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American Morning
Tax Day has Cometh; New Audiotape Associated With bin Laden
Aired April 15, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, a voice said to be that of Osama bin Laden. Is it him, and is he trying to pit the Europeans against the Americans? And can the CIA stop him?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: It will take us another five years to have the kind of clandestine service our country needs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: The CIA director says America's spies are not yet ready to stop the next 9/11.
And someone's about to get a job, the Donald finally making up his mind tonight. Who's got the winning resume, on this"AMERICAN MORNING."
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is "AMERICAN MORNING," with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Other stories that we're following this morning ...
HEMMER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: It's April 15. Is the day in fact that many tax nightmares end, but a few begin today. On this day of reckoning, we're going to talk to the man who's actually the one holding his hand out for money. That would be Treasury Secretary John Snow. He's going to join us later this morning.
HEMMER: Also this hour, what happens to Audrey Seiler now? Police say the Wisconsin college student faked her own abduction about a month ago. We'll talk to her attorney today as their case moves through the court system. Stay tuned for that.
O'BRIEN: And Jack Cafferty is with us this morning. We're going to check in with him a little bit later, but first let's get to our top stories this morning.
President Bush is calling it a historic action, but Palestinians say that it is a severe blow to the Middle East peace process. Yesterday, Mr. Bush endorsed a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that pledges the removal of some West Bank settlements, but not all. Palestinian spokesman Saeb Erakat says the plan violates U.N. resolutions and Mr. Bush's own roadmap to peace. A report from the White House on this is just ahead this morning.
Italy says that it is sending a top diplomat to Iraq to secure the release of Italian hostages. This after one of the four hostages taken captive was killed.
Meanwhile, Iraqi insurgents may have captured two more Japanese citizens. Three other Japanese have been held hostage in Iraq since last week. Their fate at this time is not know. The Japanese government is now investigating.
A University of Wisconsin student accused of faking her own kidnapping last month is scheduled to appear in court today. Yesterday, police charged Audrey Seiler with two misdemeanor counts of obstructing officers. If she is convicted, she could face up to a $10,000 fine and up to 18 months in prison. This morning, we're going to talk to Seiler's attorney. That's a little bit later this morning.
Los Angeles investigators may have some doubts about the new child abuse allegations against Michael Jackson. A source familiar with the probe says investigators aren't sure whether the accuser was ever even with the pop star. The grand jury is currently hearing an unrelated charge of molestation against Jackson.
And, on a health note, heavy social drinkers may be at risk for significant brain damage. A new study says that more than 100 drinks a month, which works out to what, a little over three drinks a day, could impair a person's ability to read and balance and other functions, as well. The research says that the damage is similar to that seen in hospitalized alcoholics. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to take a closer look at this study for us in our next hour.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Our top story this morning, another recording said to be from the al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden. The voice on that audio tape offers a truce to European nations to, quote, "stop attacking Muslims." The U.S., however, excluded from any such deal on the tape. It also makes reference to the March 11 Madrid train bombings and the 9/11 attacks in New York as examples of al Qaeda actions taken in response to attacks on Muslims. The speaker also threatening revenge against the U.S. and Israel for the assassination last month of the founder of Hamas.
The last audio tape believed to be from bin Laden came back in January. Our terrorism analyst Peter Bergen live in D.C. to help us through this one.
Peter, good morning to you.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning.
HEMMER: What message do you hear in this? BERGEN: Well, first of all, it's a proof of life of Osama bin Laden. Obviously this tape was made some time in the last, say, two weeks or so. Bin Laden is trying to remain in the game and influence the debate. Clearly, the Madrid attack that you referenced just now obviously had the outcome that the Spanish have decided to withdraw their troops from Iraq. Clearly, bin Laden would like to have other members of the coalition, including countries, perhaps, like Italy, to withdraw their troops.
And clearly with all the events we're now seeing in Iraq, Italians being kidnapped, et cetera, that message might well resonate. The Iraq war is not popular in Europe, hasn't been popular, wasn't popular in Spain. Ninety-percent, 85 percent, 90 percent of the population was against it in the first place. So this message, conceivably, could have some resonance, Bill.
HEMMER: Peter, do you believe in the past - can your recall hearing an offer of a truce at any point from Osama bin Laden?
BERGEN: No, no, this ...
HEMMER: What do you think of that?
BERGEN: Well, it's sort of interesting. I don't think anybody is necessarily going to take it particularly seriously. After all, Osama bin Laden's a sort of mass murderer. It's not like you are going to sit down at the negotiation table with him. But it might have some resonance with people in Europe who don't like the war in Iraq, who feel that they may be next targeted after Spain.
Back in October, 2003, bin Laden released an audio tape calling for attacks on members of the coalition, including Spaniards, British, Italians, Australians, Poles. Since that time, there have been attacks not only on Spaniards, but also Italians in Nasiriya and southern Iraq, the British targets in Istanbul, against the British consulate, the HSBC Bank. So those people in Europe who don't particularly like what's going on in Iraq, don't feel that it's really part of the war on terrorism to be in Iraq, this tape could have some resonance.
But I think the main point is is that it shows that bin Laden is still alive, influencing the debate, as is his deputy, Ayman Al- Zawahiri. And these tapes - when these tapes come out, there are consequences. People listen to bin Laden. His followers listen to him. They look to him as a religious leader, and unfortunately his words carry a lot of weight with those people.
HEMMER: Peter Bergen, thanks for talking in D.C. We'll cover this story in depth throughout the morning here. It is our top story this morning.
Peter, thanks again.
BERGEN: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: It's also Jack's topic this morning, as well. Good morning to you.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Soledad. It's getting a little embarrassing. The United States still doesn't know where Osama bin Laden is, and we don't really know if he's even dead or alive. We think he's alive. Yesterday, CIA Director George Tenet told the 9/11 commission it'll take another five years to have the intelligence to protect against another al Qaeda attack. There is also talk of a possible need to restructure the nation's intelligence agencies.
September 11 was 2.5 years ago and we're just now figuring this stuff out? And what about all the reports a few weeks ago that bin Laden was as good as caught along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border? Whatever happened to all that stuff?
In the meantime, al Qaeda goes right on with its business, blowing up trains in Madrid and who knows where else next. Maybe here. The question this morning is how important is it to get bin Laden? E-mail us am@cnn.com.
The most powerful nation in the world, guy comes in here, blows up the World Trade Center, murders 3,000 people. Two and a half years later we're scratching - maybe we need to restructure the intelligence agencies, and, gee, where is he? And we can't find - I mean, it's awful. It's just awful.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I think a lot of shocking stuff came out of the testimony over the last two days. It was pretty darn surprising.
CAFFERTY: Man, I mean, come on.
O'BRIEN: The lack of preparedness then and now.
HEMMER: You mention this five-year issue, Jack, as we continue now, but 9/11 commission hearings from yesterday, a stark admission from the CIA director and the FBI, years away from being fully prepared to deal with the terrorist threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TENET: It will take us another five years to have the kind of clandestine service our country needs. There is a creative, innovative strategy to get us there that requires sustained commitment, leadership and funding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Slade Gorton, former Republican senator from the state of Washington, one of the commissioners on board that 9/11 commission. Good morning. Welcome back ...
SLADE GORTON, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: Good morning.
HEMMER: The headline really is what we just heard from George Tenet, that five-year period. Can the world's only superpower afford to wait five years? GORTON: That was a shocking statement on the part of George Tenet. He has certainly done a pretty good job since 9/11 improving the CIA. I think Bob Mueller has done an even better job with the FBI, but I hope that that five-year estimate isn't just an excuse for a lack of performance. I think we need to be prepared more quickly than that. We had some successes. Obviously it's been 2.5 years since there has been an attack here in the United States, but we need a CIA with more confidence than was shown yesterday.
HEMMER: The CIA director says he has serious issues, so far, with some of the conclusions reached by the commission. Listen to how he addressed that yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TENET: When the staff statement says that DCI had no strategic plan to manage the war on terrorism, that's flat wrong. When the staff statement says I had no program strategic direction in place to integrate, correlate data and move data across the community, that's wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Flat wrong, is he right?
GORTON: Those were the very precise findings of our staff that has been working on this issue for more than a year at this point. We're going to give George Tenet the right to prove that we're wrong, but we're not going to accept a flat-out statement like that as the truth, because we don't believe it.
HEMMER: Senator, do you believe someone should be fired as a result of the failings of 9/11?
GORTON: What we are here to do is first to come up with an objective history of what led to 9/11, who did what and when they did it, who didn't do what they ought to have done, and what the consequences were. And the next thing we're to do is to come up with recommendations as to how we can do better in the future, even though there may have been some improvements since then.
Whether or not someone ought to be fired is going to be a conclusion that the president and the Congress and the people of the United States make after we tell them what the facts are.
HEMMER: If you pick up the cover the "New York Times" this morning and read a story, we invited you on for this program today. We invited you last week and the week before. There's a pretty strong critical article that talks about the members of the commission doing too many interviews such as these, and they make the point that because you're politicians first that the partisan politics is starting to show through.
How would you respond to the allegation in that report this morning? GORTON: Well, in fact, a year and a half ago when we began our work, appointed politically, five Republicans and five Democrats, we decided unanimously that if we weren't unanimous at the end of the day, we weren't going to be doing the job that we were picked to do, and we weren't going to be doing the job for the American people. That's exactly what we believe now. You may remember that as recently as three or four months ago, the criticism of the commission was that it wasn't holding public hearings, that it wasn't telling the people of the United States what had happened, that we weren't bringing them into our deliberations.
Now we are - some people are being hurt by that because they're being criticized, and they're lashing back.
HEMMER: Slade Gorton, thanks for talking, thanks for sharing, as the commission continues its work there in D.C.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, President Bush makes a significant shift in U.S. Mideast policy, but does it go against his own roadmap for peace? A look at that's ahead.
HEMMER: Also, the clock is ticking for tax procrastinators. Today is the 15th of April. We'll talk to the man in charge, ask him about the president's promise to add jobs as well in a moment here.
O'BRIEN: And will the Donald pick Bill or Kwami? It is down to the wire on "The Apprentice." Our "90-Second Pop" panel will weigh in on that, as "AMERICAN MORNING" continues right after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Fifteen minutes, now, past the hour. The president surprising some observers yesterday with his support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's peace plan. His position likely to win him support in this country, but as John King reports today, overseas is a different story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The president gave the Israeli prime minister what he came for, a strong endorsement that significantly reshapes the U.S. approach toward Israeli-Palestinian peace.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are historic and courageous actions.
KING: Prime Minister Sharon plans to remove Israeli settlements and military outposts from Gaza, and some settlements and military installations in the West Bank. But Mr. Sharon vows to keep hold of several major West Bank settlements the Palestinians say must be abandoned.
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: My plan will create a new and better reality for the state of Israel, and the need ... KING: The president insisted his endorsement is not meant to prejudice any future Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but Palestinians reacted angrily.
SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: It's like me sitting with the prime minister of Britain and deciding to give Crawford, Texas to China.
KING: And Mr. Bush is now on record taking Israel's side on two major issues. In this letter to Prime Minister Sharon, Mr. Bush wrote that new realities on the ground make it unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the 1949 borders, a key Palestinian negotiating point. And on the delicate right of return issue for Palestinian refugees, Mr. Bush wrote the only just, fair and realistic answer is to create a new Palestinian state and agree on the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel.
(on camera): Mr. Bush credited his friend with trying to revive a peace process now in shambles, but in the short term, there is little hope for peace talks.
Little hope for talks, and given the angry Palestinian reaction, at least in the short term, more image problems for the administration in the Arab world, where already it is under fire for the war in Iraq and now accused of abandoning its traditional role in the Middle East of playing honest broker to take sides with Israel.
John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Already this morning, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat firmly rejecting that plan, calling for a complete end to Israeli occupation in the West Bank and in Gaza and demanding the right of return for Palestinians there -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, today is the day that American taxpayers love to hate. In what has become an annual rite of spring, millions of people will be rushing to meet tonight's midnight deadline for filing their taxes.
Treasury Secretary John Snow joins us this morning from Philadelphia to talk a little bit about tax day, and also some other questions about the economy. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us this morning.
JOHN SNOW, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: Thank you, Soledad. Good to be with you.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Every year, people say, as you well know, that it is virtually impossible to sit down and do your taxes by yourself without making some kind of mistake. Something like 4.2 million math mistakes recorded last year. It takes 45 minutes longer this year to do your taxes than it did last year, on average.
Any plans in the near future to make the tax forms a little bit easier for people, in the upcoming years? Excuse me.
SNOW: Well, absolutely. It is too complex, and few people are able to work their way through it without a lot of difficulty and anguish. No, we need to simplify the code, absolutely. Now, there is some good news, though, this year, and that is that 111 million Americans, all taxpayers, every single American who pays taxes, has the government taking a smaller bite out of their paycheck or out of their income.
So that's good news.
O'BRIEN: That makes up for the extra 45 minutes you're forced to spend on your taxes, I suppose.
SNOW: It helps.
O'BRIEN: That's right. Let's talk about some other business news this morning. Outsourcing, of course, has been a very big issue, and there are some estimates that over 100,000 technology jobs have been lost, being sent overseas. How is that, outsourcing, better for the American worker?
SNOW: Well, you know, the United States is part of a global economy. We're the most dynamic economy in the world, and our focus, in the administration, is on making sure we create the most good jobs possible in America. And the president's tax cuts are helping. I'm delighted to see the retail numbers come out earlier this week, showing a really strong recovery underway, delighted to see the jobs numbers showing that 308,000 jobs were created last month, over 500,000 in the first quarter.
Our focus, Soledad, is on what creates good jobs for Americans. And we have to recognize that we're 5 percent, only 5 percent, of the world's population, which means that 95 percent of our customers and potential customers lie outside the United States.
The last thing we should want to do is pursue a policy of economic isolation.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about the deficit. For the year, it's expected to hit $521 billion. Some predict that there will be dire global consequences, and you were talking about the global impact, of course, of our economy. Do you agree with those dire predictions if those numbers are not brought down, and what are the plans for lowering the deficit?
SNOW: Well, first of all, let me say we view this deficit as too large. It's unwelcome, and we're committed to cutting it in half over the course of the next five years. As we do so, we'll bring our deficit down well below historic levels, down to below 2 percent of GDP.
So, no, I don't agree with that dire outlook, because we're going to bring the deficit down. But deficits matter, and that's why we're focused on it with such intensity. O'BRIEN: Secretary Snow, he's the secretary of the treasury, joining us this morning. Nice to see you, thanks for being with us this morning.
SNOW: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate it -- Bill.
HEMMER: At 21 past, in a moment, new threats and promises on an audio tape said to be from Osama bin Laden. The message there, trying to divide the U.S. and Europe. We'll get back to that in a moment. Amazon.com has a new site, but guess what, nothing is for sale here. Andy explains right after this, on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. Amazon looking to get in that search engine battle and Federated may be searching the field. Andy explains that, first check of business in "Minding Your Business" today.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE": Good morning.
HEMMER: Amazon first?
SERWER: Yes, let's talk about them. Obviously, when you think about online retailing, you think about Amazon.com. No one does it better. No one's been more successful selling books, toys, almost everything. But guess what, they're looking to get into a new business, the search engine business, and this is a very crowded and competitive field. Obviously, Google dominates this business, sort of becoming a generic term, like Kleenex, Band-Aid.
HEMMER: Googling.
SERWER: I'll Google you, right?
And they're looking to get into - the new Web site's called A9.com, so they're going to be competing with Google, Yahoo!. Also, Microsoft getting into this business, a very fast changing business - Google, also rolling out a new service where they're going to have search engines be localized, so that if you search here, say, in New York City, you get more New York City responses. If you search in San Diego, you get more San Diego stuff.
HEMMER: Makes sense.
SERWER: It does. I'm not quite sure why Amazon is doing this, but they're always looking to expand their business, a very aggressive company.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk retail, Federated, which I actually thought had huge, massive financial problems, is looking to buy something.
SERWER: Well, this business, the department store business, Soledad, has been rife with problems, because people have been going to malls instead of the big stores. Federated owns Macy's and Bloomingdale's. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about Target, looking to sell its Marshall Field's line of department stores. That's about 60 stores in the Midwest, mostly. Marshall Field's, Dayton-Hudson (ph) as well. And now it looks like Federated might be the buyer.
Federated owns Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Rich's and Lazarus, about 460 stores. And the reason why analysts like this, Soledad, is because Federated has been very good at keeping brands distinct, like the Rich's and Macy's and Bloomingdale's. So it might be a very good fit. But, again, as you indicated, this business is not so healthy. Maybe more consolidation.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. Time for the market, or no?
HEMMER: I don't know, do we?
SERWER: I think we do. We always have a little bit of time for the market.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Yesterday, a little bit of a down day for the markets. We slipped a little bit. And you see this during earnings season, back and forth tug of war, inflation worries bothering the market. Tech earnings, Apple did terrific this morning, Citigroup looking really good, but the bin Laden tape may rattle things a bit.
HEMMER: I see. Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: OK, you're welcome.
O'BRIEN: OK, Andy, thank you very much. Still to come this morning, Donald Trump, making his choice, who will hear the words "You're hired." (UNINTELLIGIBLE) movies and Britney's crack at reality TV all ahead in our "90-Second Pop" in just a few minutes on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired April 15, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, a voice said to be that of Osama bin Laden. Is it him, and is he trying to pit the Europeans against the Americans? And can the CIA stop him?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: It will take us another five years to have the kind of clandestine service our country needs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: The CIA director says America's spies are not yet ready to stop the next 9/11.
And someone's about to get a job, the Donald finally making up his mind tonight. Who's got the winning resume, on this"AMERICAN MORNING."
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is "AMERICAN MORNING," with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Other stories that we're following this morning ...
HEMMER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: It's April 15. Is the day in fact that many tax nightmares end, but a few begin today. On this day of reckoning, we're going to talk to the man who's actually the one holding his hand out for money. That would be Treasury Secretary John Snow. He's going to join us later this morning.
HEMMER: Also this hour, what happens to Audrey Seiler now? Police say the Wisconsin college student faked her own abduction about a month ago. We'll talk to her attorney today as their case moves through the court system. Stay tuned for that.
O'BRIEN: And Jack Cafferty is with us this morning. We're going to check in with him a little bit later, but first let's get to our top stories this morning.
President Bush is calling it a historic action, but Palestinians say that it is a severe blow to the Middle East peace process. Yesterday, Mr. Bush endorsed a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that pledges the removal of some West Bank settlements, but not all. Palestinian spokesman Saeb Erakat says the plan violates U.N. resolutions and Mr. Bush's own roadmap to peace. A report from the White House on this is just ahead this morning.
Italy says that it is sending a top diplomat to Iraq to secure the release of Italian hostages. This after one of the four hostages taken captive was killed.
Meanwhile, Iraqi insurgents may have captured two more Japanese citizens. Three other Japanese have been held hostage in Iraq since last week. Their fate at this time is not know. The Japanese government is now investigating.
A University of Wisconsin student accused of faking her own kidnapping last month is scheduled to appear in court today. Yesterday, police charged Audrey Seiler with two misdemeanor counts of obstructing officers. If she is convicted, she could face up to a $10,000 fine and up to 18 months in prison. This morning, we're going to talk to Seiler's attorney. That's a little bit later this morning.
Los Angeles investigators may have some doubts about the new child abuse allegations against Michael Jackson. A source familiar with the probe says investigators aren't sure whether the accuser was ever even with the pop star. The grand jury is currently hearing an unrelated charge of molestation against Jackson.
And, on a health note, heavy social drinkers may be at risk for significant brain damage. A new study says that more than 100 drinks a month, which works out to what, a little over three drinks a day, could impair a person's ability to read and balance and other functions, as well. The research says that the damage is similar to that seen in hospitalized alcoholics. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to take a closer look at this study for us in our next hour.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Our top story this morning, another recording said to be from the al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden. The voice on that audio tape offers a truce to European nations to, quote, "stop attacking Muslims." The U.S., however, excluded from any such deal on the tape. It also makes reference to the March 11 Madrid train bombings and the 9/11 attacks in New York as examples of al Qaeda actions taken in response to attacks on Muslims. The speaker also threatening revenge against the U.S. and Israel for the assassination last month of the founder of Hamas.
The last audio tape believed to be from bin Laden came back in January. Our terrorism analyst Peter Bergen live in D.C. to help us through this one.
Peter, good morning to you.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning.
HEMMER: What message do you hear in this? BERGEN: Well, first of all, it's a proof of life of Osama bin Laden. Obviously this tape was made some time in the last, say, two weeks or so. Bin Laden is trying to remain in the game and influence the debate. Clearly, the Madrid attack that you referenced just now obviously had the outcome that the Spanish have decided to withdraw their troops from Iraq. Clearly, bin Laden would like to have other members of the coalition, including countries, perhaps, like Italy, to withdraw their troops.
And clearly with all the events we're now seeing in Iraq, Italians being kidnapped, et cetera, that message might well resonate. The Iraq war is not popular in Europe, hasn't been popular, wasn't popular in Spain. Ninety-percent, 85 percent, 90 percent of the population was against it in the first place. So this message, conceivably, could have some resonance, Bill.
HEMMER: Peter, do you believe in the past - can your recall hearing an offer of a truce at any point from Osama bin Laden?
BERGEN: No, no, this ...
HEMMER: What do you think of that?
BERGEN: Well, it's sort of interesting. I don't think anybody is necessarily going to take it particularly seriously. After all, Osama bin Laden's a sort of mass murderer. It's not like you are going to sit down at the negotiation table with him. But it might have some resonance with people in Europe who don't like the war in Iraq, who feel that they may be next targeted after Spain.
Back in October, 2003, bin Laden released an audio tape calling for attacks on members of the coalition, including Spaniards, British, Italians, Australians, Poles. Since that time, there have been attacks not only on Spaniards, but also Italians in Nasiriya and southern Iraq, the British targets in Istanbul, against the British consulate, the HSBC Bank. So those people in Europe who don't particularly like what's going on in Iraq, don't feel that it's really part of the war on terrorism to be in Iraq, this tape could have some resonance.
But I think the main point is is that it shows that bin Laden is still alive, influencing the debate, as is his deputy, Ayman Al- Zawahiri. And these tapes - when these tapes come out, there are consequences. People listen to bin Laden. His followers listen to him. They look to him as a religious leader, and unfortunately his words carry a lot of weight with those people.
HEMMER: Peter Bergen, thanks for talking in D.C. We'll cover this story in depth throughout the morning here. It is our top story this morning.
Peter, thanks again.
BERGEN: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: It's also Jack's topic this morning, as well. Good morning to you.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Soledad. It's getting a little embarrassing. The United States still doesn't know where Osama bin Laden is, and we don't really know if he's even dead or alive. We think he's alive. Yesterday, CIA Director George Tenet told the 9/11 commission it'll take another five years to have the intelligence to protect against another al Qaeda attack. There is also talk of a possible need to restructure the nation's intelligence agencies.
September 11 was 2.5 years ago and we're just now figuring this stuff out? And what about all the reports a few weeks ago that bin Laden was as good as caught along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border? Whatever happened to all that stuff?
In the meantime, al Qaeda goes right on with its business, blowing up trains in Madrid and who knows where else next. Maybe here. The question this morning is how important is it to get bin Laden? E-mail us am@cnn.com.
The most powerful nation in the world, guy comes in here, blows up the World Trade Center, murders 3,000 people. Two and a half years later we're scratching - maybe we need to restructure the intelligence agencies, and, gee, where is he? And we can't find - I mean, it's awful. It's just awful.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I think a lot of shocking stuff came out of the testimony over the last two days. It was pretty darn surprising.
CAFFERTY: Man, I mean, come on.
O'BRIEN: The lack of preparedness then and now.
HEMMER: You mention this five-year issue, Jack, as we continue now, but 9/11 commission hearings from yesterday, a stark admission from the CIA director and the FBI, years away from being fully prepared to deal with the terrorist threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TENET: It will take us another five years to have the kind of clandestine service our country needs. There is a creative, innovative strategy to get us there that requires sustained commitment, leadership and funding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Slade Gorton, former Republican senator from the state of Washington, one of the commissioners on board that 9/11 commission. Good morning. Welcome back ...
SLADE GORTON, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: Good morning.
HEMMER: The headline really is what we just heard from George Tenet, that five-year period. Can the world's only superpower afford to wait five years? GORTON: That was a shocking statement on the part of George Tenet. He has certainly done a pretty good job since 9/11 improving the CIA. I think Bob Mueller has done an even better job with the FBI, but I hope that that five-year estimate isn't just an excuse for a lack of performance. I think we need to be prepared more quickly than that. We had some successes. Obviously it's been 2.5 years since there has been an attack here in the United States, but we need a CIA with more confidence than was shown yesterday.
HEMMER: The CIA director says he has serious issues, so far, with some of the conclusions reached by the commission. Listen to how he addressed that yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TENET: When the staff statement says that DCI had no strategic plan to manage the war on terrorism, that's flat wrong. When the staff statement says I had no program strategic direction in place to integrate, correlate data and move data across the community, that's wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Flat wrong, is he right?
GORTON: Those were the very precise findings of our staff that has been working on this issue for more than a year at this point. We're going to give George Tenet the right to prove that we're wrong, but we're not going to accept a flat-out statement like that as the truth, because we don't believe it.
HEMMER: Senator, do you believe someone should be fired as a result of the failings of 9/11?
GORTON: What we are here to do is first to come up with an objective history of what led to 9/11, who did what and when they did it, who didn't do what they ought to have done, and what the consequences were. And the next thing we're to do is to come up with recommendations as to how we can do better in the future, even though there may have been some improvements since then.
Whether or not someone ought to be fired is going to be a conclusion that the president and the Congress and the people of the United States make after we tell them what the facts are.
HEMMER: If you pick up the cover the "New York Times" this morning and read a story, we invited you on for this program today. We invited you last week and the week before. There's a pretty strong critical article that talks about the members of the commission doing too many interviews such as these, and they make the point that because you're politicians first that the partisan politics is starting to show through.
How would you respond to the allegation in that report this morning? GORTON: Well, in fact, a year and a half ago when we began our work, appointed politically, five Republicans and five Democrats, we decided unanimously that if we weren't unanimous at the end of the day, we weren't going to be doing the job that we were picked to do, and we weren't going to be doing the job for the American people. That's exactly what we believe now. You may remember that as recently as three or four months ago, the criticism of the commission was that it wasn't holding public hearings, that it wasn't telling the people of the United States what had happened, that we weren't bringing them into our deliberations.
Now we are - some people are being hurt by that because they're being criticized, and they're lashing back.
HEMMER: Slade Gorton, thanks for talking, thanks for sharing, as the commission continues its work there in D.C.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, President Bush makes a significant shift in U.S. Mideast policy, but does it go against his own roadmap for peace? A look at that's ahead.
HEMMER: Also, the clock is ticking for tax procrastinators. Today is the 15th of April. We'll talk to the man in charge, ask him about the president's promise to add jobs as well in a moment here.
O'BRIEN: And will the Donald pick Bill or Kwami? It is down to the wire on "The Apprentice." Our "90-Second Pop" panel will weigh in on that, as "AMERICAN MORNING" continues right after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Fifteen minutes, now, past the hour. The president surprising some observers yesterday with his support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's peace plan. His position likely to win him support in this country, but as John King reports today, overseas is a different story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The president gave the Israeli prime minister what he came for, a strong endorsement that significantly reshapes the U.S. approach toward Israeli-Palestinian peace.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are historic and courageous actions.
KING: Prime Minister Sharon plans to remove Israeli settlements and military outposts from Gaza, and some settlements and military installations in the West Bank. But Mr. Sharon vows to keep hold of several major West Bank settlements the Palestinians say must be abandoned.
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: My plan will create a new and better reality for the state of Israel, and the need ... KING: The president insisted his endorsement is not meant to prejudice any future Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but Palestinians reacted angrily.
SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: It's like me sitting with the prime minister of Britain and deciding to give Crawford, Texas to China.
KING: And Mr. Bush is now on record taking Israel's side on two major issues. In this letter to Prime Minister Sharon, Mr. Bush wrote that new realities on the ground make it unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the 1949 borders, a key Palestinian negotiating point. And on the delicate right of return issue for Palestinian refugees, Mr. Bush wrote the only just, fair and realistic answer is to create a new Palestinian state and agree on the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel.
(on camera): Mr. Bush credited his friend with trying to revive a peace process now in shambles, but in the short term, there is little hope for peace talks.
Little hope for talks, and given the angry Palestinian reaction, at least in the short term, more image problems for the administration in the Arab world, where already it is under fire for the war in Iraq and now accused of abandoning its traditional role in the Middle East of playing honest broker to take sides with Israel.
John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Already this morning, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat firmly rejecting that plan, calling for a complete end to Israeli occupation in the West Bank and in Gaza and demanding the right of return for Palestinians there -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, today is the day that American taxpayers love to hate. In what has become an annual rite of spring, millions of people will be rushing to meet tonight's midnight deadline for filing their taxes.
Treasury Secretary John Snow joins us this morning from Philadelphia to talk a little bit about tax day, and also some other questions about the economy. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us this morning.
JOHN SNOW, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: Thank you, Soledad. Good to be with you.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Every year, people say, as you well know, that it is virtually impossible to sit down and do your taxes by yourself without making some kind of mistake. Something like 4.2 million math mistakes recorded last year. It takes 45 minutes longer this year to do your taxes than it did last year, on average.
Any plans in the near future to make the tax forms a little bit easier for people, in the upcoming years? Excuse me.
SNOW: Well, absolutely. It is too complex, and few people are able to work their way through it without a lot of difficulty and anguish. No, we need to simplify the code, absolutely. Now, there is some good news, though, this year, and that is that 111 million Americans, all taxpayers, every single American who pays taxes, has the government taking a smaller bite out of their paycheck or out of their income.
So that's good news.
O'BRIEN: That makes up for the extra 45 minutes you're forced to spend on your taxes, I suppose.
SNOW: It helps.
O'BRIEN: That's right. Let's talk about some other business news this morning. Outsourcing, of course, has been a very big issue, and there are some estimates that over 100,000 technology jobs have been lost, being sent overseas. How is that, outsourcing, better for the American worker?
SNOW: Well, you know, the United States is part of a global economy. We're the most dynamic economy in the world, and our focus, in the administration, is on making sure we create the most good jobs possible in America. And the president's tax cuts are helping. I'm delighted to see the retail numbers come out earlier this week, showing a really strong recovery underway, delighted to see the jobs numbers showing that 308,000 jobs were created last month, over 500,000 in the first quarter.
Our focus, Soledad, is on what creates good jobs for Americans. And we have to recognize that we're 5 percent, only 5 percent, of the world's population, which means that 95 percent of our customers and potential customers lie outside the United States.
The last thing we should want to do is pursue a policy of economic isolation.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about the deficit. For the year, it's expected to hit $521 billion. Some predict that there will be dire global consequences, and you were talking about the global impact, of course, of our economy. Do you agree with those dire predictions if those numbers are not brought down, and what are the plans for lowering the deficit?
SNOW: Well, first of all, let me say we view this deficit as too large. It's unwelcome, and we're committed to cutting it in half over the course of the next five years. As we do so, we'll bring our deficit down well below historic levels, down to below 2 percent of GDP.
So, no, I don't agree with that dire outlook, because we're going to bring the deficit down. But deficits matter, and that's why we're focused on it with such intensity. O'BRIEN: Secretary Snow, he's the secretary of the treasury, joining us this morning. Nice to see you, thanks for being with us this morning.
SNOW: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate it -- Bill.
HEMMER: At 21 past, in a moment, new threats and promises on an audio tape said to be from Osama bin Laden. The message there, trying to divide the U.S. and Europe. We'll get back to that in a moment. Amazon.com has a new site, but guess what, nothing is for sale here. Andy explains right after this, on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. Amazon looking to get in that search engine battle and Federated may be searching the field. Andy explains that, first check of business in "Minding Your Business" today.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE": Good morning.
HEMMER: Amazon first?
SERWER: Yes, let's talk about them. Obviously, when you think about online retailing, you think about Amazon.com. No one does it better. No one's been more successful selling books, toys, almost everything. But guess what, they're looking to get into a new business, the search engine business, and this is a very crowded and competitive field. Obviously, Google dominates this business, sort of becoming a generic term, like Kleenex, Band-Aid.
HEMMER: Googling.
SERWER: I'll Google you, right?
And they're looking to get into - the new Web site's called A9.com, so they're going to be competing with Google, Yahoo!. Also, Microsoft getting into this business, a very fast changing business - Google, also rolling out a new service where they're going to have search engines be localized, so that if you search here, say, in New York City, you get more New York City responses. If you search in San Diego, you get more San Diego stuff.
HEMMER: Makes sense.
SERWER: It does. I'm not quite sure why Amazon is doing this, but they're always looking to expand their business, a very aggressive company.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk retail, Federated, which I actually thought had huge, massive financial problems, is looking to buy something.
SERWER: Well, this business, the department store business, Soledad, has been rife with problems, because people have been going to malls instead of the big stores. Federated owns Macy's and Bloomingdale's. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about Target, looking to sell its Marshall Field's line of department stores. That's about 60 stores in the Midwest, mostly. Marshall Field's, Dayton-Hudson (ph) as well. And now it looks like Federated might be the buyer.
Federated owns Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Rich's and Lazarus, about 460 stores. And the reason why analysts like this, Soledad, is because Federated has been very good at keeping brands distinct, like the Rich's and Macy's and Bloomingdale's. So it might be a very good fit. But, again, as you indicated, this business is not so healthy. Maybe more consolidation.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. Time for the market, or no?
HEMMER: I don't know, do we?
SERWER: I think we do. We always have a little bit of time for the market.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Yesterday, a little bit of a down day for the markets. We slipped a little bit. And you see this during earnings season, back and forth tug of war, inflation worries bothering the market. Tech earnings, Apple did terrific this morning, Citigroup looking really good, but the bin Laden tape may rattle things a bit.
HEMMER: I see. Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: OK, you're welcome.
O'BRIEN: OK, Andy, thank you very much. Still to come this morning, Donald Trump, making his choice, who will hear the words "You're hired." (UNINTELLIGIBLE) movies and Britney's crack at reality TV all ahead in our "90-Second Pop" in just a few minutes on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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