Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Underground DVD in Baltimore Concerns Police; FDA Panel Reviews Silicone Breast Implants

Aired April 13, 2005 - 09:30   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Of all the jobs in Manhattan, he had to find that one. That's outside of our studios here on Sixth Avenue, where they're fixing the flag pole today.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: No net under that guy. My goodness.

HEMMER: Showing some guts. Welcome back, everyone. 9:30 here. There's a DVD circulating on the streets of Baltimore, trying to intimidate people to keep their mouths shut about criminals operating the city there. The police now are fighting back. We will introduce you to hear their idea. We'll find out whether or not it's working, too, in a moment down in Baltimore.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, the truth and the lies about breast implants. The government's holding hearings today on implant safety. Elizabeth Cohen's going to join us in just a few moments to take a look at some of the most common misconceptions.

HEMMER: Before we go there, back to the headlines. And here's Carol Costello. And good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

This just in to CNN this morning, the Arab network Al Jazeera broadcasting what it says is video of an American kidnapped in Iraq. The U.S. Embassy announcing the kidnapping of an American contract worker on Tuesday. Of course, we'll keep you updated on this story as it develops.

A work in progress. That's how U.S. commanders are describing the military training of Afghan forces to defend secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The defense secretary, meeting with Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who had a more optimistic view of his country's future and its relations with the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANISTAN: The conclusion we have drawn is that the Afghan people want a longer-term relationship with the United States. They want this relationship to be a wholesome one, including sustained economic relationship, (INAUDIBLE) relationship, and most important of all, a strategic security relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Rumsfeld arrived in Afghanistan after a surprise trip to Iraq.

A CNN "Security Watch" now. Still no word on whether three suspected al Qaeda supporters will be extradited to the United States. They're accused of plotting to attack U.S. financial institutions, causing the government to raise the terror alert level last summer. New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly spoke to us about the suspects earlier on AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: They were doing surveillance, they were doing very detailed, intricate surveillance of buildings here, that we hear on, we believe, several occasions. The latest in April of 2001.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

In Italy, a goalie with a sore shoulder after a red hot soccer game, and we mean red hot. Take a look. The quarter-final match-up between the two Milan teams, called off midway. I can't believe this. I'm looking at it and I still can't believe it. Fans threw dozens of flares on to the field. And as you can see, one of them hit A.C. Milan's goalkeeper. He's said to be doing OK this morning. Officials tried to restart play, but abandoned the match after dozens of flares were thrown on to the field.

HEMMER: Heck of an arm throwing that flare, don't you think? Right on target.

COSTELLO: But I'm with Soledad, you could set someone on fire doing that.

HEMMER: Of course you could.

O'BRIEN: But did you see that shot, with how many flares were thrown? You know, like, open everybody's backpack, make sure nobody has a flare, how hard can that be?

COSTELLO: Yes, but checking for flares going into a soccer game, that's just so strange.

O'BRIEN: Who would have thought, right?

HEMMER: Tough crowd. Thanks, Carol.

To Baltimore now. A shocking underground videotape on the streets of Baltimore these days, warning people not to turn in criminals to police. The video's called "Stop Snitching." It's got police concerned, too. Here's a bit of what it says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To all you rats and snitches, lucky enough to cop one of these DVDs, I hope you catch AIDS in your mouth and your lip's the first thing to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: That's part of that DVD. Police now have released their own DVD called "Keep Talking." They say they hope they'll send a different message to the streets.

Deputy police commissioner Marcus Brown here to tell us more about that. Good morning to you and appreciate your time. I want to just get a bit better education about their attempts. Do you believe that these suspected gang members are coming into court and intimidating witnesses? And if so, how effective have they been?

MARCUS BROWN, BALTIMORE DEP. POLICE COMM.: I definitely think that there's always been a problem with the criminals in the city of Baltimore trying to intimidate witnesses. However, we have implemented many things to try and combat that. So we've had hotlines, we've got the new bill being put in by the state's attorney's office, to help combat this problem with intimidating the witnesses. OK, so we're doing a good job in fighting back right now.

HEMMER: OK, so as you fight back -- let me roll another clip here about your DVD and we'll talk about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The men and women of the Baltimore Police Department would like to thank the producers of the "Stop Snitching" video. In case you didn't know, you actually helped make Baltimore a safer city. If we didn't know before, now we know the faces in the gang. In fact, three of the people in the video have already been arrested and they won't be coming home for a while.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: I find this all very intriguing, this campaign. Your response. Have you been able to tell whether or not it's effective?

BROWN: Well, the first time that we saw the video, the police department, I knew that we were going to make a mission to make sure that the next time that these guys were photographed, that it was in a mug shot. And so what we did was -- we did the video for two reasons. The first reason was to send a message to these thugs that if they're going to wave guns on camera, that if they're going to attempt to intimidate witnesses, if they're going to terrorize the neighborhoods that they're in, that the police department was going to target them, we were going to make them a priority, and that they would end up in federal prison, as they did in this case.

HEMMER: OK, go ahead, secondly, you say?

BROWN: Secondly, the other thing we did, the other reason for putting out the video was so that we could reach out to some of the younger people who may have seen the video. And when they watched the video and see these criminals glorifying their lifestyle, we want to make sure that we put in the sequel that shows the end of what happens with these guys and the end for these guys typically is they're either ending up dead or they're ending up in prison. And that was the message that we wanted to send out.

HEMMER: Here's what I see from up here in New York City, then. I see the snitch campaign is being somewhat successful, if you feel like you have to respond to it. Has it been successful?

BROWN: Our feeling is, if that message is out there, we want to make sure that we're telling the communities that the police department in Baltimore, with the help of these communities, is winning the crime fight. Over the past five years, the crime in Baltimore is down 50 percent. And in the neighborhoods that were implementing our target enforcement, and that were going to be putting out these videos, violent crime down in those neighborhoods 30 percent.

HEMMER: Let me just get to one more item here. Some people are criticizing -- some politicians, some defense attorneys -- saying that this is doing nothing to actually protect witnesses, which is what this program's all about. Have you seen evidence that, indeed, it is?

BROWN: Our feeling -- obviously, that's a hard thing to quantify. And our feeling is, if we take one of the young people that watch that "Stop Snitching" video, who's teetering on a lifestyle of good or crime, if we can change that one person, we think all the money, all the effort that we're putting for this thing, is put to good use.

HEMMER: All right. It is truly unique. Good luck to you. Baltimore deputy police commissioner, Marcus Brown, today with us.

BROWN: Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: We got this just in to CNN to tell you about. Eric Robert Rudolph has pleaded guilty to the 1998 abortion clinic bombing. He's in a courtroom in Birmingham, Alabama, at this hour. That case -- where he has now admitted guilt, it was a women's clinic, a policeman was killed. He also left a nurse blind.

He's expected then to head to Atlanta around 3:00 p.m. Eastern time, where he is expected to admit guilt in three other bombings. The July 1996 bombing at the Centennial Olympic Park that killed one person, wounded more than 100 other people. Also, the January 1997 bombing of an office building that housed a woman's clinic, and also, the February 1997 bombing of a lesbian nightclub in the Atlanta area.

Rudolph is not going to be sentenced today but he will receive four consecutive life terms, without parole. That will happen at a later date. That's happening at this hour.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

O'BRIEN: An FDA panel is holding a third and final day of hearings today on allowing silicone breast implants back on the U.S. market.

Elizabeth Cohen is live for us at the CNN Center with the details on that.

Hey, Elizabeth. Good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Soledad, yesterday was a bad day for a company called Inomed, which wanted to put silicone breast implants back on the market. They've been off of the general market for 13 years because of health concerns. Well, an FDA advisory committee said they just didn't feel comfortable, didn't feel confident about the safety data, to recommend that they be put back on the market.

Now, what are these health concerns? Well, first of all, they're concerned that these implants, when they're put into a woman, can rupture, there's concerns about a woman developing an infection.

Also, worries, when a woman has that implant in her breast it would make a mammogram difficult to read and radiologist could miss a cancer.

Now it's interesting, the Institute of Medicine found that silicone breast implants were not more likely to cause cancer, or immune diseases or neurological problems. Those are some complaints that some women with implants have. The Institution of Medicine found the implants were not likely to causes those. But still, this FDA advisory committee, by a vote of 5-4, said even so, they just didn't feel comfortable with the safety data -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: All right. So then there's a second manufacturer coming up and presenting its data. Is there any indication they've got different or I guess remarkably different data? And do you think there is going to be one day where women are allowed to choose between saline implants and silicone implants?

COHEN: There's no indication this data is radically different. They may have possibly studied more women, but it's a question of how long did they follow up with these women. It will be interesting to see what the advisory committee does. But given what they did yesterday, this other company has a very long road ahead of them to convince the FDA to let their implants on the market.

And as far as saline goes, saline implants are still out there. Women can get saline implants. Some women say saline implants are not as lifelike as the silicone ones.

O'BRIEN: Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning.

Elizabeth, thanks.

HEMMER: In a moment, Andy tell us how a discount retailer could help the future of America's wildlife. O'BRIEN: Plus, Britney Spears says the rumors are true. "90- Second Pop" has the lowdown on the singer's impending visit from the stork. That's up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: I love that song. It's time for "90-Second Pop" on a Wednesday. Our panel of pop stars, Andy Borowitz from Borowitzreport.com. Karyn Bryant, the co-host of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." And Toure, CNN's pop culture correspondent.

We have got so much to chitchat about this morning, so let's get right to it. Britney in the family way.

KARYN BRYANT, CNN CO-HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Yes.

O'BRIEN: Not quite a shock.

TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: In the family way.

O'BRIEN: What?

ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: It's not just the Cheetos.

O'BRIEN: Hey, don't make fun of pregnant women putting on weight.

BOROWITZ: Oh, sorry.

O'BRIEN: It's a very sensitive topic.

BOROWITZ: My bad. My bad.

O'BRIEN: Not really a surprise, because, of course, everybody knew she had a lot of...

TOURE: We all knew that she was pregnant. Her fetus already has a blog that somebody has been keeping up already. It's a big week for those who married up, first K-Fed and Camilla are having a big week.

O'BRIEN: Kevin Federline, you're talking about.

TOURE: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: You're so hip, sorry.

TOURE: I think that this marks the beginning of the end for Britney in a way. The intensity of celebrity will always be there. I mean, pictures of her and her kid, they will be camped outside of the house to get. But the drive that it takes to be the superstar, the tour, the album, the videos, I don't think she's going to have that again when she's got a little baby to take care of and... O'BRIEN: At the same time...

TOURE: Not that it can't be done.

O'BRIEN: I like Britney. I like Britney a lot. But I've got to tell you, a lot of drinking, a lot of smoking. You know, you get a baby, and suddenly you think I've got to take care of myself.

BRYANT: The reason she's drinking and smoking is she's only 23 or so. I mean, she's so young. This is the thing that worries me is that she's not even mature enough yet. She hasn't grown up enough yet to be a mother. That I find upsetting.

TOURE: Right. I hope she takes motherhood more seriously than she has taken marriage, I hope.

BRYANT: Exactly.

BOROWITZ: I'm very happy for Britney. I think the only dark side of this story is I think Kevin Federline is reproducing at an alarming rate.

O'BRIEN: I agree with you.

BOROWITZ: His (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is everywhere.

O'BRIEN: He's got two kids.

BOROWITZ: Two kids by Char.

BRYANT: With his girlfriend. We don't need more Federlines.

O'BRIEN: No more Federlines.

BOROWITZ: The Federlines are just depleting the world food source.

O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, I like Britney, and I hope that this whole thing makes her grow up...

BOROWITZ: Me, too.

O'BRIEN: ... and take care of herself and her baby.

BOROWITZ: Totally.

O'BRIEN: She's got a lot of money. She can take care of this kid well as long as she's healthy.

BOROWITZ: Right.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about another drama queen, Mimi. And the girl is from Long Island, so you know I love her. We worked at the Ground Round, right, a million years ago.

TOURE: The Ground Round! O'BRIEN: And it's all true.

BOROWITZ: The first Ground Round shout-out.

BRYANT: Wow!

O'BRIEN: And now, she's got a new album out called that's "The Emancipation of Mimi." That's her nickname.

BRYANT: Right, that's her nickname. And this is Mariah feeling like she's coming into her own and she's taking possession of her career and really taking charge. She came and sat down with A.J. on our show for a half-hour. I mean, it was a big production. But she was very candid. And, you know, the record has gotten more sort of old school sounds. She's got a lot of, you know, guest stars, Snoop Dogg and, you know, Twista (ph). She's got the Neptunes producing. It's got a lot of hit potential, I do believe. I do believe.

O'BRIEN: I'm sorry, Toure is yawning. I couldn't hear the last part.

BRYANT: I think her fans will be happy.

TOURE: I actually listened to the album, and it was very difficult. I actually had it on yesterday when my wife came home. She said, "Can you please," like, I mean, it's a big torturous, people.

O'BRIEN: Well, you guys, as always. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: We should mention that you can see the second part of a special interview with Mariah Carey on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." That's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Headline News -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Soledad, as you were talking there, a developing story out of Iraq. We mentioned this earlier. The Arab network Al Jazeera is broadcasting what it says is a videotape of an American kidnapped in Iraq earlier this week. The man is identified as Jeffrey Ache (ph). This is a still photo taken from that videotape on Al Jazeera. An officials saying he's a resident from the state of Indiana, apparently working for a water supply company from Indiana. The U.S. embassy announced the kidnapping of the contractor on Tuesday. Apparently he was picked up around noontime in Baghdad on Monday. When we get more, you'll hear about it here. Break. Back in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. Wal-Mart trying to save a little bit of green. They're making a bit of green, too, huh? This is the green push by Wal-Mart. Andy has that and a check, early check, of Wall Street. What's happened?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Let's talk about the market, first of all, Bill.

Stocks down a little bit at this moment, down 10 -- down 8.5. Tale of two stocks this morning. First of all, McDonald's strong, up two percent. This company says its sales are ahead of schedule, ahead of what Wall Street was expecting. Stock is more than doubled over the past two years. Really, a nice recovery there. On the other hand, Harley Davidson, stock is down over $10, 18 percent. Their sales not up to snuff.

Let's talk about Wal-Mart, Bill. This is an interesting new campaign. Obviously, the company's been under fire over the past year or so and they're doing this to, you know, get some good P.R., quite frankly. But it's actually kind of an interesting campaign. What they're going to do is give $35 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Federation to buy land, to conserve land, equal to the amount of land that the company will use to build new stores over the next several years.

Hundreds and thousands -- hundreds of thousands of acres, I should say, in Louisiana, Arkansas -- that's where the company is -- the Grand Canyon, Oregon, Maine. 312,000 acres in Maine alone. And again, offsetting some P.R., I know the family, the Walton family. Rob Walton's very environmentally conscious, so...

HEMMER: So it's one for one?

SERWER: One for one. Right, every acre that they use to build a new store, say, that will be matched to an acre put to conservation.

HEMMER: Could be an awful lot of land.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Does it include stores that are already in existence?

SERWER: No, but it doesn't, but would include, you know, wholesalers, you know, all sorts of warehouses and all that sort of stuff.

And finally here, an interesting note and a pleasant note. CNN's Myron Kandel will be ringing the closing bell today on Wall Street -- and at the big board, the New York Stock Exchange. And that's a really -- that's a great honor. And I guess all I have to do is work another 25 years or so at this network and maybe they'll ask me. But congratulations to Myron. That's great stuff.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Probably not. Thank you, Jack. But they haven't called you yet, either, as a matter of fact.

CAFFERTY: And they won't.

O'BRIEN: And that's never going to happen.

CAFFERTY: I ain't sitting by the phone, you know?

O'BRIEN: Do you not watch the show?

SERWER: Yes, I do, indeed.

O'BRIEN: Got the "Question of the Day"?

CAFFERTY: "Question of the Day." Should Wisconsin legalize cat- hunting?

Samuel...

SERWER: I love that question.

CAFFERTY: ... in Ogden, Utah, writes: "No. Cat-hunting should not be legal. Irresponsible pet owners ought to be hunted. We prove what kind of people we are by the way we treat other living things. And besides, cats are cool critters."

Glen in Oxford, North Carolina: "Offer to send all the fearless hunters who want to hunt cats to Baghdad. Any bets on how many of them would go?"

And Bob and Tammy in Corsacana, Texas: "After discussing it over dinner with our three cats, they all agree. Sam, Maggie, and Lily all say, 'Let's make it fair, give cats guns and bring 'em on.'"

HEMMER: Send us the videotape, too.

O'BRIEN: That would be worth seeing. Thanks, Jack.

Tax day creeping closer and closer, just two days away now. Coming up next, "CNN LIVE TODAY" has the top five mistakes that people make when they're filling their returns. That's with Daryn Kagan. AMERICAN MORNING's back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Before we get out of here, want to check in with Aaron Brown, a preview of what's coming up later tonight on "NEWSNIGHT" -- Aaron.

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks you, Bill.

Tonight on "NEWSNIGHT," three people, three lives, and one fanatic with a bomb. How their lives came together and how everything changed one night at the Olympics in Atlanta. That story, plus all the day's news, morning papers, and everything else that makes "NEWSNIGHT," "NEWSNIGHT." CNN tonight 10:00 p.m. Eastern -- Bill.

HEMMER: 12 hours away. Aaron, thanks. See you later tonight.

O'BRIEN: And that's it for AMERICAN MORNING and...

HEMMER: And it worked today.

O'BRIEN: And everything that made AMERICAN MORNING, AMERICAN MORNING this morning. SERWER: A little bit of everything. Potential cat shooting.

O'BRIEN: Only here, on AMERICAN MORNING.

COSTELLO: Every time Jack said cat hunting, you went, what?

SERWER: That's a great topic. Cat hunting is a good topic.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it touched the nerve. That's what we like to do here on this little show.

CAFFERTY: Solving the world's problems.

O'BRIEN: One issue at a time.

SERWER: One cat at a time.

CAFFERTY: Just here to help out.

O'BRIEN: Jack Cafferty. That's it, we're done.

HEMMER: Here's Daryn at the CNN Center.

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 April 13, 2005 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Of all the jobs in Manhattan, he had to find that one. That's outside of our studios here on Sixth Avenue, where they're fixing the flag pole today.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: No net under that guy. My goodness.

HEMMER: Showing some guts. Welcome back, everyone. 9:30 here. There's a DVD circulating on the streets of Baltimore, trying to intimidate people to keep their mouths shut about criminals operating the city there. The police now are fighting back. We will introduce you to hear their idea. We'll find out whether or not it's working, too, in a moment down in Baltimore.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, the truth and the lies about breast implants. The government's holding hearings today on implant safety. Elizabeth Cohen's going to join us in just a few moments to take a look at some of the most common misconceptions.

HEMMER: Before we go there, back to the headlines. And here's Carol Costello. And good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

This just in to CNN this morning, the Arab network Al Jazeera broadcasting what it says is video of an American kidnapped in Iraq. The U.S. Embassy announcing the kidnapping of an American contract worker on Tuesday. Of course, we'll keep you updated on this story as it develops.

A work in progress. That's how U.S. commanders are describing the military training of Afghan forces to defend secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The defense secretary, meeting with Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who had a more optimistic view of his country's future and its relations with the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANISTAN: The conclusion we have drawn is that the Afghan people want a longer-term relationship with the United States. They want this relationship to be a wholesome one, including sustained economic relationship, (INAUDIBLE) relationship, and most important of all, a strategic security relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Rumsfeld arrived in Afghanistan after a surprise trip to Iraq.

A CNN "Security Watch" now. Still no word on whether three suspected al Qaeda supporters will be extradited to the United States. They're accused of plotting to attack U.S. financial institutions, causing the government to raise the terror alert level last summer. New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly spoke to us about the suspects earlier on AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: They were doing surveillance, they were doing very detailed, intricate surveillance of buildings here, that we hear on, we believe, several occasions. The latest in April of 2001.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

In Italy, a goalie with a sore shoulder after a red hot soccer game, and we mean red hot. Take a look. The quarter-final match-up between the two Milan teams, called off midway. I can't believe this. I'm looking at it and I still can't believe it. Fans threw dozens of flares on to the field. And as you can see, one of them hit A.C. Milan's goalkeeper. He's said to be doing OK this morning. Officials tried to restart play, but abandoned the match after dozens of flares were thrown on to the field.

HEMMER: Heck of an arm throwing that flare, don't you think? Right on target.

COSTELLO: But I'm with Soledad, you could set someone on fire doing that.

HEMMER: Of course you could.

O'BRIEN: But did you see that shot, with how many flares were thrown? You know, like, open everybody's backpack, make sure nobody has a flare, how hard can that be?

COSTELLO: Yes, but checking for flares going into a soccer game, that's just so strange.

O'BRIEN: Who would have thought, right?

HEMMER: Tough crowd. Thanks, Carol.

To Baltimore now. A shocking underground videotape on the streets of Baltimore these days, warning people not to turn in criminals to police. The video's called "Stop Snitching." It's got police concerned, too. Here's a bit of what it says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To all you rats and snitches, lucky enough to cop one of these DVDs, I hope you catch AIDS in your mouth and your lip's the first thing to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: That's part of that DVD. Police now have released their own DVD called "Keep Talking." They say they hope they'll send a different message to the streets.

Deputy police commissioner Marcus Brown here to tell us more about that. Good morning to you and appreciate your time. I want to just get a bit better education about their attempts. Do you believe that these suspected gang members are coming into court and intimidating witnesses? And if so, how effective have they been?

MARCUS BROWN, BALTIMORE DEP. POLICE COMM.: I definitely think that there's always been a problem with the criminals in the city of Baltimore trying to intimidate witnesses. However, we have implemented many things to try and combat that. So we've had hotlines, we've got the new bill being put in by the state's attorney's office, to help combat this problem with intimidating the witnesses. OK, so we're doing a good job in fighting back right now.

HEMMER: OK, so as you fight back -- let me roll another clip here about your DVD and we'll talk about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The men and women of the Baltimore Police Department would like to thank the producers of the "Stop Snitching" video. In case you didn't know, you actually helped make Baltimore a safer city. If we didn't know before, now we know the faces in the gang. In fact, three of the people in the video have already been arrested and they won't be coming home for a while.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: I find this all very intriguing, this campaign. Your response. Have you been able to tell whether or not it's effective?

BROWN: Well, the first time that we saw the video, the police department, I knew that we were going to make a mission to make sure that the next time that these guys were photographed, that it was in a mug shot. And so what we did was -- we did the video for two reasons. The first reason was to send a message to these thugs that if they're going to wave guns on camera, that if they're going to attempt to intimidate witnesses, if they're going to terrorize the neighborhoods that they're in, that the police department was going to target them, we were going to make them a priority, and that they would end up in federal prison, as they did in this case.

HEMMER: OK, go ahead, secondly, you say?

BROWN: Secondly, the other thing we did, the other reason for putting out the video was so that we could reach out to some of the younger people who may have seen the video. And when they watched the video and see these criminals glorifying their lifestyle, we want to make sure that we put in the sequel that shows the end of what happens with these guys and the end for these guys typically is they're either ending up dead or they're ending up in prison. And that was the message that we wanted to send out.

HEMMER: Here's what I see from up here in New York City, then. I see the snitch campaign is being somewhat successful, if you feel like you have to respond to it. Has it been successful?

BROWN: Our feeling is, if that message is out there, we want to make sure that we're telling the communities that the police department in Baltimore, with the help of these communities, is winning the crime fight. Over the past five years, the crime in Baltimore is down 50 percent. And in the neighborhoods that were implementing our target enforcement, and that were going to be putting out these videos, violent crime down in those neighborhoods 30 percent.

HEMMER: Let me just get to one more item here. Some people are criticizing -- some politicians, some defense attorneys -- saying that this is doing nothing to actually protect witnesses, which is what this program's all about. Have you seen evidence that, indeed, it is?

BROWN: Our feeling -- obviously, that's a hard thing to quantify. And our feeling is, if we take one of the young people that watch that "Stop Snitching" video, who's teetering on a lifestyle of good or crime, if we can change that one person, we think all the money, all the effort that we're putting for this thing, is put to good use.

HEMMER: All right. It is truly unique. Good luck to you. Baltimore deputy police commissioner, Marcus Brown, today with us.

BROWN: Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: We got this just in to CNN to tell you about. Eric Robert Rudolph has pleaded guilty to the 1998 abortion clinic bombing. He's in a courtroom in Birmingham, Alabama, at this hour. That case -- where he has now admitted guilt, it was a women's clinic, a policeman was killed. He also left a nurse blind.

He's expected then to head to Atlanta around 3:00 p.m. Eastern time, where he is expected to admit guilt in three other bombings. The July 1996 bombing at the Centennial Olympic Park that killed one person, wounded more than 100 other people. Also, the January 1997 bombing of an office building that housed a woman's clinic, and also, the February 1997 bombing of a lesbian nightclub in the Atlanta area.

Rudolph is not going to be sentenced today but he will receive four consecutive life terms, without parole. That will happen at a later date. That's happening at this hour.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

O'BRIEN: An FDA panel is holding a third and final day of hearings today on allowing silicone breast implants back on the U.S. market.

Elizabeth Cohen is live for us at the CNN Center with the details on that.

Hey, Elizabeth. Good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Soledad, yesterday was a bad day for a company called Inomed, which wanted to put silicone breast implants back on the market. They've been off of the general market for 13 years because of health concerns. Well, an FDA advisory committee said they just didn't feel comfortable, didn't feel confident about the safety data, to recommend that they be put back on the market.

Now, what are these health concerns? Well, first of all, they're concerned that these implants, when they're put into a woman, can rupture, there's concerns about a woman developing an infection.

Also, worries, when a woman has that implant in her breast it would make a mammogram difficult to read and radiologist could miss a cancer.

Now it's interesting, the Institute of Medicine found that silicone breast implants were not more likely to cause cancer, or immune diseases or neurological problems. Those are some complaints that some women with implants have. The Institution of Medicine found the implants were not likely to causes those. But still, this FDA advisory committee, by a vote of 5-4, said even so, they just didn't feel comfortable with the safety data -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: All right. So then there's a second manufacturer coming up and presenting its data. Is there any indication they've got different or I guess remarkably different data? And do you think there is going to be one day where women are allowed to choose between saline implants and silicone implants?

COHEN: There's no indication this data is radically different. They may have possibly studied more women, but it's a question of how long did they follow up with these women. It will be interesting to see what the advisory committee does. But given what they did yesterday, this other company has a very long road ahead of them to convince the FDA to let their implants on the market.

And as far as saline goes, saline implants are still out there. Women can get saline implants. Some women say saline implants are not as lifelike as the silicone ones.

O'BRIEN: Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning.

Elizabeth, thanks.

HEMMER: In a moment, Andy tell us how a discount retailer could help the future of America's wildlife. O'BRIEN: Plus, Britney Spears says the rumors are true. "90- Second Pop" has the lowdown on the singer's impending visit from the stork. That's up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: I love that song. It's time for "90-Second Pop" on a Wednesday. Our panel of pop stars, Andy Borowitz from Borowitzreport.com. Karyn Bryant, the co-host of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." And Toure, CNN's pop culture correspondent.

We have got so much to chitchat about this morning, so let's get right to it. Britney in the family way.

KARYN BRYANT, CNN CO-HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Yes.

O'BRIEN: Not quite a shock.

TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: In the family way.

O'BRIEN: What?

ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: It's not just the Cheetos.

O'BRIEN: Hey, don't make fun of pregnant women putting on weight.

BOROWITZ: Oh, sorry.

O'BRIEN: It's a very sensitive topic.

BOROWITZ: My bad. My bad.

O'BRIEN: Not really a surprise, because, of course, everybody knew she had a lot of...

TOURE: We all knew that she was pregnant. Her fetus already has a blog that somebody has been keeping up already. It's a big week for those who married up, first K-Fed and Camilla are having a big week.

O'BRIEN: Kevin Federline, you're talking about.

TOURE: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: You're so hip, sorry.

TOURE: I think that this marks the beginning of the end for Britney in a way. The intensity of celebrity will always be there. I mean, pictures of her and her kid, they will be camped outside of the house to get. But the drive that it takes to be the superstar, the tour, the album, the videos, I don't think she's going to have that again when she's got a little baby to take care of and... O'BRIEN: At the same time...

TOURE: Not that it can't be done.

O'BRIEN: I like Britney. I like Britney a lot. But I've got to tell you, a lot of drinking, a lot of smoking. You know, you get a baby, and suddenly you think I've got to take care of myself.

BRYANT: The reason she's drinking and smoking is she's only 23 or so. I mean, she's so young. This is the thing that worries me is that she's not even mature enough yet. She hasn't grown up enough yet to be a mother. That I find upsetting.

TOURE: Right. I hope she takes motherhood more seriously than she has taken marriage, I hope.

BRYANT: Exactly.

BOROWITZ: I'm very happy for Britney. I think the only dark side of this story is I think Kevin Federline is reproducing at an alarming rate.

O'BRIEN: I agree with you.

BOROWITZ: His (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is everywhere.

O'BRIEN: He's got two kids.

BOROWITZ: Two kids by Char.

BRYANT: With his girlfriend. We don't need more Federlines.

O'BRIEN: No more Federlines.

BOROWITZ: The Federlines are just depleting the world food source.

O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, I like Britney, and I hope that this whole thing makes her grow up...

BOROWITZ: Me, too.

O'BRIEN: ... and take care of herself and her baby.

BOROWITZ: Totally.

O'BRIEN: She's got a lot of money. She can take care of this kid well as long as she's healthy.

BOROWITZ: Right.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about another drama queen, Mimi. And the girl is from Long Island, so you know I love her. We worked at the Ground Round, right, a million years ago.

TOURE: The Ground Round! O'BRIEN: And it's all true.

BOROWITZ: The first Ground Round shout-out.

BRYANT: Wow!

O'BRIEN: And now, she's got a new album out called that's "The Emancipation of Mimi." That's her nickname.

BRYANT: Right, that's her nickname. And this is Mariah feeling like she's coming into her own and she's taking possession of her career and really taking charge. She came and sat down with A.J. on our show for a half-hour. I mean, it was a big production. But she was very candid. And, you know, the record has gotten more sort of old school sounds. She's got a lot of, you know, guest stars, Snoop Dogg and, you know, Twista (ph). She's got the Neptunes producing. It's got a lot of hit potential, I do believe. I do believe.

O'BRIEN: I'm sorry, Toure is yawning. I couldn't hear the last part.

BRYANT: I think her fans will be happy.

TOURE: I actually listened to the album, and it was very difficult. I actually had it on yesterday when my wife came home. She said, "Can you please," like, I mean, it's a big torturous, people.

O'BRIEN: Well, you guys, as always. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: We should mention that you can see the second part of a special interview with Mariah Carey on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." That's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Headline News -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Soledad, as you were talking there, a developing story out of Iraq. We mentioned this earlier. The Arab network Al Jazeera is broadcasting what it says is a videotape of an American kidnapped in Iraq earlier this week. The man is identified as Jeffrey Ache (ph). This is a still photo taken from that videotape on Al Jazeera. An officials saying he's a resident from the state of Indiana, apparently working for a water supply company from Indiana. The U.S. embassy announced the kidnapping of the contractor on Tuesday. Apparently he was picked up around noontime in Baghdad on Monday. When we get more, you'll hear about it here. Break. Back in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. Wal-Mart trying to save a little bit of green. They're making a bit of green, too, huh? This is the green push by Wal-Mart. Andy has that and a check, early check, of Wall Street. What's happened?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Let's talk about the market, first of all, Bill.

Stocks down a little bit at this moment, down 10 -- down 8.5. Tale of two stocks this morning. First of all, McDonald's strong, up two percent. This company says its sales are ahead of schedule, ahead of what Wall Street was expecting. Stock is more than doubled over the past two years. Really, a nice recovery there. On the other hand, Harley Davidson, stock is down over $10, 18 percent. Their sales not up to snuff.

Let's talk about Wal-Mart, Bill. This is an interesting new campaign. Obviously, the company's been under fire over the past year or so and they're doing this to, you know, get some good P.R., quite frankly. But it's actually kind of an interesting campaign. What they're going to do is give $35 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Federation to buy land, to conserve land, equal to the amount of land that the company will use to build new stores over the next several years.

Hundreds and thousands -- hundreds of thousands of acres, I should say, in Louisiana, Arkansas -- that's where the company is -- the Grand Canyon, Oregon, Maine. 312,000 acres in Maine alone. And again, offsetting some P.R., I know the family, the Walton family. Rob Walton's very environmentally conscious, so...

HEMMER: So it's one for one?

SERWER: One for one. Right, every acre that they use to build a new store, say, that will be matched to an acre put to conservation.

HEMMER: Could be an awful lot of land.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Does it include stores that are already in existence?

SERWER: No, but it doesn't, but would include, you know, wholesalers, you know, all sorts of warehouses and all that sort of stuff.

And finally here, an interesting note and a pleasant note. CNN's Myron Kandel will be ringing the closing bell today on Wall Street -- and at the big board, the New York Stock Exchange. And that's a really -- that's a great honor. And I guess all I have to do is work another 25 years or so at this network and maybe they'll ask me. But congratulations to Myron. That's great stuff.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Probably not. Thank you, Jack. But they haven't called you yet, either, as a matter of fact.

CAFFERTY: And they won't.

O'BRIEN: And that's never going to happen.

CAFFERTY: I ain't sitting by the phone, you know?

O'BRIEN: Do you not watch the show?

SERWER: Yes, I do, indeed.

O'BRIEN: Got the "Question of the Day"?

CAFFERTY: "Question of the Day." Should Wisconsin legalize cat- hunting?

Samuel...

SERWER: I love that question.

CAFFERTY: ... in Ogden, Utah, writes: "No. Cat-hunting should not be legal. Irresponsible pet owners ought to be hunted. We prove what kind of people we are by the way we treat other living things. And besides, cats are cool critters."

Glen in Oxford, North Carolina: "Offer to send all the fearless hunters who want to hunt cats to Baghdad. Any bets on how many of them would go?"

And Bob and Tammy in Corsacana, Texas: "After discussing it over dinner with our three cats, they all agree. Sam, Maggie, and Lily all say, 'Let's make it fair, give cats guns and bring 'em on.'"

HEMMER: Send us the videotape, too.

O'BRIEN: That would be worth seeing. Thanks, Jack.

Tax day creeping closer and closer, just two days away now. Coming up next, "CNN LIVE TODAY" has the top five mistakes that people make when they're filling their returns. That's with Daryn Kagan. AMERICAN MORNING's back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Before we get out of here, want to check in with Aaron Brown, a preview of what's coming up later tonight on "NEWSNIGHT" -- Aaron.

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks you, Bill.

Tonight on "NEWSNIGHT," three people, three lives, and one fanatic with a bomb. How their lives came together and how everything changed one night at the Olympics in Atlanta. That story, plus all the day's news, morning papers, and everything else that makes "NEWSNIGHT," "NEWSNIGHT." CNN tonight 10:00 p.m. Eastern -- Bill.

HEMMER: 12 hours away. Aaron, thanks. See you later tonight.

O'BRIEN: And that's it for AMERICAN MORNING and...

HEMMER: And it worked today.

O'BRIEN: And everything that made AMERICAN MORNING, AMERICAN MORNING this morning. SERWER: A little bit of everything. Potential cat shooting.

O'BRIEN: Only here, on AMERICAN MORNING.

COSTELLO: Every time Jack said cat hunting, you went, what?

SERWER: That's a great topic. Cat hunting is a good topic.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it touched the nerve. That's what we like to do here on this little show.

CAFFERTY: Solving the world's problems.

O'BRIEN: One issue at a time.

SERWER: One cat at a time.

CAFFERTY: Just here to help out.

O'BRIEN: Jack Cafferty. That's it, we're done.

HEMMER: Here's Daryn at the CNN Center.

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