[Drew Griffin, Cnn Anchor:] Good morning. It is Sunday, July 18th. This is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm Drew Griffin.
[Betty Nguyen, Cnn Anchor:] And I'm Betty Nguyen. If you are just waking up on the West Coast, it's an early 6:00 a.m. Thanks so much for starting your day with us. Here's what we have going on: More wildfires breaking out across the West forcing hundreds of people from their homes in California. Bombs continue to explode across Iraq. We'll get a report on the state of affairs and look at how the new Iraqi government is handling the continued violence. Plus, a drug company comes up with its own plan to lower the price of prescription medication. First though, a look at the stories topping the news.
[Griffin:] The U.S. military launches a round of air strikes in Fallujah overnight in Iraq. Health ministry officials say 14 people were killed. U.S. forces have bombed several targets in the city thought to be safe houses used by terrorist militants. Accused U.S. army deserter Charles Jenkins and his family have now arrived in Japan from Indonesia. Jenkins has been hospitalized in Tokyo for medical treatment. The U.S. has will likely pursue Jenkins for desertion charges dating back to 1965. In Saudi Arabia, another 27 wanted militants surrendered authorities in Riyadh. Saudi officials say the leniency offer exempts terror suspects from the death penalty not though, from civil suits filed by victim's families. The month-long amnesty offer is set to expire this week. California dotted with wildfires. This morning, two big fires new Los Angeles have chased thousands from their homes. One blaze in Riverside County has grown to more than 3,000 acres. Another in northern Los Angeles County has burned more than 16,000 acres. Keeping you informed, this is CNN, the most trusted name in news.
[Nguyen:] The final report of the 911 Commission is due out on Thursday. Now a source says the report recommends a cabinet-level position that essentially creates a national director of intelligence. The reasons why? Well, they are reportedly many. White House correspondent, Susanne Malveaux, joins us with the latest. All eyes are really interested in this new position that's under this plan Susanne.
[Susanne Malveaux, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Well Betty, it really is expected here that this report is going to be critical of the White House. This is something the Bush administration has been preparing for, perhaps in a preemptive move of its own, President Bush indicated he would support major overall of the CIA. Now, according to a source familiar with the 911 Commission's final report that will released on Thursday, it will call for a cabinet-level position, a new national director of intelligence. This is one person that is going to oversee intelligence that has been, so far, handle bid the CIA, the Pentagon, FBI, the NSC, and many other agencies.
[Thomas Kean, 9/11 Commission Chairman:] A unified command and control is very, very important. I mean, people have to know where the buck stops.
[Sen. John Kerry , Presidential Candidate:] I think that the president should, long ago, and this is not the first time I called for it, I pushed for this previously. It is long overdue that we have a coordinator of national intelligence in this country.
[Malveaux:] That was democratic opponent John Kerry of course, who has called for this overhaul, as well, varies so much what the president has said, but he seized on this opportunity to accuse the president of being slow-footed in this incident. We are told also that the report, Betty, is going to call for major restructuring of the FBI, as well as, a new way of having Congress oversee some of the vetting of intelligence. This is something that is fair to say spares no one. It is going to be highly critical of many different government agencies Betty.
[Nguyen:] Suzanne, any indication as to how this new position can resolve the turf battles between the different agencies?
[Malveaux:] It's going to be very difficult in the beginning because, as you know, the Pentagon is very much involved with the budget. You're talking about the CIA, you talking about the White House, many different agencies that are all involved in intelligence matters. In the past you've had turf wars, you've had battle wars budget wars, rather. These are the kinds of things that are going to have to be worked out, but they believe that they have a cabinet level position, someone who is going to oversee all of that, that perhaps some of those, the fragmentations, will be bit less so.
[Nguyen:] CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, thank you very much. Well hat do you think about the 911 Commission report? Weigh in with us this morning and send us an e-mail. We are asking whether you think the findings of the commission's report will help prevent ant future terror attacks. You can message us right now at wam@cnn.com.
[Griffin:] Jihad could just be a mouse click away. Terror groups have turned increasingly to the cyberspace to promote their causes, apparently with some success as Sean Callebs explains.
[Sean Callebs, Cnn Correspondent:] Al Qaeda terror training is moving from the battlefield to the Internet. They can use it to communicate, to recruit, raise funds, to negotiate.
[Callebs:] The U.S.-led war on terror has shut down many terrorist camps. These days through the online magazine "al-Battar," or "The Sword" al Qaeda is using the Web to spread fear and promote jihad. "Al-Battar" looks like a slick, well-produced Web magazine, colorful, featuring a table of contents, an op-ed page, and a letter to the editor's page.
[Josh Devon, Site Institute:] It's not a manual that you would read at the CIA or something, it's in laymen's terms and it's meant for the average person who wants to get involved in this to start doing what al Qaeda wants them to do.
[Callebs:] Published twice a month, each issue of "al-Battar" focuses on one topic, such as cleaning and care of weapons, assassinations, targets inside cities, and in this case, kidnapping. Al Qaeda watchers point out the rash of kidnappings in Iraq and Saudi Arabia flourished after the magazine articles came out.
[Gabriel Weimann, U.s. Inst. Of Peace:] It's a detailed description who should be chosen as a target, where should the action be held, how should the hostage be kept, about negotiations, informing the media.
[Callebs:] Using the web to promote terror is not a new idea, but al Qaeda watchers say seven years ago they monitored 12 terrorist Web sites, today that number has swelled to more than 4,000. Experts say there is no way to shut down the sites. The same analysts say it may sound odd, but the U.S. does not want to silence all the sites because they do provide analysts with important so-called chatter.
[Weimann:] Actually there's a lot to learn from them and for intelligence purposes, one of the motives would be to keep it alive and get as much as you can and learn from them.
[Callebs:] "Al-Battar" claims to be published by al Qaeda military arm in the Arabian Peninsula. As much as anything, the online magazine is aimed at Muslim youth. A computer screen, replacing the battlefield, and analysts say "al-Battar's" message of basic terror training is capable of reaching millions. Sean Callebs, CNN, Washington.
[Griffin:] Dealing with these terror Web sites poses a challenge and it's not likely to get easier. Some experts point out how adept terrorists have become at exploiting the web.
[Ben Venzke, Ceo Intelcenter:] They are constantly exchanging different ideas, different philosophies on how to perfect their profession or their trade craft, and the terrorist has understood the benefit of that. In many ways they are much better than us in terms of taking what you call "lessons learned," previous attacks that they carried out, seeing what works well what didn't work and how they can work on improving it, and then sharing that information, something that we're still struggling with, with all of it members and its affiliate groups.
[Griffin:] And as Sean reported there are now more than 4,000 sites up from just a handful a few years ago.
[Nguyen:] We want to shift focus now to security at the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb. The laboratory's director suspended virtually all work being done there to put an end to security lapses. This move comes a day after the lab was ordered to halt classified work. That order was spurred by the discovery that two electronic data storage devices were missing.
[Griffin:] Now to the wildfires blazing across 10 western states. In California, thousands have been forced from homes in Riverside and Los Angeles County. Seven hundred homes are in the path of one fire known as the Melton fire. A shelter has been set up at a local high school. Meanwhile, more than 600 fire fighters are battling another blaze called the Foothill fire. Hundreds have fled their homes from this one. There have been no reports of damage or destroyed structures, so far. For the latest on these fires, though, we're going to talk by phone with Captain John Harvey who's been up all night. He's with the California Department of Forestry and Fire. Mr. Harvey Captain Harvey, what can you tell us about the latest weather conditions and the latest firefighting conditions for you?
[Captain John Harvey, California Dept. Forestry And Fire:] Well, we expect the weather to not cooperate today, but continue to be very hot and warm, today. Our temperatures for our Melton fire are expected to be 101 degrees or and higher, today, with a relative humidity of six to 15 percent throughout the day, which is very low for us. We're also expecting wind gusts of 10 miles an hour.
[Griffin:] What can you do to try to contain this given those situations? Are you going to try to get out there as early as possible before those winds kick up?
[Harvey:] We've been out there all night long. In order to try and contain this fire, we're going to hit it hard and heavy today with aircraft, as well as putting heavy fire lines around it using bulldozers and hand crews. We also have quite a few pieces of fire equipment out around there that's been working all night long that's going to also help to try to contain this fire. At this point we only have about a 10 percent containment on it. And the fire is about 3,200 acres.
[Griffin:] And give us a sense of the homes that are potentially in the path? Are we talking about communities or ranches?
[Harvey:] That area is a mixed area of homes, ranches. We have about 500 structures that are threatened due to the fire, with the potential of 4,000 structures threatened.
[Griffin:] And is there any weather break predicted in the next few days?
[Harvey:] Well, according to the San Diego National Weather Service, we will continue having our hot dry spell. However they do say that here's a possible that we may get our monsoonal moisture about Friday or Saturday.
[Griffin:] All right. But with temperatures today in the 100s and humidity down to the teens even single digits this will be a daunting problem. Are the firefighters are you getting enough support, enough firefighters and enough aircraft?
[Harvey:] We are doing our best. There is competition for the resources due to the other fires in southern California, in San Diego, San Bernardino and L.A. County. So, you know, resources are limited, but we do our best to share the resources, to the areas that are most threatened.
[Griffin:] And one final question, Captain. Do we know how any of these fires started? Have you been able to determine that as of yet?
[Harvey:] The Melton fire was human caused. It was caused by a gentleman out there who was doing target practice with firearms.
[Griffin:] Hmm. All right. Thank you very much. That is Captain John Harvey, who stayed up most of the night trying to battle these fires out in California Betty.
[Nguyen:] There is better news for fire crews in Nevada. They are going home. An erratic fire that burned for nearly a week and charred nearly 8,000 acres is under control in Carson City. Fifteen homes in the state capitol were destroyed along with a number of outbuildings. Investigators who thought teenagers started the blaze on Tuesday say it may have actually been smoldering undetected for days.
[Griffin:] Other parts of the country are dealing with nature's wrath, as we go across America, the small southern New Jersey town of Medford Lakes was flooded again this weekend. This time the deluge was volunteers instead of rain, fortunately. Eight hundred people arriving to help clean up the area that was doused by downpours, last weekend. President Bush declared the area a national disaster clearing the way for federal aid.
[Nguyen:] A balloon ride in Baltimore was supposed to be fun, but 20 people were stranded for more than an hour. The helium filled ride is an attraction at the Port Discovery Children's Museum near Baltimore's inner harbor. It became stuck high above the city by yesterday's high winds. Now, after workers finally reeled it back in, four people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
[Griffin:] A man on the FBI's 10 most wanted list is in custody thanks to a TV show. Agent's say a tip from a viewer of "America's Most Wanted" helped nab that man, Michael Alfonso, he was in Vera Cruz, Mexico. Alfonso accused of killing two former girlfriends in Wheaton, Illinois, one at a fast food restaurant, the other at a park. And Florida man facing charges after allegedly hitting his girlfriend with a pet alligator during a fight. There, this is the guy. The woman told the police she was hit with the three-foot gator that the couple was keeping in their bathtub of their mobile home in Port Orange, Florida, near Daytona. The animal has been turned over to wildlife authorities. This man has been turned over to police.
[Nguyen:] Let me must tell you, this story has so many people talking, especially around here. He hit her with a pet alligator, of all things. Oh, the story that comes out of there. OK.
[Griffin:] Who will get the first interview?
[Nguyen:] Yes, exactly, people are just standing in line for that one. Well, Grammy-bound. We'll introduce you to one unique group that could win best original song. But first in Iraq, and now that the U.S. has handed over control, how is the Iraqi security force handling the day-to-day violence? An update just ahead on CNN's SUNDAY MORNING.