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CNN Live At Daybreak

Fire Destroys an Entire City Block and a Piece of American History; A Peek into Life Behind Bars For a Former Dictator

Aired June 21, 2005 - 06:00   ET

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

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is Tuesday, June 21.
Fire destroys an entire city block and a piece of American history. The birthplace of the Studebaker goes up in flames and threatens another automobile birthplace.

Also, what do Cheetos and Raisin Bran have to do with Saddam Hussein? A peek into life behind bars for a former dictator.

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

WALLACE: Good morning, everyone.

I'm Kelly Wallace in today for Carol Costello.

Thanks so much for waking up with us.

We will have much more on those stories in just a moment.

Also ahead, millions of dollars could be cut from public broadcasting. Is it time for a change anyway?

And the money you spend on prescriptions could be leveling off.

But first, the stories now in the news.

A block sized fire in Detroit today. It began about seven hours ago and is still burning. The building formerly housed the plant where the Studebaker auto was built. Firefighters, though, stopped it from burning the original Ford Model T plant.

The search for a missing Cub Scout in Utah resumes later this morning. Only 600 volunteers helped with the search yesterday. That is down from around 3,000 over the weekend.

A car bombing in Beirut kills a former Communist Party official this morning. He was known as a harsh anti-Syria politician. The blast coming a day after an opposition leader's anti-Syrian camp declared victory in Lebanon's parliamentary election.

In northwest England, police arrest a man in connection with suicide bomb attacks against coalition forces in Iraq. The man wasn't identified, but police assured residents of the neighborhood in Manchester that there is no threat to their immediate area. And remember, you can view more CNN reports online. Just visit cnn.com and click on watch to check out the most popular video in a range of categories, like politics, sports and entertainment.

And -- Chad, of course, weather, right?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely.

WALLACE: You can get on cnn.com and find out everything you know about the weather.

MYERS: You know, all kinds of links there to tropical weather or whatever you really need. And that's going to be important here as hurricane season starts to really wind up in August and into September.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WALLACE: And, Chad, for the viewers who weren't watching at 5:00 a.m., we should remind them summer is here, right?

MYERS: Happy summer.

WALLACE: Happy summer at the beginning.

MYERS: Happy Solstice.

WALLACE: OK, Chad.

MYERS: All right.

WALLACE: Talk to you in a few minutes.

MYERS: OK.

WALLACE: Thanks so much.

And we want to get more on that massive fire in Detroit we have been telling you about. The blaze was visible for miles.

Derricke Dennis with CNN affiliate WDIV has been covering the fire throughout the night.

He filed this story earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DERRICKE DENNIS, WDIV CORRESPONDENT: The flames are still going very hot and very fast. We've seen several buildings collapse, several parts of the building collapse, several walls collapse. A very dangerous situation for firefighters.

I want to bring in Detroit Fire Commissioner Tyrone Scott.

Just give us the update this morning.

You've been here throughout the night, as well.

What's the latest? What are you working on right now?

COMMISSIONER TYRONE SCOTT, DETROIT FIRE DEPARTMENT: Well, as you can see, the fire crews still have the structure surrounded and we do have it under control. It's not spreading, but there is a considerable amount of rubble from the collapsed portions of the building that we're going to have to work on for, I would suspect, several days.

DENNIS: As far as the threat to the other buildings, we're concerned, obviously, about the former Model T plant, the Model T Museum. Talk about that and how have the efforts been to save those buildings.

SCOTT: We put crews in between 411 Pequot here and that building where all the concerns are at with regards to the antique vehicles and actually put a stop to it. There is no threat to it at this time.

DENNIS: Fire Commissioner Tyrone Scott, thank you for joining us on Local 4.

I know we'll be talking to you as this morning progresses.

A hundred and fifty firefighters, a huge response here. The first call for this fire coming at 10:12 last evening.

Local 4 has been out here since that time and we're going to have live coverage continuing all morning long.

For now, back to you.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WALLACE: Once again, that was Derricke Dennis with CNN affiliate WDIV TV.

Coming up at the half hour, we will speak live with a Detroit fire official about this blaze.

Turning now to the case of missing Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, a Texas company is sending a search and rescue team to Aruba today to help look for Holloway. The 17-member team will use dogs and sonar equipment in the search. Meanwhile, the fourth person detained in connection with Holloway's disappearance is a party boat disk jockey.

Holloway's mother tells CNN's Anderson Cooper the family was suspicious of him from the very beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY, HOLLOWAY'S MOTHER: You know, just from Jack and I, just our intuition and when we arrived on the island and his attitude, I mean we felt from the very beginning, as early as May 31 between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. that he could very well be instrumental and have some information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Holloway has been missing for three weeks now.

America -- John Bolton hits another roadblock. We're talking about the nomination for Bolton to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Senate Democrats stalled a final vote on the president's nominee to, as we said, to be ambassador to the U.N. Monday's vote was the second time Democrats have stopped Republican efforts to have Bolton confirmed. Democrats say that they will continue to block the nomination until the White House releases records of communications Bolton sought from the National Security Agency.

Turning now to Iraq, Americans are becoming increasingly opposed to the war in Iraq. A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows close to 60 percent now say they are against the war. That is up from 47 percent back in March. And no matter what people think about the war in Iraq, most are usually not shy about voicing dislike for Saddam Hussein.

And now we are getting some fascinating new details about the former dictator's life in captivity from two American soldiers who served as his guards.

CNN's Adaora Udoji has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You'd never guess Saddam Hussein, the poster child for brutally violent dictator, has a soft spot for American junk food.

SEAN O'SHEA, FORMER HUSSEIN GUARD: So we gave him the Cheetos and he really liked them. And he would always ask for them. And we ran out of Cheetos, so we got him Doritos, and like that was just -- the Doritos were his favorite.

UDOJI: That's not all 20-year-old Specialist Sean O'Shea and 22- year-old Corporal Jonathan Reese learned guarding Hussein after his capture in Iraq.

The fallen leader hates Fruit Loops cereal, preferring Raisin Bran Crunch instead. Saddam also has a fondness for tattoos.

JONATHAN REESE, FORMER HUSSEIN GUARD: He actually has two of them, I do believe. The one is on his forearm right here and it's actually, it just looks like a stick figure. And he said it was from a gazelle, something. I think that's what he said. It was a gazelle, what he got when he was a young boy.

UDOJI: Guarding the notorious leader was O'Shea and Reese's first big assignment in the National Guard, coming straight from small town Pennsylvania. However unlikely over the course of 298 days, they got to know Saddam well.

(on camera): Did he treat you like sons?

O'SHEA: He actually referred to us as his sons. Actually, he invited us back once the war is over.

REESE: Yes.

O'SHEA: He says he's going to be president again.

UDOJI: What did he tell you about women?

O'SHEA: He said, well, you have to find a woman. He goes, not too smart, not too dumb. He goes, in the middle, one that can cook and can clean.

UDOJI (voice-over): That's advice from an accused mass murderer. They say he spent his time writing poetry, tending to his flowers and smoking cigars. What's more, the man with a preference for perfectly tailored suits and uniforms was reduced to washing his own clothes by hand.

(on camera): He was very obsessed with cleanliness?

O'SHEA: We'd give him breakfast and, you know, he'd get his plastic fork and spoon, wipe it down and wipe -- he had a little table. He'd wipe that down, everything, his hands, wash them before and after he ate.

UDOJI (voice-over): Everything they learned was a secret. They couldn't tell their friends or family until they came home. A job of a lifetime, an intimate experience with a man the U.S. launched a war against, a man they will never see the same way again.

Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WALLACE: And you can hear more of this incredible story from the two Guardsmen on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien. That is less than an hour away, at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

"News Across America" now, police shot and killed a man carrying a hand grenade at the federal courthouse in Seattle. The bomb squad later determined that the grenade was a dummy. The unidentified man was also carrying a living will. Local reports say the man was already under investigation by the FBI for making threats against a judge.

More than two months after Terry Schiavo's death, her husband, Michael Schiavo, has finally laid her to rest. Terry Schiavo's ashes were buried in a Clearwater, Florida cemetery. Terry Schiavo's parents did not attend the burial. Michael Schiavo had the words "I kept my promise" inscribed at the bottom of the grave marker.

Police in Washington, D.C. are looking for the chief's car. Police Chief Charles Ramsey had his unmarked car stolen from a parking space near his home. It had been parked there while he was out of town. District Police are also asking the public for help. The car is a black Ford Crown Victoria with the District license plate AL6072. Still to come this hour on DAYBREAK, a man who deserted the Army and defected to North Korea has a message for U.S. soldiers. Details after the break.

Also, Congress threatening to slash funding for PBS. Is this a Republican vendetta or a necessary change to the bottom line?

And later, a Mississippi jury struggles to reach a verdict in a case 41 years in the making.

But first, here is a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: The music and the weather should wake you up. A beautiful day in New York City on this Tuesday.

Welcome back to DAYBREAK.

Army deserter Charles Jenkins now saying he is sorry. Jenkins says he regrets deserting his post for North Korea 40 years ago. He and his Japanese wife and two daughters have been visiting family in North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES JENKINS, ARMY DESERTER: I let my soldiers down. I let the U.S. Army down. I let the American government down. And I made it very difficult for my family here in America to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Jenkins, who calls North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, an evil man, deserted while on patrol along the DMZ back in 1965.

Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's just about 13 minutes after the hour and here is what is all new this morning.

Firefighters in Detroit say they now have a massive fire under control. The blaze broke out last night at a building that houses several businesses. Two firefighters are being treated for minor injuries.

In money, the search engine company Google is reportedly developing an online payment system code-named Google Wallet. It would compete with the popular Pay Pal service.

In culture, an Italian art researcher says he thinks there's a long lost unfinished painting by Leonardo da Vinci behind a 16th century fresco in a museum in Florence. The researcher is now trying to get the OK from local authorities to search for that painting.

In sports, the Red Sox end the Indians' nine game winning streak, just barely, with a 10-9 win last night. It had been Cleveland's longest streak since 2002.

Chad -- are you a big Cleveland fan?

MYERS: You know, I've been to The Jake. It's a great place to watch a ball game, absolutely.

WALLACE: It sure is.

MYERS: I lived in Columbus for five years there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WALLACE: Still to come here on DAYBREAK, PBS could face some big time budget cuts if Congress moves ahead with a proposed slash in funding. A closer look at the issue and also the latest "Business Buzz" after the break.

Don't go away.

But first, we want to say good evening to Tokyo, Japan. Coming up, we will tell you what list just put Tokyo at number one.

DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

WALLACE: Well, is it a disastrous decision for public broadcasting or the simple reality of a money strapped federal government? We are talking this morning about funding cuts proposed and approved by a House committee last week.

Here are the details.

The proposed bill cuts funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from $400 million to $300 million; eliminates $39 million set aside for digital conversion; eliminates $50 million set aside for a satellite upgrade; and also eliminates $23 million for the Ready To Learn program for children.

So what is the real story behind these proposed funding cuts? Is there a political angle and what will the impact be on viewers?

We will hear from both sides of the issue here on DAYBREAK.

First, though, we're going to talk to John Wilson.

He is the senior vice president of programming for PBS.

Mr. Wilson, thanks for joining us here on DAYBREAK.

JOHN WILSON, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT PROGRAMMING, PBS: You're welcome.

Good morning. WALLACE: I want to ask you, do you think the proposed cuts are about politics or money, because the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee says the committee is not targeting public broadcasting, just making choices about where to spend money among many worthy programs.

WILSON: Well, I think that's true. But given it's an appropriations process, it's by definition about money and given that it's Congress, it has to have some political aspect. But I think the main thing that we're trying to make sure people understand is that these cuts are very significant to public broadcasting and will have a tremendous impact on our programming and on our stations themselves.

WALLACE: What would be the impact on the average viewer?

WILSON: Well, I think first and foremost what they find on the screen. The funding that comes from the federal government to PBS, while only less than a dollar per year to the taxpayer, is a significant portion of money. It helps fund things like "Sesame Street" and "The NewsHour" and "Nova" and other programs, both in children's and in prime time. And it's a big impact on our stations themselves, particularly in small markets and rural communities, where literally this funding, or lack of funding, could force some of them to go out of business.

WALLACE: We want to take a look now, put on the screen, the average weekly audiences in 2004 for PBS -- 81 million viewers for National Public Radio, 26 million.

Mr. Wilson, some of the critics will say that there was a time when there was no alternative, really, to public broadcasting. But with so much cable television, satellite radio, the Internet, viewers can find some of what they're getting from public broadcasting in other arenas, so therefore it doesn't have to be taxpayer funded anymore.

WILSON: Well, I just -- I think you just have to take a look at those channels that are the new alternative and I think you'll see that now more than ever, a public service media company is needed in this country. And I think a country that is, that leads the world in so many other categories, I think we can afford to have a public service institution that uses media, both online, on television and on radio, in the interests of the public. And I think that's something that can and should continue.

WALLACE: The "New York Times," as you know, reporting today and in previous weeks that the current chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, hired a secret consultant to go ahead and monitor Bill Moyers and his "Now" program for any evidence of anti-Bush, anti-Republicans, anti-business sentiments. Some Senate Democrats, including Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, now calling for his resignation.

Do you think he should step down?

WILSON: Well, I think they should find out what the story is behind that. The fact of the matter is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which Mr. Tomlinson chairs, was meant to be, is meant to be, the heat shield between the federal funding process and the content that you find on the air. And I think that's an appropriate role and one that they should maintain.

So I think we just have to wait and see what the independent investigation that's going on reveals.

WALLACE: All right, John Wilson, senior vice president of programming for PBS, Thank you for being here.

We appreciate it.

WILSON: Thank you.

WALLACE: And that is one side of the issue.

For another take on this issue of proposed funding cuts at PBS, we're going to talk next to Cliff Kincaid.

He is editor of the Accuracy In Media Report, and he says all $400 million in funding should be eliminated.

Mr. Kincaid, thanks for joining us on the phone today.

CLIFF KINCAID, ACCURACY IN MEDIA: Kelly, great to be with you.

WALLACE: Let me just ask you, following up on Mr. Wilson's point -- and I want to put up on the screen to our viewers, because some of the money that goes to PBS goes to television stations across the country, also to college stations. Some 112 state, municipal, educational or community organizations would be affected, 57 colleges or universities.

So what do you say to those people who say by cutting this funding, funding cuts of this size, you're going to threaten college stations, university stations and small public stations across the nation?

KINCAID: I think all of that is exaggerated hysteria. Since the start of public broadcasting, the taxpayers have been forced to put over $8 billion -- that's with a B -- $8 billion into this thing. They've gotten plenty of time to go independent and survive on their own.

Very little of the money that goes into PBS or National Public Radio is actually taxpayer funds anyway. They can go to private sources. NPR got a $200 million grant last year from Joan Kroc, the widow of the McDonald's' founder. They could go to people like billionaire George Sorros or, for that matter, Kelly, Ted Turner, and ask him for some money.

That's the way they should do it. We just can't afford this anymore at a time of new media, satellite radio and TV, cable television. The people have plenty of choices. They don't need to be forced to pay for choices that they don't want or don't want to enjoy or watch.

WALLACE: Here's a question, Mr. Kincaid, because I know you have been quoted feeling that PBS is biased, has a liberal bias. But if you look at some polls that were done, I think even by groups associated with -- other groups associated with public broadcasting back in 2003 found that a majority of Americans do not feel that public broadcasting is biased.

What do you say to that?

KINCAID: Well, I question who they talked to. I mean you just mentioned the Bill Moyers show. He had a show on PBS for three years. He's a former mouthpiece for a Democratic administration. He is an admitted liberal partisan. Who did PBS have to balance him? Nobody.

Now, Ken Tomlinson, chairman of the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, has tried to document the bias. We could have done so for no money. Everybody knows that that show was biased and there was nothing to counter it.

Tomlinson is coming under fire by the liberal elites who run PBS and NPR simply because he's trying to document the bias and do something about it.

WALLACE: But let me ask you, Mr. Kincaid, because the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as you know, is supposed to be apolitical.

So is there any problem with hiring a consultant who has ties to some conservative groups to document a liberal bias? Is Mr. Tomlinson stepping into a political fray that some conservatives say, or have been charging, what PBS has been doing all along?

KINCAID: Kelly, my only gripe with what Tomlinson did was that we could have documented the bias for him for free. He didn't need to spend money on a consultant.

But the fact is the public broadcasting establishment is political. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not supposed to be apolitical or a buffer to protect PBS and NPR. In fact, the law under which the whole thing was set up says that all the programs funded by the CPB, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, should be produced with strict adherence to objectivity and balance.

Tomlinson is simply trying to make sure that all of these programs and that his mission, that his job is to enforce the law and make sure that taxpayers are not getting ripped off.

WALLACE: All right, Cliff Kincaid with Accuracy In Media.

We have to leave it there.

We will, of course, though, continue following this discussion.

Still to come here on DAYBREAK, a piece of Americana destroyed this morning. I will speak to a member of the Detroit Fire Department in just a few moments.

Plus, a divided jury -- what happens next in the trial of a former Klan member accused of murders that took place 41 years ago today?

And a new effort gets underway in Aruba today to find missing teen Natalee Holloway.

This is DAYBREAK.

We'll be right back.

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