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American Morning
BlackBerry Blues; Saddam Hussein On Trial
Aired January 24, 2006 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Another delay to tell you about in the increasingly unpredictable Saddam Hussein trial. Can a new judge, not this judge, but a new one, get the trial back on track?
Thousands of Ford employees face an uncertain future today. The company announcing huge cutbacks.
And BlackBerry users beware. How will millions of Americans cope without their handheld devices?
ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Actually, your BlackBerry has been kind of broken. So you've had a little test.
S. O'BRIEN: No, I got a new one yesterday.
M. O'BRIEN: You did?
S. O'BRIEN: My BlackBerry -- you know, there's a new BlackBerry, and it's sort of a gray berry.
M. O'BRIEN: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Is it better than mine?
S. O'BRIEN: Not only is it better than yours, it's cuter than yours actually. A better keyboard and a nice sort of bluish-gray.
M. O'BRIEN: I might have to drop this one somewhere.
S. O'BRIEN: But if this court case that we've been talking about goes forward, and if, in fact, RIM, which is the Canadian company that makes BlackBerry, loses, these things, you know, could be a big problem for those of us who love our BlackBerrys.
M. O'BRIEN: At the 11th hour they will write the check. It will be a big check. I put it at a billion, but...
S. O'BRIEN: This is your prediction on the case?
M. O'BRIEN: Don't you think that's what this is all about?
S. O'BRIEN: I cannot see a future without my BlackBerry. Sad but true.
M. O'BRIEN: There you have it. All right, let's talk about Saddam Hussein. This trial, just when you think it can't get any stranger, it does.
S. O'BRIEN: It does.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, you're not kidding. Good morning, everyone.
The on-again off-again trial of Saddam Hussein is off again. A court official telling CNN that today's session has been canceled, because a number of witnesses simply didn't show up. The court is expected to start up again on Sunday. And when it does, a new chief judge will be on the bench. The former lead judge resigned earlier this month.
A shot in the arm for the war on terror. The Pentagon wants to add more elite troops. A report today says the Pentagon wants the additional Special Forces to battle terrorists and insurgents. "The Washington Post" says the move would bring the number of special operation forces to the highest level since the Vietnam War. The newspaper says the Green Berets would be among the Special Forces getting many of the additional troops.
No jail time for a U.S. Army interrogator convicted of killing an Iraqi general. The interrogator had originally been charged with murder and faced life in prison for stuffing an Iraqi man head first into a sleeping bag and then sitting on his chest. This happened back in November of 2003. A military jury has now recommended a reprimand and a $6,000 fine. The officer's attorneys claim supervisors knew the technique was being used during questioning.
Extremely disappointing. That's what union leaders are saying about Ford's massive layoff plans. The number two U.S. automaker is dropping the ax on a quarter of its workforce in North America. That's as many as 30,000 jobs. Ford's St. Louis plant is set to close in the coming months. A plant near Atlanta and one in Michigan are next in line.
And they're moving on. We were hearing threats of lawsuits after New York Knicks' forward Antonio Davis' impromptu visit with a Chicago Bulls fan last week. There you see him going up into the stands. David thought a drunken fan was touching his wife. And the fan said he wasn't drunk. He said Mrs. Davis actually scratched his face. Well, both sides say the whole thing was just one big misunderstanding. And they're dropping it. What is not being dropped, however, is Davis' suspension. He's sitting out five games as punishment for leaving the court and going back up into the stands -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: He'll get over that. You'd hate to be facing a big, old lawsuit.
COSTELLO: Yes. I think it was $50 million.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, at least. At least. Thanks, Carol.
Chad has got a look at the forecast for this morning.
Hey, Chad, good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, you could get over a five-day suspension somewhere.
S. O'BRIEN: Like that really.
MYERS: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
MYERS: I mean, you've got the Bahamas. You've got the Caribbean. You've got a lot of places, right?
S. O'BRIEN: Take your wife.
MYERS: Exactly.
S. O'BRIEN: Relax.
MYERS: There you go. And then still get paid probably anyway, although maybe not.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Chad, are you a BlackBerry user?
MYERS: A BlackBerry user?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
MYERS: No.
M. O'BRIEN: No?
MYERS: I am not a BlackBerry user.
M. O'BRIEN: And you say that like you really don't want one.
MYERS: I actually -- I had one. It got wet in Dennis, in the Hurricane Dennis, and it never came back, and I have never gotten it fixed. Don't miss it at all.
M. O'BRIEN: I lost one after each hurricane this past summer. I got a new one.
MYERS: There you go.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, if you're like me and you cannot live without your BlackBerry, here is some news you did not want to hear. The Supreme Court is refusing to get involved in that patent case against the company that makes BlackBerrys. It's called Research In Motion. That means the wireless e-mail service is one step closer to being shut down.
AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken looks at that agonizing prospect.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the task force commander absolutely, positively had to have his BlackBerry.
During a security scare, members of Congress and their staff members got their evacuate-the-Capitol orders on their BlackBerrys.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Capitol Hill police are conducting a search of the building for an individual.
FRANKEN: The members of Congress don't go anywhere without their BlackBerrys. Those on the White House staff definitely don't, nor do millions of others. We don't know if the Supreme Court justices carry them. The court wouldn't tell us.
But by turning thumbs down on hearing an appeal of a patent infringement case, they have cleared the way for a lower court order that could shut down the devices for most of us in a little over a week. And by the way, for many, that news probably came first on -- you guessed it -- their BlackBerrys, as usual.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I found out I was an uncle on my BlackBerry.
FRANKEN: They're called "crackberrys" for good reason. Since 1998 when they were introduced by the Canadian company Research In Motion, they've become addictive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, it's a constant communication tool.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I have to admit use in the bathroom.
FRANKEN (on camera): The problem is a small Virginia company won the patent infringement case against Research In Motion, which could effectively shut the system down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea what I'm going to do without it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My personal theory is that corporate America will never let this happen.
FRANKEN (voice over): Research In Motion can still negotiate a financial agreement before the judge acts. And he really does have the company, and a lot of us, under his thumb.
Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: All right, nice job, Bob.
Now, even if the George orders -- the judge. The George?
S. O'BRIEN: The judge.
M. O'BRIEN: The judge orders a partial shutdown...
S. O'BRIEN: It might be George, but he's a judge.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm all but (INAUDIBLE) over this. Please don't take my BlackBerry. Analysts say he is likely to give users time to switch to something else. But I have tried them all.
S. O'BRIEN: Me too.
M. O'BRIEN: I had the Trio. Nothing compares to the BlackBerry for its reliability and its speed. So I think the guy in the piece who said corporate America won't let this happen. That's what's going to happen.
Interesting, though, that the government officials, politicians, military, they are exempt. No matter what happens, they will get their BlackBerrys. Interesting how that works, isn't it?
We're going to take a little closer look. Daniel Sieberg will be in a little bit later and will talk about what options there might be out there.
S. O'BRIEN: All of which apparently you hate. But you're taking this all very...
M. O'BRIEN: I've tried them all. I would love the Trio to work. It just crashes all the time on me.
Coming up, we keep hearing how corporate executives are way overpaid. So why are the bosses at the hottest company in America talking an annual salary of $1? Andy is "Minding Your Business" on that.
S. O'BRIEN: Because they make a lot of money every other way.
M. O'BRIEN: There's other ways to make money, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning we'll be talking about another delay in the Saddam Hussein trial. Is this trial just in chaos and disarray? A look at that is up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: The trial of Saddam Hussein, off for today, now is set to resume on Sunday. The big question: Can the new chief judge put a stop to Saddam Hussein's disruptive courtroom antics?
Michael Scharf is a legal advisor to the tribunal, also a professor at Case Western Reserve University. He's in Cleveland this morning.
Nice to see you as always. Thanks for talking with us. MICHAEL SCHARF, SADDAM TRIAL LEGAL ADVISOR: Hi, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: What are you hearing about this delay?
SCHARF: Well, you know, first of all, I'm a little shocked about the BlackBerry. But about the delay with the trial...
S. O'BRIEN: Try to carry on if you can, Michael.
SCHARF: We're having a serious case of musical chairs at the tribunal. First of all, we had the judge, Rizgar Amin, who was pushed out because he was too wimpy. Then he was replaced by the strong-arm man of Judge Saeed al-Hameshi, who is under investigation for being a Baathist.
Now you've got a superstar judge who was getting ready for the next trial, the trial of the an-Pol (ph) campaign, who was brought in to clean up everything. And that's Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman.
But just when he was ready to things started, the prosecution wasn't able to bring in what it said was its star insider witnesses.
And the trial has all been leading up to this point where we hear the insiders tell about what they were ordered to do, who fired the shots, who were giving the orders, and that was supposed to be today. Apparently that will be on Sunday.
S. O'BRIEN: It almost sounds like you're describing, you know, some kind of wacky soap opera. The sad thing is that this is real and this is what's happening in Baghdad today. These insiders, it appears now, that they're part of the pilgrimage at the Hajj. And so the question, at least we heard in reporting from Anish (ph), how come everyone was on a four-hour wait while they determined this from your key witnesses, sort of the highlighted star testimony? How could this happen?
SCHARF: Well, the Saddam trial has never been a smooth running show. That's for sure. But all of these international trials have been quite chaotic. Even the Milosevic trial had its problems where, for example, the chief judge, Richard May, got a brain tumor and had to resign halfway through the trial. And that's been on-again off- again.
What's unusual is here we've been going on for three months, and we've only had five trial days. And we've had everything, of course, from assassinations to religious holidays to national elections. And now, again, we have today's problems.
I do predict the trial will get started on Sunday, and the pace of events will start to speed up in the New Year.
S. O'BRIEN: Is that because the new Judge Abdel-Rahman is a little bit of a tougher nut than the previous judge?
SCHARF: He certainly is tougher. If he is going to be the one that presides for the rest of the trial, I do predict that he will gain a lot more control in the proceedings.
I had the privilege of training all of the judges about a year- and-a-half ago in London. And he was one of two or three judges that had a very forceful personality.
Now, in some ways, that's not ideal, because what the defendants are trying to do is to provoke the judge to yell at them so that the trial will look unfair, something that Milosevic also did at the Hague.
Now, Judge Amin was very good about being calm and cool, but the criticism was he was just too calm. And the tightrope act for the new judge is going to be, can he gain control of the courtroom without seeming overbearing?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. And that's a very fine line to walk. On one hand, you have to sort of keep it from becoming a circus. And on the other hand, you have to keep Saddam Hussein in court...
SCHARF: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: ... so it is a real trial, and he's there and it's perceived to be fair. In some ways those two things are a little bit contradictory.
SCHARF: And you hit upon it, Soledad, because the tougher he is on Saddam Hussein, if he doesn't let him do all of these kinds of antics and outbursts and allow him to have a platform, then Saddam is going to say, well, why should I even come to court? And if Saddam is not in court, this trial will look like a trial in absentia. It will look very unfair. People will tune out.
So, what the judge has to do is give Saddam enough time in court to make some statements, but not so much that he hijacks the actual proceedings.
S. O'BRIEN: Professor Michael Scharf, you're thinking Sunday for this to resume?
SCHARF: And I guess I'll be seeing you then.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks a lot. Of course, he's a legal advisor to the tribunal joining us from Cleveland this morning.
Business news.
M. O'BRIEN: Hello, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, you guys.
Coming up, you won't believe how little the Goggle guys get paid. Plus, swoosh, the CEO at Nike gets axed. Stay tuned for that coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MYERS: And your "Cold and Flu Report" from the CDC today. California, you're out of the red color, back down to regional outbreaks for you. But many other states are popping up in widespread, including New York state, widespread flu season going on right now. And the blue states there colored in blue, regional outbreaks all the way from Georgia up to Pennsylvania, as far west as Oregon -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad. Coming up, thousands of workers no longer have a Ford in their future. Well, actually they won't have Ford in their future. We'll talk to two of the people getting laid off, find out what they were told and how they feel about it. What do you think how they feel? They don't feel very good this morning. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: I'm older than Mary Lou Retton.
SERWER: Between Mary Lou Retton and Aaron Neville.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I am, comfortably so.
SERWER: That's sort of a nice little (INAUDIBLE).
S. O'BRIEN: Happy birthday to both of them.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: What do you think about the tattoo on the cheek?
S. O'BRIEN: It works for some people. Personally I wouldn't do it, but I think it works for him. He's a handsome man.
Business news in just a moment. First, though, let's get a check of the headlines. Carol has got that.
Hello.
COSTELLO: Hello and good morning, everyone.
President Bush is meeting with Pakistan's prime minister this morning. On Monday, the president was in Kansas responding to critics of the domestic surveillance program run by the NSA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm mindful of your civil liberties. And so I had all kinds of lawyers review the process. We briefed members of the United States Congress, one of whom was Senator Pat Roberts, about this program. You know, it's amazing that people say to me, well, he's just breaking the law. If I wanted to break the law, why was I briefing Congress?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Two lawsuits have been filed against the NSA over that wiretap program.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is putting health care front and center as a key issue in her re-election effort. She's accusing the Bush administration of what she calls deliberate neglect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: Our medical system is numb to the relationship between cost and result. It's blind to the need to pay for prevention. And it's deaf to the need to reward good corporate citizens who provide decent coverage for their workers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Clinton acknowledged her failed effort to provide universal health insurance coverage as first lady early in her husbands' first term as president. She says it may have been too much too fast.
After 14 coal mining deaths in three weeks, West Virginia is overhauling its mine safety regulations. State lawmakers have now voted to require mines to use electronic tracking devices for workers. It also wants stockpiles of oxygen supplies for trapped miners. Improved communications and quicker emergency response are also part of the legislation.
And a strange incident at a Fort Lauderdale airport. A 28-year- old man started yelling as a Continental flight was taxiing on the tarmac Monday. Troy Rigby (ph) ran to the front of the plane and banged on the windows and cockpit door. He even bit -- yes, bit -- a passenger who tried to restrain him just before jumping to the tarmac while the plane was still moving. Police used a stun gun to subdue Rigby (ph). And as you might imagine, he's facing several charges this morning. In fact, we're going to hear from the man who got bit later on, on AMERICAN MORNING.
And I can't wait to hear that story, Chad.
MYERS: Sure. He was just trying to do what he thought was best and jump up there and stop the guy.
COSTELLO: And then he got bit for his trouble.
MYERS: Well, hey, you know what? Dog bites dog, not story. Man bites man, that's a story. There you go.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: We've talked about how much CEOs get paid. But the founders of Google, they're making so much money they don't need money. They really don't.
SERWER: Right. They don't need salaries because they're making a lot, right.
M. O'BRIEN: They just don't need money because they just have a pile forever, right?
SERWER: That's it. That's it.
M. O'BRIEN: So, you know...
SERWER: Such a bargain, I guess you could call the Google guys. If you're a shareholder of this company, you know, forget about these $10 million and $100 million paydays. The two founders of this company are getting paid $1 each. One dollar each in salary in 2006.
Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of this company, 32 and 33 years old respectively, have fortunes valued at $11 billion each. That's based on a share price of $427, Google is these days, up over 100 percent over the past year. So you do the math. That means that if they're worth 11 billion...
S. O'BRIEN: It's easy math really.
SERWER: ... they were worth 5.5 billion last year.
M. O'BRIEN: Even we can do that math.
S. O'BRIEN: I can do that math. Let's see...
SERWER: That's why they only need...
S. O'BRIEN: Eleven billion. How many zeros is that again?
M. O'BRIEN: Right?
SERWER: Divide by two, just divide by two. So, they were worth 5.5 billion each last year, and now they're worth 11. That's why they only need $1 each in salary.
M. O'BRIEN: I know what. They should pay them cupcakes, because that's all we're getting out of this Google deal is cupcakes, right?
SERWER: Well, right, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: I'd take that.
SERWER: Thanks to some great stock recommendations by your...
M. O'BRIEN: Is it time to buy Google now?
SERWER: I'm not going to answer that question.
S. O'BRIEN: The train has left the station.
SERWER: I've recused myself from any further -- there it is, Miles. Where are you on that chart? OK, never mind.
M. O'BRIEN: I am not on the chart.
SERWER: One other story we want to get to this morning concerns Nike and, of course, its legendary founder, another founder story, Phil Knight, who has taken this company to great heights. Last year at this time, he stepped aside finally and appointed a new CEO, a gentleman named William Perez. Now it turns out what he can't keep away. That would be Phil Knight. And he's fired essentially Mr. Perez and put in his hand-picked number two guy -- that would be Phil Knight has -- to replace him.
And this is a pattern we've seen of founders leaving and then they've got to get back. And we saw it at Apple with Steve Jobs.
S. O'BRIEN: They leave but they don't leave.
SERWER: Charles Schwab. Gateway with Ted Waitt. They can't...
M. O'BRIEN: It's hard to leave.
SERWER: They can't leave because it's their baby, and they created it.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I understand that.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: I can too.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thank you.
SERWER: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, we're talking with the attorney general, Alberto Gonzales. He's going to join us live. How does he defend the White House wiretap program? We'll check in with him straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Be sure to check out our Web site, CNN.com, for the latest on this morning's top stories, including this one: the trial of Saddam Hussein delayed once again. It seems as if some of the important witnesses, critical witnesses, in this case are actually overseas. Big questions remain about how this could happen, how the court could not know this. We're following this story for you this morning.
Also at CNN.com, one of the most popular stories is this one. It's kind of a little bit odd. Isaac Misrahi, you saw him on the Golden Globes. Remember, he was...
M. O'BRIEN: Well, I remember a little...
S. O'BRIEN: He was poking and prodding.
M. O'BRIEN: He was tweaking.
S. O'BRIEN: The breast tweaking of women in gowns and then asking sort of inappropriate questions about bikini waxes. I could go on, but I won't. M. O'BRIEN: Are you allowed to ask those questions of women if you're gay?
S. O'BRIEN: Well, apparently...
M. O'BRIEN: Is that true?
S. O'BRIEN: I don't know the rules on that actually.
M. O'BRIEN: There are no rules, right?
S. O'BRIEN: E, who is his employer, seems to think it's just fine. They hired him back to do commentary on the Academy Awards.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Some people, though, are a little offended and put off apparently...
M. O'BRIEN: You might say.
S. O'BRIEN: ... by the activity. But his boss says that's what we hired him to do. He shook things up, and they're happy.
It's all there at CNN.com. You can check out pipeline, too, when you're there.
As we approach the top of the hour, let's get a look at the forecast this morning, shall we? Chad has got that.
M. O'BRIEN: Chad?
I think it's going to be 10 degrees in Moscow.
S. O'BRIEN: It is?
M. O'BRIEN: Ten degrees in Moscow and...
S. O'BRIEN: And unseasonably warm here.
M. O'BRIEN: Other temperatures elsewhere.
S. O'BRIEN: In New York.
M. O'BRIEN: And good in some places, not so good elsewhere.
S. O'BRIEN: Stormy weather in the Midwest.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE), right?
M. O'BRIEN: High pressure with low and...
S. O'BRIEN: Obviously we're having some audio difficulties with Chad. M. O'BRIEN: OK. And there's probably a trough.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, whatever that is. We'll check in with Chad as soon as we can fix those for you in just a few moments.
Our next hour, though, begins right now. Welcome back, everybody.
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