Kidnapping of a Senior Top Official in Baghdad
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: In Los Angeles, following the police shooting death of a 13-year-old boy, the city's top cop now says his department will hurry to finish a new policy on police shootings into vehicles. Chief William Bratton's announcement comes amid protests over the killing of Devon Brown (ph), who was shot by police at the end of a stolen car chase. The White House. Now President Bush is meeting with the president of Poland. This is a story we've been following. The two leaders are expected to discuss the Iraqi elections, reform efforts in Ukraine and Mr. Bush's upcoming trip to Europe as well. If you're planning a flight on American Airlines, you might want to bring your own pillow. A spokesman says the airline is doing away with pillows on nearly all domestic flights, and that starts next week. It's just the latest in the string of cost-cutting measures by some of the major carriers struggling to compete with some of the low- fare airlines.</s>BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: A gun battle in Baghdad and the kidnapping of a senior top official there tops our news in the fight for Iraq. Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson join us now from the Iraqi capital with the latest on all of this. Hi, Nic.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty that gunfight break out on Haifa Street, a street notorious for insurgent activity. It is surrounded by high apartment blocks. Coalition vehicles that drive through that street are regularly attacked. What happened early this afternoon, a convoy of vehicles from a political Kurdish party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, apparently took a wrong turn, drove down Haifa Street. As they drove down the street, they came under attack. Three of their officials were killed, the vehicle, set on fire. The gun battle lasted some time. A huge plume of black smoke seen coming up from the area. It's not clear why they took that wrong turn, and it proved fateful for at least three of their members. Earlier in the day, an official from Iraq's interior minister, a very senior official, we are told, was kidnapped. The interior ministry here is still searching for him. They don't know who may have him at this time. Also, earlier in the morning, in the south of Iraq, in the town of Basra, a journalist, an Iraqi journalist working for a U.S.-funded Arabic-language channel, the Al-Hurra Channel, was killed at his home. He was coming out of his building in the morning, getting ready to get into his vehicle. His two bodyguards returned back into the house. As they went back into the house, gunmen struck, killing the journalists and his 3-year-old son -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: Let's get an update on election results. We understand today some 300 ballot boxes have to be recounted. Why is that?</s>ROBERTSON: There have been some complaints, not only about the counting, but also about some voting irregularities, and the electoral commission is investigating those. They are going back through you some of the ballot boxes, rechecking some of the votes cast, answering those complaints. What appears to be happening, or what appears to be set to happen, or not to happen, if you will, are the election results had been expected some time this week. Now election officials are advising that it's unlikely to happen by Friday. Could happen over the weekend, could happen early next week. They're not calling it a delay, just a matter of going through all the formalities of checking on all the complaints and all the ballot boxes that require that rechecking -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: Just to be clear, it's not to be called a delay. OK, CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad, we thank you for that -- Rick.</s>SANCHEZ: Here's a follow, remember that military jet that crashed in Iraq late last month? A lot of questions, even after it happened -- was it shot down? Was it an accident? Let's do this, let's go over to Barbara Starr now. She's live at the Pentagon with the latest on this. Good morning, Barbara.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Rick. Well, neither the U.S., nor the British government has had much to say publicly about that British C-130 that went down on election day in Iraq. But now Lieutenant General Lance Smith, who has just concluded a press conference here in the Pentagon, he is the No. 2 man at the U.S. Central Command, and he is a veteran U.S. Air Force pilot, and he has spoken about what he thinks may have happened. General Smith wanted to emphasize that this is his personal opinion, that he is not part of the British government investigation. However, General Smith said this Al Jazeera video that was shown, No. 1, he now believes, as does most of the U.S. military, that it was a phony. What he does believe what happened to that British C-130 on election day, he says he doesn't think it was brought down from a shoulder-fired missile. The C-130 has four engines. He believes it could have survived that type of attach. He says the most likely scenario in his words, small-arms fire, or a lucky shot from an RPG. But let's listen now to a little bit more of what the No. 2 man at CENTCOM had to say about this.</s>LT. GEN. LANCE SMITH, CENTCOM: I think that the qualifications of the crew, the place that they were at, some of the reporting that we had from people that may have observed this, and that's a big may, by the way, because you never know who the folks are, I personally think that there may have been either hostile action or something could have happened inside the aircraft, but I doubt that it was mechanical in nature.</s>STARR: A very respected U.S. Air Force pilot now saying that he believes there was some sort of hostile activity related to the bringing down of that British C-130 north of Baghdad on election day. There were, indeed, reports of ground fire in the area at the time the C-130 went down. But General Smith's remarks, of course, extremely sensitive. While he reminds everybody this is his personal opinion, the British government and U.S. government have yet to publicly speak about the investigation into what brought this plane down and how the 10 people on board perished -- Rick.</s>SANCHEZ: Barbara Starr, with a CNN follow there from the Pentagon. We certainly thank you for that.</s>STARR: Imagine this, imagine getting a military award, and then having someone call you and say, we have to take it away. That's what happened to Marine Corporal Travis Eichelberger. Two years ago, military pinned a Purple Heart on his hospital gown as he recovered in the hospital from a crushed pelvis. Now the military is saying he doesn't deserve that medal because 67-ton tank that ran over his body while he was sleeping was driven by an American. So the injuries were not caused directly by enemy action. Officials have taken back the Purple Heart and removed it from Eichelberger's record, along with 11 other Marines the military says were given Purple Hearts by mistake. Besides feeling embarrassed after hometown honors he received, the 22-year-old says he hopes this mistake doesn't happen again.</s>CPL. TRAVIS EICHELBERGER, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I definitely hope this does not happen to any other Marines anytime soon. And in wars now, in wars in the future, because I know how it made me feel, and how -- what I told my hometown, and it made my mother and father proud. And to have it taken away, I know how it made me feel, so I can only imagine how it can make somebody else feel.</s>NGUYEN: Now listen to this disturbing story. Police are looking for a woman they say scalped a young girl. Suspect pictures of Marianne Dahl (ph) are being posted around central Idaho. She is accused of tying up a 16-year-old girl, then using a four-inch knife to cut away large portions of the teenage hair. Police say Dahl says she scalped the girl because she didn't like the way the youngster was behaving as a young woman. By the way, that story is one of the most popular stories on our Web site. You can read more about it and see what else everyone is clicking on. All you have to do is log on to our Web site. That is at CNN.com/most popular.</s>SANCHEZ: Certainly the budget might not be the most popular item these days with so many people complaining and how it can possibly affect them, but you know what you need to know about it, how it could possibly, for example, affect you? Log on and get informed, as CNN.com's desk brings you inside the budget online. Here it is:</s>CHRISTINA PARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It's hard enough for some of us to balance our own checkbooks, but are you aware of how President Bush wants to handle the budget? We've done the math for you at CNN.com. (voice-over): Where you can get highlights of President Bush's $2.57 trillion budget plan and track how America is spending your money. All you have to do is logon to CNN.com/politics to judge for yourself on how lean and mean this proposal really is. Our interactive gallery breaks it down for you and your family. For instance, did you know the plan increases school lunch spending by $550 million? And if you're sending a child to college, you'll be glad to know the plan includes nearly $18 billion in Pell Grants, an increase of 45 percent. Outside defense, homeland security and hefty programs like Social Security, President Bush wants to cut spending for the rest of the government by 0.5 percent. It's all supposed to fulfill the president's campaign promise to cut the deficit in half by 2009. (on camera): Weigh in on what supporters and critics have to say, and then decide for yourself which side you're on. It's all about the economy at CNN.com. I'm Christina Park at the dot-com desk.</s>NGUYEN: All right, well, the world of fashion is all abuzz in New York, on day three of Fashion Week, which you've been so interested in, Rick.</s>SANCHEZ: Yes, in fact, i've just been riveted. What's new today in the high -- clothing is coming. You stay right there. We'll put this altogether for you.