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American Morning

Ashley Smith Becomes Overnight Celebrity; Identity Theft

Aired March 16, 2005 - 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.


KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq. The country's first freely-elected parliament in half a century meeting today in Baghdad. The 275-member assembly includes a wide variety of groups, including women. Politicians are being urged to strive for quote, "national unity." Explosions, though, shook up the area where the meeting was taking place. And in the town of Baqubah, at least four Iraqi soldiers were killed in a morning car bombing.
And the issue for Scott Peterson on this day, life or death? Just hours from now a California judge will decide whether Peterson should face the death penalty for the murders of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son Conner. The judge has the option of reducing the sentence to life in prison without parole, but he is not expected to do so.

News about the Senate now. It is expected to vote today on oil drilling in Alaska. Supporters say it will reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil, but critics say it will hardly make a dent in the more than 120 million barrels Americans use each day at the cost of Alaska's wildlife refuge. No predictions on the vote. The Senate appears evenly divided on this issue.

And a rough commute, you can say, in the Texas panhandle this morning. As much as a foot of snow covering the western part of the state. Meantime, in New Mexico, nearly three feet dropping in the northern part of the state. The storm closing down two major highways and dozens of schools. More spring-like weather, we can tell you, in store for today. Chad Myers will tell us if it's here to stay or if more snow's coming up.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He always says it's spring on the calendar. Which usually means that we're not going to see it in real life.

WALLACE: I know. Good news for skiers, northern New Mexico.

O'BRIEN: You know, he keeps saying that, though. Good news for the skiers...

WALLACE: It usually means bad news for everybody else.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I don't care about the skiers. I care about my house and yard and the fact that it's not warm here yet. To hell with the skiers.

O'BRIEN: All right, all right. That's one way of putting it. A list of possible terrorist attacks, from a nuclear bomb to spreading deadly germs, has been compiled now by the Department of Homeland Security. According to a report in "The New York Times," the department isn't trying to scare anybody. The list is meant to plan for the prevention of possible attacks.

To talk about this and much more, Democratic consultant Victor Kamber. He's in Washington this morning. Also in Washington, former RNC Communications Director Cliff May. Gentlemen, good morning to you.

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning.

CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the report. One, are you surprised it was released accidentally anyway and two, three-plus years after 9/11, we're finally getting a list of the risks and the potential targets? Isn't that kind of too little, too late?

KAMBER: Well, I'm one to believe that it's important to do. It shouldn't have probably been released. We know it was a slip. I think that we -- you know, five years ago, I think we would have been shocked to think of the Twin Towers being attacked and people would have smiled and laughed. Or whatever you want to say. I think today, nothing is untenable and shouldn't be considered. One, if we have the resources and two, for planning purposes. We shouldn't be frightening Americans, but we should be realistic that terrorists are going to go wherever they can to make an impact.

MAY: One thing I'd say, Soledad, is that you've got to have people in the government whose job it is to think like terrorists, to say if I wanted to do death and destruction in America, how would I do it? And then you plan around it. This kind of risk assessment wasn't done in the past, needs to be done now. Homeland Security is the place to do it. So that's very important that they're doing it, but they shouldn't release it by accident.

O'BRIEN: Do you need, though, Cliff, a big old list that says that the big cities that are heavily populated are at highest risk? I mean, I could have told you that.

MAY: Well, yeah, you listen -- of course, you could tell, look, some of what they're going to do here is going to be very obvious. Some of it is going to be less obvious. But you need to prioritize, you need to have it down on paper. We do not have infinite resources. We can't put federal marshals in every mall in America, even though every mall in America is a potential target. So what you do is you try to quantify it and you do it, I hope and I think from what I've seen of this, in a rather sophisticated fashion, all the data. And then you analyze it and you say, here's how our resources are going to be divided.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's move to our next topic. The "Wall Street Journal" was reporting yesterday that it looks like the U.S. is signaling willingness to sell to India and to Pakistan F-16 fighter jets. This coming from remarks from Condoleezza Rice. Does this make sense to you, Vic, and why?

KAMBER: Well, it doesn't make sense to me for a number of reasons. One, we've condemned our allies in the past for selling arms, military equipment, to people that we're not terribly fond of, that those allies of ours may be allies with. We've done this with African -- when French have sold to African countries and the like. Here we have two allies that are allies of us but are enemies of each other. The only reason we're selling these weapons is obviously, these people are going take action against each other or they're going to build up to potentially take action against each other.

We're arming people for the potential of war. That makes no sense. It goes contrary to everything we stand for, except the almighty dollar and the profit. So I'd love to know who is behind -- which corporate entities -- are behind this that got to this administration to say, hey, let's go ahead and sell some weapons. We can make money out of the deal. Let those countries kill each other off.

O'BRIEN: Cliff, isn't this a big old double standard?

MAY: No. Victor is quite missing the point. First of all, China -- I'm sorry, Pakistan and India, if they want to buy military hardware, they'll going to buy it. If they don't buy it from us, they buy it from Europe. Is that going to help anything? You think we're going to put sanctions on India and Pakistan? I hope not. India's our good Democratic ally, Pakistan is an important ally in the war against terrorism.

This is very different from the Europeans selling weapons to China that we don't want them to. And here's why. India and Pakistan are not going to declare war on France and Germany, but there's a possibility we may have to go to war at some point with China, particularly now when they're rattling their sabers about possibly going over and invading and taking over Taiwan. It's a huge difference here and you've got to be able to see it.

KAMBER: Cliff, they're going to declare war against each other and we're aiding this.

MAY: No, they're not.

KAMBER: They could. And we're aiding the situation.

MAY: The worst thing we could do is give to one and not the other. As long as they are about equal, it will be a standoff.

KAMBER: Cliff, 125 jets to 25 is not equal.

MAY: We'll sell to both of them and keep them at parity if parity is where they are actually most stable.

O'BRIEN: Cliff May, Victor Kamber, joining us this morning. Thanks, guys.

KAMBER: Thank you, Soledad. MAY: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: Jack?

CAFFERTY: Georgia's governor says Ashley Smith will receive a $10,000 reward for her help in capturing Atlanta Courthouse gunman Brian Nichols. But that's not the only deal coming her way. Not by a long shot. She is fielding offers from Hollywood executives and book publishers, even a hostage training company.

Kelly Wallace joins with more on a woman's life who literally changed in a nanosecond, as dramatically as perhaps anyone could possible imagine.

WALLACE: Right, Jack. She goes from an unknown to having media following her every move. And no surprise in this case, she's already hired a public relations company. And one of the heads of that company says not doing interviews, but it's busy fielding calls because it's getting lots of calls, lots of offers. But there still is a little bit of a question about whether Ashley Smith's story will ultimately become a bestseller.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): This may be the last we see of Ashley Smith for a while.

ASHLEY SMITH, FORMER HOSTAGE: I hope that you'll all respect my need to rest and to focus my immediate attention on helping legal authorities proceed with their various investigations.

WALLACE: But there may be an additional motivation for steering clear of the cameras, after making the rounds on national television, and telling the world in great detail all about her harrowing ordeal.

SMITH: And I told him that if he hurt me, my little girl wouldn't have a mommy or a daddy.

WALLACE: Because Ashley Smith may run the risk of overexposure, should she decide to turn her story into a movie or book.

ROLF ZETTERSTEN, PUBLISHER, WARNER FAITH: At the end of the day when this book is published, the consumers want to know what's new in this story. What is in the pages of this book that I haven't already heard?

WALLACE: Publishers say she doesn't want to become another Amber Frey, who told most of her story about her relationship with convicted murderer Scott Peterson well before her book came out. Or another Jessica Lynch, whose book was in print months after her rescue in Iraq. Another risk of Smith's newfound celebrity, unwelcome scrutiny of her troubled past, which includes some minor brushes with the law.

CAROLINE SCHAEFER, SENIOR EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Ashley is learning firsthand that becoming a celebrity can be difficult. Fame has its downside. WALLACE: And there is another risk for Ashley Smith: the chance another big story will overshadow hers.

SCHAEFER: In a month there will be somebody else who did an amazing courageous act in Colorado or in California or Wyoming and we'll be on to the next thing.

WALLACE: Still, Smith's story appears to have very strong interest. Consider this. That book, "Purpose-Driven Life," which Ashley says she read to suspect Brian Nichols, was number 72 on amazon.com before the world heard from Ashley Smith. Afterwards, it jumped to number two. And that is why the publisher of Warner Faith is just one of many publishers trying to do her story.

ZETTERSTEN: It certainly is a faith story, but it's much more than that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And it is definitely a very, very hot story right now, but observers say timing here is crucial. They say the sooner any movie or book is completed, the better the chance to capitalize on the buzz and become a hit.

CAFFERTY: You know what? Poor man's theory. It's not her story. It's her. She embodies so many of the qualities that we all wish we had and will never know if we possess or not until, God forbid, we're put into a situation like that. She performed above and beyond any standards that any of us could imagine. So I think the compelling part of her is her, not the story.

WALLACE: Well, many publishers we talked to, too -- we were talking about it, especially because of the faith aspect. Is this something that would namely be targeted to a religious audience? They say sure, religious audience would enjoy the story. But just for those reasons you mentioned: her courage, handling pressure, and handling something that all of us can't quite imagine what we do if we were in her shoes.

CAFFERTY: You mentioned Jessica Lynch. Jessica Lynch was a passive player in events that happened to sweep her up in them. This woman was an active and outcome-changing participant. She altered the outcome of this story. She solved this whole thing for the law- enforcement people.

WALLACE: And as we were talking, there are many more details that we don't know. We don't know about all the conversations she had, and also the story of her life -- her husband who was killed, her troubles, her child, how she's turning her life around.

CAFFERTY: She's my hero. I want to know all about her.

Thanks, Kelly -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: As Jack likes to say, and he can count them on one hand. (WEATHER REPORT)

CAFFERTY: Too many people don't know they're the victim of identity theft until it's too late, but there are some warning signs to look out for. That's coming up.

First, though, some trivia. What does the average American household owe on its credit cards? Is it $4,000, $8,000, or $10,000? The answer right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAFFERTY: Before the break, we asked this. What does the average American household owe on its credit cards. The answer is $8,000. The answer is 'B.' As a side note, there are 641 million credit cards in circulation in the United States.

Which leads us to this, security breaches at two of the country's largest information brokers are putting identity theft front and center in Washington D.C. Lawmakers are grilling the CEO of ChoicePoint, a company that last month exposed at least 145,000 customers to identity theft. There are more than a half a million new victims of identity theft every year. So how do you know if you're a victim, and what can you do about it?

My friend, financial correspondent Valerie Morris, joins with us now some of the answers. What is identity theft? what constitutes identity theft?

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Identify theft is when someone takes your identity -- by way of your name, your Social Security number, your credit cards -- uses it without your permission for fraudulent use.

CAFFERTY: How much of this information do they have to get ahold of?

MORRIS: Oh, Jack, not very much at all. I mean, they can have your Social Security number, and that's kind of the key that unlocks everything. It's frightening when you go to Web sites that say find out anyone's Social Security number, or address or whatever. The information is out there. That's why about 500,000 to 700,000 people every year in the United States fall victim to identity theft.

CAFFERTY: How do you know if this is happening to you?

MORRIS: There are subtle ways. First of all, if you find that your statements from your credit card companies suddenly are not in your mailbox, other mail is missing, if suddenly a collection agency calls you and says, you know what, Jack Cafferty, there's an account that is your name, and it's overdue, and we're calling you, and you know you did not even open that account.

CAFFERTY: If that was my case, that could be for real. That could be all kinds of accounts that being paid.

MORRIS: Well, OK.

CAFFERTY: Things to be alert for, the missing mail, the bill from a company that you don't owe money to. Soledad was saying when they closed on their house, that she was asked about something on her credit report about a phone company that she did no business with.

MORRIS: And that credit report is really the key, because the best defense against financial identity theft, two things. One is, getting your credit reports. That's plural, from all three agencies. And reading them and contesting any negative information or wrong information. And the other thing is remembering shred. At work, people call me the shred queen, because I don't want to throw away anything. I shred everything, because just a scrap of information that's dumped into the garbage, people dumpster dive; they're looking for these kind of things.

For example, you know, those check that you receive in the mail that are pre-approved and they're blank to transfer. People toss those out. Well, someone can take those, fill in the blanks, that comes back to you.

CAFFERTY: So if you're a victim, what are your options?

MORRIS: All right, there are some very specific things that you can do. It starts with, No. 1, just don't panic yet. Know that you have to be very, very offensive in what you do with regard to these collection agencies that may call. You need to have a plan, and The first of the plan is making sure that you contact the fraud department at any one of the credit-reporting agencies. Because now, there is a law that is in place, so if you report to Experian, for example, they'll file the report and contact the other two credit agencies. Experian TransUnion, Equifax, those are the numbers; you need to call them. That's the first thing.

The next thing that you need to do is to make sure that you contact the police and file a police report, even if they say, well, we don't need to do this, insist. Ask to speak to the fraud-unit supervisor, because he or she would understand the importance of it.

CAFFERTY: Quick last question, is there any limit to the amount of liability that you incur if you're the victim of identity theft? How much do you have to pay if people do this?

MORRIS: Well, there are limits. But, Jack, more important is the time frame. The average identity theft victim doesn't even know it for 12 months. By that time, in order to clear your good name and to get your credit back, oftentimes you have to spend up to $1, 500 and 175 hours, because basically, they say, you know, you're guilty until you prove yourself innocent. Terrible thing.

CAFFERTY: It's good to see you.

MORRIS: Good to see you.

CAFFERTY: Thanks for being on the program. This is an old friend of mine, CNN Financial correspondent Valerie Morris. We did local news together in New York in another lifetime -- Soledad.

Let's look at some of the most popular stories on CNN.com. The car in the crash that killed Princess Diana was reportedly a last- minute replacement. British government documents say the car was either meant as a media diversion, or because the original car failed to start. Diana, her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and driver were killed in the 1997 high-speed crash. A French court ruled in 2002, that the crash was an accident caused by the driver who was drunk and was speeding.

Andy's got a preview of the day's action on Wall Street ahead. Just ahead, he's minding your business, up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

CAFFERTY: Pepsi says that a different soda is the choice of a new generation.

Andy Serwer's "Minding Your business." He has that, the markets and the high price of oil just about getting everywhere.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: A lot of liquids, Jack -- oil, soda.

Investors kind of got beat up a little bit yesterday on Wall Street. The price of oil again the culprit. Look here, we've got bad news all across the board here. And this morning, even though the price of oil is down, which is good, GM is expecting a big loss for the quarter. That's bad. A lot of stuff to sort through. Trade gap is up. That's bad. Housing starts are up. That's good. As you can imagine, traders trying to figure this all out.

Now let's talk about Pepsi, a new flagship brand at Pepsico, and it's not Pepsi-Cola. It's Diet Pepsi. This is really pretty interesting stuff here. The company is coming out and saying, you know what, in the future, the flagship brand of this company is going to be Diet Pepsi, not regular Pepsi, even though regular Pepsi still way outsells -- that's a technical term -- way outsells diet Pepsi.

Here are the salient points: Last year, regular Pepsi down 2.5 percent, sales of Diet Pepsi up 6.7 percent. And that is the future. Young people are more attuned to drinking diet drinks. Light beer, same thing. Fifty percent of all beer in the U.S. is light. Four of the five top brands are light beer. The one thing about Diet Pepsi, men don't like drinking things with diet, the word diet on it, so that's kind of a male/female...

CAFFERTY: Why not?

SERWER: Because they're self-conscious.

O'BRIEN: They don't want to be sissy boys.

SERWER: Right, thank you, another technical term. CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They don't want to be girly-men.

O'BRIEN: Exactly.

SERWER: Another technical term.

All right, let's get and talk about higher oil prices. We've been talking about this for months, how it impacts the economy. Consumers obviously feeling the pressure at the pump. And, of course, truckers, ripple effect through the economy, Wal-Mart, sales are down because people don't want to drive to the stores.

But here's a new one. Mattel saying its hurting its business. Now if there are any little girls and maybe boys out there, parents you might want to cover their ears, because Barbies are made of resin, and resin comes from petroleum. And the CEO of Mattel is saying the price of oil is driving the price of resin up, and therefore the prices of Barbies are going have to go up, and the company's not going to do as well. Higher oil prices impacting the manufacture of Barbies.

CAFFERTY: Hear about the divorce Barbie? She comes with everything that Ken used to have.

SERWER: Very good. I like that.

O'BRIEN: We don't own that one yet, but maybe we'll get it.

SERWER: That's very good, divorce Barbie.

COSTELLO: Although as I recall, Ken really didn't own very much.

O'BRIEN: It was Barbie who was doing everything in that relationship anyway.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

SERWER: She's worth more though now, because they're made of resin.

O'BRIEN: But that is not the Question of the Day. The Question of the Day involves Harvard University.

COSTELLO: It certainly does, and the president, Larry Summers. Yes, he's on the hot seat, and it just got a little hotter for Larry Summers. The faculty of arts and sciences passed a vote of no confidence in Summers. You'll remember why. He publicly questioned the intrinsic aptitude of women in science and engineering.

So here's our question this morning, should Larry Summers resign as president of Harvard?

we got a lot of answers like this from Pamela, from Pinthy (ph), Michigan: "She says, no. If everyone had to resign because they made a comment that someone else didn't like, this nation would be completely unemployed. I give you this. He's not just your average guy. Here is the president of the university wanting to attract women in the arts and sciences to come to his university."

Would your daughter, Pamela, want to go to Harvard and major in physics with what Larry Summers said? I ask you that question, because I want to change your mind.

"This is from Gracie from Kentwood (ph), Michigan: "Do you think if he'd made such disparaging and belittling remarks about blacks or Hispanics that we would even be having this discussion? Of course not. He'd be out on his ear. Unless a woman is barefoot and pregnant, women continue to be fair game to the likes of him."

CAFFERTY: Where's my violin.

SERWER: Unless they're barefoot and pregnant? I didn't quite get that.

COSTELLO: I just thought that was a nice strong line, whatever it meant.

Amy from Florida State University, "I think it is terrible that the president of Harvard should be forced to resign because of this comment. President Summers was trying to find the answer to a question that has been plaguing educators for years. He should not be attacked for exploring possibilities."

But I give you this, Amy, when you talk about intrinsic abilities, that's something different than cultural differences between men and women. For example, when you're a little girl -- are you with me on this?

O'BRIEN: I hear you, sister. I'm with you 100 percent on this.

COSTELLO: ... and you say to your mom, I got an 'A' in math. Your mom says, oh, you worked really hard for that. Good job. When the little boy comes up and says, mom, I got an 'A' in math. She says, oh, you've always been good in math, and that's the cultural differences we're talking about that have to go away. Comments like this just reinforce them.

SERWER: Come on, Larry Summers is an economist. You shouldn't listen to anything he says. I mean, come on. That's the first mistake everyone's making here.

O'BRIEN: We'll see if he keeps his job at the end of the day.

COSTELLO: Well, one more comment, because I do like this comment from Edward. He says, "I'm not good at math, but I know common sense. Stupid comments, plus Mrs. Summers, no action for Mr. Summers for at least a year.

SERWER: All righty.

O'BRIEN: Way to end it. All right, Carol. Thank you very much.

A short break is just ahead. We're back in just a moment. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired March 16, 2005 - 08:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq. The country's first freely-elected parliament in half a century meeting today in Baghdad. The 275-member assembly includes a wide variety of groups, including women. Politicians are being urged to strive for quote, "national unity." Explosions, though, shook up the area where the meeting was taking place. And in the town of Baqubah, at least four Iraqi soldiers were killed in a morning car bombing.
And the issue for Scott Peterson on this day, life or death? Just hours from now a California judge will decide whether Peterson should face the death penalty for the murders of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son Conner. The judge has the option of reducing the sentence to life in prison without parole, but he is not expected to do so.

News about the Senate now. It is expected to vote today on oil drilling in Alaska. Supporters say it will reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil, but critics say it will hardly make a dent in the more than 120 million barrels Americans use each day at the cost of Alaska's wildlife refuge. No predictions on the vote. The Senate appears evenly divided on this issue.

And a rough commute, you can say, in the Texas panhandle this morning. As much as a foot of snow covering the western part of the state. Meantime, in New Mexico, nearly three feet dropping in the northern part of the state. The storm closing down two major highways and dozens of schools. More spring-like weather, we can tell you, in store for today. Chad Myers will tell us if it's here to stay or if more snow's coming up.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He always says it's spring on the calendar. Which usually means that we're not going to see it in real life.

WALLACE: I know. Good news for skiers, northern New Mexico.

O'BRIEN: You know, he keeps saying that, though. Good news for the skiers...

WALLACE: It usually means bad news for everybody else.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I don't care about the skiers. I care about my house and yard and the fact that it's not warm here yet. To hell with the skiers.

O'BRIEN: All right, all right. That's one way of putting it. A list of possible terrorist attacks, from a nuclear bomb to spreading deadly germs, has been compiled now by the Department of Homeland Security. According to a report in "The New York Times," the department isn't trying to scare anybody. The list is meant to plan for the prevention of possible attacks.

To talk about this and much more, Democratic consultant Victor Kamber. He's in Washington this morning. Also in Washington, former RNC Communications Director Cliff May. Gentlemen, good morning to you.

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning.

CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the report. One, are you surprised it was released accidentally anyway and two, three-plus years after 9/11, we're finally getting a list of the risks and the potential targets? Isn't that kind of too little, too late?

KAMBER: Well, I'm one to believe that it's important to do. It shouldn't have probably been released. We know it was a slip. I think that we -- you know, five years ago, I think we would have been shocked to think of the Twin Towers being attacked and people would have smiled and laughed. Or whatever you want to say. I think today, nothing is untenable and shouldn't be considered. One, if we have the resources and two, for planning purposes. We shouldn't be frightening Americans, but we should be realistic that terrorists are going to go wherever they can to make an impact.

MAY: One thing I'd say, Soledad, is that you've got to have people in the government whose job it is to think like terrorists, to say if I wanted to do death and destruction in America, how would I do it? And then you plan around it. This kind of risk assessment wasn't done in the past, needs to be done now. Homeland Security is the place to do it. So that's very important that they're doing it, but they shouldn't release it by accident.

O'BRIEN: Do you need, though, Cliff, a big old list that says that the big cities that are heavily populated are at highest risk? I mean, I could have told you that.

MAY: Well, yeah, you listen -- of course, you could tell, look, some of what they're going to do here is going to be very obvious. Some of it is going to be less obvious. But you need to prioritize, you need to have it down on paper. We do not have infinite resources. We can't put federal marshals in every mall in America, even though every mall in America is a potential target. So what you do is you try to quantify it and you do it, I hope and I think from what I've seen of this, in a rather sophisticated fashion, all the data. And then you analyze it and you say, here's how our resources are going to be divided.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's move to our next topic. The "Wall Street Journal" was reporting yesterday that it looks like the U.S. is signaling willingness to sell to India and to Pakistan F-16 fighter jets. This coming from remarks from Condoleezza Rice. Does this make sense to you, Vic, and why?

KAMBER: Well, it doesn't make sense to me for a number of reasons. One, we've condemned our allies in the past for selling arms, military equipment, to people that we're not terribly fond of, that those allies of ours may be allies with. We've done this with African -- when French have sold to African countries and the like. Here we have two allies that are allies of us but are enemies of each other. The only reason we're selling these weapons is obviously, these people are going take action against each other or they're going to build up to potentially take action against each other.

We're arming people for the potential of war. That makes no sense. It goes contrary to everything we stand for, except the almighty dollar and the profit. So I'd love to know who is behind -- which corporate entities -- are behind this that got to this administration to say, hey, let's go ahead and sell some weapons. We can make money out of the deal. Let those countries kill each other off.

O'BRIEN: Cliff, isn't this a big old double standard?

MAY: No. Victor is quite missing the point. First of all, China -- I'm sorry, Pakistan and India, if they want to buy military hardware, they'll going to buy it. If they don't buy it from us, they buy it from Europe. Is that going to help anything? You think we're going to put sanctions on India and Pakistan? I hope not. India's our good Democratic ally, Pakistan is an important ally in the war against terrorism.

This is very different from the Europeans selling weapons to China that we don't want them to. And here's why. India and Pakistan are not going to declare war on France and Germany, but there's a possibility we may have to go to war at some point with China, particularly now when they're rattling their sabers about possibly going over and invading and taking over Taiwan. It's a huge difference here and you've got to be able to see it.

KAMBER: Cliff, they're going to declare war against each other and we're aiding this.

MAY: No, they're not.

KAMBER: They could. And we're aiding the situation.

MAY: The worst thing we could do is give to one and not the other. As long as they are about equal, it will be a standoff.

KAMBER: Cliff, 125 jets to 25 is not equal.

MAY: We'll sell to both of them and keep them at parity if parity is where they are actually most stable.

O'BRIEN: Cliff May, Victor Kamber, joining us this morning. Thanks, guys.

KAMBER: Thank you, Soledad. MAY: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: Jack?

CAFFERTY: Georgia's governor says Ashley Smith will receive a $10,000 reward for her help in capturing Atlanta Courthouse gunman Brian Nichols. But that's not the only deal coming her way. Not by a long shot. She is fielding offers from Hollywood executives and book publishers, even a hostage training company.

Kelly Wallace joins with more on a woman's life who literally changed in a nanosecond, as dramatically as perhaps anyone could possible imagine.

WALLACE: Right, Jack. She goes from an unknown to having media following her every move. And no surprise in this case, she's already hired a public relations company. And one of the heads of that company says not doing interviews, but it's busy fielding calls because it's getting lots of calls, lots of offers. But there still is a little bit of a question about whether Ashley Smith's story will ultimately become a bestseller.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): This may be the last we see of Ashley Smith for a while.

ASHLEY SMITH, FORMER HOSTAGE: I hope that you'll all respect my need to rest and to focus my immediate attention on helping legal authorities proceed with their various investigations.

WALLACE: But there may be an additional motivation for steering clear of the cameras, after making the rounds on national television, and telling the world in great detail all about her harrowing ordeal.

SMITH: And I told him that if he hurt me, my little girl wouldn't have a mommy or a daddy.

WALLACE: Because Ashley Smith may run the risk of overexposure, should she decide to turn her story into a movie or book.

ROLF ZETTERSTEN, PUBLISHER, WARNER FAITH: At the end of the day when this book is published, the consumers want to know what's new in this story. What is in the pages of this book that I haven't already heard?

WALLACE: Publishers say she doesn't want to become another Amber Frey, who told most of her story about her relationship with convicted murderer Scott Peterson well before her book came out. Or another Jessica Lynch, whose book was in print months after her rescue in Iraq. Another risk of Smith's newfound celebrity, unwelcome scrutiny of her troubled past, which includes some minor brushes with the law.

CAROLINE SCHAEFER, SENIOR EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Ashley is learning firsthand that becoming a celebrity can be difficult. Fame has its downside. WALLACE: And there is another risk for Ashley Smith: the chance another big story will overshadow hers.

SCHAEFER: In a month there will be somebody else who did an amazing courageous act in Colorado or in California or Wyoming and we'll be on to the next thing.

WALLACE: Still, Smith's story appears to have very strong interest. Consider this. That book, "Purpose-Driven Life," which Ashley says she read to suspect Brian Nichols, was number 72 on amazon.com before the world heard from Ashley Smith. Afterwards, it jumped to number two. And that is why the publisher of Warner Faith is just one of many publishers trying to do her story.

ZETTERSTEN: It certainly is a faith story, but it's much more than that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And it is definitely a very, very hot story right now, but observers say timing here is crucial. They say the sooner any movie or book is completed, the better the chance to capitalize on the buzz and become a hit.

CAFFERTY: You know what? Poor man's theory. It's not her story. It's her. She embodies so many of the qualities that we all wish we had and will never know if we possess or not until, God forbid, we're put into a situation like that. She performed above and beyond any standards that any of us could imagine. So I think the compelling part of her is her, not the story.

WALLACE: Well, many publishers we talked to, too -- we were talking about it, especially because of the faith aspect. Is this something that would namely be targeted to a religious audience? They say sure, religious audience would enjoy the story. But just for those reasons you mentioned: her courage, handling pressure, and handling something that all of us can't quite imagine what we do if we were in her shoes.

CAFFERTY: You mentioned Jessica Lynch. Jessica Lynch was a passive player in events that happened to sweep her up in them. This woman was an active and outcome-changing participant. She altered the outcome of this story. She solved this whole thing for the law- enforcement people.

WALLACE: And as we were talking, there are many more details that we don't know. We don't know about all the conversations she had, and also the story of her life -- her husband who was killed, her troubles, her child, how she's turning her life around.

CAFFERTY: She's my hero. I want to know all about her.

Thanks, Kelly -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: As Jack likes to say, and he can count them on one hand. (WEATHER REPORT)

CAFFERTY: Too many people don't know they're the victim of identity theft until it's too late, but there are some warning signs to look out for. That's coming up.

First, though, some trivia. What does the average American household owe on its credit cards? Is it $4,000, $8,000, or $10,000? The answer right after the break.

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CAFFERTY: Before the break, we asked this. What does the average American household owe on its credit cards. The answer is $8,000. The answer is 'B.' As a side note, there are 641 million credit cards in circulation in the United States.

Which leads us to this, security breaches at two of the country's largest information brokers are putting identity theft front and center in Washington D.C. Lawmakers are grilling the CEO of ChoicePoint, a company that last month exposed at least 145,000 customers to identity theft. There are more than a half a million new victims of identity theft every year. So how do you know if you're a victim, and what can you do about it?

My friend, financial correspondent Valerie Morris, joins with us now some of the answers. What is identity theft? what constitutes identity theft?

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Identify theft is when someone takes your identity -- by way of your name, your Social Security number, your credit cards -- uses it without your permission for fraudulent use.

CAFFERTY: How much of this information do they have to get ahold of?

MORRIS: Oh, Jack, not very much at all. I mean, they can have your Social Security number, and that's kind of the key that unlocks everything. It's frightening when you go to Web sites that say find out anyone's Social Security number, or address or whatever. The information is out there. That's why about 500,000 to 700,000 people every year in the United States fall victim to identity theft.

CAFFERTY: How do you know if this is happening to you?

MORRIS: There are subtle ways. First of all, if you find that your statements from your credit card companies suddenly are not in your mailbox, other mail is missing, if suddenly a collection agency calls you and says, you know what, Jack Cafferty, there's an account that is your name, and it's overdue, and we're calling you, and you know you did not even open that account.

CAFFERTY: If that was my case, that could be for real. That could be all kinds of accounts that being paid.

MORRIS: Well, OK.

CAFFERTY: Things to be alert for, the missing mail, the bill from a company that you don't owe money to. Soledad was saying when they closed on their house, that she was asked about something on her credit report about a phone company that she did no business with.

MORRIS: And that credit report is really the key, because the best defense against financial identity theft, two things. One is, getting your credit reports. That's plural, from all three agencies. And reading them and contesting any negative information or wrong information. And the other thing is remembering shred. At work, people call me the shred queen, because I don't want to throw away anything. I shred everything, because just a scrap of information that's dumped into the garbage, people dumpster dive; they're looking for these kind of things.

For example, you know, those check that you receive in the mail that are pre-approved and they're blank to transfer. People toss those out. Well, someone can take those, fill in the blanks, that comes back to you.

CAFFERTY: So if you're a victim, what are your options?

MORRIS: All right, there are some very specific things that you can do. It starts with, No. 1, just don't panic yet. Know that you have to be very, very offensive in what you do with regard to these collection agencies that may call. You need to have a plan, and The first of the plan is making sure that you contact the fraud department at any one of the credit-reporting agencies. Because now, there is a law that is in place, so if you report to Experian, for example, they'll file the report and contact the other two credit agencies. Experian TransUnion, Equifax, those are the numbers; you need to call them. That's the first thing.

The next thing that you need to do is to make sure that you contact the police and file a police report, even if they say, well, we don't need to do this, insist. Ask to speak to the fraud-unit supervisor, because he or she would understand the importance of it.

CAFFERTY: Quick last question, is there any limit to the amount of liability that you incur if you're the victim of identity theft? How much do you have to pay if people do this?

MORRIS: Well, there are limits. But, Jack, more important is the time frame. The average identity theft victim doesn't even know it for 12 months. By that time, in order to clear your good name and to get your credit back, oftentimes you have to spend up to $1, 500 and 175 hours, because basically, they say, you know, you're guilty until you prove yourself innocent. Terrible thing.

CAFFERTY: It's good to see you.

MORRIS: Good to see you.

CAFFERTY: Thanks for being on the program. This is an old friend of mine, CNN Financial correspondent Valerie Morris. We did local news together in New York in another lifetime -- Soledad.

Let's look at some of the most popular stories on CNN.com. The car in the crash that killed Princess Diana was reportedly a last- minute replacement. British government documents say the car was either meant as a media diversion, or because the original car failed to start. Diana, her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and driver were killed in the 1997 high-speed crash. A French court ruled in 2002, that the crash was an accident caused by the driver who was drunk and was speeding.

Andy's got a preview of the day's action on Wall Street ahead. Just ahead, he's minding your business, up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

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O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

CAFFERTY: Pepsi says that a different soda is the choice of a new generation.

Andy Serwer's "Minding Your business." He has that, the markets and the high price of oil just about getting everywhere.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: A lot of liquids, Jack -- oil, soda.

Investors kind of got beat up a little bit yesterday on Wall Street. The price of oil again the culprit. Look here, we've got bad news all across the board here. And this morning, even though the price of oil is down, which is good, GM is expecting a big loss for the quarter. That's bad. A lot of stuff to sort through. Trade gap is up. That's bad. Housing starts are up. That's good. As you can imagine, traders trying to figure this all out.

Now let's talk about Pepsi, a new flagship brand at Pepsico, and it's not Pepsi-Cola. It's Diet Pepsi. This is really pretty interesting stuff here. The company is coming out and saying, you know what, in the future, the flagship brand of this company is going to be Diet Pepsi, not regular Pepsi, even though regular Pepsi still way outsells -- that's a technical term -- way outsells diet Pepsi.

Here are the salient points: Last year, regular Pepsi down 2.5 percent, sales of Diet Pepsi up 6.7 percent. And that is the future. Young people are more attuned to drinking diet drinks. Light beer, same thing. Fifty percent of all beer in the U.S. is light. Four of the five top brands are light beer. The one thing about Diet Pepsi, men don't like drinking things with diet, the word diet on it, so that's kind of a male/female...

CAFFERTY: Why not?

SERWER: Because they're self-conscious.

O'BRIEN: They don't want to be sissy boys.

SERWER: Right, thank you, another technical term. CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They don't want to be girly-men.

O'BRIEN: Exactly.

SERWER: Another technical term.

All right, let's get and talk about higher oil prices. We've been talking about this for months, how it impacts the economy. Consumers obviously feeling the pressure at the pump. And, of course, truckers, ripple effect through the economy, Wal-Mart, sales are down because people don't want to drive to the stores.

But here's a new one. Mattel saying its hurting its business. Now if there are any little girls and maybe boys out there, parents you might want to cover their ears, because Barbies are made of resin, and resin comes from petroleum. And the CEO of Mattel is saying the price of oil is driving the price of resin up, and therefore the prices of Barbies are going have to go up, and the company's not going to do as well. Higher oil prices impacting the manufacture of Barbies.

CAFFERTY: Hear about the divorce Barbie? She comes with everything that Ken used to have.

SERWER: Very good. I like that.

O'BRIEN: We don't own that one yet, but maybe we'll get it.

SERWER: That's very good, divorce Barbie.

COSTELLO: Although as I recall, Ken really didn't own very much.

O'BRIEN: It was Barbie who was doing everything in that relationship anyway.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

SERWER: She's worth more though now, because they're made of resin.

O'BRIEN: But that is not the Question of the Day. The Question of the Day involves Harvard University.

COSTELLO: It certainly does, and the president, Larry Summers. Yes, he's on the hot seat, and it just got a little hotter for Larry Summers. The faculty of arts and sciences passed a vote of no confidence in Summers. You'll remember why. He publicly questioned the intrinsic aptitude of women in science and engineering.

So here's our question this morning, should Larry Summers resign as president of Harvard?

we got a lot of answers like this from Pamela, from Pinthy (ph), Michigan: "She says, no. If everyone had to resign because they made a comment that someone else didn't like, this nation would be completely unemployed. I give you this. He's not just your average guy. Here is the president of the university wanting to attract women in the arts and sciences to come to his university."

Would your daughter, Pamela, want to go to Harvard and major in physics with what Larry Summers said? I ask you that question, because I want to change your mind.

"This is from Gracie from Kentwood (ph), Michigan: "Do you think if he'd made such disparaging and belittling remarks about blacks or Hispanics that we would even be having this discussion? Of course not. He'd be out on his ear. Unless a woman is barefoot and pregnant, women continue to be fair game to the likes of him."

CAFFERTY: Where's my violin.

SERWER: Unless they're barefoot and pregnant? I didn't quite get that.

COSTELLO: I just thought that was a nice strong line, whatever it meant.

Amy from Florida State University, "I think it is terrible that the president of Harvard should be forced to resign because of this comment. President Summers was trying to find the answer to a question that has been plaguing educators for years. He should not be attacked for exploring possibilities."

But I give you this, Amy, when you talk about intrinsic abilities, that's something different than cultural differences between men and women. For example, when you're a little girl -- are you with me on this?

O'BRIEN: I hear you, sister. I'm with you 100 percent on this.

COSTELLO: ... and you say to your mom, I got an 'A' in math. Your mom says, oh, you worked really hard for that. Good job. When the little boy comes up and says, mom, I got an 'A' in math. She says, oh, you've always been good in math, and that's the cultural differences we're talking about that have to go away. Comments like this just reinforce them.

SERWER: Come on, Larry Summers is an economist. You shouldn't listen to anything he says. I mean, come on. That's the first mistake everyone's making here.

O'BRIEN: We'll see if he keeps his job at the end of the day.

COSTELLO: Well, one more comment, because I do like this comment from Edward. He says, "I'm not good at math, but I know common sense. Stupid comments, plus Mrs. Summers, no action for Mr. Summers for at least a year.

SERWER: All righty.

O'BRIEN: Way to end it. All right, Carol. Thank you very much.

A short break is just ahead. We're back in just a moment. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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