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American Morning
Former CENTCOM Commander Tommy Franks On Afghanistan: America's Forces Are Very Capable
Aired August 05, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. U.S. and Iraqi forces battle the Midhi army in Najaf. Intense fighting, including a U.S. helicopter shot down over the city today.
The Kobe Bryant case suddenly in disarray. If the alleged victim drops out, can the trial go forward?
And the obsession...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VILI FAULAAU, FORMER STUDENT AND LOVER OF MARY KAY LETOURNEAU: I'm kind of nervous. I don't know what my feelings are right now, but I know I do love her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Convicted of statutory rape, Mary Kay Letourneau is free, her victim already asking to see her again on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Good morning. It is Thursday, 7:00 here in New York. Solid O'Brien waiting on the stork.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
HEMMER: That will come at some point.
COLLINS: Two storks maybe.
HEMMER: Two storks, in fact, yes.
COLLINS: Or can one stork bring two?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: That's very nice.
HEMMER: We're off to a rousing start.
COLLINS: We're having an accident back here.
HEMMER: I told you it was a full moon, did I not?
Good morning, I'm Bill Hemmer along with Heidi Collins and Jack Cafferty there as well.
COLLINS: Some of the big headlines today. I want to get started on this, please.
Big questions right now in the Kobe Bryant case. Prosecutors insist they will go forward with the trial, but right now they don't even know if the woman making the accusations will participate. We're going to get a look at whether this will turn into a civil suit or not.
HEMMER: Also this morning, all the attention paid to the swing states in this year's election -- is one of them more important than all the rest? We'll talk about the case for calling Ohio the key to it all. The governor is our guest in a few moments in here.
COLLINS: Also, if you are in over your head with credit card debt, you will want to hear David Bach today. Our personal finance coach, financial coach that is, is here to lay out the plan for getting out of the red forever.
I feel like we're in the red today already.
HEMMER: That was a large glass of ice water that just went over the back side.
How are you, Jack? Good morning.
CAFFERTY: I had nothing to do with it.
HEMMER: The first time.
CAFFERTY: We're going to take a look at what's next for America's couple of the year, that degenerate school teacher Letourneau, who just got out of the joint after serving seven and a half years for raping one of her students, the 12-year-old.
Now he's 21. The court says they should not go any farther. They've got two kids. It's disgusting. But we're going to dwell on that for three hours anyway.
COLLINS: And she had four children of her own before that.
CAFFERTY: Swell. We need more of her DNA out there in the gene pool.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
We're going to started this morning in Iraq where the news still develops at this hour. It has been violent there overnight again. Military officials say a U.S. helicopter has been shot down by small arms fire in Najaf, south of Baghdad.
Two Americans injured in that crash landing. The chopper went down as U.S. and Iraqi troops fought guerrillas loyal to the renegade cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr. At least six people are dead also and two dozen wounded after a suicide car bombing near an Iraqi police station, also south of Baghdad.
As these stories develop throughout the morning, we'll keep you updated.
Now Heidi, for more.
COLLINS: The criminal case against Kobe Bryant appears to be in jeopardy. The attorneys for the woman accusing Bryant of rape say she may withdraw from the case because of recent court disclosures about her sex life.
We begin our coverage this morning with CNN's Gary Tuchman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prosecutors say the Kobe Bryant criminal trial is still on track, but they're being contradicted by the accusers personal attorneys who say there may be a detour on that track.
CNN has been told the criminal trial might not occur.
One of the personal attorneys of the alleged victim tells the CNN it is up in the air whether she will go ahead with the criminal case against the basketball star, saying she has "lost faith in the court system." The attorney says a civil suit against Bryant is now an active possibility.
John Clune's comments come after reporters gained access to what were secret transcripts in the case describing aspects of the woman's sexual history. On three occasions, the court has made errors resultant in confidential information about the woman being made public.
CRAIG SILVERMAN, COLORADO TRIAL ATTORNEY: It's a little unfortunate that they are going to blame the judge and the court for the problems of this case. The judge, indeed, made mistakes. But the judge did not make up the facts, which are so damning to the prosecution in this matter.
TUCHMAN: The district attorney could pursue the case even if the woman did not want it to happen, but practically it would be very difficult. A spokeswoman for the district attorney does say, "We have no indications that this trial will not proceed forward after conversations with Mr. Clune and the victim."
Clune does say that, "It's inappropriate to say she is definitely out."
But add the decision has to be made within days, with the trial scheduled to start in just over three weeks.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Jeanine Pirro is district attorney for Westchester County, New York and author of "To Punish and Protect." She's joining us this morning to talk a little bit more about the latest in the Bryant case.
Jeanine, thanks for being here so much.
So what happens next? I mean if the accuser actually withdraws, what will that mean for the prosecution?
JEANINE PIRRO, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y.: Well, you know, in a rape case it's very difficult to go forward without the accuser. And although the prosecution can certainly subpoena that person, what is the sanction?
Do you hold her in contempt and then re-victimize her, or do you simply recognize that these kinds of cases can only be proved with the testimony of the victim unless there is some kind of videotape of the crime. And we certainly don't have that here.
COLLINS: And, you know, all of information that's come out -- three different times Eagle County courts have allowed confidential information to come out. I mean, three times.
BIRRO: Well, you know, once or twice, Heidi, is maybe understandable; but you have a whole process here where everything that's been released has been detrimental to the victim or the accuser in this case. And even at the preliminary hearing, if you'll recall, the kept referring to the victim by name, and there were no sanctions against the defense.
So the victim clearly has lost faith in the criminal justice system, and it's not surprising because her life is an open book. She's been called everything from mentally unstable, to a bigot, to a slut.
The only transcripts that have been released are transcripts that are detrimental to her. We've heard nothing detrimental or accidentally released about the defendant.
So you can't help but say to yourself, would you go forward? I mean, what is the price that a victim pays for going forward with the prosecution to assist the case and identifying who a rapist might be?
COLLINS: But whether or not she goes forward, she still says that she does stand strongly behind her claim that he raped her.
If they do go ahead with this civil lawsuit, talk to us a little bit about what that will mean. I mean, considerably less burden of proof here, right?
BIRRO: Sure. In a criminal case, the burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt. Twelve people have to agree that she was raped. In a civil case, the preponderance of evidence is the standard. It is a far less burdensome standard to the plaintiff in the civil case. And the damages and the remedy is money as opposed to jail or lifetime probation in the criminal case.
But I think that what has happened here is that you have seen the criminal justice system almost at odds with the accuser. And it's almost as though we want to blame her. And a defense strategy succeeds when the public stops wondering, is the defendant bad and starts wondering, is the victim bad.
In this case, you almost expect people to stand up and say we, the jury, find the victim guilty. And that's what's going on here.
And it is a very heavy price for her to pay. And she's had death threats. There have been several people convicted of this. I mean, it has been horrible. She's had to leave her home, her town. She's been trashed. Her life is an open book. It's open season.
COLLINS: Yes.
BIRRO: This isn't the way the system is supposed to work.
COLLINS: All right. I want to ask you quickly before we let you go, there are some unconfirmed reports that Kobe Bryant may actually be considering a plea deal. Does this make any legal sense?
BIRRO: It doesn't make any sense at all to me because if what we're hearing is true about the accuser in this case, that she may not come forward, why plead guilty to anything at all. Make the state prove their case.
I can't imagine that would happen.
COLLINS: All right. Jeanine Pirro, we'll have to watch this, obviously, very closely over the next couple of days. Jeanine, thanks so much for that.
PIRRO: Nice to see you.
COLLINS: Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi. Eight minutes past our. To Daryn Kagan looking at the other news this morning at the CNN Center.
Daryn, good morning there.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Bill, good morning to you.
We begin with some possible new information on the increased terror threats in parts of the US. Senior officials telling CNN that new evidence showed that suspected al Qaeda operatives may have been in touch with their American contacts during the past few months.
Speaking on CNN's "NEWSNIGHT," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said that his department is investigating whether or not an al Qaeda cell is operating here in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We cannot afford to guess as to whether or not they're here or how many are here or when they might choose to attack. We operate, as you said, the working hypothesis is that those who would attack are here. They may use various forms of action, but that's the way we operate within homeland security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: We'll have more on the terror threat coming up and the next half hour.
Now oversees in Pakistan, an Army helicopter carrying more than a dozen people crashed today in the country's northwestern region. That is the area considered to be a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden.
An Army spokesman says that all 13 soldiers and officers aboard were killed.
Here in the U.S., another strange, new development in the case of Lori Hacking. Her husband, Mark, tells police he has used an alias, Jonathan Long. He's being held on suspicion of murdering his wife.
It's the latest in a series of deceptions uncovered by police. Investigators resume searching for Lori Hacking's body in a Salt Lake City landfill.
In Orlando, Florida, a Disney worker who portrays Tigger the tiger has been found not guilty of molesting a teenage girl. The man was accused of putting his paw in the wrong place during a photo op.
A defense attorney put on the Tigger costume in court to show jurors how it limits arm movements and vision.
I guess if the paw doesn't fit, you must acquit is the moral of that story.
COLLINS: Score one for Daryn Kagan.
All right, very good. Daryn, thanks so much.
KAGAN: See you in a bit.
COLLINS: Time now for our first check of the forecast. Chad Myers at the CNN Center with the very latest.
Hey, Chad, I've been watching you this morning. What is going on in Chicago?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Can you believe it?
COLLINS: No. MYERS: It will be 49 tonight. I know.
COLLINS: Unbelievable.
(WEATHER BREAK)
MYERS: Heidi?
COLLINS: All right, Chad, thanks a lot.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COLLINS: Bill?
HEMMER: Heidi, he was to Iraqi freedom what General Norman Schwarzkopf was to the Persian Gulf War, number one. Tommy Franks, commanded U.S. forces first in Afghanistan, than later in Iraq.
His book is out. It's called "American Soldier," a revealing look at the planning and the execution for both wars.
In part one, we talked at length about the issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In part two, this morning, we turn our attention to Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: On the issue of Afghanistan, roughly 10,000 U.S. men and women serving in that country, when the decision and focus was taken out of that country a couple of years back and put toward Saddam Hussein in Iraq, did you feel that was the right move, or was that the wrong move regarding the state of Osama bin Laden knowing that he could still be there today?
GEN. TOMMY FRANKS (RET.), FMR. CENTCOM COMMANDER: On the day we started operations in Iraq, we had roughly nine and a half thousand Americans in Afghanistan. The number never went below that. And so, I take to task those who say, well you changed your focus.
Actually, we didn't. America's armed forces are very capable, and we simply did two things at the same time.
HEMMER: You threw out the figure of 9,500...
FRANKS: Right.
HEMMER: ... why not double that figure? If the objective was to get the leadership of al Qaeda, why not continue along that path?
FRANKS: Not a military, not a purely U.S. military objective. Intelligence is the issue on bin Laden, just as intelligence was the issue in Iraq. And where we find that we are able to pinpoint the location of someone like Saddam Hussein and those very, very difficult countries -- both Afghanistan and Pakistan -- it takes a very small number of people to go take care of the problem. And so, we're intel focused, and then we respond using military forces. And I think the balance is about right. But bin Laden's a hard target, and we're going to be after him for a long time.
HEMMER: Before I let you go here, is it true that you went to high school with the first lady, Lara Bush?
FRANKS: Sir, it is. Sir, it is. We didn't know each other in high school, very large high school.
HEMMER: Same grade?
FRANKS: No, one -- I was one year ahead of her. I mean I'm a year older. It convinces me from time to time that I have not done nearly as well as then Lara Welch has done; but yes, we were in the same high school.
HEMMER: I think you've done quite well for yourself.
FRANKS: Well, thank you, sir.
HEMMER: In the town of Midland, Texas. How ironic that could be.
FRANKS: Yes. But Midland, Texas is a great place. It's a great place.
I was up here in New York yesterday wearing my cowboy boots, feeling like I was a Midland guy and feeling good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: And in civilian clothes, too.
Another reminder for you, General Tommy Franks will join Paula Zahn next Friday on "PAULA ZAHN NOW" 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 on the West Coast, here on CNN.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, Russia has a message for NASA regarding the space station. The free ride is over. We'll have a look at that.
HEMMER: Also in a moment, she may sound too good to be true, but experts say this rising young track star is the real deal. Can she save an entire sport though? We'll look at that?
COLLINS: And next, at Ohio goes, so goes the nation. But what do the candidates have to do to win it?
We'll talk to someone who should know ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Since Jack Ryan withdrew as the Republican candidate for the Senate in the state of Illinois, Democrat Barack Obama has not had an opponent. Now the Republican Party has issued an invitation to Alan Keyes, a former presidential and senatorial candidate, lives in the state of Maryland.
Keyes says he will decide whether or not to take that invitation by this weekend.
Obama says, and quoting now, "I want to welcome Alan Keyes to the Illinois Senate race. I hope over the next 90 days we can give the voters of Illinois a campaign they can all be proud of.
More on this topic a bit later this morning on "Political Pop. We'll tackle it then.
From Illinois now to Ohio where President Bush and Senator Kerry have been frequent visitors of late, and for good reason, too. Ohio one of the critical 17 so-called swing states.
No Republican has ever won the presidency with carrying the Buckeye state. And the state has gone for the winner in every presidential election going back to 1960.
Republican Bob Taft, Ohio's governor, with us now live in the state capital of Columbus. And governor, welcome here to AMERICAN MORNING.
GOV. BOB TAFT (R), OHIO: Good morning.
HEMMER: Nice to have you here.
TAFT: My pleasure.
HEMMER: On the screen for our viewers I have some polling from your state, goes back about 10 days I think. Starts back about two weeks, in fact.
The survey shows John Kerry with a six point lead over George Bush. Do your numbers reflect the same, governor?
TAFT: The more recent "Columbus Dispatch" poll showed the president up about two points, but it just confirms the fact that Ohio is the true battleground state this year.
HEMMER: That same survey shows the economy as the number one, the most critical issue for voters in your state. It also shows 29 percent, in fact, in the polling, 10 percent above health care. How does the White House counter in your state knowing that you've lost about 200,000 jobs going back to '01?
TAFT: We'll our economy had a lot of shocks under President Bush, and we believe his policies are turning our economy around, the tax cuts, the focus on manufacturing, helping our small businesses, increasing job trading dollars.
In fact, on Monday I was up in Toledo. Daimler-Chrysler announced $1 billion investment. They're going to create hundreds of additional jobs up in that part of the state.
So we are slower coming out of a recession in Ohio, but we think the president's policies, particularly his tax cuts for the middle- class, are helping our economy move forward.
HEMMER: Back to the issue of the economy and job losses. How vulnerable is the White House in your state as a result?
TAFT: Well, Ohio is a swing state. It's a battleground state. The president won Ohio by less than four points last time. He's fighting hard here. He's focusing on Ohio. He's been here 20 times as president. And of course he's coming here today.
I was with him on a bus tour on Saturday. Tremendous enthusiasm for the president in small towns and large towns all over our state.
HEMMER: Governor, back on that same survey we also found that 19 percent of those in that poll say they still could change their mind before November. What are these people waiting for?
TAFT: I don't know. I can tell you the intensity on our side is very strong. We've got about 50,000 volunteers lined up. We've registered 60,000 voters. We're organized in about half the precincts in the state of Ohio, so the grass-roots "turn out the vote" campaign is going to be key. And president's visits here help to build our intensity.
HEMMER: Twenty visits it's taken, the White House, almost four years ago.
The thing we're hearing in Ohio is that John Kerry is very well organized in that state, the state of Iowa. Do you see a similar organization for the Democrats in your state?
TAFT: Well, we see a lot of these independent groups, the George Soros funded groups all over our state. That's something totally new that we're going to have to counter in the grass-roots at the precinct level across the state.
This is going to be a more intense "get out to vote" campaign that we have ever seen in our state, probably a record voter turnout.
HEMMER: In a word, governor, will you deliver the state of Ohio for the White House this year in 2004 or not?
TAFT: Well, I and hundreds of thousands of other enthusiastic Bush supporters will deliver our state for the president.
HEMMER: Bob Taft, the governor in Ohio, it's going to get a lot of attention, especially in your city of Columbus over the next 90 days or so.
Thank you, governor, for your time this morning.
TAFT: Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Still to come, one major airline looks into drastic measures to stay in business, but is somebody getting gouged in the process? Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."
Stay with us right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Time now for the "Cafferty File" and the "Question of the Day." Hello, Jack.
CAFFERTY: It's a dandy. Mary Kay Letourneau, that degenerate school teacher from Seattle, 34 years old, married mother of four when she began having sex with a 12-year-old student, a kid named Vili Faulaau.
They eventually had two children, which is a little frightening in its' own right. She spent seven and a half years in prison. Yesterday when she got out, she had to register as a level two sex offender.
There is a court order in place prohibiting them from resuming their relationship, but Faulaau wants a judge to let them reunite, so to speak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAULAAU: I'm kind of nervous. I don't know what my feelings are right now, but I know I do love her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: The question, boys and girls, is should the courts keep Mary Kay Letourneau and her victim apart?
You can e-mail us at am@cnn.com.
I'm going to go wash my hands now.
COLLINS: They say it just took him a few hours to go and petition the court after she was released.
CAFFERTY: Swell. Maybe they can have some more kids.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: She did her time.
CAFFERTY: Hmm?
SERWER: She did her time.
COLLINS: Seven years.
SERWER: He's 21, right?
COLLINS: Yes, he's 21.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: That makes him an adult. CAFFERTY: Well, at least according to the calendar.
HEMMER: The airlines get a mandate from the FAA to fix the congestion problems at Chicago, or else. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." It's crowded at O'Hare, huh?
SERWER: Oh, yes. I mean the agony of air travel. The nation's largest airport, which is also the world's largest airport, Chicago's O'Hare, is a big, big mess.
Thirty to 40 percent of all flights there now are delayed. And the FAA says, you've got to do something about it.
Ranks last in the on-time service in the nation. Chokes flights all over the country. And if you talk to anyone going in and out of there, chances are they're getting delayed.
Marian Blakey yesterday, she's the FAA administrator, said if you don't cut back 60 flights a day, we're going to do something about it on our own, and it may not be the way that you like to do with. So, you better do it yourself.
Two of the nation's largest airlines, American and United, big hubs there. They account for about 80 percent of the traffic out of there; 185,000 passengers a day, Bill, are going in and out of O'Hare.
HEMMER: I wonder what they're doing wrong, and I wonder why Hartsfield in Atlanta is doing right because they have...
SERWER: Well, there are so many flights at O'Hare. I mean you're trying to do things like 85 flights coming in and out an hour. It's almost physically impossible. You have to be absolutely perfect in terms of the weather for everything to work there.
And of course, in the summertime, the weather is not perfect. I mean it's just ludicrous the way there are too many flights set up there.
HEMMER: I mentioned Atlanta. That's where Delta is based. And the pilots are going at it with their own company. What's happening there?
SERWER: Well Delta is asking the pilots for $1 billion. It sounds like one of those lotto commercials -- $1 billion of wage cuts and concessions. And guess what the union is saying? The pilot's union is saying forget about it.
I mean that's about $400 million more than we're willing to give. And they said, if you don't lower that number, that $1 billion target, we're going to take our own path in negotiations.
Delta said, whoa, maybe we don't mean that. But this is a company that's trying to avert bankruptcy
HEMMER: Indeed, you're right. SERWER: Just a total mess. I want to know what happened in the FAA? Why did they let the airlines book so many flights in an out of these airports. I mean, they've got to be at least partly responsible.
HEMMER: Why is it that every flight you get on is jam packed and yet these airlines are having so many flights?
COLLINS: There are fewer flights. Fewer flights, smaller aircraft.
SERWER: It's a big mess. Big mess.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, evidence that al Qaeda operatives are already here in the U.S.
We'll talk to a counterterrorism expert about why the latest warning is a wake-up call.
Also ahead, some musicians, including "the Boss" want to rock the vote in their favor.
An unprecedented movement ahead in "Political Pop."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired August 5, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. U.S. and Iraqi forces battle the Midhi army in Najaf. Intense fighting, including a U.S. helicopter shot down over the city today.
The Kobe Bryant case suddenly in disarray. If the alleged victim drops out, can the trial go forward?
And the obsession...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VILI FAULAAU, FORMER STUDENT AND LOVER OF MARY KAY LETOURNEAU: I'm kind of nervous. I don't know what my feelings are right now, but I know I do love her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Convicted of statutory rape, Mary Kay Letourneau is free, her victim already asking to see her again on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Good morning. It is Thursday, 7:00 here in New York. Solid O'Brien waiting on the stork.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
HEMMER: That will come at some point.
COLLINS: Two storks maybe.
HEMMER: Two storks, in fact, yes.
COLLINS: Or can one stork bring two?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: That's very nice.
HEMMER: We're off to a rousing start.
COLLINS: We're having an accident back here.
HEMMER: I told you it was a full moon, did I not?
Good morning, I'm Bill Hemmer along with Heidi Collins and Jack Cafferty there as well.
COLLINS: Some of the big headlines today. I want to get started on this, please.
Big questions right now in the Kobe Bryant case. Prosecutors insist they will go forward with the trial, but right now they don't even know if the woman making the accusations will participate. We're going to get a look at whether this will turn into a civil suit or not.
HEMMER: Also this morning, all the attention paid to the swing states in this year's election -- is one of them more important than all the rest? We'll talk about the case for calling Ohio the key to it all. The governor is our guest in a few moments in here.
COLLINS: Also, if you are in over your head with credit card debt, you will want to hear David Bach today. Our personal finance coach, financial coach that is, is here to lay out the plan for getting out of the red forever.
I feel like we're in the red today already.
HEMMER: That was a large glass of ice water that just went over the back side.
How are you, Jack? Good morning.
CAFFERTY: I had nothing to do with it.
HEMMER: The first time.
CAFFERTY: We're going to take a look at what's next for America's couple of the year, that degenerate school teacher Letourneau, who just got out of the joint after serving seven and a half years for raping one of her students, the 12-year-old.
Now he's 21. The court says they should not go any farther. They've got two kids. It's disgusting. But we're going to dwell on that for three hours anyway.
COLLINS: And she had four children of her own before that.
CAFFERTY: Swell. We need more of her DNA out there in the gene pool.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
We're going to started this morning in Iraq where the news still develops at this hour. It has been violent there overnight again. Military officials say a U.S. helicopter has been shot down by small arms fire in Najaf, south of Baghdad.
Two Americans injured in that crash landing. The chopper went down as U.S. and Iraqi troops fought guerrillas loyal to the renegade cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr. At least six people are dead also and two dozen wounded after a suicide car bombing near an Iraqi police station, also south of Baghdad.
As these stories develop throughout the morning, we'll keep you updated.
Now Heidi, for more.
COLLINS: The criminal case against Kobe Bryant appears to be in jeopardy. The attorneys for the woman accusing Bryant of rape say she may withdraw from the case because of recent court disclosures about her sex life.
We begin our coverage this morning with CNN's Gary Tuchman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prosecutors say the Kobe Bryant criminal trial is still on track, but they're being contradicted by the accusers personal attorneys who say there may be a detour on that track.
CNN has been told the criminal trial might not occur.
One of the personal attorneys of the alleged victim tells the CNN it is up in the air whether she will go ahead with the criminal case against the basketball star, saying she has "lost faith in the court system." The attorney says a civil suit against Bryant is now an active possibility.
John Clune's comments come after reporters gained access to what were secret transcripts in the case describing aspects of the woman's sexual history. On three occasions, the court has made errors resultant in confidential information about the woman being made public.
CRAIG SILVERMAN, COLORADO TRIAL ATTORNEY: It's a little unfortunate that they are going to blame the judge and the court for the problems of this case. The judge, indeed, made mistakes. But the judge did not make up the facts, which are so damning to the prosecution in this matter.
TUCHMAN: The district attorney could pursue the case even if the woman did not want it to happen, but practically it would be very difficult. A spokeswoman for the district attorney does say, "We have no indications that this trial will not proceed forward after conversations with Mr. Clune and the victim."
Clune does say that, "It's inappropriate to say she is definitely out."
But add the decision has to be made within days, with the trial scheduled to start in just over three weeks.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Jeanine Pirro is district attorney for Westchester County, New York and author of "To Punish and Protect." She's joining us this morning to talk a little bit more about the latest in the Bryant case.
Jeanine, thanks for being here so much.
So what happens next? I mean if the accuser actually withdraws, what will that mean for the prosecution?
JEANINE PIRRO, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y.: Well, you know, in a rape case it's very difficult to go forward without the accuser. And although the prosecution can certainly subpoena that person, what is the sanction?
Do you hold her in contempt and then re-victimize her, or do you simply recognize that these kinds of cases can only be proved with the testimony of the victim unless there is some kind of videotape of the crime. And we certainly don't have that here.
COLLINS: And, you know, all of information that's come out -- three different times Eagle County courts have allowed confidential information to come out. I mean, three times.
BIRRO: Well, you know, once or twice, Heidi, is maybe understandable; but you have a whole process here where everything that's been released has been detrimental to the victim or the accuser in this case. And even at the preliminary hearing, if you'll recall, the kept referring to the victim by name, and there were no sanctions against the defense.
So the victim clearly has lost faith in the criminal justice system, and it's not surprising because her life is an open book. She's been called everything from mentally unstable, to a bigot, to a slut.
The only transcripts that have been released are transcripts that are detrimental to her. We've heard nothing detrimental or accidentally released about the defendant.
So you can't help but say to yourself, would you go forward? I mean, what is the price that a victim pays for going forward with the prosecution to assist the case and identifying who a rapist might be?
COLLINS: But whether or not she goes forward, she still says that she does stand strongly behind her claim that he raped her.
If they do go ahead with this civil lawsuit, talk to us a little bit about what that will mean. I mean, considerably less burden of proof here, right?
BIRRO: Sure. In a criminal case, the burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt. Twelve people have to agree that she was raped. In a civil case, the preponderance of evidence is the standard. It is a far less burdensome standard to the plaintiff in the civil case. And the damages and the remedy is money as opposed to jail or lifetime probation in the criminal case.
But I think that what has happened here is that you have seen the criminal justice system almost at odds with the accuser. And it's almost as though we want to blame her. And a defense strategy succeeds when the public stops wondering, is the defendant bad and starts wondering, is the victim bad.
In this case, you almost expect people to stand up and say we, the jury, find the victim guilty. And that's what's going on here.
And it is a very heavy price for her to pay. And she's had death threats. There have been several people convicted of this. I mean, it has been horrible. She's had to leave her home, her town. She's been trashed. Her life is an open book. It's open season.
COLLINS: Yes.
BIRRO: This isn't the way the system is supposed to work.
COLLINS: All right. I want to ask you quickly before we let you go, there are some unconfirmed reports that Kobe Bryant may actually be considering a plea deal. Does this make any legal sense?
BIRRO: It doesn't make any sense at all to me because if what we're hearing is true about the accuser in this case, that she may not come forward, why plead guilty to anything at all. Make the state prove their case.
I can't imagine that would happen.
COLLINS: All right. Jeanine Pirro, we'll have to watch this, obviously, very closely over the next couple of days. Jeanine, thanks so much for that.
PIRRO: Nice to see you.
COLLINS: Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi. Eight minutes past our. To Daryn Kagan looking at the other news this morning at the CNN Center.
Daryn, good morning there.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Bill, good morning to you.
We begin with some possible new information on the increased terror threats in parts of the US. Senior officials telling CNN that new evidence showed that suspected al Qaeda operatives may have been in touch with their American contacts during the past few months.
Speaking on CNN's "NEWSNIGHT," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said that his department is investigating whether or not an al Qaeda cell is operating here in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We cannot afford to guess as to whether or not they're here or how many are here or when they might choose to attack. We operate, as you said, the working hypothesis is that those who would attack are here. They may use various forms of action, but that's the way we operate within homeland security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: We'll have more on the terror threat coming up and the next half hour.
Now oversees in Pakistan, an Army helicopter carrying more than a dozen people crashed today in the country's northwestern region. That is the area considered to be a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden.
An Army spokesman says that all 13 soldiers and officers aboard were killed.
Here in the U.S., another strange, new development in the case of Lori Hacking. Her husband, Mark, tells police he has used an alias, Jonathan Long. He's being held on suspicion of murdering his wife.
It's the latest in a series of deceptions uncovered by police. Investigators resume searching for Lori Hacking's body in a Salt Lake City landfill.
In Orlando, Florida, a Disney worker who portrays Tigger the tiger has been found not guilty of molesting a teenage girl. The man was accused of putting his paw in the wrong place during a photo op.
A defense attorney put on the Tigger costume in court to show jurors how it limits arm movements and vision.
I guess if the paw doesn't fit, you must acquit is the moral of that story.
COLLINS: Score one for Daryn Kagan.
All right, very good. Daryn, thanks so much.
KAGAN: See you in a bit.
COLLINS: Time now for our first check of the forecast. Chad Myers at the CNN Center with the very latest.
Hey, Chad, I've been watching you this morning. What is going on in Chicago?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Can you believe it?
COLLINS: No. MYERS: It will be 49 tonight. I know.
COLLINS: Unbelievable.
(WEATHER BREAK)
MYERS: Heidi?
COLLINS: All right, Chad, thanks a lot.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COLLINS: Bill?
HEMMER: Heidi, he was to Iraqi freedom what General Norman Schwarzkopf was to the Persian Gulf War, number one. Tommy Franks, commanded U.S. forces first in Afghanistan, than later in Iraq.
His book is out. It's called "American Soldier," a revealing look at the planning and the execution for both wars.
In part one, we talked at length about the issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In part two, this morning, we turn our attention to Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: On the issue of Afghanistan, roughly 10,000 U.S. men and women serving in that country, when the decision and focus was taken out of that country a couple of years back and put toward Saddam Hussein in Iraq, did you feel that was the right move, or was that the wrong move regarding the state of Osama bin Laden knowing that he could still be there today?
GEN. TOMMY FRANKS (RET.), FMR. CENTCOM COMMANDER: On the day we started operations in Iraq, we had roughly nine and a half thousand Americans in Afghanistan. The number never went below that. And so, I take to task those who say, well you changed your focus.
Actually, we didn't. America's armed forces are very capable, and we simply did two things at the same time.
HEMMER: You threw out the figure of 9,500...
FRANKS: Right.
HEMMER: ... why not double that figure? If the objective was to get the leadership of al Qaeda, why not continue along that path?
FRANKS: Not a military, not a purely U.S. military objective. Intelligence is the issue on bin Laden, just as intelligence was the issue in Iraq. And where we find that we are able to pinpoint the location of someone like Saddam Hussein and those very, very difficult countries -- both Afghanistan and Pakistan -- it takes a very small number of people to go take care of the problem. And so, we're intel focused, and then we respond using military forces. And I think the balance is about right. But bin Laden's a hard target, and we're going to be after him for a long time.
HEMMER: Before I let you go here, is it true that you went to high school with the first lady, Lara Bush?
FRANKS: Sir, it is. Sir, it is. We didn't know each other in high school, very large high school.
HEMMER: Same grade?
FRANKS: No, one -- I was one year ahead of her. I mean I'm a year older. It convinces me from time to time that I have not done nearly as well as then Lara Welch has done; but yes, we were in the same high school.
HEMMER: I think you've done quite well for yourself.
FRANKS: Well, thank you, sir.
HEMMER: In the town of Midland, Texas. How ironic that could be.
FRANKS: Yes. But Midland, Texas is a great place. It's a great place.
I was up here in New York yesterday wearing my cowboy boots, feeling like I was a Midland guy and feeling good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: And in civilian clothes, too.
Another reminder for you, General Tommy Franks will join Paula Zahn next Friday on "PAULA ZAHN NOW" 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 on the West Coast, here on CNN.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, Russia has a message for NASA regarding the space station. The free ride is over. We'll have a look at that.
HEMMER: Also in a moment, she may sound too good to be true, but experts say this rising young track star is the real deal. Can she save an entire sport though? We'll look at that?
COLLINS: And next, at Ohio goes, so goes the nation. But what do the candidates have to do to win it?
We'll talk to someone who should know ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Since Jack Ryan withdrew as the Republican candidate for the Senate in the state of Illinois, Democrat Barack Obama has not had an opponent. Now the Republican Party has issued an invitation to Alan Keyes, a former presidential and senatorial candidate, lives in the state of Maryland.
Keyes says he will decide whether or not to take that invitation by this weekend.
Obama says, and quoting now, "I want to welcome Alan Keyes to the Illinois Senate race. I hope over the next 90 days we can give the voters of Illinois a campaign they can all be proud of.
More on this topic a bit later this morning on "Political Pop. We'll tackle it then.
From Illinois now to Ohio where President Bush and Senator Kerry have been frequent visitors of late, and for good reason, too. Ohio one of the critical 17 so-called swing states.
No Republican has ever won the presidency with carrying the Buckeye state. And the state has gone for the winner in every presidential election going back to 1960.
Republican Bob Taft, Ohio's governor, with us now live in the state capital of Columbus. And governor, welcome here to AMERICAN MORNING.
GOV. BOB TAFT (R), OHIO: Good morning.
HEMMER: Nice to have you here.
TAFT: My pleasure.
HEMMER: On the screen for our viewers I have some polling from your state, goes back about 10 days I think. Starts back about two weeks, in fact.
The survey shows John Kerry with a six point lead over George Bush. Do your numbers reflect the same, governor?
TAFT: The more recent "Columbus Dispatch" poll showed the president up about two points, but it just confirms the fact that Ohio is the true battleground state this year.
HEMMER: That same survey shows the economy as the number one, the most critical issue for voters in your state. It also shows 29 percent, in fact, in the polling, 10 percent above health care. How does the White House counter in your state knowing that you've lost about 200,000 jobs going back to '01?
TAFT: We'll our economy had a lot of shocks under President Bush, and we believe his policies are turning our economy around, the tax cuts, the focus on manufacturing, helping our small businesses, increasing job trading dollars.
In fact, on Monday I was up in Toledo. Daimler-Chrysler announced $1 billion investment. They're going to create hundreds of additional jobs up in that part of the state.
So we are slower coming out of a recession in Ohio, but we think the president's policies, particularly his tax cuts for the middle- class, are helping our economy move forward.
HEMMER: Back to the issue of the economy and job losses. How vulnerable is the White House in your state as a result?
TAFT: Well, Ohio is a swing state. It's a battleground state. The president won Ohio by less than four points last time. He's fighting hard here. He's focusing on Ohio. He's been here 20 times as president. And of course he's coming here today.
I was with him on a bus tour on Saturday. Tremendous enthusiasm for the president in small towns and large towns all over our state.
HEMMER: Governor, back on that same survey we also found that 19 percent of those in that poll say they still could change their mind before November. What are these people waiting for?
TAFT: I don't know. I can tell you the intensity on our side is very strong. We've got about 50,000 volunteers lined up. We've registered 60,000 voters. We're organized in about half the precincts in the state of Ohio, so the grass-roots "turn out the vote" campaign is going to be key. And president's visits here help to build our intensity.
HEMMER: Twenty visits it's taken, the White House, almost four years ago.
The thing we're hearing in Ohio is that John Kerry is very well organized in that state, the state of Iowa. Do you see a similar organization for the Democrats in your state?
TAFT: Well, we see a lot of these independent groups, the George Soros funded groups all over our state. That's something totally new that we're going to have to counter in the grass-roots at the precinct level across the state.
This is going to be a more intense "get out to vote" campaign that we have ever seen in our state, probably a record voter turnout.
HEMMER: In a word, governor, will you deliver the state of Ohio for the White House this year in 2004 or not?
TAFT: Well, I and hundreds of thousands of other enthusiastic Bush supporters will deliver our state for the president.
HEMMER: Bob Taft, the governor in Ohio, it's going to get a lot of attention, especially in your city of Columbus over the next 90 days or so.
Thank you, governor, for your time this morning.
TAFT: Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Still to come, one major airline looks into drastic measures to stay in business, but is somebody getting gouged in the process? Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."
Stay with us right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Time now for the "Cafferty File" and the "Question of the Day." Hello, Jack.
CAFFERTY: It's a dandy. Mary Kay Letourneau, that degenerate school teacher from Seattle, 34 years old, married mother of four when she began having sex with a 12-year-old student, a kid named Vili Faulaau.
They eventually had two children, which is a little frightening in its' own right. She spent seven and a half years in prison. Yesterday when she got out, she had to register as a level two sex offender.
There is a court order in place prohibiting them from resuming their relationship, but Faulaau wants a judge to let them reunite, so to speak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAULAAU: I'm kind of nervous. I don't know what my feelings are right now, but I know I do love her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: The question, boys and girls, is should the courts keep Mary Kay Letourneau and her victim apart?
You can e-mail us at am@cnn.com.
I'm going to go wash my hands now.
COLLINS: They say it just took him a few hours to go and petition the court after she was released.
CAFFERTY: Swell. Maybe they can have some more kids.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: She did her time.
CAFFERTY: Hmm?
SERWER: She did her time.
COLLINS: Seven years.
SERWER: He's 21, right?
COLLINS: Yes, he's 21.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: That makes him an adult. CAFFERTY: Well, at least according to the calendar.
HEMMER: The airlines get a mandate from the FAA to fix the congestion problems at Chicago, or else. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." It's crowded at O'Hare, huh?
SERWER: Oh, yes. I mean the agony of air travel. The nation's largest airport, which is also the world's largest airport, Chicago's O'Hare, is a big, big mess.
Thirty to 40 percent of all flights there now are delayed. And the FAA says, you've got to do something about it.
Ranks last in the on-time service in the nation. Chokes flights all over the country. And if you talk to anyone going in and out of there, chances are they're getting delayed.
Marian Blakey yesterday, she's the FAA administrator, said if you don't cut back 60 flights a day, we're going to do something about it on our own, and it may not be the way that you like to do with. So, you better do it yourself.
Two of the nation's largest airlines, American and United, big hubs there. They account for about 80 percent of the traffic out of there; 185,000 passengers a day, Bill, are going in and out of O'Hare.
HEMMER: I wonder what they're doing wrong, and I wonder why Hartsfield in Atlanta is doing right because they have...
SERWER: Well, there are so many flights at O'Hare. I mean you're trying to do things like 85 flights coming in and out an hour. It's almost physically impossible. You have to be absolutely perfect in terms of the weather for everything to work there.
And of course, in the summertime, the weather is not perfect. I mean it's just ludicrous the way there are too many flights set up there.
HEMMER: I mentioned Atlanta. That's where Delta is based. And the pilots are going at it with their own company. What's happening there?
SERWER: Well Delta is asking the pilots for $1 billion. It sounds like one of those lotto commercials -- $1 billion of wage cuts and concessions. And guess what the union is saying? The pilot's union is saying forget about it.
I mean that's about $400 million more than we're willing to give. And they said, if you don't lower that number, that $1 billion target, we're going to take our own path in negotiations.
Delta said, whoa, maybe we don't mean that. But this is a company that's trying to avert bankruptcy
HEMMER: Indeed, you're right. SERWER: Just a total mess. I want to know what happened in the FAA? Why did they let the airlines book so many flights in an out of these airports. I mean, they've got to be at least partly responsible.
HEMMER: Why is it that every flight you get on is jam packed and yet these airlines are having so many flights?
COLLINS: There are fewer flights. Fewer flights, smaller aircraft.
SERWER: It's a big mess. Big mess.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, evidence that al Qaeda operatives are already here in the U.S.
We'll talk to a counterterrorism expert about why the latest warning is a wake-up call.
Also ahead, some musicians, including "the Boss" want to rock the vote in their favor.
An unprecedented movement ahead in "Political Pop."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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