Baghdad Deputy Police Chief Assassinated
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead on</s>DAYBREAK: In storm-battered Southern California, a bridge, a rope, a father and their rain-swollen creek. We'll show you happened in just a few minutes. Plus, new video from Banda Aceh on the day the ocean rose up, sweeping away lives, homes and hopes. Our John Kings joins us live at the half hour. And insurgents bring more fear and more death to Iraq as the nation prepares to elect new leaders. It is Monday, January 10, and this is DAYBREAK. Good morning to you. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I am Kelly Wallace, in for Carol Costello. "Now in the News": Mahmoud Abbas prepares to take over the reins of the fractured Palestinian leadership. He declares victory in the presidential election and predicts a - quote - "difficult mission ahead." We'll take you live to the West Bank in less than a minute. In Baghdad, 20 days until those post-Saddam elections and no let up in the violence. The latest victims: a top police official and his son. We will take you live to the ancient capital in three minutes. In Texas, a key figure in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal heads to court this morning. The stakes are high for specialist Charles Graner Jr. Opening statements are just five hours away. And in storm-battered Southern California, a relentless weather system brings mudslides, heartache and frustration to thousands. At least eight deaths are blamed on the storm. Lots of weather news this morning. Time to say good morning to Chad Myers. Hi, Chad.</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kelly. I didn't expect you there this morning.</s>WALLACE: I know. Surprise, surprise.</s>WALLACE: Exactly. Carol - we hope Carol's feeling a bit better.</s>MYERS: She's a little under the weather this morning...</s>WALLACE: Yes.</s>MYERS: ...but that's all right. We'll get - we'll get her back later on this week. Thanks for filling in, Kelly.</s>WALLACE: Back now to our top story, a historic election in the Arab world: near leader for the Palestinians, and new hopes for Mid East peace efforts. Our Guy Raz is in the West Bank city of Ramallah with the latest. And Guy, what is the latest word on when we will get the official results of Sunday's election?</s>GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kelly we're not - we're not expecting to get official results for a few more hours. But it's clear based on exit polls that Mahmoud Abbas, or Abu Mazen, will inherit the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority. Certainly a momentous day for Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza. Mahmoud Abbas, of course, regarded as a moderate, someone who is supported by the international community and by Israel. And most importantly, perhaps, a man who could revive the Middle East peace process. Now just a short time ago, Mr. Abbas received congratulations from former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. President Carter is here leading an American delegation to - that was here as part of a group monitoring yesterday's election. Here's what he had to say.</s>JIMMY CARTER, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: This opens up an opportunity, in my opinion, for renewed peace negotiations and with an ultimate judgment of both peace and security, as well as justice. Long overdue for the Palestinian people. This can be done, obviously, in harmony with the adjacent state of Israel. The Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza living peacefully alongside Israel, both sovereign nations and hopefully, ultimately becoming friends living completely at peace.</s>RAZ: Kelly, there are still considerable challenges ahead for Abu Mazen, or Mahmoud Abbas. He now has to consolidate his power base. He doesn't have the same kind of grassroots support that his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, had. And crucially, he doesn't have the backing of militant groups. Now, if Mahmoud Abbas is to enter negotiations with Israel with confidence, he has to win the backing of these groups. Israel has set several conditions for renewed peace talks, including clamping down on those militant groups. Israel would like to see an end to attacks against Israelis. For his part, Mr. Abbas is asking Israel to ease conditions on Palestinians to end incursions, and also to end targeted assassinations of wanted Palestinian militants - Kelly.</s>WALLACE: And Guy, what do Palestinians believe is the first, immediate challenge facing Mahmoud Abbas?</s>RAZ: Well, right away, Mahmoud Abbas has to essentially get the house in order. Of course, there's - the Palestinian National Authority has been marred by charges of corruption for the past four years. Mr. Abbas has to strengthen democratic institutions and public institutions. And then, he has to begin negotiations with Israel. Now, of course, a lot of that depends on Israel's willingness to take part in those negotiations. But we've already had some signs from the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office that he is willing to meet with Mr. Abbas, perhaps as early as this week - Kelly.</s>WALLACE: All right. Guy Raz, reporting from the West Bank city of Ramallah. Thanks so much. And again, we are expecting official announcements sometime around 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time. In "The Fight for Iraq," Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son, a lieutenant on the police force, have been gunned down. The two men were on their way to work. It is the latest attack on the city's leadership. CNN's Chris Lawrence joins us live from Baghdad with more. And Chris, what's been the reaction so far to this latest violence?</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kelly, the violence that we've seen this morning was anything but random. These were targeted attacks aimed at specific people and places. The Iraqi police tell us that they deputy police chief of Baghdad and his son were leaving for work this morning. Just as they were leaving their house, a gunman opened up, firing on their car and killed them both. Also this morning, another man drove his car into the man gate of a police station on the southern outskirts of Baghdad. That explosion killed seven Iraqis there, some of them Iraqi policemen, some of them possibly civilians. But all of this violence is really just a continuation from that's happened in the past few days, where the deputy police chief of Samarra was also gunned down leaving for work, and three other high- ranking Iraqi officers were assassinated just in the last three days. But these targets aren't just people. Also earlier this morning, explosives were detonated at a girls high school here in Baghdad. And an insurgent was killed while trying to blow up a boys middle school. Now, no children were hurt in these attacks, but both of these schools were being prepped to be used as voting centers during the elections. And across this country, you can see a definite pattern of violence trying to discourage people ahead of the election.</s>PFC JONATHAN LUCAS, U.S. ARMY: Lately, we've been seeing a lot more. The mujahideen (ph) lives on laws (ph). We've been seeing at other places around where we - where we operate, so it's starting to pick up probably. I don't know. We're certainly worrying about those elections coming up.</s>LAWRENCE: A lot of people are worried about those elections. But over the weekend, a group of Sunni Muslim clerics did meet with a senior U.S. official in the U.S. embassy here in Iraq. And from that conversation, they made this offer to the Americans, saying basically that they - if the Americans lay out a timetable for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq, they would call of the Sunni Muslim boycott of the election. That would be important, because although the Sunni Muslims are a minority in this country, it is important to have them participate to make the election and the vote as legitimate as possible. But as of right now, the U.S. embassy has no plans to lay out any such timetable - Kelly.</s>WALLACE: Chris, thanks so much. Chris Lawrence reporting from Baghdad. The death toll now from the Asian tsunami is topping 140,000, and is expected to go much higher. Indonesians - Indonesia's health ministry says 77,000 people remain missing. Early figure - figures topping 155,000 were scaled down after it was learned some bodies were counted twice in Sri Lanka. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has toured the damage in the Maldives. Officials there say 14 of the nation's 280 inhabited islands have been evacuated, and nine of those are now uninhabitable. And in Sumatra's Aceh province and parts of India, a measles immunization campaign in an effort to prevent an outbreak. Some of the U.S. Marines in the region have moved past the task of delivering aid, and are now on to phase two. In Sri Lanka, teams of Marines have begun clearing and cleaning smaller towns that were laid waste by the tsunami. For more on the Marines' mission, we are joined by CNN's Satinder Bindra. HE is in Sri Lanka. Good morning, Satinder.</s>SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kelly. I'm in a small village called Gintota. This is on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, and this was one of the worst affected areas. Now here in this village, Marines are putting their spades in the ground. They've got also a lot of heavy machinery and equipment. They've got bulldozers here, and we're just going to show you a shot of what exactly is happening, if you can. This heavy equipment moved in about a few hours ago, and there were about 15 damaged homes. There was tons of debris and rubble here. There was an awful smell in this place. But now, after the Marines have moved in, this place is looking very decent. A lot of the rubble has been pared (ph) out. And over the next few days, Kelly, the U.S. Marines will deploy a large ship; it's an amphibious ship. They'll be using landing craft to get more gear in here as well. Clearly, the Sri Lankans are very happy. They believe that these Marines are helping them. But there are also concerns in this region. India is the regional here, and there are some concerns there from the Indian side that if the Marines stay for too long, then the geopolitical balance here could be disrupted. I did put this concern to the general commanding the Marines here, and he said that this was purely a humanitarian mission, and these Marines - which now number about 500 - would leave as soon as the Sri Lankan authorities asked them to do so - Kelly.</s>WALLACE: All right. Satinder, we need to leave it there. CNN's Satinder Bindra reporting from Sri Lanka. It has been two weeks since the tsunami disaster, and people in the hardest-hit area are hoping for a new life as the devastation piles up around them. We will go live to Indonesia. Also, roads turn to rivers in California. The stormy weather keeps rescuers busy. We will show you some dramatic moments. And later, help for the young from the young. Kids around the world come to the aid of some of the youngest victims of the tsunami disaster. First, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning, January 10.