Bush Says Baghdad Election Won't Be Delayed; Baghdad Attacked by a Barrage of Mortars; Annan's Son is the Focus of Oil for Food Program
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR: And there's a lot happening in the news, as you can see. Among the things that we'll follow for you today, this, new violence in Iraq as the national elections draw a bit closer. What was one person killed and a dozen others wounded in a mortar attack in Baghdad. Two local officials were killed by a drive by shooting in Baquba. Also ten of thousands of protesters in Kiev are waiting for a ruling from Ukraine's Supreme Court on the country's disputed presidential election. The two candidates' have agreed to abide by the court's decision. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko asked the court to throw out last month's election results, claiming voter fraud and intimidation. A lot going on there with that story today and we're going to be all over it for you. Also, we're going to know in the next hour who President Bush wants to replace Ann Veneman as the secretary of Agriculture. The president will make an announcement from the White House at 11:30 Eastern, and CNN will carry it for you live. Also, unemployment claims shot up more than expected last week. Analysts say the claims during the holidays are typically more volatile than other times of the year. The Labor Department says that signs still point to a recovery job market. We are going to get going just a little bit later today, obviously because of the president's meeting with the president of Nigeria. But it is about, oh, 4 four minutes after the hour. I'm Rick Sanchez.</s>DARYN KAGAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Daryn Kagan. We'll going to go back to the White House. We'll be seeing President Bush as he names his -- the person he wants to be the next Agriculture secretary. Also, we expect the First Lady, Laura Bush, to give a tour later today of how the White House is decorated for the holiday season. But let's focus on President Bush right now. He is back at the White House after a two-day visit to Canada. Now the focus, Africa, at least this morning with the president of Nigeria stopping by. A number of issues brought up in the questions afterward. Let's bring in our Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. Good morning, Suzanne.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. A very busy morning here at the White House. Of course, President Bush just wrapping up the meeting in the Oval Office with the president of Nigeria, Obasanjo. The two leaders talking about a number of mutual concerns, security, talking about the crisis in Sudan, also economic and trade issues. But the president did take a couple of questions on other related matters. He talked about the situation in Iraq. He talked about the Ukraine. He also talked about United Nations controversy, the Oil for Food program. President Bush making it very clear, however, that this is a big test for his administration, whether or not the Iraqis will carry out their elections on time. That is that January 30 deadline that he is talking about. He made it very clear that he believe the Iraqi people have to take a stand that it would be a win for the insurgents if they don't actually hold those elections by that deadline.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, first of all, the elections should not be postponed. It's time for the Iraqi citizens to go to the polls. And that's why we are very firm on the January 30 date. Secondly, I have always said that I will listen to the requests of our commanders on the ground. And our commanders requested some troops delay their departure home and the expedition of other troops to help these elections go forward. And I honor their request.</s>MALVEAUX: The president also took a couple of questions on the U.N.'s Oil for Food program. As you know, of course, there is an on going investigation about U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan -- U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan's son role in perhaps the corruption of that Oil for Food program and some calls for Kofi Annan to resign. President Bush did not say that he should resign, but he did say there should be a full accounting of what actually took place in that program. He also was asked about Ukraine's elections. Of course, as you know, on going negotiations about the leadership there, and whether or not those elections were democratic, whether or not they will be held again. President Bush again insisting that he says that it should be the will of the Ukrainian people that should be expressed. And he believes that the U.S. should back the elections that -- well, actually not back the election results. But rather, re-conduct those elections in the future -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: And Suzanne, we're going to have more on the U.N. situation a little bit later with Richard Roth. Right now, let's look forward to the announcement we expect to have coming out of the White House later today. Any clues as to who will be nominated to be the next secretary of Agriculture?</s>MALVEAUX: We have a couple of names; there are a couple of possibilities. One of them, of course, trade farm negotiator Allan Johnson, is one of those who has been considered. Also Chuck Conner, he is the White House Agriculture advisor. And the third person we are hearing as a possibility is Bill Hawks; he is the Agriculture under secretary. He is one of the top three contenders as well.</s>KAGAN: All right. We will listen for ourselves later today. Suzanne, thank you for that. We are going to have live coverage of that announcement. It's scheduled for the next hour, 11:30 Eastern and 8:30 Pacific.</s>SANCHEZ: And as the election draws near in Iraq, we want to keep you abreast of all the latest developments. Here is the latest developments out of Iraq. Baghdad police say at least five mortar rounds slammed into the heart of the city this morning. At least one person was killed and more than a dozen others were wounded. Though violence in the approach of next month's election have led the Pentagon to take action, it is bolstering U.S. troop strength in Iraq to the highest level yet of the war. We have CNN correspondents working on both angles of this story. CNN's Kathleen Koch is going to be joining us from the Pentagon. But let's do this first. Let's go directly to Baghdad now. That's where CNN's Karl Penhaul is following this story. Karl, this latest mortar attack, as it's being called, was that inside the Green Zone?</s>KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it wasn't, in fact. These mortars, five of them, it was a barrage of mortars that came about mid morning. And all five fell in the downtown area of Baghdad, within the city itself. Now, police have said that it may have been a random attack intended to sow panic among the civilians. Some other security forces have said that these mortars may have been intended for the Green Zone. But the Green Zone, in fact, is on the other side of the river. And all these mortars, if they were intended for the Green Zone fell woefully off target. One of the targets or one of the target that was hit, whether that was the intended target or not, we don't know, but was the Iraq Mobile Phone Headquarters. And that's where one civilian was killed and four others were wounded. The other target, or one of the other targets that was hit was also the campus of the Technological University. And there we're told by police, eight students were wounded. None were killed, though. In the other three incidents where mortars fell, all very close to one another in time and also in space, vehicles were set on fire. And there was damaged to buildings but there were no further casualties from them. Police have said that all five mortars were fired from the same launch point, about four miles south of where, in fact, they ended up a landing.</s>SANCHEZ: Karl Penhaul with the very latest there out of Baghdad. We'll be certainly checking back with you, Karl. Daryn over to you.</s>KAGAN: Well, let's focus now on the troop buildup in Iraq. The Pentagon is dispatching 1,500 more U.S. soldiers to Iraq. And more than 10,000 other U.S. troops already on duty there will have their tours extended. CNN's Kathleen Koch joins us from the Pentagon with more on that story. Good morning.</s>KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. This move has been expected for weeks. The U.S. military where that it might need to beef up forces on the ground in Iraq to help maintain security for the upcoming January 30 election there. And also to maintain pressure on the insurgency after the battle in Falluja. So this build-up will boost the current level of troop strength there from 138,000 to 150,000. That's the highest number ever since the war began. Only a small portion, though, will be newly deployed. Those are the 1500 paratroopers from the 82 Airborne Division. They will be heading to Iraq from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Right now the plan for those forces is that they remain on the ground there for about four months. Some 600 soldiers from the 82 Airborne were pressed into similar duty back in October, when Afghanistan held its elections. The bulk of the build-up though will come from extending by two months the tours of duty of some 10,000-plus Marines and soldiers in Iraq. The two Army brigades, the Transportation Company and Marine Expedition Air Unit had been scheduled to return home in January. The Pentagon does not make this change lightly because it had, indeed, promised forces that their deployments in Iraq would be limited to just 12 months. Some of these have already seen -- these soldiers and Marines have already seen their deployments extended from 10 to 12 months, now another two months on top of this. There is concern obviously that it would not only impact troop morale, but family morale as well especially at this time of year. But the Pentagon does say that they believe that force strength can go back down to normal in March, as long as everything goes well in those elections.</s>KAGAN: All right. We'll be tracking it from the Pentagon. Kathleen Koch, thank you.</s>SANCHEZ: Another big story that we'll follow throughout the day for you is the U.S. State Department. It's now endorsing a Senate probe into the United Nations Oil for Food program. The program was designed to allow Iraq to sell a limited amount of oil in order to buy food and medicine for its people during a time. But that has been scandalized now by charges of corruption and U.N. chief Kofi Annan is under fire as a result. Senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth is joining us now with the very latest on this on going story. Which really has as much to do, I understand, Richard, with Kofi Annan's son as it does with him.</s>RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now the focus is on Kofi Annan's son, the secretary general. But this is a wider, more complicated scandal. It's just that the names of the businessmen, the former diplomats, who might have received kickbacks and bribes from Saddam Hussein, well, they're not that famous. And Kofi Annan is indeed the U.N. secretary general. There are six separate investigations looking into all of this. But you get various leaks from congressional committees. And Senator Coleman's call for Kofi Annan to resign certainly made people's ears pick up. It's a scandal, we don't know how big. If certainly if Annan's staff member or directors of the Oil for Food program eventually are proven guilty, it's horrible for the U.N. and Secretary-General Annan, who has about two years left at the U.N. President Bush today commented on the Oil for Food affair.</s>BUSH: Yesterday I spoke about the United Nations. I said the United States participates in multilateral organizations and we expect those organizations to be effective. When an organization says there's going to be serious consequences if something doesn't happen, it better mean what it says. And on this issue, it's very important for the United Nations to understand that there ought to be a full and fair, and open accounting of the Oil for Food program. In order for the taxpayers of the United States to feel comfortable about supporting the United Nations, there has to be an open accounting. And I look forward to that process going forward.</s>ROTH: Well, that process is going forward. It all depends on whether you think it's going fast enough, or whether the U.N. approved probe should be sharing everything it has with the Congress. The U.N. approved probe was also approved by the U.S. and its ambassador, which said Paul Volcker would be heading it. It didn't say Volcker has to do it in a month. It didn't say he has to give everything to Congress. Those terms are not in there. Right now, the U.S. seems to be hedging its bets with the State Department saying it supports Kofi Annan, he's been a good guy but we're not ready to go into his status. But the ambassador here for the U.S. saying let's let the chips fall where they may, no rush to judgment. Everybody wants to see when the proof is coming, if there is indeed any proof. Otherwise, African countries, 50 of them, other countries fully supporting Kofi Annan here, including 3,000 U.N. staff members. Back to you, Rick.</s>SANCHEZ: Richard, clear this up for us if you possibly could. It's one thing to have something bad, malfeasance or scandal happen under your watch. It's quite another to actually have your hands dirty. Which one of those best fits the scenario as it pertains to Kofi Annan?</s>ROTH: Well, it could lead to just accusations and proof mismanagement, or just that he was not being able to really ride herd on people. The U.N. does have over 50 audits of the Oil for Food program that it has released to Paul Volcker. It's not sharing them with the Congress. Dirty hands, everybody is saying we're cooperating with the investigation. Kojo Annan is not a U.N. employee. But Annan himself admits that it does have the appearance of a conflict of interests, the father talking about the son, when you have the son working for a Swiss company now being examined in the controversial Oil for Food program. But it's too soon to say whose hands right now are indeed dirty.</s>SANCHEZ: Is there a sense that the United Nations and somehow the United States government is really taking them on? When you combine Coleman's accusations with the president comments yesterday in Canada, about the United Nations and perhaps their lack of effectiveness, what's their sense there at the U.N. as a result of the things taking place in the last 48 hours?</s>ROTH: Well, they heard for weeks. They knew that William Safire, "The New York Times" columnist called for Kofi Annan to resign. I think you're seeing also fallout from the war. A lot of people in Washington still angry at the United Nations for not backing the United States at the Security Council. Anybody who didn't like the U.N. has a great opportunity here to fire away at Kofi Annan. And the U.N. is certainly proven itself not capable of handling this type of coverage, scrutiny and focus. There's no media plan, there's no reaction. They're throwing it all on Paul Volcker, who seems to report to Kofi Annan with his findings. Though he says everybody -- everything is going to be made public. If you trust Paul Volcker, then that's what's going to happen. If you're suspicious about conspiracies, then you worry does Annan have his hands in ready to doctor it? It doesn't appear that way at the moment. We'll be following it.</s>SANCHEZ: Paul Volcker, former U.S. Treasury secretary, we should add. Richard Roth following that story for us. Thanks so much, Richard, for bringing us up to date.</s>ROTH: Thank you.</s>KAGAN: We are going to focus on California. Straight ahead, they are back in court this morning trying to decide Scott Peterson's future. Still to come, we'll talk with legal expert Kendall Coffey about the case and the challenges that the defense faces.</s>SANCHEZ: Also, they've seen -- they've been served with a twist or an olive, but never have martinis been served quite like this.</s>KAGAN: You're paying this bill my friend.</s>SANCHEZ: Yes. What is that thing right there...</s>KAGAN: You're buying this drink.</s>SANCHEZ: ... in those tweezers? You won't believe when we tell you what it is.</s>KAGAN: And how much it cost. And if you're hungry like a wolf, you might want to stick around. Duran Duran.</s>SANCHEZ: No!</s>KAGAN: Yes!</s>SANCHEZ: Wow. I love them.</s>KAGAN: They are here in the house.