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CNN Live Sunday

U.S. Forces Begin New Round of Strikes in Fallujah; 'New York Times,' 'Boston Globe' Endorse Kerry for President

Aired October 17, 2004 - 11:16   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.


TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Meantime, U.S. forces began a new round of strikes in Fallujah last night. Their target, militants they say are connected to Abu Musab al Zarqawi. The fighting between U.S. forces and insurgents in Fallujah has been fierce. Brent Sadler, our senior international correspondent is live in Baghdad with more. Good morning, Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. That's right, continuing action by U.S. Forces to squeeze suspected militants associated with top terror suspect Abu Musab al Zarqawi in Fallujah. Now what's happening on the ground according to military commanders is that U.S. forces are reinforcing their positions around Fallujah, not moving into the city, but putting into place what U.S. officials, military officials say is quote, a dynamic cordon. What does mean?

It means they are restricting access. They are establishing checkpoints. They are putting footprints on the ground to try and choke off the movements of suspected terrorists operating in and out of Fallujah, that rebel strong hold west of the capital. It is from Fallujah that Zarqawi is suspected of plotting, planning, and implementing many of the most deadly attacks that have been committed against Iraq security forces and U.S. troops in many, many months.

Continuing operations there both on the ground and by the use of U.S. air power and artillery. In some cases, there have been heavy clashes between U.S. forces and well armed insurgents. Now in Sadr city, another development there, a mortar round was fired into a soccer stadium where weapons were being collected. This is the seventh straight day of a turnover of weapons by Shia Muslim militia men in Sadr City. That's a Shia slum on the outskirts of the capital. That weapons handover program going so so.

If it doesn't work out the way that U.S. and Iraqi officials wanted it to work out, there could be further confrontation there in coming days. Also, another attack against Iraq's police forces, this time south of the capital, nine Iraqi policemen killed in an ambush involving, it's understood, machine guns and explosives. Those policemen, one of nine of hundreds who have been killed in many months of bombings and assassinations were just traveling home to their town in Karbala, south of the capital from a training course in Jordan. Tony.

HARRIS: Brent Sadler reporting live for us. Brent, thank you. We'll be back with more of the day's news right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, John Kerry picked up a pair of big endorsements today. The "New York Times" and the "Boston Globe" are backing Kerry. The "Times" pointed to President Bush's record as its guiding choice saying quote, we look back on the past four years with hearts nearly breaking both for the lives unnecessarily lost and for the opportunity so casually wasted. Time and again, history invited George W. Bush to play a heroic role and time and again, he chose the wrong course. We believe that with John Kerry as president, the nation will do better.

Well, John Kerry is trying to build strength in two battleground states today. He'll be in Florida a little bit later. Right now, he's at a church service in Columbus, Ohio and that's where we find our very own Ed Henry. Good morning Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Betty. That's right, John Kerry all weekend has actually been campaigning in the rural southern part of this state, trying to reach into the reddest part of this red state, 20 electoral votes at stake. He wants to take those away from President Bush who won them in 2000. But you're right. Right now he's here in downtown Columbus reaching out to his African-American base here.

He's speaking right now and we've gotten some guidance that he's going to take after President Bush a bit about some comments attributed to the president in today's "New York Times" Sunday magazine, a story suggesting that in the -- if he gets a second term, the president is saying privately he will push very hard to privatize Social Security.

That's a notion that Senator Kerry considers extreme. Senator Kerry has already put out a written statement just moments ago saying that he thinks that's a bad idea and that he thinks there are some clear choices in this race on the domestic front. That's one of them, one that defines what Senator Kerry would push for versus what President Bush would push for in 2005 and beyond.

Now, Kerry aides believe this could help them in the final days because in the final two weeks, the Kerry camp really wants to focus in on the domestic agenda, say that there are real clear choices here at home between the president and the senator. As you mentioned, they also woke up to some good news, 16 different newspapers across the country endorsing Senator Kerry for president.

But it's important to note that all 16 of these newspapers that endorsed today endorsed Al Gore in 2000. So none of them are real surprises. But I think what the Kerry camp is especially happy about is that they have gotten endorsements from five newspapers in Florida, obviously a key battleground. They got the "Minneapolis Star Tribune." That's a state Gore won in 2000 but the polls show that it's neck and neck right now and Kerry could lose it. They want to make sure. They think that endorsement could help them in Minnesota and then two newspapers right here in Ohio endorsed Kerry. Again, this is a key battleground in the Midwest. They want the state bad and they were happy to get those two newspaper endorsements this morning right here in Ohio, Betty.

NGUYEN: Puts a little bounce in his step, all right. CNN's Ed Henry, thank you for that. President Bush is back at the White House today, but he's been spending important campaign time in battleground states as well. He pushed safety and security yesterday at a rally in Florida and Elaine Quijano has more now from the White House.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Bush attended services this morning along with the first lady Laura Bush across the street at St. John's Episcopal Church. No campaign events on his schedule today, but the president heads back out on the campaign trail tomorrow.

Now yesterday, the president campaigned in the state of Florida, a battleground state with 27 electoral votes up for grabs. The president in a departure from his usual stump speech talked about the draft and emphatically said that there will not be a draft under his administration. The president went on to accuse Senator John Kerry of trying to use that issue of the draft to try and scare voters.

Meantime, a busy week ahead for the president. He will campaign in New Jersey, Florida once again, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Aides say that the president's focus is really going to be to try and reach out to voters in those traditionally Democratic strongholds by people that they feel they can connect with, that the Bush campaign will be able to connect with. That's especially the case in New Jersey where the issue of terrorism is certainly very important to voters there. Nearly 700 New Jersey residents were killed in the September 11th attacks. The president is set to deliver what aides are calling a major speech in that state tomorrow. One other note, the president picking up an endorsement from the "Chicago Tribune," the Tribune citing his resoluteness in the war on terrorism as a reason they feel he should be reelected. Elaine Quijano, CNN, the White House.

NGUYEN: And we'll be right back with a quick check of your weather forecast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: I want to check in now with Howard Kurtz and get a preview of what's coming up next on "RELIABLE SOURCES." Good morning Howard.

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Thanks Betty. Coming up, as the media fact checked the presidential debates and attack ads, are they being fair or aiming most of their firepower at President Bush? John Kerry demands equal time from Sinclair Broadcasting over his Vietnam record. Bill O'Reilly battles sexual harassment allegations by a Fox producer and Jon Stewart takes on Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala, a jam packed show ahead on RELIABLE SOURCES.

NGUYEN: Look forward to it. All right, thank you.

HARRIS: All right. Folks are up and at it this Sunday morning and there is a lot going on. We've got baseball games. We've got...

NGUYEN: ...football games. But how is the weather, Rob? That's the big question.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Rob, thank you. That is all our time that we have for this half hour. Coming up next, at 11:30 Eastern a live edition of RELIABLE SOURCES with Howard Kurtz. At noon Eastern, it's late edition with Wolf Blitzer. Among his guests, U.S. Commerce Secretary, long-time friend Don Evans and at 2:00 Eastern, people in the news, profiling actress Jennifer Lopez and also baseball's Alex Rodriguez. Thank you for watching. RELIABLE SOURCES begins after this check of stories now in the news.

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 October 17, 2004 - 11:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Meantime, U.S. forces began a new round of strikes in Fallujah last night. Their target, militants they say are connected to Abu Musab al Zarqawi. The fighting between U.S. forces and insurgents in Fallujah has been fierce. Brent Sadler, our senior international correspondent is live in Baghdad with more. Good morning, Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. That's right, continuing action by U.S. Forces to squeeze suspected militants associated with top terror suspect Abu Musab al Zarqawi in Fallujah. Now what's happening on the ground according to military commanders is that U.S. forces are reinforcing their positions around Fallujah, not moving into the city, but putting into place what U.S. officials, military officials say is quote, a dynamic cordon. What does mean?

It means they are restricting access. They are establishing checkpoints. They are putting footprints on the ground to try and choke off the movements of suspected terrorists operating in and out of Fallujah, that rebel strong hold west of the capital. It is from Fallujah that Zarqawi is suspected of plotting, planning, and implementing many of the most deadly attacks that have been committed against Iraq security forces and U.S. troops in many, many months.

Continuing operations there both on the ground and by the use of U.S. air power and artillery. In some cases, there have been heavy clashes between U.S. forces and well armed insurgents. Now in Sadr city, another development there, a mortar round was fired into a soccer stadium where weapons were being collected. This is the seventh straight day of a turnover of weapons by Shia Muslim militia men in Sadr City. That's a Shia slum on the outskirts of the capital. That weapons handover program going so so.

If it doesn't work out the way that U.S. and Iraqi officials wanted it to work out, there could be further confrontation there in coming days. Also, another attack against Iraq's police forces, this time south of the capital, nine Iraqi policemen killed in an ambush involving, it's understood, machine guns and explosives. Those policemen, one of nine of hundreds who have been killed in many months of bombings and assassinations were just traveling home to their town in Karbala, south of the capital from a training course in Jordan. Tony.

HARRIS: Brent Sadler reporting live for us. Brent, thank you. We'll be back with more of the day's news right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, John Kerry picked up a pair of big endorsements today. The "New York Times" and the "Boston Globe" are backing Kerry. The "Times" pointed to President Bush's record as its guiding choice saying quote, we look back on the past four years with hearts nearly breaking both for the lives unnecessarily lost and for the opportunity so casually wasted. Time and again, history invited George W. Bush to play a heroic role and time and again, he chose the wrong course. We believe that with John Kerry as president, the nation will do better.

Well, John Kerry is trying to build strength in two battleground states today. He'll be in Florida a little bit later. Right now, he's at a church service in Columbus, Ohio and that's where we find our very own Ed Henry. Good morning Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Betty. That's right, John Kerry all weekend has actually been campaigning in the rural southern part of this state, trying to reach into the reddest part of this red state, 20 electoral votes at stake. He wants to take those away from President Bush who won them in 2000. But you're right. Right now he's here in downtown Columbus reaching out to his African-American base here.

He's speaking right now and we've gotten some guidance that he's going to take after President Bush a bit about some comments attributed to the president in today's "New York Times" Sunday magazine, a story suggesting that in the -- if he gets a second term, the president is saying privately he will push very hard to privatize Social Security.

That's a notion that Senator Kerry considers extreme. Senator Kerry has already put out a written statement just moments ago saying that he thinks that's a bad idea and that he thinks there are some clear choices in this race on the domestic front. That's one of them, one that defines what Senator Kerry would push for versus what President Bush would push for in 2005 and beyond.

Now, Kerry aides believe this could help them in the final days because in the final two weeks, the Kerry camp really wants to focus in on the domestic agenda, say that there are real clear choices here at home between the president and the senator. As you mentioned, they also woke up to some good news, 16 different newspapers across the country endorsing Senator Kerry for president.

But it's important to note that all 16 of these newspapers that endorsed today endorsed Al Gore in 2000. So none of them are real surprises. But I think what the Kerry camp is especially happy about is that they have gotten endorsements from five newspapers in Florida, obviously a key battleground. They got the "Minneapolis Star Tribune." That's a state Gore won in 2000 but the polls show that it's neck and neck right now and Kerry could lose it. They want to make sure. They think that endorsement could help them in Minnesota and then two newspapers right here in Ohio endorsed Kerry. Again, this is a key battleground in the Midwest. They want the state bad and they were happy to get those two newspaper endorsements this morning right here in Ohio, Betty.

NGUYEN: Puts a little bounce in his step, all right. CNN's Ed Henry, thank you for that. President Bush is back at the White House today, but he's been spending important campaign time in battleground states as well. He pushed safety and security yesterday at a rally in Florida and Elaine Quijano has more now from the White House.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Bush attended services this morning along with the first lady Laura Bush across the street at St. John's Episcopal Church. No campaign events on his schedule today, but the president heads back out on the campaign trail tomorrow.

Now yesterday, the president campaigned in the state of Florida, a battleground state with 27 electoral votes up for grabs. The president in a departure from his usual stump speech talked about the draft and emphatically said that there will not be a draft under his administration. The president went on to accuse Senator John Kerry of trying to use that issue of the draft to try and scare voters.

Meantime, a busy week ahead for the president. He will campaign in New Jersey, Florida once again, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Aides say that the president's focus is really going to be to try and reach out to voters in those traditionally Democratic strongholds by people that they feel they can connect with, that the Bush campaign will be able to connect with. That's especially the case in New Jersey where the issue of terrorism is certainly very important to voters there. Nearly 700 New Jersey residents were killed in the September 11th attacks. The president is set to deliver what aides are calling a major speech in that state tomorrow. One other note, the president picking up an endorsement from the "Chicago Tribune," the Tribune citing his resoluteness in the war on terrorism as a reason they feel he should be reelected. Elaine Quijano, CNN, the White House.

NGUYEN: And we'll be right back with a quick check of your weather forecast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: I want to check in now with Howard Kurtz and get a preview of what's coming up next on "RELIABLE SOURCES." Good morning Howard.

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Thanks Betty. Coming up, as the media fact checked the presidential debates and attack ads, are they being fair or aiming most of their firepower at President Bush? John Kerry demands equal time from Sinclair Broadcasting over his Vietnam record. Bill O'Reilly battles sexual harassment allegations by a Fox producer and Jon Stewart takes on Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala, a jam packed show ahead on RELIABLE SOURCES.

NGUYEN: Look forward to it. All right, thank you.

HARRIS: All right. Folks are up and at it this Sunday morning and there is a lot going on. We've got baseball games. We've got...

NGUYEN: ...football games. But how is the weather, Rob? That's the big question.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Rob, thank you. That is all our time that we have for this half hour. Coming up next, at 11:30 Eastern a live edition of RELIABLE SOURCES with Howard Kurtz. At noon Eastern, it's late edition with Wolf Blitzer. Among his guests, U.S. Commerce Secretary, long-time friend Don Evans and at 2:00 Eastern, people in the news, profiling actress Jennifer Lopez and also baseball's Alex Rodriguez. Thank you for watching. RELIABLE SOURCES begins after this check of stories now in the news.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com