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American Morning

The Fight for Iraq; Missing Katrina Children; The Legacy of Pope John Paul II

Aired December 27, 2005 - 09:34   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're tacking several threads in Iraq this morning. Two Army helicopter pilots died in an accident west of Baghdad. A Marine died in combat Monday, and in general, violence there on the rise, two weeks after that parliamentary election, where there was a lull. Our Jamie McIntyre following all of this for us from the Pentagon.
Jamie, first of all, let's talk about the chopper accident. We don't know an awful lot. We do know this, that Flying choppers, even when people aren't shooting at you, in those situations is dangerous business.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It does appear that this was an accident. The Army, for reasons I'm not exactly clear, is not specifying what kind of helicopter this was. It was apparently assigned to the Third Infantry Division. Two people died, two U.S. soldiers, indicating probably it was a small helicopter with those two onboard. It did crash apparently as an accident, not part of hostile fire, but flying helicopters, as you say, it can be risky business in the best circumstances, and in Iraq it can be particularly dangerous.

But again, it appears this was an accident. It comes on a day after a U.S. soldier was also killed while on patrol when a rocket- propelled grenade hit his vehicle, and two days after a couple of soldiers were killed in roadside bombs on Christmas Day. And so that hoped for a lull in the violence, the idea that these parliamentary elections might bring the Sunnis, who are part of the insurgency back into the political process, perhaps putting a lid on some of this violence, doesn't seem to have taken place.

In the last three, days we've seen a number of attacks. Today five policemen were killed. And it does appear that Iraqi police are the main targets of a lot of these attacks over the last couple of days. Five different explosions rocked Baghdad yesterday, and again, on Christmas Day, a number of attacks as well.

O'BRIEN: The violence goes up, Jamie, amid a lot of talk in Washington about bringing troops home. I wonder if that's going to change that at all, or if even privately at the Pentagon they're saying they might have to delay any troop withdrawals.

MCINTYRE One of the things that's interesting is the withdrawal or the drawdown of U.S. troops is not linked to ending, or defeating or even lowering the level of violence. It is linked to the abilities of the Iraqis to take over the fight. The Pentagon doesn't say we have to defeat the insurgency before we can bring U.S. troops out. They're just saying they have to be able to turn that over, that fight over, to the Iraqis, so that really is the key indicator that they're looking at.

And while they're being very cautious about giving out any numbers, they do have a fairly optimistic, perhaps it's even wishful thinking, plan that by the end of next year they could get down to 100,000 troops in Iraq, but they're not saying that publicly.

O'BRIEN: All right, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thank you very much -- Carol.

COSTELLO: FEMA taking a lot more heat, this time over missing children, critics blaming the agency in large part for 450 children still unaccounted for almost four months after Katrina.

After all this time, will this kids ever be found?

Joining us now from Fort Myers, Florida, Ernie Allen, president of the Missing Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Welcome back, Ernie.

ERNIE ALLEN, NATL. CTR. FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Thanks, Carol.

And while we're talking about this, we're going to put up some of the pictures of the missing kids in case anybody recognizes them and can help. So that's what our viewers will be seeing.

Ernie, tell me about this. You wanted a list from FEMA of 2.8 million people who had applied for federal disaster assistance.

Why did you want that list?

ALLEN: Well, Carol, we've been trying to tap every list, every possible tool and resource, because we're trying to locate people, locate and identify them.

Our thought was hundreds of thousands of people have applied for assistance, and that this would be a great tool to track them down.

COSTELLO: So you asked for this list from FEMA back in October, and this was the controversial part. They refused to give it to you at first. What was the reason?

ALLEN: Well, they're very good reasons. FEMA is constrained by federal privacy laws. They're unable to distribute that information to anybody. When someone applies for assistance, there are legal protections to make sure that their information doesn't get into other hands, and so we had to come up with a compromise.

COSTELLO: Yes, but, Ernie, aren't you working under the auspices of the Justice Department. Wouldn't that cover it? Well, that was our argument, Carol. The Justice Department has directed us to do this. We're a non-profit organization, and we're granted access to FBI databases, federal parent locator databases through HHS and others, but the law was narrow.

What we ultimately did was come up with a compromise in which FBI agents who were assigned to our office out of the Crimes Against Children Division were granted access. So the FBI cleared the databases, and then we're working with the FBI to compare those databases and try to track people down.

COSTELLO: I want to read this statement from FEMA because, of course, we asked them about that as well. This is the statement that they sent us: "FEMA started working closely with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the FBI within days of Hurricane Katrina to do everything in our power to help reunite families and find children reported missing. FEMA has provided the FBI complete access to the millions of names, addresses, Social Security numbers and other information that privacy experts that the agency is not otherwise allowed to share." Sounds reasonable. What is your response to this statement?

ALLEN: Well, we're than the critical of FEMA. FEMA had some legal hurdles that we had to get around, and we found a way to do that. Our interest was never in getting into the private data, the financial data of these people. We just wanted to find out where they were. There are now evacuees in 48 states.

So coming up with this compromise in which the data's accessed through the FBI, the FBI is working with us, we believe that maximizes the possibility of bringing these other 450 children back with their families.

COSTELLO: So you've got the list now. Any success for looking at that list so far?

ALLEN: Carol, we've had about 40 successful reunifications in the past few days. We believe those numbers will increase. We know that some of these children didn't survive the storm and that's going to take weeks and months to identify them.

But our belief is that the vast majority of these kids are with a parent or with a grandparent, but another family member doesn't know where they are. So this is about information about linking people and reuniting families.

COSTELLO: Ernie Allen, many thanks for being with us this morning. Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

O'BRIEN: Coming up in the program, our special series on the year's biggest newsmakers, called "Five in '05." Today we look at the legacy of Pope John Paul II.

COSTELLO: And later, a serious message of crime prevention for people lost in the world of their iPods. We'll tell you how music can become a criminal's best accomplice. Stay with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Got your New Year's Eve plans set yet? Well, come join CNN's Anderson Cooper to ring in the new year. He's live in Times Square. The mayor will be there, plus James Brown, the John Mayer Trio, Harry Connick, Jr. It's going to be fun. Tune in at 11:00 Eastern and join the celebration.

It's one of the biggest stories from this past year, the papal transition after the death of Pope John Paul II. All this week, we're looking at the top five in '05. This morning, number four in our countdown, the legacy of a religious leader who literally changed the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The pope has returned to the house of his father.

COSTELLO (voice-over): With those words, a man for the ages was gone. Pope John Paul II, the people's pope for almost 27 years, died on April 2, 2005.

CARDINAL THEODORE MCCARRICK, ARCHBISHOP OF WASHINGTON: He had a personal charisma that really became diffused through everything he did. And I think, more than anything else, it was his obvious love for people.

COSTELLO: Part pope and part rock star, the man from humble beginnings in Poland didn't just become the head of the catholic church, he was the catholic church. John Paul visited hundreds of countries, greeting enthralled crowds and personally touching the lives of millions. Just how influential was he? His strong denunciation of communism was credited with helping to lead to its downfall.

POPE JOHN PAUL II: It's not only the absence of war (ph), it also involves (INAUDIBLE) thrust between nations.

COSTELLO: And his compassion for the less fortunate helped focus the world's attention on poverty in third world countries.

CROWD: John Paul II, we love you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Suddenly, several shots rang out.

COSTELLO: In May of 1981, he survived an assassination attempt. In his later years, he lived with Parkinson's Disease, letting it slow his travels only slightly. When he finally passed, the Vatican immediately began referring to him by a new nickname, John Paul, the great. And to judge the impact of his life, one only had to see or hear the reaction to his death.

The faithful poured into Vatican City to pay their respects. Kings and queens, heads of state, Christians and non-Christians alike. The drama surrounding naming his successor was intense. A white puff of smoke meant a new pope had been named. And for the first time, bells were supposed to sound to clear up any confusion. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go! There we go! There we go! We have a pope. That's it.

COSTELLO: And when Benedict XVI was finally presented as the new pontiff, many wondered whether he could carry on Pope John Paul's legacy.

MCCARRICK: I think when he was elected, he probably said to himself, well I'm not -- I'm not JP II.

COSTELLO: But when the smoke cleared, one thing was certain, Pope John Paul II, who, for many years, was their only pope, was on a fast track to sainthood.

MCCARRICK: If Pope John Paul were here today, he would look at all of us and say, keep at it. It's worth the effort.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Gives you shivers, doesn't it? Tomorrow, our "Five in '05" countdown continues with a look at anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who got emotional when we talked to her about why she is one of the top five in '05.

"CNN LIVE TODAY" coming up next. Daryn, hello, what are you working on?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Carol, good morning.

We're talking about Israel. And the country knows a thing or two about suicide bombers. Now it's sharing those lessons with U.S. law enforcement officials. We're going to have a look at some of the techniques for response and prevention.

Plus this...

(MUSIC)

KAGAN: A U.S. marine sings about Vietnam while serving his third tour in Iraq. He shares with us the things that keep him awake at night. You will not want to miss this piece. It's all coming in about 12 minutes. Which means you guys have a little bit more work to do there in New York City.

COSTELLO: We do. Thank you, Daryn.

O'BRIEN: All right. Andy Serwer is here to tell us about what work lies ahead.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: I am, Miles. Is the poker bubble set to pop? And what would Kenny Rogers do about this it trend, hold them or fold them? We'll tell you about that, coming up next.

O'BRIEN: Walk away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: When it comes to holiday profits, retailers are giving thanks to the...

SERWER: People who waited.

O'BRIEN: Those people who wait too long. Them people.

SERWER: I'll help you out, man.

Let's move on to the business news, shall we, go down to the big board and see how stocks are faring at this moment. The Dow Jones Industrials are up 42. We're heading for that 11,000 mark before year end. If so, Soledad owes me big bucks. A couple of stocks on the move this morning, Bristol-Myers up over three percent. They've got a new rheumatoid arthritis drug that has got investors excited. Boeing has another order. Man, how often have we had that this year, from Aeroflight (ph). That's up. Guidant is down, however. Troubled pacemaker company received a letter from the SEC about its facility in Minnesota.

Retailing numbers are pretty much in for the holiday season and '05, and they're looking pretty good, basically up 8.7 percent. You're going to see a lot of different numbers. Bottom line, it was a pretty good season for the nation's stores.

And this week, of course, sales and gift cards. That's what it's all about. A lot of people are going to be using gift cards to buy apparel, clothes that would be, because they're marked down. And of course they're already starting to stock some stuff for the spring.

One thing that will be really marked down, one item will be poker sets, sets of cards and chips. They have not been selling well. That's because they sold well in '03 and '04. And basically you buy one set, and you buy a set for your brother-in-law and you're done. I mean, there's a saturation point here.

O'BRIEN: That's pretty much it, yes.

SERWER: And so a lot of talk about the trend being kind of played out in terms of poker. There's actually a poker stock, World Poker Tour Enterprises, WPT, and they've had some real problems. This U.S. poker champion Doyle Brunson (ph) made an unsolicited $700 million bid for the company. The stock went to almost $30, and then he kind of disappeared, and so did the bid. And now the SEC is investigating, and now the stock is below $6. So yet another sight.

COSTELLO: So maybe they have to fold them.

SERWER: Yes, you know what Kenny Rogers would do, right?

O'BRIEN: He would have walked away.

SERWER: Yes, or folding them.

O'BRIEN: I think he might have been bluffing, I don't know. SERWER: Boy, this gives you all kind of opportunities, doesn't it Miles? And you, too, Carol.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about another kind of oblivion, iPod oblivion. Police in Boston warning commuters with iPods to watch out. Thieves are targeting users who look lost in the users, oblivious to what's happening around them.

More now from Dan Lothian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The crushing crowds and deafening noise of Boston's busy rail commute a potential thief's paradise. Their targets? Passengers lost in their iPods.

LT. DET. MARK GILLESPIE, MASS. BAY TRANSIT POLICE: When you have them on, you've signed off mentally as to paying attention to anything other than you're doing than walking and listening to your music.

LOTHIAN: This passenger seems completely oblivious to a transit order wearing a bright-colored vest warning passengers to be on the lookout.

GILLESPIE: Sir? Sir?

Some of the people we have to actually take a couple extra steps after and actually physically touch them to hand out these flyers to get their attention.

LOTHIAN (on camera): Being zoned out has cost some commuters dearly. Investigators have seen a rise in robberies around the transit system. Cash, credit cards and other valuables snatched from the pockets and purses of commuters who are either listening to music or deep in a cell phone conversation.

GILLESPIE: If you have an iPod or you talk on a cell phone you should read this.

LOTHIAN (voice over): Fearing these crimes could escalate, especially during the busy holiday season, Boston Transit Police and other law enforcement agencies have launched a safety campaign, handing out flyers with tips like staying alert or removing earphones when entering or leaving a subway station at night.

GILLESPIE: But if people don't take these measures of safety, that they could potentially become victims.

LOTHIAN: Undercover officers will also be working the crowds at some stations. Elvis Hernandez loves his music but won't let the volume drown his sense of awareness.

ELVIS HERNANDEZ, TRANSIT RIDER: But I do pay attention. I do be careful of my surroundings, especially in the holiday season. It gets a little crazy around here.

LOTHIAN: This commuter stays safe by dropping the stereo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I usually keep one off, so I don't really -- I can still hear what's going on around me.

LOTHIAN: An effort to keep commuters tuned in to their surroundings and not just their iPod.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And as you well know, iPods were on the A-list of hot gifts this Christmas, as they were last Christmas. So a lot of you out there need to tune out the music, take one of the ear buds out -- that's a good idea -- and listen to the advice of police.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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