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American Morning

Ford Job Cuts; Father's Plea for American Hostage in Iraq; Mining Safety

Aired January 23, 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.
Deep cuts coming to Ford. The car giant is ready to slash its workforce, cutting tens of thousands of jobs. We're live at Ford's world headquarters ahead.

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

Rescuers in Kenya desperately trying to reach people trapped beneath a collapsed building. We'll have more on this breaking story ahead.

S. O'BRIEN: And a father's plea for an American hostage in Iraq. A CNN exclusive on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you.

We begin in Detroit, where the city is on the ropes once again. The company that pioneered making affordable cars for the masses desperately looking for a way to reinvent itself. And for Ford, the first step may seem Draconian.

Twenty-five thousand workers no longer on the payroll, several plants shuttered. The euphemistic title of the announcement, The Way Forward." It will happen in a little more than an hour.

CNN's Ali Velshi is at Ford world headquarters, Dearborn, Michigan, where Bill Ford is hoping to retool the company his great grandfather founded 103 years ago.

Good morning, Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

He founded that company right here in Dearborn. We are now 90 minutes away from the announcement that we are speculating we'll see up to 25,000 people laid off the job, maybe up to 10 plants closed.

We're talking about plants in Hapeville, Georgia, the Atlanta assembly plant which builds the Ford Taurus and the Sable; in St. Louis, Missouri, the Explorer plant there; in St. Paul, possibly, the twin cities assembly plant where they make the Ford Ranger and the Mazda truck; in Wixom, Michigan, here, where they make the Town Car and the T Bird; in Wayne, Michigan, the truck plant with the Expedition and the Navigator.

Ford sells a million fewer cars today than it did in 1999. It had 25 percent of the market 10 years ago. Today, 18 percent of the market. And its capacity -- its factories are working at 80 percent capacity, which means they've got 20 percent that they are not making. That's because they are not selling enough cars.

Ford has a serious problem on its hand, and it is looking at cutting perhaps 20 percent of its workforce today. We're waiting for that announcements at factories across America, maybe some in Canada and in Mexico as well -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Ali, it's not like this happened overnight. You said just a little while ago they have been losing market share now for a full decade.

The Japanese have been able to respond to market changes, and Toyota is doing fine. Why has Detroit been so slow to respond?

VELSHI: This is -- you're right. This is a problem that the American automakers have faced. It started in the '70s with quality problems when the Japanese started to come in and say, for the same price, we can make a car that's better quality.

Over the years, the Japanese cars, Toyota in particular, Honda, developed a reputation for quality at a lower price. Today, Toyota's factories in America work at 100 percent capacity. They are not saddled with the same problems that Ford and particularly GM were saddled with in terms of pension, in terms of a lot of workers and health care.

These plants have to be trim. They aren't. And Ford has lived off of a reputation for making those great cars, the Mustang, the F- 150, the Taurus, things like that.

They are not innovating enough. That's what critics are saying.

Today we're hoping to hear -- in addition to those layoffs, we're hoping to hear at least that Ford has an answer for the future with innovation and newer cars, new ideas that will reenergize the marketplace -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The Mustang, the Explorer, the Taurus, all of them 20, 30-year-old designs. In the case of the Mustang, even older.

VELSHI: That's right.

M. O'BRIEN: So I guess something new is what they need there in Dearborn.

Ali Velshi will be there every step of the way as this story unfolds today.

VELSHI: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: You'll see it live here on CNN. The announcement 10:30 Eastern Time -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: U.S. and Iraqi authorities are conducting joint operations in an intense effort to free kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll. Kidnapped more than two weeks ago in Baghdad, her captors gave the U.S. until Friday, last Friday, to release all Iraqi women in its custody, or they said Jill Carroll would be killed.

Last week I spoke with Jill's mother. Last night I spoke with their father, Jim. The family choosing to deliver their message on CNN since we're seen around the world, and in every Middle Eastern country. Mr. Carroll, again, reached out to his daughter's captors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM CARROLL, JILL CARROLL'S FATHER: I wish to speak directly to the people holding my daughter. I hope that you heard the conviction in Jill's voice when she spoke of your country. That was real. She is not your enemy.

When you release her alive, she will tell your story with that same conviction. Alive, my daughter will not be silenced. Your story is one that can be told by Jill to the whole world. Allowing her to live and releasing her will enable her to do that.

You already know that my daughter is honest, sincere and of good heart. Her respect for the Iraqi people is evident in her words that she has been reporting. Jill started to tell your story, so, please, let her finish it.

Through the media, if necessary, advise her family and me of how we might initiate a dialogue that will lead to her release.

Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Jim, that's a powerful statement. Have you had any developments, any reason to be hopeful from the last couple of days?

CARROLL: Well, certainly, Soledad, this has been a very difficult time for the whole family, but we've been encouraged by the outpouring of messages from Jill's family and friends from around the world, who've lent their support and their prayers. We've heard from everyone from her grade-school friends to her college roommates to her associates in the press corps. It's been very heartening, and we've drawn strength from that, and want to thank them for that.

And in the meantime, we will continue to do what we can to help Jill be released.

S. O'BRIEN: And there is a number of Islamic groups as well. Two more added their names to the growing list lending their support as well. That's got to give you great hope.

CARROLL: We're very encouraged the by the support we're receiving from all over the world. It's been truly amazing.

S. O'BRIEN: You talked a little bit in your message to Jill's captors about the stories that she told, and tells and likes to tell. Did she talk to you about the ones that were meaningful to her?

CARROLL: Well, at this point, Soledad, I'm prepared to make our statement, but I'd prefer not to make other comments, if I might.

S. O'BRIEN: How is the family holding up? I mean, how are you managing?

CARROLL: Well, we're getting by. It's very difficult, as you might imagine, but again, the amount of support from family, friends, and total strangers around the world sending us messages of support and all of their prayers has been very encouraging.

S. O'BRIEN: Fine question for you, Jim, if I may - do you have any indication that the people who are holding Jill are hearing your statement?

CARROLL: I have no indication, but certainly the hope that they'll hear our message and act on it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: As we mentioned, Jill Carroll's captors gave the U.S. until last Friday to release all Iraqi women in its custody, or they said Jill Carroll would be killed. There are some reports that six women will be released from custody this week. The U.S. military is not confirming that at this point -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Now to West Virginia and vows to make coal mining safer. The governor is vowing new safety rules. He just did that earlier on our program. But it doesn't stop there. Congress is considering its own response on the federal level.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken is on Capitol Hill this morning for us.

Good morning, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

And again, on the ground, as we were this weekend, one felt the history, the tragic history of coal mining. But again, you have a situation where now maybe the politicianses will have trouble avoiding it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): Today's hearings are framed by the raw emotions of another disaster this weekend in coal country, which has such a long history of tragedy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately, we don't have a positive outcome from our efforts.

FRANKEN: This time, after a frantic search, two miners were found dead on Saturday. The two had gotten lost in an underground fire in their West Virginia mine. That was just three weeks after 12 died in the aftermath of the Sago, West Virginia explosion underground. Politicians are forced to pay attention to the issue of safety, once again.

SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: It is a heavily regulated, heavily inspected industry. It is also, please understand, a very dangerous job.

FRANKEN: It is an industry that has always seen struggle, often violent between miners and coal operators over safety and conditions. Critics charge that regulation has gotten relatively lax in recent years. And now, in the face of these two high-profile tragedies, the sides may be coming together, agreeing that there is need for improvement.

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: When people get mad, they are more likely to do something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hardly think that in today's climate, we can continue to allow these tragedies to occur without addressing the causes and how we can prevent it from occurring again in the future. That process is under way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: Oh, but it is such a long, long way, Miles, between the passionate promises that follow tragedy and real reform.

M. O'BRIEN: Unfortunately it is. Bob Franken, Capitol Hill. Thank you very much.

Carol Costello, good morning to you.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles.

And good morning to all of you.

A developing story out of Nairobi, Kenya, to tell you about. There are reports now that at least eight people have been killed in a building collapse. It happened in a five-story building with close to 300 construction workers inside. More than 50 people have been seriously hurt. They've been rushed to hospitals.

Rescuers now digging through the rubble with their bare hands in some cases. At one point, a hand came out from beneath a concrete beam waving for help.

In Iraq, it's been a rocky road to justice for those trying Saddam Hussein. Now this morning there is word of a new chief judge. The former head judge submitted his resignation earlier this month amid complaints that he was too easy on the defendants in the trial.

Proceedings start up again tomorrow. We'll of course be following any new developments for you. And of course that temporary judge could well be temporary. I guess we'll have to find out tomorrow. President Bush is trying to get the public behind his domestic spying program. We have new pictures of the president leaving Andrews Air Force Base. He's on his way to Kansas State University.

President Bush expected to defend his domestic wiretapping program run by the NSA and talk about Iraq and the war on terror. That speech is set for 12:30 p.m. Eastern. Of course CNN will have live coverage for you.

And mutiny on the bounty, or at least the Queen Mary II. Passengers want their islands, or they want all of their money back. Some angry passengers say they'll stage a sit-in once the ship reaches Rio because their Latin American tour did not go as planned.

The luxury liner had engine trouble early in the trip, so it skipped three islands to make up the time. So the passengers spent six whole days at sea, and they say that is not the same. The QE II offered to refund half their money, but they say that's not nearly enough.

They want to go to -- they want to go to, like...

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: You know, I think they have a good point. I mean, it's a nice ship and all, I'll give you that, but it costs a lot of money. And three islands, I mean...

COSTELLO: It costs, like, tens of thousands of dollars.

S. O'BRIEN: I know.

M. O'BRIEN: You would think they would err on the side of making those people happy for fear of just this.

COSTELLO: But then they would lose a lot of money.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, ultimately, in the long run, don't you think this could lead to further losses, potentially?

COSTELLO: True.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Carol, thanks. We'll see.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's get a forecast now. Chad Myers at the weather center.

Good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: My prediction...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes?

MYERS: They will all get vouchers for another cruise at some other point in time.

M. O'BRIEN: See, if they had just done that right away, they could have stemmed this. Carol wouldn't have talked about it. On they would have sailed.

MYERS: But maybe people just wanted their money back. So...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: ... you know, you've got to do what you've got to do.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Chad.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad.

Coming up on the program, more on the plight of kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll. Only a handful of people know what she is really going through right now. And we're going to talk to one of them, an American who was held hostage for almost a year in Iraq.

Also this morning, the White House says the president doesn't recall meeting self-admitted influence peddler Jack Abramoff. Photos, though, might tell a different story. Could they mean trouble for the White House?

A look ahead at that on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, President Bush may not recall meeting lobbyist Jack Abramoff, but the two have reportedly turned up in pictures together. Adam Zagorin writes about the photos in this week's "TIME" magazine. He's in Washington this morning.

Adam, nice to see you, as always. Thanks for talking with us.

ADAM ZAGORIN, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Glad to be with you.

S. O'BRIEN: First and foremost, you have seen the pictures, I know. What do they show?

ZAGORIN: Well, I saw five pictures. And four of them are, I guess you would say, relatively routine type of pictures. I mean, there is five of them.

They show the president shaking hands or whatever with -- with Jack Abramoff. There's another picture in which Jack Abramoff's children are posed with the president and House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Mr. Abramoff isn't in that picture.

And then there's another one which we were told by participants at the meeting was taken at the White House in a relatively small private session with one of Mr. Abramoff's most -- or rather controversial clients. He's -- the client is an Indian chief involved in gambling in Texas. He's there talking to the president, and one sees someone who appears to be Mr. Abramoff in the picture, as well.

And that kind of small session could suggest a level of contact that the White House has at least at this point downplayed.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, before we get into the implications, let's talk about these photos. We're obviously not showing them. Why don't we have them? And why aren't you showing them?

ZAGORIN: Because, of course, we would have preferred to show them, but the -- the source of the photos wouldn't give them to us, didn't -- didn't want them published, I guess, at this time. So we weren't able to do that.

S. O'BRIEN: Do you expect, though, they are going to be made public?

ZAGORIN: It wouldn't surprise me, because -- by the way, the White House, as I understand it, has never made any bones about the fact that there might be some pictures of the president with -- with Mr. Abramoff. And I would -- the White House is not the only one that has pictures of the president with various people.

They hand them out, you know, as souvenirs that people like to have. And so there -- my thought is that there are probably a fair number of people who might have pictures of Mr. Abramoff and the president in various settings. And it wouldn't surprise me, particularly if some of those were to become public either in the near future or down the line, or whatever.

S. O'BRIEN: Which kind of brings us to the question of what the implication of these photos are. We know that Scott McClellan said -- quoting here -- "The president does not know him" -- he's talking about Jack Abramoff -- "nor does the president recall ever meeting him."

But as you just said, a kagillion people have their picture taken with the president, and there's a photographer around all the time. And then they basically mail them off.

What's the big deal?

ZAGORIN: Well, I'm not trying to suggest there's a big deal. There is one photograph, however -- not everybody gets five photographs. I was told there are a good deal more. I'm not sure how many, maybe a dozen or so in total, whereas I'm not sure everybody gets -- gets that many photos, if indeed there are that many, or even five for that matter.

And as I indicated, there is one photograph which is of a much smaller sort of private-type meeting. There was no press there. And you see the president, you know, in conversation with an Indian chief who is one of Mr. Abramoff's clients.

I did interview the Indian. He's actually the chairman of the Kickapoo Tribe. That's his correct -- former chairman of the Kickapoo Tribe. That's his correct title. And he informed me, that, you know, the president was there, Mr. Abramoff was there, it was a small group, and it was a lovely meeting.

I guess that, you know, that would suggest that -- I mean, perhaps the president doesn't remember that meeting, or I don't know how to unravel that. But that's the photograph.

S. O'BRIEN: I guess we know we'll certainly hear more as the White House responds and as we start seeing some of these pictures to see if there really is a relationship or if it's sort of just a photo- op.

Adam Zagorin from "TIME" magazine.

Adam, as always, thank you.

ZAGORIN: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, what is the key to losing weight? One diet expert says it's all in how you mix your flavors, or, more accurately, don't mix them. He'll tell us how the Flavor Point Diet works next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Well, variety may be the spice of life, but it's the death of a diet, so says Dr. David Katz, whose new book "The Flavor Point Diet" calls us to dumb down our meals. That's one way to lose weight, at least.

Dr. Katz joins us to explain.

Good to have you with us.

DR. DAVID KATZ, "THE FLAVOR POINT DIET": Nice to be here. Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Flavor points.

KATZ: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: So you stick to flavor themes.

KATZ: Well, yes, but that's actually not the main point. And, in fact, variety is great in a diet, and it's important for good nutrition, as well. It's all a matter of how you arrange it.

You know, variety is important for the notes in a song, too. But if you play them all at once, it's just noise.

In the modern American diet, we tend to jumble more food together in every meal and mouthful than any culture in history. The food industry knows that flavor stimulate the appetite center in the brain and they actually hide flavors in foods: salt in sweet things like breakfast cereal, sugar in things like salad dressing, and pasta sauce. The result is lots of flavors jumbled together all the time, and each flavor stimulates different cells in the appetite center.

The result is you need more calories to feel full and satisfied. If you arrange flavors thoughtfully, don't limit variety -- this is about delicious food -- arrange them thoughtfully, you fill up on fewer calories. You can be thin without being hungry.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Let's look at the categories of flavors that we're talking about here.

We've got sweet, sour, salty, bitter, savory, astringent, which sounds like something that takes care of zits. But that's another story. I don't want to eat that. And then...

KATZ: Umami.

M. O'BRIEN: Umami. Umami. And don't be messing with umami.

Let me ask you this: so how in the course of a day would you categorize those flavor groupings so you still get that variety but ultimately you eat less?

KATZ: What we do, Miles, in the meal plan here, your six-week meal plan tells you exactly what to eat every day. And in the beginning of the meal plan, as you suggested, the idea of a flavor of the day -- in fact, there are many flavors over the course of a day. But we use a flavor theme.

It might be almond, it might be tomato, it might be apple. And that flavor is woven throughout the meals and snacks that day to create a theme.

You know, most of the world's great cultures cook with themes. You think Italian food, you don't think anything under the sun. You think tomato sauce, olive oil, garlic, that sort of thing.

So we use that basic approach to create delicious, nutritious food, but where the flavors are reasonably spread out. You have certain kinds of foods for breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner. You don't jumble them all together the way most of us eat.

M. O'BRIEN: So the theory is that your mind thinks you're fuller sooner if you stick to one set of flavors.

KATZ: It's a very well-tested theory. This is called sensory- specific satiety. It has been in the scientific literature for nearly three decades. And unfortunately, to date, the only people who know about it are appetite experts and the food industry, which is using it against us.

The advantages of revealing this -- I'm doing what an expert is supposed to do, revealing privileged information from science to empower people so they can use it. The benefits are incredible.

This is a diet that's suitable for the whole family. I have five kids. We eat this way. The nutrition is balanced every day of the plan. You know, most diets work by cutting out foods, you lose weight. Then they add them back. Oops, you gain it back.

There's none of that here. The nutrition is perfect, the food is delicious. And it really gets much closer to the way great chefs cook because they do thematic cooking.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.

Dr. David Katz, author of the book "The Flavor Point Diet."

And we appreciate you coming by.

KATZ: Pleasure to be here. Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: And good eating to you.

There's more AMERICAN MORNING still to come.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN (voice over): Ahead on "AM Pop," "The West Wing" is a lame duck. The show being canceled after seven seasons. Will fans miss out on seeing a new president?

Plus, "Emily's Reasons Why Not." Viewers found lots of reasons not to watch. It got the ax after just one episode. What went wrong?

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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