Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Memorial Day Weekend Kicks Off Busy Summer Travel Season Despite Heightened Safety Concerns
Aired May 28, 2004 - 08:00 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The unofficial start of summer -- as Americans hit the road today, anti-terrorism plans start kicking in at potential targets.
More rain ahead for a flood ravaged island. Hundreds dead and thousands homeless in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
And the high price of gas makes for a high octane political contest. Both campaigns pitch a plan and a plan of attack on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
O'BRIEN: Good morning.
Welcome, everybody.
Bill Hemmer has the day off.
Anderson Cooper filling in, though, back to help us out once again.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: My pleasure.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.
COOPER: Doing all I can.
O'BRIEN: Well, you're doing a fine job, Mr. Cooper.
COOPER: Well, thank you.
O'BRIEN: We appreciate it.
Some of the news making headlines this morning, the summer travel season begins today and there are three big concerns -- the threat of terrorism, extra delays because of extra security and the high price of gasoline. We're going to hear from the FAA and the AAA this morning.
COOPER: Also, U.S. troops were attacked today just as a promised pullback was to take hold. We'll check in with the "Washington Post's" Baghdad bureau to find out how much control Muqtada al-Sadr still wields and the political intrigue over who will lead Iraq's transition government. That's ahead. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, we're going to meet a little girl who had a pretty big influence on the Nordstrom department stores. Her concerns, in fact, are probably shared by a lot of parents. The president of Nordstrom will be with us, as well, to talk about some of the changes the store made to accommodate her more modest tastes. Great story.
COOPER: And Jack has a few days of vacation, but AMERICAN MORNING regular Toure will be along later to help us out.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's get started, though, with the Memorial Day weekend. The weekend kicks off the summer travel season, of course, and despite heightened safety concerns, it looks to be a busy one for the airlines. Travelers are expected to be taking to the skies in some pretty big numbers. Here are some stats.
Some 200 million passengers expected to fly between Memorial Day and Labor Day. That would represent a 12 percent increase in air travel from last year and that would make it the busiest summer travel season since 2000.
As for this weekend's travelers, here's a breakdown by region of how many travelers are expected to fly. Out West, 1.3 million expected to take to the skies. In the Midwest, 1.1 million will be flying. In the Southeast, 800,000 are predicted to fly. And in the Northeast, 500,000 folks will fly to their holiday destinations -- Anderson.
COOPER: So, what can air travelers expect this weekend in terms of security and possible delays at airports?
Marion Blakey is the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Thanks for being on AMERICAN MORNING.
MARION BLAKEY, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: Good to be here.
COOPER: Let's talk first about security. These seven photos have been released. Has security been raised at all because of that?
BLAKEY: Well, certainly those photographs are being distributed very widely. And since two of them are pilots, we also make sure that they are available at airports and anywhere that we might see some of these people being there. So...
COOPER: So would you say that security has changed a little bit because of that?
BLAKEY: It certainly, we are disseminating that information very, very widely. And I think everyone is on alert that this is a real issue to try to track these people down. So, yes.
COOPER: This, if you read the newspapers this morning, they say travel is going to be up this summer over last summer.
How are the airlines prepared? Are they ready?
BLAKEY: I think the airlines are ready. In fact, when we see this kind of booming growth, it's great for the airlines. It does mean, though, that everyone should be prepared to get to the airport a little bit early, to make sure that they are ready in terms of going through the lines. Obviously, take off your jewelry, take off your metal things, put them in a Ziploc, put it in your bag.
COOPER: There should be some...
BLAKEY: Those are quick things you can do, you know.
COOPER: Some long lines this weekend, no doubt.
BLAKEY: There will be. And one of the things that we think should help is Secretary Mineta and I have just rolled out a new service. It's called Fly FAA Wireless. You can get it through your PDA or your cell phone. And basically what it means is that you can go there, punch in the airport that you want to fly out of, find out if there are any delays at that point, ground stops, thunderstorms, put in the airport you're going to, see what the situation is and then you can also check your specific flight.
COOPER: So how do you do that? It's on the Internet?
BLAKEY: It's on the Internet, www.faa.gov/wireless. That'll get you there and, as I say, it's going to be a service that people can real time find out what's going on.
COOPER: Should we be anticipating higher ticket prices? I mean gas prices going up, the airlines, I assume, are going to be reacting to that.
BLAKEY: Well, certainly the high prices of gas are hurting the airlines financially. But they are continuing to fly. In fact, they're putting more aircraft in the air and we anticipate that, for the most part, the delays in terms of in the air we'll be handling well. There are a few places that are tough right now -- Chicago. Chicago tends to get backed up. As you know, LaGuardia here in New York can be challenging.
But what we try to also urge people to do is as much as possible, stay away from the big crowded hubs. Try to fly in the middle of the day. If you can avoid the early mornings, late, you know, three or seven o'clock at night, you're doing yourself a favor, both because of conductive weather and that's when everyone wants to fly.
COOPER: All right, Marion Blakey, thanks very much.
BLAKEY: You're welcome.
COOPER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, hopes for a peaceful resolution of the tense situation in Najaf may not last very long. U.S. forces came under fire there today, just one day after a peace deal was supposedly reached with the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Meanwhile, U.S. troops released inmates from the Abu Ghraib Prison today. American forces briefly exchanged fire with attackers who shot at the convoy of prisoners.
The latest this morning comes to us from Baghdad from reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran. He is of the "Washington Post."
Nice to have you.
Thanks for being with us.
Let's get right into it.
This insurgent attack in Najaf, in spite of what appeared to be a negotiated deal, who exactly do we know were the attackers here?
RAJIV CHANDRASEKARAN, THE "WASHINGTON POST": Well, we don't know exactly. The belief is that they were loyalists or members of Muqtada al-Sadr's Al-Mahdi Army. And it certainly raises some questions about the compliance of this peace deal, which was kind of agreed to yesterday, in which Sadr's Mahdi Army would disband, members would lay down their weapons in exchange for Sadr eventually submitting himself to an Iraqi legal process. He's wanted in connection with the killing of a cleric in the south of -- southern part of Iraq last year.
Now, this -- these continued clashes certainly now will raise some questions as to whether the U.S. will be able to continue its pause in offensive operations. Yesterday, the American military command here announced that it would stop its offensive operations against Sadr.
So everybody's trying to figure out just what's going on there. But it's certainly a very tense situation in that town of Kufa, which is right next to Najaf, and today Muqtada al-Sadr did not show up to deliver Friday prayers, as he has normally done. So it remains to be a very sort of a fluid situation on the ground over there.
O'BRIEN: It also raises huge questions, one has to think, about exactly how much control Muqtada al-Sadr actually has over all of his militiamen.
CHANDRASEKARAN: That's correct. I mean the militia is not what you would call a well organized army with a lot of command and control. There is a belief among Western military experts, though, that, you know, they're all loyal to Muqtada and if Muqtada gives a clear message to cease and desist, they will do so. But certainly getting the word out to various groups of these militiamen, who are not just in Najaf, but in other cities across southern Iraq and even in parts of Baghdad, may take some time and compliance may be spotty.
O'BRIEN: Salama al-Khafaji, an IGC member who was attacked after meeting with the militia to try to negotiate parts of this deal. Her son was killed and some of her bodyguards, as well, but she survived the attack.
What are the implications, do you think, of another attack of a high ranking member of the Iraqi Governing Council?
CHANDRASEKARAN: Well, being on the Governing Council, being part of the political process here is certainly a very dangerous job these days. Not long ago, the acting president of the Governing Council, Izzadine Saleem, was assassinated in a car bombing here in Baghdad. It's, you know, they certainly are key targets for insurgents.
Now, Salama al-Khafaji said she believes her attackers were Saddam Hussein loyalists, not members of the Al-Mahdi Army. And it's known that the roads down south, between Baghdad and Najaf, are very volatile. Journalists have been killed, including employees of CNN, other Western contractors and Iraqis.
And so it, it's sort of a gauntlet there where there are pockets still of resistance. And this certainly could complicate efforts on the part of the United States and the U.N. as it forms an interim government to get people to participate, given the very grave risks people face as leaders of this country.
O'BRIEN: You have an interesting article where you talk a little about Hussain Sharistani. He, of course, declined the opportunity to be prime minister, when that was leaked. But you guys go behind the scenes and talk about the import and the effect that the exiled politicians really had on his saying no.
Tell me a little more about that.
CHANDRASEKARAN: Well, they're certainly playing a very big role here. The Americans have wanted to minimize their role, largely because they feel that many of these exiled politicians don't really command broad popular support. They were allies of the Americans before the war and during the war and they were given positions on the Governing Council, but they have failed in the last year to really build a broad base of support.
Hussain Sharistani, who is not a political figure, is a scientist, is a person who's been involved in a lot of humanitarian aid projects, was seen by the U.N. envoy here, Lakhdar Brahimi, as sort of the ideal candidate to be a prime minister, a person who might unite various political factions and serve to sort of be the leader of a caretaker government in the seven months before elections.
But the political parties headed by these exiles have objected, saying, you know, they want to be the ones leading this new government. And even though they don't command a whole lot of popular support on the streets, they still have enough clout to sort of make things difficult. And so as a result, Sharistani went to Brahimi on Tuesday night and said look, I really can't participate here. I'm not going to have the support of these parties, and if I don't have their support, there's no way I can do it.
And so now what we're hearing is that it's essentially forcing the United Nations and the U.S. administration here to turn toward these exiles, perhaps naming a former exile as a prime minister.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. Reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran joining us this morning.
Rajiv, thanks -- Anderson.
COOPER: Well, concentrating these days on national security, Senator John Kerry is also attacking the Bush administration about the high price of gasoline. Senator Kerry says he would reduce U.S. dependency on Mideast oil. Meanwhile, the Bush campaign is painting Senator Kerry as out of touch with regular Americans on the issues.
As we hear from Tom Forman now, it is an issue that could go all the way to November.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
05270003.v99
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: In a recent CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll, 47 percent of Americans said the increases in gas prices are causing them or their household financial hardship. Some 52 percent said they were not feeling the pinch.
O'BRIEN: Weather now as we head into the holiday weekend.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: It is just about 15 minutes past the hour.
Time to take a look at some of the other stories that are making news today with Heidi Collins -- hey, Heidi, good morning.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Soledad, thanks so much.
We want to let everybody know about this. Now, the FBI says tips are pouring in from the public after U.S. officials asked for help in locating seven people linked to al Qaeda, believed linked to al Qaeda, that is. The pictures of the seven people were shown during a news conference earlier this week. Since then, the FBI says more than 2,000 tips have come in. Government officials have also warned of potential terror attacks against the U.S. this summer.
A former U.S. prison inmate says images of an Army Reservist accused in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal come as no surprise to him. The former inmate says Specialist Charles Graner was a prison guard while he was serving a sentence at a Pennsylvania prison. Nicholas Yarris says Graner loved to taunt and provoke prisoners. Specialist Graner is among seven Reservists charged in the Iraqi prison scandal.
In California, they'll be talking bail today at a hearing in the Michael Jackson case. Attorneys for the pop star want the $3 million bail reduced. But prosecutors insist Jackson is a flight risk. Jackson is not expected to be in court today. The list of ailments linked to smoking is now getting a little longer. Surgeon General Richard Carmona says leukemia, stomach cancer, aneurisms and pneumonia are a few of the additional diseases now linked to smoking. Smoking related diseases kill nearly 500,000 Americans every year.
And a NASA space telescope has experts believing they've found a baby planet. And at about one million years old, it would be the youngest planet ever found, believe it or not, according to scientists. The Spitzer space telescope also found what's being called a stellar nursery. The discovery suggests that formation of earthlike planets may not be a rare occurrence in the universe after all -- Soledad, you know all about this, right?
O'BRIEN: Yes, the nursery, the babies.
COLLINS: Yes, the babies.
O'BRIEN: If you're a baby at a million, that's an old baby, I think.
COLLINS: It is.
O'BRIEN: All right, Heidi, thanks.
New relief shipments for flood ravaged towns in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are being planned by international organizations and U.S.-led troops. The Red Cross says at least 900 people have been killed after heavy rains wreaked havoc on the island last weekend. Rescuers are still trying to reach some of the remote villages, in fact.
Susan Candiotti joins us this morning by video phone in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic this morning -- Susan, good morning.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, here authorities aren't taking any chances. For example, they plan to spray disinfectant over the small town of Jamina, about 100 miles away from here, to prevent the onset of disease from decomposing bodies.
An estimated 340 people confirmed dead just in that area alone. Three hundred seventy-five remain missing. When that storm swept through on Sunday, it also carried away with it a lot of homes with sleeping families inside. And, again, they're trying to get more and more emergency supplies into that area.
Meantime, in neighboring Haiti, in a small town called Mapou, about 30 miles away from the capital of Port-au-Prince, that city, that small village located in a valley remains, much of it, under about 10 feet of water. People getting around on makeshift rafts. Drinking water very critically in need there and it is being flown in by a U.S.-led international force out of Port-au-Prince -- Soledad, back to you. O'BRIEN: All right, Susan Candiotti.
Wow, those pictures are pretty amazing.
Susan, thanks.
COOPER: It's just a horrific story there.
O'BRIEN: Oh my goodness.
COOPER: Just terrible.
O'BRIEN: All that damage. And they expect those numbers to go up way more than the 900 that they're now saying are dead, even maybe into, you know, well into the thousands.
COOPER: Yes, she was saying that in Haiti alone, there's one town where 1,000 people are missing. So it's just terrible.
O'BRIEN: Oh, it's horrible.
COOPER: Let's check in with Toure on a much lighter subject, the Question of the Day.
TOURE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE" MAGAZINE: Jeez, yes, I know. What a jump. What a jump. But we go to pop music to feel better about our day and about our -- so, the Question of the Day, is there pop life after 40? Are Madonna and Prince geezers out for more or are they mature artists?
The answer is yes...
COOPER: How is being in your 40s a geezer, by the way?
O'BRIEN: Hi. Ouch.
COOPER: When did that happen? As I'm edging toward 40, I'm like what?
TOURE: But you're not there yet and neither am I.
The correct answer is yes. But we've got answers from the people.
Mel from Cornwall-On-The-Hudson says: "Madonna, Prince, hey, the way Mick Jagger keeps keeping on, he seems determined to demonstrate that there's pop life at 80."
Good answer.
Betty from Ontario says: "For some performers, who have the class and talent, there will always be pop life after 40. This is something these two are missing," she says. "Nudity, sex and foul language don't give you class. Maybe they should clean up their acts and start over."
No prize for her.
O'BRIEN: Well...
TOURE: Dave from...
COOPER: Oh, come on now.
O'BRIEN: Whoa, whoa, whoa...
TOURE: Dave -- well, she got it wrong.
Dave from...
O'BRIEN: Well, but Prince has cleaned up his act, right?
TOURE: Yes. He...
O'BRIEN: Didn't he -- isn't he born again?
TOURE: Yes, he has.
O'BRIEN: And so now...
TOURE: He's a Jehovah's Witness, absolutely. He's married again. So, yes. See, that's why no prize for Betty.
O'BRIEN: No Prince.
TOURE: Dave from Amherst, New York says: "If Paul McCartney can tour at 60 and Burt Bacharach can accompany an orchestra at 75, let's face it, Madonna is just hitting her prime."
He got it right.
COOPER: You agree with that, don't you?
TOURE: A nice big prize for Dave.
And Doug from Stoney Creek, Ontario -- this is a good one -- "Toure, giving your opinion of how we should answer the Question of the Day is a time honored Cafferty tradition. Congratulations. Jack would be proud."
A big prize for Doug.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jack doesn't mention anything about prizes and he...
TOURE: He doesn't?
COOPER: Nor does...
O'BRIEN: He does...
COOPER: I also think Jack doesn't really know anything about Madonna. TOURE: He told me that they always do prizes.
O'BRIEN: No.
TOURE: No?
O'BRIEN: No, sorry.
TOURE: Maybe he was just throwing me off.
O'BRIEN: All right, thanks, Toure.
Appreciate it.
Still to come this morning, four journalists from an American television network released unharmed after a scary ordeal in Iraq. We've got the latest on their story just ahead.
COOPER: And a surprising number of Americans are looking beyond traditional medical care. But is it always a safe choice? We'll take a look at that.
O'BRIEN: And does John Kerry's campaign need to pick up some steam or is the candidate just pacing himself?
Those stories are all ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues right after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Move over Brittany, move over Christina, 11-year-old Ella Gunderson is making her own fashion statement -- less skin and more fabric. And she's getting noticed. When Ella couldn't find anything but low rider jeans and revealing tops at the local Nordstrom's and a store clerk told her well, you know, it's the look and that's all that's available, she wrote a letter expressing her frustration about the lack of modest clothing choices for teenagers. And her concerns made it all the way to the president of the store chain.
Just recently I spoke with Ella Gunderson, her mom Pam, and also the president of Nordstrom, Peter Nordstrom.
And I began by asking Ella how she felt when that clerk told her she couldn't buy jeans that weren't those revealing low riders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELLA GUNDERSON, WROTE TO NORDSTROM ABOUT TEEN FASHION: Well, I thought, I don't know, I just didn't think that that was very right of her, because there should be more than one look for everybody.
O'BRIEN: What made you then take that and actually want to write a letter to Nordstrom? Many people would just be annoyed and just go someplace else. E. GUNDERSON: Well, I don't know, I like their store and I like the styles, even though -- I mean they could change and, you know, it's possible.
O'BRIEN: Were you surprised that you got a reaction back?
E. GUNDERSON: Yes, I was.
O'BRIEN: Were you shocked?
E. GUNDERSON: Yes, I was.
O'BRIEN: Tell me a little bit about it. The letter comes in the mail to you and it's from the head of Nordstrom.
What did he say?
E. GUNDERSON: He said, you know, I agree with you and I'm glad you did that.
O'BRIEN: Let's, in fact, bring in Peter Nordstrom, the head of Nordstrom.
Thanks for being with us this morning.
PETER NORDSTROM, PRESIDENT, NORDSTROM STORES: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: I know that this is not the first complaint that you've ever gotten about some of the fns, I'm sure, especially when you're talking about teenage fns. I've got to imagine, though, it comes from moms usually, not young women themselves.
Were you surprised by this letter?
NORDSTROM: Not entirely. We've had some feedback like this on and off and it just has to do with what the fashion trends are. But we, actually, three years ago we had some young women from Orange County, California write us about a pretty similar subject.
O'BRIEN: So when you got this letter from Ella, what did you think?
NORDSTROM: Well, first of all, I felt like Ella was really doing us a favor. You know, being in the retail business, it's great when customers take the time to give us constructive feedback, because, you know, we're in the business of responding to our customers. And so -- and I thought she made some good points. I mean the fact is we are chasing trends in fashion. But for us to be successful, we have to offer a balance in the selection and I think she highlighted that pretty well.
O'BRIEN: You were really nice to write back. Many folks, as you well know, would write back and that would kind of be it.
What did Nordstrom decide to do? NORDSTROM: Well, what we did is our store manager got the information and she started with the crew there at that store to make sure that we're listening better to the customers so that we can offer a selection and really listen to what the customer wants to do. Because we do have things on the floor for a lot of people. And we also got the information to the buyers just so that they make sure that they understand what's really offered on the floor and that a balance is important.
O'BRIEN: Ella's mom, Pam, is with us, also.
Were you surprised that your daughter was doing this? Because I've got to imagine there are so many young girls who would want to wear the stuff that Brittany and Christina wears. And that stuff, I've got to tell you, leaves zero to the imagination, obviously.
PAM GUNDERSON, ELLA'S MOTHER: Well, Ella's pretty sensible and pretty mature for her age and she also knows what's right and what's wrong. And I wasn't surprised that she wrote the letter. I guess I was surprised that she was willing to send it. And all she asked me to do was help her address it. That's all I had to do with it.
O'BRIEN: Were you surprised by the reaction from Nordstrom? Because, again, people often get these letters and say they Ella, thanks so much for writing, and that's it.
P. GUNDERSON: Well, we were glad to get letters back. That was a big surprise. And then glad to hear that they were going to take some steps.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Ella and her mom Pam, and Pete Nordstrom joining us a couple of days ago.
Last weekend in Bellevue, Washington, in fact, Pam Gunderson organized a pure fashion show to highlight the modest clothing choices for teens and for tweens. And Ella was one of the teenage participants. Her mom says she's hoping to make that annual show -- that show an annual event, rather.
Good for them -- Anderson.
COOPER: That's a great idea. Ella, what a great little girl.
O'BRIEN: Isn't she cute?
COOPER: Yes, she's really great.
O'BRIEN: I liked interviewing her.
COOPER: Still to come this morning, millions are looking for love with the help of online dating services these days. So what's with one of those services patenting its approach? Can they do that? Andy has that just ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 28, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The unofficial start of summer -- as Americans hit the road today, anti-terrorism plans start kicking in at potential targets.
More rain ahead for a flood ravaged island. Hundreds dead and thousands homeless in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
And the high price of gas makes for a high octane political contest. Both campaigns pitch a plan and a plan of attack on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
O'BRIEN: Good morning.
Welcome, everybody.
Bill Hemmer has the day off.
Anderson Cooper filling in, though, back to help us out once again.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: My pleasure.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.
COOPER: Doing all I can.
O'BRIEN: Well, you're doing a fine job, Mr. Cooper.
COOPER: Well, thank you.
O'BRIEN: We appreciate it.
Some of the news making headlines this morning, the summer travel season begins today and there are three big concerns -- the threat of terrorism, extra delays because of extra security and the high price of gasoline. We're going to hear from the FAA and the AAA this morning.
COOPER: Also, U.S. troops were attacked today just as a promised pullback was to take hold. We'll check in with the "Washington Post's" Baghdad bureau to find out how much control Muqtada al-Sadr still wields and the political intrigue over who will lead Iraq's transition government. That's ahead. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, we're going to meet a little girl who had a pretty big influence on the Nordstrom department stores. Her concerns, in fact, are probably shared by a lot of parents. The president of Nordstrom will be with us, as well, to talk about some of the changes the store made to accommodate her more modest tastes. Great story.
COOPER: And Jack has a few days of vacation, but AMERICAN MORNING regular Toure will be along later to help us out.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's get started, though, with the Memorial Day weekend. The weekend kicks off the summer travel season, of course, and despite heightened safety concerns, it looks to be a busy one for the airlines. Travelers are expected to be taking to the skies in some pretty big numbers. Here are some stats.
Some 200 million passengers expected to fly between Memorial Day and Labor Day. That would represent a 12 percent increase in air travel from last year and that would make it the busiest summer travel season since 2000.
As for this weekend's travelers, here's a breakdown by region of how many travelers are expected to fly. Out West, 1.3 million expected to take to the skies. In the Midwest, 1.1 million will be flying. In the Southeast, 800,000 are predicted to fly. And in the Northeast, 500,000 folks will fly to their holiday destinations -- Anderson.
COOPER: So, what can air travelers expect this weekend in terms of security and possible delays at airports?
Marion Blakey is the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Thanks for being on AMERICAN MORNING.
MARION BLAKEY, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: Good to be here.
COOPER: Let's talk first about security. These seven photos have been released. Has security been raised at all because of that?
BLAKEY: Well, certainly those photographs are being distributed very widely. And since two of them are pilots, we also make sure that they are available at airports and anywhere that we might see some of these people being there. So...
COOPER: So would you say that security has changed a little bit because of that?
BLAKEY: It certainly, we are disseminating that information very, very widely. And I think everyone is on alert that this is a real issue to try to track these people down. So, yes.
COOPER: This, if you read the newspapers this morning, they say travel is going to be up this summer over last summer.
How are the airlines prepared? Are they ready?
BLAKEY: I think the airlines are ready. In fact, when we see this kind of booming growth, it's great for the airlines. It does mean, though, that everyone should be prepared to get to the airport a little bit early, to make sure that they are ready in terms of going through the lines. Obviously, take off your jewelry, take off your metal things, put them in a Ziploc, put it in your bag.
COOPER: There should be some...
BLAKEY: Those are quick things you can do, you know.
COOPER: Some long lines this weekend, no doubt.
BLAKEY: There will be. And one of the things that we think should help is Secretary Mineta and I have just rolled out a new service. It's called Fly FAA Wireless. You can get it through your PDA or your cell phone. And basically what it means is that you can go there, punch in the airport that you want to fly out of, find out if there are any delays at that point, ground stops, thunderstorms, put in the airport you're going to, see what the situation is and then you can also check your specific flight.
COOPER: So how do you do that? It's on the Internet?
BLAKEY: It's on the Internet, www.faa.gov/wireless. That'll get you there and, as I say, it's going to be a service that people can real time find out what's going on.
COOPER: Should we be anticipating higher ticket prices? I mean gas prices going up, the airlines, I assume, are going to be reacting to that.
BLAKEY: Well, certainly the high prices of gas are hurting the airlines financially. But they are continuing to fly. In fact, they're putting more aircraft in the air and we anticipate that, for the most part, the delays in terms of in the air we'll be handling well. There are a few places that are tough right now -- Chicago. Chicago tends to get backed up. As you know, LaGuardia here in New York can be challenging.
But what we try to also urge people to do is as much as possible, stay away from the big crowded hubs. Try to fly in the middle of the day. If you can avoid the early mornings, late, you know, three or seven o'clock at night, you're doing yourself a favor, both because of conductive weather and that's when everyone wants to fly.
COOPER: All right, Marion Blakey, thanks very much.
BLAKEY: You're welcome.
COOPER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, hopes for a peaceful resolution of the tense situation in Najaf may not last very long. U.S. forces came under fire there today, just one day after a peace deal was supposedly reached with the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Meanwhile, U.S. troops released inmates from the Abu Ghraib Prison today. American forces briefly exchanged fire with attackers who shot at the convoy of prisoners.
The latest this morning comes to us from Baghdad from reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran. He is of the "Washington Post."
Nice to have you.
Thanks for being with us.
Let's get right into it.
This insurgent attack in Najaf, in spite of what appeared to be a negotiated deal, who exactly do we know were the attackers here?
RAJIV CHANDRASEKARAN, THE "WASHINGTON POST": Well, we don't know exactly. The belief is that they were loyalists or members of Muqtada al-Sadr's Al-Mahdi Army. And it certainly raises some questions about the compliance of this peace deal, which was kind of agreed to yesterday, in which Sadr's Mahdi Army would disband, members would lay down their weapons in exchange for Sadr eventually submitting himself to an Iraqi legal process. He's wanted in connection with the killing of a cleric in the south of -- southern part of Iraq last year.
Now, this -- these continued clashes certainly now will raise some questions as to whether the U.S. will be able to continue its pause in offensive operations. Yesterday, the American military command here announced that it would stop its offensive operations against Sadr.
So everybody's trying to figure out just what's going on there. But it's certainly a very tense situation in that town of Kufa, which is right next to Najaf, and today Muqtada al-Sadr did not show up to deliver Friday prayers, as he has normally done. So it remains to be a very sort of a fluid situation on the ground over there.
O'BRIEN: It also raises huge questions, one has to think, about exactly how much control Muqtada al-Sadr actually has over all of his militiamen.
CHANDRASEKARAN: That's correct. I mean the militia is not what you would call a well organized army with a lot of command and control. There is a belief among Western military experts, though, that, you know, they're all loyal to Muqtada and if Muqtada gives a clear message to cease and desist, they will do so. But certainly getting the word out to various groups of these militiamen, who are not just in Najaf, but in other cities across southern Iraq and even in parts of Baghdad, may take some time and compliance may be spotty.
O'BRIEN: Salama al-Khafaji, an IGC member who was attacked after meeting with the militia to try to negotiate parts of this deal. Her son was killed and some of her bodyguards, as well, but she survived the attack.
What are the implications, do you think, of another attack of a high ranking member of the Iraqi Governing Council?
CHANDRASEKARAN: Well, being on the Governing Council, being part of the political process here is certainly a very dangerous job these days. Not long ago, the acting president of the Governing Council, Izzadine Saleem, was assassinated in a car bombing here in Baghdad. It's, you know, they certainly are key targets for insurgents.
Now, Salama al-Khafaji said she believes her attackers were Saddam Hussein loyalists, not members of the Al-Mahdi Army. And it's known that the roads down south, between Baghdad and Najaf, are very volatile. Journalists have been killed, including employees of CNN, other Western contractors and Iraqis.
And so it, it's sort of a gauntlet there where there are pockets still of resistance. And this certainly could complicate efforts on the part of the United States and the U.N. as it forms an interim government to get people to participate, given the very grave risks people face as leaders of this country.
O'BRIEN: You have an interesting article where you talk a little about Hussain Sharistani. He, of course, declined the opportunity to be prime minister, when that was leaked. But you guys go behind the scenes and talk about the import and the effect that the exiled politicians really had on his saying no.
Tell me a little more about that.
CHANDRASEKARAN: Well, they're certainly playing a very big role here. The Americans have wanted to minimize their role, largely because they feel that many of these exiled politicians don't really command broad popular support. They were allies of the Americans before the war and during the war and they were given positions on the Governing Council, but they have failed in the last year to really build a broad base of support.
Hussain Sharistani, who is not a political figure, is a scientist, is a person who's been involved in a lot of humanitarian aid projects, was seen by the U.N. envoy here, Lakhdar Brahimi, as sort of the ideal candidate to be a prime minister, a person who might unite various political factions and serve to sort of be the leader of a caretaker government in the seven months before elections.
But the political parties headed by these exiles have objected, saying, you know, they want to be the ones leading this new government. And even though they don't command a whole lot of popular support on the streets, they still have enough clout to sort of make things difficult. And so as a result, Sharistani went to Brahimi on Tuesday night and said look, I really can't participate here. I'm not going to have the support of these parties, and if I don't have their support, there's no way I can do it.
And so now what we're hearing is that it's essentially forcing the United Nations and the U.S. administration here to turn toward these exiles, perhaps naming a former exile as a prime minister.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. Reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran joining us this morning.
Rajiv, thanks -- Anderson.
COOPER: Well, concentrating these days on national security, Senator John Kerry is also attacking the Bush administration about the high price of gasoline. Senator Kerry says he would reduce U.S. dependency on Mideast oil. Meanwhile, the Bush campaign is painting Senator Kerry as out of touch with regular Americans on the issues.
As we hear from Tom Forman now, it is an issue that could go all the way to November.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
05270003.v99
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: In a recent CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll, 47 percent of Americans said the increases in gas prices are causing them or their household financial hardship. Some 52 percent said they were not feeling the pinch.
O'BRIEN: Weather now as we head into the holiday weekend.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: It is just about 15 minutes past the hour.
Time to take a look at some of the other stories that are making news today with Heidi Collins -- hey, Heidi, good morning.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Soledad, thanks so much.
We want to let everybody know about this. Now, the FBI says tips are pouring in from the public after U.S. officials asked for help in locating seven people linked to al Qaeda, believed linked to al Qaeda, that is. The pictures of the seven people were shown during a news conference earlier this week. Since then, the FBI says more than 2,000 tips have come in. Government officials have also warned of potential terror attacks against the U.S. this summer.
A former U.S. prison inmate says images of an Army Reservist accused in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal come as no surprise to him. The former inmate says Specialist Charles Graner was a prison guard while he was serving a sentence at a Pennsylvania prison. Nicholas Yarris says Graner loved to taunt and provoke prisoners. Specialist Graner is among seven Reservists charged in the Iraqi prison scandal.
In California, they'll be talking bail today at a hearing in the Michael Jackson case. Attorneys for the pop star want the $3 million bail reduced. But prosecutors insist Jackson is a flight risk. Jackson is not expected to be in court today. The list of ailments linked to smoking is now getting a little longer. Surgeon General Richard Carmona says leukemia, stomach cancer, aneurisms and pneumonia are a few of the additional diseases now linked to smoking. Smoking related diseases kill nearly 500,000 Americans every year.
And a NASA space telescope has experts believing they've found a baby planet. And at about one million years old, it would be the youngest planet ever found, believe it or not, according to scientists. The Spitzer space telescope also found what's being called a stellar nursery. The discovery suggests that formation of earthlike planets may not be a rare occurrence in the universe after all -- Soledad, you know all about this, right?
O'BRIEN: Yes, the nursery, the babies.
COLLINS: Yes, the babies.
O'BRIEN: If you're a baby at a million, that's an old baby, I think.
COLLINS: It is.
O'BRIEN: All right, Heidi, thanks.
New relief shipments for flood ravaged towns in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are being planned by international organizations and U.S.-led troops. The Red Cross says at least 900 people have been killed after heavy rains wreaked havoc on the island last weekend. Rescuers are still trying to reach some of the remote villages, in fact.
Susan Candiotti joins us this morning by video phone in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic this morning -- Susan, good morning.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, here authorities aren't taking any chances. For example, they plan to spray disinfectant over the small town of Jamina, about 100 miles away from here, to prevent the onset of disease from decomposing bodies.
An estimated 340 people confirmed dead just in that area alone. Three hundred seventy-five remain missing. When that storm swept through on Sunday, it also carried away with it a lot of homes with sleeping families inside. And, again, they're trying to get more and more emergency supplies into that area.
Meantime, in neighboring Haiti, in a small town called Mapou, about 30 miles away from the capital of Port-au-Prince, that city, that small village located in a valley remains, much of it, under about 10 feet of water. People getting around on makeshift rafts. Drinking water very critically in need there and it is being flown in by a U.S.-led international force out of Port-au-Prince -- Soledad, back to you. O'BRIEN: All right, Susan Candiotti.
Wow, those pictures are pretty amazing.
Susan, thanks.
COOPER: It's just a horrific story there.
O'BRIEN: Oh my goodness.
COOPER: Just terrible.
O'BRIEN: All that damage. And they expect those numbers to go up way more than the 900 that they're now saying are dead, even maybe into, you know, well into the thousands.
COOPER: Yes, she was saying that in Haiti alone, there's one town where 1,000 people are missing. So it's just terrible.
O'BRIEN: Oh, it's horrible.
COOPER: Let's check in with Toure on a much lighter subject, the Question of the Day.
TOURE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE" MAGAZINE: Jeez, yes, I know. What a jump. What a jump. But we go to pop music to feel better about our day and about our -- so, the Question of the Day, is there pop life after 40? Are Madonna and Prince geezers out for more or are they mature artists?
The answer is yes...
COOPER: How is being in your 40s a geezer, by the way?
O'BRIEN: Hi. Ouch.
COOPER: When did that happen? As I'm edging toward 40, I'm like what?
TOURE: But you're not there yet and neither am I.
The correct answer is yes. But we've got answers from the people.
Mel from Cornwall-On-The-Hudson says: "Madonna, Prince, hey, the way Mick Jagger keeps keeping on, he seems determined to demonstrate that there's pop life at 80."
Good answer.
Betty from Ontario says: "For some performers, who have the class and talent, there will always be pop life after 40. This is something these two are missing," she says. "Nudity, sex and foul language don't give you class. Maybe they should clean up their acts and start over."
No prize for her.
O'BRIEN: Well...
TOURE: Dave from...
COOPER: Oh, come on now.
O'BRIEN: Whoa, whoa, whoa...
TOURE: Dave -- well, she got it wrong.
Dave from...
O'BRIEN: Well, but Prince has cleaned up his act, right?
TOURE: Yes. He...
O'BRIEN: Didn't he -- isn't he born again?
TOURE: Yes, he has.
O'BRIEN: And so now...
TOURE: He's a Jehovah's Witness, absolutely. He's married again. So, yes. See, that's why no prize for Betty.
O'BRIEN: No Prince.
TOURE: Dave from Amherst, New York says: "If Paul McCartney can tour at 60 and Burt Bacharach can accompany an orchestra at 75, let's face it, Madonna is just hitting her prime."
He got it right.
COOPER: You agree with that, don't you?
TOURE: A nice big prize for Dave.
And Doug from Stoney Creek, Ontario -- this is a good one -- "Toure, giving your opinion of how we should answer the Question of the Day is a time honored Cafferty tradition. Congratulations. Jack would be proud."
A big prize for Doug.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jack doesn't mention anything about prizes and he...
TOURE: He doesn't?
COOPER: Nor does...
O'BRIEN: He does...
COOPER: I also think Jack doesn't really know anything about Madonna. TOURE: He told me that they always do prizes.
O'BRIEN: No.
TOURE: No?
O'BRIEN: No, sorry.
TOURE: Maybe he was just throwing me off.
O'BRIEN: All right, thanks, Toure.
Appreciate it.
Still to come this morning, four journalists from an American television network released unharmed after a scary ordeal in Iraq. We've got the latest on their story just ahead.
COOPER: And a surprising number of Americans are looking beyond traditional medical care. But is it always a safe choice? We'll take a look at that.
O'BRIEN: And does John Kerry's campaign need to pick up some steam or is the candidate just pacing himself?
Those stories are all ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues right after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Move over Brittany, move over Christina, 11-year-old Ella Gunderson is making her own fashion statement -- less skin and more fabric. And she's getting noticed. When Ella couldn't find anything but low rider jeans and revealing tops at the local Nordstrom's and a store clerk told her well, you know, it's the look and that's all that's available, she wrote a letter expressing her frustration about the lack of modest clothing choices for teenagers. And her concerns made it all the way to the president of the store chain.
Just recently I spoke with Ella Gunderson, her mom Pam, and also the president of Nordstrom, Peter Nordstrom.
And I began by asking Ella how she felt when that clerk told her she couldn't buy jeans that weren't those revealing low riders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELLA GUNDERSON, WROTE TO NORDSTROM ABOUT TEEN FASHION: Well, I thought, I don't know, I just didn't think that that was very right of her, because there should be more than one look for everybody.
O'BRIEN: What made you then take that and actually want to write a letter to Nordstrom? Many people would just be annoyed and just go someplace else. E. GUNDERSON: Well, I don't know, I like their store and I like the styles, even though -- I mean they could change and, you know, it's possible.
O'BRIEN: Were you surprised that you got a reaction back?
E. GUNDERSON: Yes, I was.
O'BRIEN: Were you shocked?
E. GUNDERSON: Yes, I was.
O'BRIEN: Tell me a little bit about it. The letter comes in the mail to you and it's from the head of Nordstrom.
What did he say?
E. GUNDERSON: He said, you know, I agree with you and I'm glad you did that.
O'BRIEN: Let's, in fact, bring in Peter Nordstrom, the head of Nordstrom.
Thanks for being with us this morning.
PETER NORDSTROM, PRESIDENT, NORDSTROM STORES: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: I know that this is not the first complaint that you've ever gotten about some of the fns, I'm sure, especially when you're talking about teenage fns. I've got to imagine, though, it comes from moms usually, not young women themselves.
Were you surprised by this letter?
NORDSTROM: Not entirely. We've had some feedback like this on and off and it just has to do with what the fashion trends are. But we, actually, three years ago we had some young women from Orange County, California write us about a pretty similar subject.
O'BRIEN: So when you got this letter from Ella, what did you think?
NORDSTROM: Well, first of all, I felt like Ella was really doing us a favor. You know, being in the retail business, it's great when customers take the time to give us constructive feedback, because, you know, we're in the business of responding to our customers. And so -- and I thought she made some good points. I mean the fact is we are chasing trends in fashion. But for us to be successful, we have to offer a balance in the selection and I think she highlighted that pretty well.
O'BRIEN: You were really nice to write back. Many folks, as you well know, would write back and that would kind of be it.
What did Nordstrom decide to do? NORDSTROM: Well, what we did is our store manager got the information and she started with the crew there at that store to make sure that we're listening better to the customers so that we can offer a selection and really listen to what the customer wants to do. Because we do have things on the floor for a lot of people. And we also got the information to the buyers just so that they make sure that they understand what's really offered on the floor and that a balance is important.
O'BRIEN: Ella's mom, Pam, is with us, also.
Were you surprised that your daughter was doing this? Because I've got to imagine there are so many young girls who would want to wear the stuff that Brittany and Christina wears. And that stuff, I've got to tell you, leaves zero to the imagination, obviously.
PAM GUNDERSON, ELLA'S MOTHER: Well, Ella's pretty sensible and pretty mature for her age and she also knows what's right and what's wrong. And I wasn't surprised that she wrote the letter. I guess I was surprised that she was willing to send it. And all she asked me to do was help her address it. That's all I had to do with it.
O'BRIEN: Were you surprised by the reaction from Nordstrom? Because, again, people often get these letters and say they Ella, thanks so much for writing, and that's it.
P. GUNDERSON: Well, we were glad to get letters back. That was a big surprise. And then glad to hear that they were going to take some steps.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Ella and her mom Pam, and Pete Nordstrom joining us a couple of days ago.
Last weekend in Bellevue, Washington, in fact, Pam Gunderson organized a pure fashion show to highlight the modest clothing choices for teens and for tweens. And Ella was one of the teenage participants. Her mom says she's hoping to make that annual show -- that show an annual event, rather.
Good for them -- Anderson.
COOPER: That's a great idea. Ella, what a great little girl.
O'BRIEN: Isn't she cute?
COOPER: Yes, she's really great.
O'BRIEN: I liked interviewing her.
COOPER: Still to come this morning, millions are looking for love with the help of online dating services these days. So what's with one of those services patenting its approach? Can they do that? Andy has that just ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
