Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Bush Administration Plans African Aid Reform; New Offensive in Afghanistan

Aired June 30, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A developing story in Afghanistan. U.S. and coalition troops finally make it to the crash site of a U.S. military helicopter. What of the fate of those on board? A live report is just ahead.
First, John Couey makes a chilling confession in the Jessica Lunsford murder and now a new shock -- the sex offender asking several times for a lawyer and never getting one. Do prosecutors still have a case?

And baby formula -- stores being forced to look it up to prevent theft. But who's taking it and why? And is there a potential connection to terror? We'll take a look at that on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

Welcome back, everybody.

Also ahead this morning, some big meetings are scheduled next week for the G8 leaders. In just over an hour, we're going to learn more about the U.S. plans for that summit.

M. O'BRIEN: President Bush speaking this morning in Washington. He'll preview his agenda for that meeting. We'll look at what's at stake for all of that as it lies ahead.

S. O'BRIEN: Before we get to any of that, though, first, let's get a look at the headlines with Carol again -- good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, this just in to us. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers raiding a hotel in Gaza where some 150 protesters have been holed up. Take a look. These pictures just in to us. Yu can see some people being led away in handcuffs and actually tackled to the ground. The protesters had blocked themselves off inside the hotel for several weeks. They are part of a movement in the region opposing Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza. They are now said to be leaving that hotel voluntarily.

We'll keep you posted.

Accusations this morning that the new leader of Iran may have once been a terrorist. Five former hostages, American hostages, claim Iran's newly elected leader took part in the hostage takeover of a U.S. Embassy in Tehran back in 1979. The former hostages say they recognized his face during TV coverage of the Iranian election. An aide to the Iran president-elect denies any involvement.

After falling short, the Army now says it has met its active duty recruitment goal for the next month. Recruiters signed over 6,000 new soldiers in June. The Army says it hopes to make up for this year's shortfalls later in the summer, when more young people will be looking for work.

That Aruban judge detained and later released in the Natalee Holloway investigation apparently gave his son some advice. Paul Van Der Sloot told his son and two friends there would be no case if no body was found. CNN learned about the conversation in an interview with Aruba's chief prosecutor. It apparently took place some days after Holloway was last seen.

When questioned about it, van der Sloot said he was only speaking about the case generally. The three young boys are still in custody in Holloway's disappearance. No formal charges have been filed in the case.

Parts of New Hampshire ringing out from a string of powerful thunderstorms this morning. Take a look at this. Streets in Manchester flooded within minutes. And you can see, it caused a mess on the roadways, causing cars to get stuck. Some of the cars barely visible from all the rain. The storms also sparked some fires and power outages. More than 2,000 customers were without electricity after high winds brought down tree limbs and utility poles. And hopefully things are a little better today.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow! A big old mess.

M. O'BRIEN: They sure could use that out West with those fires.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: I know.

M. O'BRIEN: It's an issue of distribution.

COSTELLO: It always rains in the wrong place.

M. O'BRIEN: It always rains in the wrong place.

All right, thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: OK, thanks.

In a little more than an hour, President Bush is speaking about next week's G8 summit. At the top of the agenda is aid to Africa.

Elaine Quijano at the White House for us this morning -- Elaine, good morning to you.

Is it expected that the president is going to give more aid to Africa, as many people are pressuring him to do?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly we are expecting to hear perhaps some talk of more commitments. President Bush also expected to say, though, however, that his commitment to Africa extends well before this point, well before now. In an interview with the "London Times," the president did say that more commitments would be made, but he did not talk specifics.

However, the president did discuss his administration's approach to handling or to dealing with African nations, saying: "The way I like to describe our relationship with Africa is one of partnership. That's different than the relationship of check writer. Partnership means that we've got obligations and so do the people we are trying to help."

Now, the president there was referring to countries upholding certain standards of government. The president essentially saying that he wants to ensure that American aid dollars are spent properly.

Now, earlier this month, you'll recall that President Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The president at that time announcing some $674 million in aid, humanitarian aid. And, of course it is Mr. Blair who has made Africa one of the focuses of this year's G8 summit.

But look for the president today to reiterate his commitment to Africa when he speaks here in Washington, going before an audience of ambassadors, NGO representatives and others -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, we're going to expect that, as you mentioned, in a little bit more than an hour.

Elaine Quijano at the White House for us.

Elaine, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: In Afghanistan, military officials say coalition forces have located and secured the site where a military helicopter crashed Tuesday. The cause of the crash still under investigation, as well as the fate of the 17 U.S. military personnel who were on board.

Pamela Constable is the deputy foreign editor at the "Washington Post."

She joins us from Washington this morning but has lived for years in Afghanistan.

Pam, good to see you this morning.

PAMELA CONSTABLE, "THE "WASHINGTON POST": Good morning.

M. O'BRIEN: This is a spring offensive, clearly.

Is there any different about it this time?

CONSTABLE: Yes, I would say that the fighting is much more intense than was expected. There was quite a lull in the summer and there were very successful presidential elections in October, with a minimum of violence. The last several months has seen a steady escalation of attacks, mostly by Taliban insurgents, possibly others, other fighters coming from Pakistan.

I think this is much more intense than was expected and I expect it's going to be continuing for the next several months.

M. O'BRIEN: There was a sense not too long ago, just a few months ago there was talk that the Taliban was on the ropes and that this was the end of real action like we're seeing now.

What happened in the interim, or was that just a mistake?

CONSTABLE: Well, I think several things happened. I think there was an underestimation of their staying power and their commitment to sabotage the progress toward democratic rule and their opposition to the current government. I think that after the presidential elections when the country's attention began to turn toward parliamentary elections scheduled for September, which are much more complicated ethnically and politically, that this has offered the insurgents a new opportunity for attack and I think that they've regrouped and gotten allies and support, possibly from within Pakistan and other places.

Of course, U.S. and Afghan troops have been working very hard to try and curb this problem, but I think we're seeing a revival of emotional commitment by the Taliban and others, and a revival of their ability to wage war.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the U.S. troop count for just a moment, because it's obviously very important at this juncture. Nineteen thousand U.S. troops there. That's gone up recently, but, of course, down from the 50,000 that were there immediately after the U.S. began its offensive in Afghanistan after 9/11.

Is 19,000 U.S. troops enough or is what we're seeing right now a sort of case in point that it is not?

CONSTABLE: I mean it's hard to say, you know, if you're not a military leader, what's enough troops. Certainly it has seemed to be enough. This is not like Iraq, where you have wide scale urban occupation and operations. This has essentially been a hunting and seeking operations in remote areas of the country with special forces involved, various kinds of units. It has seemed to be enough.

There are also other international forces, peacekeeping troops from the U.N. and a number of countries in the capital.

So it has seemed to be enough. Perhaps if there is a continued intensification of attacks by Taliban and others, maybe the number would have to go up.

M. O'BRIEN: U.S. forces are reporting that some of the insurgents they are capturing there have identical gear, which leads them to believe that they're being carefully funded by some sort of outside source.

What do you -- what's your thinking on that? Who could be funding the Taliban?

CONSTABLE: Well, the Afghan government has complained for a very long time that there is logistical, military and financial support coming for these insurgents from Pakistan or through Pakistan. They rather loosely...

M. O'BRIEN: But who in Pakistan?

CONSTABLE: Well, Islamic fundamentalists. There are a number of groups in Pakistan...

M. O'BRIEN: Al Qaeda or?

CONSTABLE: Well, that's a very vague term.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

CONSTABLE: I mean when we think of al Qaeda, we tend to think of Arab and Middle East countries and individuals. Pakistan, of course, is not an Arab country, but it's a Muslim country with a very strong fundamentalist faction, with fighters that are known to hide and operate in the poorest tribal region along the border with Afghanistan. And the government of Pakistan has been trying for a long time to gain control over this problem, but it has not been able to.

M. O'BRIEN: Pam Constable with the "Washington Post."

Thanks for your insights.

Appreciate it.

CONSTABLE: You're very welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Some storm chasers captured some pretty amazing pictures of a funnel cloud in Minnesota on Wednesday. There were numerous reports of tornadoes in southwestern Minnesota. Look at this.

M. O'BRIEN: That's amazing, isn't it?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it is.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm always amazed at the people who go and get these pictures.

S. O'BRIEN: Right, how close they are...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. And they... S. O'BRIEN: ... or must be to get a shot like this.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, they claim it's a calculated risk, but that's definitely a kids don't try this at home kind of thing right there.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, way too close as far as I'm concerned.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Anyway, thunderstorms swept through the state. Some power also out last night. No serious damage, though, has been reported, which is the good news in our view.

M. O'BRIEN: Chad, have you ever chased a tornado?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I did. I worked in Oklahoma City for two years so a...

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, boy, then you had to there.

MYERS: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: That's right down the alley, right?

MYERS: Yes, exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: Can they really tell where they're coming from so that they avoid danger?

MYERS: When it comes out of a wall cloud like this, you have a pretty good idea. But that's like within two miles, I'd say, a two mile radius. And I think they're closer than that. The problem is that thing could have been easily picking up pieces of buildings, pieces of farm equipment, whatever, taking them up into the storm, even if it was a couple of hundred feet, and then throwing them out at those storm chasers. That's just way too close. That's one of those don't try this at home and don't try this away, either.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: 109 in Phoenix today. 113 for your weekend. And there are firefighters out there trying to battle blazes at 113. So, man, you've got to feel for those guys out there, and ladies, too.

S. O'BRIEN: A hundred and thirteen. (INAUDIBLE)

M. O'BRIEN: Hard to imagine. Rugged terrain, all that gear, a fire going and 113.

S. O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE).

MYERS: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: That's the definition of hero.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. M. O'BRIEN: Keep it up, guys and gals.

Thank you very much, Chad.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Chad.

M. O'BRIEN: If you're planning a trip this holiday weekend, we'll tell you where the worst vacation bottlenecks are. You might be a bit surprised at some of them. Branson, Missouri. Who knew, right? You were thinking the West Side Highway. We'll give you some tips on that.

S. O'BRIEN: I know the West Side Highway.

And look at this. I went to CVS the other day to get some baby formula. It was under lock and key. It's not kept locked up. Well, the question, of course, is why? And what's the link to terrorism? The answer is going to surprise you. That's ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: And do you drink diet soda?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I do. And I'm still getting fat. So apparently there is -- I'm part of this study and I didn't even know it. You drink diet soda, you still get fat. We'll explain that one on AMERICAN MORNING. You might as well just go for the sugar, right?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Here's something a little bit strange you might find in grocery stores. The baby formula is not locked up. Many shops now put it in a case or make you ask for it at the counter.

According to the Food Marketing Institute, people are ripping off baby formula, specifically, different types of Similac. It ranks among the top 25 most stolen items.

Chuck Miller is a long time loss prevention expert for the retail industry. He's spent the last three years compiling all the statistics, cases and information on organized retail theft.

He joins us this morning.

It's nice to see you.

Thanks for talking with us.

How big a problem specifically is formula theft?

CHUCK MILLER, LOSS PREVENTION CONSULTANT: We think it's somewhere between $25 billion to $30 billion a year for all of retail.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow! Wow! That's huge. Why, why baby formula? It seems like almost the last thing you'd want to steal. I mean it's big cans, it's heavy. MILLER: Well, it's also very profitable, Soledad. The boosters or professional shoplifters can steal that product, sell it to a fence for $5 a can and then the fence will sell it to an illegitimate retailer for $10 a can, as an example.

The retailer then can receive up to $16 a can, approximately, from a WIC program operated by the federal government through state WIC departments.

S. O'BRIEN: I see. So at the end of the day, it's ripping off the government?

MILLER: It really is. And it's a product that's needed every day by millions of infants across America.

S. O'BRIEN: The FBI director, Robert Mueller, has been talking a lot about this, specifically the infant formula theft. And I want to read to you a little bit of what he had to say. He says this: "In a number of cases, the subjects of these investigations are suspected of providing financial support to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah."

Have you seen any proof of any link between the people who are ripping off baby formula and funding to international terror organizations?

MILLER: Well, many of the rings that I researched -- I don't do the investigation, but I research them. Many of the rings that I researched have been charged with money laundering and with the interstate transportation of stolen property. And many of those rings have been suspected and actually charged with transporting money out of the country to countries that support terrorism.

S. O'BRIEN: Who exactly is buying this baby formula, what kinds of stores -- and reselling it?

MILLER: Well, the rings, the organized retail theft rings, in fact, the leaders of those rings own many convenience stores. They own many, many small stores, usually in the inner city. And this is where a lot of the merchandise is sold.

S. O'BRIEN: This is a shocking story, I think, on a lot of levels.

Chuck Miller, a loss prevention consultant, thanks for your insight on this.

Appreciate it.

MILLER: My pleasure.

Thank you, Soledad.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come in the program, the president's second term troubles. How will Mr. Bush adjust to the challenges ahead? We'll check in with the Republican National Committee chairman, Ken Mehlman.

That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Five months into President Bush's second term, he's faced with declining public support for the war in Iraq, the lowest approval ratings of his presidency and domestic challenges from both sides of the aisle.

Joining us now to talk about the president's predicament, Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

I guess that's not a very good welcome to you, to tell you all those things, Ken.

KEN MEHLMAN, RNC CHAIRMAN: Good morning.

M. O'BRIEN: But the president, when he got elected, talked about having political capital, I'm going to spend it.

What happened to the capital?

MEHLMAN: Well, the capital is being spent to solve some of our most important problems. The fact is this president is providing incredibly important leadership and we're seeing problems be solved and problems be addressed.

In terms of problems being solved, just in the past two weeks, the Senate has passed a bipartisan energy bill that will help make us less dependent on the foreign sources of oil. The House is going to adjourn for July 4th having moved on all of its spending bills and also reducing more than 100 programs so that we're able to reduce the deficit.

We've encouraged...

M. O'BRIEN: But what about...

MEHLMAN: ... personal responsibility with bankruptcy reform. We've reduced the number of frivolous lawsuits. And, on the critical issue of Social Security, we're going to see progress. The House is going to move on legislation that encourages ownership. And the president has put forward an agenda on this and brought it to the American people's attention so we can deal with it.

M. O'BRIEN: So you're ready to declare victory on Social Security even if there aren't those private accounts that the president wanted so badly?

MEHLMAN: Well, we're looking forward, as you know, the House proposal that they're looking at moving forward does have private accounts. It builds private accounts. We believe we need to have solvency. We need to believe we need to encourage ownership. And we need to make progress and the legislative process is often a complicated process. But the reason they're dealing with it is because of this president's leadership.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about Iraq for a moment. In the president's speech the other day, five times he made direct links between 9/11 and Iraq. And that fell flat on some ears on the other side of the aisle because there's a sense that that's a bit of a stretch.

Is the president making a mistake talking about a rationale for the war, whatever the rationale may be, when I think maybe many Americans would like to hear sort of let's talk about a plan for getting out of there?

MEHLMAN: I think he gave us a plan. And the plan is victory. What the president referenced 9/11 was that it was --

M. O'BRIEN: But that's a simple statement. I mean something more...

MEHLMAN: Well, I think, look, the reason he brought up 9/11 is it's the context of the war. What 9/11 should teach every American, particularly as we're here in New York City, is that we have to take on the terrorists. We can't wait while the threats gather. The other side understands this. Osama bin Laden, Zarqawi have publicly said they understand this is the central front in the war on terror.

We can't cut and run and abandon that fight.

And so what the president said to the American people was we have a plan for victory and we've made progress.

M. O'BRIEN: But what is the plan?

MEHLMAN: Well, the plan is to continue what we're doing. For instance, 50,000 Iraqi troops have been trained over the last year. We need to train more of those Iraqi troops going forward so that Iraqis can increasingly assume...

M. O'BRIEN: Well, I've heard much lower numbers than that. But the fact is that training Iraqi troops is...

MEHLMAN: Training Iraqi troops is part of it...

M. O'BRIEN: ... should, in fact, be part of the plan.

MEHLMAN: Helping improve the quality of life of in Iraq is important. A hundred and seventy judges over the last year have been trained and are now dispensing justice in Iraq. That's part of what we need to do.

M. O'BRIEN: How would you define...

MEHLMAN: More than 3,000...

M. O'BRIEN: How would you define victory there?

MEHLMAN: I would define victory in Iraq as having a stable government that can deal with the challenges it faces and the terrorists that are coming in from all over the world to fight the Americans and to fight the Iraqis, having them defeated, as well.

Once an Iraqi government, once an Iraqi people can stand up and take on those terrorists, that'll be, obviously, when our troops can stand down. We can't abandon Iraq and allow it to become the next Afghanistan.

M. O'BRIEN: How long will that take, then, though, a stable government? It seems a long way off right now, Ken.

MEHLMAN: Well, obviously, in 1942 or 1943, you couldn't have predicted when Hitler was going to be unconditionally defeated or when we were going to win and defeat Japan. The fact is you can't set a timetable for it and it would be irresponsible to do so.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about the approval ratings -- 45 percent right now. The second term can be tough for presidents and that's a low number. That's Nixon levels, second term, when he was dealing with Watergate.

Are you concerned about the mid-term elections and how that approval rating may translate into trouble on the Hill for you?

MEHLMAN: Well, first of all, I'm not quite sure it's where Nixon was. I think actually, if you look at the president's numbers today, they're in the same range as they were when he was reelected. We live in a country today which is politically relatively closely divided, which means you have a low ceiling and a high floor in terms of approval ratings.

What I see is just the other day we found out that the economy, the Conference Board numbers came out, the best numbers in three years. When the president's Social Security plan is presented in the terms he described it, the approval numbers are in the 50s. I think what people are going to vote about in 2006, they're first of all going to vote for individual members of Congress and for the Senate and governor. But they're going to say who has solutions to problems?

And what they see in terms of Republicans are men and women who are committed to solving problems. And what they see from Democrats too often are just say no -- no plan to solve Social Security, no plan for victory in Iraq, no plan to make sure we reduce spending. I'm happy Democrats have finally come to the table on energy. We had a bipartisan vote in the United States Senate. But too often, instead of solving the problems of the American people, they're too interested in attacking politicians on the other side of the aisle. And I don't think that's the way you win elections.

M. O'BRIEN: Ken Mehlman, who is in town talking to groups and raising money, which is what guys like you do.

Thanks for dropping by.

Appreciate it.

MEHLMAN: Thanks a lot.

M. O'BRIEN: He's chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Thanks for being with us.

MEHLMAN: Thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, just in time for the holiday travel, we've got the list of America's worst vacation bottlenecks plus some tips on how you can survive that traffic.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, questions over whether a jury will ever hear the confession of the man who said he kidnapped then killed 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. Did police do something wrong during the interrogation? Do prosecutors still have a case?

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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