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Trip Number Eight to Gulf Coast Region for President Bush; Nine-Year-Old Swims Treacherous Waters from Alcatraz to San Francisco

Aired October 11, 2005 - 09:31   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody.
Half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That's a pretty shot of the Hudson River there on this gray day. Let's talk about what's going on with this earthquake in the wake of it, tremendous logistical issues just trying to get there. I mean, it's interesting, you know, here you've got five million people without homes. They can't even fly the helicopters in because of bad weather. It's just tremendous problems facing them. On a good day, difficult to get into the Hindu Kush Mountains, but the airlift is very problematic. We'll talk to one of the men overseeing the relief efforts in the region get a sense there of how they're coping with all of this.

S. O'BRIEN: In some cases, whether it's the weather immediately or the upcoming weather, it's going to be a huge problem for them down the road. We're going to talk about that as well this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: You have people who are afraid to go inside. They're living outside in tents.

S. O'BRIEN: Understandably. The aftershocks have been 6.2s.

I wouldn't go inside if there was a safe structure, I wouldn't be there. All right, we're going to do that, and also we're going to talk about the president today, trip number eight. Trip number eight to the Gulf Coast region. He's expected to arrive in just a few moments for the reopening of an elementary school, Pass Christian, Mississippi, second day of the visit, and Katrina, of course, now six weeks ago. Boy, time has gone by. In a way it seems like it's been even longer than that.

AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken live at the White House with more on what the president is doing there on this eighth trip.

Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And of course an irony that the president is going to a region so devastated by natural disasters, while in other parts of the world it's just beginning that very painful process. The president is trying to convey a note of optimism. We see him touring the gulf coast. He stayed not on a ship this time in New Orleans, but at a very fancy hotel and ate at a restaurant there.

And then we saw him this morning in Covington, Louisiana. He's the one in the hard hat. President Bush participating in the raising of a new roam. They used to call that raising. That is to say, building a new home for one of the residents there. That being conducted under the auspices of Habitat for Humanity.

The president is expected in just a couple of minutes to appear at that newly reopening elementary school in Mississippi, along the Gulf Coast. Again, the message that things are beginning to come back. Things are beginning to come back in that region. As the president in an interview this morning on "The Today Show," that it will not be up to the federal government to mandate the local officials, how they planned to do it, but just to offer support. Of course there's been widespread criticism and there continues to be about the federal government. Then he'll finish his tour and come back to Washington, and the big buzzsaw of issues that awaits him here -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, the contractor-in-chief there. The shot you just saw, the one without the hard hat. In any case, I'm glad he's got all his OSHA-approved safety equipment nearby after all.

Bob Franken, thank you very much.

We plan to bring you the president's visit to that elementary school as soon as it happens. In the meantime, we will press on. Carol Costello is here with the headlines.

Good morning, Carol.

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

Now in the news, at least 57 terror suspects are now in U.S. and Iraqi custody, the detainees rounded up earlier in a serious of searches in Baghdad. In the meantime, dozens of people killed in a series of attacks throughout Iraq. The violence just days before a scheduled vote on a new constitution. One of the votes taking place in Talafar, near the Syrian border, at least 20 people killed in that incident.

An American student suspected of plotted to assassinate President Bush is set to appear in court today. Ahmed Abu Ali planning to bring al Qaeda members into the United States through Mexico, with the intention of committing acts of terrorism. Ali denies the claim. His lawyers allege he was tortured during a 20-month detention in Saudi Arabia. Ali himself is expected to testify at some point during the trial.

Newly released documents are giving fresh insight into the relationship between President Bush and his Supreme Court pick Harriet Miers. The Texas documents reportedly include a note to the president back in 1997 calling him, quote, "the best governor ever." Another note thanks Miers for her friendship and, quote, "sage advice." Miers was part of the Texas government from 1995 to 2000. She was chair of the Lottery Commission.

And it looks like JetBlue Airlines is stretching its wings. The New York-based carrier plans to ad 52-weekday departures starting next month. The first part of the expansion plan is shuttle service between JFK and Boston. The airline is also planning to add service to Richmond, Virginia and to Austin, Texas.

Back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: Growing, growing, growing.

All right, Carol, thanks.

Humanitarian aid starting to reach some of the hardest-hit areas in Pakistan. That 7.6 quake on Saturday devastated the region and more than 42,000 people are reported dead. That number could rise. As many as five million people are homeless, and they are desperate for help.

Bob Mckerrow oversees International Red Cross Operations in South Asia. He's on the phone with us from Islamabad. Thank you for talking with us. First of all, I know that it's raining in Islamabad. How has that affected what you're able to do in getting help out to the people who need it?

BOB MCKERROW, INTL. FED. OF RED CROSS: Well, we (INAUDIBLE) a few hours ago, with vital relief supplies, including some blood for hospitals in the affected areas. I mean, some of the roads are just being reopened, and this rain is not going help at all and the possibility of further landslides blocking roads is a threat every minute of the day.

S. O'BRIEN: Are the relief workers still trying to rescue people, or do you believe that this has with the devastation really moved into recovery?

MCKERROW: Well, no. I -- having worked in many earthquakes you can still keep hope for five to seven days, but it is cold and it is (INAUDIBLE).

But rescue teams are still digging. One or two people have come out alive, and there has to be hope. We're moving in, I mean, simultaneously, we're moving into a significant relief stage now, and we're scaling up significantly.

S. O'BRIEN: What do people need, and what's your priority here with so many needs?

It sounds as if we have lost our phone connection. We should mention that we were talking to Bob Mckerrow by phone because they're having the bad weather that he referred to in Islamabad. We're going to see if we can re-establish that connection.

As we mentioned, 42,000 people reported dead in this terrible, terrible earthquake. One of the biggest problems is getting relief supplies to some of the people, the five million who've now been displaced from their homes -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, Johnny Wilson has escaped from the rock. The 9-year-old, one of the youngest ever to swim the treacherous waters from Alcatraz to San Francisco. You've seen that movie "Escape From Alcatraz." Yes, you know that one, right? And that happened back in 1962, the real escape, Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Englund (ph) some would say made it. We're going to ask Johnny right now if he thinks they did. Johnny and his coach Rick Murray are in San Francisco now.

Johnny, swam it, by the way at the tender age of nine to raise money.

Johnny, first of all, great job. Great job. The water temperature, what, about 58 degrees or so?

JOHNNY WILSON, 9-YEAR-OLD SWIMMER: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Yikes!

Of course, you had a wetsuit on, that helped right?

WILSON: Yes, it was a lot warmer with the wet suit.

M. O'BRIEN: Which is pretty crucial.

WILSON: And you swam about a mile and a half or so? is that it?

WILSON: Yes, 1.4.

M. O'BRIEN: OK, and the whole idea was to raise some money. Tell us how you got this idea.

WILSON: Well, I was running for treasurer at my school, and I thought that if I got elected I could do some fund-raisers for the Katrina victims, but I didn't get elected and I thought I could use the idea for the swim from Alcatraz.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, you don't need to be the treasurer to raise the money. And so Katrina victims were on your mind. You went around, and you said, I'm going swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco, and everybody said, oh, right, Johnny, sure. I assume they got a few people who said, that's kind of nuts, right?

WILSON: Yes, especially my dad.

M. O'BRIEN: Tell me what dad said about this.

WILSON: He thought it was crazy.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes?

WILSON: But then after I was training for a while, he said, OK, but you can only do it if Mr. Murray says he thinks you're ready for it.

M. O'BRIEN: OK, and let's bring in Mr. Murray, Johnny's coach, Rick Murray.

What did -- when Johnny came to you with this idea, what did you say, great idea, or did you have a similar reaction like, I'm not so sure about this?

RICK MURRAY, SWIM COACH: No, I met Johnny about a year or so ago and recognized right away he had two great things, a great swimming technique and a stroke and a lot of inner heart and desire. And I've been swimming in the Bay for many, many years with my friends here in San Francisco, and I thought Johnny could do this, and we talked a lot.

It evolved, we talked about it, we did the proper training, combining sprinting and strength training and a lot of endurance training. And we never would have attempted this if anyone thought Johnny couldn't do it. But we planted the seed in his mind and he grabbed the torch and swam with it, and just did a great job yesterday and everyone's very proud of him.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it must be hard swimming with that torch, though, huh? Now, give me a sense, though, how treacherous these waters are. There's much made of the temperature. For example, are sharks are a concern? And I know you were in the kayak right nearby. Were you watching out for that kind of thing?

MURRAY: Well, you know, everyone talks about the shark-infested waters of San Francisco Bay. There are a lot of recreational swimmers here that swim year round. And from what we understand, there's never been a shark attack inside the Golden Gate Bridge. So we weren't too concerned about that.

The currents can be very tricky, and you have to be very careful in picking the right day, the proper tide. And we had great conditions yesterday and we had some great kayakers and pilots that led us into the shore. And -- but it can be tricky. It's 1.4 miles, which is not a short distance. And especially in open water conditions, safety is the main concern. And we were prepared for that yesterday, and this young man came through like a real champ.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. We're so impressed, Johnny. You've got to tell me, you know, what was going through your mind as you're swimming this? Did you think -- at any point, did you think I'm not going make it or were you determined the whole way?

WILSON: I was -- I just kept on telling myself to keep on going, and I was almost there. But at the beginning, I was pretty scared and nervous.

M. O'BRIEN: I bet you were. It's sort of like "Finding Nemo" -- what is it, you know? Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. Right? Is that what you're thinking?

WILSON: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Once you got the butterflies over with, though, you felt strong in the water? WILSON: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, big question. Would you ever do this again?

WILSON: What?

M. O'BRIEN: Would you do it again?

WILSON: I don't know.

MURRAY: He's not so sure.

M. O'BRIEN: I think this is probably not the best day to ask. All right, Johnny Wilson, 9-year-old swimmer, great job out there. Rick Murray, thanks for...

MURRAY: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: ... egging him on a little bit and helping him out.

S. O'BRIEN: How much money did they raise?

M. O'BRIEN: What's that?

S. O'BRIEN: How much money did they raise?

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, did I forget to mention that?

S. O'BRIEN: No, no, you said $30,000?

M. O'BRIEN: $30,000.

S. O'BRIEN: Aren't they sorry that he's not the treasurer of that school, Johnny?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, kids, you blew it. They blew it, didn't they?

S. O'BRIEN: They got the last laugh.

MURRAY: If I could just say, Johnny's got a great Web site called johnnysalcatraz swim.org. J-O-H-N-N-Y-S, alcatrazswim.org. And if Johnny's achievement yesterday resonates with any people out there that want to contribute some money for some of the folks in the Gulf Coast, it's a great Web site and, hopefully, people will be inspired to go out there and do great things in their own life by what this young man did yesterday. It was a tremendous achievement, and hopefully, whatever recognition we're gaining from this can help raise money for folks that can really use the help down there on the Gulf Coast.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, we'll check out that Web site.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm checking out. I'm going to chip in. And I hope you all do. We'll get that Web site up on the screen in just a little bit. I'm glad you got that in there, Rick.

S. O'BRIEN: What a cute kid, huh?

M. O'BRIEN: I apologize for not getting to that sooner. Congratulations, Johnny and Rick, great job. Great to meet you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: That was great.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will stop by. He'll have some tips on becoming a better NASCAR driver.

S. O'BRIEN: No. Becoming a better driver by looking at the people who drive for NASCAR.

M. O'BRIEN: I was thinking about driving like a NASCAR driver would be good. That's not good?

S. O'BRIEN: No, that would be bad.

M. O'BRIEN: No, no. You'd need some friends in uniform, wouldn't you?

S. O'BRIEN: Two hundred miles an hour, yes. You want a lot of open road for that. Also ahead, we're "Minding Your Business." Is America suffering from too much Martha? Martha, Martha, Martha! We'll take a look at her next newest project.

M. O'BRIEN: So what we're going to do is give them more Martha, as we test the question.

S. O'BRIEN: As an antidote. That's ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, clearly, they have a need for speed, but NASCAR drivers are also tested by the rigors of everyday driving. All this week, Dr. Sanjay Gupta's been looking at the physical demands on NASCAR drivers. And this morning, we get some driving tips from a pro.

Sanjay's at the CNN Center this morning. Sanjay, OK, I've never had an accident, but I definitely need some driving tips from a pro. Good morning.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Soledad, a lot of people do. And who better to give those driving tips than professional racecar drivers? NASCAR drivers reach speeds of up to 200 miles an hour, often in bumper-to-bumper traffic. But how does that really compare to driving on the highway?

Well, we decided to ask NASCAR phenom Carl Edwards.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): Carl Edwards says there are times when he feels safer on NASCAR tracks than on the highway. CARL EDWARDS, NASCAR DRIVER: I've had experiences where I've been way overaggressive and cost myself a lot. You know, had accidents. You can't let your emotions get in the way.

GUPTA: He says he puts those emotions aside when he navigates the city streets. And he's got tips for everyday drivers.

EDWARDS: Always expect to be unexpected. I mean, always be looking around. You're so in control of your destiny, and you hear so many accidents, they happen and people go, well, you know, there's nothing I can do. Well, there usually is something you can do. Don't outdrive your vision, don't outdrive your ability to stop. You know, you always have to pay attention farther ahead than your hood, and realize that even when you're only going 50 or 60 miles an hour, you're still hurdling along through space much faster than your body sometime.

GUPTA: That's advice to live by.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: All right. So maybe some common sense tips there, but I'm sure we've all been on the highway with other drivers who might benefit from this advice, even if they're not Soledad O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: In a big old SUV. What?

M. O'BRIEN: It's definitely the other guy. There's no question.

S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, everybody should be watching that.

S. O'BRIEN: And I do think people go faster than they think that they're actually driving. You said Carl Edwards feels that he's safer on the NASCAR track than on a highway. Did you get one of those cars? Did you feel like you were safer? Or did you feel like you were just going way too fast?

GUPTA: No, I did, actually for a couple of different reasons. First of all, NASCAR race has 43 cars. When I drove, I was only one of two cars out on the track, so that helped, I think. But the other reason I felt safer than on a highway is the safety measures everyone follows, NASCAR follows now as well. Driver have a helmet. They have a head-and-neck restraint. They have a five, six or seven-point harness even, and I wore a fire suit as well. You can see some more of that as well.

But I think one of the biggest things is what we were just talking about, the other drivers out there all know what they're doing, and I think that helps a lot.

S. O'BRIEN: That's true. You know, there's nothing worse than a bad driver to mess up everybody.

Tell me about these NASCARs themselves. Are they basically like souped-up regular cars?

GUPTA: They're different in some ways. The cars that NASCAR have, have strong rollbars, for example. There's special padding on either side of the driver's head. There's webbed netting on the windows. Also there's nog glass on these cars. It's actually just a hard plastic called lexon (ph), and you can't really tell when you watch the race on television, for example, but the headlights and the brake lights you actually see on the cars, they're just decal stickers as well. So there's no flying glass, even in the event of a crash or something.

S. O'BRIEN: I wonder if there's anything they would take from these NASCARs and the drivers themselves, like better, you now, restraints for your body.

M. O'BRIEN: I want that cage. You know, that cage they're in, right, Sanjay?

GUPTA: Right, you want the cage, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: You can crash 200 miles an hour and tumble, and tumble you walk away, and you go half have a cup of a coffee, or maybe drink something a little harder, I don't know about that, but the pint is, can we all get the cage? Why not?

S. O'BRIEN: You know what, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, no you can't; it's not going happen. Sorry, Miles.

Sanjay, thanks.

Was it was cool to ride in the car?

GUPTA: It was great to ride in the car. And actually talking about the safety as well, but just the thrill of that 800-plus horsepower engine. That's a lot of fun.

M. O'BRIEN: Sweet assignment there, Dr. Gupta.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it really is. Sure, that's a medical assignment. Uh-huh.

GUPTA: All of the help with the medical safety, all of that is in there.

S. O'BRIEN: Sure, Sanjay, we're all over it. We get it.

M. O'BRIEN: That's OK. That's OK. More power to you.

S. O'BRIEN: Tomorrow, former NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace is going to give us a little taste of what's what it's like to be behind the wheel. He's no Sanjay Gupta, but he has been behind the wheel and in the pits. You can catch Sanjay's entire special, which is called "NASCAR: DRIVEN TO EXTREMES" on Sunday at 10:00 p.m. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) M. O'BRIEN: Well, Martha Stewart is out. Does she still have that bracelet on her ankle?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's gone, Miles. Move on. Move on.

M. O'BRIEN: It's long gone. I'm sure it was very tasteful, whenever she had it.

Gerri Willis is here to talk about that and give us a little stock market update as well.

WILLIS: That's right. Let's start with those markets here. Dow up, I believe, 50 points, 52 points as you can see right here. Doing a little better. Yesterday was pretty soggy, I've got to tell you. It wasn't a good day in the markets. But tech apparently going to power the markets higher today. Genentech in with some good earnings. Apple's coming out with earnings after the close. It should be very good, but let's move on.

M. O'BRIEN: That little iPod they've got there.

WILLIS: And the Nano. And the Nano.

M. O'BRIEN: That, too.

All right, Martha.

WILLIS: Yes, Martha's new book is out. It's called "The Martha Rules." Very exciting small book for small entrepreneurs, telling you how to get into business.

M. O'BRIEN: This is not a prison memoir? This is separate, right?

WILLIS: There's a little bit about the prison.

M. O'BRIEN: Really?

WILLIS: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: She says that she thought it was a bad dream while she was there.

Where does she come up with such great writing, such lofty prose?

WILLIS: Her advice to small entrepreneurs, she says, bake the cake most people want to eat.

M. O'BRIEN: And put a file in it if you're in jail.

WILLIS: Oh, Miles! But it's full of practical advice for people starting their own business. On Amazon, not doing so well on the preorder list, ranked about 1,815 right now.

M. O'BRIEN: Really? It's going go up, just based on this segment right now. It's 500 right now at least.

WILLIS: It begs the question, do we have too much Martha?

M. O'BRIEN: Do you think?

WILLIS: Let's talk about how much is out there. The day show is doing pretty well, and we've seen a lot of that. That's what people are so familiar with, particularly housewives who are big fans of hers. But what about "The Apprentice" show? Not so well. It's not coming in too high, up against "Lost" now.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, there's other factors, though. People could be sick and tired of these reality shows, too. I don't know about that. I think Martha still has a very loyal following there.

WILLIS: You bet.

M. O'BRIEN: Sandy O'Brien being one of them.

Back with more. And when we come back, no more Martha. We promise.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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