological weapons are involved, will this country be ready to respond? Find out next on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
GRIFFIN: And later, churches are turning to portable technology to share their faith with those facing challenges. But can the new prayer pagers really help?
First, take a look at these pictures. Something you don't get to see very often -- emotional moments captured on camera in Iraq, giving us a rare glimpse of the lives these soldiers live so far from home.
COMMERCIAL
GRIFFIN: On the home front in the war against terror, Congress agreed this week to reshuffle about $55 million in public health counter-terrorism funds. That money will move from states to cities in an effort to better prepare on the local level for a potential terror attack on U.S. soil. Administration officials warned last month that terrorists could be planning an attack as early as this summer, but how ready are we to respond?
Suzanne Kelly takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE KELLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's just a drill, a dirty bomb explodes in the middle of a major U.S. city. But if a real attack were launched, how ready are we to respond?
DR. CHARLES A. SCHABLE, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: Well, I think the major lesson that we learned from 9/11 is that the nation is prepared to deal with these events, but it is much better prepared to deal with the events post-9/11 then it was before then.
KELLY: Dr. Charles Schable of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta says progress has been made when it comes to communication between agencies and first responders and in the important task of getting information out to the public should an attack occur. He even testified last month before a congressional committee, saying every state has developed an emergency preparedness and response plan and nearly 90 percent of states have trained public health practitioners in responding to terrorism. But where do we stand when it comes to the one place you will likely need the most in the immediate moments after a terror attack?
SCHABLE: Is every single hospital in the United States perfectly prepared? I would be silly if I said yes.
DR. ARTHUR KELLERMANN, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INJURY CONTROL, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: The public should not only be concerned, they should be damn angry about this.
KELLY: Dr. Arthur Kellermann is on the front line, a prominent E.R. physician. He says too little attention is being paid to hospital emergency rooms, the first place victims would go for help.
KELLERMANN: We simply don't have the resources to meet this threat, not at this time. In fact, I would argue that we are less prepared today than we were on September 11, 2001 to respond to any form of terrorist attack, much less a bioterror attack.
KELLY: The doctor cites a number of problems, namely, lack of funding, inadequate facilities, inadequate training of hospital staff and no proper measures in place to keep the hospital staff safe as they attend potential victims. He predicts if an attack happened today, emergency services, including ambulances, E.R. care and trauma care, would all be completely overwhelmed.
KELLERMANN: We have better information technology in your typical Wal-Mart or grocery store than we have in the typical U.S. hospital.
KELLY: As a member of the board of the American College of Emergency Medicine, he says it's a problem echoed across the country, even with the enhanced level of national preparation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they're not expecting the patient.
KELLY: And he remains committed to try and make sure that in light of a potential terror attack, one catastrophe isn't followed by another.
Suzanne Kelly, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: Joining me now from Washington to talk about what needs to be done to be better prepared on the local level is Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, Penrose Albright.
Good morning, sir.
Thank you for joining us.
PENROSE ALBRIGHT, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Good morning.
GRIFFIN: Well, are we prepared or are we not prepared? You just saw the report in which the emergency room doctor says we are not prepared at the emergency room level.
ALBRIGHT: Well, I think there's always room for improvement in our preparation for this particular threat. It's a very scary threat. But I also think it's true that we are far, far better prepared today than we were prior to September 11. I think the events of September 11, and very importantly, the anthrax letter attacks and our examination of the motives of the people who would do these sorts of things to us, have energized certainly the administration to make significant investments in our preparation for -- to combat the threat of bioterrorism.
GRIFFIN: We hear almost weekly stories from the major cities in this country about emergency rooms being overcrowded or emergency rooms basically shutting down because of consolidation in the health care industry.
Are you at all concerned that in the event of a real attack, some kind of catastrophic attack where we have major injuries, we just simply will not have the first responders there to handle the situation?
ALBRIGHT: Well, I think, I think, I think it's very important that we -- we continually assess our ability to respond to an act of terrorism. And I think it is certainly a concern that, that, you know, should a particular event occur, that, you know, we would certainly have potential issues. The way to get at that is, is to do what I believe Secretary Thompson has done, and that is to focus our attention on the, the cities of greatest concern, the areas where we would -- the cities of highest risk and to focus our attention on, on getting those communities better prepared.
As you are probably well aware, the state and local public health funds that were aimed at improving our readiness to bioterrorism have been, have been drawn down at a relatively slow rate. About 30 percent of the -- only about 30 percent of the '03 funds, in fact, have been expanded. So I think Secretary Thompson did a very appropriate thing. He's taken some of those funds and redirected them toward the cities of highest risk.
GRIFFIN: Finally, Dr. Penrose, on the issue of bioterrorism, is there any information that you have that this imminent attack that we have learned about over the past few weeks involves bioterrorism and are we prepared for that?
ALBRIGHT: There is, there are no, there -- to my knowledge, there is no specific intelligence of any kind that would indicate an imminent bioterrorism attack. I think that what's important to note, when we talk about our readiness to deal with bioterrorism, the ability to respond in a -- in the emergency rooms of the nation is only one of many, many pillars associated with that ability to respond and to be prepared to deal with the threat of bioterrorism.
The president just recently signed out a presidential directive on biodefense for the 21st century. And what it does is it lays out to several federal agencies specific responsibilities. In the Department of Homeland Security, which is, of course, where I sit, we have very specific responsibilities to think through what the threat actually is and then to participate in a number of initiatives aimed at improving our ability to detect an attack should it occur, either through environmental sampling -- we have monitors set up in over 30 cities throughout the country to detect an aerosolized attack of a bioterror agent. The president has initiated a new biosurveillance initiative that's aimed at collecting data from public health, from V.A. hospitals, from Defense Department clinics, from veterinary facilities, food poisoning centers and to merge that together at the Department of Homeland Security with threat information so that we can detect an attack, should it occur, in a timely enough manner to treat the people affected.
GRIFFIN: Dr. Penrose Albright, assistant secretary of homeland security, thank you for joining us, sir.
ALBRIGHT: My pleasure.
GRIFFIN: Betty.
NGUYEN: And there's much more to come here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
Do stay with us.
COMMERCIAL
NGUYEN: Harry Potter fans, you have waited long enough. After visiting the Chamber of Secrets, it is time to search for the prisoner of Azkaban. So get some popcorn and brace yourself for the only nationwide release in theaters this weekend.
(VIDEO CLIP FROM "HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN")
NGUYEN: There is a serial killer on the loose. Sirius Black has escaped from the prison of Azkaban after 12 years of incarceration. Black is believed to be Valdimore's right hand man and, naturally, he is seeking to kill Harry Potter. But he's just one of the problems Harry and his friends will have to face during their third year at Hogwarts. The "Hollywood Reporter" says the third film is "deeper, darker, visually arresting and more emotionally satisfying." That's a pretty good review.
GRIFFIN: I tell you what, and every other studio was afraid to let out a release on this weekend. They didn't want to go up against Potter -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Who'd want to do that, really?
GRIFFIN: No way.
MARCIANO: Have you guys seen either of the first two...
NGUYEN: The first two, yes.
GRIFFIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
MARCIANO: The good ones?
NGUYEN: They were great.
GRIFFIN: They were good.
MARCIANO: All right. I'll put it on the list.
GRIFFIN: There you go.
NGUYEN: Better get to it. There's already three now.
MARCIANO: All right, that and -- what's the other one? "The Lord of the Rings."
NGUYEN: Yes.
MARCIANO: It's a whole day right there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
GRIFFIN: We're going to have a quick check of the headlines right now.
Less than an hour ago, President Bush left Rome on his way to France, where the president will meet with French President Jacques Chirac. He'll also take part in the ceremonies commemorating the D- Day anniversary, the 60th.
The man who terrorized a small Colorado town with his armored bulldozer is dead. Police suspect the gunman died of a self-inflicted wound. Earlier, police say he drove his fortified dozer through the town, damaging several buildings, including the town hall there.
NGUYEN: Sixty years ago, thousands of lives were lost on these shores and history was turned around. We'll take you to Omaha Beach next on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
GRIFFIN: And you may have heard about remote prayers. But some churches are taking it a step further to give those in need tangible evidence of their faith.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN KERR: And you know when people are praying for me, they can call it and it will buzz.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COMMERCIAL
GRIFFIN: So many live events taking place right now in Normandy, France. We're bringing you one right now honoring D-Day 60 years ago today. This is actually tape of a parachute jump that happened earlier. Prince Charles is in Normandy, as well. He is visiting a museum that -- the Bridge Museum that honors British glider pilots who glided down onto the Pegasus Bridge as part of the invasion ceremony there.
This is live events happening right now in Normandy, France.
Pope John Paul II arrived in Switzerland a little over an hour ago. It's the 84-year-old pontiff's first pilgrimage in nine months. More than 1,000 police and soldiers providing extra security for the pope there.
The USS Jimmy Carter will be christened by its namesake later this morning. President Jimmy Carter will do the honors of launching the newest Navy Seawolf Class nuclear submarine. Carter, a graduate of the Naval Academy and the first president, and first and only president, to be a submariner.
NGUYEN: Federal prosecutors have interviewed Vice President Dick Cheney as part of an investigation into the leaking of information about the CIA operative. The vice president was questioned about a possible White House leak, which disclosed the identity of Joseph Wilson's wife as an undercover CIA operative. Wilson had accused the Bush administration of making unfounded claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The White House has denied any involvement in the leak of information.
GRIFFIN: They waded through rough waters trying to win a raging war. Allied troops landing on Omaha Beach were blooded, yet determined, as they ran the sands right into a Nazi shooting gallery.
Sunday, of course, marks the 60th anniversary of that day, the Allied attack on German positions in Normandy that turned the tide of World War II.
Tomorrow, CNN will premier "D-Day: A Call To Courage," commemorating the event.
Here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAROLD BAUMGARTEN: It was mostly a fight for survival. Most guys never fired a shot. I fired one shot. Most guys never did. In fact, they were killed in the water or they were hiding -- they were hiding behind the tanks, they were hiding behind dead bodies in the water, they were hiding behind smashed pieces of wood from the assault boats and they were trying to take cover in water.
We're going across the beach. Machine gun spray came from right to left from the bluff. I heard a loud thud on my right front and my rifle vibrated. I turned it over. There was a clean hole in its receiver, which is right in front of the trigger. My seven bullets in the magazine section saved my life, because there was another loud thud behind me on the left, and that soldier was gone.
I looked over to my left and staggering by me without his helmet was Sergeant Clarence Robison from my boat, a gaping hole in the left side of his forehead. His blonde hair was streaked with blood. He was out of it. Anyway, he staggered all the way behind me to the left, knelt down facing the wall, took out his rosary beads and started praying. Then a machine gun up on the bluff to our right cut him down.
A shell went off in front of me. Now, I'm about 110 yards from the sea wall when off in front of me shrapnel caught me here, ripped this cheek off, ripped the roof of my mouth out. I had teeth and gums laying on my tongue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harold Baumgarten made it to the sea wall at the end of Omaha Beach. His run lasted 20 minutes and covered the length of six football fields. While pulling another wounded soldier to the sea wall's relative safety, a second shell fragment gashed the young private's head. Shortly after a medic bandaged his wounds, Baumgarten stumbled across his best friend's lifeless body.
BAUMGARTEN: I started to cry when I saw my buddy. I used to tell my officers, "I'll never be able to kill anybody." I never went hunting, I never killed an animal, I would never be able to kill a human.
The officers used to tell me, "Don't worry, when you get into combat, you'll kill." And they were right. You get -- you get -- I was crying mad, I call it. Mad, meaning really, you get to the point where you go psycho, more or less. You want to kill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: CNN's special airing of "D-Day: A Call To Courage," premiers tomorrow. Among those featured, four American survivors of the D-Day operation, plus interviews with Dwight Eisenhower's son and journalist Walter Cronkite, who covered the invasion. That's tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 4:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.
And tomorrow on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, the man who led the first unit to break off Omaha Beach on D-Day will be our guest.
Al Spunheimer (ph) joins us in the seven o'clock hour tomorrow morning, live from Normandy.
GRIFFIN: In California, Scott Peterson's double murder trial got under way this week. In our Legal Briefs next hour, we're going to take a closer look at the witness testimony so far in that case.
Also coming up next hour, how to keep yourself and your family healthy during summer vacation.
And at nine of course, George Tenet says he's leaving the CIA for personal reasons, but did a highly critical Senate report of the agency give him the nudge?
And the man who will lead Iraq after June 30 already has an invitation to the United States. That story is just ahead.
COMMERCIAL NGUYEN: Turning now to Iraq, the White House says Iraq's newly appointed interim president will attend the G8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia next week. President Iyad Allawi will meet the group of eight leaders and others to discuss political and economic reforms. The G8 summit opens Wednesday.
The handover of sovereignty to Iraq is just 25 days away. With an interim Iraqi government in place, the stage is now set for the power transfer. But in light of continued terrorist attacks and security problems, will the handover be successful?
Let's talk about that with Akbar Ahmed, a professor of international relations at American University in Washington, who joins us this morning.
Thank you for being here.
AKBAR AHMED, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR, "ISLAM AND THE SIEGE": Good morning.
NGUYEN: Good morning.
Well, the interim government is in place. Let's talk about that government. A lot of pressure on their shoulders.
How is that government moving forward? And are they being received very well by Iraqis?
AHMED: Well, a lot will depend on how well and quickly they perform in terms of law and order. Ultimately, everything will depend on that. They've started sensibly; for instance, the balance between a Sunni president and a Shia prime minister. So they're taking the sensitivities on the ground into account.
But, again, very quickly in the saddle controlling law and order.
NGUYEN: A lot of folks talking about U.N. involvement. Let's discuss that for a moment.
How much U.N. involvement will Iraqis see?
AHMED: At the moment, there's a glow, a good glow around the United Nations. But we mustn't forget that only a few months ago, the Iraqis killed the head of the United Nations in Baghdad, because many Iraqis see the U.N. as the lesser evil, if they see the coalition troops as the bigger evil. And a year back they were seeing American troops very much as liberators in a very positive light.
So the situation can change quite quickly on the ground.
NGUYEN: But do you agree that U.N. involvement is necessary to this handover?
AHMED: It's necessary because it opens up the doors. For instance, it opens up the doors to negotiate with the OIC, which represents the Muslim states, requesting them to bring in Muslim troops. And that is absolutely imperative. If you can ask or request Jordan or Pakistan or Bangladesh to send troops so that they act as a buffer between the administration and the people, thereby allowing American troops, coalition troops to withdrawal so that this direct confrontation does not take place, it will be of immense help and it will really bring down the temperature.
Even yesterday we had four American soldiers killed. And this killing must stop.
NGUYEN: With troops pulling out of Najaf and Kufa, troops on both sides, U.S. troops and militia forces there, are you seeing that progress is being made as we lead up to the handover? Is everyone getting prepared?
AHMED: Every is getting prepared. Again, all sorts of opportunities are opening up. I would say that this is a question of how it's going to be handled. It's a very delicate situation, the transfer of power always is. And this is an interim government. We must never forget this. This is a government which will lead to a more permanent structure.
It's fragile. It's in charge of a very, very shifting and I would say almost dangerous situation. The law and order is still far from satisfactory. And this government needs all the support and good luck that we can give it.
NGUYEN: But a lot of power is placed in the interim government's hands. For example, just yesterday Britain and the U.S. said within the resolutions that once the interim government says so, they can leave at any time.
Is this a sign that this government is ready to handle its own affairs and that this deadline will be met on June 30?
AHMED: I think the deadline will be met. Both the United States, the coalition governments and the local interim government are determined about that. At the same time, this does also show us that the new government, the interim government, is determined to flex its muscles, that it is not prepared to be seen as simply a puppet government, the fact that it did stand up and assert itself. And that, in a sense, is a good sign. But that also means there's immense responsibility on its shoulders.
NGUYEN: Absolutely.
Akbar Ahmed, professor at the American University, we thank you for your insight this morning.
AHMED: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Drew.
GRIFFIN: Our fairway forecast is just ahead.
Also coming up...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE KERR, JONATHAN'S FATHER: Someone can come up to you and say I'll pray for you. They may or may not. But if people are calling the pager, you know that somebody prayed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Who is paging -- from your fingertips to god's ears, the power of prayer is going digital. For one little cancer victim, it is like a call from heaven.
COMMERCIAL
NGUYEN: Churches across America have turned to technology to help spread their faith. And for one little boy, it is making a world of difference.
Denise Belgrave reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DENISE BELGRAVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Jonathan Kerr. He's seven years old and he's fighting terminal cancer. His doctor has been working hard since January to save his life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was going to say that his prognosis, statistically speaking, is not excellent. It's not very good. BELGRAVE: But Jonathan has an unexpected weapon helping him in this struggle. It's this.
J. KERR: I mean I know when people are praying for me, they can call it and it will buzz and it (UNINTELLIGIBLE) about me. And he's able to hear it. BELGRAVE: They're called prayer pagers and churches in more than 30 states across America and as far away as Israel are using this modern technology to enhance a very old idea.
B. KERR: Someone can come up to you and say I'll pray for you. They may or may not. But if people are calling the pager, you know that somebody prayed. BELGRAVE (on camera): Nobody knows where or when prayer pagers first started. But Georgianne Hughes of First Methodist Church in Cordele, Georgia was among one of the first to implement the idea.
GEORGIANNE HUGHES, FIRST METHODIST CHURCH, CORDELE, GEORGIA: Those times that we reach out to other people is when we develop meaning. That's the whole purpose that we were put here, to help other people. BELGRAVE (voice-over): Bill Hughes says his first wife relied on the pager during her final days.
BILL HUGHES, FIRST METHODIST CHURCH: The doctor, who eventually told her that there was no treatment options left for her, was amazed when the pager went off about 30 seconds after he made that announcement to her, and the effect was very calming for her, even at that darkest of moments.
J. KERR: I've got you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got me. BELGRAVE: Jonathan's doctor was also surprised by the prayer pager idea. But he clearly sees the value in it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the prayer pager is an outstanding means for his community to support him. BELGRAVE: For Jonathan, the prayer pager is a welcome weapon in the fight of his life.
Denise Belgrave, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: What an uplifting idea.
GRIFFIN: Yes. Whether it works or not, if it helps him...
NGUYEN: Well, a lot of people do believe in the power of prayer.
GRIFFIN: Absolutely.
Well, this could be an advertisement for homeowners insurance. We promise to explain just how this came about, along with some other Wows of the Week, in just a minute.
COMMERCIAL
GRIFFIN: Time now for our Wows of the Week.
And we start in Turkey with the annual rites of summer there. I guess beating your friends beats going to the pool. No one quite sure how the tradition of scarf rip[ping got started, but they just can't stop it. They say it's a lot of fun and nobody gets hurt so far.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes.
GRIFFIN: Things got a little sticky for a Nevada highway patrol and local firefighters. An overturned truck spilled around 100 gallons of carpet glue across the highway. Officials resisted the urge to go ahead with cleaning that up.
And that is it for our Wows of the Week so far.
NGUYEN: We do want to talk to Rob Marciano to see if the weather is enough to say wow today -- hey, Rob.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Time now for a check of our top stories.
President Bush is en route to France for a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac one day before he heads to Normandy to mark the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Earlier today, Bush met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to staying the course in Iraq. And Britain's Prince Charles is also marking the anniversary of D-Day. We want to give you a live look now. The Prince is at the Pegasus Museum, which commemorates the famous action by D Company, which landed in three Horsa gliders on the night of June 6 and captured Pegasus Bridge intact. Now, to give you a little bit of information about the Horsa glider, it's a lot heavier than the American glider, but it can carry more supplies. And the Prince of Wales is there at the museum today helping unveil a replica of the Horsa glider.
GRIFFIN: Well, with Smarty Jones going for the Triple Crown today, we wanted to ask you what's the most impressive feat in sports. A couple of viewers have already written in. This one I didn't think about, but I'm sorry, Will: "I would submit that the most impressive feat in sports is the win, the mother of all cycling races, the Tour de France. Let's cheer Lance Armstrong to an amazing, impressive six straight victory next month." That's from Danny. That wasn't the one I was talking about.
NGUYEN: You were talking about this one.
GRIFFIN: Yes. I had them out of order.
NGUYEN: "It has to be Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game."
I told you there are a lot of them out there to choose from and both of those are very good picks, although I'm thinking Tour de Lance is the man of the hour.
GRIFFIN: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
All right, keep writing if you want. Weekendam@cnn.com or wam@cnn.com.
NGUYEN: Wam!
The next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING begins right now.
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