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American Morning

Saddam Hussein On Trial; Teen Father Remembered

Aired November 29, 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: I can do my shopping right there or I can go online?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, right . . .

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're lucky, lucky family!

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Knickknacks for all this year!

MILES O'BRIEN: Previously chewed gum, young man, would you like that?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

We need to remind folks about our new start time. AMERICAN MORNING begins one hour earlier. We're coming to you live at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time, so we hope that you'll join us then.

MILES O'BRIEN: You're used to those hours.

COSTELLO: (INAUDIBLE). Yes, best audience. Best audience. Like a family.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, it was. The audience is up. They want some news.

COSTELLO: They're in their pajamas, they're drinking coffee and they want the news.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right.

COSTELLO: And I have it right here.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. Lay it on us.

COSTELLO: Good morning, everyone.

A tip if you're a corrupt politician, do not have a Rolls Royce sitting in your driveway. Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham has pleaded guilty to taking $2 million from military contractors. In a tearful apology Cunningham says "the truth is I broke the law, concealed my conduct and disgraced my office." He faces up to 10 years in prison.

We could learn more today about the legal philosophy of Supreme Court Nominee Samuel Alito. The questionnaire he filled out for the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to be released today. And you might remember when former Nominee Harriet Miers filled out her questionnaire, the Republican judiciary chair pretty much gave her a flunking grade. In fact, he asked her to redo it.

France may soon be getting tougher anti-terror laws. A vote today coming after those riots earlier this month. It would give the police more powers. Our Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour met in an exclusive interview with the country's prime minister. She also asked him about the French view of the war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINIQUE DE VILLEPIN, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER: We knew since the beginning that it was very easy to go to war, but very difficult to get out of Iraq because of the fragility of the country, because of the sensitivity of the situation in this region. So now we have to face the situation as it is and it is the responsibility of all the international community to have the process and to make sure that we go forward all together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: You can see Christiane's full interview with France's prime minister at noon Eastern.

Push hard and fast. That's the new advice from the American Heart Association for giving someone CPR. It's now all about chest compressions. The idea is to keep the blood flowing. Thirty compressions instead of 15 for every two rescue breaths.

And if you're driving near Chicago this morning, do avoid parts of Interstate 90 and 94. Take a look at that. Workers still cleaning up a water main break. The northbound lanes are covered by up to four feet of water. Crews hope to have the roadway cleared later this morning. And it's mighty cold in Chicago, 34 degrees at last check.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Oh.

MILES O'BRIEN: Boy, they obviously got caught off guard. They were probably in morning traffic or something when that happened.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, when it gets really cold and then really warm, you know, the pipes underneath the streets burst.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, and boom, all of a sudden you're flooded out. It's a good thing it's not a little bit colder there. That would be a real problem.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE).

COSTELLO: Wow.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Thanks.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. Thanks, Carol. See you in a bit. Saddam Hussein's trial. You watched it here on CNN yesterday. It was a remarkable scene as the former Iraqi leader walked into that courtroom with a bit of a swagger, smiling, and then in a very defiant way tried to put the judge in his place. It was quite a scene. The question is, how is it playing in the Arab world? Who better to ask than Octavia Nasr. She is CNN's senior editor for Arab affairs and she's joining us from Atlanta.

Octavia, good to have you with us.

How is it seems to me that Saddam Hussein almost has the sense that he is still the leader of Iraq and he's still trying to wrap himself up in pan Arab nationalism. How does that play on the street?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly that way. They're looking at him as someone who is not facing the death penalty, as someone who is basically on holiday. First of all, he shows up late. And when he's asked why he's late, he complains about him having to walk up four flights of stairs and where is my notebook and where is my pen, making demands and basically feeling very much at home.

On the other hand, they do see Saddam Hussein, for the first time, acting as a defendant. He referred to the judge as your honor. And he basically asked him for a few things. He told him that he should order these guards to treat him better next time because, as he told the judge, he said, you're the Iraqi, they're the foreigners, they're the invaders and the occupiers. This is your territory, you're the boss, you tell them.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, but it's interesting. On the one hand, it was sort of differential to the judge. On the other hand, it almost sounded like he was ordering the judge. Let's listen to this exchange and then we can talk about it a little bit more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SADDAM HUSSEIN, (through translator): I wanted to order them. They're in our on our land. I will you have the servants. You are an Iraqi. And there are foreigners and occupiers and invaders, so you have to order them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN: And then it cuts, by the way. That was kind of odd, wasn't it, the way that the feed there probably is a perception out there that this is being sanitized.

NASR: Absolutely.

MILES O'BRIEN: Is that happening?

NASR: Absolutely. This is how Arab media are portraying it. They say that the reason why there is a delay is because Iraqis and Americans want to have the power to cut any parts that they don't want the public to see. There was another part in the video that was cut out. It was right after they showed that famous Dujail video. Saddam Hussein was also yelling, his voice was going up. He was raising his voice at the judge and he kept going. He was complaining about something. We couldn't understand what he was complaining about. And then, again, the signal was then off, so we never knew the details of that little skirmish there.

MILES O'BRIEN: And what we're talking about Dujail, of course, this is where the alleged crime was committed. There was actually videotape shot immediately after the assassination attempt there where he says, you know, take them all in. It's very damning stuff.

You've been calling the web and looking at editorials and statements. Also some cartoons. Share with us one that you like.

NASR: This one I like a lot because it's the one the only one coming from a pro Saddam Hussein newspaper. And take a look at this. That's him being searched. My favorite part is these people with the yellow hair. You know what that means, these are the westerners. Basically this picture portraying all those westerners searching him. And basically he's holding the sign up saying, mark it down, I am an Arab. This coming from Acusaladabi (ph), which is a very pro Saddam Hussein newspaper. Also the newspaper picked up on some interesting elements from the trial. They said that the judge agreed with Saddam Hussein, that the Americans are invaders and occupiers, which is not true. The judge was saying, yes, yes, as Saddam Hussein was going on. He wasn't agreeing with him.

MILES O'BRIEN: Right. He was just kind of mollifying him and they're interpreting that in a kind of interesting way.

NASR: Yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Final thought here. Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general under LBJ and more recently over the years has represented some controversial clients, to say the least, including Slobodam Milosevic, and is there in the courtroom acting as legal advisor to Saddam Hussein. How does that play in the Arab world?

NASR: You know, it is seen in the Arab world as a positive thing because, you know, the Arab world is very skeptical about this trial, this tribunal. They don't believe that it's going to be fair. They don't believe that any trial of Saddam Hussein can be fair. So basically they see this as a good sign. They don't think that Mr. Clark is necessarily going to defend Saddam Hussein per say but they think that he, his presence on the team as advisor, is going to bring in fairness in the trial. So it is seen as a positive thing.

It is being described on Arab media as a breath of optimism, if you will. And they're seeing it as a good thing. But not no one is buying the fact that Ramsey Clark is going to defend Saddam Hussein or believes that Saddam Hussein is a good guy in any way.

As a matter of fact, you read Arab media. No one thinks that Saddam Hussein is going to walk free. They all believe that he is going to either be hanged at the end of the day or he's going to rot in jail. This is how everybody I haven't ready anywhere, anyone saying that Saddam Hussein has any chance of walking free.

MILES O'BRIEN: Despite all that, I think there is a thirst for a fair proceeding and we'll hopefully that fairness can come through, despite all these obstacles that we've been telling you all about. CNN Arab affairs editor, Octavia Nasr, always a pleasure. See you soon.

NASR: Thanks.

MILES O'BRIEN: Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's 38 minutes past the hour. Let's check the weather with Jacqui Jeras at the CNN Center.

Good morning, Jacqui. How's it looking?

(WEATHER REPORT)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, more on a tragic story that we've been following for you. Friends and family members honor a young man and national role model gunned down on the streets of Philadelphia. We'll talk to some of his friends about how this young man's short life changed his community. That's coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's been almost two weeks since a teenage father was murdered in the streets of Philadelphia. Police still have no motive, no suspects and they say their investigation continues. The case has received national attention because of how the victim lived his life and just who he leaves behind.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN (voice-over): By the hundreds, friends and family gathered on Monday for a service at Temple University to remember Terrell Pough, an extraordinary teenager. The 18-year-old single father was gunned down earlier this month outside his home in Philadelphia. Loved ones celebrated his life, saying there's a lesson to be learned from Terrell's senseless death.

T'LIA MCCOY, TERRELL POUGH'S SISTER: I'm pretty sure that my brother didn't realize that Thursday would be the last morning that he would see his daughter. So I'm asking all of you today to make each day count.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Two-year-old Diamond was the love of her father's life. Terrell's devotion to his daughter drew national attention this past summer when he was profiled by "People" magazine as an outstanding single father. And just this month he was honored by the hometown Philadelphia 76ers for being a responsible adult.

CHARLES ROWELL, TERRELL POUGH'S CLASSMATE: He inspired me, right, because now I have a child on the way and now I know that I should be a father like he was. MATTHEW MCCLEAN, TERRELL POUGH'S FRIEND: And I wish I would have gave him more hugs instead of handshakes and, you know, told him I loved him, you know, more than saying, all right, I'll see you later.

MCCOY: I expected to see my brother again. Have one more hug, one more conversation, one more laugh, just one more moment of us being together. But our moment will never come.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Other speakers at the memorial service said the best way to honor Terrell Pough's memory is to live their lives as he lived his.

ANTHONY MURPHY, TOWN WATCH: This is about standing up, doing what's responsible, taking charge, and changing the course of history.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: But of all the eulogies, the most poignant words were uttered by the toddler who meant the world to Terrell Pough, his daughter, Diamond.

DIAMOND POUGH, TERRELL POUGH'S DAUGHTER: I love you, Daddy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Damien Webber was Terrell Pough's mentor in the Philadelphia schools. They worked together in a program called Males Achieving Responsibility Successfully, or M.A.R.S., and he joins us this morning, along with the program's director, Marcus Godfrey, from Philadelphia.

Gentlemen, thanks for talking with us. We certainly appreciate it. Our condolences to your on your tremendous loss that I know has been really, really tough.

Damien, if I can start with you. Give me a sense of what has been left behind now. What did Terrell leave for everyone?

DAMIEN WEBBER, MENTOR TO TERRELL POUGH: Well, basically, we're talking about a very unique individual. Someone that was very special to society, as well as his community. We're talking about a young man who never was afraid of the responsibilities that was put before him. This is a guy that accepted the challenge and moved forward with being a responsible father. And he's so much of a role model to young people, as well as old people. And he leaves a legacy that or a story, I should say, that most men should follow, if they're not already in the process of fathering their children. I'm just so proud of the things that he did and he did it in a manner in which he was very humble and very modest and everybody . . .

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It certainly sounds that way. Every account.

Marcus, let me ask you a question, if I can. And, in a lot of ways, Terrell was a typical young man. And then, of course, in a lot of ways he was a remarkable young man. How did he juggle school and having a young child and being part of the program that you're the director of? How did he sort of make all of that work? MARCUS GODFREY, DIRECTOR, M.A.R.S.: I think by the mere fact of him seeing the responsibility of being a teen father and he knew what was best for him and Diamond. And by coming into communities and schools in the M.A.R.S. program, he felt that he found a man, another responsible male, who could lead him and Damien was that person and our program was the place for Terrell to come and receive the parenting skills and planning for his career through our program.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Damien, what happens with Diamond? She's two- years-old, as we mentioned. Who's going to take care of her?

WEBBER: Oh, she has a wonderful supporting staff. I mean, family is right there, you know, supporting her, making sure that she gets the proper care and that she knows that she's loved and that her father loved her, you know, very deeply and dearly.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Marcus, you know, we heard Damien say just a moment ago how down to earth and low-key Terrell really was. When he was profiled in "People" magazine, did he like the attention? Did he revel in the attention or did he sort of shy away from it?

GODFREY: He never shied away. One thing, he was surprised when the paper when the magazine finally hit the newsstands and it was exciting for him and also he he also made a statement that he never thought that it would get this big just for doing something that he was supposed to do as a teen father. He knew it was his job to care for him and Diamond, but he just took it all in and Terrell knew, through this article, that he would touch other teen fathers lives with this story and he did.

WEBBER: Exactly.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: He touched a lot of people's lives. I'm sure many teen fathers and many, many lives.

Damien Webber and Marcus Godfrey, thank you, gentlemen, for talking with us this morning. We certainly appreciate your time. And, again, our condolences for your loss.

WEBBER: Thank you very much.

GODFREY: Thank you.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: We should mention that Terrell Pough's family has established two funds in his daughter's name, one for everyday expenses and the other to serve as a trust fund for the little girl when she turns 18. If you'd like to contribute, you can send a check or money order to the Diamond Houston Fund. That's care of Sovereign Bank, 8319 Stenton Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, obviously, 19150. And make sure you designate which fund you want your contribution to go to.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Andy "Minding Your Business" just ahead.

What do you have, Andy?

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How would you like to only pay for the cable channels that you watch, Miles, like CNN? We'll tell you about the likelihood of that coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: It's a beautiful day here at Dodgers Stadium. You know, Vin Scully. And we're so glad you're here. There's nobody better in the biz, is there?

SERWER: A little sports, huh, I didn't know. The ultimate reliever, right the ultimate reliever before that, Mariano Rivera.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.

SERWER: All sports, right.

MILES O'BRIEN: All sports.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: CNN, AMERICAN MORNING, all sports all the time.

MILES O'BRIEN: All sports all the time.

SERWER: (INAUDIBLE) ESPN watch (INAUDIBLE).

MILES O'BRIEN: And Andy, too.

SERWER: Yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Let's talk about you know, because I have one of those big bundles of channels, right?

SERWER: Mega bundle?

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, because I've got I've got one of those big screen TVs so I and I paid way too much for it. I don't watch a fraction of what I've got. So give me an ala carte alternative, please, Andy Serwer.

SERWER: Yes. Well, it could be happening. The Federal Communications Commission is looking into suggesting, so we're a little bit far away here, cable ala carte. What does that mean? It means only paying for the cable channels that you actually watch. No, not the Norwegian Golf Channel that you click right through. Because, of course, we all have so many of these channels we never watch.

In fact, the average consumer only watches 17 channels, which is way up from what we used to watch when we were kids, I guess. But, still, you have to buy a lot more . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: We're at (INAUDIBLE).

SERWER: Yes, you have to buy a lot more. And you think about, what other business is like this? I mean it would be like going into a pizza parlor and I want a pepperoni pizza. Well, you have to get the Hawaiian pizza, too. I mean it's just very unusual.

Now the cable operators say they do this to save consumers money.

MILES O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.

SERWER: They're always looking out for us.

MILES O'BRIEN: Whenever they do that, hang on to your wallet.

SERWER: They're always looking out for us.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: But will paying ala carte ala carte often means, if you add it all up, way more expensive.

SERWER: Exactly, Soledad. It's just like a restaurant.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I'm not an economist, but I do know a few things about ala carte.

SERWER: No, but you go to restaurants. Right. Exactly.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I've seen this movie.

SERWER: Well, it's true. Because what would happen is that say ESPN, for instance, it actually is a very expensive channel to run because they have to pay for sports. They charge the cable companies about $2.50 a month. That's a lot more than say the cartoon networks only charge, you know, a dime, pennies on the dollar.

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, it's analogous to a magazine. A subscription is cheaper per issue but they tend to stack up sometimes, you're not watching them all the time, or you just buy them at the newsstand when you want to read that particular article.

SERWER: Right. And you think about "The New York Times," for instance, having their subscription. That's about $20 a month in New York City. So, you know, what would you pay for CNN? Well, obviously, we'd pay $50 or $60 for CNN, you only see 20.

MILES O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE).

SERWER: But, you know, it's interesting. It's not going to happen any time soon but it's something that's a story in "The Wall Street Journal." It's something that, you know, it's going to be a discussion point. The cable companies, obviously, are resisting it.

MILES O'BRIEN: Let's talk about Delta because we've been (INAUDIBLE) rant of the morning.

SERWER: Let's talk about Delta airlines again.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, so were you able to look into the bonus issue for me for the CEO and the CFO?

SERWER: I was. Right. And what we found out is that the company has had a bonus freeze, Soledad, for the past two years. SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: So since the new CEO came in?

SERWER: Right. Since Gerry Drinstein's come in, there have not been any bonuses. They did get stock options last year, but they're worthless because the stock plummeted. So they basically have a policy, no profits, no bonuses, and they haven't had any profits there for a couple of years. So that's the bottom line on that one.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And so it was the CEO before who really walked away with a lot of cash?

SERWER: He did.

MILES O'BRIEN: Leo Mullin.

SERWER: He go over $1 million in bonus while the company was going down the tubes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Put a little burr in the pilot's seat, you might say, that move.

SERWER: That absolutely (INAUDIBLE).

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: They've given up.

SERWER: And gendered a lot of ill will there.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, it sure did.

Have you seen this videotape yet? Is this new to us?

MILES O'BRIEN: No, it's brand new. This is the new panda!

SERWER: Is that the dog or the panda?

MILES O'BRIEN: Is this live?

SERWER: That's not the dog.

MILES O'BRIEN: This new video not live.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It says live but it's really new video.

MILES O'BRIEN: It's Memorex but . . .

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Isn't that cute?

SERWER: Very cute.

MILES O'BRIEN: Oh, he is just adorable. And that is not that dog we showed you.

SERWER: That's not the fancy dog.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: No, no, no, this is not panda dog. This is actually panda.

MILES O'BRIEN: Do we have the dog shot? We can compare them side-by-side?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: No, I don't think we have the panda (INAUDIBLE).

MILES O'BRIEN: This is the real panda.

SERWER: I wonder what Carol Costello thinks of that.

MILES O'BRIEN: Oh, she's gushing.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: She's a little bit crazy about the old panda.

SERWER: Yes, everybody likes the panda dog.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It is now starting to get weaned off, eating solid food, 21 pounds.

Look how cute.

SERWER: This is the one in Washington right?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, at the zoo.

SERWER: I heard you have to get tickets to go see it?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Actually, not anymore. They're sold out.

SERWER: Oh, is that right?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: They sold out so fast.

SERWER: Wow.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: But we will talk about how people who missed out the first time around, how they can actually get a chance to see this adorable that would not be one of the options I think they're going to recommend, but we'll wait and see.

A short break much more is coming up right after this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien.

A blinding blizzard stopping traffic dead in its tracks and now a western winter storm is headed east. We'll tell you what to expect.

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