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American Morning

Is Iran Ready to Say No to Nuclear Inspectors?; Homeless Men in Florida Brutally Beaten With Baseball Bats

Aired January 13, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien. Is Iran ready to say no to nuclear inspectors? And would that trigger U.N. sanctions? We're live from Tehran with the very latest.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello, in for Soledad this morning.

Disturbing pictures. Homeless men in Florida brutally beaten with baseball bats. Hopefully this surveillance tape can help police catch the attackers. We'll take you there for the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been shot! I've been shot!

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COSTELLO: And more amazing pictures to show you. This time a police officer shot at close range, but this one has a happier ending.

O'BRIEN: And some severe weather sweeping across the southeast as we speak. We're watching for some tornadoes in forecast. Chad's all over it, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you. And thank you for joining us on this Friday the 13th.

O'BRIEN: Friday the 13th it is. Let's get right to the news. And we're going to start in Iran. It's a growing standoff with the world. That country is threatening to stop cooperating with European countries, shutting down some inspections of its nuclear program. That's because European leaders want to send the whole matter over to the United Nations Security Council. The U.S. agrees, it says Iran is not playing by the rules.

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CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECY. OF STATE: The removal of seals by the Iranian government in defiance of numerous IAEA board resolutions demonstrates that it has chosen confrontation with the international community over cooperation and negotiation.

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O'BRIEN: Now the IAEA is the International Atomic Energy Agency. That's the U.N. group, which is in charge of watching nuclear programs all over the world.

Let's go now to our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour. She is in Tehran. She joins us on the videophone -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, In responses to this ratcheting up of tension between the West and Iran, Iran has given several conciliatory statements in the last two days. Today, Iran's foreign minister spoke to Iranian news organization here, and said that Iran is willing to enter into any number of discussions and negotiations, clarifications and talks with any number of countries, including the West, obviously, which have any questions about its nuclear program.

It insists that it has the right to research nuclear technology under the Nonproliferation Treaty, but it does not intend to enrich. It also insists that it is not diverting any and will not divert any nuclear material to any weapons program, that its program is peaceful.

The foreign minister also went on to say, however, that if the matter is deferred to the U.N. Security Council then Iranian law requires that it cut cooperation with those European countries that it has been in touch with over this matter, and that it suspend its voluntary moratorium that it had on its nuclear program over the last several years -- basically the last 14 months. It has had a voluntary extension of its entire nuclear program. That, it says, it would no longer do.

Yesterday, when we sat and talked with the head of the Iranian Nuclear File, what is Iran's national security adviser, he basically told us that they fully expected to continue ties with the IAEA, the U.N. watchdog, and that surveillance and cameras were still in place.

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ALI LARIJANI, IRAN'S CHIEF NUCLEAR NEGOTIATOR (through translator): If anyone wants to go towards making weapons, they're not going to go about it this way. Because under the supervision and cameras of the IAEA, no one is going to produce weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So Iran is saying, though, that if, in fact, it is referred to the Security Council then some of these additional goodwill confidence-building measures it allowed, for instance, snap inspections, anyplace, anywhere, any time ability for the U.N. inspectors to go, that would end, but they would not pull out, they say, as yet with any relationship with the IAEA -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Christiane Amanpour in Tehran, thank you very much. We'll hear more about this nuclear controversy during a news conference with President Bush and the German chancellor later this morning. That's 11:25 Eastern Time, right here on CNN -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Republicans sounding confident that Samuel Alito will be on Supreme Court very soon. After 18 hours on the witness chair, there don't seem to be any red flags to stop his confirmation.

AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken live in Washington for us.

Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

And many believe in this hearing room on Wednesday evening, that's when the nail went pretty much in the Democrat's coffin. That is when Mrs. Alito left her chair behind her husband in tears after hammering questions from the Democrats about personal matters concerning Samuel Alito. The Democrats had been quite frustrated, because they had been unable to pin Alito down after all of those hours of questioning about his views on the precedence on abortion and on presidential power and the like. The Democrats have expressed increasing frustration.

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SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: The evidence before us makes it very hard to vote yes on your nomination. On the first day of hearings, I said that while you give the appearance of being a meticulous legal navigator, in the end, you almost always choose the rightward course. I'm sorry to say that I haven't heard anything this week very substantive to dissuade me from that opinion.

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FRANKEN: The hearings wind down today without Alito in the chair. The Democrats have to decide what to do now, Carol. It doesn't look like the possibility of a filibuster is on the table, but they could delay the vote that the chairman of the committee would like to have next Tuesday.

Bob Franken live in Washington this morning, thank you.

O'BRIEN: A manhunt is on for two men involved in a series of brutal attacks in Florida. Now we warn you, the pictures you're about to see are disturbing. You can see the attacks, there it is, in I'd say plain daylight, but fluorescent light. The victim is in serious condition. Another victim died. Police say there may be even more attackers involved in all of this.

CNN's John Zarrella is in Miami.

John, do we have any leads on this one?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, police say they do have leads, and they are following several leads, but again, as you mentioned, no arrests yet have been made in this case. These brutal attacks on three homeless men took place in the very early overnight hours Thursday, and police say that they were all in very close proximity to one another.

This particular victim here, he survived, as did a second victim. These pictures taken from a university surveillance camera. A third victim, his body was found on a park bench.

Police are saying that they do believe that all three of these incidents are connected, but as this point, they, obviously, do not have any direct proof of that. People in the neighborhood, in the Ft. Lauderdale neighborhood, say that what has happened, what's taken place is very hard to believe.

MARIANE KROUSTASIS, FORT LAUDERDALE RESIDENT: Horrifying. And most of these guys that are down here are harmless. I mean, really, they're nice guys.

ZARRELLA: Two to four young men believed responsible for these attacks, and last night, police went throughout the community handing out flyers to the homeless people, telling them to please get off the street, try to find shelter last night, and also handing out flyers with the pictures of those two young men captured on that surveillance tape -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: John, this is 0 I suppose these kinds of things have happened, but it's remarkable to see it. It's actually difficult to watch. Is there a pattern here at all?

ZARRELLA: Not necessarily a pattern, although we've seen it before here in Florida. Within the last year in Holly Hill, near Daytona Beach, four teenagers attacked and beat a 53-year-old man to death in the woods. Four of those teenagers pleaded guilty to murder. A fifth pleaded to a lesser charge -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, John Zarrella, thank you very much.

Let's take a list the cities that have made -- well, you can call it a bad list of cities that are unwelcoming to homeless. This list was just put out today by the National Coalition for the Homeless. They say Sarasota, Florida is the most hostile generally toward the homeless, followed by Lawrence, Kansas and Little Rock, Arkansas. New York is number 14 on the list. Fort Lauderdale, by the way, where this occurred, did not make the top 20.

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COSTELLO: Watch this story out of Cincinnati. a Police officer is an inch away from being shot through the head. The shooting caught on a dashboard camera.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been shot! I've been shot! Officer down! Officer down! I need help!

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COSTELLO: You hear all of that shooting. The officer you saw running in front of the camera is not the one who was shot. Her partner was shot. Though actually, she wasn't shot physically. The bullet actually went through the brim of her hat. You see it there, shattering her glasses. The bullet also grazed her face. She did need stitches, but she's OK. Her partner managed to shoot the suspect in the leg. So he is in custody, and probably in the hospital, but there is the suspect there, and he will later be brought into custody.

O'BRIEN: Wow!

COSTELLO: Amazing!

O'BRIEN: Amazing scene. And the fact that they live to tell the tale is pretty amazing.

Coming up, an update on the investigations into the Sago mine tragedy. There's some troubling new details coming out now about a history of safety violations at that mine.

COSTELLO: Also more trouble for the National Security Agency. A former official says the agency broke the law, and he's just not talking about domestic spying.

O'BRIEN: And one of America's best hopes for Olympic gold sticks his ski boot in his mouth, so to speak. Can an apology make up for what he said about skiing wasted? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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O'BRIEN: The sole survivor of the Sago mine accident remains in critical condition this morning, Randy McCloy in a Morgantown, West Virginia hospital. And as the community there tries to grapple what happened, a series of investigation under way related to that mine. As we've told you, there were hundreds of safety violations at the Sago mine. Investigators won't be able to get into the mine until next week.

Still some concerns about toxic gas.

But now, CNN's Tom Foreman gives us a much clearer picture of how dangerous it was for the 12 men who lost their lives there last week.

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A blizzard of inspection reports released by the Mine Safety and Health Administration is providing previously undisclosed, and potentially troubling details about safety violations in the Sago mine before the fatal blast.

The reports cite crumbling roof, accumulations of explosive coal dust, a badly maintained escape route, and less than a month ago a high degree of negligence for the health and safety of the miners. In short, a lot of problems.

BOB FRIEND, MSHA ACTING DEPUTY ASSIST. SECRETARY: I think 96 of them were determined to be significant and substantial type. Is that too many for a mine that size? Well, perhaps. FOREMAN: The International Coal Group, which owns Sago, is contesting some of the findings, and the reports point out that many of the problems were being cleared up. But key questions remain. One focus for investigators, the seals that separated the working mine, from the older closed portion, where the blast is believed to have originated.

RAY MCKINNEY, MSHA: Found out that all the seals were completely destroyed, blown out.

FOREMAN: Those seals which consisted of block walls, similar to this one, were put into place only a month ago. Whether or not they should have contained an explosion is unclear, but investigators say the mine company was supposed to monitor any gas buildup behind the seals.

Did the company do so? That also is unclear. As for the rest of the troubles, the International Coal Group says it can't explain actions by the mine's previous owner.

BEN HATFIELD, CEO, INTERNATIONAL COAL GROUP: The International Coal Group will not attempt to explain or defend the violation history of this mine prior to the time we gained management oversight.

FOREMAN: But it turns out the man who controlled IGC today, billionaire Wilbur Ross, has controlled the Sago mine for a long time. His office has confirmed he was a major stockholder in Anchor Mining the previous owner of Sago, and he was a member of the company's board of directors in 2001.

Still, he says he has no inkling of any potentially fatal problems.

WILBUR ROSS, CHAIRMAN, INTERNATIONAL COAL GROUP: We had no reason to believe that this mine was unsafe.

FOREMAN (on camera): So when will we get to the bottom of all this? Federal and state investigators have not entered Sago mine since the accident. They're waiting until new ventilation pipes drain off more of that explosive methane.

(Voice over): They hope to make it inside by the middle of next week. And then to the spot where the fatal blast happened. So far, unseen by any living soul.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Coming up, a super secret spy agency under fire and we're not just talking about domestic spying. We'll here what one whistle-blower has to say about the National Security Agency.

And a precipitous fall from grace? Bode Miller talking about skiing wasted. Now he says he's sorry, but is that enough? We'll take a sober look, next on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: World champion skier Bode Miller is an American original. He relishes his privacy, and he really seldom makes explanations or complaints. And so when he makes an apology for what is described as reckless behavior, as well as some reckless skiing, that is news.

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BODE MILLER, U.S. OLYMPIC SKIER: I want to come straight out and apologize to -- you know, mostly my family, friends.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): One of America's best bets for Olympic skiing gold on the edge as usual. This time, on a slippery PR slope. Bode Miller raised eyebrows this week when he told "60 Minutes" about his episodes of skiing while drunk, and suggested he might even do it again. Fans and sponsors expressed outrage, and suddenly his spot on the Olympic team was in jeopardy.

MILLER: Obviously, the message that came through was not something that I would promote, or that I'm about in any aspect of my sporting career.

O'BRIEN: Miller is not cut from the same straight-laced cloth as most ski racers. He is well-known as a free spirit, on and off the slopes. He once said athletes should only be tested for drugs that are dangerous to their health. He was born and raised in New Hampshire, home-schooled in a house without running water.

Reaction there to his mea culpa? A mixed bag.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know why the U.S. ski team would consider kicking him off the team anyway. They would be the losers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he has a strong performance in Torino, then he'll be able to put it behind him, people will forget about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's great the fact he apologized, but you can't ski drunk, and that's wrong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: John Meyer covers the Olympics and skiing for "The Denver Post." He has ghost-written a column with Bode Miller for the last three years. He joins us from Denver.

John, good to have you with us.

JOHN MEYER, "DENVER POST": Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Is there a law against skiing drunk?

MEYER: Well, if you take Bode at his word, he did not ski drunk. I spoke to him Sunday to do the column for this week, and he clarified that he has competed hungover before. He referred to a specific incident at the World Cup finals last year, which I could tell you about, if you're interested,, but he said he has never skied drunk.

If you take him at his word, he used the wrong word with "60 Minutes," because he used the word wasted. I mean, most people would interpret wasted as being drunk. So perhaps he could of chosen...

O'BRIEN: Of course the effects can be kind of similar if you've had a rough night, as we all know.

Does Bode Miller really owe anybody an apology, do you think?

MEYER: Well, I don't know that it's for me to say as a reporter covering the team. I'm told that he came to the conclusion by himself that he should apologize. The president of the U.S. skiing went to have a serious meeting about this, and I'm told that before he had a chance to explain -- or demand that Bode deal with this, Bode said here's what I'm going to say tomorrow, and that was fine. That's what they wanted to hear.

O'BRIEN: It seems to me like a little bit of a tempest in a beer keg or something here. He's a ski racer, he's a young guy, an athlete. Is anybody surprised he has a few beers?

MEYER: Well, no, that's pretty common among ski racers, certainly ski racing fans. I've covered a lot of races in Europe, where you take your life in your hands after walking the streets after a World Cup race.

But, at the same time, you need to have all of your faculties to ski race, particularly in downhill. It's one of the most dangerous things you can do sober. In downhill, these guys are going 85 miles an hour and making an instantaneous decisions.

And he also told me on Sunday that he's never raced downhill or super-G even hungover, let alone intoxicated.

O'BRIEN: Well, I guess the real question is here does he have a responsibility to anyone, other than himself, for that? I mean, he is the one who is putting himself at risk.

But he's representing the United States. He's represented the U.S. ski team. In Torino, he'll be representing the U.S. Olympic Committee. And yes, there's a responsibility with that. I think most people would think so.

O'BRIEN: Will this help or hurt his career, especially endorsements? I know he has a series of Nike ads coming out.

MEYER: You know, just like Bode always racing on the edge and pushing to the extreme, taking risks, that's sort of the marketing game, too, because a lot of these companies, you know, they like the rebel image. I spoke with Nike yesterday, and they talked about some of the other rebellious athletes they've had, going back to Steve Prefontaine (ph), for example, the great distance runner, who by the way, was killed in a car crash after being at a party.

So, you know, Nike, for example, doesn't want to condone and doesn't condone drinking while competing, but at the same time, they like his rebellious edge. So just like his ski racing, I think they want it right up to the edge.

O'BRIEN: I would say it's money in the bank for Bode Miller.

Thank you very much. John Meyer from "The Denver Post," thanks for being with us.

Coming up on the program, this weekend, if you look closely, you might be able to spot some treasure falling from outer space. You can call it cosmic booty, if you will. And it may hold clues about the creation of our solar system. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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