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American Morning

Inauguration Under Way for Liberia's New President; Pakistan Protests Airstrike That Killed 18 Civilians

Aired January 16, 2006 - 06:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, let's talk about the protesters. Protesters voicing their anger over an American incursion in Pakistan. We'll have a closer look at the frontlines of the war on terror for you.
The first ladies of the U.S. government are in Africa to see another first, the first woman elected to lead an African nation. We're live from Liberia.

And a community comes out to remember their own. We have details of the Sago Mine memorial, an emotional time there in coal mining country. It's been a couple of weeks since those miners were lost.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. No closer to an answer either. Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad this. And hopefully it is warmer where you are than it is here.

M. O'BRIEN: Odds are it is.

Big news coming out of Africa this morning, a landmark inauguration going on right now. Just moments ago, Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf arrived for the ceremony. She is the first woman ever expected to lead an African nation. And the hope is she'll help the country forget the violence of the past.

Liberia sits on the western coast of Africa, right next to Sierra Leone.

CNN's Jeff Koinange is joining us by videophone from Liberia's capital of Monrovia.

Jeff, hello to you. This is a pivotal moment for Africa, isn't it?

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN LAGOS BUREAU CHIEF: No doubt about it, Miles. And I'll tell you why it's so pivotal. Two years ago at this time, we wouldn't be standing where we are right now, because this country was at war back then.

This is an historic day, not just for the fact that Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is the first Liberian woman elected president, or Africa for that matter. The fact that this country is at peace after all they've gone through is extraordinary. People here are excited.

A short while ago, U.S. First Lady Laura Bush arrived, accompanied by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. That there shows an endorsement, support, from the most powerful nation on earth, the fact that they came to support one of their own, hoping that this will be a turning point in this country's often turbulent history.

M. O'BRIEN: Jeff, tell us, if you can give us a sense -- as we look at the ceremony and pomp that's under way right now, give us a sense of the real work that lies ahead, the challenges that face her.

KOINANGE: No doubt about it, Miles. There are huge challenges ahead.

First of all, the economy is in shambles. That's going to have to be taken care of immediately. Also basic social services on the ground, everything from water to electricity, that is nonexistent here in the capital of Monrovia.

President-elect Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, soon to be President Johnson-Sirleaf, will have her work cut out for her. And she's going to need her very commendable credentials, impressive credentials, having worked at the World Bank, City Bank and the United Nations Development Program. She's going to need all of that and more help to get this country back on its feet after so many years of civil war that killed up to more than 200,000 people -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Jeff Koinange from Monrovia, Liberia. Thank you very much. That's a story you'll only see here on CNN.

And speaking of women elected to lead countries, let's go to another continent and another woman who is now in charge.

Kelly, good morning.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles.

You're exactly right, the people of Chile electing their first female president. Socialist candidate Michelle Bachelet edged out conservative Sebastian Pinera by 7 percent of the vote in a runoff race. Bachelet is a one-time political prisoner who currently serves as defense minister for outgoing President Ricardo Lagos. Bachelet takes office March 11.

Within the hour we've learned more about Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. According to the hospital where he's being treated, Sharon's family says he has moved his eyelids. It's not clear, though, what the medical significance is of all of this. Sharon, you'll recall, suffered a massive stroke nearly two weeks ago. On Sunday, he underwent a tracheotomy to try and help with his breathing.

Vice President Dick Cheney is back in the Middle East to meet with leaders there. And he may also get a firsthand update on Prime Minister Sharon's condition. Cheney's Mideast trip was cut short back in December, because, you'll remember, he needed to return to Washington and cast a Senate vote on the budget.

The lone survivor of the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia is apparently making steady progress. Randal McCloy, Jr. was upgraded from critical to serious condition Sunday, though he remains in a coma and in intensive care. Doctors say McCloy's heart and liver have improved, but his kidneys are still impaired. Meantime, about 2,000 people took part in a memorial service for the 12 miners who died. McCloy's wife, Anna, was the first to light a candle at the service.

And in Oklahoma now, wildfires are still raging there all across the state, threatening several homes. Eighteen fires have charred more than 2,700 acres and destroyed at least one home. One fire prompted evacuations and shut down a state highway.

Chad Myers at the forecast center in Atlanta.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Coming up later, bad news. If you get the flu, doctors say two of the most common anti-flu drugs out there do not work. We'll take a look at some alternatives.

M. O'BRIEN: That's great to hear. And next, the failed U.S. airstrike in Pakistan. Osama bin Laden's right-hand man was the target, but apparently he wasn't even there. Why was U.S. intelligence wrong? A closer look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it appears Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has dodged yet another bullet, or in this case, perhaps, a Hellfire missile launched from a CIA drone. We do know 18 were killed in a remote Pakistani village. And that whole event has kicked up a firestorm of controversy for the U.S. A series of protests in Pakistan in the wake of Friday's attack.

CNN's Becky Diamond is just back from three weeks in Afghanistan. You saw her here on AMERICAN MORNING while she was there.

Good to have you back with us safe and sound, Becky.

BECKY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's good to be here.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about this. You know how rugged this country is. You know, quite frankly, how lawless it is. It must be very difficult to gather any sort of intelligence at all for the West.

DIAMOND: You hit the key. It's incredibly lawless. That in this area, the border area, and even outside of the border area, even in main cities, Kandahar, outside of Kandahar, there isn't a national government presence.

And so, the U.S. military is taking on a huge effort to gather information from sources who live in this area. And these sources are locals, and these locals are known to have either family ties or tribal ties to Taliban operatives, even Taliban leaders.

So, the United States is going at this on a number of levels. One level is they go out with the Afghan army. And these soldiers speak the language. They know the customs. So, they go out on presence patrols with the Afghan army, and they hope to sort of court favors with locals.

And they say that per about 20 people that they approach on these patrols -- and this is a patrol you're seeing right now -- 1 in 20 people will come to them at their small operating base and give them a piece of information about a possible bomb-maker who lives in the area, maybe a neighbor who might be harboring or helping a possible terrorist.

M. O'BRIEN: But that information has to be taken with a big grain of salt, because this is kind of into the looking glass country. Everything that is at it seems is really, in many respects, the opposite, right?

DIAMOND: Exactly. And this is something that the military does acknowledge. They say that sometimes it's a neighbor who is just angry at his neighbor for something, and he's going to turn him in and say "Taliban." So, they try to be careful in doing this, but it's a very, very complicated road that they're on.

And I have one good example. I was in an area in Kandahar, where the Taliban had burned down a school. They had burned the supply room, trying to send a message to locals. They don't want the boys to study anything other than the Quran. They don't want the girls studying at all.

The locals approached the U.S. military and said, "Can you rebuild?" So, for $6,000, the U.S. military repaired the damage and bought new books. But these very same locals, the U.S. military told me, are known to have ties to Taliban leaders.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow!

DIAMOND: And when I was there, they were very expressive, thanking the U.S. soldiers for coming. But as soon as the convoy left the area, they were pelted with stones. Now, it wasn't hand grenades.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

DIAMOND: But it was an expression of anger. So, you don't really know who you're playing with.

M. O'BRIEN: So, the information that is generated out of that has to be vetted and re-vetted. And by the time you're done with it, it's probably pretty useless. Could that be what happened in this case? Was it maybe -- maybe there was a germ of good information in there, but by the time it was analyzed it meant nothing.

DIAMOND: I think the problem is you don't know. You don't know where loyalties are in this area in Afghanistan. These are locals with such a long history and family ties and tribal ties to Taliban operatives, agents, leaders. And it's difficult to break those family ties in just three years.

M. O'BRIEN: What about U.S. boots on the ground? This is something that Pakistan and the U.S. has to deny. What do you know to be true? DIAMOND: I know soldiers are frustrated in their attempts to go after Taliban in that area. But I also know that they're very aggressive in, what they say, is taking the fight to the Taliban. There has been an increased effort in 2005 -- this is according to U.S. military commanders on the ground in Afghanistan -- to be much more aggressive.

As you know, 2005 was a very deadly year for U.S. forces. Nearly double the soldiers died there compared to the year before. And one reason, military commanders were telling me, is that they've been very, very aggressive. They're not content to sit back and let the Taliban fight them. They're going to take the fight into these mountainous regions.

But I know soldiers on the ground expressed some frustration in not being able to go after them all the time more and more. I mean, that's the objective of being there.

M. O'BRIEN: They have to walk on eggshells, given President Musharraf's difficulties with the Islamic extreme elements. Becky Diamond, thank you very much. Good reporting as always.

DIAMOND: Thanks, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: You can see Becky today on "LIVE FROM," an in-depth look at what it's like to report from Afghanistan and how locals feel about the war on terror. That begins at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time with Kyra Phillips right here on CNN.

Andy is "Minding Your Business" just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Andy, what's going on this morning?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Miles, you heard all about the shortages of the Xbox 360 video game console. But what about sales of video games? Did those get dented? The suspense has got to be killing you. Stay tuned to AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Having proper form in your workouts is essential for maximizing results and avoiding serious injury.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're doing crunches over the stability ball and show that you don't go too far back in hyper-extent. To perform stability ball crunches with proper form, keep the hips elevated, abs tight and do not use your hands to pull your neck forward. That's absolutely perfect.

FIRFER: There are a lot of exercises that personal trainers see people do incorrectly. One of the most popular is the squats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doing squats with an improper form can mean several things, including not getting a proper range of motion, locking your knees at the top and leaning or hunching forward. Squatting with perfect form includes maintaining natural curvature of the spine with the chest up, a proper range of motions and lining up the knees with the toes while performing the exercise. This is the perfect form.

FIRFER: Now you can improve your workouts and avoid injuries by training with the perfect form.

Holly Firfer, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, what are the Olympics without controversy? Michelle Kwan gets a spot on the U.S. team even though she didn't compete in the qualifier. You don't think this is about ratings, do you?

COSTELLO: Oh, no.

M. O'BRIEN: No!

COSTELLO: Oh, no.

M. O'BRIEN: But we will check in with one of the greats. Peggy Fleming will join us. Are you going to talk about that with her?

COSTELLO: Yes, I can't wait.

M. O'BRIEN: You might want to mention it.

COSTELLO: I think I may.

M. O'BRIEN: You know what? They should bring Peggy back, too. Why not?

COSTELLO: Why not?

M. O'BRIEN: Why not?

COSTELLO: She can get ratings.

M. O'BRIEN: Ratings ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Andy is "Minding Your Business" in just a moment. But first, a check of the headlines with Kelly Wallace.

Good morning.

WALLACE: Good morning, Carol.

We are hearing that a U.S. helicopter has gone down in Iraq today. Military officials say the chopper has a two-person crew and was being used by the Army's task force Iron Horse. The chopper went down north of Baghdad. Witnesses say it was shot down, but we have no confirmation of that. Plus, we also have no word on casualties.

And in another development in Iraq, the presiding judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein has handed in his resignation. It's not been determined if the resignation will be accepted though.

Top diplomats from the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China are meeting in London today to decide the best way to handle Iran's nuclear program. Iran resumed operations at a uranium enrichment plant last week, insisting it was aimed at research and is all for peaceful purposes. The country has threatened to boost oil prices if the United Nations imposes any sanctions.

California's oldest condemned convict could be put to death tomorrow night. Seventy-five-year-old Clarence Allen is blind, nearly deaf and suffered a heart attack back in September. He uses a wheelchair. His latest appeal was denied. Allen's attorneys claim putting him to death would be cruel and unusual punishment because of his age and health. Allen was convicted of ordering the killings of three people while behind bars for another murder.

That influence-peddling probe in Washington is taking a toll. You'll recall that lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion charges and is cooperating with prosecutors in a wide-ranging corruption probe. Well, on Sunday, Representative Bob Ney of Ohio gave up his chairmanship of the powerful Administration Committee. He's been implicated in the scandal surrounding Abramoff.

And President Bush is taking part in an event today marking the Martin Luther King national holiday. It is one of many events planned across the country. In Atlanta on Saturday, King's widow, Coretta Scott King, surprised guests at the Salute to Greatness dinner. It was her first public appearance since suffering a stroke this past summer.

And, Chad, it's good to see her there in public looking pretty good.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, exactly, very nice. Looking good there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: It's a cold wind, too, isn't it?

M. O'BRIEN: A cold bitter wind here.

COSTELLO: Yes, you got that.

SERWER: Winter's grip.

M. O'BRIEN: That too.

COSTELLO: But a ray of sunshine just walked into the studio in the form of Andy.

M. O'BRIEN: He did indeed.

SERWER: Wow! OK.

M. O'BRIEN: The entire financial world is taking the day off. Not Andy.

SERWER: Not me, no. We're going to talk about some retailing stories.

First of all, how is Wal-Mart doing? How long do I have? We're going to just talk about their sales right now, first of all.

You remember December was not a great month for the retailing giant. But it turns out January may be pretty good; this because of gift cards, which is really kind of rewriting the whole holiday shopping pattern. Wal-Mart sold so many of these that it looks like sales are going to be perking up pretty nicely for the month of January. There are some Wal-Mart folks, some greeters.

Now, what about video games? We've been telling you for weeks about Mile's search for the Xbox 360, and everyone else's search for it, too. Madden football, though...

M. O'BRIEN: You know what? I've got to say...

SERWER: Yes?

M. O'BRIEN: It's worth it. It's so good.

SERWER: It's worth it? It's so good?

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh, it is unbelievable. All right.

SERWER: Sales of games did very, very well. In fact, they hit a record last year, Madden football and all of these other actions games, $10.5 billion, a new record, 6 percent more than 2004. And we've been telling you about this for a little while now, but video games sell more than the domestic movie box office. The movie box office was only supposed to be about $9 billion last year. So every year it's starting to get a little bit of distance there.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, and it's leaving a lot of money on the table, because I gave a lot of the money to the guy on eBay.

SERWER: Yes, right.

M. O'BRIEN: So, how about that?

SERWER: That's right. Yes, yes. It's not a zero-sum game, right?

And then finally, the markets are closed today for Martin Luther King. Last week was kind of an interesting one. We started off like gangbusters, but we had a big sell-off on Thursday; ergo, the Dow almost completely flat, unched (ph). That means unchanged. Nasdaq and S&P up just a little bit. And we will be tracking other stuff. COSTELLO: That's Andy technical business term, unched (ph).

M. O'BRIEN: You know, it's good you explain that stuff to us, that unched (ph) thing.

SERWER: Otherwise you might not have known. I mean, if the viewers might have been OK, but...

M. O'BRIEN: It looked like German.

SERWER: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Unched (ph).

COSTELLO: Now we're clear.

SERWER: Yes, good.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Coming up, something you don't want to hear as we head into the height of the flu season. Doctors say two of the most popular drugs to fight the flu, well, they don't work. Details on that just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Be sure to check out our Web site, CNN.com, for the latest on this morning's top stories. The lead story there this morning, world leaders meeting in London to discuss the situation with Iran and the nuclear program there. Should sanctions be imposed? British leaders are not so certain about that.

Also on CNN.com, NASA scientists catch some tail, so to speak. A little bit of comet tail, little particles of comet, which well tell us, perhaps, secrets of the origins of the universe. And it all went off without a hitch yesterday as it came down to the wee hours, and now they're doing what scientists do, which is look at particles.

If you would like to head out the door soon, we invite you to stay in touch with CNN AMERICAN MORNING by logging on to CNN.com and, of course, pipeline, our video service, $2.95 a month. You can watch basically all of the feeds we get here commercial-free, giving you tremendous capability to enjoy CNN in a whole new way. CNN.com/pipeline.

Let's check the forecast, shall we?

COSTELLO: Lets.

M. O'BRIEN: Chad Myers.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad. Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien.

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