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American Morning
ETA Calls in 7 Bomb Threats in Spain; Week 2 of Penalty Phase in Scott Peterson's Trial
Aired December 06, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everybody. Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Bill is off today; Miles O'Brien is in for him.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
S. O'BRIEN: I'm OK. I've got it under control.
Breaking news out of Spain to get to right away. Terrorists attacking this morning across that country. The group known as ETA calling in seven bomb threats. The threats have come true. We'll get a live report for you in just a moment.
M. O'BRIEN: Also we're talking to Sanjay as we always do as part of our security watch this morning though. If terrorists were to successfully tamper with America's food supply, would we even know it? How would we know it?
Sanjay looking at all that can go wrong with the things we eat and how authorities know the difference from terrorism and just plain old bad food.
Overseas this morning, seven bombs exploded in several Spanish cities today. The Basque separatist group Eta had warned of the bombings. Al Goodman, Madrid Bureau Chief, on the phone with us.
Al, do we know for sure it's Eta or are we just -- is that the most logical conclusion at this point?
AL GOODMAN, MADRID BUREAU CHIEF: It's what the officials are saying is certainly the most logical conclusion because there were a couple of warning calls a short while ago in Spain to a Basque newspaper called "Gara," which is where Eta usually makes its claims of responsibilities and sometimes makes its warning calls, saying that seven bombs would go off in seven Spanish cities, four of them in the north, three of them in the south.
And, in fact, that is what happened roughly at the appointed hour. Six people were slightly injured; Miles, and three are children. That in part may be because some of those bombs in some of the cities went off not in the areas where Eta said they were going to go off at a particular plaza or square but outside of the area that police had cordoned off and that may account for some of those injuries, Miles. M. O'BRIEN: In the immediate wake of those dramatic and deadly train bombings in Spain several months ago that actually swung an election there, the first reaction was that it was Eta. Is this different? Will it likely be learned later that maybe it might be al Qaeda here?
GOODMAN: No, there's really not a similar situation. These are all very small potency bombs.
Now the March 11th train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded 1500 -- the government at the time in -- most of Spain at the time -- in the very beginning thought it was Eta, but evidence came in that showed it was Islamic terrorists.
That's what the police and courts now think and have thought since very early on, but the conservative government at the time continued to say Eta might be a suspect there, and that may have cost it the election.
Now this bombings this day -- incidentally this is Constitution Day, a national holiday in Spain commemorating the constitution. This has interrupted official ceremonies at Parliament.
This comes just three days after the Friday bombs when five small bombs at gas stations leaving out of Madrid as Madrid residents were pouring out of the city for this long holiday weekend, so we've got Eta basically coming up and saying after its been on its back through a series of arrests in recent months basically trying to send a message according to analysts here that it is still alive and kicking -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Al Goodman is our Madrid Bureau Chief thank you very much -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: A story we have been following all morning -- the White House spent part of the weekend playing down a warning from Tommy Thompson, the outgoing Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Thompson says that America's food supply is ripe for an attack by terrorists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY THOMPSON, HHS SECRETARY: I for the life of me cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do and we're importing a lot of food from the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Some pretty strong words, pretty scary, too. Joining us this morning to discuss the concern, Democratic consultant Victor Kamber in Miami. Former RNC communications director Cliff May, who is in Washington.
Good morning, gentlemen. VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Cliff, let's begin with you. Kind of a strange parting shot from Tommy Thompson, I think it's fair to say. What do you think?
CLIFFORD MAY, FMR. RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Yes, I think it's fair to say. The context was that he was asked a question -- what do you fear most right now, and he said two things: Asian flu because we have no treatment and we have no vaccine, and also I fear the possibility of food being poisoned.
Now there's no question that we're looking at more food than we were, but not enough. Look, A, I think it's a good thing that people like Tommy Thompson are honest when they're asked a question and B, that they understand that there are probably a dozen things we could come up with right now where we have vulnerabilities to clever terrorists.
And we need to think of such things, which we were not doing before 9/11 and come up with ways to thwart the terrorists on all of them.
S. O'BRIEN: Vic, is there a thing as being too honest? I mean, he literally said I can't understand for the life of me it's so easy to do?
KAMBER: Yes, I think it's loose lips, frankly. I -- you know, obviously a terrorist has thought of those kinds of things probably but the copy cats, the crazies out there, the single people may not of thought of all those things and there's virtually nothing that the single consumer out there can do.
I mean, we can talk about washing your fruits and boiling your water and all the other kinds of things to do, but there's not a lot that the American public as individuals can do. There's a lot the federal government can do, closing our ports, protecting our ports a lot stronger than they are in our borders and the whole like.
I just think it was loose lips on his part.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about Harry Reid. He said that he thought Clarence Thomas was an embarrassment; that he would never, ever vote for him to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Of course that's very hypothetical at this point. Do you think he's up to the task? Vic, you want to tackle that?
KAMBER: Well, I'll never speak for another leader of either party. I've been criticized some of the other party. I think Harry Reid's record on Justice Thomas is pretty clear. He didn't support him when he ran -- when he was nominated the first time around and I think he's looked at his record and said he hasn't seen much improvement.
The fact is that Clarence Thomas is a puppet for Antonin Scalia; he hasn't very much done any writing in his own right or said anything -- he speaks very rarely on the court during those question and answer periods. I don't know if the word embarrassment is quite what I would use, but he's certainly not a distinguished jurist that I would think of for the Chief Justice role.
S. O'BRIEN: Big difference between not distinguished and embarrassment, I would say, Cliff. What do you think?
MAY: I agree with you. I think it's outrageous. I think that an apology is owed to Justice Thomas. Look, Justice Thomas is African-American and he's conservative. Some people will never forgive that and think that's an open opportunity to insult him.
S. O'BRIEN: Wait, wait; wait -- whoa, whoa, whoa. So are you telling -- are you saying that you think Harry Reid is essentially being racist?
MAY: I say he is evidently one of those people who thinks that African-Americans do not have the right to be conservatives and...
KAMBER: Oh, that's baloney.
MAY: ... and can't understand why they would be -- they would be a conservative. All -- I would say to anybody take a look -- you can find it on the Web -- look at the opinions Justice Thomas has written. And you see if you think those are embarrassing opinions or if those are very clear and logical whether or not you agree with them. He has...
KAMBER: He hasn't written any.
MAY: Look, Clarence Thomas is an...
KAMBER: He has signed on...
MAY: From the beginning for no good reason.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's turn and talk about 9/11 legislation, because we've got a lot to cover this morning. Here's my question, Cliff.
Why don't -- why doesn't Dennis Hastert just call a vote, they take a vote -- everyone has done the math -- and they say it's going to pass. Why is it being hamstrung by these albeit powerful colleagues of his?
MAY: Well, he could do that and that would mean that the legislation would get done fast. I think he's more concerned that it get done right. There are serious concerns here. Someone like Duncan Hunter who has been more than two decades in the Congress; he is the chairman of House Armed Services, he was a Ranger, decorated in Vietnam...
S. O'BRIEN: But if their vote would pass it, I mean I get all the concerns on all the sides, we've now been talking about it for a while, but if the vote -- if everyone votes, I mean assuming the Congresspeople know the concerns. Why not just vote? MAY: Because I think that Hastert is rightly concerned that a majority of the Republican members of his, of the House, right now, have serious concerns about this bill as does George Tenet we now find out. I don't agree with everything George Tenet says but he is concerned about it. I think it's worth taking a little extra time to get it right.
By the way there's another commission out there, chaired by Chuck Robb, a Democrat, former senator, also by Lawrence Silverman, a former federal judge, they're not going to report till next March. I don't think it's a terrible thing to say let's wait till we have that in. Look, the 9/11 Commission has spent 18 months thinking about this; let Congress take another month and get it right. And they may get it right this week.
S. O'BRIEN: Vic, what do you think? March? And you have about ten seconds. We're out of time.
KAMBER: I think it just shows the weakness of George Bush and his administration. If Bush wants this legislation, it should pass. Three members, Republican members of Congress, shouldn't be stopping the will of the people, the will of the Congress, both the Senate and the House and three members are doing it.
S. O'BRIEN: That's the final word this morning. Victor Kamber, Cliff May -- gentlemen as always, thank you. Nice to see you.
MAY: Thank you.
KAMBER: Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: It's week two in the penalty phase of Scott Peterson's double murder trial and the message for the defense to the jury remains the same: let Scott live.
CNN's Rusty Dornin live now from Redwood City, California. Good morning, Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, how do you convince a jury that convicting Scott Peterson of first degree murder and check the special circumstances box for multiple murders -- how do you convince them to allow Scott Peterson to live?
Well, the defense believes that you do that through humanizing him, convincing them that this is a life worth saving and that's the theme that they've been hitting along -- all along -- and also in the opening statement.
That this is a life worth saving. But the first week by all accounts was an emotional one for many in the courtroom.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN (voice-over): The sentencing phase began with a week-long burst of emotion, the most heart-wrenching moments when Laci Peterson's mother Sharon Rocha described her anguish during the past two years since her daughter's disappearance.
At times, Rocha shrieked at the defendant, Scott Peterson. Divorce was always an option she yelled at one point, not murder.
Other moments she simply sobbed about her own excruciating pain. Rocha said every day I wake up and cry.
For the defense, attorney Pat Harris trying to avoid a death penalty verdict against Peterson told the jury over and over again this is a life worth saving. The defense then paraded a string of witnesses hoping to prove that point.
JIM HAMMER, LEGAL ANALYST: It boils down to do you want to let this guy live, even in prison for the rest of his life. And that boils down to Scott's friends and family begging the jury to keep him alive.
DORNIN: His father Lee described a loving son. Scott's sister- in-law Janey broke down on the stand while relating her fondest memories of Scott. The jury was not moved to tears, but a few smiled as his brother shared amusing childhood tales. His high school friend called the defendant a role model.
All 14 witnesses tried to humanize Peterson. They claimed he was a positive influence on everyone he met, and believed he could be a good influence if sentenced to life in prison. If sentenced to death, they said, it would be devastating for his family, despite the fact the jury is legally not supposed to consider the impact.
CHUCK SMITH, LEGAL ANALYST: It doesn't unring the bell and -- and clearly human beings when making such an enormous decision will be touched by the emotion of the Peterson family and what this will do to the Peterson family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN: Including former coaches and teachers and that sort of thing. Jackie Peterson, the defendant's mother, is expected to be the last witness to testify.
The judge told the jury not to expect to begin deliberations until Wednesday or Thursday -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about that jury for just a moment. Really if you're on the defense team, you're trying to make your argument to one person, aren't you?
DORNIN: That's right, because one person can hang this up. It has to be unanimous jury for the death penalty. If it's hung, they would have to pick a new penalty phase jury, they would have to see evidence over again. The other option could be the prosecution could drop the demand for the death penalty, then he would be automatically sentenced to life in prison without parole.
M. O'BRIEN: And typically do prosecutors sort of go for that second round or do they just let it go?
DORNIN: Well, that's -- it just depends. They have to weigh whether, you know, the expense of trying him again basically is what they would have to do in bringing this new jury in. Is it worth it and you know they talked to the family about it, that sort of thing. I'm sure there would be a substantial recess before they come back and decide.
M. O'BRIEN: A lot to consider there. Rusty Dornin, thank you very much. Soledad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come, Kung Fu and the NBA don't mix -- hmm. Andy is "Minding Your Business" on that. We'll see what a judge in Detroit says about that, too.
S. O'BRIEN: Plus, CNN's Security Watch. More on the vulnerability of America's food supply. What could happen if terrorists contaminated the food we eat? We are "Paging Dr. Gupta" on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk food safety. Food safety is the focus of today's CNN Security Watch. This morning's "Paging Dr. Gupta" takes a closer look at how tainted food affects the body and some measures you can take.
Sanjay joining us from the CNN Center. Good morning, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. Talking a lot about food safety, obviously and when you think about tainted food you have to sort of figure out first of all as a first step whether or not it was accidental or intentional.
In the United States looking back through history only one case back in Oregon, 1984, 20 years ago of a major U.S. terrorist attack by way of food. The Rajheesh cult of Indian religious cult at that time contaminated salad bars in two counties in Oregon.
Their goal to try and throw an election. At that point it was actually contaminated with salmonella and what salmonella does to the body interestingly its going to cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, chills. You can read the symptoms there.
Forty thousand people are infected annually, non-intentionally. Most common in the summer months. Usually subsides in two to five days. In Oregon at that time over 750 people were poisoned and 40 people were hospitalized, so a pretty significant impact. No one died, though, Miles in that one.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, what's interesting about that is it took quite a while for people to put two and two together there. How would someone know if it was in fact a deliberate tainting or just you know a bad piece of meat? GUPTA: Yes, I mean, you may not know and I think you bring up an important point. In Oregon for example, it took almost a year before they could conclusively figure it out. There may be other cases out there again throughout history that may have been deemed accidental but in fact were intentional.
Not to alarm people, but that could happen. There are over 76 million different sorts of illnesses that can be caused by food-borne illness. Five thousand deaths annually, 325,000 people are hospitalized. Food inspections as we've been hearing this morning up from 12,000 to 98,000. Still a small percentage.
Miles, let me give you a couple of examples here. Hepatitis A, for example. Hepatitis A you may remember in Pennsylvania one of the counties there twice late last year -- two times they had outbreaks of Hepatitis A traced back to this one particular Chichi's. Over 600 people fell ill, there were three deaths, 10 secondary infections. A lot of people thought, hey, is this terrorism? Ultimately it was deemed to be accidental contamination from green onions imported from Mexico.
All sorts of symptoms associated from Hepatitis A, but here are some important facts as well. It has a 50-day incubation period, Miles and you know -- that's almost two months. Basically that means it takes a lot of time before people start to feel ill. During that time they may pass it on to other people who never ate at the restaurant. You can see how complicated this starts to become in terms of tracing it back, A, to a particular restaurant and B, to a particular food group.
So, it becomes a real sort of medical investigative work. Another example, real quick -- botulism. You and I have talked about botulism in the past. Some public health officials say this should be at the top of the list as far as food-borne potential intentional poisonings here.
There are the symptoms there you can see. Typically it occurs in home-canned foods with low acidity, foods such as asparagus, green beans, and foods that are canned meaning they are anaerobic. They don't have air in them.
Again, botulism could be a potential threat as well. Haven't heard about intentional poisonings using botulism but these are what public health officials are thinking about, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Sanjay Gupta, thanks for your time, appreciate it.
Tonight on CNN "Security Watch," the question is, "Is Your Food Safe?" Seven p.m. Eastern, ANDERSON COOPER 360, how likely is it for terrorists to poison the food supply?
Then at 8 p.m. Eastern, PAULA ZAHN NOW, what sabotage safeguards are in place in meat processing plants? Ten p.m. Eastern NEWSNIGHT, Aaron Brown, are crop dusters safe from terrorism?
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, "The Cafferty File," what is the cheesiest movie line of all time? Jack's got the answer just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: A Nike ad featuring NBA star LeBron James banned in China. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business." What up with that?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I'll tell you in a second. You're not going to jump and shout again are you?
CAFFERTY: I can't.
SERWER: I just want a heads up. You can't do it. Oh, great. Let's just stop this, OK? Oh, it's my fault, I asked for it. OK, markets up a little bit last week, the Nasdaq in particular up over 2 percent so that was a pretty good deal.
This morning, though, futures are weak because of violence in Iraq and also in Saudi Arabia and Spain we're hearing now as well. So, let's talk about these East meets West stories that Jack was referring to.
Yes, it's true, China is banning a LeBron James ad, maybe you've seen some of these. The chamber of fear where he fights a Kung Fu master and there's some geishas and it's an animated -- you know, Japanese-style animation. There's Chinese characters, apparently it's offensive. Singapore also banning the ads, as well
Just doesn't work.
Now, China -- another East meets West story. China is opening its first Playboy club. You remember they closed them all down, now they're opening them up. Never had a Playboy club before in China and as you can see here we'll show you exactly what the Chinese are getting themselves in for.
Here's some vintage Playboy club footage.
CAFFERTY: Ah yes, the girls.
SERWER: Yes, this is back when things were really ripping and roaring and rocking.
CAFFERTY: When men were men and bunnies served drinks.
SERWER: Interestingly you can't even get -- yes -- I put that up there for your commentary and you didn't. You can't even buy the magazine, though, in China. Isn't that interesting?
CAFFERTY: I don't understand that because no -- people only buy the magazine to read the articles.
SERWER: Of course.
CAFFERTY: Right, so I don't know why they wouldn't sell it.
SERWER: Wonderful articles.
CAFFERTY: Thanks Andy. On to the "File." Shopping center in Wales installing a web cam in Santa's winter wonderland to make sure that Mr. Claus behaves himself. The camera installed as a result of parental concerns over a number of pedophile cases in Britain. Even the tradition of kids sitting on Santa's knee will be replaced.
Kids will have to tell Santa their Christmas wishes while sitting next to him in a chair. The mall's manager said I'm afraid it was either this or not having Santa at all. I know.
The BBC out with a poll of the cheesiest movie lines ever. Topping the list, Leonardo diCaprio's "I am the king of the world," which he shouted from the bow of the Titanic as it went to the bottom of the ocean.
Other corny bests included number two, "Nobody puts Baby in the corner." That was Patrick Swazye in "Dirty Dancing."
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.
CAFFERTY: Number five; "You can be my wingman anytime." Val Kilmer talking to Tom Cruise in "Top Gun." They were talking about flight formations there.
"Today we celebrate our independence day." Vows U.S. president Bill Pullman in "Independence Day." About fighting off an alien invasion. And number nine was Renee Zellweger saying "You had me at hello," which she says to Tom Cruise in "Jerry McGuire."
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Cheesy movie lines.
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: And everything from "Jersey Girl," which was a terrible movie full of cheesy lines.
CAFFERTY: And all Jennifer Lopez movies.
SERWER: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: You know what? That's very true.
SERWER: Val Kilmer also.
CAFFERTY: And all Madonna movies.
M. O'BRIEN: You might say there's a plethora of choices. You could.
S. O'BRIEN: I know.
M. O'BRIEN: You could say that.
S. O'BRIEN: Jack, thank you. In a moment, a look at today's top stories. There is word on who might be behind today's deadly consulate attack in Saudi Arabia. A look at that as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired December 6, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everybody. Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Bill is off today; Miles O'Brien is in for him.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
S. O'BRIEN: I'm OK. I've got it under control.
Breaking news out of Spain to get to right away. Terrorists attacking this morning across that country. The group known as ETA calling in seven bomb threats. The threats have come true. We'll get a live report for you in just a moment.
M. O'BRIEN: Also we're talking to Sanjay as we always do as part of our security watch this morning though. If terrorists were to successfully tamper with America's food supply, would we even know it? How would we know it?
Sanjay looking at all that can go wrong with the things we eat and how authorities know the difference from terrorism and just plain old bad food.
Overseas this morning, seven bombs exploded in several Spanish cities today. The Basque separatist group Eta had warned of the bombings. Al Goodman, Madrid Bureau Chief, on the phone with us.
Al, do we know for sure it's Eta or are we just -- is that the most logical conclusion at this point?
AL GOODMAN, MADRID BUREAU CHIEF: It's what the officials are saying is certainly the most logical conclusion because there were a couple of warning calls a short while ago in Spain to a Basque newspaper called "Gara," which is where Eta usually makes its claims of responsibilities and sometimes makes its warning calls, saying that seven bombs would go off in seven Spanish cities, four of them in the north, three of them in the south.
And, in fact, that is what happened roughly at the appointed hour. Six people were slightly injured; Miles, and three are children. That in part may be because some of those bombs in some of the cities went off not in the areas where Eta said they were going to go off at a particular plaza or square but outside of the area that police had cordoned off and that may account for some of those injuries, Miles. M. O'BRIEN: In the immediate wake of those dramatic and deadly train bombings in Spain several months ago that actually swung an election there, the first reaction was that it was Eta. Is this different? Will it likely be learned later that maybe it might be al Qaeda here?
GOODMAN: No, there's really not a similar situation. These are all very small potency bombs.
Now the March 11th train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded 1500 -- the government at the time in -- most of Spain at the time -- in the very beginning thought it was Eta, but evidence came in that showed it was Islamic terrorists.
That's what the police and courts now think and have thought since very early on, but the conservative government at the time continued to say Eta might be a suspect there, and that may have cost it the election.
Now this bombings this day -- incidentally this is Constitution Day, a national holiday in Spain commemorating the constitution. This has interrupted official ceremonies at Parliament.
This comes just three days after the Friday bombs when five small bombs at gas stations leaving out of Madrid as Madrid residents were pouring out of the city for this long holiday weekend, so we've got Eta basically coming up and saying after its been on its back through a series of arrests in recent months basically trying to send a message according to analysts here that it is still alive and kicking -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Al Goodman is our Madrid Bureau Chief thank you very much -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: A story we have been following all morning -- the White House spent part of the weekend playing down a warning from Tommy Thompson, the outgoing Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Thompson says that America's food supply is ripe for an attack by terrorists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY THOMPSON, HHS SECRETARY: I for the life of me cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do and we're importing a lot of food from the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Some pretty strong words, pretty scary, too. Joining us this morning to discuss the concern, Democratic consultant Victor Kamber in Miami. Former RNC communications director Cliff May, who is in Washington.
Good morning, gentlemen. VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Cliff, let's begin with you. Kind of a strange parting shot from Tommy Thompson, I think it's fair to say. What do you think?
CLIFFORD MAY, FMR. RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Yes, I think it's fair to say. The context was that he was asked a question -- what do you fear most right now, and he said two things: Asian flu because we have no treatment and we have no vaccine, and also I fear the possibility of food being poisoned.
Now there's no question that we're looking at more food than we were, but not enough. Look, A, I think it's a good thing that people like Tommy Thompson are honest when they're asked a question and B, that they understand that there are probably a dozen things we could come up with right now where we have vulnerabilities to clever terrorists.
And we need to think of such things, which we were not doing before 9/11 and come up with ways to thwart the terrorists on all of them.
S. O'BRIEN: Vic, is there a thing as being too honest? I mean, he literally said I can't understand for the life of me it's so easy to do?
KAMBER: Yes, I think it's loose lips, frankly. I -- you know, obviously a terrorist has thought of those kinds of things probably but the copy cats, the crazies out there, the single people may not of thought of all those things and there's virtually nothing that the single consumer out there can do.
I mean, we can talk about washing your fruits and boiling your water and all the other kinds of things to do, but there's not a lot that the American public as individuals can do. There's a lot the federal government can do, closing our ports, protecting our ports a lot stronger than they are in our borders and the whole like.
I just think it was loose lips on his part.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about Harry Reid. He said that he thought Clarence Thomas was an embarrassment; that he would never, ever vote for him to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Of course that's very hypothetical at this point. Do you think he's up to the task? Vic, you want to tackle that?
KAMBER: Well, I'll never speak for another leader of either party. I've been criticized some of the other party. I think Harry Reid's record on Justice Thomas is pretty clear. He didn't support him when he ran -- when he was nominated the first time around and I think he's looked at his record and said he hasn't seen much improvement.
The fact is that Clarence Thomas is a puppet for Antonin Scalia; he hasn't very much done any writing in his own right or said anything -- he speaks very rarely on the court during those question and answer periods. I don't know if the word embarrassment is quite what I would use, but he's certainly not a distinguished jurist that I would think of for the Chief Justice role.
S. O'BRIEN: Big difference between not distinguished and embarrassment, I would say, Cliff. What do you think?
MAY: I agree with you. I think it's outrageous. I think that an apology is owed to Justice Thomas. Look, Justice Thomas is African-American and he's conservative. Some people will never forgive that and think that's an open opportunity to insult him.
S. O'BRIEN: Wait, wait; wait -- whoa, whoa, whoa. So are you telling -- are you saying that you think Harry Reid is essentially being racist?
MAY: I say he is evidently one of those people who thinks that African-Americans do not have the right to be conservatives and...
KAMBER: Oh, that's baloney.
MAY: ... and can't understand why they would be -- they would be a conservative. All -- I would say to anybody take a look -- you can find it on the Web -- look at the opinions Justice Thomas has written. And you see if you think those are embarrassing opinions or if those are very clear and logical whether or not you agree with them. He has...
KAMBER: He hasn't written any.
MAY: Look, Clarence Thomas is an...
KAMBER: He has signed on...
MAY: From the beginning for no good reason.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's turn and talk about 9/11 legislation, because we've got a lot to cover this morning. Here's my question, Cliff.
Why don't -- why doesn't Dennis Hastert just call a vote, they take a vote -- everyone has done the math -- and they say it's going to pass. Why is it being hamstrung by these albeit powerful colleagues of his?
MAY: Well, he could do that and that would mean that the legislation would get done fast. I think he's more concerned that it get done right. There are serious concerns here. Someone like Duncan Hunter who has been more than two decades in the Congress; he is the chairman of House Armed Services, he was a Ranger, decorated in Vietnam...
S. O'BRIEN: But if their vote would pass it, I mean I get all the concerns on all the sides, we've now been talking about it for a while, but if the vote -- if everyone votes, I mean assuming the Congresspeople know the concerns. Why not just vote? MAY: Because I think that Hastert is rightly concerned that a majority of the Republican members of his, of the House, right now, have serious concerns about this bill as does George Tenet we now find out. I don't agree with everything George Tenet says but he is concerned about it. I think it's worth taking a little extra time to get it right.
By the way there's another commission out there, chaired by Chuck Robb, a Democrat, former senator, also by Lawrence Silverman, a former federal judge, they're not going to report till next March. I don't think it's a terrible thing to say let's wait till we have that in. Look, the 9/11 Commission has spent 18 months thinking about this; let Congress take another month and get it right. And they may get it right this week.
S. O'BRIEN: Vic, what do you think? March? And you have about ten seconds. We're out of time.
KAMBER: I think it just shows the weakness of George Bush and his administration. If Bush wants this legislation, it should pass. Three members, Republican members of Congress, shouldn't be stopping the will of the people, the will of the Congress, both the Senate and the House and three members are doing it.
S. O'BRIEN: That's the final word this morning. Victor Kamber, Cliff May -- gentlemen as always, thank you. Nice to see you.
MAY: Thank you.
KAMBER: Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: It's week two in the penalty phase of Scott Peterson's double murder trial and the message for the defense to the jury remains the same: let Scott live.
CNN's Rusty Dornin live now from Redwood City, California. Good morning, Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, how do you convince a jury that convicting Scott Peterson of first degree murder and check the special circumstances box for multiple murders -- how do you convince them to allow Scott Peterson to live?
Well, the defense believes that you do that through humanizing him, convincing them that this is a life worth saving and that's the theme that they've been hitting along -- all along -- and also in the opening statement.
That this is a life worth saving. But the first week by all accounts was an emotional one for many in the courtroom.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN (voice-over): The sentencing phase began with a week-long burst of emotion, the most heart-wrenching moments when Laci Peterson's mother Sharon Rocha described her anguish during the past two years since her daughter's disappearance.
At times, Rocha shrieked at the defendant, Scott Peterson. Divorce was always an option she yelled at one point, not murder.
Other moments she simply sobbed about her own excruciating pain. Rocha said every day I wake up and cry.
For the defense, attorney Pat Harris trying to avoid a death penalty verdict against Peterson told the jury over and over again this is a life worth saving. The defense then paraded a string of witnesses hoping to prove that point.
JIM HAMMER, LEGAL ANALYST: It boils down to do you want to let this guy live, even in prison for the rest of his life. And that boils down to Scott's friends and family begging the jury to keep him alive.
DORNIN: His father Lee described a loving son. Scott's sister- in-law Janey broke down on the stand while relating her fondest memories of Scott. The jury was not moved to tears, but a few smiled as his brother shared amusing childhood tales. His high school friend called the defendant a role model.
All 14 witnesses tried to humanize Peterson. They claimed he was a positive influence on everyone he met, and believed he could be a good influence if sentenced to life in prison. If sentenced to death, they said, it would be devastating for his family, despite the fact the jury is legally not supposed to consider the impact.
CHUCK SMITH, LEGAL ANALYST: It doesn't unring the bell and -- and clearly human beings when making such an enormous decision will be touched by the emotion of the Peterson family and what this will do to the Peterson family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN: Including former coaches and teachers and that sort of thing. Jackie Peterson, the defendant's mother, is expected to be the last witness to testify.
The judge told the jury not to expect to begin deliberations until Wednesday or Thursday -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about that jury for just a moment. Really if you're on the defense team, you're trying to make your argument to one person, aren't you?
DORNIN: That's right, because one person can hang this up. It has to be unanimous jury for the death penalty. If it's hung, they would have to pick a new penalty phase jury, they would have to see evidence over again. The other option could be the prosecution could drop the demand for the death penalty, then he would be automatically sentenced to life in prison without parole.
M. O'BRIEN: And typically do prosecutors sort of go for that second round or do they just let it go?
DORNIN: Well, that's -- it just depends. They have to weigh whether, you know, the expense of trying him again basically is what they would have to do in bringing this new jury in. Is it worth it and you know they talked to the family about it, that sort of thing. I'm sure there would be a substantial recess before they come back and decide.
M. O'BRIEN: A lot to consider there. Rusty Dornin, thank you very much. Soledad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come, Kung Fu and the NBA don't mix -- hmm. Andy is "Minding Your Business" on that. We'll see what a judge in Detroit says about that, too.
S. O'BRIEN: Plus, CNN's Security Watch. More on the vulnerability of America's food supply. What could happen if terrorists contaminated the food we eat? We are "Paging Dr. Gupta" on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk food safety. Food safety is the focus of today's CNN Security Watch. This morning's "Paging Dr. Gupta" takes a closer look at how tainted food affects the body and some measures you can take.
Sanjay joining us from the CNN Center. Good morning, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. Talking a lot about food safety, obviously and when you think about tainted food you have to sort of figure out first of all as a first step whether or not it was accidental or intentional.
In the United States looking back through history only one case back in Oregon, 1984, 20 years ago of a major U.S. terrorist attack by way of food. The Rajheesh cult of Indian religious cult at that time contaminated salad bars in two counties in Oregon.
Their goal to try and throw an election. At that point it was actually contaminated with salmonella and what salmonella does to the body interestingly its going to cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, chills. You can read the symptoms there.
Forty thousand people are infected annually, non-intentionally. Most common in the summer months. Usually subsides in two to five days. In Oregon at that time over 750 people were poisoned and 40 people were hospitalized, so a pretty significant impact. No one died, though, Miles in that one.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, what's interesting about that is it took quite a while for people to put two and two together there. How would someone know if it was in fact a deliberate tainting or just you know a bad piece of meat? GUPTA: Yes, I mean, you may not know and I think you bring up an important point. In Oregon for example, it took almost a year before they could conclusively figure it out. There may be other cases out there again throughout history that may have been deemed accidental but in fact were intentional.
Not to alarm people, but that could happen. There are over 76 million different sorts of illnesses that can be caused by food-borne illness. Five thousand deaths annually, 325,000 people are hospitalized. Food inspections as we've been hearing this morning up from 12,000 to 98,000. Still a small percentage.
Miles, let me give you a couple of examples here. Hepatitis A, for example. Hepatitis A you may remember in Pennsylvania one of the counties there twice late last year -- two times they had outbreaks of Hepatitis A traced back to this one particular Chichi's. Over 600 people fell ill, there were three deaths, 10 secondary infections. A lot of people thought, hey, is this terrorism? Ultimately it was deemed to be accidental contamination from green onions imported from Mexico.
All sorts of symptoms associated from Hepatitis A, but here are some important facts as well. It has a 50-day incubation period, Miles and you know -- that's almost two months. Basically that means it takes a lot of time before people start to feel ill. During that time they may pass it on to other people who never ate at the restaurant. You can see how complicated this starts to become in terms of tracing it back, A, to a particular restaurant and B, to a particular food group.
So, it becomes a real sort of medical investigative work. Another example, real quick -- botulism. You and I have talked about botulism in the past. Some public health officials say this should be at the top of the list as far as food-borne potential intentional poisonings here.
There are the symptoms there you can see. Typically it occurs in home-canned foods with low acidity, foods such as asparagus, green beans, and foods that are canned meaning they are anaerobic. They don't have air in them.
Again, botulism could be a potential threat as well. Haven't heard about intentional poisonings using botulism but these are what public health officials are thinking about, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Sanjay Gupta, thanks for your time, appreciate it.
Tonight on CNN "Security Watch," the question is, "Is Your Food Safe?" Seven p.m. Eastern, ANDERSON COOPER 360, how likely is it for terrorists to poison the food supply?
Then at 8 p.m. Eastern, PAULA ZAHN NOW, what sabotage safeguards are in place in meat processing plants? Ten p.m. Eastern NEWSNIGHT, Aaron Brown, are crop dusters safe from terrorism?
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, "The Cafferty File," what is the cheesiest movie line of all time? Jack's got the answer just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: A Nike ad featuring NBA star LeBron James banned in China. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business." What up with that?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I'll tell you in a second. You're not going to jump and shout again are you?
CAFFERTY: I can't.
SERWER: I just want a heads up. You can't do it. Oh, great. Let's just stop this, OK? Oh, it's my fault, I asked for it. OK, markets up a little bit last week, the Nasdaq in particular up over 2 percent so that was a pretty good deal.
This morning, though, futures are weak because of violence in Iraq and also in Saudi Arabia and Spain we're hearing now as well. So, let's talk about these East meets West stories that Jack was referring to.
Yes, it's true, China is banning a LeBron James ad, maybe you've seen some of these. The chamber of fear where he fights a Kung Fu master and there's some geishas and it's an animated -- you know, Japanese-style animation. There's Chinese characters, apparently it's offensive. Singapore also banning the ads, as well
Just doesn't work.
Now, China -- another East meets West story. China is opening its first Playboy club. You remember they closed them all down, now they're opening them up. Never had a Playboy club before in China and as you can see here we'll show you exactly what the Chinese are getting themselves in for.
Here's some vintage Playboy club footage.
CAFFERTY: Ah yes, the girls.
SERWER: Yes, this is back when things were really ripping and roaring and rocking.
CAFFERTY: When men were men and bunnies served drinks.
SERWER: Interestingly you can't even get -- yes -- I put that up there for your commentary and you didn't. You can't even buy the magazine, though, in China. Isn't that interesting?
CAFFERTY: I don't understand that because no -- people only buy the magazine to read the articles.
SERWER: Of course.
CAFFERTY: Right, so I don't know why they wouldn't sell it.
SERWER: Wonderful articles.
CAFFERTY: Thanks Andy. On to the "File." Shopping center in Wales installing a web cam in Santa's winter wonderland to make sure that Mr. Claus behaves himself. The camera installed as a result of parental concerns over a number of pedophile cases in Britain. Even the tradition of kids sitting on Santa's knee will be replaced.
Kids will have to tell Santa their Christmas wishes while sitting next to him in a chair. The mall's manager said I'm afraid it was either this or not having Santa at all. I know.
The BBC out with a poll of the cheesiest movie lines ever. Topping the list, Leonardo diCaprio's "I am the king of the world," which he shouted from the bow of the Titanic as it went to the bottom of the ocean.
Other corny bests included number two, "Nobody puts Baby in the corner." That was Patrick Swazye in "Dirty Dancing."
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.
CAFFERTY: Number five; "You can be my wingman anytime." Val Kilmer talking to Tom Cruise in "Top Gun." They were talking about flight formations there.
"Today we celebrate our independence day." Vows U.S. president Bill Pullman in "Independence Day." About fighting off an alien invasion. And number nine was Renee Zellweger saying "You had me at hello," which she says to Tom Cruise in "Jerry McGuire."
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Cheesy movie lines.
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: And everything from "Jersey Girl," which was a terrible movie full of cheesy lines.
CAFFERTY: And all Jennifer Lopez movies.
SERWER: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: You know what? That's very true.
SERWER: Val Kilmer also.
CAFFERTY: And all Madonna movies.
M. O'BRIEN: You might say there's a plethora of choices. You could.
S. O'BRIEN: I know.
M. O'BRIEN: You could say that.
S. O'BRIEN: Jack, thank you. In a moment, a look at today's top stories. There is word on who might be behind today's deadly consulate attack in Saudi Arabia. A look at that as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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