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American Morning
Arrest in Teen Murder; The Fight for Iraq; BlackBerry Shutdown?
Aired December 01, 2005 - 06:00 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, I'm Miles O'Brien.
Overnight developments in a murder case we've been following for weeks, two men arrested in the shooting death of a young father who became a national role model. A live report in just a moment.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien.
President Bush unveils his strategy for Iraq, but are Americans listening? We're going to take a look at the latest poll numbers just ahead.
M. O'BRIEN: And a medical breakthrough, the first-ever partial face transplant a success in France. Could it happen here on this AMERICAN MORNING?
S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody.
M. O'BRIEN: Good.
S. O'BRIEN: Face transplant in France.
M. O'BRIEN: It's a remarkable thing.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it's pretty incredible.
M. O'BRIEN: What was that movie, "Face Off?" Is that what it was?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: It's -- Yes, with Nicolas Cage. It's sort of reminiscent of that. Once again, life imitating art, I guess.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, "Swordfish" had one of those kind of, too.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, we've got some new developments in a case that we have been following and we want to give you an update on arrests in that Philadelphia murder case. Terrell Pough was shot dead two weeks ago. He was a teenage single father from a pretty tough background. And he was so devoted to taking care of his little daughter that "People" magazine did a profile on him.
Let's get right to Chris Huntington. He's live for us in Philadelphia this morning.
Chris, good morning. What led cops to break the case?
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
This is a story that just sickens you with grief. The police called on assistance from federal law enforcement authorities, eventually tracking the suspects through the victim's car.
But let's tell you a little bit more about Terrell Pough and his daughter, Diamond. Terrell Pough, you mentioned a "People" magazine profile subject. He's the kind of person that you look to that gives you hope about what can be made right in this country when things maybe start off on the wrong side of the tracks. Eighteen years old, a single father, working hard at night.
He was gunned down two weeks ago outside of the nightshift job he was working at about 10:30 p.m. outside of a fast food chicken restaurant. The two suspects that have been arrested and that are held here at police headquarters in Philadelphia, Antoine Lee (ph) Riggins, 20 years old, and Saul Rosario. The police say that both these suspects knew the victim, Terrell Pough. And that in fact Antoine Lee Riggins went to high school with Pough. They don't know exactly what the motive is, but they say there was some kind of dispute.
The big clue that helped police lead them back to Riggins, in particular, was this car. A car that in fact had been donated to Pough, part of the amazing outpouring of generosity and charity to Terrell Pough and his daughter in the wake of the "People" magazine article. A Honda Civic had been donated to him. Found about a week ago. That was a key clue for the police -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: The family so devastated in the wake of his murder must, at least be, I guess, encouraged by this news a little bit.
HUNTINGTON: A little bit, Soledad. You know the arrest may lead to some closure of the crime. But as Pough's mother put it, you know the question still remains how in the world could this happen? No conviction will ever bring her son back -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: I know a family member was keeping an eye on little Diamond. She's 2 years old. Do you know the status of her where she's going to be and where she's going to end up?
HUNTINGTON: Well it's -- obviously it's not a great situation, but it's better than it could be. There's a tremendous amount of family support. Her mother, her birthmother is on the scene. She was only 15 when she had Diamond two years ago. She had still been part of Diamond's life. So that's very, very important.
Also, Pough's mother and grandmother playing a crucial role. An African-American community where this type of rallying together is so important, so typical and so valued. But a terrible tragedy that only now has maybe a first step in a criminal conclusion -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Well at least some forward movement on that investigation.
Chris Huntington for us this morning. Chris, thanks for the update.
And if you want to contribute to the fund for 2-year-old Diamond, here's the address. Diamond Houston Fund, care of Sovereign Bank, 8319 Stenton Avenue in Philadelphia. The zip is 19150.
M. O'BRIEN: Well what a story. What a story.
Yesterday the president offered up his plan for victory in Iraq. Today the death toll continues.
Carol Costello here with that and more.
Good morning -- Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.
The U.S. death toll in Iraq is rising. It now stands at over 2,100 deaths. Two U.S. Marines and a soldier died in separate incidents on Wednesday. The U.S. military has just confirmed that to us. Those deaths come as a new offensive has been launched west of Baghdad. Two thousand troops backed by 500 Iraqi forces are involved. We'll have much more on Iraq with our Nic Robertson in just a minute.
There is a new poll on how Americans feel about President Bush in Iraq, but it doesn't seem to have changed much. The CNN-"USA Today"- Gallup Poll finds more than half of you, 55 percent, believe there is no plan to win in Iraq. Forty-one percent believe there is. The poll does not reflect reaction to the president's speech in Iraq on Wednesday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, frankly, because not many people saw it, because it was on at 9:45 in the morning and most people were already at work.
The man who helped start the notorious Crips gang in Los Angeles more than 30 years ago is one step closer to death. The California Supreme Court has refused to stop the December 13 execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Williams, convicted of killing four people in 1979, is now hoping Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will step in. Williams has authored several children's books while in prison with an anti-gang message. He says he was trying to prevent young people from making the same choices he did.
We're finding out a little more about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito and his stance on Roe v. Wade. Twenty years ago, Alito wrote a memo advising against what he called "a frontal assault on the historic ruling" and suggested a plan to nudge the court to leave it in the hands of the states. Alito wrote the memo, which was released on Wednesday, while working as an assistant to the solicitor general. It's sparking debate again over what documents should be available to senators ahead of his confirmation hearings.
It has been 50 years. Today is the anniversary of the day that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Parks was arrested, as you know, setting off a 381-day boycott led by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Today dozens of bus systems nationwide are paying tribute to Parks. Six thousand buses in New York will leave a front passenger seat empty and turn on their headlights. President Bush is also expected to sign a bill today that would place a statue of Rosa Parks in the Capitol's Statuary Hall.
And we have some wild pictures to show you out of Colorado. Take a look at them. This is a scaffold. It was carrying two window washers. Look at it crashing into that high-rise. It just keeps on swinging back and forth, shattering windows along the way. Apparently some really strong winds knocked the scaffold's support rigging and that's when this thing just went haywire.
M. O'BRIEN: Wow. Wow.
COSTELLO: Firefighters ended up breaking a window and pulling the window washers inside the building. Yes, the window washers were on that thing.
M. O'BRIEN: And let's make it clear, they were hanging on there. They're on that platform, two of them.
COSTELLO: They're hanging on. But, as I said, the firefighters were inside the building and they managed to stop it by pulling the window washers in. Pretty amazing that only one was -- you know had minor injuries, but everybody else is OK this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: I wonder what they did, if they evacuated the building? I mean somebody could get hurt.
COSTELLO: They must have. Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Well the question is the winds were blowing at 35 miles an hour.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
M. O'BRIEN: You've got to ask why they were working on that day? That might not have been the best day to be washing windows.
COSTELLO: Well maybe...
S. O'BRIEN: I think that's 20/20.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, yes.
COSTELLO: Yes. And maybe they secure it some way and this, you know, and the ropes that secured it...
M. O'BRIEN: I mean...
COSTELLO: I don't know. I'll have to delve into it more.
M. O'BRIEN: Well you know the wind, when it goes through the skyscrapers, it can have kind of a tunneling effect...
S. O'BRIEN: Right. Right. Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: ... and get even worse. Apparently they only evacuated the 12th floor, which is the one where all the action was occurring.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow.
Speaking of high winds, let's get straight to Jacqui Jeras. She's got a check of the forecast for us.
Hey, Jacqui, pretty amazing video, right?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and you know we were expecting those winds yesterday. We were forecasting winds 20 to 30 miles per hour. Thirty to 40-mile-per-hour wind gusts were very common in Denver all afternoon yesterday. And of course the higher up you go in elevation, the stronger those winds are. And they were up there, you know, 12 floors. So they're certainly blowing quite a bit.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you guys.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thanks a lot, Jacqui.
Let's get back to Iraq now. Yesterday, the president's speech, a cornerstone of that speech was the whole issue of how ready Iraqi troops might be for the U.S. to withdrawal.
CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has been looking at their training and he has this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Tal Afar two months ago, the battle President Bush touts to show the Iraqi troops are getting better. The president said 11 Iraqi battalions took the lead with 5 U.S. battalions in support and said the Iraqis performed better than in the Falluja offensive a year ago.
But they were two different battles. Falluja an all-out offensive. Tal Afar, a dangerous, but more contained large-scale cordon and search. Even with many Iraqi troops, the battle was fought from a U.S. plan, requiring U.S. tanks and helicopters. In other words, no U.S. troops, no victory.
The next big operation, Steel Curtain, U.S. troops led the way. Outnumbered Iraqis six to one. Uneven was how President Bush described Iraq's security preparedness. He's in tune with his commanders here.
GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, MULTINATIONAL TRANSITION CMD.: Progress is uneven and it's uneven across the country. It's uneven in units. It's uneven between the Army and the police. ROBERTSON: President Bush said there were 120 Iraqi battalions, 40 leading the fight, 80 fighting alongside U.S. troops. Iraqi battalion commander Col. Thayer is capable of leading the fight.
COL. STEVEN SALAZAR, 3RD BRIGADE: He is the most effective counterinsurgency combat leader serving with this brigade task force right now.
ROBERTSON: But Thayer lacks even an armored Humvee. He says U.S. forces are planning to downsize significantly at his base and he wants to expand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We talk (ph) (INAUDIBLE) forces just we need like support.
ROBERTSON: Iraqi soldiers being trained by Lt. Col. Ross Brown are a long way short of Col. Thayer's readiness.
LT. COL. ROSS BROWN, TRAINING IRAQI SOLDIERS: When did he last clean his weapon? No, that's the answer. But look at that weapon, what did he clean it with?
ROBERTSON: It's a daily battle for Brown getting the unit he mentors ready to fight alongside U.S. soldiers.
BROWN: They didn't do too much work yesterday. They didn't do too much work the day before. They haven't done too much work since they have been here.
ROBERTSON: President Bush didn't say how many Iraqi troops are at level one readiness, units capable of planning and carrying out counterinsurgency operations on their own.
DEMPSEY: And I don't know what the particular number today is on level one.
ROBERTSON (on camera): As expected, President Bush didn't detail precise conditions for U.S. withdrawal. Iraqis we talked to said even if he did, they wouldn't believe him. But what President Bush did do was send a very clear message to the insurgents the U.S. won't withdrawal until the Iraqis are ready.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: And we'll talk more about this subject of Iraq troop training and the president's speech Wednesday with Democratic Senator Joe Biden. We'll ask him if he is satisfied with the president's plan in our next hour -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, medical breakthrough or ethical nightmare? French doctors performed the first face transplant. Could the surgery become as routine as plastic surgery? We're going to take a look. M. O'BRIEN: Plus, a judge's ruling could throw a glitch into your BlackBerry. Instant e-mails in danger on our "Financial News Update" just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: I can't name the tune. Can you name that tune?
S. O'BRIEN: What music is that? Anybody? Anybody?
M. O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE). Yes. I...
S. O'BRIEN: Man, if Andy Serwer can't get it, no one is going to get it.
M. O'BRIEN: That is a bad thing if he can't get it.
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
M. O'BRIEN: We're just so, you know, kind of beside ourselves this morning, off a cliff, because of the BlackBerry issue, you know, really.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's a big deal.
M. O'BRIEN: What would you do without it? You would cease to exist, wouldn't you?
S. O'BRIEN: Stay in bed. I'd just never get out of bed.
M. O'BRIEN: It's an existential thing, without your BlackBerry, are you a person?
S. O'BRIEN: No, you are not. Without my BlackBerry, I am nothing.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Well there are obviously stories in the news today and some resolution in a story we've been following you -- for you for more than a week now.
Let's get right to Carol Costello. She's got an update.
Good morning.
COSTELLO: Thanks. Good morning, everyone.
Police in Philadelphia say they have arrested two men in the shooting of a single father honored by "People" magazine for his dedication to his daughter. Eighteen-year-old Terrell Pough was gunned down on his way home from work earlier this month. Pough was quoted in the "People" article as saying "if something ever happens to me, no one can ever tell her that her dad didn't take care of her." Police say at least one of the suspects may have known Pough from school, but so far we don't know a motive. Keeping the promise or missing the target? The president set to mark World AIDS Day this morning with a speech from the White House. He's likely to highlight his emergency plan for AIDS relief, a 5-year $15 billion plan that seems to be on target. But activists complain that the White House is lagging on donations to other groups, including the global fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The president takes to the podium at 9:55 Eastern. And we'll have some live coverage of that event for you.
An assistant high school football coach suspended after he was caught on videotape moving a field marker to help his team win. Can you believe this? That's him in the circle.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow. Yes, you can see that.
COSTELLO: Paul Bryan. That's right, Paul Bryan had coached at San Pedro High School.
M. O'BRIEN: So bag. So bag.
COSTELLO: He coached at San Pedro High School in California for more than 20 years, so he's no rookie. His suspension is for at least one year. Bryan is still on the payroll, though, as a teacher's assistant.
And in New York, what a night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Thousands watched as Rockefeller Center's Christmas tree lights were turned on last night. And what a sight it was, 30,000 lights. Count them, 30,000. Some children who lost their homes to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita helped the mayor flip the switch. So 'tis the season indeed.
And it was warm last night as they lit the Christmas tree -- Jacqui.
JERAS: A really pretty picture there, Carol, but I was kind of hoping for that Harry Connick video we were talking about yesterday.
COSTELLO: You're right.
JERAS: Well, what do you do?
COSTELLO: I'm going to dig that up.
JERAS: OK. We'll bring that next hour, maybe.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you guys. S. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Jacqui.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Jacqui.
So I thought that stinks.
S. O'BRIEN: So she clearly has an (INAUDIBLE). She's got a little thing for Harry Connick Jr., huh?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, she does. We're going to have to get that tape again, yes.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: And so apparently does Carol Costello.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Really? Really? OK.
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: I BlackBerry, therefore I am, right, because that's kind of the thing?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That's about it.
S. O'BRIEN: What...
M. O'BRIEN: And if we don't have them, what do we do?
S. O'BRIEN: What's going on with this story?
SERWER: Well there is a case going through courts right now that makes it possible for a judge to shut the whole BlackBerry system down. We, of course, are talking about the wireless e-mail device that millions of Americans are seemingly -- no, they're just addicted to it. And this is...
M. O'BRIEN: It is addicting, yes.
SERWER: Yes, and you can see there. Some people even call them CrackBerries, as you know.
And here is what's going on. There is a company called Research In Motion that makes the BlackBerry. It's a Canadian company. And it's been involved in a patent dispute with a company called NTP. And NTP is interesting, because all they do is hold patents. They don't actually make anything. So it's sort of one of these cases...
M. O'BRIEN: So they just file suits all the time is what they do?
SERWER: Yes, you could say that.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: And what's going on is they tried to settle. This goes back to 2001. They tried to settle for $20 million, then it went to $200 million, then it went to $450 million. Apparently they had a settlement but then it broke down. And now it looks like Research In Motion is going to have pay a billion dollars.
The reason why they won't shut this system down is because government employees, including some at the very highest level, use BlackBerries.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: And they say they might be able to shutdown part of the system and leave the government employees up. It's not going to happen.
M. O'BRIEN: Can't do that.
SERWER: It's not going to happen. So what it means is this company is going to have to pay out a huge settlement. But fear not, your BlackBerries will probably be...
M. O'BRIEN: You think so?
SERWER: I think so.
M. O'BRIEN: And they got the...
S. O'BRIEN: I wonder what happened that they couldn't get it resolved at $250 million...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: Or $400 million.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
SERWER: Now it's going to go to a billion. Tough stuff.
M. O'BRIEN: Not bad.
S. O'BRIEN: But our BlackBerries are still working. That's the takeaway.
SERWER: That's all we care about.
M. O'BRIEN: Well the company has a ton of money, though, right? I mean they're...
SERWER: Yes, they're making a lot of money on this. But still, a billion dollars, Miles.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, but a billion is going to show up...
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: That's a problem.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's never a good thing.
SERWER: No. No.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks -- Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, some kids are having to pay through the nose for a very dirty mouth. We're going to explain when AMERICAN MORNING returns in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: My god, this song is so horrible. Make it stop. Make it stop.
M. O'BRIEN: Boy, one little phrase and you hated it that much. I'd say that was a visceral reaction.
S. O'BRIEN: Well I mean that's a terrible way to draw viewers in, blanka (ph) means...
COSTELLO: It's catchy.
S. O'BRIEN: Blanka means (INAUDIBLE), yes.
COSTELLO: We like catchy, because it is time for "Morning Coffee."
M. O'BRIEN: This is "Morning Coffee."
S. O'BRIEN: No, I get it, you all, I get it. It's just icky.
COSTELLO: Well, I'm going to start out with good news.
S. O'BRIEN: OK.
COSTELLO: Maybe this will get you in a better mood after that song.
The good news is the coveted Commander's Trophy has finally been found. It's the trophy given to the military academy that does best when they all play each other in the college football season. Navy owns it now, but it was stolen. Well they found it in one of the dorms.
M. O'BRIEN: A little high jinks you think there?
COSTELLO: Yes. No harm, no court-martial, I guess. Anyway, the trophy is on the move again, this time to Philadelphia for this weekend's big Army-Navy game. Hooray.
There was a real Lassie moment in Utah this week. Get ready to say ah. Mattie (ph) the golden retriever woke up her owners because she wanted to go out, at least that's what they thought. That's when Kenley Christensen (ph) noticed his wife had actually passed out. He called 911 and then he passed out himself. The paramedics came. It turned out it was carbon monoxide poisoning.
M. O'BRIEN: Wow.
COSTELLO: Now they are both recovering thanks to little Mattie.
M. O'BRIEN: But you would think that would affect the dog faster than humans, you know?
COSTELLO: Apparently not.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: But the dog somehow knew. When you think about it,...
M. O'BRIEN: Go Mattie.
S. O'BRIEN: That's interesting.
COSTELLO: ... the dog really saved the family's life.
M. O'BRIEN: Sure.
COSTELLO: Or rather he prevented a tragedy, right?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Right.
COSTELLO: Appropriate discipline or overreaction, you decide. Two high schools in Hartford, Connecticut have started fining students for bad language. And when I say bad language, I mean really bad language. Police officers are actually issuing tickets for swearing. The fine, $103 for each outburst.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER PEARL, HARTFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT: If a kid blurts something out by mistake, it isn't no -- they're not going to get a ticket. But if they blatantly get into a teacher's face or they swear, it's going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of students think it's not fair. And I say that the consequences are very severe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can't they give respect first and we'll give it back. And most of these kids here, we don't get respect from teachers. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Come on.
M. O'BRIEN: For gosh sakes.
COSTELLO: Well how can you just blurt out the F-bomb (ph). I'm sorry.
M. O'BRIEN: In my day...
COSTELLO: You just don't do that. Anyway, this is an effort to stop the kids from swearing at their teachers, as you saw. And if the kids can't pay, well you know where the bill goes then. To the author of this song.
(LAUGHTER)
S. O'BRIEN: It's like torture. Is this what we use on prisoners?
M. O'BRIEN: We're going to fine Bob (ph) in audio for that, 103 bucks, Bob.
Whatever happened to washing your mouth out with soap, though, just, you know?
COSTELLO: Doesn't work anymore -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Doesn't work.
COSTELLO: You have to take more preventative means.
S. O'BRIEN: A hundred and three dollars is a lot. I mean, actually, I think it's too steep if you really want the kids to pay, because you know high schoolers are not going to be able to pay $103.
COSTELLO: No, but I think the idea is they want the parents to pay, because...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... they want the parents to take responsibility for what their kid or if their kid gets up in the teacher's face.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: So expensive the parents can't even pay. You know like maybe $10, because then the kid would feel it.
COSTELLO: Come on, if the kid is up in the teacher's face cursing, then you know maybe the parents should be involved. And maybe teachers can't get them involved and this is the way.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, well gosh and golly, girls, we've got to take a break, OK. Still to come, a French woman has a new outlook on life. Doctors say she was part of the world's first successful face transplant. Will we see more of these? Will we see one in America? Answers when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: This Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern our "THEN & NOW" special takes a look at some of the newsmakers from CNN's first 25 years and what they are doing now.
Here is Paula Zahn with a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just three days after 9/11, he stood at the left hand of a president and squarely in the hearts of Americans.
BUSH: The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.
ZAHN: Retired firefighter Bob Beckwith arrived at ground zero on September 14 determined to help in the search for survivors and just happened to help the visiting President Bush get up on the burned remains of a fire truck.
BOB BECKWITH, FIREFIGHTER: I started to get down. He said where are you going? I said I was told to get down. He said, no, no, you stay right here.
ZAHN: Beckwith became the symbol that helped rally a city and a nation. He is now 73 and has become a kind of ambassador for firefighters, travelling the country and the world making appearances and raising money for the New York Firefighters Burn Center Foundation.
BECKWITH: I just go and I tell them my story of how did I get to be with the president.
ZAHN: Beckwith has visited the president in the Oval Office and is immortalized in the Presidential Wax Museum near Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. He lives on Long Island with his wife of 48 years, Barbara. And he's a father of 6, grandfather of 10. But in his heart he will always be a fireman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fireman is a fireman. You're in a family of great people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this morning as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING, we're going to take you live to Iraq, where a new coalition offensive is under way. Thousands of U.S. troops involved. Iraqi troops too. We've got a live report just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A lovely morning here in New York City, but a little chilly.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. What was it yesterday?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's a lot chilly.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, yes.
COSTELLO: Holy cow! Reality has set in.
M. O'BRIEN: It has.
S. O'BRIEN: Yesterday was great. And what a great day for the tree lighting, because usually people are sitting in Rockefeller Center freezing while they watch for the tree to be lit.
COSTELLO: Yes, you just needed a sweater.
S. O'BRIEN: I know. It was beautiful. It was great.
M. O'BRIEN: Interesting to see when they turn on the tree, everybody takes a picture right away.
S. O'BRIEN: I know.
M. O'BRIEN: Do you think the picture any different than the picture you'd take three days later? Same picture. You know, just a thought.
S. O'BRIEN: Great!
M. O'BRIEN: It's the same.
S. O'BRIEN: Scrooge.
COSTELLO: Oh, man!
S. O'BRIEN: Come on!
M. O'BRIEN: Flashes go, and it's like...
S. O'BRIEN: You're capturing a moment, for god's sake.
M. O'BRIEN: Like, the light bulbs just went on. You got it.
COSTELLO: You can't say that if you take it three days later.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I swung by two months later. It was great.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, all right, I'm sorry.
COSTELLO: Do you want to talk about this new poll out, the CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll?
M. O'BRIEN: Please, let's, yes.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about that.
M. O'BRIEN: I can there is some that agree with me. So you go on.
COSTELLO: Actually, the -- oh, I'm being told to hang on. But we are going to talk about the poll right now. And the interesting thing about this poll is it taken yesterday, and it's billed as a new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll. But not many people saw the president's speech on Iraq yesterday.
S. O'BRIEN: And it's based on -- was it taken after the president's speech?
COSTELLO: Yes. But only about 10 percent of Americans actually saw the speech. So, let me tell you what the poll finds.
The poll finds a majority of you believe the president is doing a poor job with Iraq. Fifty-four percent of those polled give the president a rating of poor, while 44 percent give him a good rating. That's according to a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll. It was taken on Wednesday.
Still, the poll, as I said, does not reflect reaction to the president's speech at the U.S. Naval Academy, because, frankly, not many people saw it, because it was on at 9:45 in the morning.
The man who helped start the notorious Crypts gang in Los Angeles more than 30 years ago is one step closer to death. The California Supreme Court has refused to stop the December 13 execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Williams, convicted of killing four people in 1979, is now hoping Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will step in.
There is some ammunition in the battle over the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. The National Archives has released a 1985 memo Alito wrote suggesting that he had let the states take the lead in trying to stop abortions rather than the administration directly attacking Roe v. Wade. Alito's confirmation hearings are set for January.
And check out this Pop Warner football team in Boston. There they are. It's hard to tell, but one of those players is 12-year-old Jessica "Speedy" Puglisi (ph).
S. O'BRIEN: Go, girl!
COSTELLO: That's right. Jessica and the rest of the Boston Raiders are heading to Orlando for the Pop Warner League Super Bowl. The team needed to raise $70,000 by this morning. And word is they've got the dough. Jessica will become the first girl to play in a league championship game.
M. O'BRIEN: I guess they should call it "Mom and Pop Warner," don't you think?
COSTELLO: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Well...
COSTELLO: Call it what? I didn't hear that.
M. O'BRIEN: "Mom and pop instead of...
S. O'BRIEN: You know what? You don't even want to hear it.
M. O'BRIEN: I mean...
S. O'BRIEN: It was not worth repeating.
COSTELLO: I know. What was I thinking?
S. O'BRIEN: I'm kidding.
COSTELLO: Jacqui Jeras, I'm sorry, I tried to get the picture of Harry Connick, Jr. for you. So next weather hit I will have him for you.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Excellent.
S. O'BRIEN: In person?
JERAS: I look forward to that.
(CROSSTALK)
JERAS: I met him in person. He was in our studios once when he had a new Christmas CD out.
COSTELLO: Did you talk like this?
JERAS: I was, like, shaking his hand, going 'Hello, I like you, you're cute.' No...
S. O'BRIEN: She's scaring me.
JERAS: It was embarrassing, you know. It was, like, written all over my face, you know.
M. O'BRIEN: Harry Connick stalker there.
JERAS: Oh, no, I'm not a stalker. I do enjoy his music, though. Very challenging.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Moving now to Iraq. Two operations are going on as we speak, aimed at rounding up suspected insurgents. Hundreds of U.S. troops are fighting alongside Iraqi security forces.
Baghdad bureau chief Kevin Flower is live in the Iraqi capital.
Kevin, how many Iraqi soldiers are involved in these operations?
KEVIN FLOWER, BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Well, good morning, Miles.
The most important of those operations, Operation Steel Hammer, involves some 500 Iraqi troops. Now, they are fighting in western Al- Anbar province, outside the town of Hit.
Now, they are fighting alongside 2,000 U.S. Marines and soldiers. The military says this operation is aimed at stemming -- combating what they believe are al Qaeda cells operating car bomb factories and IED factories outside of that city.
Now, this comes on the heels of many operations in the past few months in western Al-Anbar province. These aimed at stemming the flow, the tide, of foreign fighters and weapons into the area -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Kevin, tell us about this apparent suicide bombing by a western woman in Iraq.
FLOWER: Well, an interesting story, first reported in a Belgian newspaper. Apparently, 38-year-old Muriel Degauque was involved in a suicide bombing here. It was a suicide bomber on November 9 targeting a U.S. military patrol just north of Baghdad.
The circumstances behind it are not entirely clear, but the Belgian authorities are investigating a ring, if you will, of suspects who were involved in transporting suicide bombers and aid to insurgents here in Iraq.
M. O'BRIEN: Kevin Flower, our Baghdad bureau chief. Thanks very much.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, this might sound like science fiction, but today it's a reality. It's the world's first partial face transplant. We're going to take a look at how doctors did it just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: A pretty astonishing medical story to tell you about this morning. French doctors say they have successfully performed the world's first partial face transplant.
CNN's Brian Todd has a look at how it finally happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Until now, it was the stuff of science fiction. Eight years after the movie "Face Off" popularized the notion of swapping faces, doctors in France announced the world's first partial face transplant, replacing the nose, lips and chin of a 38-year-old woman who had been mauled in a dog attack, the grafted tissue harvested from another woman who had been declared brain-dead, a procedure that's been researched extensively in the U.S. but not tried yet.
DR. JOHN BARKER, UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE: If a person -- for example, a burn victim, whose, you know, half of their face is burned, the procedure consists of removing what is burned and replacing it with transplanted tissues.
TODD: Dr. John Barker is director of plastic surgery research at the University of Louisville. His teams want to do a full facial transplant, but they're not as close as Dr. Maria Siemionow of the Cleveland Clinic. She heads the only team to have board approval for a complete facial transplant, and she's now screening potential patients.
Neither Dr. Siemionow, nor the doctors at Louisville, would comment on the operation in France. But officials at the Cleveland Clinic tell CNN, when a full facial transplant is done, an incision will be made around the entire face. The skin flap will be lifted and replaced with another face. They say, initially, they only plan on transplanting skin, not facial bones or muscles. And they only want to perform the surgery on patients who are burned or are otherwise severely disfigured.
(on camera): In other words, officials at the Cleveland Clinic say they never want to see a facial transplant done as elective surgery, for someone who simply wants another face. Even if someone tries that, they warn, you very likely will not look like your donor.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Wow! It's pretty amazing, if you think about it. I mean, you know, also as much as there are all of these big ethical questions, this woman was apparently was in such bad shape because she had been mauled...
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: ... very viciously by dogs that, you know, the -- looking like somebody else was the least of her problems.
SERWER: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: But clearly there are serious, you know, psychological, potentially, problems and the ethical debate. And apparently the woman is doing fine.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, I'm not still clear. It doesn't sound like she would necessarily look like the donor's face...
S. O'BRIEN: She wouldn't in this case.
M. O'BRIEN: ... because the cheekbones and the muscles.
SERWER: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: There are all kinds of...
S. O'BRIEN: I think they're looking, you know, to the future, where you say, listen, I'm unhappy with my face, I want a face transplant.
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
SERWER: Yes, I do. No.
M. O'BRIEN: You do not.
S. O'BRIEN: That little cute little face. What are you talking about, man? You're crazy. You're speaking crazy.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: You're being very nice.
M. O'BRIEN: He wants Brad Pitt. Can you get Brad Pitt, please?
S. O'BRIEN: Remember, it has to be off of a cadaver.
SERWER: Oh, OK, I forgot that.
S. O'BRIEN: And that kind of puts a whole wrinkle in the thing, doesn't it?
SERWER: No. So to speak.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, so to speak.
SERWER: All right.
S. O'BRIEN: Moving on.
SERWER: Moving on.
S. O'BRIEN: Andy, what's coming up this morning?
M. O'BRIEN: Very nice. Very nice.
SERWER: We're talking about getting a credit card from a self- serve kiosk. Just what we all need, right? Stay tuned to AMERICAN MORNING coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) M. O'BRIEN: Oh, it's Jim Croce.
SERWER: Oh, man.
M. O'BRIEN: But I got tipped.
SERWER: Of course.
M. O'BRIEN: I got tipped.
S. O'BRIEN: Did Luther Vandross not sing any songs that have a weekday in them?
SERWER: I want to hear a little Luther Vandross.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, in memory.
M. O'BRIEN: It's not a bad way to start the day.
S. O'BRIEN: That would be nice.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Just throwing it out there.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, just a thought.
S. O'BRIEN: Just a thought.
M. O'BRIEN: The hint has been delivered. Let's check the headlines.
S. O'BRIEN: Anybody? Anybody?
M. O'BRIEN: Carol Costello. Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Good morning, Miles. Good morning to all of you.
A new military operation in western Iraq to tell you about. Some 2,000 U.S. troops and hundreds of Iraqi soldiers are taking part in the mission about 85 miles west of Baghdad. That's where it's happening. They're trying to sweep insurgents out of the region. Operation Iron Hammer as it's called comes ahead of the December 15 elections.
Stanley "Tookie" Williams is hoping for clemency from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's pretty much his last hope. Williams is the co-founder of the street gang, the Crypts. He's set to be put to death in less than two weeks. The California Supreme Court has refused to stop his execution. His lawyers argue Williams can do more good alive than dead. He writes children's books with an anti-gang message.
Don't expect as much gold at the Olympics this winter. The new medals feature a hole in the center. Take a look. The spot is meant to represent an Italian piazza in honor of the -- you know, Turin, Italy, is hosting the games. And the chairman of the Olympic Committee calls the new design marvelous and creative. Critics say the medals look like donuts.
M. O'BRIEN: Pretty much. Pretty much, yes.
COSTELLO: Does it remind you of an Italian piazza?
M. O'BRIEN: No.
SERWER: No.
S. O'BRIEN: No, it looks like a donut actually.
M. O'BRIEN: I don't get that.
SERWER: No.
COSTELLO: Oh, well. They're going to stay that way...
SERWER: OK.
COSTELLO: ... no matter what you guys or I think.
S. O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE) bagel.
COSTELLO: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: I wonder if Dunkin Donuts is a sponsor. If not, they should be.
COSTELLO: Maybe that's the -- Andy, get on that right now.
SERWER: Yes, I'll find out.
COSTELLO: Have you heard of this one?
SERWER: Yes, Krispy Kreme.
COSTELLO: Have you heard of onlineaholics? Onlineaholics. Some experts are saying that about 6 to 10 percent of the nearly 190 million Internet users are seriously addicted. And I mean seriously addicted. They spend hours and hours online shopping or chatting. The experts are going as far to say that it can be as destructive as drug addition or alcoholism. Critics are describing it as a fad illness. There is still very little hard science on Internet addiction.
But I'm telling you, Jacqui. And, you know, you're on the computer a lot.
JERAS: I am at work, but I still don't have DSL at home. So, I'm not on it very often at home.
COSTELLO: So she is safe from becoming addicted. But some psychologists say that online addicts suffer withdrawal symptoms as serious as alcoholics. JERAS: Oh, wow!
COSTELLO: Yes.
JERAS: I guess that maybe that's a better addiction, though, huh, to be addicted to the Internet?
COSTELLO: Yes, unlike your addiction to Harry Connick, Jr.
JERAS: Oh, come on now! My face is (INAUDIBLE). Good thing I'm not on camera today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jacqui.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, thanks, Jacqui.
Just what we needed, a self-serve way to get easy credit. Oh, great.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: All of those things that come in the mail aren't enough.
SERWER: No, no.
S. O'BRIEN: You're right.
SERWER: Well, they're trying to get you any way they can. Americans are wallowing in debt, Soledad. So, here's a new way to get credit cards at your fingertips, at the store, ever so easily.
Here's how it works. GE's consumer finance group is setting up self-serve kiosks in Ikea, the home furnishing store. There are 26 of them across the United States. They're huge stores. They're going to put four or five of these kiosks in every single store.
And here's what you do. You just walk up to it, type in your name, put in your social security, put in your mother's maiden name, and one or two other things. And if you're approved, presto! In minutes a temporary card will be issued, and then a real one will be mailed to you in a matter of weeks. And you can use this temporary card right away to buy up to $5,000 worth of stuff.
S. O'BRIEN: At Ikea or everywhere?
SERWER: At Ikea. It's just an Ikea card.
M. O'BRIEN: It's just an Ikea store card.
SERWER: Right. But they are actually going to be doing this at Wal-Mart, too. So, you know, this could be a trend that we will see at stores across the land. And Ikea said they used to have the regular forms, but they took too long, and customers didn't like that. M. O'BRIEN: Yes, yes.
SERWER: So now it's just da-da-da, boom, and a card comes out.
M. O'BRIEN: We sure do love our debt, don't we?
S. O'BRIEN: It's like the cash machines at the gambling.
SERWER: Yes. Those are very convenient. I've really noticed that.
S. O'BRIEN: That's why they're there.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Speaking of addictions.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Andy.
Coming up a little later on the program, a new controversy involving Hurricane Katrina. This time, it's a Christmas display. Check that out. Do you see the blue tarps? That's among the rather pointed...
S. O'BRIEN: The debris?
M. O'BRIEN: ... symbolism -- debris, refrigerators, graffiti. All of this was put up in a mall in Lakeview, the Lakeview section of New Orleans. And it caused quite a kafuffle. We'll talk to the man who designed it and ask him what he was thinking. "AM Agenda" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody.
On our "AM Agenda" this morning, we're talking about a couple of topics that caught our interest. TSA, as we reported yesterday, as you reported yesterday, is going to start relaxing really their screening efforts in...
COSTELLO: If you have to clip your nails...
S. O'BRIEN: Finally...
COSTELLO: ... you can bring your little nail scissors on board the plane...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Finally you can.
COSTELLO: ... to grandma's house this Christmas. S. O'BRIEN: Which is actually a huge change, because remember, think of all of, like, the toenail and fingernails -- well, there they are in that big thing.
M. O'BRIEN: Some of them might be mine. My cigar cutters? I want them back now.
S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Well, they've changed their mind. Needless to say, the flight attendants are in an uproar and very unhappy about it. They think it makes the flight attendants more -- rather, less safe. And also they said that TSA is not really talking to them about it.
COSTELLO: But do you know what I'm thinking? You know -- you know, we like wine. So, you know, we often bring wine bottles aboard planes as gifts. But you could really do some damage with a wine bottle.
M. O'BRIEN: There's a lot of things.
COSTELLO: So what makes one thing a weapon and one thing not?
M. O'BRIEN: Exactly. Exactly.
S. O'BRIEN: And...
M. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, in defense of the TSA, what they're saying is it's more -- they spend so much time looking for these teeny little nail clippers...
S. O'BRIEN: Three million of these...
M. O'BRIEN: ... that the spinners, their time, they get bogged down on these little things when they should be looking for perhaps bombs or whatever.
COSTELLO: Explosives.
M. O'BRIEN: So, I sort of see that point, because the nail clipper, after all, you can't bring a plane down with a nail clipper. Let's face it.
S. O'BRIEN: But you could certainly if you were strong enough and holding it to somebody's throat, like a flight attendant's throat, a sharp object, yes, you could.
COSTELLO: But you can stab somebody with an umbrella. You can stab somebody with a pencil, with a pen.
S. O'BRIEN: She says that like she knows for sure.
COSTELLO: I know.
S. O'BRIEN: Really?
COSTELLO: Yes. S. O'BRIEN: An umbrella?
COSTELLO: Yes!
M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk quickly about this Christmas display, because we're going to talk to...
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, this is an amazing story.
M. O'BRIEN: Roll the tape if we could, because you have to see it to kind of fully understand it. It's a mall in Metairie. I misspoke a few moments ago, and I apologize. And this is in the New Orleans area. And every year the person who puts this together kind of takes a little -- he has a little edge. He's not politically correct. I mean...
COSTELLO: Well, it's New Orleans, for goodness sakes.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, yes. And one year he did a thing on the Taliban, and one year it was on Edwin Edwards going to jail. And so, it's always on the edge.
But this year, I think he offended too many people. They actually took this thing down. You see the blue tarps. You see the refrigerators. There's a helicopter taking somebody off a roof. There is graffiti on the side -- not graffiti. Those markings they used on the side of the houses to indicate if there were bodies present.
COSTELLO: The dead, yes.
M. O'BRIEN: So, and some people were offended. He was trying to inject some humor into a very tragic situation. He may have missed the mark. We're going to talk to him in a little bit.
S. O'BRIEN: And some people supported him. They thought it was great.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: That's ahead this morning.
As we approach the top of the hour, though, let's get a check of the forecast with Jacqui Jeras.
(WEATHER REPORT)
JERAS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING is right now.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Jacqui, thanks.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
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