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American Morning

Across Europe, a Powerful Show of Solidarity; An Important Decision for NASA

Aired July 14, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In London and across Europe this morning, a powerful show of solidarity with the victims of terror -- two minutes of silence.
Also, new developments in the London bombing investigation to tell you about.

And an important decision for NASA in the next few hours. Will the Shuttle Discovery have to go back to the hangar for repairs? Will the mission be delayed even longer? We're live from the Kennedy Space Center just ahead.

Plus, a developing story. It is now hurricane Emily, a category one hurricane. She's packing 90 mile an hour winds and she's barreling toward the Caribbean on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: This is AMERICAN MORNING with Miles O'Brien at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Soledad O'Brien in New York.

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning.

Welcome back, everybody.

Good morning, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

I'm Miles O'Brien at the Kennedy Space Center.

Coming up, we're going to talk to a former engineer with NASA. He's written extensively about Challenger and Columbia and he actually helped build these orbiters. He says Wednesday was one of NASA's greatest days. We'll find out why.

Take a look at this countdown clock, Soledad.

It's now plus 16 hours. This is how long the mission would have been going on right now if they'd been in space. They would be in about the eighth or ninth orbit now. Instead, the crew -- we hope they're sleeping in in the crew quarters this morning. I suspect they're up, though, and about and wondering what's next.

And we will tell you what's next a little later -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, looking forward to that. Also ahead this morning, Emmy nomination day. We're going to bring it to you live when it happens. We're expecting it, actually, just at about 8:30.

First, though, a check of the stories that are making news.

Let's get the headlines with Fredricka Whitfield.

She's over at the CNN Center in Atlanta -- hey, Fred, good morning again.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again, Soledad.

Some new developments out of Iraq. Two suspected high ranking al Qaeda leaders are now in custody. A military spokesman says they were among some 30 insurgents captured during recent raids. Also, some violence this morning. A double suicide bombing near Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. At least one person was killed, five others wounded.

People in Britain and threat Europe pausing to remember the victims of the London terror attacks. They observed two minutes of silence in honors of the victims last hour. Things came to a standstill at the British Open, as well, to remember those lost. It's the one week anniversary of the bombings.

Meantime, authorities are on the hunt for a possible fifth suspect. Police say four other suspects died in the explosions. Much more on the investigation and reaction from Muslims in Britain coming up.

Tensions growing in Los Angeles. Residents and police faced off overnight after word that a police bullet killed a toddler during a stand-off with police last week. Police say the 19-month-old had been used as a shield by her father, who was armed. The LAPD chief says the officers appear to have acted properly, but stresses that a full investigation is ongoing.

And hundreds of people outside of Los Angeles back at home this morning. Firefighters continued to fight a fast moving wildfire overnight after the blaze raced toward a multi-million dollar community. Luckily, none of the homes were damaged. One minor injury was reported.

Back to you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Fred, thanks.

Well, as the controversy surrounding Karl Rove's role in the CIA leak investigation grows, President Bush refuses to answer any questions about his top political adviser. After a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Bush would not say if he had talked to Rove about the leak.

But meanwhile, Democrats are keeping the pressure on the president. Suzanne Malveaux live for us at the White House this morning -- hey, Suzanne, good morning to you.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: What do you expect to hear from President Bush vis- a-vis Karl Rove today?

MALVEAUX: We don't expect to hear very much of anything. White House officials really waving us off the possibility of President Bush speaking about it today.

As you know, later he is traveling to Indianapolis, Indiana. That is where he's going to be speaking before the Indiana Black Expo, before several thousand African-Americans dealing with corporate as well as community legislation and issues like that.

But, of course, this continues to be a big distraction for the administration and it's not likely that event is going to get much attention. It was yesterday before his cabinet the president was asked twice regarding Rove's involvement in this leak investigation. President Bush stopping short of endorsing Rove, saying that he would not comment during an ongoing investigation.

In the past, of course, he has pledged to fire anybody caught leaking in his administration. And last night, of course, the Democratic Chair, Howard Dean, seizing on the controversy, issued a challenge to the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN: Who do you value more, Mr. President, the security of the American people or your political cronies? Will you keep your word, Mr. President? We're going to find out if the president of the United States will keep his word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Last night, Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, issued a statement, of course, saying that Rove may be the focus of the media, but certainly not the focus of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Soledad, we expect that Moveon.org, a liberal advocacy group, is going to be here at the White House protesting to continue to put more pressure on the president to confront Karl Rove.

S. O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us this morning.

Suzanne, thanks for the update -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad, the Discovery launch, of course, delayed until Saturday. And that is at the earliest. That is, by far, the most optimistic view of it. The faulty fuel sensor at the base of the external fuel tank is the cause. The postponement, as we allude to, could be much longer if they have to take it all back to the hangar and do the work there.

Randy Avera is a former NASA engineer, the author of "The Truth About Challenger" and the newly introduced and released "Memories of Columbia," available in bookstores and space centers everywhere.

Randy, good to have you with us.

You said that yesterday was a great day for NASA.

Why?

RANDY AVERA, FORMER NASA ENGINEER: Yesterday was a great day for NASA because it was the first real test of the new management structure and the procedures that are new to the countdown process at Kennedy Space Center, and as it coordinates with the Johnson Space Center during the countdown.

The NASA and contractor team performed very well, following those procedures, and the pursuit of safety. The goal here is to return to flight and by calling these complex technical problems early and addressing them prior to ignition of the solid rocket boosters, it is a very important thing to do.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, we do know that in a tanking test, testing out an external fuel tank back in April, a similar problem cropped up. They slapped on a new tank for that and for some other reasons and then did not do another test.

What are your thoughts on that as an engineer?

AVERA: Well, an engineer will tell you, you can't beat a good test. And I believe that NASA should have tested that. It can be debated one way or the other. But the bottom line is you can't beat a good test.

M. O'BRIEN: Engineers always want more testing, right?

AVERA: Well, you need enough testing to know that you have a reliable and safe system. We obviously have heard about the intermittent aspects of this system inside the external tank and part of it is inside the orbiter. You have sensors in the tank and the computers in the aft fuselage of the orbiter, where the main engines are located.

M. O'BRIEN: So it could be a problem in the orbiter.

What is your thought on whether they can do it Saturday? That seems awfully early to me, because they -- first of all, they don't even understand the problem. Secondly, they don't know -- and once they find out the problem, they'll have an access issue, potentially.

It seems to me it's going to be a longer delay.

AVERA: Well, I think today, Thursday, and Friday, tomorrow, as the NASA team analyzes what the problem or problems may be, that will allow us to know when the next launch attempt could be done. Saturday is optimistic, of course, but until NASA really understands the details of the technical part of the problem, we really can't predict when the next countdown and launch would occur.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's -- a little bit of history and emotion here for a moment. You literally helped build Columbia and endured that loss and here we are two-and-a-half years later trying to come back off of that terrible loss.

What's, what goes through the mind of -- we talk a lot about what the astronauts are thinking about, but the people who put their hands on the vehicles and give it such tender loving care, for them, this has been a tremendous loss, as well.

AVERA: A tremendous personal loss. People come to Kennedy Space Center and all the different facilities around the United States and manufacture the parts and assemble the vehicle, test it, and spend a lot of time with these vehicles. And there's a great fellowship there and a commitment to doing the best work possible. And when you see the loss of a vehicle and the crew and its payload, it's a triple loss to the people who build the vehicle.

And the pursuit is to have the perfect vehicle, if possible. And when I was working the Challenger accident investigation, seeing Challenger come up out of the Atlantic Ocean in pieces was heartbreaking. And to see Columbia vaporized over Texas and Louisiana during re-entry was heartbreaking, as well.

But it is part of the high risk business of exploring the universe and the goal is to minimize the loss. And the way you do that is you deal with the hazards, the risks and the exposure to those hazards and risks.

M. O'BRIEN: Randy Avera, former NASA engineer and now prolific author.

We appreciate your time this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.

AVERA: You're welcome, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's check the weather.

Chad Myers is at the Weather Center, of course, in Atlanta, with more on that.

And we have a little sense of what's going on with Emily this morning. Emily getting stronger.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is, 90 miles per hour. Overnight hours it became a hurricane. Now tropical storm warnings just out for Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba, and the north coast of Venezuela. The storm did move over Grenada about four to five hours ago. It is still moving westward at about 20 miles per hour. It's going to make a little bit of a turn toward the west-northwest. We just haven't really seen that yet.

On that westward to northwestward turn, we're going to see 105 miles per hour, 115. Some of the computer models at this point, although not the official forecast from the Hurricane Center, some of the models up to about 130 by here. A hundred and fifteen is a category three storm. A hundred and eleven to 130 is a category three storm. So we're going to have to keep watching it as it gets closer and closer to the Yucatan Peninsula, whether it makes that right hand turn into the Gulf of Mexico or not.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: We are "Paging Dr. Gupta" this morning, taking a look at some disturbing numbers out of the hospitals -- millions of patients who apparently get potentially deadly infections each year -- Sanjay, good morning.

Give me a sense of what the numbers that we're talking about are.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Pennsylvania, one of the first states to actually report some of their numbers on infection, the numbers very high. Take a look. This is for the year 2004. Nearly 12,000 infections. Again, these are hospital acquired infections that we're talking about. Patients walked into a hospital without an infection and then developed one while in the hospital, leading to about 1,500 additional deaths; $2 billion in extra costs, as well.

I mentioned, Soledad, Pennsylvania one of the first states to report. They believe the numbers would translate to the rest of the country, as well, maybe around two million extra infections and about 90,000 deaths.

No one is saying these are hospital errors, but these are infections that do occur in hospitals.

I mentioned the cost, as well, $2 billion. To give you a sort of frame of reference, somebody walks into a hospital to have colon surgery, a typical hospital bill might be around $9,000. If they get an additional infection on that, the bill could spiral to about $29,000. So more than three times.

The four most common types of infections that we're talking about here, people that get these infections while in the hospital, urinary tract infections, infections at a surgical site, bloodstream infections and pneumonia.

A high cost here, Soledad, in terms of life and in terms of dollars, as well.

S. O'BRIEN: But they, it seems that those are all, the four that you just listed make sense. I mean that's sort of the potential side effects from having a risky and invasive surgery.

If there anything you can do to minimize your risk or is it just, you know, you're in a hospital, there are sick people all around you, there's a good chance your going to get an infection? GUPTA: Yes, you know, I think that's a really important point. Again, you know, a lot of people say well, these are medical errors. Not necessarily. I mean hospitals can be dangerous places. The worst types of organisms, the worst type of bacteria live in hospitals. So you go there, you're already sick, and then you're exposing yourself to this.

One of the rules is just try and not be in the hospital as much as possible. And that might sound a little glib to say, but try and get out of there. They can be dangerous places. Also, wash your hands. How many times have we talked about this? It makes a huge difference. They've been talking about this for hundreds of years because it works.

Ask a lot of questions, as well. You've got to be an informed patient. That might involve bringing an advocate along, as well, someone who can watch if you're not feeling well, for example.

Also, Soledad, a lot of hospitals have infection control programs. If you're going to be in the hospital for a long time, you might want to ask about that particular infection control program. A simple example might be if you're going to have an operation, you're supposed to get the antibiotics a couple of hours before you go to the operating room. These are little things that the infection control program can stay on top of.

S. O'BRIEN: You should ask your doctor to wash his hands? Sanjay, Dr. Gupta, if someone -- your patient came in and said Dr. Gupta, did you wash your hands, wouldn't you be a little offended?

GUPTA: No, you know, in fact, a lot of rooms, before you walk into the patient's room, a lot of the rooms now have little dispensers right outside the room so you actually see the doctor washing their hands as they walk into the room. It's important. They know it. Nurses know it, as well. All the health care professionals, really, you should be talking to them. They're the ones who are walking back and forth with these bugs.

S. O'BRIEN: And I guess if it's going to save your life, right, too bad if they're offended.

GUPTA: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Sanjay, as always, thanks.

GUPTA: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a 30-year-old teacher and a baby-faced teen just two of the suspects in the London bombings. How could they be recruited as terrorists?

And all the questions surrounding Karl Rove. Bill Schneider takes a look at whether the furor over CIA leaks is about crime or is it about politics?

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The first of two vigils held in London earlier this morning. Two minutes of silence honoring the 52 people who died in last Thursday's terror bombings. Later today, Londoners will again stand outside their businesses and homes in silence, a second vigil.

Police believe the four suspects died while they were carrying out the attacks.

Well, CNN has learned the names of three of the men -- 22-year- old Shehzad Tanweer; 18-year-old Hasib Hussein; and 30-year-old Sidique Khan. All were Muslims, all British nationals and they were all from around Leeds.

Arshad Chawdhry is with the Leeds Muslim Forum, a Muslim community group.

It's nice to see you, Mr. Chawdhry.

Thank you for talking with us.

Tell me about these three men, the suspects.

Did you know them? Did you know of them?

ARSHAD CHAWDHRY, LEEDS MUSLIM FORUM: I don't personally know the suspects. I mean Leeds is a pretty large city, you know, and we don't personally know the people. But, of course, we know the area and we know the kind of people they were. They were just like normal human beings and this comes as a great surprise to everyone to hear, you know, what kind of things these people have been up to.

S. O'BRIEN: So they didn't particularly stick out in the community.

One, it seems had gone to Pakistan...

CHAWDHRY: Not at all. Not at all.

S. O'BRIEN: One had gone to Pakistan for some religious education.

Is that typical at all of the young people in your community?

CHAWDHRY: No, it's not typical. But, again, it's not something unusual and I don't think we need to really read anything into it. You know, a lot of the community may want to at some stage send their kids across there for education, either cultural or religious. And there's really nothing wrong with that because we don't really have those kind of madrassas that we hear about in the past, which are all are very tightly regulated by the government in Pakistan.

So, really, I don't think that's any serious issue that we need to worry about. Obviously, what's happened is these guys have come into contact -- it could really be here or anywhere else -- with some radical elements who really twisted their minds.

S. O'BRIEN: And where do you think that happened? Many people point to the mosques and say radical elements within the mosques are who these young men came in contact with.

Do you think that's a likely assumption?

CHAWDHRY: I think it's highly unlikely that any clerics within the mosque circle in Leeds would lead anybody astray. I can assure you that all the mosques here in Leeds are, you know, preached by very moderate and peace loving clerics. We've never had any instances whatsoever in Leeds of any extreme or fanatical element, you know, coming through the mosques.

So, really, I don't think it's the clerics and neither do I think it's the religious training they may have had for a short time out there.

I believe, you know, some day they've just come into contact with somebody who's basically hijacked them and these guys, normal people who have just been hypnotized into taking an action which all of us completely deplore.

S. O'BRIEN: How concerned are you today about backlash against Muslims in your community and outside of Leeds, obviously?

CHAWDHRY: Well, Muslims clearly are very worried. In fact, Muslims were struggling with the backlash of September 11, which hasn't finished yet. And a lot of them live in a state of fear at times and certainly the happenings in Leeds over the last day or so have really added to that. And the rut of it is that once the police presence which obviously is heavily prevalent at the moment, steps back, there could be a backlash.

S. O'BRIEN: At the end of the day, the recruiters, whoever they are, end up hurting your own community.

What are you, being the Muslim community, doing actively and aggressively to stop those radical elements? Because, at the end of the day, it hurts you more than many people.

CHAWDHRY: Of course. In fact, the Muslim community here understands that this is really our problem, as well. It is probably primarily the problem of the Muslim community to root out any extremist elements. But I think putting everything into perspective, there is a very tiny, minuscule proportion of people that may have lost their way, I think. So it's not really something that is, you know, troubling the Muslim community in general.

But clearly this thing has shown that we really need to take a more proactive approach.

S. O'BRIEN: Arshad Chawdhry of the Leeds Muslim Forum, a Muslim community group.

Ahead this morning, one New Yorker's fight with city hall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHEILA POWSNER, CALLED MAYOR AT HOME: I'd been stonewalled with this for a year-and-a-half. I've been knocking my head against the wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Fed up with red tape, a woman dials up New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at home. And he answered. That story is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Eight million New York City residents who have a problem with garbage pickup or potholes or many other urban terrorist bombings have a direct line to Mayor Michael Bloomberg himself.

Correspondent Mary Snow explains how the mayor is now just a phone call away.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

POWSNER: Is Dotty up?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sheila Powsner is worried about her 94-year-old Aunt Dotty. She moved in with her sister years ago, but when her sister died, the city told her she had to leave the Brooklyn apartment. Powsner has been battling the city's bureaucracy on her aunt's behalf. With time of the essence, Powsner decided Monday night to go straight to the source, and she dialed Mayor Bloomberg at his Manhattan home. She said she was shocked when he answered.

POWSNER: I said, "Mayor Bloomberg, is that you?"

He said, "Yes."

And I said, I told him I was Sheila Powsner from Mill Basin calling about my 94-year-old Aunt Dorothy Wollner and her problem with trying to switch apartments.

SNOW: At a press conference Tuesday, the mayor acknowledged he got a call after 10:00 p.m.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK MAYOR: Actually, somebody called me about a housing problem at home last night, fortunately, just as I turned out the light and not ten minutes later.

SNOW: It turns out that Michael R. Bloomberg is listed in the phone book. Despite being in charge of a city with eight million people, not to mention that he's a billionaire, the mayor has made it known he likes to do some things like everyday New Yorkers, such as riding the subway and keeping his number listed.

BLOOMBERG: But look, I'd appreciate it if you don't call me late at night. I can't really do anything then. But in an emergency, I work for the people.

SNOW: Normally, city complaints go to a 311 call center. But the mayor said he gave Powsner his office number, she called Tuesday morning, and she says she's making progress with her Aunt Dotty's housing problem.

POWSNER: I've been stonewalled with this for a year-and-a-half. I've been knocking my head against the wall.

SNOW: Now this Brooklyn school teacher says in the future, she won't hesitate to pick up the phone.

POWSNER: No, no. I will try to call anybody and everybody if I think I need some help to try to get something done.

SNOW: So the White House better watch out?

POWSNER: Do you have a number for the White House?

SNOW: Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, poor Mayor Bloomberg. He is going to get a ton of calls now.

Most New Yorkers call 311, as Mary mentioned, when they've got a complaint. And that hotline gets just about 40,000 calls every single day.

Coming up in just about 15 minutes, the prime time Emmy nominations are going to be announced in Hollywood. So how many desperate housewives will get the nod? Find out when we bring you the announcement live.

AMERICAN MORNING is back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning, everybody.

Welcome back.

It's 8:30 here in New York.

Miles O'Brien is at the Kennedy Space Center -- hey, Miles, good morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning, Soledad.

Really an important time for NASA engineers right now. Some important meetings underway this morning, waiting to find out what's going to happen to Discovery, whether NASA can try to fix the problem that cropped up yesterday on the launch pad, possibly have a launch as early as Saturday, or maybe, maybe that long laborious roll back to the hangar, which could raise all kinds of implications for a delay of the shuttle launch. We're expecting some information soon and I'll have that ahead.

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