Insurgents Continue Pre-Election Violence; U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Expects Strong Turnout
BILL HEMMER, CO-HOST: Good morning. Iraqis around the world celebrating and blazing a path for a new government back in their homeland. The historic election now underway in major world cities. Are authorities in Iraq closing in on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi? Reports that more leading members of his terror group are now behind bars. And Ford recalling 800,000 of its most popular trucks and SUVs. The risk of sudden fire on this</s>AMERICAN MORNING. ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.</s>HEMMER: Good morning, welcome to Friday. Soledad is back with us today. Soledad -- Soledad -- She's got her sexy voice on today, don't you?</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Yes, I am.</s>HEMMER: Feeling all right?</s>O'BRIEN: I feel fine. I just sound very sexy.</s>HEMMER: You look great, mother of four with a sexy voice.</s>JACK CAFFERTY, CO-HOST: You can make more money doing obscene phone calls than this program this morning.</s>O'BRIEN: I didn't think about it. A 900 line, yes, thank you, Jack.</s>HEMMER: 1-900-Soledad. It is one of the most moments of truth now for the Iraqi people. Voting there starts in two days. And insurgents now threatening to, quote, "wash the streets with voters' blood." A security update from Iraq and also a look at what's at stake now for the U.S. when we talk with America's ambassador in the country of Iraq in a moment here.</s>O'BRIEN: Also this morning, can prosecutors in California make murder charges stick against the man who's accused in that deadly train crash? Jeff Toobin is going to join us to explain some of the legal complications in this case. Complications, though, that could make a very big impact when it goes to trial.</s>HEMMER: All right. Jack Cafferty, good morning.</s>CAFFERTY: How are you doing? So you write the check for thousands and thousands of dollars, send little Timmy off to college and a couple weeks into the semester, he calls home and says, "I got this class in philosophy. I can't understand a thing the teacher says." Well, there's a legislator in North Dakota that thinks the kid ought to get a refund if the professor or teacher can't speak understandable English. We will explore that in some detail in a few moments.</s>HEMMER: All right, Jack. Thanks for that. Carol Costello also with us here in New York with the headlines there. Carol, good morning.</s>CAROL COSTELLO, ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill. Good morning to all of you. Now in the news, an Iraqi official says two leading members of the insurgent group headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have been arrested. One of them is said to be al-Zarqawi's head of Baghdad operations. This is al-Zarqawi you're seeing here. Al-Zarqawi has pledged to disrupt elections in Iraq and has been blamed for several deadly attacks. Many deadly attacks, we should say. In Washington, President Bush is set to take part in the ceremonial swearing-in of his new secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. The ceremony starts in just under three hours at the State Department. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will administer the oath. Rice will take her first official visit next week to the Middle East and Europe. The Planned Parenthood Federation is searching for a new president. Gloria Feldt has decided to step down after a 30-year career with the family planning organization. No reason has been given for Feldt's departure. The CEO of Planned Parenthood in Nassau County, New York, will serve as interim president. And a new study suggests fidgeting may help keep off weight. A small study found heavier people sit still more, while thinner people spent time on their feet pacing or fidgeting. The difference translates to the fidgeters burning 350 calories a day, or losing 30 to 40 pounds a year without ever going to the gym, just fidgeting. Details of the study appear in the journal "Science." Dr. Sanjay Gupta will have much more in the next hour. Interesting.</s>HEMMER: Are you buying that?</s>COSTELLO: I hope it's true, because I fidget a lot.</s>HEMMER: We'll ask Sanjay. Thank you, Carol. See you a bit later this morning here. Two days now before the elections in Iraq, and a pair of suicide bombings killing four people today. And insurgents launching a campaign in Baghdad that directly threatened the lives of voters on Sunday. Jeff Koinange now starts our coverage in the Iraqi capitol with more from there. Jeff, hello.</s>JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Bill. And that's right. The campaign continues across the city and across this country, but first some good news for this beleaguered government. The top national security advisor to Prime Minister Ayad Allawi announcing a short while ago two top lieutenants of the terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi arrested in recent days. And not only that, but one of them was actually the head of Zarqawi's operations here in Baghdad. Some good news coming here at this what you would call 11th hour. But Bill, if you talk to people on the ground this news may be coming a little too late.</s>KOINANGE (voice-over): Two days to go before a country goes to the polls, trying to shake off decades of dictatorship and months of insurgency, even as two car bombs within minutes of each other rocked this battered capitol. This one exploded outside a police station in a Baghdad suburb, killing four and wounding several others. A short while later and a few hundred meters away, another suicide car bomber slammed his vehicle into a blast wall outside the school that's been designated as a polling center, detonating himself. No one was killed in this incident. The Independent Electoral Commission says just under 13 million Iraqis have registered to vote, and it expects a high turnout. But just how many local voters will eventually turn out is still questionable, especially as polling centers like these two schools targeted late Thursday in Baghdad continue to be attacked.</s>KOINANGE: And Bill, the campaign of intimidation continues across this city. These are leaflets which have been distributed across the city and several suburbs. And basically, what they say, in Arabic, and I would quote from this, they say that "the streets of Baghdad will be swept with the blood of those who dare to cast their votes in Sunday's election." And what we're hearing also from the ground, Bill, is that people living close to schools which have been targeted recently and will be used as polling centers, well, they are packing up and they are leaving to stay with relatives and friends outside the city. And one more thing. People stocking up, lots of foodstuffs, because in the coming days, the entire city and country will be in a lockdown. Borders sealed, airports closed, curfew in effect. Nobody, or very few will be venturing out, unless, of course, they're going out to vote -- Bill.</s>HEMMER: Part of the lockdown means no civilian traffic on the roads. In a country of 25 million, how is that to be enforced, Jeff?</s>KOINANGE: Well, there's going to be lots of security checkpoints along the way, Bill. Whoever doesn't have a special pass, a special security pass to go in their vehicle, they will not be allowed past a certain point. That's the bottom line. It's been told in press conferences all over and radio announcements all over, newspapers, you name it. So they're going to put it in effect, because they want to make sure potential suicide car bombers do not go anywhere near polling sites.</s>HEMMER: Jeff Koinange, live in Baghdad, thanks for that report -- Soledad.</s>O'BRIEN: John Negroponte is the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. And a little bit earlier this morning, I asked him just how critical the success of the election is to the Bush administration.</s>JOHN NEGROPONTE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: It's certainly important to our policy towards Iraq, and I think it's particularly important to the people of Iraq themselves. This is going to be a very important step, a transition from an appointed to an elected government. They're going to elect a national assembly, which in turn will draft a constitution, and that is going to lead, by the end of this year, to the election of a definitive government. So this is a major stride towards freedom on the part of the Iraqi people.</s>O'BRIEN: What's the definition of success? Is it half the people vote? Is it 20 percent of the people vote? Is it a minimal number of people die in the process of voting? What's your definition of success?</s>NEGROPONTE: Well, I think first -- the definition of success is the very fact that the election takes place. The second is the importance of moving from an appointed to an elected government. But thirdly, there will be a good turnout. Millions of Iraqis are going to go to the polls and there will be strong participation in the north and the south parts of the country, I'm sure. And there will be some difficulties with security in the central area, but even there, every effort is being made to enable as many people as possible to vote.</s>O'BRIEN: Here's what Senator Kennedy has said: "A prolonged American military presence in Iraq is no longer productive for either Iraq or the United States. The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution." Does the senator, in your mind, have a point at all, that it's detrimental to some degree to have troops there?</s>NEGROPONTE: I don't share the senator's view on that point. Certainly, we don't want to stay here for a prolonged or indefinite period. What we would like to see is the Iraqi armed forces and police take on greater and greater responsibility for their own security. And great priority is going to be placed on achieving that objective during the course of the year 2005 so that, progressively, we can turn over more and more of those responsibilities to the Iraqi government and the Iraqi security forces.</s>O'BRIEN: On Sunday, what will be the role of U.S. troops? What will they be doing? Will they be securing the areas where people are coming in to vote?</s>NEGROPONTE: They will be in the outer ring of security, if you will, beyond the horizon. The principal responsible for security in the vast majority of polling places in this country will be the responsibility of the Iraqi police, backed up by the Iraqi National Guard and the Iraqi army. If, for some reason, there are attacks that require assistance or a quick reaction force from multinational coalition forces, then those forces will be available. But the lead will definitely be the Iraqi security forces.</s>O'BRIEN: That's John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, talking to him a little bit earlier. Tonight on CNN, a special report, "THE FACES OF AMERICAN SACRIFICE." Among them, a mother whose anger over the loss of her son in Iraq led her to disrupt the Republican convention. That's 7 p.m. Eastern Time on</s>CNN. HEMMER: Ten minutes past the hour. Here in New York City, it's flat-out cold: five degrees real temperature, minus five with the wind chill. Rob, the wind doesn't matter, because this stuff is downright cold. Winter is here. Good morning to you.</s>HEMMER: Rob, you know, yesterday you were telling us what Boston had, 43 inches of snow already in January?</s>ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Big time heavy.</s>HEMMER: Well, up in Boston, in Massachusetts, anyway, when the snow piles high it is always nice to help the elderly. In one area, though, in Boston suburbs, folks don't get the chance. Because before they are up for work, an 85-year-old grandmother is already shoveling her sidewalk and sometimes theirs as well. Here's Nellie.</s>NELLIE TAMBASCIA, 85 YEARS OLD: I shovel every day. I was out 4 a.m. this morning. I had to do this, but I couldn't do further down, because it was all ice. But I did all the way up, you know, with the shovel.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're shoveling for your neighbors?</s>TAMBASCIA: Well, they're not up 4 a.m. in the morning.</s>HEMMER: And great exercise too. Nellie says she has a snow blower, but it's too heavy to push. Sometimes she says the bones creak a tad, but she refuses to quit, because she loves helping people. Wish she lived in our neighborhood.</s>O'BRIEN: How embarrassing is it to look out your window and see your 85-year-old neighbor shoveling your sidewalk?</s>HEMMER: Nellie's been here, honey.</s>O'BRIEN: Well, you know, that will inspire you to get out and do it yourself. Ahead this morning, thousands of popular trucks and SUVs recalled because they could catch fire under the hood. We're going to tell you which ones just ahead.</s>HEMMER: Also in a moment here, will the suspect in that horrific train collision face the death penalty? One defense strategy especially may hold the key. We'll talk about it with Jeff Toobin in a moment.</s>O'BRIEN: And the war in Iraq, on the home front. A mother turns a painful loss into a way to help the troops overseas. That story's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.