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American Morning

Deadline Day in Gaza; Relaxing Security

Aired August 16, 2005 - 08:59   ET

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

SOLEAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A developing story in the Middle East. Just hours until Jewish settlers must move out of Gaza. Emotions running high. Some 500 protesters arrested. The very latest from the region.
Watching damage reports from Japan after a powerful earthquake overnight. Buildings badly hurt, dozens of people as well. A live report from Tokyo is ahead.

And the federal rules for passengers who fly up in the air again. Will small knives and razorblades be allowed on planes? And why are some babies making the no-fly list? Does that look like the face of a terrorist?

Those stories 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.

O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello, in for Miles.

Also ahead, we'll look at the latest scandal for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

O'BRIEN: It involves allegations of an affair, also an alleged $20,000 payout to keep the story out of the tabloids. We'll give you more details on that coming up in just a little bit.

First, though, a look at the headlines with Kelly Wallace.

Good morning, again.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Soledad.

And good morning, everyone. Here are some of those stories "Now in the news."

A developing story out of Venezuela. A West Caribbean Airlines flight has crashed in a remote area of the country. No word if any of the 152 people on board survived. The MD-80 jet had left Panama and was heading for Martinique when the plane's pilot reported engine troubles and then lost contact.

A major earthquake strikes off the coast of northeastern Japan. That quake measuring 7.2 by the U.S. Geological Survey triggered a small tsunami and caused some damage. Officials are working to restore power to thousands of homes. There are also reports of some injuries.

To Iraq now. President Bush praising Iraqi lawmakers for their "heroic efforts" in drafting a new constitution, despite a missed deadline. Lawmakers now have an extra week to come up with a draft constitution. Among the issues still to be decided, the role of Islam in the new government.

And the California woman leading an anti-war protest near President Bush's Texas ranch is facing some more trouble at home. Her husband has filed for divorce.

Cindy Sheehan says the death of her son in Iraq has created stress that led to the separation from her husband. The couple has been married for nearly 30 years. Meantime, Sheehan is still waiting to meet with President Bush.

And an advocacy group for older Americans says wholesale prices are up on many brand-name prescription drugs. The AARP says drugmakers raised prices almost 7 percent this year. But a pharmaceutical group says the AARP is "using fuzzy math." So a disagreement there.

And the AARP can't really say why the costs have gone up, but is saying that the drugmakers can do more to bring prices down.

O'BRIEN: Always pushing for that from then. All right. Kelly, thanks.

WALLACE: Sure.

O'BRIEN: Just eight hours until all Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip have to be out. Those who are refusing to go, an estimated 5,000 or so, will likely have to be removed by force.

Again today, Israeli troops are fighting back protesters who are infiltrating the settlements. As many as 500 have been arrested.

CNN's Guy Raz has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUY RAZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At first light, the gate came crashing down. Police moved into Neveh Dekalim settlement to take control.

POLICE COMMANDER ELI LEVY, NEVEH DEKALIM, GAZA: They're going to do the mission. We can't fail. We must do the mission.

RAZ: Several dozen protesters gathered at the settlement's gate, praying for redemption from an evacuation they call a catastrophe. But prayer, at least on this day, is no match for police.

(on camera): The moving vehicles are now starting to come through. Any attempts to obstruct them are being easily dealt with by police. By the end of this day, the army estimates some 60 percent of the residents of this settlement will be gone.

(voice over): Senior army officers are now inside this settlement, conferring with police, making final preparations. Brigadier General Gershon Ha-Cohensays the process won't take very long.

BRIG. GEN. GERSHON HA-COHEN, NEVEH DEKALIM, GAZA: From this midnight we will begin. We still didn't decide which settlement first. We'll make our (INAUDIBLE) situation according to the result of these two days.

RAZ: The first to be removed likely these young demonstrators. A few of them residents of these settlements, many are waging psychological war on police.

"Here in this country, your country," this woman shouts at police, "are you proud? Will you be produced in the future?"

Elsewhere in this settlement, things are strangely normal: kids swimming, people wandering the streets like any other day. Resident Yael Fogel just watches life pass by from her porch.

YAEL FOGEL, NEVEH DEKALIM RESIDENT: We're not packing. We are not leaving. We believe in staying here.

RAZ: But the Israeli government has other plans.

Guy Raz, in Neveh Dekalim settlement, Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Settlers have until midnight, or 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, to get out before the Israeli troops begin forcing them out.

Palestinians have been wanting for decades to take control of the Gaza Strip. They finally get their chance now.

Ben Wedeman is in the Palestinian refugee camp of Khan Younis, which is in southern Gaza.

Ben, good morning to you. What's the Palestinian reaction today?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, there's two different kinds of reactions. One is -- one is the very -- excuse me. Now we've got the microphone up.

There's two kinds of reactions, really. One is the one you see off and on television. And we saw today in Khan Younis, when hundreds of supporters and members of the Islamic militant faction Hamas came out on the streets protesting, or rather holding, basically, a victory march on the edge of the area within sight of the Israeli -- rather, the Jewish settlement block of Gush Katif. There, you know, they had weapons, they had rocket-propelled grenades. This is really the militant side of Gaza, the Palestinians which you often see on TV.

What you don't see on TV is that ordinary Palestinians, the ones who aren't out in those demonstrations, really are relieved and happy about the impending Israeli pullout from Gaza. It's going to mean, for instance, they have access to essentially some of the best real estate in this area, that they'll be able to move around the Gaza Strip in ways that they haven't been before because of checkpoints and other hindrances.

So ordinary Palestinians, the ones, as I said, who aren't carrying the guns, are quietly happy and quietly celebrating the impending pullout -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Ben, what's been the role of the Palestinian security forces in all of this?

WEDEMAN: Basically, what they're trying to do is, from this side, prevent anybody, and that includes the usual militants, as well as their own members, or rather members of the fatah movement, which is affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, from doing anything that would in any way impede the pullout. In fact, for instance, this morning here Khan Younis, as we saw these hundreds of members of Hamas demonstrating with their weapons, very close, relatively close to the Jewish settlement, there were also several dozen Palestinian security there making sure that they didn't, when their rally was over, head towards the settlement but, rather, they went in the opposite direction.

So, basically what they're doing is trying to prevent any problems, because everybody wants to see this come off smoothly -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Ben Wedeman for us this morning. Ben, thanks -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Let's head down to Atlanta to check in with Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: We'll have more on Cindy Sheehan's protest outside of the president's Texas ranch. For more than a week, as you know, the White House has refused her demands to meet with the president. Is this a political mistake?

O'BRIEN: We'll take a look at that.

Also, controversy for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. We've got the latest on allegations on an affair and a payoff to cover it up.

COSTELLO: Plus, a baby whose name popped up on the government's no-fly list. Her mother talks about the hassle.

That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Are you confused about airport security, and, you know, you take off your shoes, or don't you, do you bring the pen knife, do you leave it home? Well, the answers to those questions could soon change. Government officials are going to meet later this month to talk about relaxing some of the rules.

Mary Snow has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Is it time toll allow airline passengers to carry some items banned in the wake of 9/11? The Transportation Security Administration thinks so. The spokesman says the agency is looking into easing restrictions on things like razor blades, scissors, knives under five inches, as well as lifting requirements for passengers to remove their shoes.

Also on the table, exempting groups like lawmakers and pilots from screening. A spokesman says the TSA is looking to update it's approach towards threats and be more consumer friendly.

"The process," he says, "is to stimulate creative thinking and challenge conventional beliefs. In the end it will allow us to work smarter and better as we secure America's transportation system."

Passengers have mixed feelings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is kind of a bad idea. You know? I mean, people want to feel safe on the airline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's pretty obvious that most senators are not going to turn out to be terrorists.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Swinging to the other end of the pendulum isn't the answer for me. Moderation, and common sense.

SNOW: Some security experts applaud the move, saying screeners are not being used most effectively.

RAPHAEL RON, NEW AGE SECURITY SOLUTIONS: And we should not waste our resources on our searches of people that they do not carry risk whatsoever. This is a waste of resources, it takes us -- it takes our focus away from where the problems are.

SNOW: Other security experts say easing security restrictions is a mistake.

GEORGE BAURIES, CRITERION STRATEGIES: To change regulations right in the midst of what we saw a couple weeks ago in London, it really does not make sense. And I don't think the American public would be pleased knowing that the only thing between an individual getting on an aircraft with a sharp-edged instrument would be the kind of sixth sense that an individual from TSA might have as they go through. SNOW (on camera): The debate over whether easing some security measures is a help or hazard is right now just debate. A spokesperson for the tsa says the agency will meet in the near future to consider the proposals.

Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I know what you're thinking. Another area that's been a frustrating problem for some parents is the no-fly list. It seems dozens of children have been stopped from boarding because their names are similar to those of possible terrorists.

Joining us this morning from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is Ingrid Sanden. Her little girl, who was 1 at the time, was almost denied a boarding pas because her name happened to be on that no-fly list.

Welcome.

INGRID SANDEN, DAUGHTER ON NO-FLY LIST: Hi. Thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: Well, we're glad you're here this morning. Ingrid, bring us through this. It was Thanksgiving...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the lady.

COSTELLO: It is the lady. It's the lady on AMERICAN MORNING. She's so cute.

This is her television debut. Anyway...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the lady.

SANDEN: ... at Thanksgiving, we were traveling from Phoenix to -- back to our home in suburban Washington through National Airport, and we -- my husband and I were able to get boarding passes through the kiosk. You know, you stand in line forever and then you get up to the kiosk. And we were able to get our boarding passes, but our daughter was not.

We didn't know if it was a technical glitch or something else, and we had to go up to the counter. And through different, I guess, avenues we found out that she was on the no-fly list, or is on the no- fly list.

COSTELLO: How long did it take you to figure that out? I mean, did anyone come up and just freely tell you that this was a problem?

SANDEN: Well, it took the airline employee kind of a long time to figure it out, actually. There was a lot of typing on the computer...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the lady! SANDEN: ... rushing around back and forth, and going in the back, and calling people. I don't know exactly what happened, but then she did come out and say that our daughter was on the no-fly list. And she sort of chuckled, but she just had to do her job. And we appreciated that.

COSTELLO: And I know it was -- I know it was worse for you when you were flying home, right? Because it happened again, didn't it?

SANDEN: Right. Well, actually, when we flew out to Phoenix, we encountered a glitch getting on our -- on the plane getting the boarding pass, but we didn't know what it was. We weren't aware that it was this no-fly list issue. And I'm not sure why they didn't tell us, or if they just overrode it, or what happened. But it was coming home that was the problem, and we kind of had this flash, this vision of being stuck in Phoenix indefinitely or something.

COSTELLO: And your daughter being held in question is a 1-year- old.

SANDEN: Yes. I kind of didn't know.

And we were a sight to see anyway, because we had all of this baby gear. We -- it was Thanksgiving, so we were standing in line forever. And I was hugely pregnant at the time, and it was just kind of -- I think it was just a funny sight, probably, to see.

COSTELLO: That constitutes a nightmare, Ingrid. The TSA says it has no idea the age of a passenger until it actually sees the passenger coming through. Does that surprise you?

SANDEN: It does actually surprise me, because we -- when a child uses -- buys a -- buys a ticket on an airline, if they're under 2, you don't have to buy a ticket. But we did because I was hugely pregnant and she's a big child. So we did buy her a ticket.

And we had to enter her name and do everything we needed to do, the same thing an adult needs -- an adult needs to do to buy a ticket. So it doesn't -- it doesn't -- I don't know how the no-fly list works, but it seems like they could streamline it a little bit, make it a little more human friendly.

COSTELLO: So does the no-fly list -- does the no-fly list make you feel safe?

SANDEN: That's an interesting question. I'm not sure if it makes me feel safe or if it's just kind of like -- looks like they're trying to do something and maybe it's working, but I'm not sure if it actually does work. But...

COSTELLO: She's getting impatient.

SANDEN: It's OK, honey.

COSTELLO: So one more question, I promise.

SANDEN: Sure. Sure.

COSTELLO: The TSA says you can simply call them and say, "Hey, can you take my daughter's name off the no-fly list?" Have you done that?

SANDEN: I haven't done that yet. I plan on doing that. And actually, the airline employee that helped us gave me a sheet that has the address and phone number of the TSA on it, and said that we could do that. And, of course, at that time, I was just interested in getting on the plane. And then I had this baby early, and it just wasn't on the top of my priority list.

But of course we're going to do that. We're going to do that soon. Probably before we travel again.

COSTELLO: OK. I'm going to let you go, because I totally understand. Ingrid, thank you for joining us on AMERICAN MORNING.

SANDEN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: If you have questions or concerns about the no-fly list, you can go to tsa.gov and you can get more information there.

O'BRIEN: Just think, with a baby on her lap, you could see what she was dealing with going through the airport. Baby, stroller, they're like, "You, in security."

COSTELLO: And she's pregnant.

O'BRIEN: Oh, the last thing you want to hear.

COSTELLO: I know.

O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning, a possible political scandal for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Allegations of hush money to cover up an affair. We'll take a look at that up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: More trouble is brewing for California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now reports that the publisher of "The National Enquirer" and the same publisher of a variety of muscle and fitness magazines paid a woman $20,000 to keep an alleged affair with Schwarzenegger quiet.

Donna Tetrault has details for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONNA TETRAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): California's governor is once again finding himself the focus of unwanted attention. A book by biographer Lawrence Leamer details an alleged deal for Gigi Goyette, a longtime friend of Schwarzenegger, that Leamer says was for her to keep quiet about a relationship with the now governor of California. Prior to the election, he says Goyette was paid thousands by the tabloid publisher American Media to keep quiet about an alleged affair.

LAURENCE LEAMER, BIOGRAPHER: She definitely told me she was paid. She was given a wire transfer for $20,000. And I've seen the contract. I have a copy of the contract. It explicitly says it's $20,000. It explicitly says that she's never to talk about her relationship with Arnold Schwarzenegger to anybody else.

TETRAULT: Goyette denies the affair. She says she and Schwarzenegger were nothing but friend and co-workers. But she does admit to the payment.

GIGI GOYETTE, AT CENTER OF RUMORS: I didn't really feel I was being bought to be quiet. I just basically -- they were saying to me, "Let's not talk about anything until after the election. It's a sensitive time right now."

TETRAULT: When Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for the governor's office on the Jay Leno show, he predicted a tough road ahead.

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: And I know they're going to throw everything at me. And they're going to, you know, say that I have no experience that I'm a womanizer, and I'm a terrible -- a terrible guy, and all of these kind of things are going to come my way.

TETRAULT: In 2001, American Media reported in its "National Enquirer" magazine that Goyette had a seven-year-long affair with Schwarzenegger. Several phone calls to the company have gone unreturned.

The governor had this to say about the allegations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did they cover up an alleged affair?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Not that I know of. You have to ask them. I have nothing to do with that.

TETRAULT: Donna Tetrault, for CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Joining us this morning is Laurence Leamer. His book, "Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger," details the alleged deal with Gigi Goyette.

Nice to see you, Laurence. Thanks for talking with us this morning.

LEAMER: Thanks for having me.

O'BRIEN: Take us back to the original "National Enquirer" article which was written in 2001. They gave details of an affair, and it was an article written with an interview with Gigi Goyette. What happened after that? LEAMER: Yes, well, they paid her $20,000 for that, and it was explosive article that alleged that she was Governor Schwarzenegger's mistress, or had been, and that was one of the reasons he immediately after that time backed away from running for governor in 2002. And the "National Enquirer" said in its pages that, if he would run, they had other stories that they had -- were prepared to write about him.

O'BRIEN: Two years later, she has another meeting with the writer from the first article, 2001. What happens that time around?

LEAMER: Well, this is right after Arnold Schwarzenegger announces he's running for governor. And a few weeks after he had a meeting with David Pecker, the CEO of American Media, where they discussed what kinds of arrangements he'd have with that company that owned a body-building magazines and wanted Schwarzenegger to be executive editor -- so at this meeting, three days after he announces, Gigi Goyette is given $20,000 supposedly for her story, and she signs a contract which says she can never talk about her relationship with Schwarzenegger again, except to -- except to the "National Enquirer" and American Media. And nothing ever appears.

O'BRIEN: You talked to her. What did she think that payment was for?

LEAMER: Well, she says she was told that originally it was for her to be quiet just during the campaign. And she says that when she finally received the contract it had changed. The page had been changed, and it said that she would never, never be able to talk about him again.

O'BRIEN: The polls show dissatisfaction, certainly by the voters in California. I think his approval rating was 65 percent. It's now drooped to 34 percent. Do you think this individual story dooms any hopes that he has for re-election? Or is that overstating it?

LEAMER: No. I mean, listen, this man can come back again.

This election, it's going to be strong (ph), his initiatives. He's got millions and millions of dollars of campaign money. He's a brilliant speaker. He will come back.

But whether he ever can be that (INAUDIBLE) reformer, that positive optimistic figure that most of Californians celebrated, that's kind of doubtful.

O'BRIEN: Laurence Leamer. His book is called "Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Nice to see you, Laurence. Thanks for talking with us.

LEAMER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, military mom Cindy Sheehan is still staked out near President Bush's Texas ranch. Is her protest hurting the president on more than just the Iraq issue?

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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