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American Morning

Missing Marine; Winter Storm; On Terror's Trail

Aired January 06, 2005 - 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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It's just a bit past 7:30 here in New York, a rainy New York City here. Good morning, everybody. Good to have you along with us today.
Soledad continues reporting from Thailand. We'll get back to her in a moment there in Phuket, talking to the man with the job of identifying the dead in Phuket. And this is a race against time as well. Also, what does the devastation in Indonesia do for the global war on terror? There's a line of reasoning for improvement and one for making things worse. We'll look at both sides in a moment here.

Also, we'll get the forecast for today, that huge winter storm right now. This thing is stretching from three different time zones. We'll look at where the snow goes next and also where that ice goes next as well. Chicago got about eight inches plus, moving into Milwaukee.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: See? Now that's what you do with snow.

HEMMER: Is that what you do?

COLLINS: Yes. Unfortunately I don't see a lot of that here in New York, but the actual outdoor sports really make it worth it.

HEMMER: Too bad too many people are doing that right there at the windows.

COLLINS: I know. In Minnesota, we used to use a credit card if you forgot your ice scraper. It works really well, if you don't break it.

HEMMER: Good morning, Heidi. All right.

COLLINS: Good morning to you. And good morning to you once again, everybody.

We want to get to the stories "Now in the News." this morning.

Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas is calling for Mideast peace talks to resume immediately after the Palestinian elections this weekend. Abbas told reporters last hour he considers Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a partner in the peace process and is determined to resume talks with him following Sunday's vote. Israeli officials say they are skeptical.

A "CNN Security Watch" now. Within the past half-hour we learned the Department of Homeland Security is set to unveil its national response plan. It outlines how the federal government will support state and local officials during a time of crisis -- anything from a hurricane to a nuclear attack. The new term for such an event, by the way: incident of national significance. The 426-page report is set to be released this afternoon.

And California's legislature is meeting in a special session today. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called for the session during his State of the State speech yesterday. Legislators will try to reduce the state's deficit and improve education. If the reforms do not pass, Schwarzenegger has threatened to let state voters decide the issues in a special election coming this summer.

The man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart is due back in court. A Utah judge will decide whether Brian David Mitchell is mentally competent to stand trial. Mitchell has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault and several other charges in the 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart. His trial had been scheduled to begin February 1.

HEMMER: Moving on, aren't they?

COLLINS: Yes, they are.

HEMMER: It appears that way. Thank you, Heidi.

An accused Marine deserter is missing again this morning. Marine Corporal Ali Hassoun disappeared last June from Iraq. He later turned up in Lebanon. On Tuesday, Hassoun failed to return to Camp Lejeune -- that's in North Carolina -- after taking a leave.

We want to get to the Pentagon and CNN's Kathleen Koch.

Kathleen, good morning. Where is he now, do they believe?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, at this point, as you mentioned, their best belief is that he is in Lebanon. But, you know, this is just one more strange twist in an already very bizarre story.

As you mentioned, this corporal, Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, was due to show up at Camp Lejeune by noon on Tuesday. But, however, by Wednesday when he hadn't appeared as scheduled, the Marine Corps declared the young corporate AWOL again.

Now, Marine Corps officials say that Hassoun is believed to have taken money out of the bank and changed his original flight destination from North Carolina to Canada. Hassoun was visiting with family in Salt Lake City.

So, there then in Canada investigators believe that Hassoun booked a flight to Lebanon, his family's home country. And a spokesman for Hassoun's family said that they hadn't seen him since he left Salt Lake City, Utah, more than week ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TAREK NOSSEIR, FAMILY SPOKESMAN: They were pretty much in -- as surprised as everybody else was, you know, to hear, you know, the news that's being reported right now. The last time they had heard from him was when he was here on vacation, and then he was traveling back on his way back to Camp Lejeune.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: This bizarre saga, of course, as you'll recall, began in June when Hassoun disappeared from a Marine camp outside of Falluja in Iraq and then later showed up blindfolded on this videotape released by militants who had claimed to kidnap him. However, two and a half weeks later, Hassoun turned up in Lebanon, turned himself into authorities and was brought back to the United States.

A five-month investigation then led the Marine Corps to charge Hassoun with desertion and with two counts of theft of military property, the military property being his side arm, a pistol and a Humvee.

Now, if he were to have been convicted of wartime desertion, that carries a penalty of life in prison. The two theft charges would have carried penalties of 10 years each -- Bill.

HEMMER: One question, Kathleen, quickly here. Is there any evidence that he collaborated with the insurgents while in Iraq?

KOCH: You know, Bill, when they went into Falluja they did find some of his personal items in one of the houses there, the military. But they don't have any clear and direct proof that he collaborated, and they hadn't believed he was even a flight risk. They let him go back to Salt Lake City twice before to see his family.

HEMMER: Right.

KOCH: But that was before he was charged.

HEMMER: OK. Kathleen Koch, thanks. Live at the Pentagon this morning there -- Heidi.

COLLINS: The upper Midwest is being blasted this morning by snow and ice, some areas with nearly a foot of snow already, and it's still coming down. CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano is in Waukesha, Wisconsin, with more.

I know this place, Waukesha.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I bet you do, Heidi. And it's white today. Over six inches of snow falling last night. This has been a quiet winter for much this part of the Midwest at least, and it's still snowing right now. Winter storm warnings remain in effect for this area until 10:00 local time. That means another inch or two is possible, although it should begin to taper off as we go through time.

The snow itself, you know, is light fluffy. Temperatures right now are in the 20s. So, sorry kids, it's not really the type of snow that you would build a snowman with or have a good snowball fight with.

There are some sporadic school cancellations around the area. But generally speaking, north of Highway 88, 5 to 10 inches of snow. If you go west of there, over a foot in places like Des Moines, Iowa, and Nebraska.

This is a huge storm. It's caused major travel delays. At Chicago O'Hare and Midway yesterday alone over 1,000 cancellations. Average delays yesterday over three hours. Already this morning 300 flights are canceled. Airlines are asking, hey, if you want to change your plans over the weekend, we'll do it at no charge instead of getting paid for 75 or 100 bucks.

A big storm from coast to coast. We go to Jersey, where they had snow there as well. In some spots, especially in Bergen County, Jersey, this video specifically out of Ramsey, three to five inches of snow there. You go north of the border into Orange County, similar numbers. Parts of Fairfield County, Connecticut, we're seeing three to four inches of snow. That, as Chad will mention later on, will turn mostly to rain and eventually warm up quite a bit.

So, we're looking for the snow to continue. Some schools have been canceled. But all in all not too shabby. A monster storm, it's caused some ice also and flooding down across parts of Indiana. A schmorgesborg (ph) of weather, no doubt about that.

We'll toss it back to you guys in New York.

COLLINS: The only difference, though, is after living in Midwest and now in New Jersey, when you have snow in the Midwest the school buses are like armored tanks there. No matter what, you go to school. Here it's not the same story.

Thanks so much, Rob.

MARCIANO: See you, Heidi.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: Investors are hoping the latest trend on Wall Street does not catch on. Andy is back with that "Minding Your Business" in a moment here.

COLLINS: Plus, are terrorists ready to exploit the tsunami disaster? Why the crisis presents a prime opportunity for Islamic radicals. We'll talk about it next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country. And on terror's trail this morning, we're going back to Indonesia, where the U.S. has pledged massive relief aid. Secretary of State Colin Powell says U.S. assistance there is an opportunity for the Muslim world to -- quote -- "see the American values in action." The question this morning: Will American aid help repair the U.S. relations with the Muslim world?

Tracy Dahlby is the author of "Allah's Torch." He's an authority on radical Islam in Indonesia. He's also my guest here in New York City.

Good morning to you. Nice to see you.

TRACY DAHLBY, AUTHOR, "ALLAH'S TORCH": Good morning, Bill. Thank you.

HEMMER: There is a developing story here that just crossed the wires about 30 minutes ago. Fifty members of a radical group once headed by a terror chief known as Abu Bakar Bashir has now set up help in some of these refugee camps. The question here obviously is: Is this humanitarian assistance, or is this a way for this group to recruit?

DAHLBY: Well, I think the answer is both. Often these groups -- and this Abu Bakar Bashir, of course, was the reputed head of Jemaah Islamiyah, the group behind the Bali nightclub bombings in 2002 and various other acts of violence across Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

Often when they operate in their local communities -- and, you know, by its nature all terrorism is local. They used to say all politics is local. Well, all terrorism is to a degree local, too. So, they try to support the community with humanitarian efforts, but, of course, don't pass up the opportunity to do recruiting on the side.

HEMMER: On the island of Sumatra, the separatist movement, though, is designed to get a division away from Jakarta, the capital city.

DAHLBY: Precisely.

HEMMER: And they want their own area, and they've been fighting this battle for a long time. Are there ties to al Qaeda in there? How strong are the ties to the Islamic world?

DAHLBY: The ties to the Islamic world are quite strong. That northwestern tip of Sumatra is called the front porch of Mecca, and that's where traders came in the 14th century to bring Islam to Indonesia. So, Aceh has been a place apart in Indonesia. And ever since the independence of the country from the Dutch in 1949, they have maintained strong Islamic, conservative Islamic views, and also their distance from Jakarta.

So, that's really the origin of that problem. Very few ties that we know of to establish terrorist or militant groups.

HEMMER: Do you believe Colin Powell when he says that they can change minds once the people in Indonesia see American values? And a lot of those values right now are coming through relief aid and also the U.S. military. Can it work? DAHLBY: I absolutely do. In 2000, they did a poll, and they asked Indonesians, do you like the United States? Seventy-five percent of the Indonesians said we like the United States. Canada was 72 percent. So, basically the Indonesians were on our side.

In 2003, after Afghanistan and after Iraq, they did the poll again, and the number was 15 percent. It's now hovering around 13 percent. So, there was this dramatic turnaround.

I think what the outpouring of American aid is going to do, and I think Colin Powell was right, it has an opportunity to show us in the light that Indonesians really want to see us, as helpful constructive partners.

HEMMER: But you have used this phrase, a hibernating regard for the U.S. Is that part of the definition you just described here?

DAHLBY: I think it is. I think that like many other people in the Muslim world, there is, when you scratch the surface, a hibernating regard for the United States, an admiration, a respect. By showing the better angels of our nature, as it were, in the relief effort, you know, something good can come from this tragedy. And it is the ability to repair our relations with the Muslim world.

HEMMER: Thanks for coming and talking with us. Good to pick your brain on this.

DAHLBY: Appreciate it.

HEMMER: Tracy Dahlby, thank you.

DAHLBY: Nice meeting you.

HEMMER: Author of "Allah's Torch." To you as well.

We want to get back to Phuket, Thailand, again. Here is Soledad O'Brien there -- Soledad..

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Bill, it's a beautiful evening here in Phuket. It's, oh, about 8:00 in the evening. The wind is picking up a little bit.

And even though it's this late, the International Victims Coordination Center is still open. But visits there by visitors during the day are pretty much slowing to a trickle. One worker telling us that the center, which usually opens at around 8:30 in the morning until about 9:00 in the evening, they are considering shutting its doors, closing it down maybe by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, Patong Beach, which is just about 20 minutes away from where we are in the middle of the town, some of the sunbathers have returned. Cleaning the beach that was covered in debris after the storm was a priority. Thailand's economy, of course, relying very heavily on tourism. It's a $10 billion-plus industry.

The message that they are trying to get out here is, tourists, please come. There had been, as you well remember, some criticism that somehow it was a bad -- it was in bad taste to go back to the beach so quickly after the tsunami hit. But people here say no, we need those tourist dollars.

And then this on the beach, a Bramin (ph) shrine virtually untouched. It was right in the path of the destruction, though. Locals say it shows the power of the god of Bramin (ph) that everything gave in to the storm's fury except that shrine.

A monumental task also identifying the dead when so many are unrecognizable. Karl Kent is the joint chief of staff of the international disaster victim ID teams here in Phuket. Questions for him this evening.

What exactly is the process now, sir? And what will the teams exactly do?

KARL KENT, JOINT CHIEF OF STAFF, DISASTER VICTIM IDENTIFICATION: The process can be identified in four phases. The first phase is the recovery phase, and that's largely being done by the Thai authorities in a massive effort, because of the scale of this disaster is like nothing that we as a DVR (ph) community have ever experienced.

O'BRIEN: So that's just picking up the bodies, literally picking them up, gathering them and bringing them to some kind of centralized location.

KENT: Exactly. That's the recovery of the deceased, those bodies from sites around Thailand and recovering them to a central point. That's right.

O'BRIEN: And then what happens?

KENT: OK. They then go into phase two, which is a mortuary phase. The bodies would need to pass through a mortuary phase in order to obtain the postmortem information to enable a comparison with any mortem information to enable an identification to be made.

O'BRIEN: Meaning that what you are going to do is glean as much information from the bodies so that you can compare it to some kind of database. But these bodies, from we are told and from what, frankly, we have seen, are in such horrific shape, many of them.

KENT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Are there a lot that you just can't do anything with, that you are getting no information from?

KENT: No. We will obtain information that will enable the identification of the deceased, if anymore information is available from all of the bodies. We rely upon fingerprints, dental records or dentition, the tissue from the deceased, and also we rely upon DNA samples, which will be obtained.

Now, these samples are relatively non-degradable in terms of fingerprints are not always available. Certainly you can always obtain a DNA sample irrespective, provided you obtain a sample in the right manner from the right area of the deceased. And obviously, dentition (ph) is very rigid. It will stain. Even if the body decomposes completely, we will have dentition available to provide for identification purposes.

O'BRIEN: Early on after the disaster, we started hearing reports about mass graves. The sense was essentially that people are so concerned about infection and disease spreading that many people -- and there were so many bodies that they were digging graves and just putting them in to try to keep -- stave off disease. What do you about bodies that were treated in that fashion? Do you go back? And are they recovered out from the ground?

KENT: Absolutely. This is...

O'BRIEN: They are dug up?

KENT: Yes. This is a process that is appropriate in circumstances. If you do not have sufficient refrigeration at a site where bodies are being recovered, it is a perfectly appropriate process for the bodies to be placed into body bags and buried. This will preserve the bodies far better than leaving them out in the sun.

The other issue is that it's a significant health issue, that decomposing bodies, and those decomposing bodies, if left unburied, would pose a serious health risk to the living in Thailand. We want to -- we don't want to contribute to the problem. We want to help the Thai authorities deal with this. And the Thai authorities have taken what is, in our opinion, the most appropriate action in burying those deceased. We can go back to those deceased. We can recover the bodies for exhumation and still obtain the critical postmortem data from those deceased, to enable identification.

O'BRIEN: Karl Kent, thank you very much. The joint chief of staff for the international disaster victim ID teams here in Phuket, Thailand.

And with that, we send it back to you -- Bill.

HEMMER: Soledad, thanks for that in Phuket.

Next hour, we'll also talk with a medical examiner here in New York about how critical time is right now on that whole issue. And later tonight another time for you, at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 on the West Coast, our primetime special, "Saving the Children," only here on CNN.

Let's get a break. In a moment here, Andy is watching the latest trend on Wall Street, and investors may not like what he sees. Andy is "Minding Your Business" next here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Wall Street is off to a slow start in 2005. So what's the problem?

Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" now.

HEMMER: Yes, come on.

COLLINS: Come on.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: They're just selling. Hey, I'm not responsible for this. I just report this stuff.

Yes, that's right. Hey, friend, do it again on Wall Street. The losing streak continues. The Dow is now down six days in a row. Look here. All across the board, red, as you can see there. The first time the Dow has been down six days in a row since July of '02. Look at the Nasdaq down 16. If you're counting, it's now down 4 percent for the year, but it's early.

COLLINS: Yes, really.

SERWER: This is the first time in 13 years that the market has been down the first three days. It's a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, though, if you ask me.

HEMMER: Yes, maybe so?

SERWER: Yes, there's not a whole lot of -- there's a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of news, and basically Wall Street is responding to this rally that we had at the end of the year after the election.

And I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think Wall Street is going to end up today. And this, despite the fact that a trader -- look at this. A trader on Wall Street said that what's going on is they're buying early and selling late.

Let's take a look at airline stocks, because, as I said earlier in the program, under a lot of pressure. Look at that. Northwest down 11 percent. And they have been falling for a couple days here.

Delta, actually it's interesting, they're down the least. Interesting because they precipitated the fare war that is making the stocks go down. But what Wall Street is saying here is this is a company that's biting a bullet and facing reality. So, they're down a bit less.

Futures are higher this morning, but I've been saying that day after day. Retail sales coming out a little bit later, so we will be checking that.

COLLINS: OK. We've got it all written down right here.

SERWER: You've got it. Are you going to hold me to that?

COLLINS: Time is 7:57.

SERWER: All right, good.

HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.

SERWER: All right. We'll check it tomorrow.

COLLINS: All right, we will. Thank you.

SERWER: All right.

HEMMER: In a moment here, Americans are still missing in Southeast Asia. Why is it taking so long for the U.S. to come up with hard numbers? The State Department already out today with an explanation. We'll get to it in a moment here, top of the house on AMERICAN MORNING.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.


Aired January 6, 2005 - 07:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It's just a bit past 7:30 here in New York, a rainy New York City here. Good morning, everybody. Good to have you along with us today.
Soledad continues reporting from Thailand. We'll get back to her in a moment there in Phuket, talking to the man with the job of identifying the dead in Phuket. And this is a race against time as well. Also, what does the devastation in Indonesia do for the global war on terror? There's a line of reasoning for improvement and one for making things worse. We'll look at both sides in a moment here.

Also, we'll get the forecast for today, that huge winter storm right now. This thing is stretching from three different time zones. We'll look at where the snow goes next and also where that ice goes next as well. Chicago got about eight inches plus, moving into Milwaukee.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: See? Now that's what you do with snow.

HEMMER: Is that what you do?

COLLINS: Yes. Unfortunately I don't see a lot of that here in New York, but the actual outdoor sports really make it worth it.

HEMMER: Too bad too many people are doing that right there at the windows.

COLLINS: I know. In Minnesota, we used to use a credit card if you forgot your ice scraper. It works really well, if you don't break it.

HEMMER: Good morning, Heidi. All right.

COLLINS: Good morning to you. And good morning to you once again, everybody.

We want to get to the stories "Now in the News." this morning.

Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas is calling for Mideast peace talks to resume immediately after the Palestinian elections this weekend. Abbas told reporters last hour he considers Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a partner in the peace process and is determined to resume talks with him following Sunday's vote. Israeli officials say they are skeptical.

A "CNN Security Watch" now. Within the past half-hour we learned the Department of Homeland Security is set to unveil its national response plan. It outlines how the federal government will support state and local officials during a time of crisis -- anything from a hurricane to a nuclear attack. The new term for such an event, by the way: incident of national significance. The 426-page report is set to be released this afternoon.

And California's legislature is meeting in a special session today. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called for the session during his State of the State speech yesterday. Legislators will try to reduce the state's deficit and improve education. If the reforms do not pass, Schwarzenegger has threatened to let state voters decide the issues in a special election coming this summer.

The man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart is due back in court. A Utah judge will decide whether Brian David Mitchell is mentally competent to stand trial. Mitchell has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault and several other charges in the 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart. His trial had been scheduled to begin February 1.

HEMMER: Moving on, aren't they?

COLLINS: Yes, they are.

HEMMER: It appears that way. Thank you, Heidi.

An accused Marine deserter is missing again this morning. Marine Corporal Ali Hassoun disappeared last June from Iraq. He later turned up in Lebanon. On Tuesday, Hassoun failed to return to Camp Lejeune -- that's in North Carolina -- after taking a leave.

We want to get to the Pentagon and CNN's Kathleen Koch.

Kathleen, good morning. Where is he now, do they believe?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, at this point, as you mentioned, their best belief is that he is in Lebanon. But, you know, this is just one more strange twist in an already very bizarre story.

As you mentioned, this corporal, Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, was due to show up at Camp Lejeune by noon on Tuesday. But, however, by Wednesday when he hadn't appeared as scheduled, the Marine Corps declared the young corporate AWOL again.

Now, Marine Corps officials say that Hassoun is believed to have taken money out of the bank and changed his original flight destination from North Carolina to Canada. Hassoun was visiting with family in Salt Lake City.

So, there then in Canada investigators believe that Hassoun booked a flight to Lebanon, his family's home country. And a spokesman for Hassoun's family said that they hadn't seen him since he left Salt Lake City, Utah, more than week ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TAREK NOSSEIR, FAMILY SPOKESMAN: They were pretty much in -- as surprised as everybody else was, you know, to hear, you know, the news that's being reported right now. The last time they had heard from him was when he was here on vacation, and then he was traveling back on his way back to Camp Lejeune.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: This bizarre saga, of course, as you'll recall, began in June when Hassoun disappeared from a Marine camp outside of Falluja in Iraq and then later showed up blindfolded on this videotape released by militants who had claimed to kidnap him. However, two and a half weeks later, Hassoun turned up in Lebanon, turned himself into authorities and was brought back to the United States.

A five-month investigation then led the Marine Corps to charge Hassoun with desertion and with two counts of theft of military property, the military property being his side arm, a pistol and a Humvee.

Now, if he were to have been convicted of wartime desertion, that carries a penalty of life in prison. The two theft charges would have carried penalties of 10 years each -- Bill.

HEMMER: One question, Kathleen, quickly here. Is there any evidence that he collaborated with the insurgents while in Iraq?

KOCH: You know, Bill, when they went into Falluja they did find some of his personal items in one of the houses there, the military. But they don't have any clear and direct proof that he collaborated, and they hadn't believed he was even a flight risk. They let him go back to Salt Lake City twice before to see his family.

HEMMER: Right.

KOCH: But that was before he was charged.

HEMMER: OK. Kathleen Koch, thanks. Live at the Pentagon this morning there -- Heidi.

COLLINS: The upper Midwest is being blasted this morning by snow and ice, some areas with nearly a foot of snow already, and it's still coming down. CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano is in Waukesha, Wisconsin, with more.

I know this place, Waukesha.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I bet you do, Heidi. And it's white today. Over six inches of snow falling last night. This has been a quiet winter for much this part of the Midwest at least, and it's still snowing right now. Winter storm warnings remain in effect for this area until 10:00 local time. That means another inch or two is possible, although it should begin to taper off as we go through time.

The snow itself, you know, is light fluffy. Temperatures right now are in the 20s. So, sorry kids, it's not really the type of snow that you would build a snowman with or have a good snowball fight with.

There are some sporadic school cancellations around the area. But generally speaking, north of Highway 88, 5 to 10 inches of snow. If you go west of there, over a foot in places like Des Moines, Iowa, and Nebraska.

This is a huge storm. It's caused major travel delays. At Chicago O'Hare and Midway yesterday alone over 1,000 cancellations. Average delays yesterday over three hours. Already this morning 300 flights are canceled. Airlines are asking, hey, if you want to change your plans over the weekend, we'll do it at no charge instead of getting paid for 75 or 100 bucks.

A big storm from coast to coast. We go to Jersey, where they had snow there as well. In some spots, especially in Bergen County, Jersey, this video specifically out of Ramsey, three to five inches of snow there. You go north of the border into Orange County, similar numbers. Parts of Fairfield County, Connecticut, we're seeing three to four inches of snow. That, as Chad will mention later on, will turn mostly to rain and eventually warm up quite a bit.

So, we're looking for the snow to continue. Some schools have been canceled. But all in all not too shabby. A monster storm, it's caused some ice also and flooding down across parts of Indiana. A schmorgesborg (ph) of weather, no doubt about that.

We'll toss it back to you guys in New York.

COLLINS: The only difference, though, is after living in Midwest and now in New Jersey, when you have snow in the Midwest the school buses are like armored tanks there. No matter what, you go to school. Here it's not the same story.

Thanks so much, Rob.

MARCIANO: See you, Heidi.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: Investors are hoping the latest trend on Wall Street does not catch on. Andy is back with that "Minding Your Business" in a moment here.

COLLINS: Plus, are terrorists ready to exploit the tsunami disaster? Why the crisis presents a prime opportunity for Islamic radicals. We'll talk about it next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country. And on terror's trail this morning, we're going back to Indonesia, where the U.S. has pledged massive relief aid. Secretary of State Colin Powell says U.S. assistance there is an opportunity for the Muslim world to -- quote -- "see the American values in action." The question this morning: Will American aid help repair the U.S. relations with the Muslim world?

Tracy Dahlby is the author of "Allah's Torch." He's an authority on radical Islam in Indonesia. He's also my guest here in New York City.

Good morning to you. Nice to see you.

TRACY DAHLBY, AUTHOR, "ALLAH'S TORCH": Good morning, Bill. Thank you.

HEMMER: There is a developing story here that just crossed the wires about 30 minutes ago. Fifty members of a radical group once headed by a terror chief known as Abu Bakar Bashir has now set up help in some of these refugee camps. The question here obviously is: Is this humanitarian assistance, or is this a way for this group to recruit?

DAHLBY: Well, I think the answer is both. Often these groups -- and this Abu Bakar Bashir, of course, was the reputed head of Jemaah Islamiyah, the group behind the Bali nightclub bombings in 2002 and various other acts of violence across Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

Often when they operate in their local communities -- and, you know, by its nature all terrorism is local. They used to say all politics is local. Well, all terrorism is to a degree local, too. So, they try to support the community with humanitarian efforts, but, of course, don't pass up the opportunity to do recruiting on the side.

HEMMER: On the island of Sumatra, the separatist movement, though, is designed to get a division away from Jakarta, the capital city.

DAHLBY: Precisely.

HEMMER: And they want their own area, and they've been fighting this battle for a long time. Are there ties to al Qaeda in there? How strong are the ties to the Islamic world?

DAHLBY: The ties to the Islamic world are quite strong. That northwestern tip of Sumatra is called the front porch of Mecca, and that's where traders came in the 14th century to bring Islam to Indonesia. So, Aceh has been a place apart in Indonesia. And ever since the independence of the country from the Dutch in 1949, they have maintained strong Islamic, conservative Islamic views, and also their distance from Jakarta.

So, that's really the origin of that problem. Very few ties that we know of to establish terrorist or militant groups.

HEMMER: Do you believe Colin Powell when he says that they can change minds once the people in Indonesia see American values? And a lot of those values right now are coming through relief aid and also the U.S. military. Can it work? DAHLBY: I absolutely do. In 2000, they did a poll, and they asked Indonesians, do you like the United States? Seventy-five percent of the Indonesians said we like the United States. Canada was 72 percent. So, basically the Indonesians were on our side.

In 2003, after Afghanistan and after Iraq, they did the poll again, and the number was 15 percent. It's now hovering around 13 percent. So, there was this dramatic turnaround.

I think what the outpouring of American aid is going to do, and I think Colin Powell was right, it has an opportunity to show us in the light that Indonesians really want to see us, as helpful constructive partners.

HEMMER: But you have used this phrase, a hibernating regard for the U.S. Is that part of the definition you just described here?

DAHLBY: I think it is. I think that like many other people in the Muslim world, there is, when you scratch the surface, a hibernating regard for the United States, an admiration, a respect. By showing the better angels of our nature, as it were, in the relief effort, you know, something good can come from this tragedy. And it is the ability to repair our relations with the Muslim world.

HEMMER: Thanks for coming and talking with us. Good to pick your brain on this.

DAHLBY: Appreciate it.

HEMMER: Tracy Dahlby, thank you.

DAHLBY: Nice meeting you.

HEMMER: Author of "Allah's Torch." To you as well.

We want to get back to Phuket, Thailand, again. Here is Soledad O'Brien there -- Soledad..

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Bill, it's a beautiful evening here in Phuket. It's, oh, about 8:00 in the evening. The wind is picking up a little bit.

And even though it's this late, the International Victims Coordination Center is still open. But visits there by visitors during the day are pretty much slowing to a trickle. One worker telling us that the center, which usually opens at around 8:30 in the morning until about 9:00 in the evening, they are considering shutting its doors, closing it down maybe by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, Patong Beach, which is just about 20 minutes away from where we are in the middle of the town, some of the sunbathers have returned. Cleaning the beach that was covered in debris after the storm was a priority. Thailand's economy, of course, relying very heavily on tourism. It's a $10 billion-plus industry.

The message that they are trying to get out here is, tourists, please come. There had been, as you well remember, some criticism that somehow it was a bad -- it was in bad taste to go back to the beach so quickly after the tsunami hit. But people here say no, we need those tourist dollars.

And then this on the beach, a Bramin (ph) shrine virtually untouched. It was right in the path of the destruction, though. Locals say it shows the power of the god of Bramin (ph) that everything gave in to the storm's fury except that shrine.

A monumental task also identifying the dead when so many are unrecognizable. Karl Kent is the joint chief of staff of the international disaster victim ID teams here in Phuket. Questions for him this evening.

What exactly is the process now, sir? And what will the teams exactly do?

KARL KENT, JOINT CHIEF OF STAFF, DISASTER VICTIM IDENTIFICATION: The process can be identified in four phases. The first phase is the recovery phase, and that's largely being done by the Thai authorities in a massive effort, because of the scale of this disaster is like nothing that we as a DVR (ph) community have ever experienced.

O'BRIEN: So that's just picking up the bodies, literally picking them up, gathering them and bringing them to some kind of centralized location.

KENT: Exactly. That's the recovery of the deceased, those bodies from sites around Thailand and recovering them to a central point. That's right.

O'BRIEN: And then what happens?

KENT: OK. They then go into phase two, which is a mortuary phase. The bodies would need to pass through a mortuary phase in order to obtain the postmortem information to enable a comparison with any mortem information to enable an identification to be made.

O'BRIEN: Meaning that what you are going to do is glean as much information from the bodies so that you can compare it to some kind of database. But these bodies, from we are told and from what, frankly, we have seen, are in such horrific shape, many of them.

KENT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Are there a lot that you just can't do anything with, that you are getting no information from?

KENT: No. We will obtain information that will enable the identification of the deceased, if anymore information is available from all of the bodies. We rely upon fingerprints, dental records or dentition, the tissue from the deceased, and also we rely upon DNA samples, which will be obtained.

Now, these samples are relatively non-degradable in terms of fingerprints are not always available. Certainly you can always obtain a DNA sample irrespective, provided you obtain a sample in the right manner from the right area of the deceased. And obviously, dentition (ph) is very rigid. It will stain. Even if the body decomposes completely, we will have dentition available to provide for identification purposes.

O'BRIEN: Early on after the disaster, we started hearing reports about mass graves. The sense was essentially that people are so concerned about infection and disease spreading that many people -- and there were so many bodies that they were digging graves and just putting them in to try to keep -- stave off disease. What do you about bodies that were treated in that fashion? Do you go back? And are they recovered out from the ground?

KENT: Absolutely. This is...

O'BRIEN: They are dug up?

KENT: Yes. This is a process that is appropriate in circumstances. If you do not have sufficient refrigeration at a site where bodies are being recovered, it is a perfectly appropriate process for the bodies to be placed into body bags and buried. This will preserve the bodies far better than leaving them out in the sun.

The other issue is that it's a significant health issue, that decomposing bodies, and those decomposing bodies, if left unburied, would pose a serious health risk to the living in Thailand. We want to -- we don't want to contribute to the problem. We want to help the Thai authorities deal with this. And the Thai authorities have taken what is, in our opinion, the most appropriate action in burying those deceased. We can go back to those deceased. We can recover the bodies for exhumation and still obtain the critical postmortem data from those deceased, to enable identification.

O'BRIEN: Karl Kent, thank you very much. The joint chief of staff for the international disaster victim ID teams here in Phuket, Thailand.

And with that, we send it back to you -- Bill.

HEMMER: Soledad, thanks for that in Phuket.

Next hour, we'll also talk with a medical examiner here in New York about how critical time is right now on that whole issue. And later tonight another time for you, at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 on the West Coast, our primetime special, "Saving the Children," only here on CNN.

Let's get a break. In a moment here, Andy is watching the latest trend on Wall Street, and investors may not like what he sees. Andy is "Minding Your Business" next here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Wall Street is off to a slow start in 2005. So what's the problem?

Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" now.

HEMMER: Yes, come on.

COLLINS: Come on.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: They're just selling. Hey, I'm not responsible for this. I just report this stuff.

Yes, that's right. Hey, friend, do it again on Wall Street. The losing streak continues. The Dow is now down six days in a row. Look here. All across the board, red, as you can see there. The first time the Dow has been down six days in a row since July of '02. Look at the Nasdaq down 16. If you're counting, it's now down 4 percent for the year, but it's early.

COLLINS: Yes, really.

SERWER: This is the first time in 13 years that the market has been down the first three days. It's a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, though, if you ask me.

HEMMER: Yes, maybe so?

SERWER: Yes, there's not a whole lot of -- there's a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of news, and basically Wall Street is responding to this rally that we had at the end of the year after the election.

And I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think Wall Street is going to end up today. And this, despite the fact that a trader -- look at this. A trader on Wall Street said that what's going on is they're buying early and selling late.

Let's take a look at airline stocks, because, as I said earlier in the program, under a lot of pressure. Look at that. Northwest down 11 percent. And they have been falling for a couple days here.

Delta, actually it's interesting, they're down the least. Interesting because they precipitated the fare war that is making the stocks go down. But what Wall Street is saying here is this is a company that's biting a bullet and facing reality. So, they're down a bit less.

Futures are higher this morning, but I've been saying that day after day. Retail sales coming out a little bit later, so we will be checking that.

COLLINS: OK. We've got it all written down right here.

SERWER: You've got it. Are you going to hold me to that?

COLLINS: Time is 7:57.

SERWER: All right, good.

HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.

SERWER: All right. We'll check it tomorrow.

COLLINS: All right, we will. Thank you.

SERWER: All right.

HEMMER: In a moment here, Americans are still missing in Southeast Asia. Why is it taking so long for the U.S. to come up with hard numbers? The State Department already out today with an explanation. We'll get to it in a moment here, top of the house on AMERICAN MORNING.

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