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American Morning

'CNN Security Watch': Shoot-Down Rules; Father Confesses; Tut's Secrets

Aired May 12, 2005 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. It's 7:30 here in the morning in New York.
We're talking about this mad scramble in Washington, D.C. after that plane crossed into restricted airspace.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The questions continue. How close did these guys in that Cessna come to get shot down? We'll talk with an Air Force colonel about that question in a few moments.

O'BRIEN: It sounds pretty darned close.

HEMMER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: And many people are saying that maybe they should have been shot down actually. We'll talk more about that this morning.

Let's get right to the headlines first, though, with Carol Costello.

Hello. Good morning.

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

"Now in the News."

Dozens of casualties in Baghdad this morning. Iraqi police say two car bombs exploded in the eastern part of the city, killing at least 12 people and wounding 56 others. Video from the scene shows burning vehicles and billowing black smoke. The attack comes one day after insurgents launched a series of strikes throughout the city -- throughout the country, rather, killing nearly 60 Iraqis.

Immigrant groups are attacking new driver's license rules, meant to prevent terrorism, calling it an anti-immigrant bill. The measure known as the Real ID Act was part of the war spending bill signed Wednesday by President Bush. It makes it impossible for people who are not in the United States legally to get a driver's license. Supporters of the bill say it's vital to keep terrorists from hiding in plain sight.

Absolutely ridiculous, that's what actor Macaulay Culkin is calling the allegations against Michael Jackson. Culkin took the stand Wednesday on behalf of the pop star he still calls a friend. He said any claims that Jackson groped when he was a young boy are false. Today, jurors will continue to see footage from a videotaped interview with Jackson. It could be the closest Jackson gets to taking the stand himself.

And there is word this morning comedian Dave Chappelle has checked himself into a mental health facility in South Africa. The magazine "Entertainment Weekly" claim Chappelle has been in treatment since last month. His rep has denied rumors Chappelle's problems are drug-related. Last week, Comedy Central announced it was delaying production on a third season of Chappelle's show. It is not clear when that program will start up. Probably when he comes back from South Africa.

HEMMER: It kind of answers that question from the other day. Such a successful, high-paid show, too. Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure.

HEMMER: Back to our "CNN Security Watch" now this morning. We're taking a closer look at the security breach in Washington yesterday. A small plane straying into restricted airspace around the nation's capital. We're told that F-16 pilots used hand signals, they rocked their wings and fired warning flares before finally getting the pilots on the radio.

NORAD's spokesman is Colonel Keith Snyder. He's live in Panama City, Florida.

Colonel, good morning and welcome here.

COL. KEITH SNYDER, NORAD SPOKESMAN: Good morning. Thank you.

HEMMER: Let's try and answer the questions that's on the mind of so many. How close did these two men come to being shot out of the air yesterday?

SNYDER: I can't tell you how the engagement authority yesterday afternoon viewed the situation, other than that it was not a threat. And they made the decision that they weren't going to shoot the aircraft down. We had eyes on that airplane for a number of minutes yesterday, with the fighters there getting a good identification, and helping to pass that along to the engagement authorities yesterday to decide whether or not they wanted to engage that aircraft.

HEMMER: Give me a better sense about you determined...

SNYDER: And then...

HEMMER: Sorry for the interruption, colonel. Give me a better sense of how you determined it was not a threat. How do you know that?

SNYDER: Well, it's not an exact science by any stretch of the imagination. We get the pilot's eyes onto the track of the interest, the aircraft, get his tail number. We bring in other interagency assets, all source information. Is the aircraft stolen? Has it been hijacked? We go through a lot of those types of issues to determine and help us build a case on whether or not this aircraft represents a threat or not.

HEMMER: So, are you suggesting then that while this process was under way in the skies over Washington D.C. that you were in touch with the airport, where the plane may have originated? Is that how you determined that?

SNYDER: The TSA, as well as the FAA and other officials, could be making -- during that period of time, could be making those types of decisions and trying to assess where that plane came from, who its owner is, and all of the background information that they can, and bring that to a conference, where these agencies are on the phone together, to try and make that decision on whether or not anybody has any information that could be valuable in determining the possible threat or non-threat of a particular aircraft.

HEMMER: Then what explains when a Black Hawk helicopter is flying by the side of this Cessna for a period of what appears to be at least five minutes, possibly longer, F-16s rocking their wings on the sides, flares being fired into the sky. Why was not a more efficient response given from these pilots?

SNYDER: That's a good question. The majority of the time up there, whenever we have someone enter the no-fly zone, that aircraft pretty rapidly gets the picture and is able to turn away from the restricted airspace and leave. It took a lot of maneuvering by the folks from Andrews yesterday and their jets to try and get him on -- to get him to fly away from the downtown area. And it wasn't apparently until they were able to actually raise him on the radio that they were successful.

HEMMER: So then, I'm wondering, is there a new warning system that's needed here? Is there a different perhaps relationship of interactions that has to be pursued when a plane like this is only three miles away from the White House?

SNYDER: Well, what we're trying to do and we're going to institute on the 21st of this month is another layer of aids to try and warn pilots. And that's our visual warning system, have a series of flashing lights that will be clearly visible and aimed at a pilot that has strayed into the airspace there in D.C. as another indicator to try and warn him that he shouldn't be there where he's at.

HEMMER: Are you suggesting...

SNYDER: That's another tool that we're going...

HEMMER: I'm sorry, colonel. If you're flashing lights in this incident like yesterday, would that have prevented this?

SNYDER: It may not have prevented it. It might have, and it might have caught the pilot's attention a little bit sooner. As an additional aid, as one of the tools in the toolkit that we have available to us to try and warn those aircraft that they are entering airspace they shouldn't be in.

HEMMER: One last thing here. Are you sitting here today, like we are, wondering how this goes as far as it did?

SNYDER: I don't think that we feel that that's an issue in terms of how far. We were on that airplane for a very long time, monitoring him, trying to communicate with him. So, we spent a good deal of time on his wing, so to speak, yesterday, trying to gather the information, trying to get him to maneuver away. So, we feel fairly confident in our timelines, the folks at Andrews, those folks did a great job yesterday afternoon with that aircraft. The engagement authorities that were involved deemed that that aircraft was not a threat.

So, it just took him a little longer to get the picture. And if he's a student pilot, he may not really know exactly what he should be doing or what those aircraft are trying to tell him to do.

HEMMER: Thank you, colonel.

SNYDER: So that is probably what happened yesterday.

HEMMER: I'm out of time. Thanks. Keith Snyder down there in Panama City. Nice to talk to you this morning.

Stay with CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security. More on this throughout the morning.

O'BRIEN: Funerals will be held later this week for those two little Illinois girls who were killed on Mother's Day. The prosecutors say the father of one of the girls has now confessed to beating and stabbing them to death.

Chris Lawrence is at the courthouse in Waukegan, Illinois, this morning.

Chris -- good morning.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

We know that Jerry Hobbs just got out of prison last month and moved here to Illinois. Prosecutors say he got angry Sunday because his daughter was supposed to be grounded and her mom let her go outside to play anyway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice over): Prosecutors in Lake County, Illinois, say Jerry Hobbs was upset on Mother's Day. He felt his daughter, Laura, had a discipline problem and her mother was too lenient with the 8- year-old.

JEFFREY PAVLETIC, LAKE COUNTY DEP. STATE'S ATTORNEY: She had been suspected of taking some money from her mother. She had recently been grounded.

LAWRENCE: On Sunday afternoon she was outside playing. Prosecutors say Hobbs told investigators he found Laura at a local park with her best friend, Krystal Tobias. PAVLETIC: He said that he then confronted Laura and said, "Come home. You're coming home with me." She said she didn't want to. An argument developed. He then said in his own words that he had punched her twice, at least twice in the face.

LAWRENCE: Prosecutors say Hobbs told police Krystal tried to defend Laura and pulled a small knife on Hobbs.

MICHAEL WALLER, LAKE COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY: I don't necessarily believe that part of the statement. You know, I mean, she might have grabbed a leg or something. You know, she's a little girl. I mean, you've got a -- you know, this guy is about 6 foot 1, and you're talking about 8 and 9-year-old girls.

LAWRENCE: In his statements, Hobbs says he punched Krystal hard, took the knife and began stabbing them both over and over again.

PAVLETIC: I mean, this was a slaughter of two little girls. Laura had 20 stab wounds to her. She was stabbed in the neck. She was stabbed in the abdomen. She was stabbed once in each eye.

LAWRENCE: Police say Hobbs confessed to the killings, but he has not entered a plea. The public defender's office will represent him, while acknowledging the pain that this community still feels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now, I was standing probably about five feet away from Hobbs in that courtroom. He got emotional, especially when prosecutors described what happened to his daughter. Hobbs will be back here in court next month for a preliminary hearing -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Oh, Chris, utterly gruesome details. Thank you for that update. Appreciate it -- Bill.

HEMMER: A terrible, terrible story.

It's 20 minutes now before the hour. A check of the weather.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: In a moment here, there's a new view of Egypt's King Tut, 3,000 years later the extreme makeover. We'll talk about that in a moment here.

O'BRIEN: But first, this question: How long did the ancient Egyptian mummification process generally take? Was it, (a), 10 days? Was it, (b), 30 days? Or was it, (c), 70 days? We've got the answer right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Before the break, we asked you this: How long did the ancient Egyptian mummification process generally take? The answer is, (c), 70 days. The length of time ensured that all bacteria was killed and the body cells were dehydrated. Well, 3,000 years after he died and 80 years after his tomb was discovered, King Tut is finally ready for his close-up. Forensics teams from Egypt and France and the United States have developed the most detailed picture yet of what the boy ruler might have looked at. Their work is now featured in a television special and in the June issue of "National Geographic" magazine.

John Bredar is executive producer of National Geographic's specials. He's in Washington, D.C. this morning.

Nice to see you, John. Thanks for talking with us.

JOHN BREDAR, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SPECIALS: Hi. You're welcome, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: This came about after 1,700 CAT scan images. Of course, the mummy itself was discovered back in the 1920s. So, why so long before access to CAT scans for it?

BREDAR: Well, King Tut was x-rayed back in the late 1960s and again in the early 1970s. But, you know, it's not a simple thing to gain access to Tut's mummy. And when Geographic came up with the idea of having a CAT scan machine donated to Egypt, things were set in motion for what was kind of an unprecedented removal of Tut from his tomb and the opportunity to CAT scan.

O'BRIEN: It was an amazing opportunity. And what came out of it is pretty incredible, too. Three different teams in three different countries. Let's walk through what they found. First, the Egyptian team. Here's a look at what they came up with. What do you make of this?

BREDAR: Well, it's actually very similar to all of the others. I think that's the most telling thing about all of the different busts that were created. They all start with the same basic CAT scan data. And then, you know, there's a little bit of artistic license involved. But considering that, you know, three different artists took a stab at this, it's amazing that they came up with something so similar.

So, what you have with the Egyptian version is basically just a plaster bust. It's not finished. It's not painted. You'll see a gradual evolution in some of the other busts.

O'BRIEN: In fact, if you look at the American version, which you say was done blind...

BREDAR: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... it looks similar but a little bit different. What do you mean by "done blind?"

BREDAR: Well, the artist that you see in the frame there, Michael Anderson from Peabody up at Yale University, had no idea whose head he was working on. He was just given basic CAT scan data and a consultation from an paleoanthropoligist, who explained to him, it's a North African male between 18 and 20 with some Nubian features. That's it. He had no idea who he was making.

O'BRIEN: And that's what he was able to come up with.

BREDAR: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Then the French reconstruction, which I think is just pretty much the most amazing, and it's certainly the most lifelike. What do you make of what the French reconstruction was?

BREDAR: Yes. And this is Elizabeth Danes (ph), the French artist, who did this. And obviously she had done something that's far more finished than anybody else. But it's eerily real, I think. I mean, when we were filming her in her studio, it really looked like she was putting makeup on a living person.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it certainly did. What else do the CAT scans reveal about the boy king?

BREDAR: An amazing amount of stuff. A lot of it is just kind of like normal. You know, he had no cavities. He had an impacted wisdom tooth. I mean, to kind of go with the music theme that you guys were playing, you can see his head is very weirdly shaped. So maybe Steve Martin got his idea for a funky Tut from that. There is the -- you can also see the impacted wisdom tooth. There are a lot of other...

O'BRIEN: Was he murdered, though? That was the big question. Remember the debate?

BREDAR: Yes.

O'BRIEN: You obviously well know the debate over some people speculated that King Tut was murdered maybe by a relative.

BREDAR: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Did the CAT scan prove or disprove that?

BREDAR: Well, the CAT scan revealed that there was no evidence whatsoever of a blow to the head, which was the big theory for years and years. Instead, what it revealed was a very severe fracture to his leg. And, I think, you know, the film gets into more details about, you know, what actually happened to him.

O'BRIEN: Well, John Bredar is the producer of this documentary. It looks fascinating, and it's on National Geographic. Thanks for talking to us. We should mention that "King Tut's Final Secrets" premiers on Sunday at 9:00 p.m. on the National Geographic channel. You can also see much more of the pretty amazing pictures in the June issue of "National Geographic" magazine -- Bill.

HEMMER: That wayward plane, Soledad, that sent people scrambling in D.C. yesterday had investors scrambling on Wall Street as well. Andy has that story in "Minding Your Business" after this break on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HEMMER: Welcome back, everybody. The defense is resting now in this huge accounting fraud trial. We'll get to that and a check of the markets. Andy Serwer is back with us, "Minding Your Business."

First the markets.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, let's talk about that, because we have a chart from yesterday that really shows very graphically how Wall Street was spooked by that plane flying over the District of Columbia. Let me just go through this for a second.

HEMMER: Look at that.

SERWER: 12:03, a red alert was issued. Te plane was circled by fighters. It was three miles from the White House. And you can see that's exactly where that red part is highlighted. The Dow dipped 88 points. By 12:11, the alert was lowered to yellow as the plane banked to the west.

The news feed on Wall Street is instantaneous, as you can imagine. You can see the market went right back up as traders realized that the threat apparently was over. In fact, the market ended up for the day. As you can see here, it rebounded nicely.

This morning, futures are lower. Wal-Mart issuing a report saying that their forecast is slightly lower than expected for the current quarter.

And then, let's move on here and talk about the trial of Richard Scrushy, the former CEO of HealthSouth down in Birmingham. And we are very surprised and disappointed to tell you that Mr. Scrushy has decided not take the stand, because that would have been some kind of theater down there. But apparently, you know, looking at what happened with Bernie Ebbers and Frank Quattrone and possibly Dennis Kozlowski -- and we don't know yet there -- he decided not take his own defense. What do they say? If you don't talk, you can't walk? Why are there always little rhymes here?

HEMMER: I think you're the most disappointed, aren't you?

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: I'm a big fan of the Scrush (ph), yes indeed.

O'BRIEN: He can't make Jack's list of things people say on a Wednesday.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: He would have made -- I guarantee you he would have made it.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: He would have made the list. We would have devoted the whole segment to him.

O'BRIEN: I can see that. But we're talking about John Bolton instead today.

CAFFERTY: Yes. Nice segue.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

CAFFERTY: That's why you're the anchor.

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, I have good days and bad days.

CAFFERTY: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote on John Bolton's nomination to be the U.N. ambassador today. The vote was delayed for three weeks after questions arose about Bolton's -- quote -- "interpersonal skills" during his time at the State Department as the undersecretary for arms control. Even Colin Powell said that Bolton is an intelligent guy, but a problematic government official who treated State Department subordinates harshly.

The question is this: Is John Bolton the right person to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.?

Jose in College Station, Texas: "Why not? We rely on the U.N. for very little and ignore them when we disagree. We might as well have an ambassador who will reflect our attitude about the organization. His presence might remind other members of the U.N. that they're supposed to do more than pilfer the coffers, park illegally and live with impunity under the protection of diplomatic immunity. If he would just accomplish that, he would be a raging success."

Steve in Staten Island: "John Bolton must be the right person. That's who the president picked to be at his side. Perhaps my fellow Democrats should stop wringing their hands about the last election and start trying to figure out how to get back in touch with the populous."

John in Columbus, Ohio: "Sure, he is, if we want to alienate everybody."

Rex in Toronto writes: "Jack, John Bolton is arrogant, humorless, self-righteous and confrontational. The man keeps a bronzed grenade in his office, for god's sake. His nomination is nothing less than a single-digit salute to the United Nations."

And Dave writes from Japan: "Michael Bolton? You mean the pop singer from the '90s? Kind of an odd choice, Jack. But sure, I guess so. I mean, why not? He's better than the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Bush nominated."

SERWER: Oh.

CAFFERTY: That's our friend, Dave, in Japan. You met him when you were over there.

HEMMER: As a matter of fact, I did.

CAFFERTY: Yes. HEMMER: He's a loyal viewer.

CAFFERTY: Yes, well...

HEMMER: I think maybe your biggest fan.

CAFFERTY: Some days that's unfortunate.

HEMMER: Keep trying, Dave. Keep trying.

With news that United Airlines is going to dump thousands of workers' pensions, is there anything you can do now to make sure your own pension is protected? We'll have a look at that next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.

CAFFERTY: The answer is no.

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 May 12, 2005 - 07:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. It's 7:30 here in the morning in New York.
We're talking about this mad scramble in Washington, D.C. after that plane crossed into restricted airspace.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The questions continue. How close did these guys in that Cessna come to get shot down? We'll talk with an Air Force colonel about that question in a few moments.

O'BRIEN: It sounds pretty darned close.

HEMMER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: And many people are saying that maybe they should have been shot down actually. We'll talk more about that this morning.

Let's get right to the headlines first, though, with Carol Costello.

Hello. Good morning.

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

"Now in the News."

Dozens of casualties in Baghdad this morning. Iraqi police say two car bombs exploded in the eastern part of the city, killing at least 12 people and wounding 56 others. Video from the scene shows burning vehicles and billowing black smoke. The attack comes one day after insurgents launched a series of strikes throughout the city -- throughout the country, rather, killing nearly 60 Iraqis.

Immigrant groups are attacking new driver's license rules, meant to prevent terrorism, calling it an anti-immigrant bill. The measure known as the Real ID Act was part of the war spending bill signed Wednesday by President Bush. It makes it impossible for people who are not in the United States legally to get a driver's license. Supporters of the bill say it's vital to keep terrorists from hiding in plain sight.

Absolutely ridiculous, that's what actor Macaulay Culkin is calling the allegations against Michael Jackson. Culkin took the stand Wednesday on behalf of the pop star he still calls a friend. He said any claims that Jackson groped when he was a young boy are false. Today, jurors will continue to see footage from a videotaped interview with Jackson. It could be the closest Jackson gets to taking the stand himself.

And there is word this morning comedian Dave Chappelle has checked himself into a mental health facility in South Africa. The magazine "Entertainment Weekly" claim Chappelle has been in treatment since last month. His rep has denied rumors Chappelle's problems are drug-related. Last week, Comedy Central announced it was delaying production on a third season of Chappelle's show. It is not clear when that program will start up. Probably when he comes back from South Africa.

HEMMER: It kind of answers that question from the other day. Such a successful, high-paid show, too. Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure.

HEMMER: Back to our "CNN Security Watch" now this morning. We're taking a closer look at the security breach in Washington yesterday. A small plane straying into restricted airspace around the nation's capital. We're told that F-16 pilots used hand signals, they rocked their wings and fired warning flares before finally getting the pilots on the radio.

NORAD's spokesman is Colonel Keith Snyder. He's live in Panama City, Florida.

Colonel, good morning and welcome here.

COL. KEITH SNYDER, NORAD SPOKESMAN: Good morning. Thank you.

HEMMER: Let's try and answer the questions that's on the mind of so many. How close did these two men come to being shot out of the air yesterday?

SNYDER: I can't tell you how the engagement authority yesterday afternoon viewed the situation, other than that it was not a threat. And they made the decision that they weren't going to shoot the aircraft down. We had eyes on that airplane for a number of minutes yesterday, with the fighters there getting a good identification, and helping to pass that along to the engagement authorities yesterday to decide whether or not they wanted to engage that aircraft.

HEMMER: Give me a better sense about you determined...

SNYDER: And then...

HEMMER: Sorry for the interruption, colonel. Give me a better sense of how you determined it was not a threat. How do you know that?

SNYDER: Well, it's not an exact science by any stretch of the imagination. We get the pilot's eyes onto the track of the interest, the aircraft, get his tail number. We bring in other interagency assets, all source information. Is the aircraft stolen? Has it been hijacked? We go through a lot of those types of issues to determine and help us build a case on whether or not this aircraft represents a threat or not.

HEMMER: So, are you suggesting then that while this process was under way in the skies over Washington D.C. that you were in touch with the airport, where the plane may have originated? Is that how you determined that?

SNYDER: The TSA, as well as the FAA and other officials, could be making -- during that period of time, could be making those types of decisions and trying to assess where that plane came from, who its owner is, and all of the background information that they can, and bring that to a conference, where these agencies are on the phone together, to try and make that decision on whether or not anybody has any information that could be valuable in determining the possible threat or non-threat of a particular aircraft.

HEMMER: Then what explains when a Black Hawk helicopter is flying by the side of this Cessna for a period of what appears to be at least five minutes, possibly longer, F-16s rocking their wings on the sides, flares being fired into the sky. Why was not a more efficient response given from these pilots?

SNYDER: That's a good question. The majority of the time up there, whenever we have someone enter the no-fly zone, that aircraft pretty rapidly gets the picture and is able to turn away from the restricted airspace and leave. It took a lot of maneuvering by the folks from Andrews yesterday and their jets to try and get him on -- to get him to fly away from the downtown area. And it wasn't apparently until they were able to actually raise him on the radio that they were successful.

HEMMER: So then, I'm wondering, is there a new warning system that's needed here? Is there a different perhaps relationship of interactions that has to be pursued when a plane like this is only three miles away from the White House?

SNYDER: Well, what we're trying to do and we're going to institute on the 21st of this month is another layer of aids to try and warn pilots. And that's our visual warning system, have a series of flashing lights that will be clearly visible and aimed at a pilot that has strayed into the airspace there in D.C. as another indicator to try and warn him that he shouldn't be there where he's at.

HEMMER: Are you suggesting...

SNYDER: That's another tool that we're going...

HEMMER: I'm sorry, colonel. If you're flashing lights in this incident like yesterday, would that have prevented this?

SNYDER: It may not have prevented it. It might have, and it might have caught the pilot's attention a little bit sooner. As an additional aid, as one of the tools in the toolkit that we have available to us to try and warn those aircraft that they are entering airspace they shouldn't be in.

HEMMER: One last thing here. Are you sitting here today, like we are, wondering how this goes as far as it did?

SNYDER: I don't think that we feel that that's an issue in terms of how far. We were on that airplane for a very long time, monitoring him, trying to communicate with him. So, we spent a good deal of time on his wing, so to speak, yesterday, trying to gather the information, trying to get him to maneuver away. So, we feel fairly confident in our timelines, the folks at Andrews, those folks did a great job yesterday afternoon with that aircraft. The engagement authorities that were involved deemed that that aircraft was not a threat.

So, it just took him a little longer to get the picture. And if he's a student pilot, he may not really know exactly what he should be doing or what those aircraft are trying to tell him to do.

HEMMER: Thank you, colonel.

SNYDER: So that is probably what happened yesterday.

HEMMER: I'm out of time. Thanks. Keith Snyder down there in Panama City. Nice to talk to you this morning.

Stay with CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security. More on this throughout the morning.

O'BRIEN: Funerals will be held later this week for those two little Illinois girls who were killed on Mother's Day. The prosecutors say the father of one of the girls has now confessed to beating and stabbing them to death.

Chris Lawrence is at the courthouse in Waukegan, Illinois, this morning.

Chris -- good morning.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

We know that Jerry Hobbs just got out of prison last month and moved here to Illinois. Prosecutors say he got angry Sunday because his daughter was supposed to be grounded and her mom let her go outside to play anyway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice over): Prosecutors in Lake County, Illinois, say Jerry Hobbs was upset on Mother's Day. He felt his daughter, Laura, had a discipline problem and her mother was too lenient with the 8- year-old.

JEFFREY PAVLETIC, LAKE COUNTY DEP. STATE'S ATTORNEY: She had been suspected of taking some money from her mother. She had recently been grounded.

LAWRENCE: On Sunday afternoon she was outside playing. Prosecutors say Hobbs told investigators he found Laura at a local park with her best friend, Krystal Tobias. PAVLETIC: He said that he then confronted Laura and said, "Come home. You're coming home with me." She said she didn't want to. An argument developed. He then said in his own words that he had punched her twice, at least twice in the face.

LAWRENCE: Prosecutors say Hobbs told police Krystal tried to defend Laura and pulled a small knife on Hobbs.

MICHAEL WALLER, LAKE COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY: I don't necessarily believe that part of the statement. You know, I mean, she might have grabbed a leg or something. You know, she's a little girl. I mean, you've got a -- you know, this guy is about 6 foot 1, and you're talking about 8 and 9-year-old girls.

LAWRENCE: In his statements, Hobbs says he punched Krystal hard, took the knife and began stabbing them both over and over again.

PAVLETIC: I mean, this was a slaughter of two little girls. Laura had 20 stab wounds to her. She was stabbed in the neck. She was stabbed in the abdomen. She was stabbed once in each eye.

LAWRENCE: Police say Hobbs confessed to the killings, but he has not entered a plea. The public defender's office will represent him, while acknowledging the pain that this community still feels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now, I was standing probably about five feet away from Hobbs in that courtroom. He got emotional, especially when prosecutors described what happened to his daughter. Hobbs will be back here in court next month for a preliminary hearing -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Oh, Chris, utterly gruesome details. Thank you for that update. Appreciate it -- Bill.

HEMMER: A terrible, terrible story.

It's 20 minutes now before the hour. A check of the weather.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: In a moment here, there's a new view of Egypt's King Tut, 3,000 years later the extreme makeover. We'll talk about that in a moment here.

O'BRIEN: But first, this question: How long did the ancient Egyptian mummification process generally take? Was it, (a), 10 days? Was it, (b), 30 days? Or was it, (c), 70 days? We've got the answer right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Before the break, we asked you this: How long did the ancient Egyptian mummification process generally take? The answer is, (c), 70 days. The length of time ensured that all bacteria was killed and the body cells were dehydrated. Well, 3,000 years after he died and 80 years after his tomb was discovered, King Tut is finally ready for his close-up. Forensics teams from Egypt and France and the United States have developed the most detailed picture yet of what the boy ruler might have looked at. Their work is now featured in a television special and in the June issue of "National Geographic" magazine.

John Bredar is executive producer of National Geographic's specials. He's in Washington, D.C. this morning.

Nice to see you, John. Thanks for talking with us.

JOHN BREDAR, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SPECIALS: Hi. You're welcome, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: This came about after 1,700 CAT scan images. Of course, the mummy itself was discovered back in the 1920s. So, why so long before access to CAT scans for it?

BREDAR: Well, King Tut was x-rayed back in the late 1960s and again in the early 1970s. But, you know, it's not a simple thing to gain access to Tut's mummy. And when Geographic came up with the idea of having a CAT scan machine donated to Egypt, things were set in motion for what was kind of an unprecedented removal of Tut from his tomb and the opportunity to CAT scan.

O'BRIEN: It was an amazing opportunity. And what came out of it is pretty incredible, too. Three different teams in three different countries. Let's walk through what they found. First, the Egyptian team. Here's a look at what they came up with. What do you make of this?

BREDAR: Well, it's actually very similar to all of the others. I think that's the most telling thing about all of the different busts that were created. They all start with the same basic CAT scan data. And then, you know, there's a little bit of artistic license involved. But considering that, you know, three different artists took a stab at this, it's amazing that they came up with something so similar.

So, what you have with the Egyptian version is basically just a plaster bust. It's not finished. It's not painted. You'll see a gradual evolution in some of the other busts.

O'BRIEN: In fact, if you look at the American version, which you say was done blind...

BREDAR: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... it looks similar but a little bit different. What do you mean by "done blind?"

BREDAR: Well, the artist that you see in the frame there, Michael Anderson from Peabody up at Yale University, had no idea whose head he was working on. He was just given basic CAT scan data and a consultation from an paleoanthropoligist, who explained to him, it's a North African male between 18 and 20 with some Nubian features. That's it. He had no idea who he was making.

O'BRIEN: And that's what he was able to come up with.

BREDAR: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Then the French reconstruction, which I think is just pretty much the most amazing, and it's certainly the most lifelike. What do you make of what the French reconstruction was?

BREDAR: Yes. And this is Elizabeth Danes (ph), the French artist, who did this. And obviously she had done something that's far more finished than anybody else. But it's eerily real, I think. I mean, when we were filming her in her studio, it really looked like she was putting makeup on a living person.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it certainly did. What else do the CAT scans reveal about the boy king?

BREDAR: An amazing amount of stuff. A lot of it is just kind of like normal. You know, he had no cavities. He had an impacted wisdom tooth. I mean, to kind of go with the music theme that you guys were playing, you can see his head is very weirdly shaped. So maybe Steve Martin got his idea for a funky Tut from that. There is the -- you can also see the impacted wisdom tooth. There are a lot of other...

O'BRIEN: Was he murdered, though? That was the big question. Remember the debate?

BREDAR: Yes.

O'BRIEN: You obviously well know the debate over some people speculated that King Tut was murdered maybe by a relative.

BREDAR: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Did the CAT scan prove or disprove that?

BREDAR: Well, the CAT scan revealed that there was no evidence whatsoever of a blow to the head, which was the big theory for years and years. Instead, what it revealed was a very severe fracture to his leg. And, I think, you know, the film gets into more details about, you know, what actually happened to him.

O'BRIEN: Well, John Bredar is the producer of this documentary. It looks fascinating, and it's on National Geographic. Thanks for talking to us. We should mention that "King Tut's Final Secrets" premiers on Sunday at 9:00 p.m. on the National Geographic channel. You can also see much more of the pretty amazing pictures in the June issue of "National Geographic" magazine -- Bill.

HEMMER: That wayward plane, Soledad, that sent people scrambling in D.C. yesterday had investors scrambling on Wall Street as well. Andy has that story in "Minding Your Business" after this break on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HEMMER: Welcome back, everybody. The defense is resting now in this huge accounting fraud trial. We'll get to that and a check of the markets. Andy Serwer is back with us, "Minding Your Business."

First the markets.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, let's talk about that, because we have a chart from yesterday that really shows very graphically how Wall Street was spooked by that plane flying over the District of Columbia. Let me just go through this for a second.

HEMMER: Look at that.

SERWER: 12:03, a red alert was issued. Te plane was circled by fighters. It was three miles from the White House. And you can see that's exactly where that red part is highlighted. The Dow dipped 88 points. By 12:11, the alert was lowered to yellow as the plane banked to the west.

The news feed on Wall Street is instantaneous, as you can imagine. You can see the market went right back up as traders realized that the threat apparently was over. In fact, the market ended up for the day. As you can see here, it rebounded nicely.

This morning, futures are lower. Wal-Mart issuing a report saying that their forecast is slightly lower than expected for the current quarter.

And then, let's move on here and talk about the trial of Richard Scrushy, the former CEO of HealthSouth down in Birmingham. And we are very surprised and disappointed to tell you that Mr. Scrushy has decided not take the stand, because that would have been some kind of theater down there. But apparently, you know, looking at what happened with Bernie Ebbers and Frank Quattrone and possibly Dennis Kozlowski -- and we don't know yet there -- he decided not take his own defense. What do they say? If you don't talk, you can't walk? Why are there always little rhymes here?

HEMMER: I think you're the most disappointed, aren't you?

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: I'm a big fan of the Scrush (ph), yes indeed.

O'BRIEN: He can't make Jack's list of things people say on a Wednesday.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: He would have made -- I guarantee you he would have made it.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: He would have made the list. We would have devoted the whole segment to him.

O'BRIEN: I can see that. But we're talking about John Bolton instead today.

CAFFERTY: Yes. Nice segue.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

CAFFERTY: That's why you're the anchor.

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, I have good days and bad days.

CAFFERTY: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote on John Bolton's nomination to be the U.N. ambassador today. The vote was delayed for three weeks after questions arose about Bolton's -- quote -- "interpersonal skills" during his time at the State Department as the undersecretary for arms control. Even Colin Powell said that Bolton is an intelligent guy, but a problematic government official who treated State Department subordinates harshly.

The question is this: Is John Bolton the right person to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.?

Jose in College Station, Texas: "Why not? We rely on the U.N. for very little and ignore them when we disagree. We might as well have an ambassador who will reflect our attitude about the organization. His presence might remind other members of the U.N. that they're supposed to do more than pilfer the coffers, park illegally and live with impunity under the protection of diplomatic immunity. If he would just accomplish that, he would be a raging success."

Steve in Staten Island: "John Bolton must be the right person. That's who the president picked to be at his side. Perhaps my fellow Democrats should stop wringing their hands about the last election and start trying to figure out how to get back in touch with the populous."

John in Columbus, Ohio: "Sure, he is, if we want to alienate everybody."

Rex in Toronto writes: "Jack, John Bolton is arrogant, humorless, self-righteous and confrontational. The man keeps a bronzed grenade in his office, for god's sake. His nomination is nothing less than a single-digit salute to the United Nations."

And Dave writes from Japan: "Michael Bolton? You mean the pop singer from the '90s? Kind of an odd choice, Jack. But sure, I guess so. I mean, why not? He's better than the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Bush nominated."

SERWER: Oh.

CAFFERTY: That's our friend, Dave, in Japan. You met him when you were over there.

HEMMER: As a matter of fact, I did.

CAFFERTY: Yes. HEMMER: He's a loyal viewer.

CAFFERTY: Yes, well...

HEMMER: I think maybe your biggest fan.

CAFFERTY: Some days that's unfortunate.

HEMMER: Keep trying, Dave. Keep trying.

With news that United Airlines is going to dump thousands of workers' pensions, is there anything you can do now to make sure your own pension is protected? We'll have a look at that next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.

CAFFERTY: The answer is no.

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