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American Morning

Friends and Relatives of Thomas Hamill Celebrating His Freedom

Aired May 03, 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.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLIE HAMILL, THOMAS HAMILL'S WIFE: And I want to thank everybody for the support that they have given us at this time, but he is fine. He is doing real well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Kelly Hamill, looking forward to her reunion with her husband Thomas who escaped his Iraqi captors.

Severe reprimands for soldiers connected to the abuse of prisoners in Iraq.

And the search for more victims of deadly southern flooding.

Those stories all ahead 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: Good morning, welcome everybody. Bill Hemmer has the day off. Miles O'Brien, though, in his place. It's nice to have you, thanks for being here.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good to be here.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: We sure appreciate it. More on those two big stories out of Iraq.

We should mention that Thomas Hamill has now landed in Landstuhl, Germany, and we are expecting at our 8:30 hour to hear from some of the soldiers, as well, that helped in his recovery, so that's just ahead this morning.

Also, we'll be talking with Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt about Thomas Hamill's escape as well.

And the brass handing down punishment in connection with the prisoner abuse at the hands of coalition troops. We're going to ask just how those stories of abuse are effecting the effort to gain the calm in Iraq.

MILES O'BRIEN: Also, we'll talk to the defense team whose efforts will likely keep Jayson Williams from a long stretch in prison.

Also here this morning, Jack Cafferty -- good morning, Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Miles.

If you look at Iraq and ask what's wrong with this picture the answer is how much time do you have?

The string of things going haywire over there absolutely boggles the mind. We're going to look at a couple of them in a few minutes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right.

MILES O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Jack.

Let's check the headlines.

The U.S. military has reprimanded at least six senior commissioned and non-commissioned officers in connection with the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

Photos released last week show what appears to be U.S. soldiers abusing and humiliating prisoners inside the Abu Ghraib prison outside of Baghdad.

Details of the reprimands will not be released. Six other soldiers are being criminally investigated for their involvement in those acts. Much more on this story all throughout the program.

Some terrorism related arrests in Turkey. Police there have detained 16 people suspected of planning a bomb attack during the upcoming NATO summit in Istanbul. Police say the suspects are believed to be members of a group linked to al Qaeda.

President Bush expecting to attend the NATO meeting set for next month.

Meantime, President Bush kicks off a two-day bus tour today. He'll meet with voters in Michigan and Ohio, and Democratic candidate John Kerry is launching a new $25 million TV ad campaign. The commercials, which highlight his biography and service in Vietnam and will air in battleground states.

Delta Airlines flying back on schedule after a computer glitch. A company spokesman says dozens of flights were cancelled over the weekend, many more delayed.

The Federal Aviation Administration says the problem was linked to preparation for flight and gate information; was not related to security in any way. The cause of the error is being investigated.

And severe thunderstorms in Texas over the weekend being blamed for at least six deaths. The heavy rains began Friday night causing flashfloods across the northern part of the state. Tree limbs were down, some homes damaged. The worst apparently not over.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Wow, what a mess there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Friends and relatives of Thomas Hamill are celebrating his freedom this morning. The American contractor was captured on April 9th when his convoy was attacked.

He made a daring escape from his Iraqi captors over the weekend, prying open a door and then making a half mile run to a U.S. convoy.

Hamill was held hostage for more than three weeks; he's now arrived in Germany. And in Hamill's hometown of Macon, Mississippi they have some big plans to honor their hometown hero.

National correspondent Bob Franken is there this morning. He joins us live. Hey Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, and they've already celebrated here for the better part of 24 hours.

They're going to have a parade when he returns -- a parade that is going to celebrate the returning hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: Kellie Hamill is headed out of town to ultimately meet up with her husband, but first she had to try to somehow express her gratitude here at home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love you dearly.

FRANKEN: Her neighbors have kept her spirits from sinking when she didn't really know whether she'd ever see her Tommy alive again.

HAMILL: Oh, well, I want to thank everybody for the support that they have given us at this time, but he is fine -- he's doing real well.

FRANKEN: After the initial frightening video showing Hamill held hostage by unknown enemy captors, he dropped out of sight. Emotions here have risen and fallen with the good and bad news about other hostages.

But now there was good news.

JASON HIGGENBOTHOM, HAMILL'S COUSIN: The Lord gives opportunities and we just, you know, you just have to know when to take them, and Tommy realized when to take it, and he did, and now he's coming home to us.

FRANKEN: Hamill had volunteered to go into harms way. In the shaky economy he needed the big money Halliburton paid him to be a civilian truck driver in the Iraqi danger zone.

It is a story that has had a tragic end for so many, but a tragic end he was literally able to escape.

HAMILL: Well, he told me he was coming home -- that's all he said -- and I'm (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

FRANKEN: Tommy Hamill has quite a story to tell and nobody is going to want to hear it more than the people of this town, because while he was not giving up, they were not giving up -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Bob Franken in Macon for us this morning -- Bob, thanks, and of course we'll continue to check in with Bob throughout the morning.

Thomas Hamill was kidnapped near Baghdad, but he turned up 100 miles away near Saddam Hussein's ancestral home in Tikrit.

Just a bit earlier I spoke with Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt about Hamill's great escape, and also about those allegations of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners.

We begin, though, with the circumstances behind Hamill's escape, and if Gen. Kimmitt had any more information as to exactly what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: Thomas was taken off today; he has left Iraq and headed to Landstuhl. We didn't have a long time to talk to him, but the circumstances are pretty well recorded.

He heard Army vehicles, he crawled out of a house from behind the door, caught up with the Army convoy -- not only did he link up with that convoy and identify himself as an American, but he took the convoy back to capture a couple of Iraqis in the process.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's a pretty amazing story. Is it your expectation that you're going to be able to take his experience and learn something about not only who captured him but something about their methods as well? Are you able to get more valuable information about this?

KIMMITT: Yes, we certainly are. And we're hoping that every piece of information that we get -- that he gives us -- gets us one step closer to capturing all the -- regaining all the people who have been captured.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Have you learned anything about those who were doing the kidnapping from Thomas Hamill's experience -- and I understand that you haven't had a tremendous amount of time to talk to him.

KIMMITT: Well, it's not just that but I think we want to keep some of this intelligence and operational details private at the moment.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners that took place at Abu Ghraib prison. The commander now seems to be saying that it really comes down to the fault of interrogators there, some of them from the CIA, some of them from the military. Is that the case, do you think?

KIMMITT: Well, I don't know if we should be focusing on specific organizations as much as individual conduct that we saw in those photos.

I'm not sure what organizations those people were from, but I can tell you that what they were doing in those photos is absolutely wrong, deplorable and they should be investigated and prosecuted.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: A lot of this information seems to be coming out, certainly if you read Cy Hersh's report in the "New Yorker" out of a general's report -- General Taguba, have you read the general's report, which I believe came out in March?

KIMMITT: No, I haven't read that report.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: So, he has said in this report that some of this was going on was widespread it was not a few bad apples as we seem to hear from Gen. Myers, that in fact it was a pervasive problem.

Is that the case, or is it just a handful of military personnel enlisted and some officers that have now been reprimanded that are the problem there?

KIMMITT: Well, everything that we have seen so far from the investigation -- six criminal counts against individuals along with quite a few more administrative actions say around ten on the part of others that would indicate that of the thousands of detainees that we had at Abu Ghraib and hundreds and hundreds of people associated with the supervision and the care that if, in fact, it is a very small group of people and a small number of incidences.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who has been talking to some media, has said that a lot of us, again while it was under her control, actually there was a sense of direction from these civilian or military cases -- interrogators who were advising not only the military officers who were in charge, but also some of these enlisted folks who have now as you mentioned faced charges and court marshal as well, that there was this tone and this tenor of do what you have to do to humiliate these prisoners so that they will be better people to be able to interrogate.

Is there any truth to that?

KIMMITT: Well, we heard those same reports and that's exactly why Gen. Sanchez ordered another investigation a few months back, and that investigation is covering the military intelligence aspect of this case.

So we're not going to let any stone remain unturned before we find out what happened and how we can make sure this never happens again.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Cy Hersh has written a really incredible article in "New Yorker" magazine -- we're going to have more with him on the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners when he joins us at the bottom of this hour -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: More news to catch up on. U.S. Army troops have begun a tank assault in Najaf, Iraq.

Military officials say a U.S. Army base there was attacked over night from suspected followers of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr.

As many as 18 mourners (ph) fired at the base in three separate attacks. The attack damaged armored Humvees. No injuries reported, however. It follows a weekend of violence in which 11 U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is considering his options now that his own party has voted not to support his so-called disengagement plan.

Under Sharon's plan, which has been backed by President Bush, Israel would remove all of its settlements and military outposts from the Gaza Strip and most of the West Bank. Sharon's Lakud Party yesterday voted against the plan by a 20-point margin.

During the next few days, he's going to consult with his cabinet and members of his governing coalition about the defeat.

Sharon added he will not resign. As voting was underway, Palestinian gunmen killed a pregnant woman and her four children near a Jewish settlement in Gaza. Sharon said the violence was designed to stir popular anger against his plan.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, charges of abuse of Iraqi prisoners -- is the problem even more widespread than thought? We're going to talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Cy Hersh just ahead.

MILES O'BRIEN: Jayson Williams acquitted of manslaughter but the former NBA star could still serve time. We'll hear from his attorneys next.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And can only the rich afford to be thin? Some people say its true. That's all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: Jayson Williams faces jail time for his convictions on charges related to witness tampering and attempts to cover up the shooting of a limo driver at his home, but his acquittal Friday on the most serious charge, aggravated manslaughter, is a major legal victory for the former NBA star.

Joining us now from Washington to talk about the verdict, Williams' attorney Billy Martin and his colleague Shawn Wright. Good to have you both with us.

BILLY MARTIN, WILLIAMS DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Mr. Wright you've -- or excuse me -- Mr. Martin, you've gotten a lot of good press in the wake of all of this for your strategy.

Is there anything in particular that comes to mind that you feel was uppermost that made you prevail?

MARTIN: Sure. We said all along that this case was flawed from the beginning by the prosecutors when they refused and failed to present this case to a grand jury.

The jury -- the trial jury -- the other day spoke recently and very loud about what they thought about the evidence.

They did not believe some of the -- their key witnesses -- and they thought it was an accident and not a crime. During the grand jury stage of this case no witnesses other than police officers were presented.

We've always argued that if their presentation to the grand jury would have included presented Benoit Benjamin, Kent Culuko, and all of the other witnesses, including the Globe Trotters, to a grand jury. We believe a grand jury would have reached the same decision that the trial jury reached that this was an accident and not a crime.

MILES O'BRIEN: Ms. Wright, there was one charge that the jury was unable to come up with a verdict on -- prosecution could of course bring Mr. Williams to trial again. Do you think that's likely?

SHAWN WRIGHT, WILLIAMS DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don't want to guess on that, Miles. I think it was important that it was eight to four to acquit and I think the prosecution -- the state -- should take all that into consideration.

Take into consideration what the jurors after this case were saying about the evidence and that they believed this was an accident and I hope they consider all those circumstances before they decide whether or not to bring charges.

MILES O'BRIEN: Mr. Martin, what do you think the likely punishment will be in all of this?

MARTIN: That's a difficult call and one of the concerns we have is that if a jury believes that this was an accident and not a crime, we really hope that Jayson Williams will be treated just like everybody else has been treated.

As you know, the only two people charged in this case were Mr. Gordnick and Mr. Culuko.

Mr. Gordnick was given pre-trial intervention, which means that after this case is over his case is wiped clear from the records. He will have no conviction for this -- the same for Mr. Culuko so the prosecution gave them gifts. We're hoping that Jayson will be treated fairly.

If the state thought there was a strong enough case to send them to jail or even to keep criminal records, we hope they take that same view toward Jayson Williams.

MILES O'BRIEN: Ms. Wright, there's an irony here that Mr. Williams has been found guilty of covering up a crime he's not guilty of committing. What's the message there?

WRIGHT: Oh, wow -- one, I think the message is that the prosecution overcharged this case.

I think it's as Mr. Martin said if they had carefully listened to all their witnesses done an objective investigation and presented all the exact witnesses before the grand jury then we would have been just dealing with what occurred after and whether or not anyone thought that was obstructing something that like as you said was not a crime.

MILES O'BRIEN: Mr. Martin, final thought here right after the shooting Mr. Williams is quoted as saying my life is over -- does he have a new lease on life now or is it too early to say?

MARTIN: Well, I think Jayson and Tanya Williams have real strong spiritual beliefs and I really think that they have a new look on life, they have a new opportunities.

Jayson now has two new children, he has two daughters -- wisdom and triumph and I hope that this is new opportunity for he and his wife Tanya and their children absolutely every day is a blessing and they understand that.

MILES O'BRIEN: Billy Martin and Shawn Wright, thank you very much, and congratulations on your successful defense.

MARTIN: Thank you.

MILES O'BRIEN: Soledad.

MARTIN: Thank you, Miles.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Well to business news now, and the question is can only the rich afford to cut carbs?

With that and a preview of the market Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." Hey, Andy, good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: The short answer, yes.

SERWER: I think it is. A lot of people knew that intuitively, and now there's new work out there that shows that rich and thin do go together. A story in "USA Today" this morning outlining all of this. It actually does cost more money to lose weight.

Protein costs more, people. That's the bottom line. Carbs are cheap and obesity and overweightness, if you will, are more prevalent among people with lower incomes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Overweightness?

SERWER: Overweightness -- that's a typical...

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Did you make that up?

SERWER: I did. I just did. Miles taught us that.

Sorry, Miles. Anyway, let's check out what a diet would cost -- how much those low carb diets cost versus say just a regular USDA mandated diet on a daily basis.

You can see its doubled up and you know this story in "USA Today" talks about some of these diets and how much -- listen to this -- so an Atkins Diet, a tomato-stuffed shrimp salad, braised short ribs, Canadian bacon, raspberry and a green salad with vinaigrette -- I mean, how many people living on say an income of $20-30-40,000 a year for a family of four can afford that kind of food?

More and more Americans eating at convenience stores. And it's very hard to get those kinds of food on that kind of a budget.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: My friends who are on this diet said that they just cook all the time; that they're constantly -- which is also time consuming. Who's got the time to do that, as well?

SERWER: It really is.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about the market. Not good.

SERWER: Not good, no. The month was bad, the week was bad and all we can hope for is some respite going forward. Here we are for the week. A weak week, Miles.

That's what we would call that. Then let's check out the month. April showers -- yes. Yes, indeed. And in fact the markets are now down for the year overall.

Futures up this morning, though, Soledad. Talk of lower oil prices.

MILES O'BRIEN: Maybe there's some overweightness in those...

SERWER: We're going to talk about overweightness all morning, I suspect, aren't we?

MILES O'BRIEN: I suspect so.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Andy, you have my permission, whatever you want to say you go ahead.

SERWER: It's tough being the subject of...

MILES O'BRIEN: It really is, it is.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Thanks Andy. Still to come this morning, a happy reunion in the works for a former Iraqi captive and his family.

We're going to hear from a very relieved relative just ahead.

Plus, Arnold Schwarzenegger trying to put an end to a charity campaign. We'll explain in just a moment as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Welcome back. We're back with the Cafferty File and the "Question of the Day" with Jack. Good morning.

CAFFERTY: Good morning, Soledad. The news out of Iraq is just mind-boggling. April the bloodies month for U.S. troops, 11 more soldiers killed over the weekend.

Resistance to coalition forces in places like Fallujah and Najaf, no sign of abatement there.

Pictures of tortured Iraqi prisoners circling the globe now -- further enhancing our already battered image around the world.

The torture being carried out at Saddam Hussein's most notorious prison that was smart. Now the United States deciding to put some of Saddam's guys back in power.

The U.S. is recruiting between 1- and 2,000 officers from the Baath Party. Should come as real comforting news to all the Shiites in the southern part of the country.

One former general wearing his old uniform said he was proud of having served under Saddam Hussein. Now he's leading 1,000 Iraqi soldiers in Fallujah.

The question is are things in Iraq so bad that Saddam's former generals should be put back in charge? The irony is absolutely crippling. am@cnn.com. If anybody had told you all of this stuff was possible a year ago, nobody would have believed you.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, hard to believe it's really just been a year.

CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right, Jack, thanks.

MILES O'BRIEN: What a year. California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to terminate a project by a pair of brothers in Ohio. At issue is the making and selling of a bobble head doll in Schwarzenegger's likeness wearing a suit along with an ammunition belt and carrying a gun.

What's the problem? I don't know. Schwarzenegger wants the doll sale stopped but the brothers say -- is he getting a thin skin? -- maybe? -- I don't know -- he is a public figure; they say and therefore can no longer control his image.

They plan to fight for the doll in court. A cancer research charity gets about a quarter of the 1995 sale price for each doll and that should be worth it right there.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And I wonder how much more publicity he has just given to the bobble head doll.

MILES O'BRIEN: Maybe that's the whole point. This is to help the charity?

CAFFERTY: The other question is are all the issues in California solved now? There's absolutely nothing for the governor of California to worry about except whether they're selling some stupid bobble head doll?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Sounds like Chicago doesn't it Jack?

CAFFERTY: But please don't write to us or call us or bother us; we don't want to talk to you.

MILES O'BRIEN: In any way shape or form.

CAFFERTY: That's right. Leave us alone.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, plenty of moving and shaking coming up on our "90-Second Pop" and some girls behaving badly; that's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired May 3, 2004 - 07:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLIE HAMILL, THOMAS HAMILL'S WIFE: And I want to thank everybody for the support that they have given us at this time, but he is fine. He is doing real well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Kelly Hamill, looking forward to her reunion with her husband Thomas who escaped his Iraqi captors.

Severe reprimands for soldiers connected to the abuse of prisoners in Iraq.

And the search for more victims of deadly southern flooding.

Those stories all ahead 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: Good morning, welcome everybody. Bill Hemmer has the day off. Miles O'Brien, though, in his place. It's nice to have you, thanks for being here.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good to be here.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: We sure appreciate it. More on those two big stories out of Iraq.

We should mention that Thomas Hamill has now landed in Landstuhl, Germany, and we are expecting at our 8:30 hour to hear from some of the soldiers, as well, that helped in his recovery, so that's just ahead this morning.

Also, we'll be talking with Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt about Thomas Hamill's escape as well.

And the brass handing down punishment in connection with the prisoner abuse at the hands of coalition troops. We're going to ask just how those stories of abuse are effecting the effort to gain the calm in Iraq.

MILES O'BRIEN: Also, we'll talk to the defense team whose efforts will likely keep Jayson Williams from a long stretch in prison.

Also here this morning, Jack Cafferty -- good morning, Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Miles.

If you look at Iraq and ask what's wrong with this picture the answer is how much time do you have?

The string of things going haywire over there absolutely boggles the mind. We're going to look at a couple of them in a few minutes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right.

MILES O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Jack.

Let's check the headlines.

The U.S. military has reprimanded at least six senior commissioned and non-commissioned officers in connection with the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

Photos released last week show what appears to be U.S. soldiers abusing and humiliating prisoners inside the Abu Ghraib prison outside of Baghdad.

Details of the reprimands will not be released. Six other soldiers are being criminally investigated for their involvement in those acts. Much more on this story all throughout the program.

Some terrorism related arrests in Turkey. Police there have detained 16 people suspected of planning a bomb attack during the upcoming NATO summit in Istanbul. Police say the suspects are believed to be members of a group linked to al Qaeda.

President Bush expecting to attend the NATO meeting set for next month.

Meantime, President Bush kicks off a two-day bus tour today. He'll meet with voters in Michigan and Ohio, and Democratic candidate John Kerry is launching a new $25 million TV ad campaign. The commercials, which highlight his biography and service in Vietnam and will air in battleground states.

Delta Airlines flying back on schedule after a computer glitch. A company spokesman says dozens of flights were cancelled over the weekend, many more delayed.

The Federal Aviation Administration says the problem was linked to preparation for flight and gate information; was not related to security in any way. The cause of the error is being investigated.

And severe thunderstorms in Texas over the weekend being blamed for at least six deaths. The heavy rains began Friday night causing flashfloods across the northern part of the state. Tree limbs were down, some homes damaged. The worst apparently not over.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Wow, what a mess there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Friends and relatives of Thomas Hamill are celebrating his freedom this morning. The American contractor was captured on April 9th when his convoy was attacked.

He made a daring escape from his Iraqi captors over the weekend, prying open a door and then making a half mile run to a U.S. convoy.

Hamill was held hostage for more than three weeks; he's now arrived in Germany. And in Hamill's hometown of Macon, Mississippi they have some big plans to honor their hometown hero.

National correspondent Bob Franken is there this morning. He joins us live. Hey Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, and they've already celebrated here for the better part of 24 hours.

They're going to have a parade when he returns -- a parade that is going to celebrate the returning hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: Kellie Hamill is headed out of town to ultimately meet up with her husband, but first she had to try to somehow express her gratitude here at home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love you dearly.

FRANKEN: Her neighbors have kept her spirits from sinking when she didn't really know whether she'd ever see her Tommy alive again.

HAMILL: Oh, well, I want to thank everybody for the support that they have given us at this time, but he is fine -- he's doing real well.

FRANKEN: After the initial frightening video showing Hamill held hostage by unknown enemy captors, he dropped out of sight. Emotions here have risen and fallen with the good and bad news about other hostages.

But now there was good news.

JASON HIGGENBOTHOM, HAMILL'S COUSIN: The Lord gives opportunities and we just, you know, you just have to know when to take them, and Tommy realized when to take it, and he did, and now he's coming home to us.

FRANKEN: Hamill had volunteered to go into harms way. In the shaky economy he needed the big money Halliburton paid him to be a civilian truck driver in the Iraqi danger zone.

It is a story that has had a tragic end for so many, but a tragic end he was literally able to escape.

HAMILL: Well, he told me he was coming home -- that's all he said -- and I'm (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

FRANKEN: Tommy Hamill has quite a story to tell and nobody is going to want to hear it more than the people of this town, because while he was not giving up, they were not giving up -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Bob Franken in Macon for us this morning -- Bob, thanks, and of course we'll continue to check in with Bob throughout the morning.

Thomas Hamill was kidnapped near Baghdad, but he turned up 100 miles away near Saddam Hussein's ancestral home in Tikrit.

Just a bit earlier I spoke with Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt about Hamill's great escape, and also about those allegations of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners.

We begin, though, with the circumstances behind Hamill's escape, and if Gen. Kimmitt had any more information as to exactly what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: Thomas was taken off today; he has left Iraq and headed to Landstuhl. We didn't have a long time to talk to him, but the circumstances are pretty well recorded.

He heard Army vehicles, he crawled out of a house from behind the door, caught up with the Army convoy -- not only did he link up with that convoy and identify himself as an American, but he took the convoy back to capture a couple of Iraqis in the process.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's a pretty amazing story. Is it your expectation that you're going to be able to take his experience and learn something about not only who captured him but something about their methods as well? Are you able to get more valuable information about this?

KIMMITT: Yes, we certainly are. And we're hoping that every piece of information that we get -- that he gives us -- gets us one step closer to capturing all the -- regaining all the people who have been captured.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Have you learned anything about those who were doing the kidnapping from Thomas Hamill's experience -- and I understand that you haven't had a tremendous amount of time to talk to him.

KIMMITT: Well, it's not just that but I think we want to keep some of this intelligence and operational details private at the moment.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners that took place at Abu Ghraib prison. The commander now seems to be saying that it really comes down to the fault of interrogators there, some of them from the CIA, some of them from the military. Is that the case, do you think?

KIMMITT: Well, I don't know if we should be focusing on specific organizations as much as individual conduct that we saw in those photos.

I'm not sure what organizations those people were from, but I can tell you that what they were doing in those photos is absolutely wrong, deplorable and they should be investigated and prosecuted.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: A lot of this information seems to be coming out, certainly if you read Cy Hersh's report in the "New Yorker" out of a general's report -- General Taguba, have you read the general's report, which I believe came out in March?

KIMMITT: No, I haven't read that report.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: So, he has said in this report that some of this was going on was widespread it was not a few bad apples as we seem to hear from Gen. Myers, that in fact it was a pervasive problem.

Is that the case, or is it just a handful of military personnel enlisted and some officers that have now been reprimanded that are the problem there?

KIMMITT: Well, everything that we have seen so far from the investigation -- six criminal counts against individuals along with quite a few more administrative actions say around ten on the part of others that would indicate that of the thousands of detainees that we had at Abu Ghraib and hundreds and hundreds of people associated with the supervision and the care that if, in fact, it is a very small group of people and a small number of incidences.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who has been talking to some media, has said that a lot of us, again while it was under her control, actually there was a sense of direction from these civilian or military cases -- interrogators who were advising not only the military officers who were in charge, but also some of these enlisted folks who have now as you mentioned faced charges and court marshal as well, that there was this tone and this tenor of do what you have to do to humiliate these prisoners so that they will be better people to be able to interrogate.

Is there any truth to that?

KIMMITT: Well, we heard those same reports and that's exactly why Gen. Sanchez ordered another investigation a few months back, and that investigation is covering the military intelligence aspect of this case.

So we're not going to let any stone remain unturned before we find out what happened and how we can make sure this never happens again.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Cy Hersh has written a really incredible article in "New Yorker" magazine -- we're going to have more with him on the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners when he joins us at the bottom of this hour -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: More news to catch up on. U.S. Army troops have begun a tank assault in Najaf, Iraq.

Military officials say a U.S. Army base there was attacked over night from suspected followers of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr.

As many as 18 mourners (ph) fired at the base in three separate attacks. The attack damaged armored Humvees. No injuries reported, however. It follows a weekend of violence in which 11 U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is considering his options now that his own party has voted not to support his so-called disengagement plan.

Under Sharon's plan, which has been backed by President Bush, Israel would remove all of its settlements and military outposts from the Gaza Strip and most of the West Bank. Sharon's Lakud Party yesterday voted against the plan by a 20-point margin.

During the next few days, he's going to consult with his cabinet and members of his governing coalition about the defeat.

Sharon added he will not resign. As voting was underway, Palestinian gunmen killed a pregnant woman and her four children near a Jewish settlement in Gaza. Sharon said the violence was designed to stir popular anger against his plan.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, charges of abuse of Iraqi prisoners -- is the problem even more widespread than thought? We're going to talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Cy Hersh just ahead.

MILES O'BRIEN: Jayson Williams acquitted of manslaughter but the former NBA star could still serve time. We'll hear from his attorneys next.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And can only the rich afford to be thin? Some people say its true. That's all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

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MILES O'BRIEN: Jayson Williams faces jail time for his convictions on charges related to witness tampering and attempts to cover up the shooting of a limo driver at his home, but his acquittal Friday on the most serious charge, aggravated manslaughter, is a major legal victory for the former NBA star.

Joining us now from Washington to talk about the verdict, Williams' attorney Billy Martin and his colleague Shawn Wright. Good to have you both with us.

BILLY MARTIN, WILLIAMS DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Mr. Wright you've -- or excuse me -- Mr. Martin, you've gotten a lot of good press in the wake of all of this for your strategy.

Is there anything in particular that comes to mind that you feel was uppermost that made you prevail?

MARTIN: Sure. We said all along that this case was flawed from the beginning by the prosecutors when they refused and failed to present this case to a grand jury.

The jury -- the trial jury -- the other day spoke recently and very loud about what they thought about the evidence.

They did not believe some of the -- their key witnesses -- and they thought it was an accident and not a crime. During the grand jury stage of this case no witnesses other than police officers were presented.

We've always argued that if their presentation to the grand jury would have included presented Benoit Benjamin, Kent Culuko, and all of the other witnesses, including the Globe Trotters, to a grand jury. We believe a grand jury would have reached the same decision that the trial jury reached that this was an accident and not a crime.

MILES O'BRIEN: Ms. Wright, there was one charge that the jury was unable to come up with a verdict on -- prosecution could of course bring Mr. Williams to trial again. Do you think that's likely?

SHAWN WRIGHT, WILLIAMS DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don't want to guess on that, Miles. I think it was important that it was eight to four to acquit and I think the prosecution -- the state -- should take all that into consideration.

Take into consideration what the jurors after this case were saying about the evidence and that they believed this was an accident and I hope they consider all those circumstances before they decide whether or not to bring charges.

MILES O'BRIEN: Mr. Martin, what do you think the likely punishment will be in all of this?

MARTIN: That's a difficult call and one of the concerns we have is that if a jury believes that this was an accident and not a crime, we really hope that Jayson Williams will be treated just like everybody else has been treated.

As you know, the only two people charged in this case were Mr. Gordnick and Mr. Culuko.

Mr. Gordnick was given pre-trial intervention, which means that after this case is over his case is wiped clear from the records. He will have no conviction for this -- the same for Mr. Culuko so the prosecution gave them gifts. We're hoping that Jayson will be treated fairly.

If the state thought there was a strong enough case to send them to jail or even to keep criminal records, we hope they take that same view toward Jayson Williams.

MILES O'BRIEN: Ms. Wright, there's an irony here that Mr. Williams has been found guilty of covering up a crime he's not guilty of committing. What's the message there?

WRIGHT: Oh, wow -- one, I think the message is that the prosecution overcharged this case.

I think it's as Mr. Martin said if they had carefully listened to all their witnesses done an objective investigation and presented all the exact witnesses before the grand jury then we would have been just dealing with what occurred after and whether or not anyone thought that was obstructing something that like as you said was not a crime.

MILES O'BRIEN: Mr. Martin, final thought here right after the shooting Mr. Williams is quoted as saying my life is over -- does he have a new lease on life now or is it too early to say?

MARTIN: Well, I think Jayson and Tanya Williams have real strong spiritual beliefs and I really think that they have a new look on life, they have a new opportunities.

Jayson now has two new children, he has two daughters -- wisdom and triumph and I hope that this is new opportunity for he and his wife Tanya and their children absolutely every day is a blessing and they understand that.

MILES O'BRIEN: Billy Martin and Shawn Wright, thank you very much, and congratulations on your successful defense.

MARTIN: Thank you.

MILES O'BRIEN: Soledad.

MARTIN: Thank you, Miles.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Well to business news now, and the question is can only the rich afford to cut carbs?

With that and a preview of the market Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." Hey, Andy, good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: The short answer, yes.

SERWER: I think it is. A lot of people knew that intuitively, and now there's new work out there that shows that rich and thin do go together. A story in "USA Today" this morning outlining all of this. It actually does cost more money to lose weight.

Protein costs more, people. That's the bottom line. Carbs are cheap and obesity and overweightness, if you will, are more prevalent among people with lower incomes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Overweightness?

SERWER: Overweightness -- that's a typical...

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Did you make that up?

SERWER: I did. I just did. Miles taught us that.

Sorry, Miles. Anyway, let's check out what a diet would cost -- how much those low carb diets cost versus say just a regular USDA mandated diet on a daily basis.

You can see its doubled up and you know this story in "USA Today" talks about some of these diets and how much -- listen to this -- so an Atkins Diet, a tomato-stuffed shrimp salad, braised short ribs, Canadian bacon, raspberry and a green salad with vinaigrette -- I mean, how many people living on say an income of $20-30-40,000 a year for a family of four can afford that kind of food?

More and more Americans eating at convenience stores. And it's very hard to get those kinds of food on that kind of a budget.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: My friends who are on this diet said that they just cook all the time; that they're constantly -- which is also time consuming. Who's got the time to do that, as well?

SERWER: It really is.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about the market. Not good.

SERWER: Not good, no. The month was bad, the week was bad and all we can hope for is some respite going forward. Here we are for the week. A weak week, Miles.

That's what we would call that. Then let's check out the month. April showers -- yes. Yes, indeed. And in fact the markets are now down for the year overall.

Futures up this morning, though, Soledad. Talk of lower oil prices.

MILES O'BRIEN: Maybe there's some overweightness in those...

SERWER: We're going to talk about overweightness all morning, I suspect, aren't we?

MILES O'BRIEN: I suspect so.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Andy, you have my permission, whatever you want to say you go ahead.

SERWER: It's tough being the subject of...

MILES O'BRIEN: It really is, it is.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Thanks Andy. Still to come this morning, a happy reunion in the works for a former Iraqi captive and his family.

We're going to hear from a very relieved relative just ahead.

Plus, Arnold Schwarzenegger trying to put an end to a charity campaign. We'll explain in just a moment as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

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SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Welcome back. We're back with the Cafferty File and the "Question of the Day" with Jack. Good morning.

CAFFERTY: Good morning, Soledad. The news out of Iraq is just mind-boggling. April the bloodies month for U.S. troops, 11 more soldiers killed over the weekend.

Resistance to coalition forces in places like Fallujah and Najaf, no sign of abatement there.

Pictures of tortured Iraqi prisoners circling the globe now -- further enhancing our already battered image around the world.

The torture being carried out at Saddam Hussein's most notorious prison that was smart. Now the United States deciding to put some of Saddam's guys back in power.

The U.S. is recruiting between 1- and 2,000 officers from the Baath Party. Should come as real comforting news to all the Shiites in the southern part of the country.

One former general wearing his old uniform said he was proud of having served under Saddam Hussein. Now he's leading 1,000 Iraqi soldiers in Fallujah.

The question is are things in Iraq so bad that Saddam's former generals should be put back in charge? The irony is absolutely crippling. am@cnn.com. If anybody had told you all of this stuff was possible a year ago, nobody would have believed you.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, hard to believe it's really just been a year.

CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right, Jack, thanks.

MILES O'BRIEN: What a year. California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to terminate a project by a pair of brothers in Ohio. At issue is the making and selling of a bobble head doll in Schwarzenegger's likeness wearing a suit along with an ammunition belt and carrying a gun.

What's the problem? I don't know. Schwarzenegger wants the doll sale stopped but the brothers say -- is he getting a thin skin? -- maybe? -- I don't know -- he is a public figure; they say and therefore can no longer control his image.

They plan to fight for the doll in court. A cancer research charity gets about a quarter of the 1995 sale price for each doll and that should be worth it right there.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And I wonder how much more publicity he has just given to the bobble head doll.

MILES O'BRIEN: Maybe that's the whole point. This is to help the charity?

CAFFERTY: The other question is are all the issues in California solved now? There's absolutely nothing for the governor of California to worry about except whether they're selling some stupid bobble head doll?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Sounds like Chicago doesn't it Jack?

CAFFERTY: But please don't write to us or call us or bother us; we don't want to talk to you.

MILES O'BRIEN: In any way shape or form.

CAFFERTY: That's right. Leave us alone.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, plenty of moving and shaking coming up on our "90-Second Pop" and some girls behaving badly; that's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

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