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American Morning

Violence In Iraq; Comedy and Issues in New Orleans; Five In '05; Monday Night Football Finale

Aired December 27, 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: But I think we have to press on.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I think we do. It's 7:30 Eastern.

Good morning, everyone.

Right to the headlines now.

A teenage girl is dead after two men allegedly opened fire on a crowd of holiday shoppers in downtown Toronto. C-TV's Denelle Balfour joins us now from the heart of Toronto's shopping district.

What happened?

DENELLE BALFOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this morning, about three blocks of one of Toronto's busiest shopping district has been cordoned off. It's a crime scene. It's one of Canada's busiest shopping districts.

About 5:30 last night, police say it seems there was a dispute between two individuals. They decided to resolve it with gunfire and several people, including a 19-year-old girl, were caught in the crossfire. It sent shoppers scrambling. As you can see, it's quiet around here right now but there were hundreds of shoppers in the area when the shots were fired. They ducked for cover in the stores around here.

Police on the scene now. They're going to be very interested in the surveillance cameras that most of these stores have. They'll be seizing the video and looking at those tapes over the course of the next few days to try to determine what happened. Two people were arrested, including a minor, but they are searching for more.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Denelle Balfour from C-TV, thanks for joining us this morning.

A Florida bus driver is in jail after threatening to blow up a county bus. Police say the man's family told them about his threats. Bomb squad detectives later found a homemade bomb and two empty grenades in the man's house. The suspect was taken in without incident. No word on why he would make such a threat.

Radical changes in the works for FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It all has to do with its poor performance after Katrina. Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff says he wants to revamp the agency to help get aid to disaster victims more quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I want to restore FEMA and to the people of FEMA what they're entitled to, which is the respect for a very important job that they do. The way to do that is to give them a way to do their job better and more efficiently. I saw this technology. Some of it's adapting the roles that we have, maybe changing the way the organization relates using some 21th century technology.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Secretary Chertoff says he could announce changes to FEMA within the next couple of weeks.

Four U.S. marines are facing rape charges in the Philippines. This is a story that has not gotten much attention here in the U.S., but there have been protests in Manila since last month. The U.S. embassy is expected to issue a statement later today. The case has political importance. It's testing an agreement allowing U.S. troops to train in the Philippines.

And record heat in the south. A snowstorm in the west.

Just a weather potpourri this morning, Jacqui.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MILES O'BRIEN: The cycle is predictable. An election in Iraq looms, the U.S. military clamps down on security, the violence diminishes. Then once the voting is over, it is back to bloody business for the insurgents. At least 20 Iraqis are dead, more than 50 injured just since yesterday. It makes some wonder if there's a political solution to the turmoil in Iraq now or ever. Joining us now from London is Sajjan Gohel, a terrorism expert with the Asia Pacific Foundation.

Sajjan, good to have you back with us.

This cycle, we've seen it before. What does it tell you?

SAJJAN GOHEL, TERRORISM EXPERT: Well as we've seen, Miles, the problem in Iraq has always been the security operators itself. There just simply isn't enough intelligences to find out where these insurgents are operating, how they're operating, where they're planning their attacks. Not enough Iraqis are being able to train to fight an insurgency.

It's not a war. It's a totally different type of entity. So the challenges remain there. This is a very long term process and it's something that's going to take years to resolve not just months.

MILES O'BRIEN: Years to resolve. And amid all of this, the election appears to be no tonic. There are some that are expressing their concern there, both Shia and Sunni, that the election was tainted by fraud. That's not a good sign.

GOHEL: Well, I think it was inevitable that some groups would question the legitimacy of the elections. And it's a work-in- progress. Let's look at the facts that something like 70 percent of the Iraqi electorate turned out. That's pretty significant for a country that had not had democracy in the past compared to its neighbors Saudi Arabia and Syria where democracy is nonexistent or Pakistan where elections are constantly rigged. It is a -- it's a gradual process. And elections are important in order to represent the three key ethnic groups of the country, the Shia, the Kurds and, of course, the Sunnis. And there will be problems but these are initial problems.

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, but we would -- when you say inevitable, the inevitability would be Sunni complaints about the election. It's a little broader than that, isn't it?

GOHEL: Well, within the Shia groups itself, there are dispute. Because, at the end of the day, they all have their own agendas, they want to have a larger share of the political pie and ultimately they want to be the ones to control Iraq. The Shia are the majority but there are different groups that ultimately going to control the agenda. But they're divided amongst themselves as well. It's a very complicated problem in Iraq. Nothing is black or white. There are many shades of gray.

MILES O'BRIEN: There's a lot of talk in Washington about U.S. troops being withdrawn from Iraq. Is now the time to be talking about that, do you think?

GOHEL: I think that's a big problem. Is that it's very easy to talk about withdrawal of troops, but how is that going to resolve the situation. Right now the coalition are playing a very important role there because they're the ones that are leading the front against the insurgency. The Iraqis cannot handle their own affairs.

And we've got to look at the long-term picture. If the coalition were to pull out, Iraq will develop problems. There could be sectarian conflict, Shia/Sunni fighting each other on the streets. We don't want to abandon Iraq like Afghanistan which became home to the Taliban and al Qaeda. Because in 10 years time, we may have to revisit the same problem.

Get Iraq right now, resolve the outstanding concerns, and it could be a prosperous country in the Middle East and an important ally keeping countries like Iran in check. If not, it could become an ally of unstable regimes which won't benefit the coalition in the long term.

MILES O'BRIEN: There's some politicians in Washington who say what we're seeing unfold here are the making of a civil war. Congressman John Murtha perhaps the most vocal among them. Do you see the recipe for a civil war there?

GOHEL: There are very much prospects for the potential of civil and ethnic conflict developing in Iraq because of the fact that the country is a mesh of different ethnic groups with very different agendas. The Sunnis used to benefit under Saddam Hussein. Now, politically, they're the minority. The Shia have been influenced by the Iranians. The Kurds have their own issue over whether they should go independent or not.

These different agendas could clash ultimately in the future. It's important, therefore, that they are kept together because fragmentation of Iraq will just -- not just stay within the country, it will cause problems beyond that. And it's important that the coalition remains there. It's important that Iraq's neighbors play a meaningful role. Easier said than done but we'll have to wait and see.

MILES O'BRIEN: Lots to think about there. Sajjan Gohel, terrorism expert, director of the international security at the Asia Pacific Foundation, always a pleasure. Thank you.

GOHEL: My pleasure.

MILES O'BRIEN: Carol.

COSTELLO: Like everyone else in New Orleans, Comedian Harry Anderson is concerned about the future. The former sitcom star and Katrina survivor is doing his part to save his city. The story now from AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Harry Anderson sees a bit of humor in everything. Even tragedy.

HARRY ANDERSON, COMEDIAN, NIGHTCLUB OWNER, RESIDENT: We haven't caught Osama, but we've pretty much ruled out the ninth ward.

CHO: The actor/comedian who used to perform every week at the New Orleans nightclub he owns, is now giving his audience a different kind of show.

ANDERSON: Tonight is election night. In case you didn't know it, our election has been postponed.

CHO: Every Wednesday, Anderson opens his doors to the public. His dark, smoky nightclub serves as a backdrop for a little laughter, information . . .

ANDERSON: You can make your opinions known to the governor regarding this issue.

CHO: And lively debate.

ANDERSON: Ray Nagin can get up there and say whatever he wants and nobody calls him down on it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

ANDERSON: Huh? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's tyranny.

ANDERSON: We can laugh, we can cry often over the same thing, you know? What doesn't seem to be horrifyingly tragic seems to be unbelievable absurd. There's very little middle ground. We're an exciting place.

CHO: Anderson should look familiar.

ANDERSON: Boy, I must really be depressed.

CHO: He played Judge Harry Stone in the popular TV series "Night Court." But after several years in Hollywood, he wanted a change and settled in New Orleans, the same place he performed magic tricks in the 1970s. Today, he and his wife are business owners in the French Quarter. Anderson says post-Katrina the jokes come easy.

ANDERSON: Wilma, you know, took out hotels in Miami like God intended hurricanes to do. But Katrina and Rita, don't trust a hurricane named after a stripper. This is, I think, the lesson we've learned. Next year when Hurricane Tiffany comes, we're all out of here.

CHO: Joking aside, he says the weekly meetings at his club are not just a forum for discussion, but change. In October, the group held a sit-in at a local bar to protest curfews. The curfews were later extended. And now, he says, not even enforced.

ANDERSON: We have to accept the things that we can't change and we have to roll up our sleeves and start dealing with the things that we can change.

CHO: Anderson says the new New Orleans is not perfect, but he still can't imagine being anywhere else.

ANDERSON: We laugh more hours. We enjoy more of our day. We do have things that we have to deal with now, but we're still oddly very happy.

CHO: It's home.

Alina Cho, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And in the spirit of dark humor, Harry Anderson's club is called Oswald Speakees (ph), he named after Lee Harvey Oswald and featuring a drink called The Grassy Knoll. So there you go.

MILES O'BRIEN: I -- you know, that's dark. That's all I can say. Edgy, edgy stuff.

COSTELLO: That's why I said, in the spirit of dark humor.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes. COSTELLO: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, our look back at this year's biggest news makers, called "Five in '05." Today, the legacy of a man known around the world as the people's pope.

MILES O'BRIEN: And later, Monday night football takes its final snap on free broadcast TV. We'll take a look at the cultural impact of this TV institution.

First, a holiday message from some troops.

SPC. DEANNA MAITEN, COPPERAS COVE, TEXAS: Hi, I'm Specialist Maiten Deanna from Aliside (ph), Iraq. I want to say hi to my family in Copperas Cove, Texas, my two children, Kayla (ph) and Briana (ph) and my husband Martin. I love you.

CPT. CRAIG LOVE, FORT HOOD, TEXAS: Hi. This is Captain Love from Baghdad, Iraq. I wish my wife and my three beautiful daughters happy holidays.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Mark your calendar and join Anderson Cooper live from Times Square as he rings in the new year with music from James Brown, the John Mayor trio, Harry Conic Jr., and much, much more. Plus, a look back at the turbulent year in news. CNN "New Year's Eve with Anderson Cooper" beginning Saturday night at 11:00 Eastern.

It is 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: It gives you chills, doesn't it?

Tomorrow, our "Five in '05" countdown continues with a look at anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. That was very -- an emotional interview with Cindy Sheehan. You won't want to miss it.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, I'd like to hear from here.

Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business."

Hello, Andy.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello. Good morning, you guys.

A phantom menace tax may be hitting millions of Americans next year. We'll tell you the sad story coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, are you ready for some football?

COSTELLO: Oh, I wish we had the band singing?

MILES O'BRIEN: On cable. I'm no Hank Jr. Yes, sports fans, Monday night football has left the broadcast building.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, (voice over): It was the hapless Jets versus the playoff bound Patriots. A meaningless game that marked a milestone, the end of a sports and entertainment era. Thirty-six years after ABC brought the NFL out of it's Sunday refuge, Monday night football is now moving on to cable. It was an amazing run.

BROOKS BOLLINGER, NEW YORK JETS: It's something that we all grew up watching and it's a big part of football in this country.

MILES O'BRIEN: It was must see TV long before the phrase was coined and it put the NFL on a whole new level, culturally and financially. Monday night football kicked off on September 21, 1970. Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith in the booth wearing those awful yellow blazers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had some pretty amazing stuff over the years. You know, Howard Cosell, Dandy (ph) Don Meredith.

MILES O'BRIEN: When Frank Gifford replaced Jackson in the second season, the chemistry was suddenly perfect and that trio quickly took Monday night football to the top of the TV ratings. It would become one of TV's most valuable franchise, second only in network longevity to "60 Minutes." But alas, 555 games later, Monday night football is a victim of changing times, not to mention listless games like its last. No longer ready for broadcast prime time, it is headed for cable where the audience is smaller, but more loyal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as I see my Monday night football, it doesn't matter where it's showing at.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-six years I seen a lot of stuff change -- been a lot quicker than that. I think they are a pretty damn good run.

MILES O'BRIEN: And many memorable moments that had Americans ready to heed the call . . .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready for some football?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN: After 36 years it began and ended with Jets losses! How poetic.

SERWER: Yes. MILES O'BRIEN: And, by the same score, 31-21.

SERWER: Gang green.

MILES O'BRIEN: And it began with a loss to the browns, ended with a loss to the Patriots. It occurs to me this morning -- they're headed off to ESPN, cable, pay cable and all that so it's different. But it occurs to me the happiest people in the country over this, do you know who they are?

SERWER: Jets fans?

COSTELLO: I don't know.

MILES O'BRIEN: Eleven p.m. local news team at ABC affiliates all around the country are like, yes!

SERWER: And, you know, the ratings are still pretty good. They've just been declining but it's still a remarkable amount of people watch the program.

COSTELLO: It was so expensive for them, though, to put on.

SERWER: Right. They overpaid and so I think it's inevitable.

COSTELLO: Well, they had lousy games. They had to decide which games they were going to play during the season before the season so you ended up with games like you had on Monday night.

SERWER: Right, they couldn't tell. Like Lions games.

COSTELLO: Oh.

SERWER: Sorry.

MILES O'BRIEN: Or Jets.

SERWER: Or Jets. Yes.

COSTELLO: It's true.

Well, ESPN has it now so you can still see it.

SERWER: Yes.

COSTELLO: A plea deal reportedly in the works for a key player in the Enron case. Andy is here "Minding Your Business."

SERWER: That's right. January 17th is the day the Enron trial begins in Houston. Of course, Kenny Boy Lay, Jeff Skilling, the two top dogs at that company, are set to face justice, as well as Rick Causey, the chief accounting officer. But the "Houston Chronicle" is reporting this morning that he may be seeking a plea deal, which means he would crossover, along with former chief financial officer Andy Fastow and presumably testify against his two former bosses. No comment from Reid Weingarten, Causey's attorney. If his name is familiar, he's been defending everyone, Bernie Ebbers, the Tyco guys, Righted (ph) people. It's a busy season for those kinds of attorneys.

Meanwhile, want to talk about a phantom menace tax. This, of course, is the alternative minimum tax. You've probably been hearing Congress saying they're going to do something about this. Well, they haven't yet. And get this, the AMT, which is set to hit four million taxpayers this year, would hit 21 million taxpayers in 2006. That's because the threshold goes down from $58,000 to $45,000 in annual income. Now Congress says they will do something about it (INAUDIBLE) and it will be retroactive at the beginning of the year, but they better get on the case pretty soon, wouldn't you think?

COSTELLO: Oh, yeah, or you could have some very angry taxpayers.

SERWER: A march on Washington could ensue.

Let's talk about the markets quick here, you guys. The indexes for the year only a few trading days left. Oh, this is where we are. All the indexes are up. The Dow barely. That's because GM and Merck are in the Dow. I can see that very clearly, thank you, Bruce. The Nasdaq up on stocks like Apple and the S&P up as well.

Hey, nice to send it . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: Bruce, roll that back in here. Roll that back in here. I just want to show our viewing audience here what it takes for Andy to see the set these days. There we go.

SERWER: Well, I really should see my eye doctor.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, I think you might want to.

SERWER: Goodness gracious, that's very close.

MILES O'BRIEN: But thank you, Bruce. That's very kind of you.

SERWER: Well, Bruce doesn't mind doing that. Thank you, Bruce.

MILES O'BRIEN: No, he doesn't. He takes care of old folks. He does.

COSTELLO: Oh, geez.

SERWER: It's getting worse. Is it time for a commercial?

COSTELLO: Man.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, I think it is.

COSTELLO: I think it is. Poor Andy.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. Listen up. It's a commercial for Depends.

Coming up, our special series "Five Diets That Work." Today we'll tell you about a website that watches what you eat for you. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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