Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Guantanamo Bay Prison Questioned; Tracking Sex Offenders
Aired June 06, 2005 - 07:29 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Members of the September 11 Commission are launching a series of hearings today. The panel is planning to highlight the progress, or lack of progress, on the recommendations it made last summer. According to "The New York Times," the group plans to ask the CIA, FBI and the Pentagon for detailed information on how officials handled recent terror threats.
And actor Russell Crowe in trouble for apparently trying to reach out and touch someone. New York police say Crowe was arrested early this morning after allegedly throwing a telephone at a hotel employee. Police say the actor was very angry because he couldn't place a call to Australia. He threw the phone so hard at the employee, police say, that the employee needed stitches for a cut on his face. Crowe is in New York promoting his latest movie "Cinderella Man," which, of course, is about a boxer.
And the knights in tights gallop off with the top prize on Broadway. "Spamalot," the loony adaptation of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail, won three Tonys, including one for best musical. That was at last night's ceremony at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. The drama, "Doubt," won for best play. So no big surprises.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Why couldn't he call Australia?
COSTELLO: It beats me.
VELSHI: I mean, that's a good question, right? You're paying for a hotel room, you want to make a phone call.
COSTELLO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: No reason to...
VELSHI: No. He was in character. He was still in character from the movie.
O'BRIEN: You know the publicist on that movie is like, oh, lord.
VELSHI: Yes. He worked really hard to get into character for that.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carol.
Well, the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo should be shut down. That is according to Senator Joseph Biden. Congress may hold hearings on how that prison is run.
Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon for us this morning.
Barbara -- good morning to you. At Gitmo, there are now documented instances of U.S. personnel mishandling the Quran. Can you elaborate on that for us?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is a lot of information coming out about that now, Soledad. You know, it's a time-honored tradition in Washington, if you have what you think is bad news, wait until a Friday night to put it out to the news media. That's exactly what the Pentagon did last Friday night, very late, putting out the results of an investigation into allegations of Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay, this investigation beginning after that famous "Newsweek" article.
Now, here is what they found. There were 15 incidents, they confirmed, of detainees desecrating the Quran, but they found five incidents of U.S. personnel involved in mishandling the Quran, including kicking a detainee's Quran, an incident where urine splashed on a Quran through an air vent, where U.S. personnel in a water balloon fight threw water balloons and got two Qurans wet. And an interrogator stepping on a detainee's Quran. In another incident, they did find that there was a two-word obscenity written on a Quran, though it is not clear who exactly wrote it.
Now, over the weekend, Senator Joseph Biden, one of the ranking Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, offered his opinion about what he thinks now needs to happen at the Guantanamo Bay prison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: I think we should end up shutting it down, moving those prisoners. Those that we have reason to keep, keep. And those we don't, let go. But the bottom line is I think more Americans are in jeopardy as a consequence of the perception that exists worldwide with its existence than if there were no Gitmo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Senator Biden saying that he believes Guantanamo Bay essentially is now functioning as a recruiting and propaganda tool for the terrorists. Senator Biden just returned from a trip to Iraq, and he said that he was told over there it may take another two years before Iraqi troops can substantially replace U.S. troops in the field -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right. Barbara Starr for us. He was pretty critical, in fact, of those Iraqi troops, wasn't he, Barbara?
STARR: He is. He talks extensively about how he feels that the Pentagon is misleading publicly about how many Iraqi troops are actually trained and equipped to go out into the field now. And there are also Republicans who are joining in that, expressing a lot of concern about the ability right now of the Iraqis to take over the fight -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: Barbara, it's also Jack's "Question of the Day" as well. Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon this morning. Barbara, thanks -- Ali.
VELSHI: Well, cities across the country are rethinking how they track sex offenders, after several recent high-profile cases. One community is on the cutting edge, right here outside of New York City.
CNN's Kelly Wallace paid a visit to that city. And she's here now to tell us about what they're doing.
Kelly -- good to see you.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ali, great to see you.
Westchester County definitely is on the cutting edge. Officials there tell us it is the only county in New York State currently using the global positioning technology to track sexual offenders 24 hours a day. But not everyone thinks this is a good idea.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREW SPANO, WESTCHESTER COUNTY EXECUTIVE: That's where he is right now.
WALLACE (voice over): In Westchester County, New York, tracking sex offenders has gone high tech. This yellow dot represents one sex offender and his movements throughout the county in real time. Probation officers can see where he is at any moment.
SPANO: Not only are we watching them, but they know we're watching them. And that's a deterrent.
WALLACE: The green dots represent where the sex offender has been every single minute of the day. It is a 24/7 history of a sex offender's every move.
SPANO: You know, this guy goes home at night, and a day later if something is found in that area that occurred on this day, we can go back and take a look. Was he there? Was he there at that time, et cetera?
WALLACE: Here's how it works. The sex offender wears an ankle bracelet and carries a special cell phone. Any time he goes into a restricted area or deviates from his schedule, a probation officer gets an alert on a handheld device. In fact, during our interview...
SPANO: He's getting it right now.
WALLACE: ... an officer received an alert that a sexual offender came home from work early.
SPANO: I called the guy up and said, 'Why are you home early?' And if it sounds a little fishy, you know, he will follow that up and then we'll follow through. WALLACE: Right now, the county's pilot program involves only seven sex offenders on probation at a cost of $8 per day per offender. Westchester County executive Andrew Spano hopes one day every sex offender in the area will be tracked.
(on camera): Why is it so important to you?
SPANO: We have 270 people on probation in Westchester County, and I want to know where they are at all times. That's why this is important. It keeps them away from certain places where they may be tempted, where they can hurt people. We want to make sure that they don't hurt anybody.
WALLACE (voice over): But some prison reform activists say 24- hour tracking won't necessarily stop a sex offender from preying on kids, and could be an unwarranted intrusion.
DAVID SINGLETON, PRISON REFORM ADVOCACY CENTER: Requiring them to be subject to global positioning monitoring is a political gimmick that is not going to make our children safer and is actually going to waste taxpayer dollars.
WALLACE: David Singleton argues 24-hour tracking should only be used on a case-by-case basis, taking into account a sex offender's criminal history. But Spano, who is up for re-election in November, says he'd rather be safe than sorry.
SPANO: The average person in Westchester County who is a victim of sex offenders is a 14-year-old girl. Well, we have 14-year-old girls throughout the entire county. So, we have to be concerned where they are.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: Currently in Westchester County, a judge must decide if a sex offender should be required to be part of this program and tracked 24 hours a day. If that is the case, the tracking lasts for six months, and then must be reordered by the judge. Andrew Spano, though, wants to push for a change in the law which would make the tracking indefinite and would have the sex offender have to go to court to get it removed.
VELSHI: OK. So, if we know that the people being tracked have to be at work for a certain amount of time or home for a certain amount of time, what happens if that person gets home, let's say, and ditches the phone or tries to get rid of that bracelet?
WALLACE: That's what we thought. Couldn't a sex offender just leave the bracelet in one place...
VELSHI: Right.
WALLACE: ... and the phone and then go on his way? Any time that bracelet is taken off, the probation officer gets an alert. And any time that phone is within a certain number of feet away from the bracelet, the probation officer gets an alert. So that's a way to make sure that the offender has it with him at all times.
VELSHI: Yes. Westchester County is just outside of New York. What's the reason that they went and did this? Was it something -- incidents that had occurred, or were they just testing something out?
WALLACE: That's what we asked, because we thought maybe they were responding to an incident involving a child in that county. They say no. They say they want to be proactive instead of reactive.
VELSHI: Yes.
WALLACE: They have done some form of monitoring for about a year-and-a-half, only doing this 24-hour monitoring since April. They say they don't want to take any chances. So, they're not reacting to any one incident, but is trying to prevent anything from happening to any kids. Again, though, as you see, some others -- civil rights advocates, prison reform advocates...
VELSHI: Yes.
WALLACE: ... think treatment and using a case-by-case approach is a better way to go.
VELSHI: Kelly, thanks so much.
WALLACE: Great to see you.
VELSHI: Kelly Wallace -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: With a look at weather this morning, Chad Myers, who has been a very busy guy over the weekend and continues to be today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
VELSHI: Well, still to come, Andy is "Minding Your Business." He's got an early preview of today's action on Wall Street.
O'BRIEN: Also, dancing with the stars. Have you seen this? The 90-second poppers weigh in on what could be TV's surprise summer hit. Do you see that guy there? That's Evander Holyfield dancing with a professional dancer. He's pretty good.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The HealthSouth jury keeps running in circles, and oil prices are sneaking up. Once again, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Let's start with the Scrushy trial, in fact, because that's just...
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, it's pretty amazing.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: I mean, we're on day 11 of jury deliberations. The trial has gone on for four-and-a-half months. And it looks like the jury is completely deadlocked, 36 counts, and they say they really have no clue.
Here is Scrushy with his wife outside the courthouse, saying they have no clue. The judge, Judge Anne Boger (ph), said go back and keep at it. But it really does not look like we're going to get anything other than a mistrial here. It's possible he'll get an acquittal. I really think that a conviction here is looking less likely. I mean, I could be completely wrong.
Meanwhile, some Enron news to tell you about. The wife of the ex-chief financial officer, Lea Fastow, who has been in jail for 10 months, was released at 4:00 a.m. this morning in Houston. She'll be spending the next month or so in a halfway house to finish her sentence.
Let's talk about the markets a little bit, Soledad. We had a bit of a retreat last week. Friday was a particularly bad day after that weak employment report. You can see here, down across the board.
The price of oil is sneaking back up, as you said, up to $55 a barrel. That's not good. Kind of a mystery why that's happening after Memorial Day.
And finally here, a big merger in the financial services business. WAMU, that's Washington National, is buying Providian for $6.4 billion. So a big deal out west.
O'BRIEN: Yes. All right, Andy, thanks.
SERWER: You're welcome.
VELSHI: Let's check in with Jack for the "Question of the Day." You're getting good some responses on Gitmo.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed we are, Ali. Thank you.
Senator Biden of Delaware says we ought to shut down that prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He calls it a liability, a propaganda tool for the terrorists.
In a related development, remember how the White House went crazy at "Newsweek" magazine when they published that story about them trying to flush a Quran down the toilet at Gitmo? Well, it turns out now the Pentagon says, oh, yes, we've been doing that kind of stuff. We have abused the Quran on several occasions down there. That report came out late Friday when they hope nobody will read it.
The question this morning is this: Should the United States close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay?
Ian in Rhode Island writes: "Jack, jailing someone indefinitely without charge or due process is un-American. It's exactly what we criticize China for doing. That prison at Guantanamo Bay is an embarrassment. The sooner it's closed, the better." Stan in Illinois: "(EXPLETIVE DELETED) right they should close it. Guantanamo is a disgrace to our country and our stature as a leading nation."
Colin in Fort Worth, Texas: "If you close Gitmo, where else are you going to keep these scum? Terrorists should disappear off the face of the earth for the rest of their lives. They don't deserve rights. After all of the useful information is extracted from them, let them serve a life term of hard labor."
D.W. in California: "Yes, it's time to close it. Its usefulness is now outweighed by its reputation. We're trying to maintain the high ground and thereby win the hearts and minds of moderate Muslims. And we cannot afford to provide the radicals with an easy target for their propaganda."
And Peter writes: "Quite the contrary. They should open it for all to see. Better yet, make it into a reality series, where contestant guards can earn corporate-sponsored prizes for the best prisoner stacking and the like."
SERWER: Wow!
O'BRIEN: We like that one.
CAFFERTY: We fired up our folks out there this morning, Monday morning.
O'BRIEN: When it comes to propaganda, though, one has to imagine that it's not just Gitmo that's good propaganda. There are lots of good opportunities for good propaganda.
SERWER: Yes. Well, the thing about these guys, if you release them, and they're going to be the most embittered individuals in the world. And you think that all they want to do is get back at the United States. So it is a real dilemma.
O'BRIEN: Right.
SERWER: I mean, where do you put them?
CAFFERTY: Well, it's not a dilemma. Just leave them there.
SERWER: That is one of the alternatives we haven't discussed.
O'BRIEN: That's the other.
SERWER: Because there is no problem.
CAFFERTY: Suddenly there is no dilemma.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: You're staying here.
O'BRIEN: It does clear up the whole dilemma thing when you look at it that way.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: That's the end of the dilemma.
SERWER: No, Senator Biden, you're wrong.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
VELSHI: It looks like tomorrow's question can be, where would you put them if you close Gitmo?
CAFFERTY: No, don't close it.
SERWER: No.
CAFFERTY: Just leave them there. Keep it open and leave them there.
O'BRIEN: Jack, thanks.
CAFFERTY: When you get some more, put them there, too. And keep putting them down there until we win the war on terror.
O'BRIEN: Which could be a long time.
CAFFERTY: Well, if it's a long time, then they get a lot of time in Cuba.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, MTV is hosting a high school reunion. We'll tell you what the original breakfast club was doing at the 2005 movie awards. "90-Second Pop" is up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. It is time for another episode of "90-Second Pop." The gang is all here. Toure is CNN's pop culture correspondent. Jessica Shaw joins us from "Entertainment Weekly." And Andy Borowitz from borowitzreport.com.
Good morning.
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Good morning.
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Good morning.
O'BRIEN: You've got to love that song.
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: Once you hear that song, it's a good morning.
O'BRIEN: Oh, it is a good morning. "The Breakfast Club," gosh, it's been such a long time. We're going to talk about that right now, because of course, the winners at the MTV movie awards were movies about teen angst in high school. TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: But, of course, what, "Napoleon Dynamite" won. "Mean Girls," which was a terrific movie, won. But then the best moment...
TOURE: That's when back when Lindsey Lohan was beautiful.
O'BRIEN: Back when she was a different hair color, let's say, a red head. But then "The Breakfast Club," that was a great moment.
TOURE: Oh, gosh. What a great -- I mean, "The Breakfast Club" remains Seminole for our generation. It's still watchable. And those careers have arched and fallen to such that you could do "Breakfast Club 2," and you can afford all of them to come back again.
SHAW: Except for Emilio Estevez, who declined to show up.
O'BRIEN: Yes, he wasn't there.
SHAW: No.
O'BRIEN: I mean, but, let's see the list. Molly Ringwald was there. Here they are right here. Anthony Michael Hall. I love him. He was so great in the movie. Ally Sheedy, she's done a lot of independent films...
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... and gotten great reviews. What do you think? Oh, look at this. I love this. This is so great. Don't you feel old? I feel old.
TOURE: Well, one thing about MTV, I know that they are sensitive about seeming old. When they had the 21st, they didn't want to be like, look, we're old enough to drink. They, like, don't want to put the onus on the age of the channel, because obviously that is converse to the hipness of the channel. But, you know, there is a certain amount of reverence that we have to pay to the greatness, you know, "The Breakfast Club."
O'BRIEN: Yes, you know, because if you're old, you're not hip. We all know that's the case.
Katie Holmes gave a lifetime achievement award to Tom Cruise.
BOROWITZ: Which is ironic because she hasn't been alive for most of his lifetime.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: She was only 20 minutes old.
SHAW: I love when she kind of made fun of his whole "Oprah" thing, and she kind of got down on one knee and was like, should I go get him, people, you know?
O'BRIEN: Very cute. All right, that's going to air, I think, on June 9 is the date it airs.
SHAW: Thursday.
O'BRIEN: I am loving this show on ABC.
SHAW: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I love it.
SHAW: You and 13 million people.
O'BRIEN: I know. And it's kind of cheesy.
TOURE: Very cheesy.
O'BRIEN: But it's very compelling television. It's called "Dancing With the Stars."
SHAW: Yes. It was a huge hit. It's the first big hit of summer. And it aired Wednesday. Thirteen million viewers tuned in to see celebrities, a relative term.
O'BRIEN: Evander Holyfield, look at him.
TOURE: He was great. He was great.
O'BRIEN: He was good.
SHAW: You know, I have to say I thought this was going to be a kind of, you know, pathetic attempt at clinging to celebrity.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
SHAW: And it was. But it was also really fun. I mean, "The Bachelorette," she was kind of a disaster. I thought Evander Holyfield was really good, though.
TOURE: I mean, when you watch these people humble themselves to learn something new and then go out in front of all of these people and dance the serious dance. I mean, it is fun to watch them. It is this washed-up celebrity game/reality show.
O'BRIEN: Oh, stop. I don't think so.
BOROWITZ: But it's sort of redefining the word "star," don't you think?
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Oh, I'm sorry. It's dancing with the stars.
BOROWITZ: Right.
SHAW: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: I thought it was great. TOURE: Well, we were thinking that the stars are perhaps the dancing stars, and the others are just...
SHAW: Well, you know, this is the kind of show that's going to do really well, and next season they're going to get big stars...
O'BRIEN: Oh, absolutely.
SHAW: ... like Tom Cruise perhaps.
BOROWITZ: Absolutely.
TOURE: Well, what do you think about Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Oh, gosh, I'd be terrible.
TOURE: You could go out there and dance with them.
SHAW: I think she could meringue.
TOURE: You're too much of a star.
O'BRIEN: I'm so not a star.
TOURE: You are a much bigger celebrity than the people they have on there.
O'BRIEN: Ouch!
Let's talk about Dave Chappelle. He kind of disappears. And then there is that big article in "TIME," which was very revealing about his kind of mental state. And now, DVD sales go through the roof, chart-record setting, and he then suddenly shows up.
BOROWITZ: He's back. He did some gigs in Los Angeles.
O'BRIEN: How did it go?
BOROWITZ: Apparently, very well. And he is -- I mean, going away, he has become bigger than ever. Probably a lot of people who had never heard of Dave Chappelle now want to get the DVDs.
TOURE: Yes.
BOROWITZ: I think it's -- you know, I think it's only a matter of time now between before Carrot Top leaves the country, goes to South Africa, gets his act together.
O'BRIEN: I should have gone away. That's what happens.
BOROWITZ: Totally. Totally.
TOURE: It seems like there's light at the end of the tunnel. I mean, like, you know, baby steps back to, like, normalcy. But, like, he's taken the stage. He's performed, you know, in Los Angeles.
BOROWITZ: Right.
TOURE: Like, wow!
SHAW: Unless he's decided that that's what he wants to do. He doesn't want to go back and do a TV show. I mean, you know, who knows what he's going to do with this now.
O'BRIEN: But there's that 50 million we haven't talked about.
TOURE: Yes.
BOROWITZ: Right.
O'BRIEN: That you don't get.
SHAW: But maybe Comedy Central stands to earn about 50 million from these massive DVD sales, that maybe they'll take that and they'll say bye-bye, Dave.
O'BRIEN: You know, you sound like Dave's agent a little bit there. You guys, as always, I thank you very much. Appreciate it.
Let's get back to Ali.
VELSHI: Thank you, Soledad.
If you notice that I'm sort of squirming around sometimes in my seat, lower back, little bit of pain. An ancient pain reliever might hold the answer for that. Find out why more and more doctors are prescribing acupuncture. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, another trip to the hospital for Michael Jackson. How is he holding up as the jurors decide his fate? The singer's spiritual adviser, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, will join us live just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: In Aruba, expanding the search for Natalee Holloway, missing now for a week. Ahead, a live report on the investigation and the two men who are now being held in the case.
The verdict watch begins in the Michael Jackson trial after another health scare. This morning, the latest on the singer's state of mind from his spiritual advisor, the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
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 June 6, 2005 - 07:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Members of the September 11 Commission are launching a series of hearings today. The panel is planning to highlight the progress, or lack of progress, on the recommendations it made last summer. According to "The New York Times," the group plans to ask the CIA, FBI and the Pentagon for detailed information on how officials handled recent terror threats.
And actor Russell Crowe in trouble for apparently trying to reach out and touch someone. New York police say Crowe was arrested early this morning after allegedly throwing a telephone at a hotel employee. Police say the actor was very angry because he couldn't place a call to Australia. He threw the phone so hard at the employee, police say, that the employee needed stitches for a cut on his face. Crowe is in New York promoting his latest movie "Cinderella Man," which, of course, is about a boxer.
And the knights in tights gallop off with the top prize on Broadway. "Spamalot," the loony adaptation of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail, won three Tonys, including one for best musical. That was at last night's ceremony at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. The drama, "Doubt," won for best play. So no big surprises.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Why couldn't he call Australia?
COSTELLO: It beats me.
VELSHI: I mean, that's a good question, right? You're paying for a hotel room, you want to make a phone call.
COSTELLO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: No reason to...
VELSHI: No. He was in character. He was still in character from the movie.
O'BRIEN: You know the publicist on that movie is like, oh, lord.
VELSHI: Yes. He worked really hard to get into character for that.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carol.
Well, the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo should be shut down. That is according to Senator Joseph Biden. Congress may hold hearings on how that prison is run.
Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon for us this morning.
Barbara -- good morning to you. At Gitmo, there are now documented instances of U.S. personnel mishandling the Quran. Can you elaborate on that for us?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is a lot of information coming out about that now, Soledad. You know, it's a time-honored tradition in Washington, if you have what you think is bad news, wait until a Friday night to put it out to the news media. That's exactly what the Pentagon did last Friday night, very late, putting out the results of an investigation into allegations of Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay, this investigation beginning after that famous "Newsweek" article.
Now, here is what they found. There were 15 incidents, they confirmed, of detainees desecrating the Quran, but they found five incidents of U.S. personnel involved in mishandling the Quran, including kicking a detainee's Quran, an incident where urine splashed on a Quran through an air vent, where U.S. personnel in a water balloon fight threw water balloons and got two Qurans wet. And an interrogator stepping on a detainee's Quran. In another incident, they did find that there was a two-word obscenity written on a Quran, though it is not clear who exactly wrote it.
Now, over the weekend, Senator Joseph Biden, one of the ranking Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, offered his opinion about what he thinks now needs to happen at the Guantanamo Bay prison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: I think we should end up shutting it down, moving those prisoners. Those that we have reason to keep, keep. And those we don't, let go. But the bottom line is I think more Americans are in jeopardy as a consequence of the perception that exists worldwide with its existence than if there were no Gitmo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Senator Biden saying that he believes Guantanamo Bay essentially is now functioning as a recruiting and propaganda tool for the terrorists. Senator Biden just returned from a trip to Iraq, and he said that he was told over there it may take another two years before Iraqi troops can substantially replace U.S. troops in the field -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right. Barbara Starr for us. He was pretty critical, in fact, of those Iraqi troops, wasn't he, Barbara?
STARR: He is. He talks extensively about how he feels that the Pentagon is misleading publicly about how many Iraqi troops are actually trained and equipped to go out into the field now. And there are also Republicans who are joining in that, expressing a lot of concern about the ability right now of the Iraqis to take over the fight -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: Barbara, it's also Jack's "Question of the Day" as well. Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon this morning. Barbara, thanks -- Ali.
VELSHI: Well, cities across the country are rethinking how they track sex offenders, after several recent high-profile cases. One community is on the cutting edge, right here outside of New York City.
CNN's Kelly Wallace paid a visit to that city. And she's here now to tell us about what they're doing.
Kelly -- good to see you.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ali, great to see you.
Westchester County definitely is on the cutting edge. Officials there tell us it is the only county in New York State currently using the global positioning technology to track sexual offenders 24 hours a day. But not everyone thinks this is a good idea.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREW SPANO, WESTCHESTER COUNTY EXECUTIVE: That's where he is right now.
WALLACE (voice over): In Westchester County, New York, tracking sex offenders has gone high tech. This yellow dot represents one sex offender and his movements throughout the county in real time. Probation officers can see where he is at any moment.
SPANO: Not only are we watching them, but they know we're watching them. And that's a deterrent.
WALLACE: The green dots represent where the sex offender has been every single minute of the day. It is a 24/7 history of a sex offender's every move.
SPANO: You know, this guy goes home at night, and a day later if something is found in that area that occurred on this day, we can go back and take a look. Was he there? Was he there at that time, et cetera?
WALLACE: Here's how it works. The sex offender wears an ankle bracelet and carries a special cell phone. Any time he goes into a restricted area or deviates from his schedule, a probation officer gets an alert on a handheld device. In fact, during our interview...
SPANO: He's getting it right now.
WALLACE: ... an officer received an alert that a sexual offender came home from work early.
SPANO: I called the guy up and said, 'Why are you home early?' And if it sounds a little fishy, you know, he will follow that up and then we'll follow through. WALLACE: Right now, the county's pilot program involves only seven sex offenders on probation at a cost of $8 per day per offender. Westchester County executive Andrew Spano hopes one day every sex offender in the area will be tracked.
(on camera): Why is it so important to you?
SPANO: We have 270 people on probation in Westchester County, and I want to know where they are at all times. That's why this is important. It keeps them away from certain places where they may be tempted, where they can hurt people. We want to make sure that they don't hurt anybody.
WALLACE (voice over): But some prison reform activists say 24- hour tracking won't necessarily stop a sex offender from preying on kids, and could be an unwarranted intrusion.
DAVID SINGLETON, PRISON REFORM ADVOCACY CENTER: Requiring them to be subject to global positioning monitoring is a political gimmick that is not going to make our children safer and is actually going to waste taxpayer dollars.
WALLACE: David Singleton argues 24-hour tracking should only be used on a case-by-case basis, taking into account a sex offender's criminal history. But Spano, who is up for re-election in November, says he'd rather be safe than sorry.
SPANO: The average person in Westchester County who is a victim of sex offenders is a 14-year-old girl. Well, we have 14-year-old girls throughout the entire county. So, we have to be concerned where they are.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: Currently in Westchester County, a judge must decide if a sex offender should be required to be part of this program and tracked 24 hours a day. If that is the case, the tracking lasts for six months, and then must be reordered by the judge. Andrew Spano, though, wants to push for a change in the law which would make the tracking indefinite and would have the sex offender have to go to court to get it removed.
VELSHI: OK. So, if we know that the people being tracked have to be at work for a certain amount of time or home for a certain amount of time, what happens if that person gets home, let's say, and ditches the phone or tries to get rid of that bracelet?
WALLACE: That's what we thought. Couldn't a sex offender just leave the bracelet in one place...
VELSHI: Right.
WALLACE: ... and the phone and then go on his way? Any time that bracelet is taken off, the probation officer gets an alert. And any time that phone is within a certain number of feet away from the bracelet, the probation officer gets an alert. So that's a way to make sure that the offender has it with him at all times.
VELSHI: Yes. Westchester County is just outside of New York. What's the reason that they went and did this? Was it something -- incidents that had occurred, or were they just testing something out?
WALLACE: That's what we asked, because we thought maybe they were responding to an incident involving a child in that county. They say no. They say they want to be proactive instead of reactive.
VELSHI: Yes.
WALLACE: They have done some form of monitoring for about a year-and-a-half, only doing this 24-hour monitoring since April. They say they don't want to take any chances. So, they're not reacting to any one incident, but is trying to prevent anything from happening to any kids. Again, though, as you see, some others -- civil rights advocates, prison reform advocates...
VELSHI: Yes.
WALLACE: ... think treatment and using a case-by-case approach is a better way to go.
VELSHI: Kelly, thanks so much.
WALLACE: Great to see you.
VELSHI: Kelly Wallace -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: With a look at weather this morning, Chad Myers, who has been a very busy guy over the weekend and continues to be today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
VELSHI: Well, still to come, Andy is "Minding Your Business." He's got an early preview of today's action on Wall Street.
O'BRIEN: Also, dancing with the stars. Have you seen this? The 90-second poppers weigh in on what could be TV's surprise summer hit. Do you see that guy there? That's Evander Holyfield dancing with a professional dancer. He's pretty good.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The HealthSouth jury keeps running in circles, and oil prices are sneaking up. Once again, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Let's start with the Scrushy trial, in fact, because that's just...
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, it's pretty amazing.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: I mean, we're on day 11 of jury deliberations. The trial has gone on for four-and-a-half months. And it looks like the jury is completely deadlocked, 36 counts, and they say they really have no clue.
Here is Scrushy with his wife outside the courthouse, saying they have no clue. The judge, Judge Anne Boger (ph), said go back and keep at it. But it really does not look like we're going to get anything other than a mistrial here. It's possible he'll get an acquittal. I really think that a conviction here is looking less likely. I mean, I could be completely wrong.
Meanwhile, some Enron news to tell you about. The wife of the ex-chief financial officer, Lea Fastow, who has been in jail for 10 months, was released at 4:00 a.m. this morning in Houston. She'll be spending the next month or so in a halfway house to finish her sentence.
Let's talk about the markets a little bit, Soledad. We had a bit of a retreat last week. Friday was a particularly bad day after that weak employment report. You can see here, down across the board.
The price of oil is sneaking back up, as you said, up to $55 a barrel. That's not good. Kind of a mystery why that's happening after Memorial Day.
And finally here, a big merger in the financial services business. WAMU, that's Washington National, is buying Providian for $6.4 billion. So a big deal out west.
O'BRIEN: Yes. All right, Andy, thanks.
SERWER: You're welcome.
VELSHI: Let's check in with Jack for the "Question of the Day." You're getting good some responses on Gitmo.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed we are, Ali. Thank you.
Senator Biden of Delaware says we ought to shut down that prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He calls it a liability, a propaganda tool for the terrorists.
In a related development, remember how the White House went crazy at "Newsweek" magazine when they published that story about them trying to flush a Quran down the toilet at Gitmo? Well, it turns out now the Pentagon says, oh, yes, we've been doing that kind of stuff. We have abused the Quran on several occasions down there. That report came out late Friday when they hope nobody will read it.
The question this morning is this: Should the United States close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay?
Ian in Rhode Island writes: "Jack, jailing someone indefinitely without charge or due process is un-American. It's exactly what we criticize China for doing. That prison at Guantanamo Bay is an embarrassment. The sooner it's closed, the better." Stan in Illinois: "(EXPLETIVE DELETED) right they should close it. Guantanamo is a disgrace to our country and our stature as a leading nation."
Colin in Fort Worth, Texas: "If you close Gitmo, where else are you going to keep these scum? Terrorists should disappear off the face of the earth for the rest of their lives. They don't deserve rights. After all of the useful information is extracted from them, let them serve a life term of hard labor."
D.W. in California: "Yes, it's time to close it. Its usefulness is now outweighed by its reputation. We're trying to maintain the high ground and thereby win the hearts and minds of moderate Muslims. And we cannot afford to provide the radicals with an easy target for their propaganda."
And Peter writes: "Quite the contrary. They should open it for all to see. Better yet, make it into a reality series, where contestant guards can earn corporate-sponsored prizes for the best prisoner stacking and the like."
SERWER: Wow!
O'BRIEN: We like that one.
CAFFERTY: We fired up our folks out there this morning, Monday morning.
O'BRIEN: When it comes to propaganda, though, one has to imagine that it's not just Gitmo that's good propaganda. There are lots of good opportunities for good propaganda.
SERWER: Yes. Well, the thing about these guys, if you release them, and they're going to be the most embittered individuals in the world. And you think that all they want to do is get back at the United States. So it is a real dilemma.
O'BRIEN: Right.
SERWER: I mean, where do you put them?
CAFFERTY: Well, it's not a dilemma. Just leave them there.
SERWER: That is one of the alternatives we haven't discussed.
O'BRIEN: That's the other.
SERWER: Because there is no problem.
CAFFERTY: Suddenly there is no dilemma.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: You're staying here.
O'BRIEN: It does clear up the whole dilemma thing when you look at it that way.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: That's the end of the dilemma.
SERWER: No, Senator Biden, you're wrong.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
VELSHI: It looks like tomorrow's question can be, where would you put them if you close Gitmo?
CAFFERTY: No, don't close it.
SERWER: No.
CAFFERTY: Just leave them there. Keep it open and leave them there.
O'BRIEN: Jack, thanks.
CAFFERTY: When you get some more, put them there, too. And keep putting them down there until we win the war on terror.
O'BRIEN: Which could be a long time.
CAFFERTY: Well, if it's a long time, then they get a lot of time in Cuba.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, MTV is hosting a high school reunion. We'll tell you what the original breakfast club was doing at the 2005 movie awards. "90-Second Pop" is up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. It is time for another episode of "90-Second Pop." The gang is all here. Toure is CNN's pop culture correspondent. Jessica Shaw joins us from "Entertainment Weekly." And Andy Borowitz from borowitzreport.com.
Good morning.
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Good morning.
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Good morning.
O'BRIEN: You've got to love that song.
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: Once you hear that song, it's a good morning.
O'BRIEN: Oh, it is a good morning. "The Breakfast Club," gosh, it's been such a long time. We're going to talk about that right now, because of course, the winners at the MTV movie awards were movies about teen angst in high school. TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: But, of course, what, "Napoleon Dynamite" won. "Mean Girls," which was a terrific movie, won. But then the best moment...
TOURE: That's when back when Lindsey Lohan was beautiful.
O'BRIEN: Back when she was a different hair color, let's say, a red head. But then "The Breakfast Club," that was a great moment.
TOURE: Oh, gosh. What a great -- I mean, "The Breakfast Club" remains Seminole for our generation. It's still watchable. And those careers have arched and fallen to such that you could do "Breakfast Club 2," and you can afford all of them to come back again.
SHAW: Except for Emilio Estevez, who declined to show up.
O'BRIEN: Yes, he wasn't there.
SHAW: No.
O'BRIEN: I mean, but, let's see the list. Molly Ringwald was there. Here they are right here. Anthony Michael Hall. I love him. He was so great in the movie. Ally Sheedy, she's done a lot of independent films...
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... and gotten great reviews. What do you think? Oh, look at this. I love this. This is so great. Don't you feel old? I feel old.
TOURE: Well, one thing about MTV, I know that they are sensitive about seeming old. When they had the 21st, they didn't want to be like, look, we're old enough to drink. They, like, don't want to put the onus on the age of the channel, because obviously that is converse to the hipness of the channel. But, you know, there is a certain amount of reverence that we have to pay to the greatness, you know, "The Breakfast Club."
O'BRIEN: Yes, you know, because if you're old, you're not hip. We all know that's the case.
Katie Holmes gave a lifetime achievement award to Tom Cruise.
BOROWITZ: Which is ironic because she hasn't been alive for most of his lifetime.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: She was only 20 minutes old.
SHAW: I love when she kind of made fun of his whole "Oprah" thing, and she kind of got down on one knee and was like, should I go get him, people, you know?
O'BRIEN: Very cute. All right, that's going to air, I think, on June 9 is the date it airs.
SHAW: Thursday.
O'BRIEN: I am loving this show on ABC.
SHAW: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I love it.
SHAW: You and 13 million people.
O'BRIEN: I know. And it's kind of cheesy.
TOURE: Very cheesy.
O'BRIEN: But it's very compelling television. It's called "Dancing With the Stars."
SHAW: Yes. It was a huge hit. It's the first big hit of summer. And it aired Wednesday. Thirteen million viewers tuned in to see celebrities, a relative term.
O'BRIEN: Evander Holyfield, look at him.
TOURE: He was great. He was great.
O'BRIEN: He was good.
SHAW: You know, I have to say I thought this was going to be a kind of, you know, pathetic attempt at clinging to celebrity.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
SHAW: And it was. But it was also really fun. I mean, "The Bachelorette," she was kind of a disaster. I thought Evander Holyfield was really good, though.
TOURE: I mean, when you watch these people humble themselves to learn something new and then go out in front of all of these people and dance the serious dance. I mean, it is fun to watch them. It is this washed-up celebrity game/reality show.
O'BRIEN: Oh, stop. I don't think so.
BOROWITZ: But it's sort of redefining the word "star," don't you think?
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Oh, I'm sorry. It's dancing with the stars.
BOROWITZ: Right.
SHAW: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: I thought it was great. TOURE: Well, we were thinking that the stars are perhaps the dancing stars, and the others are just...
SHAW: Well, you know, this is the kind of show that's going to do really well, and next season they're going to get big stars...
O'BRIEN: Oh, absolutely.
SHAW: ... like Tom Cruise perhaps.
BOROWITZ: Absolutely.
TOURE: Well, what do you think about Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Oh, gosh, I'd be terrible.
TOURE: You could go out there and dance with them.
SHAW: I think she could meringue.
TOURE: You're too much of a star.
O'BRIEN: I'm so not a star.
TOURE: You are a much bigger celebrity than the people they have on there.
O'BRIEN: Ouch!
Let's talk about Dave Chappelle. He kind of disappears. And then there is that big article in "TIME," which was very revealing about his kind of mental state. And now, DVD sales go through the roof, chart-record setting, and he then suddenly shows up.
BOROWITZ: He's back. He did some gigs in Los Angeles.
O'BRIEN: How did it go?
BOROWITZ: Apparently, very well. And he is -- I mean, going away, he has become bigger than ever. Probably a lot of people who had never heard of Dave Chappelle now want to get the DVDs.
TOURE: Yes.
BOROWITZ: I think it's -- you know, I think it's only a matter of time now between before Carrot Top leaves the country, goes to South Africa, gets his act together.
O'BRIEN: I should have gone away. That's what happens.
BOROWITZ: Totally. Totally.
TOURE: It seems like there's light at the end of the tunnel. I mean, like, you know, baby steps back to, like, normalcy. But, like, he's taken the stage. He's performed, you know, in Los Angeles.
BOROWITZ: Right.
TOURE: Like, wow!
SHAW: Unless he's decided that that's what he wants to do. He doesn't want to go back and do a TV show. I mean, you know, who knows what he's going to do with this now.
O'BRIEN: But there's that 50 million we haven't talked about.
TOURE: Yes.
BOROWITZ: Right.
O'BRIEN: That you don't get.
SHAW: But maybe Comedy Central stands to earn about 50 million from these massive DVD sales, that maybe they'll take that and they'll say bye-bye, Dave.
O'BRIEN: You know, you sound like Dave's agent a little bit there. You guys, as always, I thank you very much. Appreciate it.
Let's get back to Ali.
VELSHI: Thank you, Soledad.
If you notice that I'm sort of squirming around sometimes in my seat, lower back, little bit of pain. An ancient pain reliever might hold the answer for that. Find out why more and more doctors are prescribing acupuncture. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, another trip to the hospital for Michael Jackson. How is he holding up as the jurors decide his fate? The singer's spiritual adviser, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, will join us live just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: In Aruba, expanding the search for Natalee Holloway, missing now for a week. Ahead, a live report on the investigation and the two men who are now being held in the case.
The verdict watch begins in the Michael Jackson trial after another health scare. This morning, the latest on the singer's state of mind from his spiritual advisor, the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
