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American Morning
Why Did the Man Who Was Deep Throat Come Forward Now?; Cleaning Up the Iraqi Capital
Aired June 01, 2005 - 08:00 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: Good morning.
A secret that survived for more than 30 years. Why did the man who was Deep Throat come forward now?
Cleaning up the Iraqi capital. Are troops there already having an impact with Operation Lightning? A live report from a reporter embedded with the U.S. military in Baghdad.
And a stunning crime in New York. A 9-year-old girl accused of stabbing her friend to death. What happens now on this AMERICAN MORNING?
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Welcome back, everybody.
We've been talking about CNN's 25th anniversary this week. But today is really the day.
HEMMER: Yes, a big day for us here. We'll talk to Christiane Amanpour in a few moments, too. We just talked to Bernie Shaw. Looking at the stories that defined the past 25 years, how CNN covered them, how we helped to introduce these stories to the world, too.
O'BRIEN: Christiane has been with CNN for 23 of those years.
HEMMER: And really during Sarajevo and the Bosnian war she was taking these reports...
O'BRIEN: Utterly defined with international coverage, certainly.
HEMMER: You're right about that.
O'BRIEN: We'll be looking forward to talking to her in just a little bit.
Let's get to the headlines first, though, with Carol Costello -- good morning again, Carol.
HEMMER: Hello.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.
Now in the news, President Bush is holding talks with the South African president, Thabo Mbeki this morning. The meeting is set to begin in a little over three hours in the Oval Office. This will be their third meeting in the past five years. Today's visit will focus on the upcoming G8 summit and international help for South Africa's struggle with HIV and AIDS.
The entire 22-person staff of Indonesia's embassy in Australia is in isolation this morning, and for the next two days. The embassy was closed down earlier today after a suspicious package tested positive for a biological agent. The Australian prime minister, John Howard, condemned the action. Australian media outlets speculate the incident is related to anger over the recent conviction of Schapelle Corby on drug charges in Bali.
The FBI is reopening the investigation into the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emett Till. They have started the process of exhuming the remains of what they believe to be his body. These pictures are new to us this morning. Authorities want to positively I.D. the body. Till, a black teenager, was reportedly killed for whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. Two men were acquitted by an all white jury in the case, but they later confessed to the crime.
And remember the fight on a school bus we told you about in Florida between two brothers and the bus driver? Well, the brothers were facing possible felony charges. But the state attorney in Charlotte County reviewed this tape and decided not to go ahead with the criminal case against the boys.
The bus driver still faces a misdemeanor battery count.
And it is the first official start today of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Florida Governor Jeb Bush is warning people in the state to be prepared for a very active season. Forecasters predict 15 tropical storms and eight hurricanes will strike this year. So this better be prepared early.
HEMMER: Did you see Zarrella a half an hour ago?
O'BRIEN: I know.
HEMMER: It was raining down there and he says it's so appropriate, the 1st of June, to be raining.
O'BRIEN: And all the people who -- right. And people who still haven't even finished the repairs from the last storm have yet to do it.
COSTELLO: And the insurance money that still hasn't come in for some of them.
O'BRIEN: It's tough there.
All right, Carol, thanks a lot. Well, the question that many people are asking today about Deep Throat is why now?
Bill Schneider with a look at what made Mark Felt finally come forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Why did Mark Felt keep silent for the last 30 years? Bob Woodward told Larry King last year...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE")
BOB WOODWARD, "WASHINGTON POST": And I think once people see who it is and exactly what happened, we'll understand why the super secrecy and the confidentiality.
SCHNEIDER: "The Vanity Fair" article quotes Felt's son as saying his attitude was, "I don't think being Deep Throat was anything to be proud of. You should not leak information to anyone."
Remember, Deep Throat revealed secrets about a criminal investigation he headed and he could have been prosecuted. He told his daughter he was worried about "what the judge would think."
Another mystery -- why did Felt decide to reveal himself now? O'Connor says Felt revealed the truth casually, almost inadvertently, to close friends and family members. He confided his identity to a social companion, who shared it with Felt's daughter Joan. He says Joan confronted her father saying, "I know now that you're Deep Throat."
His response: "Since that's the case, well, yes, I am."
The "Vanity Fair" article says family members wanted Felt, now 91 and ailing, to come forward and establish his legacy. His son says...
MARK FELT, JR.: We believe our father, William Mark Felt Sr., was an American hero. He went well above and beyond the call of duty, at risk to himself, to save his country from a horrible injustice.
SCHNEIDER: His daughter recalls telling Felt, "We could make at least enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I've run up for the kids' education. Let's do it for the family."
Felt's response? "That's a good reason."
Though "Vanity Fair's" author says the Felts were not paid for their cooperation.
Perhaps most important, according to his grandson, Felt feels that after 30 years, all is now finally forgiven.
NICK JONES, GRANDSON OF W. MARK FELT: As he recently told my mother, "I guess people used to think Deep Throat was a criminal, but now they think he's a hero."
SCHNEIDER: It sounds amazing to say this, given today's political environment. But there are no indications Felt ever had any partisan motives. He acted, he says, to protect the FBI and his own role in it from political interference.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
O'BRIEN: Twenty years ago, Felt was quoted saying: "I always tried to do what was right and what was in the best interests of this country.
HEMMER: Now to Iraq, Soledad.
New developments to talk about today, Operation Lightning. That's the offensive aimed at stopping insurgent attacks in Baghdad. That operation continues today.
Jane Arraf, embedded with the U.S. military in Baghdad, reports from Camp Victory there.
Here's Jane.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Day three of Operation Lightning, the biggest Iraqi operation so far in Baghdad and Iraq. The streets are relatively normal. Just outside of this military base, as we went out earlier today, a suicide car bomb, though. According to military officials here, 15 people were injured. No one killed but the suicide bomber.
Despite that, as we drove down that road, that airport road, and other streets in Baghdad, life was relatively normal. The shops are open despite warnings from the interior and defense minister that they were going to flood the city with 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and police.
It doesn't look as if there are 40,000. That number may have been slightly overestimated. But there are considerably more police apparent, more Army.
We went out on a raid last night, overnight, with Iraqi Army troops who were going house-to-house, searching entire neighborhoods as they cordoned them off with the help of U.S. forces. People there were cooperative. Iraqi forces say they rounded up 100 people in that area and others overnight, all of them suspected insurgents; some of them, they believe, who may have been involved in cells that are planting roadside bombs and launching kidnappings.
Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Baghdad.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HEMMER: Jane, thanks for that. Meanwhile, Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, saying that Saddam Hussein could go to trial within two months. President Talabani speaking at CNN's World Report Conference in Atlanta on Tuesday. He says the Iraqi government is preparing a war crimes case against Saddam.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. JALAL TALABANI, IRAQ: Saddam Hussein is a war criminal. He committed the worst kind of crimes against the Iraqi people in Kurdistan and the south and in Baghdad, also. Saddam Hussein deserves a just trial and I think the court of Iraq will decide the future of Saddam Hussein.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Mr. Talabani also condemning terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and saying that he thinks Zarqawi's time is running out.
TALABANI: I think it is a very difficult to decide if he is still alive or not. But I am sure he was injured. And then when they announced it, that, many people thought that he is dead. And this was the beginning of announcing his death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Mr. Talabani adding he thinks Iraqi and coalition forces could make better headway against Zarqawi if the neighboring countries did not interfere in Iraq's internal affairs. That from yesterday in the World Affairs Report -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Nine minutes after the hour now.
To the CNN Weather Center once again with Chad Myers -- Chad, nice where we are.
Not so nice where you are this morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It wasn't nice yesterday and it wasn't nice the day before that.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: In a moment here, a crime that has stunned New York City. A 9-year-old girl charged with stabbing her best friend to death. A former juvenile court judge, TV's Judge Hatchett, tells us what that girl may face now.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, the most obvious way to steal someone's identity is paper. And for one growing industry, that means business is booming.
HEMMER: Also, we are booming today, as well. Twenty-five years on the air today. And Christiane Amanpour has seen so many events. She'll join us a bit later to talk about them after a break here on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A 9-year-old girl will likely be charged with manslaughter tomorrow. She will be the youngest person in New York history to be charged with killing someone. The girl is accused of stabbing an 11-year-old playmate to death in a fight over a toy. The case raises questions, of course, about just how young suspects are being handled by the justice system.
Judge Glenda Hatchett is a former juvenile court judge and also the host of the TV program "Judge Hatchett."
She joins us.
Nice to see you.
Thanks for coming in to talk to us.
JUDGE GLENDA HATCHETT, FORMER JUVENILE COURT JUDGE: Great to be here.
Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Were you shocked when you heard this story, a 9-year- old standing accused of killing her best friend?
HATCHETT: It's really shocking. And it raises a number of questions that I think we have to face as a nation, as families. And I'm hoping that this will actually inspire us to talk with parents or teachers or coaches and mentors, with children, about how they deal with issues of violence. It raises some very serious questions.
O'BRIEN: And in addition to the questions it raises, in some ways it's shocking in how it's happened before. I mean this...
HATCHETT: It's happened before. And, in the midst of all of this, let's not forget that there is a 12-year-old who was charged this weekend in the State of New York for strangling her own mother. A 12-year-old charged with killing her mother by strangulation. And, of course, we flash back to '93 in the State of New York, where we had the horrible incident of a 13-year-old who lured this little boy, four years old, into the woods and battered him to death.
A couple of months later, two 10-year-olds take a 2-year-old and get him away from his mother in the grocery store and beat him to death and then leave him on a railroad track.
So we have seen horrible situations like this before. But never have we seen a 9-year-old, that I am aware of, being charged with manslaughter.
O'BRIEN: Well, do you think a 9-year-old is competent to stand trial?
HATCHETT: Well, that raises an interesting point because common law says that a child seven years old and under is incapable of committing a crime and that -- because they can't form the intent. And there is a rebuttable presumption, which means that you can argue that they have the intent if a child between seven and 14.
And so you have a child who is really in this gray area. And it's going to be very interesting to see how prosecutors will handle this in the long run.
O'BRIEN: As a judge, is the goal to take this child and put them in prison or jail for punishment of some kind? Or is the goal rehabilitation?
HATCHETT: The juvenile court system really came -- was developed in this country separately from the adult system to do just that, Soledad. But we are really charged with rehabilitating young people.
So it forces the question, what will happen to her? Will she be incarcerated if she is found responsible for this situation...
O'BRIEN: And where? I mean is there a facility that can hold a 9-year-old?
HATCHETT: Well, we haven't anticipated this. And you wouldn't put a 9-year-old in a cell with a 16-year-old. I mean that's just not realistic. But the family court in New York has jurisdiction and can incarcerate her up to 18 months. But they can continue that up until the time that she's 18.
But it will be very interesting to see how they'll craft some kind of rehabilitation therapy for this youngster because obviously at some point she is going to age out of the system and then what?
O'BRIEN: There -- the stats on girls committing violent crimes, I just find it amazing that those are actually increasing significantly.
Why?
HATCHETT: They are increasing significantly because we are seeing more girls involved in gang activity...
O'BRIEN: Why is that?
HATCHETT: ... and drug trafficking. Because they are being invited in by the guys that they are involved with. And that's a growing trend that I saw when I was in juvenile court in Atlanta. And so now that they're involved in a lot of gang activity, drug activity, they're packing weapons, they're involved in violent crimes in a way that we haven't seen before.
O'BRIEN: What do you think happens to this little girl?
HATCHETT: I think ultimately she will have an extensive psychiatric evaluation. And I think they'll have to craft something very special for her. I can't imagine that she will stay incarcerated until she's 18.
O'BRIEN: Really a tragedy all around no matter how you look at it.
HATCHETT: It is a tragic situation all the way around.
O'BRIEN: Judge Glenda Hatchett, nice to have you.
HATCHETT: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for coming in to talk to us this...
HATCHETT: Thank you.
And happy anniversary to CNN.
O'BRIEN: I thank you very much.
HATCHETT: I'm from Atlanta, so CNN is special in my heart.
O'BRIEN: Well, thank you.
We're happy that you're here enjoying our celebrations today.
HATCHETT: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
HEMMER: All right, thanks, Judge.
A new in a moment here protecting you from I.D. theft goes into effect today. And for one industry, that means business is booming. That's next, after the break, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Starting today, a new law goes into effect to try and help you and protect you from I.D. theft. Businesses now have to start either shredding or burning or somehow destroying any documents containing consumer credit information before those documents can be thrown away. We'll see if it works.
Valerie Morris is looking into this.
She joins me now live -- good morning.
VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you.
I do believe that this is going to work. It is the first major step in trying to make sure that businesses act as responsible with your information as you should. In fact, the reality is that I.D. theft and handling it is a big boom for certain businesses.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MORRIS (voice-over): Brad Schofield has an appetite for destruction -- information destruction, which is essentially an industry term for shredding sensitive documents.
BRAD SCHOFIELD, PRESIDENT, SAFEGUARD SHREDDING: But we're doing approximately 125 to 150 tons of paper on a monthly basis.
MORRIS: He serves companies throughout the D.C. area and his shredders are highly mobile and high tech. Documents removed from the clients' office under lock and key and immediately loaded into a truck and destroyed. Monitors are provided for edgy customers to make sure the job is done right.
B. SCHOFIELD: We want to limit that custody period to the shortest possible time frame, which we hope is about five minutes.
MORRIS: It might sound like overkill, but paper is a bigger source of fraud and I.D. theft than you might think.
KATHERINE ARMSTRONG, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: We've heard lots of stories about people that do dumpster dives outside of mortgage broker offices or other banks or things like that.
MORRIS: Starting today, as part of the new FACTA Act, every business that handles a person's credit report must get rid of it. This requirement affects thousands of companies of all sizes throughout the country. And for Brad Schofield and his wife Gretchen, it just makes sense. They both left careers in finance to start their company after witnessing potential for fraud firsthand.
GRETCHEN SCHOFIELD, TREASURER, SAFEGUARD SHREDDING: We dealt with consumer, you know, information, Social Security numbers. It was a student loan company. I mean you know that that's sensitive information and that's why, you know, companies of our size were shredding. As a company or a corporation, you need to do it just to be protecting your client base.
MORRIS: So at least for this company, I.D. theft and the fight against it are good for business.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MORRIS: Now, it's important for me to let you know that if, in fact, you would like to check this out and get a business to come and take care of your records, go to naidonline.org. This is the Web site for the National Association for Information Destruction.
HEMMER: I love that phrase.
MORRIS: Doesn't that make you want to high five to know that that's happening?
HEMMER: I love that phrase, information destruction.
You really like this idea, too?
MORRIS: I really do. And I'm a big fan of shredders. And one of the reasons is I think that everyone has to take responsibility for their own financial information. One of the biggest ways that identity theft happens is people toss out things that have all this information on it.
HEMMER: Sure.
MORRIS: Another good idea with shredders -- I've said it before, I want to be very specific -- it's a good way to teach your children, older children, not little children. If you have a small child like under the age of five, a pet, shredders can actually mangle their fingers if they're using this.
HEMMER: Be careful in a word.
MORRIS: So keep them in the "off" position and keep them away. If you have adult children or, let's say, teenaged children, it's a good idea to have them shred the documents so they see money is real and family money matters.
HEMMER: I've got one about this high at home.
MORRIS: Yes?
HEMMER: And I love it. I want to get a bigger one.
MORRIS: You know what? You don't even need a bigger one. You know what you need?
HEMMER: Why not?
MORRIS: There are straight cuts, there are cross cuts and then there's confetti.
HEMMER: You've got it down.
MORRIS: You know, either one of those will work to shred.
HEMMER: Thanks, Valerie.
Nice to see you.
MORRIS: Thank you.
HEMMER: All right -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, obviously, if you've been watching today, you know today is our 25th anniversary. We've been asking for your reaction.
So let's check in with Carol Costello -- good morning, again.
COSTELLO: Oh, we've got a lot of good stuff in. We really do.
On this 25th anniversary of CNN, Eric Rudolph asking you for your personal take on big stories.
Today's question, just to reiterate, what news event of the last 25 years mattered most to you?
This is from Dave in Florida. He says: "The most powerful image of my lifetime may have been the picture of a single Chinese student stopping a line of tanks in Tiananmen Square. It captured the intense anger of the people at an oppressive government and courage beyond words. It has to equal the flag raising at Iwo Jima."
Oh, and then that picture just is imprinted in your mind forever.
O'BRIEN: No one knows what happened to that man, either. They never discovered if he is alive or if he was killed or what.
COSTELLO: Or how many were killed during that demonstration.
This is from Brian in Georgetown, South Carolina: "For me, the most important story of the last 25 years would be the election of 2000 and the Florida fiasco."
And I know Bill Hemmer remembers that well.
O'BRIEN: The hanging chads.
COSTELLO: Weren't you there forever, Bill?
HEMMER: Thirty-seven days about, Carol.
O'BRIEN: She was just kidding.
HEMMER: Have you got a problem with that?
COSTELLO: No. You did a great job, too.
This is from Tom from West Warwick, Rhode Island: "I think the best thing you covered was what I called the feeding tube fiasco. This displayed that 24 hour news stations need sensationalism instead of news; ratings over reports."
We're fair. We take the negative ones, too.
And this is from D.W. in Crescent City, California: "My favorite was the rescue of miners in Pennsylvania."
Remember that?
O'BRIEN: Remember that?
COSTELLO: Oh, yes. "It was on a weekend, so the studio people were not available. We just saw Jeff Flock and a cameraman actually digging out the story, a riveting, wonderful story."
Jeff Flock was there for hours and hours and days and days.
O'BRIEN: Remember?
HEMMER: He was, indeed.
COSTELLO: And he was a one man band.
O'BRIEN: And that was such a great story because it had such a good ending, you know? That it was one of the -- sometimes you get a lot of the bad news stories and that was a really good story so.
COSTELLO: Everybody came out alive and everybody is OK today.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: And it brought some changes to that mine, as well, so that's good.
O'BRIEN: Interesting...
COSTELLO: So, send us more.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: Am@cnn.com.
O'BRIEN: I have to say, I'm surprised no one wrote about the first Gulf War, because I think for a lot of people, watching those pictures of sort of a war for the first time, pretty remarkable.
COSTELLO: A lot of people wrote about 9/11, actually.
O'BRIEN: Really?
COSTELLO: Yes. And you can understand why. It was a recent event and a very powerful event. So we're going to read some of those responses in the next hour.
O'BRIEN: Good.
Carol, thanks.
COSTELLO: Sure.
O'BRIEN: We're going to continue to talk about this, though, when Christiane Amanpour joins us. She's got, of course, plenty of memories to share. She's covered some of the world's biggest events for 22 of CNN's 25 years. She's going to join us live ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: In a moment here, an enticing new idea for parents -- saving stem cells from their newborn's umbilical cord in hopes it could cure a disease later in life. Does this actually work, though? We're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta on this.
Back in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired June 1, 2005 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
A secret that survived for more than 30 years. Why did the man who was Deep Throat come forward now?
Cleaning up the Iraqi capital. Are troops there already having an impact with Operation Lightning? A live report from a reporter embedded with the U.S. military in Baghdad.
And a stunning crime in New York. A 9-year-old girl accused of stabbing her friend to death. What happens now on this AMERICAN MORNING?
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Welcome back, everybody.
We've been talking about CNN's 25th anniversary this week. But today is really the day.
HEMMER: Yes, a big day for us here. We'll talk to Christiane Amanpour in a few moments, too. We just talked to Bernie Shaw. Looking at the stories that defined the past 25 years, how CNN covered them, how we helped to introduce these stories to the world, too.
O'BRIEN: Christiane has been with CNN for 23 of those years.
HEMMER: And really during Sarajevo and the Bosnian war she was taking these reports...
O'BRIEN: Utterly defined with international coverage, certainly.
HEMMER: You're right about that.
O'BRIEN: We'll be looking forward to talking to her in just a little bit.
Let's get to the headlines first, though, with Carol Costello -- good morning again, Carol.
HEMMER: Hello.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.
Now in the news, President Bush is holding talks with the South African president, Thabo Mbeki this morning. The meeting is set to begin in a little over three hours in the Oval Office. This will be their third meeting in the past five years. Today's visit will focus on the upcoming G8 summit and international help for South Africa's struggle with HIV and AIDS.
The entire 22-person staff of Indonesia's embassy in Australia is in isolation this morning, and for the next two days. The embassy was closed down earlier today after a suspicious package tested positive for a biological agent. The Australian prime minister, John Howard, condemned the action. Australian media outlets speculate the incident is related to anger over the recent conviction of Schapelle Corby on drug charges in Bali.
The FBI is reopening the investigation into the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emett Till. They have started the process of exhuming the remains of what they believe to be his body. These pictures are new to us this morning. Authorities want to positively I.D. the body. Till, a black teenager, was reportedly killed for whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. Two men were acquitted by an all white jury in the case, but they later confessed to the crime.
And remember the fight on a school bus we told you about in Florida between two brothers and the bus driver? Well, the brothers were facing possible felony charges. But the state attorney in Charlotte County reviewed this tape and decided not to go ahead with the criminal case against the boys.
The bus driver still faces a misdemeanor battery count.
And it is the first official start today of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Florida Governor Jeb Bush is warning people in the state to be prepared for a very active season. Forecasters predict 15 tropical storms and eight hurricanes will strike this year. So this better be prepared early.
HEMMER: Did you see Zarrella a half an hour ago?
O'BRIEN: I know.
HEMMER: It was raining down there and he says it's so appropriate, the 1st of June, to be raining.
O'BRIEN: And all the people who -- right. And people who still haven't even finished the repairs from the last storm have yet to do it.
COSTELLO: And the insurance money that still hasn't come in for some of them.
O'BRIEN: It's tough there.
All right, Carol, thanks a lot. Well, the question that many people are asking today about Deep Throat is why now?
Bill Schneider with a look at what made Mark Felt finally come forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Why did Mark Felt keep silent for the last 30 years? Bob Woodward told Larry King last year...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE")
BOB WOODWARD, "WASHINGTON POST": And I think once people see who it is and exactly what happened, we'll understand why the super secrecy and the confidentiality.
SCHNEIDER: "The Vanity Fair" article quotes Felt's son as saying his attitude was, "I don't think being Deep Throat was anything to be proud of. You should not leak information to anyone."
Remember, Deep Throat revealed secrets about a criminal investigation he headed and he could have been prosecuted. He told his daughter he was worried about "what the judge would think."
Another mystery -- why did Felt decide to reveal himself now? O'Connor says Felt revealed the truth casually, almost inadvertently, to close friends and family members. He confided his identity to a social companion, who shared it with Felt's daughter Joan. He says Joan confronted her father saying, "I know now that you're Deep Throat."
His response: "Since that's the case, well, yes, I am."
The "Vanity Fair" article says family members wanted Felt, now 91 and ailing, to come forward and establish his legacy. His son says...
MARK FELT, JR.: We believe our father, William Mark Felt Sr., was an American hero. He went well above and beyond the call of duty, at risk to himself, to save his country from a horrible injustice.
SCHNEIDER: His daughter recalls telling Felt, "We could make at least enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I've run up for the kids' education. Let's do it for the family."
Felt's response? "That's a good reason."
Though "Vanity Fair's" author says the Felts were not paid for their cooperation.
Perhaps most important, according to his grandson, Felt feels that after 30 years, all is now finally forgiven.
NICK JONES, GRANDSON OF W. MARK FELT: As he recently told my mother, "I guess people used to think Deep Throat was a criminal, but now they think he's a hero."
SCHNEIDER: It sounds amazing to say this, given today's political environment. But there are no indications Felt ever had any partisan motives. He acted, he says, to protect the FBI and his own role in it from political interference.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
O'BRIEN: Twenty years ago, Felt was quoted saying: "I always tried to do what was right and what was in the best interests of this country.
HEMMER: Now to Iraq, Soledad.
New developments to talk about today, Operation Lightning. That's the offensive aimed at stopping insurgent attacks in Baghdad. That operation continues today.
Jane Arraf, embedded with the U.S. military in Baghdad, reports from Camp Victory there.
Here's Jane.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Day three of Operation Lightning, the biggest Iraqi operation so far in Baghdad and Iraq. The streets are relatively normal. Just outside of this military base, as we went out earlier today, a suicide car bomb, though. According to military officials here, 15 people were injured. No one killed but the suicide bomber.
Despite that, as we drove down that road, that airport road, and other streets in Baghdad, life was relatively normal. The shops are open despite warnings from the interior and defense minister that they were going to flood the city with 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and police.
It doesn't look as if there are 40,000. That number may have been slightly overestimated. But there are considerably more police apparent, more Army.
We went out on a raid last night, overnight, with Iraqi Army troops who were going house-to-house, searching entire neighborhoods as they cordoned them off with the help of U.S. forces. People there were cooperative. Iraqi forces say they rounded up 100 people in that area and others overnight, all of them suspected insurgents; some of them, they believe, who may have been involved in cells that are planting roadside bombs and launching kidnappings.
Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Baghdad.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HEMMER: Jane, thanks for that. Meanwhile, Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, saying that Saddam Hussein could go to trial within two months. President Talabani speaking at CNN's World Report Conference in Atlanta on Tuesday. He says the Iraqi government is preparing a war crimes case against Saddam.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. JALAL TALABANI, IRAQ: Saddam Hussein is a war criminal. He committed the worst kind of crimes against the Iraqi people in Kurdistan and the south and in Baghdad, also. Saddam Hussein deserves a just trial and I think the court of Iraq will decide the future of Saddam Hussein.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Mr. Talabani also condemning terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and saying that he thinks Zarqawi's time is running out.
TALABANI: I think it is a very difficult to decide if he is still alive or not. But I am sure he was injured. And then when they announced it, that, many people thought that he is dead. And this was the beginning of announcing his death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Mr. Talabani adding he thinks Iraqi and coalition forces could make better headway against Zarqawi if the neighboring countries did not interfere in Iraq's internal affairs. That from yesterday in the World Affairs Report -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Nine minutes after the hour now.
To the CNN Weather Center once again with Chad Myers -- Chad, nice where we are.
Not so nice where you are this morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It wasn't nice yesterday and it wasn't nice the day before that.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: In a moment here, a crime that has stunned New York City. A 9-year-old girl charged with stabbing her best friend to death. A former juvenile court judge, TV's Judge Hatchett, tells us what that girl may face now.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, the most obvious way to steal someone's identity is paper. And for one growing industry, that means business is booming.
HEMMER: Also, we are booming today, as well. Twenty-five years on the air today. And Christiane Amanpour has seen so many events. She'll join us a bit later to talk about them after a break here on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A 9-year-old girl will likely be charged with manslaughter tomorrow. She will be the youngest person in New York history to be charged with killing someone. The girl is accused of stabbing an 11-year-old playmate to death in a fight over a toy. The case raises questions, of course, about just how young suspects are being handled by the justice system.
Judge Glenda Hatchett is a former juvenile court judge and also the host of the TV program "Judge Hatchett."
She joins us.
Nice to see you.
Thanks for coming in to talk to us.
JUDGE GLENDA HATCHETT, FORMER JUVENILE COURT JUDGE: Great to be here.
Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Were you shocked when you heard this story, a 9-year- old standing accused of killing her best friend?
HATCHETT: It's really shocking. And it raises a number of questions that I think we have to face as a nation, as families. And I'm hoping that this will actually inspire us to talk with parents or teachers or coaches and mentors, with children, about how they deal with issues of violence. It raises some very serious questions.
O'BRIEN: And in addition to the questions it raises, in some ways it's shocking in how it's happened before. I mean this...
HATCHETT: It's happened before. And, in the midst of all of this, let's not forget that there is a 12-year-old who was charged this weekend in the State of New York for strangling her own mother. A 12-year-old charged with killing her mother by strangulation. And, of course, we flash back to '93 in the State of New York, where we had the horrible incident of a 13-year-old who lured this little boy, four years old, into the woods and battered him to death.
A couple of months later, two 10-year-olds take a 2-year-old and get him away from his mother in the grocery store and beat him to death and then leave him on a railroad track.
So we have seen horrible situations like this before. But never have we seen a 9-year-old, that I am aware of, being charged with manslaughter.
O'BRIEN: Well, do you think a 9-year-old is competent to stand trial?
HATCHETT: Well, that raises an interesting point because common law says that a child seven years old and under is incapable of committing a crime and that -- because they can't form the intent. And there is a rebuttable presumption, which means that you can argue that they have the intent if a child between seven and 14.
And so you have a child who is really in this gray area. And it's going to be very interesting to see how prosecutors will handle this in the long run.
O'BRIEN: As a judge, is the goal to take this child and put them in prison or jail for punishment of some kind? Or is the goal rehabilitation?
HATCHETT: The juvenile court system really came -- was developed in this country separately from the adult system to do just that, Soledad. But we are really charged with rehabilitating young people.
So it forces the question, what will happen to her? Will she be incarcerated if she is found responsible for this situation...
O'BRIEN: And where? I mean is there a facility that can hold a 9-year-old?
HATCHETT: Well, we haven't anticipated this. And you wouldn't put a 9-year-old in a cell with a 16-year-old. I mean that's just not realistic. But the family court in New York has jurisdiction and can incarcerate her up to 18 months. But they can continue that up until the time that she's 18.
But it will be very interesting to see how they'll craft some kind of rehabilitation therapy for this youngster because obviously at some point she is going to age out of the system and then what?
O'BRIEN: There -- the stats on girls committing violent crimes, I just find it amazing that those are actually increasing significantly.
Why?
HATCHETT: They are increasing significantly because we are seeing more girls involved in gang activity...
O'BRIEN: Why is that?
HATCHETT: ... and drug trafficking. Because they are being invited in by the guys that they are involved with. And that's a growing trend that I saw when I was in juvenile court in Atlanta. And so now that they're involved in a lot of gang activity, drug activity, they're packing weapons, they're involved in violent crimes in a way that we haven't seen before.
O'BRIEN: What do you think happens to this little girl?
HATCHETT: I think ultimately she will have an extensive psychiatric evaluation. And I think they'll have to craft something very special for her. I can't imagine that she will stay incarcerated until she's 18.
O'BRIEN: Really a tragedy all around no matter how you look at it.
HATCHETT: It is a tragic situation all the way around.
O'BRIEN: Judge Glenda Hatchett, nice to have you.
HATCHETT: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for coming in to talk to us this...
HATCHETT: Thank you.
And happy anniversary to CNN.
O'BRIEN: I thank you very much.
HATCHETT: I'm from Atlanta, so CNN is special in my heart.
O'BRIEN: Well, thank you.
We're happy that you're here enjoying our celebrations today.
HATCHETT: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
HEMMER: All right, thanks, Judge.
A new in a moment here protecting you from I.D. theft goes into effect today. And for one industry, that means business is booming. That's next, after the break, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Starting today, a new law goes into effect to try and help you and protect you from I.D. theft. Businesses now have to start either shredding or burning or somehow destroying any documents containing consumer credit information before those documents can be thrown away. We'll see if it works.
Valerie Morris is looking into this.
She joins me now live -- good morning.
VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you.
I do believe that this is going to work. It is the first major step in trying to make sure that businesses act as responsible with your information as you should. In fact, the reality is that I.D. theft and handling it is a big boom for certain businesses.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MORRIS (voice-over): Brad Schofield has an appetite for destruction -- information destruction, which is essentially an industry term for shredding sensitive documents.
BRAD SCHOFIELD, PRESIDENT, SAFEGUARD SHREDDING: But we're doing approximately 125 to 150 tons of paper on a monthly basis.
MORRIS: He serves companies throughout the D.C. area and his shredders are highly mobile and high tech. Documents removed from the clients' office under lock and key and immediately loaded into a truck and destroyed. Monitors are provided for edgy customers to make sure the job is done right.
B. SCHOFIELD: We want to limit that custody period to the shortest possible time frame, which we hope is about five minutes.
MORRIS: It might sound like overkill, but paper is a bigger source of fraud and I.D. theft than you might think.
KATHERINE ARMSTRONG, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: We've heard lots of stories about people that do dumpster dives outside of mortgage broker offices or other banks or things like that.
MORRIS: Starting today, as part of the new FACTA Act, every business that handles a person's credit report must get rid of it. This requirement affects thousands of companies of all sizes throughout the country. And for Brad Schofield and his wife Gretchen, it just makes sense. They both left careers in finance to start their company after witnessing potential for fraud firsthand.
GRETCHEN SCHOFIELD, TREASURER, SAFEGUARD SHREDDING: We dealt with consumer, you know, information, Social Security numbers. It was a student loan company. I mean you know that that's sensitive information and that's why, you know, companies of our size were shredding. As a company or a corporation, you need to do it just to be protecting your client base.
MORRIS: So at least for this company, I.D. theft and the fight against it are good for business.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MORRIS: Now, it's important for me to let you know that if, in fact, you would like to check this out and get a business to come and take care of your records, go to naidonline.org. This is the Web site for the National Association for Information Destruction.
HEMMER: I love that phrase.
MORRIS: Doesn't that make you want to high five to know that that's happening?
HEMMER: I love that phrase, information destruction.
You really like this idea, too?
MORRIS: I really do. And I'm a big fan of shredders. And one of the reasons is I think that everyone has to take responsibility for their own financial information. One of the biggest ways that identity theft happens is people toss out things that have all this information on it.
HEMMER: Sure.
MORRIS: Another good idea with shredders -- I've said it before, I want to be very specific -- it's a good way to teach your children, older children, not little children. If you have a small child like under the age of five, a pet, shredders can actually mangle their fingers if they're using this.
HEMMER: Be careful in a word.
MORRIS: So keep them in the "off" position and keep them away. If you have adult children or, let's say, teenaged children, it's a good idea to have them shred the documents so they see money is real and family money matters.
HEMMER: I've got one about this high at home.
MORRIS: Yes?
HEMMER: And I love it. I want to get a bigger one.
MORRIS: You know what? You don't even need a bigger one. You know what you need?
HEMMER: Why not?
MORRIS: There are straight cuts, there are cross cuts and then there's confetti.
HEMMER: You've got it down.
MORRIS: You know, either one of those will work to shred.
HEMMER: Thanks, Valerie.
Nice to see you.
MORRIS: Thank you.
HEMMER: All right -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, obviously, if you've been watching today, you know today is our 25th anniversary. We've been asking for your reaction.
So let's check in with Carol Costello -- good morning, again.
COSTELLO: Oh, we've got a lot of good stuff in. We really do.
On this 25th anniversary of CNN, Eric Rudolph asking you for your personal take on big stories.
Today's question, just to reiterate, what news event of the last 25 years mattered most to you?
This is from Dave in Florida. He says: "The most powerful image of my lifetime may have been the picture of a single Chinese student stopping a line of tanks in Tiananmen Square. It captured the intense anger of the people at an oppressive government and courage beyond words. It has to equal the flag raising at Iwo Jima."
Oh, and then that picture just is imprinted in your mind forever.
O'BRIEN: No one knows what happened to that man, either. They never discovered if he is alive or if he was killed or what.
COSTELLO: Or how many were killed during that demonstration.
This is from Brian in Georgetown, South Carolina: "For me, the most important story of the last 25 years would be the election of 2000 and the Florida fiasco."
And I know Bill Hemmer remembers that well.
O'BRIEN: The hanging chads.
COSTELLO: Weren't you there forever, Bill?
HEMMER: Thirty-seven days about, Carol.
O'BRIEN: She was just kidding.
HEMMER: Have you got a problem with that?
COSTELLO: No. You did a great job, too.
This is from Tom from West Warwick, Rhode Island: "I think the best thing you covered was what I called the feeding tube fiasco. This displayed that 24 hour news stations need sensationalism instead of news; ratings over reports."
We're fair. We take the negative ones, too.
And this is from D.W. in Crescent City, California: "My favorite was the rescue of miners in Pennsylvania."
Remember that?
O'BRIEN: Remember that?
COSTELLO: Oh, yes. "It was on a weekend, so the studio people were not available. We just saw Jeff Flock and a cameraman actually digging out the story, a riveting, wonderful story."
Jeff Flock was there for hours and hours and days and days.
O'BRIEN: Remember?
HEMMER: He was, indeed.
COSTELLO: And he was a one man band.
O'BRIEN: And that was such a great story because it had such a good ending, you know? That it was one of the -- sometimes you get a lot of the bad news stories and that was a really good story so.
COSTELLO: Everybody came out alive and everybody is OK today.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: And it brought some changes to that mine, as well, so that's good.
O'BRIEN: Interesting...
COSTELLO: So, send us more.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: Am@cnn.com.
O'BRIEN: I have to say, I'm surprised no one wrote about the first Gulf War, because I think for a lot of people, watching those pictures of sort of a war for the first time, pretty remarkable.
COSTELLO: A lot of people wrote about 9/11, actually.
O'BRIEN: Really?
COSTELLO: Yes. And you can understand why. It was a recent event and a very powerful event. So we're going to read some of those responses in the next hour.
O'BRIEN: Good.
Carol, thanks.
COSTELLO: Sure.
O'BRIEN: We're going to continue to talk about this, though, when Christiane Amanpour joins us. She's got, of course, plenty of memories to share. She's covered some of the world's biggest events for 22 of CNN's 25 years. She's going to join us live ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: In a moment here, an enticing new idea for parents -- saving stem cells from their newborn's umbilical cord in hopes it could cure a disease later in life. Does this actually work, though? We're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta on this.
Back in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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