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American Morning

Bush Speaks to Unity Conference Today; Interview With Alan Cullison, 'Wall Street Journal'

Aired August 06, 2004 - 07:31   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's just about half past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING.
President Bush is starting another busy day. He'll be speaking before the same group of minority journalists John Kerry addressed yesterday, before heading off to New Hampshire and Maine. We're going to get an update on that.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also in a moment, we'll talk to a man who went looking for computers in Afghanistan, wound up with some secret files from al Qaeda. Only in Afghanistan would you find this material. We'll find out what he discovered. It took him about a year to crack the code, too. So fascinating stuff in here. We'll get to it in a moment.

COLLINS: For now, though, President Bush's day of campaigning starts in Washington today. The president will speak in Washington at the same conference for journalists of color that heard John Kerry, as we mentioned, yesterday.

Kathleen Koch, live at the White House, for more on this now.

Good morning -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

And President Bush this morning is at the very least expected to get a cordial reception from the audience at the Unity Conference. It is the world's largest gathering of journalists of color, some 7,000 in attendance.

It certainly will be a tough discerning crowd, sure to direction some pointed questions at the president in the question-and-answer session that is scheduled to follow his speech. It was just two weeks ago the president spoke to the National Urban League. His job then, as it is today, is to mend fences with and reach out to the African- American community.

In early July, Mr. Bush offended by many by refusing an invitation to speak to the NAACP. That made him the first president since Herbert Hoover to decline to address the civil rights group while in office. But he did win some respect at the National Urban League when he made a very bold pitch for the African-American vote and implied that the Democratic Party was taking them for granted. As you mentioned, the president is addressing the Unity Conference just one day after his Democratic opponent, Senator John Kerry, spoke to that group. Senator Kerry told the audience that America is, in his opinion, still a house divided, separate but unequal in many ways. And Senator Kerry pledged that as president he would be committed to bridging those gaps.

Now, after the president leaves the Unity Conference, he head back out on the campaign trail, hitting another battleground state; this time New Hampshire. It was a state that he won by a very slim margin, just one percentage point over Al Gore in 2000. And then after that, the president will be visiting the Kennebunkport compound, his family compound there, spending the weekend before heading back to Washington -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Kathleen, we will be dipping into that Unity Conference and the question-and-answer session in our 9:00 hour. Thanks so much for that live from the White House this morning.

HEMMER: Heidi, another terror note this morning. As we mentioned about 30 minutes ago, Saudi security forces say they have arrested an important leader of al Qaeda. An interior ministry official says Faris al-Zahrani was captured last night near the Yemeni border. The cleric was No. 12 on the kingdom's list of the 26 most- wanted terror suspects.

Now some incredible insight this morning into the inner workings of the al Qaeda terrorist network. Back in late 2001, a reporter for "The Wall Street Journal" on a trip to Afghanistan went looking for computers that had been stolen from al Qaeda.

Alan Cullison wrote about that information on one of those computers in the September issue of the Atlantic Muntly -- Monthly, rather. Alan Cullison is with us this morning in Watertown, Massachusetts.

And welcome, Alan. Good morning to you.

ALAN CULLISON, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Good morning.

HEMMER: I understand it took a year to decipher this code. Why the length of time there, and how difficult was it?

Well, it took a year, because the information on the computer was either locked with passwords, but also written in kind of arcane code language that al Qaeda uses mainly to disguise the identities of the people writing the memos that went back and forth between Kabul and the cells abroad.

So I, and correspondent Andrew Higgins, worked interviewing other Jihadists, but also intensively with some Arabic translators just translating the documents and trying to understand the meaning of them.

HEMMER: Alan, let's show our viewers on the screen here for a second some of what you found here. This is one note from Muhammad Atef, from Ayman al- Zawahri, and it talks about the chemical or biological weapon program that may have been under way. And it says: "I would like to emphasize what we previously discussed, that I'm looking for a specialist who is the fastest, safest and cheapest way to embark on a biological and chemical weapons program.

Did you find any evidence that he had this plan?

CULLISON: The Zubadi (ph) project or the Yoger (ph) project, yes. It was their chemical and biological weapons project. It had some limited success. They didn't really have a whole lot of money. I mean, one of the biggest revelations on the computer was basically that they were a pretty under-funded organization prior to 9/11.

The Zubadi (ph) project, I think the start-up costs was just a couple of -- or their budget was a couple of thousand dollars. They managed to get together home-brewed nerve gas and basic simple things like that, and gas and dogs testing -- at a testing field in Afghanistan. But they never really got anything very big. They were unable to develop a biological weapon.

HEMMER: Alan, some of the findings you talk about, too, is the surprising pettiness, you talk about, and the dysfunctionality of that organization. Explain that to us.

CULLISON: Well, as any organization where there isn't a whole lot of money, people tend to fight over what scarce resources there were. So, a lot of the correspondence was over those resources, but also over the direction of the Jihadi cause in general. There were a lot of people who were dissatisfied with bin Laden and were not really happy with the strategy of going and attacking the West.

What they really wanted to do was to continue to attack Islamic or Arab governments that they didn't think were Islamic enough.

HEMMER: Alan, another thing here, fascinating, too. We'll try to get this on our screen. Outgoing mail from Ayman al- Zawahri questioning, why did you buy a new fax for $470? Where are the two old faxes? Did you get permission before buying a new fax under such circumstances? Please explain the cell phone invoice amounting to $756 when you have mentioned communication expenses of $300?

What does all of this suggest to you, Alan?

CULLISON: Well, this was correspondence between Kabul and Yemen. And after getting that memo, the head of the Yemen cell quit. This was all part of the fighting over the resources. It suggests that this was an organization that really needed to have things like terror acts in order to raise more money.

It runs a little bit contrary to the popular view of al Qaeda as an organization that had a lot of money, and therefore committed terror acts.

HEMMER: Alan Cullison, fascinating stuff, reporter for "The Wall Street Journal." Thanks for sharing with us today.

CULLISON: Thank you.

HEMMER: Much more in there, too. Thanks -- Heidi.

COLLINS: A military court heard evidence that intelligence officers were involved in prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib. The testimony came out at a hearing to determine if Pfc. Lynddie England will face court-martial.

Bob Franken is covering the hearing at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The impression left with one of the investigators was that the abuse Lynddie England allegedly joined seemed to go on, he said, all of the time. But England was almost beside the point in the third day of her hearings. She was not connected to one incident described in detail, involving military intelligence interrogators.

Prosecutors, trying to counter defense claims the MIs were ordering the military police to mistreat the prisoners, called former intelligence specialist Israel Rivera, who insisted there was no official policy endorsing prisoner abuse.

Rivera testified via telephone from Texas that on the night of October 24 of last year, he was invited to the cell block. There he watched as three detainees accused of raping an Iraqi boy at another prison were dragged naked from their cells and forced to lie in a pile on the floor for simulated homosexual acts.

Was this against the rules, he was asked? Absolutely, said Rivera. This was sport, something cool, entertainment.

Rivera said one of his military intelligence comrades asked him not to tell anyone. He knew he was wrong, Rivera went on. He knew he'd be in trouble. Instead, said England's lawyer, she's in trouble.

RICHARD HERNANDEZ, ATTORNEY FOR LYNNDIE ENGLAND: None of these men is facing any court-martial or any punishment. Private Lynddie England is facing that punishment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Bob also reports none of the military intelligence officers are charged, but charges were filed against seven military police, including Lynddie England. She faces a potential 38 years in prison.

HEMMER: It's just about 20 minutes now before the hour. Back to Daryn Kagan watching the other news for us.

Good morning -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill. First to the Middle East, where some 1,500 Palestinians are heading back to Gaza after being stranded in Egypt for three weeks. The Israeli army says that Israel reopened the Rafa (ph) border crossing earlier today. The terminal was closed last month for security reasons.

The State Department is going ahead with plans for new high-tech passports despite a report that they're prone to errors. The new passports would be enhanced with electronic identification chips that allow computer matching of facial features. But according to federal researchers cited by "The Washington Post," the face recognition technology tends to be right only about 50 percent of the time. The new passports are expected to be out next spring.

In Utah, prosecutors have been granted an extension until Monday to hold Mark Hacking without filing any charges. Hacking was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of killing his wife, Lori, and disposing of her body. Authorities continue to search for the remains at a Salt Lake City landfill.

And finally, former world champ -- world chess champion Bobby Fischer plans to renounce his U.S. citizenship. Fischer was detained in Tokyo last month for traveling with what officials say -- U.S. officials say is an invalid passport. Fischer has been wanted in the U.S. since 1992 after violating U.S. economic sanctions by playing in a chess match in Yugoslavia.

Bill, apparently it is not that easy, most people would not know this, to renounce U.S. citizenship. You can't just do it in a handwritten note like Bobby Fischer did.

HEMMER: Yes?

KAGAN: You have to appear before a U.S. consular official and say it in person.

HEMMER: Make it official then.

KAGAN: Make it official.

HEMMER: Thank you, Daryn.

(WEATHER BREAK)

COLLINS: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, think you'd never fall for a con job? Well, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business," and he's got some surprising numbers on this.

HEMMER: We'll get to that. Also, VH1 takes an authorized look at the "Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story." Is it a thriller or just plain bad? "90-Second Pop" is still to come this hour. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. The Federal Trade Commission says more than 1 in 10 people fall victim to scams. With that and a market preview, Andy is back now "Minding Your Business."

What? Ten percent or more?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Eleven percent. Twenty-five million Americans, according to a new FTC survey -- that would be your Federal Trade Commission -- a new survey that just came out talks about this. It's really kind of disturbing news here.

And what's going on? Well, basically, the scam artists get better and better. The regulators keep having to try to keep up with these people. A lot of it is happening over the telephone, of course. Particularly disturbing to me, I think, is the fact that a lot of this is going to poor people, a lot of this is going to minorities.

Listen to this, Bill: Native Americans, in particular, 34 percent of them have reported that they were the victims of a scam over the past 12 months; also true with African-Americans and poor Hispanic-Americans.

Basically, the biggest scam category is trying to get people out of debt. In other words, people with the high levels of debt are particularly susceptible to this kind of thing. You get someone calling up, we'll help you consolidate your debt. Just send us a $100 fee. Well, then you know what happens. They never hear from these people again.

HEMMER: That's right.

SERWER: So that's basically what's going on here. One of the biggest areas is credit card consolidation and that kind of thing.

HEMMER: Next time we'll talk about the markets. It took a hammering yesterday. And you said it!

SERWER: Yes.

HEMMER: You said it. We're dangerously close...

SERWER: Dangerously close. We got below 10,000. The price of oil is almost near $45 a barrel.

HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

HEMMER: All right -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Let's check in with Jack now with the "Question of the Day" once again.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The last couple of weeks, Heidi, we've been keeping track of the 9/11 report recommendations adopted by Congress. It's a real easy thing to do. There haven't been any. None.

So what's wrong with this picture? They're on vacation for the entire month of August. They left the day after the commission recommendations came out actually. Well, what if they came back to work? Wouldn't every incumbent, either in the House or the Senate, be virtually guaranteed re-election if they gave up their vacations in order to deal with the terrorist threats that are facing the country? You bet they would.

The question is this: Should Congress be called into special session to deal with the 9/11 report recommendations? We're getting a lot of mail. Very few letters saying it's a great idea for them to be on vacation for six weeks, not many of those.

Kathleen writes: "If we can ask or demand that our brave men and women serving in Iraq extend their service during these trying days, then there's absolutely no reason whatsoever that our Congress cannot give up their summer holidays to address the very real concerns that face all of us."

Stanley in Faribault, Minnesota: "It seems to me if there were a real threat to the United States, Congress would be falling all over themselves to get back into session. That's my answer to whether it's a real threat or political."

Charlie writes from Newport, Virginia: "I don't believe they should just jump into making major changes with a stroke of a pen in order to make Jack Cafferty happy. They're in session right now addressing the commission's recommendations, and there are 15 more hearings scheduled this month."

They're not in session at all. Some of the committees are holding hearings, and the reason to do it ain't to make me happy, Charlie. So go back to bed and leave me alone.

Sandy in Chesterfield, South Carolina: "I've noticed every time any of these bozos runs for office they have the answers to all of our problems, but they won't share them with us until we elect them. And then after we elect them, we never hear what the answer is."

And Carrie writes in Reston, Virginia: "Are the terrorist organizations taking a summer recess? I think not."

AM@CNN.com.

HEMMER: You heard what Governor Kean said this week, too. They're going to get the families and the victims out there a strong campaign leading up to November 2 to make sure that something gets done. We'll see if they listen.

SERWER: They could just use e-mail from their beach houses, though. They can use teleconferences or their cell phone or something, Jack.

HEMMER: That's one way.

COLLINS: They have the technology. All right, Jack, thank you.

Still to come this morning, some "90-Second Pop." Actor Ray Fiennes has been a bad guy in the movies before, but he's about to play his biggest baddie yet. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Hey! It's TGIF, and TGI "90-Second Pop" as well. Here to discuss today, Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine. Josh Elliott, staff writer for "Sports Illustrated." And Jessica Shaw from "Entertainment Weekly".

Hey, guys.

SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Hello.

JOSH ELLIOTT, STAFF WRITER, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": Hello.

JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Hello.

COLLINS: Thank you so much for being here.

All right, we've got to get straight to this movie. Sarah Bernard, "Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story."

BERNARD: That's right.

COLLINS: Let's go ahead and let's listen for just a moment, and we'll talk in a second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In his heart, he is a child. He acts like a child. He knows what a child is and how he thinks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Hmm. It's an unauthorized biography. It's getting absolutely slammed! First of all, the guy doesn't even look -- the actor doesn't look anything like Michael Jackson.

BERNARD: I know! This is actually the real problem with it. Flex Alexander is the actor's name, and he's about 6'4". I think he's about as tall as Josh...

ELLIOTT: Yes, exactly, exactly.

BERNARD: He's a huge sports nut. He can dunk a basketball, which in every interview he mentions. Why is he playing Michael? It must be because he can actually dance. They were obviously looking for someone who could do those scenes. But...

COLLINS: Who really does look like Michael Jackson?

BERNARD: Yes. I don't see who wants to looks like Michael.

SHAW: Michael Jackson doesn't even really look like Michael Jackson.

BERNARD: But, I mean, why would you want to make this movie? His life is such a movie as it is and such a crazy miniseries. It's impossible to actually do one about him.

ELLIOTT: And, you know, when you do this bio pic, especially an unauthorized bio pic, it begs you to answer a question, to give us something that we don't necessarily know. And let's face it. There is kind of one issue with Michael Jackson that none of us really know, and I doubt we're going to be seeing it.

SHAW: And we're going to be watching that miniseries in January when the trial starts.

SHAW: I know.

ELLIOTT: Yes. And he's creepy enough. I don't need to see Michael Jackson on steroids.

SHAW: Although I did like watching the kid being dangled.

BERNARD: Right.

SHAW: You know, that whole thing and the blond kids with the veils.

BERNARD: The thing that's really going to be bad about this is since it's not authorized, they're not going to have the rights to any of his music. And wouldn't you kind of want to hear that as part of the bio?

COLLINS: Yes.

SHAW: I don't know. Haven't we seen this a million times already? I feel like I've seen...

COLLINS: Yes.

SHAW: ... so many of Michael Jackson miniseries.

COLLINS: All right...

BERNARD: So we could not be more down on this.

ELLIOTT: Exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Let's move on.

BERNARD: Let's move on.

COLLINS: OK. All right. Let me ask you, Jessica...

SHAW: Yes.

COLLINS: ... about Ray Fiennes. He's going to be, like, this really evil, nasty guy from the Harry Potter series?

SHAW: Yes. You were very smart...

COLLINS: Lord Voldimort.

SHAW: I was going to say, you were smart and not to say his name, because he's so evil, you're never suppose to say his name.

COLLINS: That's right.

SHAW: So way to go!

COLLINS: Yes. In the book it says, he's the man who sort of remains unknown, something like that.

SHAW: Who shall remain nameless. Yes, so he's going to -- in the past few movies, it's been just a voice. So, I think this is a great move for Ray Fiennes. I think he's one of my favorite actors, and he's the kind of guy you don't really want to see smiling. And he does well with evil characters. He...

ELLIOTT: Well, he hasn't been good since "Schindler's List." He's great as an evil...

SHAW: Well, when he was in "English Patient" he was OK.

ELLIOTT: Yes, and that, like, narcotized his career, you know!

(CROSSTALK)

ELLIOTT: ... the last decade.

BERNARD: I think he's done, like, "Maid in Manhattan," "End of the Affair," all of these were magic roles. But he's returning to an evil roots, because no one was more evil than the guy in "Schindler's List."

SHAW: He (UNINTELLIGIBLE) spiders. He's good when he's creepy. We'll all for it.

COLLINS: All right, creepy is good. All right, we'll watch for that.

ELLIOTT: Speaking of creepy, a great segue.

COLLINS: And this is a segue, yes, for you, Mr. Josh. Five more episodes of this "Growing up Gotti" on A&E.

ELLIOTT: Yes, yes.

COLLINS: So are we watching this again?

ELLIOTT: America, please, put down the remotes. If we watch it, they'll keep giving it to us. It's almost like the opening grosses of a movie. You know, if those first numbers are big, they're going to throw all sorts of money. Now, they're throwing money at this crazy, insane alien.

There are two things about this. No. 1, the conceit of it is that we're supposed to believe that we're seeing how a regular family lives. But she's also not going to sort of own up to the fact that her family, you know, has kind of been connected to some nefarious issues.

BERNARD: She doesn't want to talk about that part.

SHAW: Right. Well, it's sort of like there are pictures of John Gotti everywhere in the house. There are these, like, looming portraits of him. And...

ELLIOTT: Well, and also, if you're going to have -- the only thing worse than plastic surgery that you can see is plastic surgery that you can see but you can't identify. She has...

BERNARD: What are you talking about?

(CROSSTALK)

ELLIOTT: Absolutely, absolutely. You know, the Scandinavians, you know, had a huge colony down there.

COLLINS: Careful now.

BERNARD: Do you know what's great about this? I think that this just proves, in terms of "The Soprano's, because obviously that's what's really behind all of this, that next time James Gandolfini asks for a raise, Carmela should just forget about him entirely, do the show about Carmela as a single mom. And obviously, that's what everyone wants to see. They don't need him.

ELLIOTT: Well, and who knew that A.J. would be more palatable son than the...

(CROSSTALK)

SHAW: It's all about the hottie Gotti, the real breakout, the hottie Gotti, the boys.

COLLINS: All right, you guys. Thanks so much. We'll watch that next time around. Maybe not. Sarah, Josh and Jessica, thanks so much again -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thanks for that.

In a moment here, some Vietnam veterans level some explosive accusations about John Kerry's military service 35 years ago. We'll talk to one of the men featured in this controversial new ad. We'll also hear from a former Kerry crewmate, now campaigning for the senator. Still to come, top of the hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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Aired August 6, 2004 - 07:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's just about half past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING.
President Bush is starting another busy day. He'll be speaking before the same group of minority journalists John Kerry addressed yesterday, before heading off to New Hampshire and Maine. We're going to get an update on that.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also in a moment, we'll talk to a man who went looking for computers in Afghanistan, wound up with some secret files from al Qaeda. Only in Afghanistan would you find this material. We'll find out what he discovered. It took him about a year to crack the code, too. So fascinating stuff in here. We'll get to it in a moment.

COLLINS: For now, though, President Bush's day of campaigning starts in Washington today. The president will speak in Washington at the same conference for journalists of color that heard John Kerry, as we mentioned, yesterday.

Kathleen Koch, live at the White House, for more on this now.

Good morning -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

And President Bush this morning is at the very least expected to get a cordial reception from the audience at the Unity Conference. It is the world's largest gathering of journalists of color, some 7,000 in attendance.

It certainly will be a tough discerning crowd, sure to direction some pointed questions at the president in the question-and-answer session that is scheduled to follow his speech. It was just two weeks ago the president spoke to the National Urban League. His job then, as it is today, is to mend fences with and reach out to the African- American community.

In early July, Mr. Bush offended by many by refusing an invitation to speak to the NAACP. That made him the first president since Herbert Hoover to decline to address the civil rights group while in office. But he did win some respect at the National Urban League when he made a very bold pitch for the African-American vote and implied that the Democratic Party was taking them for granted. As you mentioned, the president is addressing the Unity Conference just one day after his Democratic opponent, Senator John Kerry, spoke to that group. Senator Kerry told the audience that America is, in his opinion, still a house divided, separate but unequal in many ways. And Senator Kerry pledged that as president he would be committed to bridging those gaps.

Now, after the president leaves the Unity Conference, he head back out on the campaign trail, hitting another battleground state; this time New Hampshire. It was a state that he won by a very slim margin, just one percentage point over Al Gore in 2000. And then after that, the president will be visiting the Kennebunkport compound, his family compound there, spending the weekend before heading back to Washington -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Kathleen, we will be dipping into that Unity Conference and the question-and-answer session in our 9:00 hour. Thanks so much for that live from the White House this morning.

HEMMER: Heidi, another terror note this morning. As we mentioned about 30 minutes ago, Saudi security forces say they have arrested an important leader of al Qaeda. An interior ministry official says Faris al-Zahrani was captured last night near the Yemeni border. The cleric was No. 12 on the kingdom's list of the 26 most- wanted terror suspects.

Now some incredible insight this morning into the inner workings of the al Qaeda terrorist network. Back in late 2001, a reporter for "The Wall Street Journal" on a trip to Afghanistan went looking for computers that had been stolen from al Qaeda.

Alan Cullison wrote about that information on one of those computers in the September issue of the Atlantic Muntly -- Monthly, rather. Alan Cullison is with us this morning in Watertown, Massachusetts.

And welcome, Alan. Good morning to you.

ALAN CULLISON, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Good morning.

HEMMER: I understand it took a year to decipher this code. Why the length of time there, and how difficult was it?

Well, it took a year, because the information on the computer was either locked with passwords, but also written in kind of arcane code language that al Qaeda uses mainly to disguise the identities of the people writing the memos that went back and forth between Kabul and the cells abroad.

So I, and correspondent Andrew Higgins, worked interviewing other Jihadists, but also intensively with some Arabic translators just translating the documents and trying to understand the meaning of them.

HEMMER: Alan, let's show our viewers on the screen here for a second some of what you found here. This is one note from Muhammad Atef, from Ayman al- Zawahri, and it talks about the chemical or biological weapon program that may have been under way. And it says: "I would like to emphasize what we previously discussed, that I'm looking for a specialist who is the fastest, safest and cheapest way to embark on a biological and chemical weapons program.

Did you find any evidence that he had this plan?

CULLISON: The Zubadi (ph) project or the Yoger (ph) project, yes. It was their chemical and biological weapons project. It had some limited success. They didn't really have a whole lot of money. I mean, one of the biggest revelations on the computer was basically that they were a pretty under-funded organization prior to 9/11.

The Zubadi (ph) project, I think the start-up costs was just a couple of -- or their budget was a couple of thousand dollars. They managed to get together home-brewed nerve gas and basic simple things like that, and gas and dogs testing -- at a testing field in Afghanistan. But they never really got anything very big. They were unable to develop a biological weapon.

HEMMER: Alan, some of the findings you talk about, too, is the surprising pettiness, you talk about, and the dysfunctionality of that organization. Explain that to us.

CULLISON: Well, as any organization where there isn't a whole lot of money, people tend to fight over what scarce resources there were. So, a lot of the correspondence was over those resources, but also over the direction of the Jihadi cause in general. There were a lot of people who were dissatisfied with bin Laden and were not really happy with the strategy of going and attacking the West.

What they really wanted to do was to continue to attack Islamic or Arab governments that they didn't think were Islamic enough.

HEMMER: Alan, another thing here, fascinating, too. We'll try to get this on our screen. Outgoing mail from Ayman al- Zawahri questioning, why did you buy a new fax for $470? Where are the two old faxes? Did you get permission before buying a new fax under such circumstances? Please explain the cell phone invoice amounting to $756 when you have mentioned communication expenses of $300?

What does all of this suggest to you, Alan?

CULLISON: Well, this was correspondence between Kabul and Yemen. And after getting that memo, the head of the Yemen cell quit. This was all part of the fighting over the resources. It suggests that this was an organization that really needed to have things like terror acts in order to raise more money.

It runs a little bit contrary to the popular view of al Qaeda as an organization that had a lot of money, and therefore committed terror acts.

HEMMER: Alan Cullison, fascinating stuff, reporter for "The Wall Street Journal." Thanks for sharing with us today.

CULLISON: Thank you.

HEMMER: Much more in there, too. Thanks -- Heidi.

COLLINS: A military court heard evidence that intelligence officers were involved in prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib. The testimony came out at a hearing to determine if Pfc. Lynddie England will face court-martial.

Bob Franken is covering the hearing at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The impression left with one of the investigators was that the abuse Lynddie England allegedly joined seemed to go on, he said, all of the time. But England was almost beside the point in the third day of her hearings. She was not connected to one incident described in detail, involving military intelligence interrogators.

Prosecutors, trying to counter defense claims the MIs were ordering the military police to mistreat the prisoners, called former intelligence specialist Israel Rivera, who insisted there was no official policy endorsing prisoner abuse.

Rivera testified via telephone from Texas that on the night of October 24 of last year, he was invited to the cell block. There he watched as three detainees accused of raping an Iraqi boy at another prison were dragged naked from their cells and forced to lie in a pile on the floor for simulated homosexual acts.

Was this against the rules, he was asked? Absolutely, said Rivera. This was sport, something cool, entertainment.

Rivera said one of his military intelligence comrades asked him not to tell anyone. He knew he was wrong, Rivera went on. He knew he'd be in trouble. Instead, said England's lawyer, she's in trouble.

RICHARD HERNANDEZ, ATTORNEY FOR LYNNDIE ENGLAND: None of these men is facing any court-martial or any punishment. Private Lynddie England is facing that punishment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Bob also reports none of the military intelligence officers are charged, but charges were filed against seven military police, including Lynddie England. She faces a potential 38 years in prison.

HEMMER: It's just about 20 minutes now before the hour. Back to Daryn Kagan watching the other news for us.

Good morning -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill. First to the Middle East, where some 1,500 Palestinians are heading back to Gaza after being stranded in Egypt for three weeks. The Israeli army says that Israel reopened the Rafa (ph) border crossing earlier today. The terminal was closed last month for security reasons.

The State Department is going ahead with plans for new high-tech passports despite a report that they're prone to errors. The new passports would be enhanced with electronic identification chips that allow computer matching of facial features. But according to federal researchers cited by "The Washington Post," the face recognition technology tends to be right only about 50 percent of the time. The new passports are expected to be out next spring.

In Utah, prosecutors have been granted an extension until Monday to hold Mark Hacking without filing any charges. Hacking was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of killing his wife, Lori, and disposing of her body. Authorities continue to search for the remains at a Salt Lake City landfill.

And finally, former world champ -- world chess champion Bobby Fischer plans to renounce his U.S. citizenship. Fischer was detained in Tokyo last month for traveling with what officials say -- U.S. officials say is an invalid passport. Fischer has been wanted in the U.S. since 1992 after violating U.S. economic sanctions by playing in a chess match in Yugoslavia.

Bill, apparently it is not that easy, most people would not know this, to renounce U.S. citizenship. You can't just do it in a handwritten note like Bobby Fischer did.

HEMMER: Yes?

KAGAN: You have to appear before a U.S. consular official and say it in person.

HEMMER: Make it official then.

KAGAN: Make it official.

HEMMER: Thank you, Daryn.

(WEATHER BREAK)

COLLINS: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, think you'd never fall for a con job? Well, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business," and he's got some surprising numbers on this.

HEMMER: We'll get to that. Also, VH1 takes an authorized look at the "Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story." Is it a thriller or just plain bad? "90-Second Pop" is still to come this hour. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. The Federal Trade Commission says more than 1 in 10 people fall victim to scams. With that and a market preview, Andy is back now "Minding Your Business."

What? Ten percent or more?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Eleven percent. Twenty-five million Americans, according to a new FTC survey -- that would be your Federal Trade Commission -- a new survey that just came out talks about this. It's really kind of disturbing news here.

And what's going on? Well, basically, the scam artists get better and better. The regulators keep having to try to keep up with these people. A lot of it is happening over the telephone, of course. Particularly disturbing to me, I think, is the fact that a lot of this is going to poor people, a lot of this is going to minorities.

Listen to this, Bill: Native Americans, in particular, 34 percent of them have reported that they were the victims of a scam over the past 12 months; also true with African-Americans and poor Hispanic-Americans.

Basically, the biggest scam category is trying to get people out of debt. In other words, people with the high levels of debt are particularly susceptible to this kind of thing. You get someone calling up, we'll help you consolidate your debt. Just send us a $100 fee. Well, then you know what happens. They never hear from these people again.

HEMMER: That's right.

SERWER: So that's basically what's going on here. One of the biggest areas is credit card consolidation and that kind of thing.

HEMMER: Next time we'll talk about the markets. It took a hammering yesterday. And you said it!

SERWER: Yes.

HEMMER: You said it. We're dangerously close...

SERWER: Dangerously close. We got below 10,000. The price of oil is almost near $45 a barrel.

HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

HEMMER: All right -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Let's check in with Jack now with the "Question of the Day" once again.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The last couple of weeks, Heidi, we've been keeping track of the 9/11 report recommendations adopted by Congress. It's a real easy thing to do. There haven't been any. None.

So what's wrong with this picture? They're on vacation for the entire month of August. They left the day after the commission recommendations came out actually. Well, what if they came back to work? Wouldn't every incumbent, either in the House or the Senate, be virtually guaranteed re-election if they gave up their vacations in order to deal with the terrorist threats that are facing the country? You bet they would.

The question is this: Should Congress be called into special session to deal with the 9/11 report recommendations? We're getting a lot of mail. Very few letters saying it's a great idea for them to be on vacation for six weeks, not many of those.

Kathleen writes: "If we can ask or demand that our brave men and women serving in Iraq extend their service during these trying days, then there's absolutely no reason whatsoever that our Congress cannot give up their summer holidays to address the very real concerns that face all of us."

Stanley in Faribault, Minnesota: "It seems to me if there were a real threat to the United States, Congress would be falling all over themselves to get back into session. That's my answer to whether it's a real threat or political."

Charlie writes from Newport, Virginia: "I don't believe they should just jump into making major changes with a stroke of a pen in order to make Jack Cafferty happy. They're in session right now addressing the commission's recommendations, and there are 15 more hearings scheduled this month."

They're not in session at all. Some of the committees are holding hearings, and the reason to do it ain't to make me happy, Charlie. So go back to bed and leave me alone.

Sandy in Chesterfield, South Carolina: "I've noticed every time any of these bozos runs for office they have the answers to all of our problems, but they won't share them with us until we elect them. And then after we elect them, we never hear what the answer is."

And Carrie writes in Reston, Virginia: "Are the terrorist organizations taking a summer recess? I think not."

AM@CNN.com.

HEMMER: You heard what Governor Kean said this week, too. They're going to get the families and the victims out there a strong campaign leading up to November 2 to make sure that something gets done. We'll see if they listen.

SERWER: They could just use e-mail from their beach houses, though. They can use teleconferences or their cell phone or something, Jack.

HEMMER: That's one way.

COLLINS: They have the technology. All right, Jack, thank you.

Still to come this morning, some "90-Second Pop." Actor Ray Fiennes has been a bad guy in the movies before, but he's about to play his biggest baddie yet. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Hey! It's TGIF, and TGI "90-Second Pop" as well. Here to discuss today, Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine. Josh Elliott, staff writer for "Sports Illustrated." And Jessica Shaw from "Entertainment Weekly".

Hey, guys.

SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Hello.

JOSH ELLIOTT, STAFF WRITER, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": Hello.

JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Hello.

COLLINS: Thank you so much for being here.

All right, we've got to get straight to this movie. Sarah Bernard, "Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story."

BERNARD: That's right.

COLLINS: Let's go ahead and let's listen for just a moment, and we'll talk in a second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In his heart, he is a child. He acts like a child. He knows what a child is and how he thinks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Hmm. It's an unauthorized biography. It's getting absolutely slammed! First of all, the guy doesn't even look -- the actor doesn't look anything like Michael Jackson.

BERNARD: I know! This is actually the real problem with it. Flex Alexander is the actor's name, and he's about 6'4". I think he's about as tall as Josh...

ELLIOTT: Yes, exactly, exactly.

BERNARD: He's a huge sports nut. He can dunk a basketball, which in every interview he mentions. Why is he playing Michael? It must be because he can actually dance. They were obviously looking for someone who could do those scenes. But...

COLLINS: Who really does look like Michael Jackson?

BERNARD: Yes. I don't see who wants to looks like Michael.

SHAW: Michael Jackson doesn't even really look like Michael Jackson.

BERNARD: But, I mean, why would you want to make this movie? His life is such a movie as it is and such a crazy miniseries. It's impossible to actually do one about him.

ELLIOTT: And, you know, when you do this bio pic, especially an unauthorized bio pic, it begs you to answer a question, to give us something that we don't necessarily know. And let's face it. There is kind of one issue with Michael Jackson that none of us really know, and I doubt we're going to be seeing it.

SHAW: And we're going to be watching that miniseries in January when the trial starts.

SHAW: I know.

ELLIOTT: Yes. And he's creepy enough. I don't need to see Michael Jackson on steroids.

SHAW: Although I did like watching the kid being dangled.

BERNARD: Right.

SHAW: You know, that whole thing and the blond kids with the veils.

BERNARD: The thing that's really going to be bad about this is since it's not authorized, they're not going to have the rights to any of his music. And wouldn't you kind of want to hear that as part of the bio?

COLLINS: Yes.

SHAW: I don't know. Haven't we seen this a million times already? I feel like I've seen...

COLLINS: Yes.

SHAW: ... so many of Michael Jackson miniseries.

COLLINS: All right...

BERNARD: So we could not be more down on this.

ELLIOTT: Exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Let's move on.

BERNARD: Let's move on.

COLLINS: OK. All right. Let me ask you, Jessica...

SHAW: Yes.

COLLINS: ... about Ray Fiennes. He's going to be, like, this really evil, nasty guy from the Harry Potter series?

SHAW: Yes. You were very smart...

COLLINS: Lord Voldimort.

SHAW: I was going to say, you were smart and not to say his name, because he's so evil, you're never suppose to say his name.

COLLINS: That's right.

SHAW: So way to go!

COLLINS: Yes. In the book it says, he's the man who sort of remains unknown, something like that.

SHAW: Who shall remain nameless. Yes, so he's going to -- in the past few movies, it's been just a voice. So, I think this is a great move for Ray Fiennes. I think he's one of my favorite actors, and he's the kind of guy you don't really want to see smiling. And he does well with evil characters. He...

ELLIOTT: Well, he hasn't been good since "Schindler's List." He's great as an evil...

SHAW: Well, when he was in "English Patient" he was OK.

ELLIOTT: Yes, and that, like, narcotized his career, you know!

(CROSSTALK)

ELLIOTT: ... the last decade.

BERNARD: I think he's done, like, "Maid in Manhattan," "End of the Affair," all of these were magic roles. But he's returning to an evil roots, because no one was more evil than the guy in "Schindler's List."

SHAW: He (UNINTELLIGIBLE) spiders. He's good when he's creepy. We'll all for it.

COLLINS: All right, creepy is good. All right, we'll watch for that.

ELLIOTT: Speaking of creepy, a great segue.

COLLINS: And this is a segue, yes, for you, Mr. Josh. Five more episodes of this "Growing up Gotti" on A&E.

ELLIOTT: Yes, yes.

COLLINS: So are we watching this again?

ELLIOTT: America, please, put down the remotes. If we watch it, they'll keep giving it to us. It's almost like the opening grosses of a movie. You know, if those first numbers are big, they're going to throw all sorts of money. Now, they're throwing money at this crazy, insane alien.

There are two things about this. No. 1, the conceit of it is that we're supposed to believe that we're seeing how a regular family lives. But she's also not going to sort of own up to the fact that her family, you know, has kind of been connected to some nefarious issues.

BERNARD: She doesn't want to talk about that part.

SHAW: Right. Well, it's sort of like there are pictures of John Gotti everywhere in the house. There are these, like, looming portraits of him. And...

ELLIOTT: Well, and also, if you're going to have -- the only thing worse than plastic surgery that you can see is plastic surgery that you can see but you can't identify. She has...

BERNARD: What are you talking about?

(CROSSTALK)

ELLIOTT: Absolutely, absolutely. You know, the Scandinavians, you know, had a huge colony down there.

COLLINS: Careful now.

BERNARD: Do you know what's great about this? I think that this just proves, in terms of "The Soprano's, because obviously that's what's really behind all of this, that next time James Gandolfini asks for a raise, Carmela should just forget about him entirely, do the show about Carmela as a single mom. And obviously, that's what everyone wants to see. They don't need him.

ELLIOTT: Well, and who knew that A.J. would be more palatable son than the...

(CROSSTALK)

SHAW: It's all about the hottie Gotti, the real breakout, the hottie Gotti, the boys.

COLLINS: All right, you guys. Thanks so much. We'll watch that next time around. Maybe not. Sarah, Josh and Jessica, thanks so much again -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thanks for that.

In a moment here, some Vietnam veterans level some explosive accusations about John Kerry's military service 35 years ago. We'll talk to one of the men featured in this controversial new ad. We'll also hear from a former Kerry crewmate, now campaigning for the senator. Still to come, top of the hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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