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American Morning

Missing Miners in West Virginia; Bin Laden Threat; Minding Your Business; Google Lawsuit

Aired January 20, 2006 - 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: Your mind?
ROGER BRYANT, DIRECTOR, LOGAN COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICES: Well, kind of what went through my mind was, oh, no, not again. You know, here we go again. We're only about, you know, not even 20 days into the new year and, you know, this is kind of the third mine accident that we've had. So the year's not starting out very well for miners.

M. O'BRIEN: It's a dangerous business, isn't it?

BRYANT: It is. Very much so.

M. O'BRIEN: Roger Bryant, who is director of emergency services in Logan County. I'll let you get back to work, sir. Thank you for your time.

BRYANT: OK. Thank you very much.

M. O'BRIEN: Our pleasure.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, tough news there. Hopefully those crews will be able to get in there and make some fast work to pull those two guys out.

Lots to update you on. Let's get to our top stories this morning. Carol has that.

Hey, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

Today is the deadline set by Jill Carroll's captors. Family and friends anxiously awaiting to learn the fate of the American journalist. Her captors say they'll kill her unless the U.S. military frees all female Iraqi prisoners. Carroll's father made an emotional plea on her behalf earlier today. He begged kidnapers to release Carroll and use her voice to the world.

Michael Fortier is expected to be reunited with his wife and two children today after more than a decade behind bars. Fortier was convicted for knowing about plans for the Oklahoma City bombing but not telling anyone. The attack killed 168 people and wounded more than 500 others. We're going to hear from someone who was in the Murrah Federal Building that day. That will come you way in the next hour.

No, President Bush says his wife is not going to follow in the footsteps of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. A reporter shouted out the question and this is what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: I was just wondering, what will we see our lovely first lady run for the Senate in the great state of Texas?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes. Never!

QUESTION: Come on! Ask her, will you?

BUSH: No, I'm not going to ask her. She's -- she's -- never. She's -- you know what, I think -- I'm pretty certain when I married her she didn't like politics or politicians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: There you have it. The president says the first lady is much more interested in literacy. So unless the first lady says otherwise, we'll just have to listen to the president. Of course, some reporter will probably shout out the question to Laura Bush very soon.

New York Knicks' Antonio Davis is out for five games. The NBA suspending Davis for going into the stands during Wednesday's game against the Bulls in Chicago. Davis says that he thought his wife was being threatened by a drunken fan. The NBA says going into the stands is a no-no, no matter what he sees from the court. Now the fan says he's planning to sue Davis and his wife. He says he wasn't drunk and it was actually Davis' wife who was harassing him. So, of course, we'll be following this story.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I'm not exactly shocked there's a lawsuit, you know, with all that money floating around.

Carol, thank you.

In the first audio message we've heard from Osama bin Laden in over a year, he puts it pretty bluntly, another terror attack in the United States is in the works.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN, (through translator): I would also like to say that the war against America and its allies will not be confined to Iraq. Iraq has become a magistrate for attracting and training talented fighter. Amucho Hadem (ph) were able to overcome all security measures in European countries and you saw their operations in major European capitals. As for similar operations taking place in America, it's only a matter of time. They are in the planning stages and you will see them in the heart of your land as soon as the planning is complete.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: How real is that threat? Former CIA Director James Woolsey joins us this morning.

Nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us.

JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Good to see you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: They are in the planning stages. You will see them as soon as the planning is complete. Do you think that Osama bin Laden's been quiet because al Qaeda has been diminished, as we've heard many times? Or do you think he's been quiet because he's in the planning stages and we'll hear from him when the planning's complete?

WOOLSEY: Maybe some of both. I think some of the things that we have done have been effective in cutting down on the number of his senior people. Maybe in that strike in Pakistan. But it's, I think, also the case that he sort of husbands his speaking. He waits until there's some particular reason to issue something like this. And I think there is a reasonably good chance, yes, that something is being planned. Each al Qaeda attack in the past has been larger than the one before against us. Conceivably, it's something bigger than 9/11.

S. O'BRIEN: Historically speaking, when he releases a tape, do those threats or those promises, as the case may be, does he follow through? Have they come true?

WOOLSEY: Well, the best analog to something like this is what happened a year and a half ago in Europe after the Spanish bombing. He essentially announced that if the British and others would withdraw their forces from Iraq, he would leave them alone. Otherwise, he was going to attack. And then they did not and the attacks came in the subways in Britain and so forth.

So there is at least a chance that what we're seeing here is a repeat of that pattern. Now, that may -- the fact that he says he's planning something, that he's done something like this in the past, may make some people rethink such issues as whether or not the president ought to be trying to find out who al Qaeda is communicating with in this country, the NSA intercepts, for example.

S. O'BRIEN: So then why do we keep hearing that al Qaeda's been dismantled, al Qaeda's been -- you know, the leadership's been chipped away, so they have been seriously hurt when . . .

WOOLSEY: Well, the way I kind of think of it is that I think he's no longer really the chief executive officer of the al Qaeda type terrorist, but he may still be the chairman of the board. He's probably still capable of getting messages out through couriers, one or two, you know, sentences to delegate to have somebody do something, such as perhaps happened in Britain a year or so ago.

I think that, as an organization, it is diminished, and as a structure it's diminished. And is may be more kind of a franchise operation than it was before. But he's still a potent leadership force and somebody we need to really be concerned about.

S. O'BRIEN: He mentions a book. I mean there are so many strange things in this tape, I think . . .

WOOLSEY: Very strange.

S. O'BRIEN: That are different than previous tapes really.

WOOLSEY: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: And, for one thing, he mentions a book. He said, "if you are truthful in wanting security and accord, here we are answering your call. But if Bush refuses and continues his lying and wrongdoing, it is better for you to read the book 'The Rough State'." So, of course, everyone goes to Google to look up "The Rogue State." Tell me about this book.

WOOLSEY: I haven't read it myself. The first I heard about it, frankly, was in the tapes yesterday. He's clearly picking up some of the themes that have taken place in American -- our vigorous democratic argument about what we're doing in the Middle East and is playing on them. One of the strangest things in here is that he says, of course, my religious scruples don't permit me to lie to you. Well, you know, his view of his religion scruples virtually require him to lie to (INAUDIBLE). So there -- the book review, I mean, all sorts of strange (ph).

S. O'BRIEN: And he talks about the American polls and . . .

WOOLSEY: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: I mean . . .

WOOLSEY: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: And a lot of that, I think, actually -- especially in this particular tape once you get the translation of it, you sort of feel like he seems so tapped into what we're doing here, why can't we find him?

WOOLSEY: Well, he talks about Vietnam. He says basically he's going to try to do what happened in Vietnam. Vietnam was sort of lost in American public opinion. Not so much on the battlefield, at least not until the north Vietnamese invaded with their main force units after '75. So I think that it's a very serious concern that he's planning something, weakened though his structure may be, we really ought to take seriously the possibility of a further attack here.

S. O'BRIEN: Why have virtually no time. Why aren't they raising the terror threat then?

WOOLSEY: I don't know. I'm not sure those terror threats mean an awful lot. What we ought to do is put -- build resilience into the infrastructure so that, you know, he can't take down the electricity grid. After all, the grid was taken down by a branch falling in Ohio two and a half years ago. Terrorists are a lot smarter than tree branches.

S. O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE) think. All right, former CIA Director James Woolsey, thank you for talking with us. Always nice to see you.

WOOLSEY: Good to be with you.

S. O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, here in New York City today, it's a little spring-like. Take a look outside. Of course, it doesn't look warm or cold but, trust us, it's about -- going to be about 55 today. Fifty- five degrees Fahrenheit. That could break a record for New York this time of year. But now let's go across the pond to Moscow where the temperature has dipped to 24 below zero. And we're not -- we converted from Celsius. That is a Fahrenheit number, 24 degrees below zero. Take a look at IPN's Julian Manyan (ph) now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN MANYAN, IPN: The temperature in the city is now a great deal lower than what you'd find inside the sort of domestic freezer that you might have at home. These potatoes are completely frozen. They sound like bricks when you knock them together. But the extraordinary thing about the freezer that is Moscow, is that ordinary people are still walking about and even managing to get to work.

Some Muscovites (ph) are reveling in the weather, bathing in frozen ponds in holes cut in the ice. They say it's a Christian tradition and good for their headlight. The parents of a six-year-old boy called Illia (ph) ignored his protests and dunked him in the freezing water. But soon afterwards, Illia said he'd enjoyed it. And others have no doubts at all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks a little crazy, right? But actually when you come out of the cold water, you get the inner heat of the body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, that's brutal.

M. O'BRIEN: Poor kid. It's just like banging your head against the wall. It's great when you stop, right?

S. O'BRIEN: That's a way to put it.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I guess. Or like running or something. It's good when it's over.

S. O'BRIEN: Twenty-four below is cold.

M. O'BRIEN: And we're not talking one of those phony wind chill number, Chad. That's a real, real 24 below.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And at 40 below actually Celsius and Fahrenheit are the same. So it would . . .

M. O'BRIEN: They actually meet each other at 40 below.

MYERS: That's where they meet each other at 40 degrees below. Then they . . .

M. O'BRIEN: Who knew? Who knew 40 below was the meeting point of Celsius and Fahrenheit.

MYERS: And why, right? I know.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow. That's positively Biblical, Celsius and Fahrenheit together. Somebody would be upset about that.

S. O'BRIEN: Chad, help us here. Thank you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Andy's "Minding Your Business" just ahead.

What you got for us today?

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, we have some breaking news to tell you about. The Japanese have banned American beef this morning again. We'll tell you all about that coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Some breaking news this morning from the business desk and Andy's here with that.

Good morning, Andy.

SERWER: Good morning, you guys.

Yes, this just in. Japan is banning U.S. beef this morning. This comes just one month after it had lifted a ban on U.S. beef. There was a two-year ban. Of course, this all is about mad cow. And there was some -- two years ago they discovered there was some mad cow and so Japan had banned imports of U.S. beef. They just lifted the ban, but now, apparently, in Japan, they have discovered some backbones in a shipment of beef from the U.S. no mad cow at all. Let's be very clear here. But this is a part of the cow that potentially could contain mad cow disease. So it's a big setback for the U.S. beef industry and for the Bush administration, which had worked hard to end this ban.

S. O'BRIEN: So they banned it again temporarily? Do we know?

SERWER: This is all very unclear. This is just really coming in right now. So we're going to be following this.

M. O'BRIEN: How much beef -- I don't want to put you on the spot, but is there a lot -- a lot of imports . . .

SERWER: I don't know the answer to that. It is. There is a lot.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it is.

SERWER: It's a big -- we don't have that number right in front of us. We'll look to get that for you. But it is a significant market for U.S. farmers.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

SERWER: A very different story to tell you about this morning as well concerning Wham-O, the toy company, which is being sold to the Chinese. And interesting that China businesses tried to buy first Unical, the oil company. They tried to buy Maytag. They couldn't buy that. They end up with this venerable toy company which has, you know, and it's some great footage here. Boy, they're working it.

S. O'BRIEN: She's good.

M. O'BRIEN: Think of a billion Chinese doing this.

SERWER: Now, listen, this company has just an amazing history. Founded in 1948 by two USC graduates. They got the Frisbee, which was originally named the Pluto Platter. Then they invented the Hula Hoop. Then they got the Slip-N-Slide. Then they got the Super Ball.

M. O'BRIEN: Big toys.

SERWER: Then they got Silly String, which contains -- each can of Silly String contains a quarter mile of Silly String, much to the chagrin of every parent out there.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, no, that's great.

SERWER: It is great stuff.

But what venerable great toys those are. Enjoy. A lot of fun.

M. O'BRIEN: Bring back the Pluto Platter.

SERWER: No.

M. O'BRIEN: If the Chinese know anything, they'll bring back the Pluto Platter. All right.

S. O'BRIEN: Did you guys see this story . . .

SERWER: No, which one.

S. O'BRIEN: Out of business news. Talk about a little football -- because you know me and football . . .

SERWER: I probably have.

S. O'BRIEN: Did you see this? This guy is watching the Pittsburgh Steelers game.

M. O'BRIEN: No, no. What's this?

S. O'BRIEN: He's a fan. He was watching last week's playoff action. This guy, right there, he's in his hospital bed, nearly died while he was watching the game. His name is Terry O'Neal (ph). He's watching the game. The Steelers fumbled the ball on the two yard line late in the game. The guy goes into cardiac arrest.

SERWER: Oh.

M. O'BRIEN: Because it wasn't going to beat the spread, huh?

SERWER: Wow.

M. O'BRIEN: Geez.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, apparently . . .

SERWER: They were going to lose the game.

S. O'BRIEN: He's fine. He's doing much better right now. And the big question, of course, is his doctor going to let him watch the game over the weekend?

M. O'BRIEN: I would say, for medicinal purposes, I'd watch curly.

S. O'BRIEN: No.

SERWER: Well, like that other guy who's put in jail is not allowed to watch the game, maybe this guy shouldn't watch it but for health reasons.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, exactly.

SERWER: A lot of people can't watch the game anymore in this country.

M. O'BRIEN: But knowing the game is going on and you can't watch it, couldn't that also . . .

SERWER: Precipitate a heart attack?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, there you go.

S. O'BRIEN: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: So maybe he needs a game on the radio.

S. O'BRIEN: All good . . .

SERWER: That's what he's going to tell his doctor.

S. O'BRIEN: All good questions.

SERWER: I got to do it.

S. O'BRIEN: Anyway, Terry O'Neal is going to tell us himself. He's live this weekend on "CNN Sunday Morning" and that's at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

Still to come this morning, the government wants to know what millions of people are searching for online. Is it an invasion of your privacy? We're going to tell you why Google is fighting back. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: This could give new meaning to the term Google search. The Bush administration has subpoenaed the Internet company for details on what Google users are searching for. Let's dig into this story this morning with CNN's Technology Correspondent Daniel Sieberg and also Jeff Toobin, our senior legal analyst.

Daniel, why don't you begin.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Good morning, Soledad.

You know, Google handles roughly 70 million searches per day. And just think about how much information that actually is, streaming from desktops, laptops and PDAs all over the world. The government says it wants a peek of that information to protect kids from pornography. But some analysts worry it sets a dangerous precedent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG, (voice over): The Bush administration wants to know what millions of people have been looking for on Google, the world's biggest search engine. But Google says, no way. The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court in California demand that Google turn over data it says will help the government ultimately keep children from accessing pornography on the web.

But critics worry that this could lead to government spying on all types of Internet searches. The government is seeking Google's search records over a random one-week time period that could mean tens of millions of search requests. It claims they won't be tied to a person's identity. It also wants a random sampling of one million websites in Google's database.

In the past few years, Google has become a massive clearinghouse for everything from satellite image to library documents to driving directions. Privacy advocates have routinely been scrutinizing the company's behavior. But this time, many of them are in Google's camp.

When Google went public last year, its motto was "do no evil." In this case, Google says it won't comply with the government's request, arguing that it could expose the identities of some users. It also worries the information would be highly valuable to its competitors. Google says it plans to, "vigorously fight the lawsuit."

(END VIDEOTAPE) SIEBERG: And, of course, all this comes in light of the news about the National Security Administration's program to monitor information from U.S. citizens. But it's also the latest chapter in a long-running debate over whether more laws need to be in place to protect children online.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Dan Sieberg for us this morning. Daniel, thanks.

Let's get right to Jeff Toobin.

So back up and explain to me what exactly they want to do with this data if they were to get it from Google.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What happened, in 2004, the Supreme Court looked at the constitutionality of Congress's anti-kiddy porn law and say, you know, we don't know enough about the problem. We don't understand enough about the facts of the case. We're going to send it back to the district court, the trial court, and have them tell us more about the facts of the case. This is the Justice Department trying to determine the extent of the problem of kiddie porn. So they're looking at how many people in their searches are looking for stuff that could arguably be kiddie porn and how much in the database of Google is potentially kiddie porn material. So they're looking at, you know, the search terms and they're looking at the websites that are in their database.

S. O'BRIEN: So that's the information they want. Here's what Google had on to say, which was essentially no way. "Google's not a party to this lawsuit and their demand for information overreaches. We had lengthy discussions with them to try to resolve this but we were not able to and we intend to resist their motion vigorously."

Where does Google stand legally on this issue, do you think?

TOOBIN: It's very hard to know, because this is all so new. The government generally has a pretty wide ability to search out facts relevant in a case like this because the Supreme Court specifically has said, go find out what the extent of the problem is. They also have the problem that Microsoft, MSN, Yahoo! and AOL have also been asked for similar information and have provided it to the government.

S. O'BRIEN: OK. But Google says, you theoretically could trace this back to people. Doesn't that issue make those other website search engines at risk for being sued by the people who use them?

TOOBIN: Sued or having a problem in the marketplace. People saying, well, if they're cooperating with the government, we don't want to do our searches on MSN, we want to use Google. You know, I think it is -- that strikes me as a hard argument that Google is going to make, because all they are providing for -- and if you put in a search, as we saw earlier, CNN AMERICAN MORNING, it doesn't tell you who did the search, and all they're asking for are the search terms. So the privacy argument, at least in terms of this request by the government, doesn't strike me as all that strong. S. O'BRIEN: Because they're not really looking for the individual records?

TOOBIN: Right. There's no suggesting that there's anything that would tie the search request to the person who made the request.

S. O'BRIEN: So you expect, at the end of the day, Google might have to turn . . .

TOOBIN: My anticipation is that they will work something out. You know, these -- Google is too big and too important now to simply to be left to the mercy of the courts. They probably will figure out a way to cooperate to a certain extent. But, I mean, this is all just a demonstration of how the Internet has changed law and law enforcement completely and people are making up the rules as they go along.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, and no exaggeration to say it's sort of a whole new world.

TOOBIN: Absolutely.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Jeff Toobin, thank you.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Soledad.

Coming up, today's top stories and this. The man who could have stopped the Oklahoma City bombing before anybody got hurt. But then ultimately told the whole, terrible story, chapter and verse in court as the star prosecution witness, will walk free today. Michael Fortier still stirring a lot of anger among victims. We'll speak with one of them ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

An urgent search is underway for two miners who are missing in West Virginia. Search crews are underground right now. We're going to take you there live for the very latest developments in this story.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm Miles O'Brien.

Holding out hope for an American journalist held hostage in Iraq. The deadline is looming today. We are live in Baghdad.

S. O'BRIEN: And Osama bin Laden's latest message has not raised the threat level, but there's a call for vigilance from the Department of Homeland Security. We're going to get more live from the White House all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: Good Friday morning to you. We're glad you're with us this morning. S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to our top story this morning, which is a search for those two missing miners in Melville, West Virginia. The mine is about 60 southwest of Charleston, 170 miles from the Sago Mine, which we, of course, were watching just about three weeks ago.

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