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American Morning

Miners Trapped Underground in West Virginia; Appeal for Jill Carroll's Release; Reaction to Osama bin Laden Tape

Aired January 20, 2006 - 09:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
New information on that search for two miners who are missing in West Virginia. Crews are underground right now. They're to try to find them. We're going to take you there live for the very latest developments.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien.

Another tape from Osama bin Laden. But will his threats mean a wholesale security change in the U.S.? We'll go live to Washington and find out.

S. O'BRIEN: And new pleas for an American journalist who is being held hostage in Iraq. The deadline is today. We're live in Baghdad ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Lots to get to this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Good to have you with us.

We begin with those coal miners. Two of them missing -- or not missing. They are underground and trapped in West Virginia. Search and rescue teams inside the mine now.

It's now been more than 15 hours since a fire broke out trapping the two men. The Aracoma Mine is in Melville, West Virginia, 60 miles southwest of Charleston.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken has been trying to get there all night. He's there this morning and gives us the latest on the situation -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The situation has not produced any result yet. They are keeping five rescue crews in the mine. They will be rotating some out. It was just explained to us that they get very tired after a while.

Carbon monoxide levels are staying pretty stable. They have not extinguished the fire on a conveyor belt that caused this whole situation.

And the situation began about 5:30 last night as a crew that was going in encountered this fire. They went on their vehicle to get back out of the mine. They went as far as they could there and then came crawling along.

Now, there is an undercurrent here of pessimism that is sort of inherent in the culture here. But also in this particular case, when a miner has to use a respirator, that increases the danger quite a bit.

In any case, 10 of them came out. They encountered seven others near the surface and they realized that two were missing.

This is eerily in many ways like the Sago Mine disaster. The specifics about it are not the same, but certainly there are similarities with the governor of the state here dealing with families who realize that this is always a dangerous situation. But they are hoping for the best, as the governor said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOE MANCHIN (D), WEST VIRGINIA: All the families are still together. And they are still very hopeful. And they know that the odds sometimes get a little bit long, but they are still very hopeful and the families are sticking together, staying together very close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And when we ask about whether there is optimism or pessimism, we get no answers. That probably as much as anything else, Miles, is because everybody wants to be careful, very careful that any information that gets out is information that is absolutely accurate -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: So I want to point out there's quite a few differences here. One of the key ones is the rescue teams responded much more quickly this time, didn't they?

FRANKEN: They did. It's different, also, that the mine is laid out differently. This is a mine that they were probably down no further than 900 feet, although they were 10,000 feet into the mine. By the way, it's located about a half-mile or so up the road.

But there are also now huge fans that of course we're not able to see from this vantage point that are blowing, trying to keep the smoke cleared out. They, by the way, have maintained the carbon monoxide levels at pretty much the same levels they have while they search for the miners, because to do anything differently could disrupt a precarious situation underground.

M. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken on the scene there in West Virginia.

Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Jill Carroll's father is appealing for her release. So, too, are some leading Muslims. But no word yet on the fate of that American hostage.

The kidnappers who took the journalist off a Baghdad street set today as a deadline for the U.S. to release all Iraqi women in custody.

Let's get more developments out of Baghdad this morning. CNN's Michael Holmes is there.

Michael, good morning.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you once again, Soledad.

That's right, Jill Carroll's father, Jim Carroll, appearing on Al-Jazeera television. He was speaking in English, but the translation was put into Arabic, of course, which is important in this part of the world.

Now, part of what he said I'll just read you. He said, "I want to speak directly to the men holding my daughter, Jill, because they may also be fathers like me. My daughter does not have the ability to free anyone. She is a reporter and an innocent person. Do not sacrifice an innocent soul."

That from Jill Carroll's -- Jim Carroll, father of Jill.

I can tell you, Soledad, we were out on the streets yesterday. I spoke to a lot of ordinary Iraqis, including a Sunni imam at a mosque. All of them united in saying that this was the wrong thing to do, that Jill Carroll should be released. A lot of pleas going out -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Michael Holmes for us this morning. I hope all those pleas are successful.

Thank you for that update -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it's only a matter of time. That's what terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden is telling Americans in his latest taped warning.

Working on it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN, AL QAEDA LEADER (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 magnet for attracting and training talented fighters. Our Mujahadin were able to overcome all security measures in European countries, and you saw their operation in major European capitals.

As for similar operations are 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 something complete.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: So, what's the reaction in Washington to all of this? Let's check in with our national security correspondent, David Ensor.

David, as I understand it, this tape comes at a time when there's not a lot of additional so-called chatter going on. Why don't you try to jive that for us.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. There's not a lot of extra chatter, Miles. And the Bush administration officials have been saying that they believe they have the al Qaeda leadership, as the White House spokesman put it, on the run.

But U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials have no choice but to take this threat against the United States seriously, although many of them believe that Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the top leaders, are no longer capable of making a direct order to specific individuals, say, in this country and have it be carried out. There's some who believe that could happen, others who think it's very unlikely. But almost all I talked to believe that if bin Laden calls on those who support him to do something, there will be people out there who will try to do it.

That appears to be what happened in Madrid and in London. And so they have to take this very seriously indeed -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, going back to immediately after Madrid, Osama bin Laden at that time offered up some sort of vague truce offer to Europeans, and in this tape yesterday another truce offer.

What are we to make of that?

ENSOR: Well, the analysts that -- government analysts, counterterrorism analysts I have been talking to, take that with a very large grain of salt. They regard that as primarily aimed at the Muslim audience around the world. In fact, they think the tape, although it's supposedly addressed to the American public, is really talking to Muslims.

They think what he's doing there is trying to make himself appealing and sound reasonable to a Muslim audience. They do not believe that is a real truce offer to the United States. And, of course, it was posited that the U.S. would have to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan in order for there to be a truce, which is not going to happen -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: David Ensor in Washington.

Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Nearly 11 years after the Oklahoma City bombing, a man who helped plan the attack is set to walk free today.

Ed Lavandera is live for us at the Oklahoma City bombing memorial.

Ed, one has to imagine lots of mixed reaction today. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, there really is. There are some people who feel that Michael Fortier should spend the rest of his life in prison. And there are others here in Oklahoma City saying that they're fine, that Michael Fortier actually helped them, he became the star witness against Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

And Timothy McVeigh of course now dead. Terry Nichols will spend the rest of his life in prison.

But where we're standing right is just not too far away form where a few months before the bombing Timothy McVeigh had come here to Oklahoma City with Michael Fortier and pointed to the building and explained to him what he planned on doing. And because of that, Michael Fortier knew of the bombing but never brought it up. And that is what bothers so many people here in Oklahoma City who say that Michael Fortier being released under this cloud of secrecy today, we don't know when or where he will be released or what his plans are, and that has many victims of the bomb nervous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOT HILL, SURVIVED OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING: And it just kind of made me mad. It was, like, good grief, it hasn't been that long yet. He hasn't paid long enough.

MICHAEL MCGUIRE, MICHAEL FORTIER'S ATTORNEY: He prays for the victims every day. And it bears on his conscience every waking moment. And we acknowledge their grief and continuing grief. And we have always tried to be respectful of their feelings and their loss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: That was -- that was Michael Fortier's attorney, who also says that he has no plans, Michael Fortier has no plans of speaking publicly or doing any interviews. He just wants to spend time with his wife and two children -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. And beyond that, not saying a lot more about Fortier's future. And I have to imagine that angers a lot of people, too.

LAVANDERA: It does anger a lot of people, you know. But, you know, in speaking with Fortier's attorney just a short while ago, he said that there is reason to be concerned for Fortier's safety, and that is why while he was in prison he was put into a witness protection program. So where he ends up and what his life entails from here right now is a mystery.

S. O'BRIEN: Ed Lavandera for us this morning.

Thanks, Ed, for the update.

A look at some of the other stories making news. Carol's got those.

Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.

Good morning to all of you.

Some 8,000 protesters are flooding the streets of northwestern Pakistan. They're protesting a U.S. missile strike targeting al Qaeda members. Some are chanting, "Death to America" and "Jihad is our way." Pakistani officials say last Friday's attack killed 18 people, possibly including some top al Qaeda operatives.

Doctors could soon announce when former president Gerald Ford will get to go home. The 92-year-old former president is recovering at a California hospital. He had pneumonia. He was expected to be released on Thursday. His spokeswoman says he is very eager to get home.

Take a look at this surveillance video. These men or women -- who knows -- got away with a million bucks of jewelry in two minutes. Even though the burglar alarms were blaring, the security cameras rolling, police can't tell who the burglars are because they are wearing those hooded sweatshirts to cover their faces.

But police do tell us they have an important clue that was left behind that might help solve the case. And of course we're dying to know what that include is, but police aren't saying. We'll keep you posted.

At least one firefighter has been injured in a fire on Chicago's northwest side. We told you about this fire just a little while ago. It broke out early this morning in a one-story building and then spread to a nearby business.

Emergency crews now on the scene. The firefighter -- a firefighter actually was the person injured. His injuries are described as minor.

And take a look at what's swimming up the Thames of London. Take a look.

It's not a very good picture, but it doesn't matter because it's a great story, because of all things, a whale, possibly a pilot whale, is swimming up the Thames. It swam underneath the Westminster Bridge. It's swimming by parliament, right by Big Ben.

M. O'BRIEN: Really?

COSTELLO: Isn't that strange?

British television has been showing pictures of this whale making his way up the Thames for a couple of hours now. The visitor, they say, is about 20 feet long. And a small boat -- can you see the small boat down there?

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, lose the banner. Can you take the banner out -- yes.

COSTELLO: It's like going behind -- see the whale coming up? You see it spin and then blows water up into the air?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: This is the first sighting of a pilot whale in the Thames since 1913. So they think the whale got lost.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, so, who's going...

COSTELLO: Well, they are hoping it grounds itself.

M. O'BRIEN: What?

COSTELLO: Well, because...

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, I thought you said drowns.

COSTELLO: No. No.

M. O'BRIEN: Grounds itself.

S. O'BRIEN: Grounds.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well, he could be sick.

M. O'BRIEN: They breathe air.

COSTELLO: But he's not sick. They say he's healthy.

M. O'BRIEN: Through the thing. Huh?

COSTELLO: They say he's healthy. And they're hoping that he grounds himself because then they could rescue the whale and send him back out to sea.

S. O'BRIEN: I wonder if they can just usher him out. You know, bring boats and sort of...

M. O'BRIEN: Escort him.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. All right.

Well, Chad might have a solution for that -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The only thing I've got, Miles, is that I can't believe you didn't say something about a whale of a story.

M. O'BRIEN: I was going...

(LAUGHTER)

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, quit your blubbering, will you?

MYERS: Oh, there you go. All right. Fair enough.

We're going to -- we're going to try to start to anticipate your humor here.

S. O'BRIEN: Your bad jokes. That's what he's trying to say.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm that predictable. Oh, no.

MYERS: All right. Here we go -- 52 right now, Cincinnati; 51 in St. Louis, 57 in Memphis. Warm, moist airheaded up toward Detroit, Chicago and Kansas City, interacting with the cold there that's already in place in these places. And so we are going to see snow, Des Moines, the quad cities, back over to Chicago. Lincoln, Nebraska, now seeing some snow.

The next 48 hours, we're going to take you all the way in to really Sunday morning. The snow stretches out across Chicago, across most of Michigan. And this is really the biggest story I have for you, because there's very little going on except for the extremely warm water and the extremely warm air over parts of the South and across the East -- 63 the high today in D.C., 66 in Atlanta.

Places that should have ice sheets over them, now the water not even frozen yet. And that's kind of cutting down on the ice fishing.

Back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Chad, thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Ice fishing, another excuse to drink, really, is what it is. I don't think they do much fishing out there. Oh, boy, I'm going to be getting e-mails now.

All right. Coming up on the program, more on that new tape from Osama bin Laden. He said it's only a matter of time before the U.S. is attacked. How serious is his bluster? We'll ask the former CIA director.

S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, Google fights the government. The feds want to see what millions of people are searching for online. Is it an invasion of your privacy?

M. O'BRIEN: And in our "Extra Effort" segment, a loving mother who opened her home to some of the world's most vulnerable children -- as you see Google there -- HIV positive orphans. Her mission is to save children cast aside by society.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The threat from terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has not led the government to raise the threat level. Still, it doesn't mean we shouldn't be vigilant.

Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, I spoke with former CIA director James Woolsey about this latest audiotape threat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES WOOLSEY, FMR. CIA DIRECTOR: I think there is a reasonably good chance, yes, 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, do they -- 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's at least a chance that what we're seeing here is a -- 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's communicating with in this country, the NSA intercepts, for example.

S. O'BRIEN: So then why do we keep hearing that al Qaeda has been dismantled, al Qaeda has been -- you know, the leadership has 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 really no longer 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 am -- I think that as an organization, it is diminished and as a structure it is diminished. And it may be more kind of a franchise operation than it was before. But he's still a potent leadership force and somebody we really need be concerned about.

S. O'BRIEN: 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 years, two and a half years ago. Terrorists are a lot smarter than tree branches.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: The nation's intelligence services say they have no specifics on any potential attacks here in the United States.

Ahead this morning, we're going to tell you about a mother's crusade to save children that nobody else seems to want. Thanks to her "Extra Effort," HIV positive orphans are finding new homes and new hope. We've got her story coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: In this week's "Extra Effort," a loving mother who's opened her heart and her home to children in need. Her current crusade is finding parents for some of the world's most vulnerable children, children who have literally been labeled HIV positive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN (voice over): "Remarkable" is a word that many use to describe Margaret Fleming. The 69-year-old social worker has raised three children of her own and adopted seven more.

MARGARET FLEMING, DIRECTOR, "CHANCES BY CHOICE": I always say, well, this is my last baby or my last child. And Nathan says, "Yeah, right." But there are just so many kids in need in the world.

S. O'BRIEN: But it was her adoption of 5-year-old Lee Ann (ph) from a Vietnamese AIDS ward four years ago that opened her eyes to the plight of HIV positive children overseas.

FLEMING: If you test positive, then that's it, you're labeled. And the social stigma is unbelievable.

S. O'BRIEN: And now she's in the process of adopting her eighth child, HIV positive Lan (ph).

FLEMING: This is Lan (ph).

The children are branded by the "H" on their T-shirts that identify them as being HIV positive.

They are just going to languish in that heat, in those chairs for the rest of their life. They are never going to get out of there. And they are always going to be branded unless somebody does something.

S. O'BRIEN: So Margaret Fleming has resolved to do something, find homes in the U.S. for many of the orphaned children living with HIV aids overseas.

FLEMING: I thought about the kids. And these are kids with so little choice. No choice, really.

S. O'BRIEN: She founded the organization Chances by Choice. It's the nation's only nonprofit foundation devoted to international HIV adoptions. CANDICE MORGAN, SOCIAL WORKER: Margaret calls them the world's forgotten kids. Every child that has ever been adopted through Chances is in some ways Margaret's child first.

FLEMING: I have one other e-mail.

S. O'BRIEN: In the last year, Fleming says the organization has arranged for the adoption of 22 HIV positive children overseas.

FLEMING: The biggest challenge for us is finding families who will follow through and do whatever is necessary to adopt one of these kids.

S. O'BRIEN: Fleming's most powerful argument, look at her own family.

FLEMING: All right. As long as you're home by 5:00.

NATHAN FLEMING, MARGARET'S SON: They always say blood is thicker than water. Well, in this case there is no blood relationship and we're still all like that with each other.

S. O'BRIEN: One by one, Fleming is building a family of those given a second chance.

FLEMING: You get overwhelmed when you think about 12 children have died in the last 10 minutes. What will bring one home do? But it matters to her. It matters to Lan (ph).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: You can learn more about Margaret Fleming's efforts at chancesbychoice.org.

Remarkable woman.

M. O'BRIEN: Remarkable story.

This morning's top stories are straight ahead.

Plus, this question: Does first lady Laura Bush plan on doing what the last first lady did? And that is, run for office -- say the Senate? Well, President Bush kind of spoke on her behalf and had some blunt comments about that yesterday. And we'll tell you about it ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING "Quick News" at CNN.com/AM.

You saw the Golden Globes the other day, right, kind of?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I did.

M. O'BRIEN: Did you say up late for that? S. O'BRIEN: No, but I see the replay.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, this Jonathan Rhys Myers, god, the guy's on a role. I remember him...

S. O'BRIEN: And not hard to look at.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, that's your opinion. You know, I suppose.

S. O'BRIEN: He's handsome.

M. O'BRIEN: He's a handsome fellow.

S. O'BRIEN: And a fine actor.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Anyway, he was the coach in "Bend it Like Beckham." Do you remember that one?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Kids loved that one.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: And now he's just like -- he's a superstar in the making. And so I chatted with him, and it was a very elucidating chat.

S. O'BRIEN: He's got beautiful eyes.

M. O'BRIEN: He got to work with Woody Allen. And then, of course, there's that, too, the lovely Johansson.

Anyway, we'll ask about all those things up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: There it is, Wall Street. Opening bell about to ring any minute.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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