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American Morning

Discovery Dilemma; Ohio Mourns; Journalist Remembered; Cub Fans

Aired August 04, 2005 - 07:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It's just about half past this -- well, it's actually precisely half-past the hour, in case you're keeping score at home, on this AMERICAN MORNING. Coming up, a really tough day for the military. More American losses in Iraq. Three soldiers from Task Force Baghdad and a Marine in Ramadi fall after a terrible day yesterday.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And, in fact, 21 Marines died earlier this week. Nineteen of them were from Ohio. Behind those numbers, huge loss, devastated family members, grieving friends. This morning, we're going to talk to a mother and a father whose son died in the recent violence in Iraq. They're going to tell us about 23- year-old Lance Corporal Edward Schroeder and talk a little about him and their loss now. That's ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: Right now let's check the headlines. Carol Costello with that.

Good morning -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News."

They're on extra high alert in London today. Police in full force around the city subways and busses. It's now been four weeks since the first wave of bombings on the transportation system there. The first man charged in connection with the second wave of attacks two weeks ago made a brief court appearance today. Ishmael Abduram (ph) is accused of withholding information about the failed July 21 bombings. He will remain in custody.

We are expected to hear from authorities in Toronto again this morning about Tuesday's Air France crash landing. Officials say it's too early to know if bad weather caused the plane to skid into a ravine before it burst into flames. All 309 passengers and crew escaped unharmed. Airport officials say the plane had enough fuel to land at another airport with better weather. It's not clear why the pilot chose to land in a storm. The flight data and voice recorders could provide more clues.

Another curveball thrown at Rafael Palmeiro.. Just days after testing positive for steroids, the Associated Press is reporting that the House Government Reform Committee will look into whether the Orioles first baseman committed perjury. Palmeiro told Congress back in March that he never took steroids. Now the committee wants the documents explaining those test results. Palmeiro, who is sitting out 10 games, says he will cooperate.

And Tropical Storm Harvey is brushing past Bermuda right now. The National Hurricane Center expects the system to move out over the Atlantic later this morning. Tropical warnings are still in effect in Bermuda with one to two inches of rain. But let's head to the expert.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: NASA engineers are trying to decide if yet another spacewalk is needed to perform yet another repair to the orbiter Discovery. That's a close-up shot of a thermal blanket outside one of the cockpit windows. A little bit of damage there. A little puffed out. I think that is the engineering term, puffed out. Tattered blankie. There is a concern it could tear off and hit the orbiter on re-entry, though.

Astronaut Mike Fincke, veteran of four spacewalks, space station crew member at one point. He joins us from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Mike, good to have you with us.

MIKE FINCKE, NASA ASTRONAUT: Good morning, Miles. Glad to be here.

M. O'BRIEN: What's the concern about the tattered blanket?

FINCKE: Well, Miles, the concern is not so much -- even though it's part of the thermal protection system, it's really not the concern of thermal issues. In other words, we're completely not worried that this will have any effect on our heating. This is a cooler part of the space shuttle during re-entry. It's not like the belly, which, you know, receives most of the heat load.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it still has to...

FINCKE: So, we're not worried about this...

M. O'BRIEN: Wait a minute, Mike. Let's get that point cleared up first, for folks. It still has a blanket there. The blanket must be there for a reason. If it's not there, it's not a problem?

FINCKE: Well, if it's not there it's not a big problem. We would like to have it there. But if it's not there, we're not worried about it, because there's extra layers underneath of other things. And we're not going to melt any metal, because it doesn't get very hot there.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

FINCKE: So, it's good to have the blanket, but if we don't, it's all right. But what we're worried about, Miles, is that the blanket is going to come apart during the re-entry, and pieces of it are going to fly back and hit things behind it, maybe the tail or the orbiter -- orbital maneuvering system, the ohms pods behind there near the engines, and damage the space shuttle further.

And so, what we've done overnight is analyses in wind tunnels to see what's going to happen. You know, first, is it going to tatter and pieces are going to come off? And if they do, is it a danger? And so that's really the problem, the answers that we're looking for today and see what the engineers came up with overnight.

M. O'BRIEN: What are the early indications? Do you have any idea of how those wind test runs did?

FINCKE: No. And I just have complete confidence that the folks at the Ames Research Center have done a great job with their wind tunnels, and we'll see what they came up with.

M. O'BRIEN: And we're talking about just something that has very little mass, just a few ounces. Could it really cause significant damage?

FINCKE: It has the potential, because it will be coming in -- you know, we're worried about the region of somewhere around Mach six, Mach eight. And that's a lot of kinetic energy. So, we're taking the conservative approach, you know, this post-Columbia mindset, to really prove that it won't hurt us, as opposed to just assuming that it won't.

M. O'BRIEN: The crew, I was talking to some reporters this morning, and, of course, they're still a little bit giddy about the success of Steve Robinson's spacewalk. I think we have a quick comment from Eileen Collins on what their reaction was. Let's listen for a moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EILEEN COLLINS, SHUTTLE COMMANDER: The whole crew had studied the procedure very, very thoroughly the day before, and we felt like we were very prepared. But we were watching with anticipation and excitement. And I was -- when I saw Steve pull the gap filler out, I started clapping, and we were cheering in the flight deck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Mike Fincke, I don't know where you were, but were you clapping, too?

FINCKE: I was clapping, too. Boy, weren't those some great video pictures that we had from Steve Robinson? We were all in his boots with him as he plucked the gap filler out. And that just goes to show that it's really good to have humans in space, because we are flexible. We can do these contingencies, these unplanned maneuvers, even with just a little bit of training, some information from the ground. And, boy, that crew did a great job.

M. O'BRIEN: All of the technology in the world, and it came down to the opposable thumb. Mike Fincke, thanks a lot. Good to have you with us -- Soledad.

FINCKE: Thanks, Miles. Take care.

S. O'BRIEN: It has been a particularly deadly period for U.S. forces in Iraq; 27 service members killed in combat since just Sunday. Those losses perhaps are most deeply felt in Ohio. A battalion based there lost 19 of its members.

Joining us this morning from Brook Park in Ohio, Rosemary Palmer and Paul Schroeder. Their son, 23-year-old Lance Corporal Edward Schroeder, was among those who died in a roadside bombing on Wednesday.

I thank you both for talking to us. It is utterly heartbreaking, and we appreciate your time. I want you to tell me a little about Edward, who I know you call Auggie (ph). He's incredibly young. Was it his dream to be a Marine?

ROSEMARY PALMER, SON KILLED IN IRAQ: Not necessarily to be a Marine. But he liked serving his family and his community.

PAUL SCHROEDER, SON KILLED IN IRAQ: He was -- his public service goes back to his days in high school when he passed the New Jersey state emergency medical training test and became an EMT after his junior year of high school. So, he was riding ambulances and helping people in West Orange, New York, his senior year.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow! It really is...

PALMER: Well, part of the...

S. O'BRIEN: Go ahead, Rosemary. I'm sorry for interrupting you.

PALMER: I was just going to say that the thing about the Marines is they are considered the most rigorous. And the thing has always been if you pass the Marine basic training, it's like a mark of passing into manhood. So that's why he chose the Marines.

S. O'BRIEN: He always set a high bar for himself, it sounds like. He was activated, I know, in January. And then in March, he was sent off to Iraq. Did you get a chance to talk to him fairly regularly or e-mail back and forth?

SCHROEDER: Well, his e-mails were usually cryptic. He's not a writer. And they were one or two sentences. A couple were a little longer. His phone -- he would prefer to talk on the phone. And we -- I would think, since he was in Iraq, we might have gotten about 8 to 10 phone calls. Most of those were short.

S. O'BRIEN: I had read, Rosemary, that he was involved in half- a-dozen operations, Matador and Spear and Sword, many that we've talked about certainly at CNN. Did he feel like he was making a difference in clearing out the insurgents and helping the Iraqi people?

PALMER: Well, he liked helping the Iraqi people, because he said when he first got there that they were so kind and so polite. And he really felt bad about having to go through and search all of their things. But as the time went on, he started saying, you know, look, we're just redoing. And he did mention that the closer it came to the time to go home, the less he felt that it was worth what they were doing.

S. O'BRIEN: Because the insurgency kept rearing its head again and again and again?

SCHROEDER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Is that what you mean?

SCHROEDER: Every operation would be a week or two out in the field at some loss of life, or at least wounded. And they would leave, and then the insurgents would come back. And, obviously, they were back in Haditha, which was supposedly cleared out in Operation New Market in early June. The insurgents were back in Haditha yesterday. And his vehicle, unfortunately, hit -- struck a roadside bomb. So, his comment to us about it was becoming less and less worthwhile, I think -- I took to mean that he was seeing that this was a bit fruitless.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, we certainly appreciate you talking to us about your son, Auggie Schroeder (ph), who died in Iraq, along with many of the young men in his battalion as well. Rosemary Palmer, Paul Schroeder joining us from Ohio this morning. Thanks.

SCHROEDER: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Among the American deaths in Iraq this week was a freelance journalist, Steven Vincent. Vincent was abducted and shot in Basra. He recently published an op-ed in "The New York Times" about the rise of Islamic militants in the predominately Shiite Iraq city. Now some say Vincent's death may have been payback for that work.

CNN's Kelly Wallace with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Inside this New York City apartment, a wife mourns the loss of her husband of 13 years, author and freelance reporter Steven Vincent, killed in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. In a note asking for privacy, Lisa Ramassi Vincent (ph) described her husband as "A brave, moral and decent man, murdered for doing what he loved."

Michael Carter, a neighbor, says he's known Vincent for about 15 to 20 years.

MICHAEL CARTER, NEIGHBOR: This very tragic thing that's happened with regard to Iraq and with regard to our country has been brought to our door here on 11th Street.

WALLACE (on camera): Vincent wrote about art and culture a world away from the brutality of war. That was, until he witnessed the September 11 attacks from the roof of his building.

MITCHELL MUNCY, PUBLISHER OF VINCENT'S BOOK: He actually saw the second plane strike the south tower of the World Trade Center. And, as he says in his book and as he told me more than once, you know, that affected him deeply. And afterwards, he felt that he really had to do something personally himself to combat religious extremism and Islamic fascism, and to help in some way with the war on terror.

WALLACE (voice over): Vincent paid his own way to Iraq and filed stories, which later were published in a book titled "In The Red Zone." Months later, he returned to write a book about the history of Basra.

In an opinion piece in this past Sunday's "New York Times," he described the rise of Shia Islamic fundamentalism in the British- patrolled city. He wrote about widespread rumors that a few police officers were perpetrating many of the hundreds of assassinations of political enemies.

Days later, Vincent and his Iraqi translator are kidnapped by four gunmen. Vincent is shot and killed. His translator is also shot but survives. Was it retribution?

MUNCY: The speculation is that, indeed, they had been angered by his "New York Times" article on Sunday, and had decided to take revenge on him now that they knew of his presence in the city.

WALLACE: In his frequent blogs from Basra, Vincent wrote about his hopes, those words perhaps a comfort to his family at this tragic time. From the ashes of the World Trade Center to dusty palm groves of the "Sunni triangle to places yet to come," he wrote, "Americans -- soldiers and civilians alike -- are making the same sacrifice for the cause of freedom. And, God willing, we shall prevail."

Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, at least 52 journalists have been killed in that country -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, we are "Minding Your Business." One car company makes a huge push to get you behind the wheel of a hybrid. A look at that's up next on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Toyota is debating ramping-up its entire lineup. The question is: Will it help the environment? The man with the answers, Andy Serwer.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: A keen environmentalist, I am on this point. M. O'BRIEN: Mr. Green, we'll call you.

SERWER: Yes. Let's talk about the markets a little bit here first off. Yesterday, a quiescent session and a bit mixed as well. The Dow was up...

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, good word.

SERWER: Thank you. Thank you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: I like that word, quiescent, yes.

SERWER: The Nasdaq down, slipping a little bit; this, even with the price of oil down sharply from $62 to $60. Time Warner stock hurting the markets a little bit, the sentiment.

OPEC production soaring now at a 26-year high. That's right. The month of July, best in terms of output since December of 1979. The Iraqi oil production is getting back on-stream, and also more from the United Arab Emirates, 30 million barrels a day. Of course, a lot of that's been made up in the intervening years from the North Sea and other places as well. We want to talk about...

M. O'BRIEN: Wait a minute. Supply and demand would tell you. More supply, lower prices.

SERWER: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: Just too much demand, huh?

SERWER: Too much demand, China and the United States, and the problems of the refineries here in terms of gasoline prices. They're working full tilt.

I want to talk about that new Toyota situation.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, yes.

SERWER: The company coming out and saying that it hopes by the beginning of the next decade to be selling 25 percent of its cars would be hybrids in the United States. It hopes to sell 600,000 hybrids a year in the U.S. And that is a big goal, Miles, because last year they only sold 54,000. They hope to do 100,000 this year. And, of course, Toyota is well ahead of U.S. automakers in terms of producing and selling hybrids. And, yes, hybrids would be better for the environment than traditional engines.

M. O'BRIEN: You know -- all right. Well, we're out of time. But they are so much more expensive, though, when you really do the math on it.

SERWER: They are.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

SERWER: And so, it's a cost/benefit analysis, economists say, for consumers.

M. O'BRIEN: Supply and demand, cost/benefit analysis, a little economics tutorial this morning.

SERWER: Indeed.

M. O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer, thank you, sir.

SERWER: You're welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, we're following up on that very special delivery at the National Zoo. We're going to talk to the vet who gave that baby panda -- oh, he's so cute -- his very first checkup. So, is this little baby out of the woods yet? A look at that's ahead.

First, though, here's a question for you. How does a panda communicate that it's upset? It, (a), chirps, (b), honks, (c), wheezes, (d), calls his agent. No, I'm kidding about that one. It's either (a), (b) or (c). Which is it? We're going to have the answer right after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Here's the question we asked you before the break. How does a panda communicate that it's upset? The answer is (b). That panda will honk, like drivers everywhere. Also communicating.

M. O'BRIEN: I didn't know they could drive. Interesting.

S. O'BRIEN: So what exactly is black and white and red about all over? I gave this joke to my kids yesterday. Two baby pandas born on the opposite sides of the U.S., the latest panda coming into the world just two days ago. That was at the San Diego Zoo. There's the newborn there weighing just 4 ounces, in the yellow box under the momma's chin. I can't -- maybe my eyes are...

M. O'BRIEN: No, they're holding him. They're holding him.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. But here, now, this is the National Zoo picture. We looked at that yesterday. This is the examination of the new baby panda. That happened a little bit earlier this week. We told you, it's a boy.

Dr. Sharon Deem took part in the investigation. She's going to tell us about this little guy.

I should say, Dr. Deem, you think it's a boy, right? Ninety-nine percent sure it's a boy? Why aren't you 100 percent sure it's a boy?

DR. SHARON DEEM, NATIONAL ZOO VETERINARIAN: We're actually going to go with 99.9 percent sure. And the question's a little bit trickier than you might think. But basically we're looking under the tail at the genital region to see the subtle differences between a boy and a girl. You have to remember, these babies are born really, really immature.

S. O'BRIEN: And teeny, tiny. When we tried to see the first pictures at the birth, they were describing it as like a little stick of butter. There he is now, three-and-a-half weeks in. You did the examination. How's he doing?

DEEM: He's doing great. Our exam was a couple days ago. And what we have is a sturdy, little boy with -- sounding good. Everything just checked out just fine. And mom took him back just fine. And he seems like a healthy little bundle right now.

S. O'BRIEN: How long before he's completely out of the woods?

DEEM: That's -- an out-of-the-wood question is kind of not a good one. We all...

S. O'BRIEN: Whoops, sorry.

DEEM: We're always a little bit concerned about the health of any of our animals. But every day that goes by, we just feel more and more comfortable.

S. O'BRIEN: Isn't it true, though, you won't name -- the tradition is not to name the baby panda until 100 days when it seems that they're sort of on their way to being fine and big and healthy?

DEEM: Yes, that's definitely correct. So, we are going with the tradition. And at 100 days, we're going to get a name for this little guy.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, we showed everybody the panda cam, which last time I looked at it on your Web site -- yes, it's kind of upside down. She was sort of rolling around. Here she is picking up the baby. And then she sort of -- this is the momma. And then she kind of rolls around and sits on her head. Tell me how you sort of tricked her into getting out of there while you did the exam? Because I know the momma panda would not put up with that and be there at the same time?

DEEM: Right. And the whole reason we waited until he was about 3-and-a-half weeks old was to make sure Mei Xiang wanted to leave the den area and go eat something. And so, once we were comfortable that she was going to be away for a few minutes, that's when we put our hands on the little guy. So, really it's up to her, and she was really comfortable during the exam.

S. O'BRIEN: So she was fine. We talked about it yesterday as the old bamboo tree trick, where you kind of lure her out with some bamboo, slam the door, so you can check out the baby pretty quickly. Was she fine, the mother fine with that while that exam was going on or being away from the baby?

DEEM: She was definitely fine. She actually -- we leave bamboo out, and she had moved out on her own. And then we shut the door. And we had seen for the first few minutes she was eating fine. And when we had the baby, we had a good few minutes while she was still kind of busy doing her thing. And then we noticed that she was interested in the den where she had left him. And that's why, you know, we did a good exam in a short amount of time, and thought, let's get him back so mom can go back in the den and just check him out.

S. O'BRIEN: And then everybody can be sort of happy and relaxed again.

DEEM: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: How long before you have to try to do another exam? How often would you like to be able to check out the baby and make sure he's growing OK?

DEEM: Right. That's a great question. We really don't have a set time. And, again, it's going to be up to the Mei Xiang a bit when she wants us to go back in. We'd love to get a look at this guy every week to three weeks, and just make sure things are moving along. But as you know, we can watch him 24/7 on this Web cam. So we get a good idea of his health just by watching how they interact.

S. O'BRIEN: Everybody, in fact, can watch him on the Web cam, we should mention.

DEEM: That's right.

S. O'BRIEN: Sharon Deem is a vet over at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.. Thanks for talking with us.

DEEM: Thanks a lot.

S. O'BRIEN: Congratulations on the health of the little fellow. He looks cute.

DEEM: Thanks again.

M. O'BRIEN: Did you check it this morning, the panda cam?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: It was so cute. She was kind of sleeping. I thought she was sleeping. And all of a sudden, the minute I was on there, she woke up. She kind of picked her up and cuddled her and then kind of turned over.

S. O'BRIEN: She did nothing cute when I was looking at it. She stood on her head.

M. O'BRIEN: I picked a perfect time.

S. O'BRIEN: And I was like which part is the panda?

M. O'BRIEN: I hit the panda cam primetime. It was great. All right. So definitely check it out.

S. O'BRIEN: It's cute.

M. O'BRIEN: You never know what you're going to see. Just leave it on all day. You never know.

In a moment -- but keep watching CNN, too. In a moment, we go from pandas to puppies.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh!

M. O'BRIEN: It's animal day. How the world's first cloned dog could lead to medical breakthroughs for people. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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