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American Morning

Postal Shootings; Journalists Wounded; American Hostage; Al Qaeda Message

Aired January 31, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

ABC News anchor, Bob Woodruff, and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, about to board a plane for home. We're live at Ramstein Air Base in Germany this morning.

New tape to show you of Jill Carroll. It's disturbing videotape. We're going to take a closer look this morning at what the kidnapped journalist is saying.

M. O'BRIEN: Fatal shots fired at a postal center in southern California. It appears a former employee pulled the trigger. We'll go there live for the latest on this developing story.

High stakes for the president. With his poll numbers sagging, Mr. Bush prepares for the State of the Union Address. We have a preview for you.

S. O'BRIEN: And let the buzz begin. Oscar nominations are coming out this morning. We're going to take a look at just who should be expecting an invitation.

M. O'BRIEN: We begin this morning with late-night shootings at a California postal facility. Three are dead, one critically injured. The sorting center is in Goleta, just a few blocks from the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and that is about 100 miles north of Los Angeles.

CNN's Ted Rowlands is there.

Ted, give us the details.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, we've just received an update from a Santa Barbara County sheriff's spokesperson saying that the former employee that came into this postal facility about 9:15 Pacific Time last night shooting is a woman. A female, former employee, and she is dead.

We do not have a total in terms of fatalities at this point. They say they are just releasing that there are three dead and one critically injured. That fourth patient, another woman, she received a gunshot wound to the head and is listed as critical. We are expecting another update within the hour here. Clearly the situation changed dramatically within the last hour, SWAT team members left this postal facility. And clearly the situation is now under control. And presumably it is because they found the woman who was responsible for this shooting dead inside the postal facility.

They are still going over it and still they have closed off a number of streets in this area, but the situation seems to have been defused within the last hour. And, as I said, they suspect that a former employee, a woman, came into this postal processing plant and opened fire on her fellow former employees, killing three, possibly more. We'll get more information within the hour -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Ted, obviously this thing is unfolding as we speak. Is there any word on any sort of motive?

ROWLANDS: No. There were a number of employees that fled the postal facility and ran across to a fire station. And that is where they all huddled, if you will, and they were debriefed. They were told not to talk to the media on their way out as they trickled home. Obviously they were very distraught. There were grief counselors here already for them, those that needed it.

But we have not gotten a lot of information as to who this person was and what the possible motive could have been and what this person was armed with. We are hoping to get more information, but the good news is clearly what was a manhunt and a very nervous community is now a situation that is under control.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Ted Rowlands, we'll let you get to it. We'll get back with you in a little bit as the details come in. We'll keep you posted -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: We've got some live pictures to show coming to us from Ramstein Air Base in Germany. And you could see the plane there. This is the plane that's going to bring Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt back home for treatment. The two are recovering from severe, serious injuries they received while working on a story in Iraq, as we've been reporting for you for days now. The two will head now to Bethesda, Maryland and the Bethesda Naval Hospital.

We've heard from family members, especially Bob's family, who have been talking to reporters, saying that they are feeling very hopeful about some of the signs that they have seen in his recovery. We heard from one of the reporters, from the ABC White House correspondent, saying that she believed that some of the injuries are very similar to blunt trauma injuries and they're going to be watching the brain swelling for the next few days.

But many people have said that it is a terrific sign in fact that they're going to be able to move them, because of course if they were in very, very rough shape, they wouldn't even think about moving them out of Ramstein. But they are able to move them, which is a pretty good sign.

And of course we also know that Melanie Bloom, who is a very good friend of the family of Bob Woodruff, is traveling with Lee Woodruff who is there as well. So we are certainly wishing them the best.

Let's get right to Chris Burns. He's on the phone for us with an update on what we know right now about both men's condition.

Chris, good morning.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

I'm standing right out at the air base right now. They are loading up a number of other injured people, soldiers, all together 30 of them, including Mr. Woodruff and Mr. Vogt. They are among half, about 15 of them, who are going in on stretchers. The rest are walking in.

Now among those, including Woodruff and Vogt, who are going in on stretchers, they are going in with a, it's called a CCAT team, a critical care air transportable team, which includes a physician, a nurse and a respiratory technician, all capable of doing life support, if necessary. Basically an ICU in the air. At this point they are still listed in serious but stable condition on their way to Bethesda -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: What do we know about what kind of shape they are in? We've heard reports, and differing reports, frankly, Chris, about shrapnel injuries, of head injuries as well. Can you update us on that? Have they given you any information from the hospital?

BURNS: They're being very tight lipped. The families haven't spoken, at least on this side yet, but ABC News has given information last night that they are responding to stimuli, that Mr. Woodruff opened his eyes briefly yesterday.

There is a bit more comment, if we have it. Let me know if we don't. But we have comment from ABC correspondent Martha Raddatz speaking on Larry King last night with a bit more detail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA: But those were not life threatening. The problem here is brain swelling. And again, it's very similar to an impact injury. And they've got to watch the brain swelling for the next few days, but I don't think there is any disfigurement here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Well we are watching this story, of course. Chris Burns is reporting for us this morning from Ramstein. We're going to watch that plane and of course bring you the very latest on this story.

And we cannot say it enough, our fingers crossed, our prayers are with the family members, all family members, who are dealing with this terrible tragedy this morning -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Some heart-wrenching video out this morning showing us U.S. hostage Jill Carroll. Al Jazeera played the tape without sound Monday. It's dated January 28, but that's impossible to independently verify, of course. She appears to be very upset, as you can see here. Apparently she is pleading for all female Iraqi prisoners to be released.

Aneesh Raman live now in Baghdad. Aneesh with more on that.

Hello -- Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good morning.

Clearly distraught, sobbing throughout, Jill Carroll in this latest video that, as you say, aired yesterday on Al Jazeera, calling upon U.S. and Iraqi officials to release all female Iraqi prisoners. As you say, imprinted on this video was the date, January 28. And while you say it's impossible for us to know whether it was shot, it is perhaps proof of life.

We have not seen Jill Carroll since January 17 when that first video emerged and when the group holding her, Brigades of Vengeance, issued a 72-hour deadline for the release of all female Iraqi prisoners. That deadline came and went and there was not word until now on the fate of Jill Carroll.

The paper that she was freelancing for, the "Christian Science Monitor," issuing a statement last night, saying -- quote -- "anyone with a heart will feel distressed that an innocent woman like Jill Carroll would be treated in the manner shown in the latest video aired by Al Jazeera. We add our voice to those of Arabs around the world, and especially to those in Iraq, who have condemned this act of kidnapping. We ask that she be returned to the protection of her family immediately."

Again, Jill Carroll taken on January 7. The hope, of course, among her family will be that she is still alive and that there is perhaps a way for her to be rescued, if not released -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Aneesh, there were five female prisoners held by the U.S. that were recently released. The U.S. says that was coincidental to all of this. What about the remaining four?

RAMAN: We're told from Iraq's Justice Ministry that the remaining four female prisoners are in the process, essentially, of release. They are going through any number of procedures. No set time on when that release will take place.

As you mentioned, the five Iraqi women that were released, and we have some video of that, came six days after the deadline came and went. There is some thought that perhaps this tape is a sign that the group holding Jill Carroll has been emboldened by that and now wants to make sure that the other remaining four are released. And so it's unclear to us, at the moment, when that release might happen. But as far as we understand, it is in the works -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman in Baghdad, thank you very much. In the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, we'll talk to Roy Hallums. He was held hostage in Iraq for 10 months. And he'll tell us how kidnappers stage-manage those videotape messages. That's at 7:30 Eastern Time -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Another tape to tell you about showing up on Al Jazeero -- Jazeera, rather. It's a videotape message from al Qaeda's number two man Ayman al-Zawahiri. In it he says President Bush is bad luck to the American people. He also talks about being the target of the U.S. airstrike in Pakistan that happened earlier this month. Why this message now?

Let's get more from our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, today President Bush delivers his State of the Union Address. It's not clear if Ayman al-Zawahiri's message was timed to come out just before that, but what he says in his message appears to try to undermine what President Bush is going to say.

He says the United States is losing the war in Iraq, losing the war in Afghanistan, that U.S. troops should pull out. He taunts President Bush saying do you even know where I am? I am among the Muslim people of the world.

The White House has said that it does take al Qaeda's threats seriously, but it does believe the al Qaeda leadership is on the run. But it appears by the very fact that Zawahiri has released this tape just 11 days after Osama bin Laden's latest message with that offer of a truce and the threats of the possibility of attacks in the United States, the very fact that he's released his message so soon after that does seem to indicate that he doesn't fear that he's about to be caught anytime soon at least.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Optimistic and confident are the White House buzz words in the buildup to tonight's State of the Union Address. President Bush with lots on the line. His approval ratings are low and most Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction, some new polls about that.

Themes for tonight's speech include energy and gas prices, with an emphasis on promoting alternate energy sources. Also retirement and the skyrocketing cost of healthcare, and the president is going to talk about Iraq as well.

Coming up later on AMERICAN MORNING, we're going to talk to White House Counselor Dan Bartlett, as well as Senate majority leader and Senate minority leaders, too. CNN's coverage of the president's State of the Union speech begins tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, obviously 6:00 p.m. on the West Coast.

And of course our coverage, AMERICAN MORNING, begins here at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning from Washington, D.C. -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Time now for a check of the forecast.

Chad Myers at the CNN Center.

Good morning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.

(WEATHER REPORT)

We have been looking at a snowstorm, storm, that could affect Detroit for Sunday. The only good news for the Super Bowl, it's in a dome, you just have to get there.

M. O'BRIEN: Getting there...

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's the tricky part.

MYERS: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: This will remind people of the last time there was a Super Bowl in Detroit, actually in Pontiac.

MYERS: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: And I think it was, what, about 40 below or something like that, wasn't it?

MYERS: Well, yes, but that was the Silverdome, right, the Silverdome, so...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, no fun to play in that.

M. O'BRIEN: No.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thanks.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, have you seen this? Take a look, a little baby girl making headlines in Brazil. People all over the country want to adopt this little girl after this videotape hit the airwaves. We're going to tell you why.

M. O'BRIEN: Also, a bull rush in Mexico. Ouch! Some folks get -- at a bullfight you don't want to be in the front row, I guess -- get a little more action than they anticipated. S. O'BRIEN: My god!

M. O'BRIEN: Yikes!

S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, will "Walk the Line's" Joaquin Phoenix walk away with an Oscar nomination? The nominees are going to be announced later today. We've got a preview coming up just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, about 15 minutes past the hour, and what appears to be looks like hopeful news for those two ABC newsmen.

Carol Costello with more on that.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We hope so.

Thank you, Miles.

ABC News anchor, Bob Woodruff, and photographer, Doug Vogt, are being transferred to the United States. They'll soon be flown out of Germany and will head to the brain injury center at Bethesda Navy Medical Center outside of Washington. We're hearing both men are showing signs of improvement, although Woodruff's injuries are said to be more extensive.

Judge Samuel Alito is a shoo-in for the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senate wrapped up its debate Monday with the majority of lawmakers favoring Alito. Any attempts to filibuster his nomination fizzled out. A final vote is set for later this morning, and he could be sworn in before President Bush's State of the Union Address tonight.

Iran could face possible sanctions over its nuclear program. The U.S. and other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council agreed Monday night to haul Iran before the Security Council. The agreement was a bit of a surprise. China and Russia are long-time allies of Iran. We could hear something more later this week. The U.N. nuclear watchdog meets on Thursday.

Federal officials in the Chicago area looking into a plane crash. The twin engine plane smashed into a construction site killing all four people onboard. Witnesses say the plane looked fine as it was heading for a landing, but then spiraled out of control.

And here is something you would expect to see on one of those "When Animals Attack" shows. Take a look at this. During a bullfight in Mexico City, a bull named Little Birdie (ph) literally takes flight. The bull crushes his way through the crowd. Take a look at that. You can see the fans scattering to get out of his way. Amazingly enough only two people ended up in the hospital. And we'll let you guess what happened to the bull.

Chad, isn't that awful?

MYERS: I mean that's kind of like what they say, bull in a china shop, but they kind of missed the shop.

Good morning, everybody.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thanks.

Let's take you right to some live pictures. You're looking at the scene at Ramstein Air Base. There are a group of about, we heard from Chris Burns, 30 people who are being loaded on to this transport plane. They will get treatment in the United States. They are leaving Germany.

In this group, we are told, Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt, who will be coming back to the United States to be getting some of the critically-needed care. They're going to a brain injury center in Bethesda. It's a naval hospital.

And you can see they're bringing out, it's unclear at this time exactly, because of, obviously, all the equipment and how they are covered, because it's very cold there, clearly. It's unclear exactly who at this time is being brought in. But they are in this group of soldiers, other wounded soldiers, and others who are being brought into this transport plane and will be departing relatively soon to head back to the United States for treatment.

We're monitoring this story. We know at this time that Bob Woodruff and also Doug Vogt have severe injuries, brain injuries in Bob Woodruff's case. They have some swelling on the brain they were telling us about. But we are monitoring this story very closely and continue to watch for their conditions and really listen for any hopeful news. We're told that there was a little bit of movement in some reports that Bob Woodruff actually moved a little bit, and so that's really good news at this point.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Well the fact that he's being moved, as we say, we should interpret as probably a good thing, because at Landstuhl Medical Center there near Ramstein Air Base they have tremendous medical capabilities there. It's not as if he would necessarily have to be moved to get better treatment. So this is getting him closer to home. And we hope that that is a good sign. It's also a reminder of how many planeloads of injured people come back to the United States from Iraq.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: This is something we're focusing on because of a couple of members of the media, but this is, unfortunately, a more common occurrence than we'd like to think.

Shifting gears here, boy they move quickly in that courtroom.

S. O'BRIEN: They did. The judge predicted it.

M. O'BRIEN: He is amazing.

S. O'BRIEN: He said a day...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: ... and, boy, it was a day.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. And we're talking about the jury selection in the Enron trial, of course. They said they wanted to choose a jury within a day, and they certainly did that. Of course we're talking about the jury for the trial of Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former Chief Executive Officer Jeff Skilling. Of about 400 people to start, 4 men and 8 women were chosen, also 2 women and 2 men as alternates.

Of course it's been more than four years since Enron first filed for bankruptcy. And so the trial will continue again to this morning. Opening arguments set to start at about 9:30. Evidence begins on Wednesday.

Yesterday, Lay did speak to the press after he left the courtroom last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN LAY, ENRON FOUNDER: We think we've got a good jury. We think it came, of course it took all day, as you know, and a lot of questions, but we're pleased with the outcome. And of course now my fate and Mr. Skilling's fate is in their hands. And we're going to get on with making the case that in fact we're innocent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Well that's going to be for the jury to decide, of course.

The trial is expected to last about four months. Between Lay and Skilling, there are about three dozen counts against them. Of course they have been accused of taking millions of dollars in Enron stock -- selling millions in Enron stock while workers lost their life savings in a lot of cases. So we'll see what happens.

M. O'BRIEN: I think we need to get Judge Sim Lake over to that Saddam trial and get that straightened out. He runs a tight ship, doesn't he?

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: And now when you hear, you know, four months for this trial, I believe it.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow!

LEE: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

LEE: It was a good precedent they set yesterday.

By the way, futures looking flat right now.

Today is the last day, I know we've been talking about it a lot, Fed Chief Alan Greenspan at the helm. We are expecting, Wall Street expecting another quarter point hike. But 18-and-a-half years, it's going to be a different Federal Reserve when Ben Bernanke takes over.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: It sure will be.

LEE: So, we'll miss him, or at least I'll miss Alan Greenspan.

M. O'BRIEN: Sure we will.

LEE: Clearly all I know as a financial reporter.

S. O'BRIEN: She's tearing up a little.

LEE: So, he's going to write a book.

S. O'BRIEN: It's a new day.

LEE: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: You and Ben will be like this.

M. O'BRIEN: That will be a good book. That will be a good book.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks -- Carrie.

LEE: OK.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right back to Carol. She's in the newsroom and got a look at "Morning Coffee" this morning.

COSTELLO: I didn't know Carrie and Alan Greenspan were so close.

S. O'BRIEN: Super close.

COSTELLO: Yes.

Coming up on "Morning Coffee," who needs Punxsutawney Phil when you've got the Woolly Mammoth? He's got his weather prediction right 12 years straight. So what's he saying about the rest of this winter? "Morning Coffee" is coming your way next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: "Morning Coffee" this morning.

Good morning, Carol. What you got for us?

COSTELLO: Good morning. I've got good stuff for you this morning. Call them the morality police. That's what some are saying in Kansas. There is a law on the books that requires doctors and nurses to report any instances of underage sex to police. That includes consensual sex between teenagers. Supporters say the law is vital for stopping child abuse. Opponents say it's a case of the morality police. It's now being debated in federal court.

You know the weather forecast is so important, isn't it?

S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely.

M. O'BRIEN: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. And thank goodness we have Chad.

Chad, thank you.

MYERS: Well, I do my best. But I am not the big prognosticator, the big, big guy, so to speak.

COSTELLO: No, no, the big, big guy is in Virginia. He's the Woolly Mammoth. He's in Saltville, Virginia. And, boy, do they depend on him.

Let's take a picture. There's a shot of the Woolly Mammoth. He's actually a mechanical mammoth.

S. O'BRIEN: He looks like Snuffleupagus.

(LAUGHTER)

S. O'BRIEN: He does.

M. O'BRIEN: He does, you're right.

COSTELLO: He has his name Snuffleup -- well Snuffleupagus can predict when bad weather is coming.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: They take him outside and if he sees his shadow, well then you know that there's a lot more winter. And he's better than Punxsutawney Phil, and he's better than Chad, because he has been 100 percent right, Chad, for the past 12 years.

MYERS: You know...

M. O'BRIEN: Perfect at what though?

MYERS: You know this is western Virginia right there.

S. O'BRIEN: Winter.

M. O'BRIEN: Just (ph)...

MYERS: That part right there. They could get tornadoes on Saturday and snow on Sunday. So he may not even know how right he is.

COSTELLO: Thank god for Snuffleupagus.

MYERS: OK, (INAUDIBLE).

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad, for playing.

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: So there you go, if you want to know how many months of winter you have left, go to Virginia to the Woolly Mammoth Festival.

S. O'BRIEN: So if he sees his shadow, it means you have six more weeks of winter? Is it sort of the same rules as Punxsutawney Phil?

COSTELLO: Sort of the same. He's not really original, but hey.

S. O'BRIEN: He certainly is large.

M. O'BRIEN: You don't think it's a stunt or anything, do you?

COSTELLO: No.

M. O'BRIEN: No, OK, all right, just checking.

COSTELLO: No.

S. O'BRIEN: Carol, thanks.

COSTELLO: Sure.

S. O'BRIEN: A look at the morning's top stories straight ahead. One Republican senator makes some comments about fruits, gay and lesbian community outraged. We'll tell you that story just ahead this morning.

Plus the story of this little baby. Look at this baby. This little baby girl pulled from a lake. Now everybody in Brazil wants to adopt her. We'll tell you the terrible story behind this little girl's survival.

We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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