Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Saddam Hussein on Trial; Pushing the Message; Nuclear Showdown; Closing the Mines
Aired February 02, 2006 - 06:00 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
The Saddam Hussein trial is back on, but there is no Saddam, no other defendants either. What's going on here? We're following the twists and turns in this bizarre trial live from Baghdad.
More on the shirt tale of Cindy Sheehan, what the Capitol Police are now saying after ushering her out of the State of the Union Address and what she says about what happened while in custody.
S. O'BRIEN: A bunch of puppies are at the center of an international drug conspiracy. Lots of disturbing details about this story. We'll bring that to you this morning.
And an out-of-control driver sort of makes his own parking space right inside somebody else's house. You won't believe, though, what he did next. We'll tell you.
M. O'BRIEN: And it's that time of year again, Punxsutawney Phil is preparing to let us in on his little weather secret. It's Groundhog Day 2006.
And it's that time of year again, Punxsutawney Phil is preparing to let us in on his little weather secret. It's Groundhog Day 2006.
S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody, Groundhog Day today. We always watch what Punxsutawney Phil is doing. He's 100 percent right, they say.
M. O'BRIEN: So they say, 100 percent right. There's nothing that is fictitious about that. He's 125 years old, as a matter of fact.
Live pictures now, Gobbler's Knob. There they are. They're all excited.
You don't think it's an excuse to stay up all night with some adult beverages, do you?
S. O'BRIEN: Partying and drinking, no, not at all.
M. O'BRIEN: No. No.
S. O'BRIEN: What time does this happen, do we know? M. O'BRIEN: Any minute now.
S. O'BRIEN: Seven thirty this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, as soon as he sees there's sunshine, right?
S. O'BRIEN: Seven twenty-five Eastern Time. I knew it was in the 7:00 hour. And then of course there are all the festivities before and the festivities afterward. We're absolutely, positively going to bring that to you live. I am certain.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: As soon as Punxsutawney Phil predicts (ph).
M. O'BRIEN: And we'll ask Chad Myers what he thinks about Punxsutawney's...
S. O'BRIEN: And then compare them and see who is right later.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. I'm sure he'll enjoy that.
S. O'BRIEN: That's ahead.
Let's talk about a little bit of Groundhog Day in Iraq. Saddam Hussein trial on again. No Saddam Hussein, though, again. There are also no other defendants. Take a look. This is new video into CNN this morning. The original defense team, too, also missing.
Aneesh Raman joins us by phone from Baghdad this morning.
Aneesh, what's going on here?
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Soledad, this court, which is the courtroom itself just two floors above me, has hit a major crossroads. As you say, eight empty chairs, no defendants at all present in court today. Also absent again, Saddam Hussein, as you say, his entire defense team. They had walked out on Sunday. And as they did so, the new chief judge barred them from coming to further proceedings. They now say they are boycotting the trial here on in.
Yesterday, five of the defendants had not shown up, including Saddam Hussein. Today, the other three not in the session as well. So an impasse has taken hold between Saddam Hussein, his lawyers and the court. Legally the court says it can keep going as is, that the defendants are watching on closed circuit television and that the trial needs to move forward.
And evidence is being presented. We're now hearing right now from the second witness of the day. But it raises any number of huge questions -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I would think it would. I mean how long can they possibly continue, realistically, without Saddam Hussein and without the other defendants, even if they are watching on closed circuit TV? The message that's being sent in this new video that we're seeing is pretty striking.
RAMAN: It is. The absence of Saddam Hussein is a presence in itself. And the absence of the other defendants is also a presence. And so that is the question this court faces.
It's in a tough bind, what do you do with defendants who you can forcibly bring into court? The court has the option to do that. But if you bring them into the courtroom and they just constantly interrupt the proceedings, make political statements on their own, what do you do then? Do you allow them in the court and try and keep them quiet, which hasn't worked in the past. The previous chief judge was seen as too lenient, allowing Saddam to speak at will.
Or do you keep them out of the courtroom and have this image now go to Iraq, if not the world, of eight empty chairs and no defendant- chosen lawyers in the courtroom? It becomes a show trial in a lot of respects. So we're waiting to see.
All of this is at the discretion of the chief judge who is aggressively intolerant of any disruptions whatsoever in these trial proceedings. Even today he's interrupted the witnesses any number of times condemning -- chastising them to stay on point. So he seems intent on the proceeding going forward and that being the main issue that confronts this court, not necessarily who is present and who is not -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Right. It might be the big issue though in the long run.
Aneesh Raman is in Baghdad for us this morning following the trial.
Aneesh, thanks -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: President Bush is looking to take on the world today, at least as far as U.S. industry goes. He is going to Minnesota as part of his "Push the Message" tour after the State of the Union Address.
White House correspondent Dana Bash has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Later today the president resumes his post-State of the Union sales tour with a trip to Minnesota. And there he will be visiting a 3M plant to talk up the need to stay on the cutting edge of innovation.
It's part of what Mr. Bush introduced in his State of the Union and what the White House is calling his "competitiveness agenda." And it's based on a Republican fear this election year that Americans simply do not think that the economy is doing well because of job loss, because of pension loss, because of outsourcing to countries like India and China.
So the White House goal in this trip to Minnesota and the next state, to New Mexico, is to say that America is going to stay the leader in the world and is going to be on par in terms of jobs and perhaps in terms of wages.
Dana Bash, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: The day after she got the boot, Cindy Sheehan got an apology from the Capitol police chief. Chief Terrance Gainer also believes charges should be dropped against the gold star mom and anti- war crusader, but his apologies are bipartisan.
He also said he was sorry to Beverly Young, the wife of Republican Congressman C.W. Bill Young. Each of the women wore a shirt with a message about the war to the State of the Union speech and that got them expelled from the House chamber.
Now Gainer says this -- we quote him -- "The officers made a good faith but mistaken effort to enforce an old unwritten interpretation of the prohibitions about demonstrating in the Capitol. Neither guest should have been confronted about their expressive T-shirts."
Now Sheehan says police roughed her up. Mrs. Young is still mad. She says Gainer -- and we quote her now -- "is an idiot" -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Meeting in Vienna today could push Iran down the road to building nuclear weapons. Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency suspect that Iran in fact has plans to build a weapon. If they decide today to refer Iran to the Security Council for sanctions, Iran says it will go ahead and start enriching uranium, which of course is a key ingredient for nuclear bombs.
Matthew Chance is live for us in Vienna this morning.
Matthew, good morning to you. Is this sort of a done deal that in fact Iran will be referred to the Security Council?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
Well, they have said me (ph) there's agreements for all the five permanent members of the Security Council at the time has come to report the matter of Iran's dubious nuclear program to the United Nations Security Council. As we speak, there's an emergency session that's been convened at the U.N.'s nuclear agency, the IAEA, here in the Austrian capital Vienna. Delegates there looking at and deciding and debating a resolution, a draft resolution, that's been tabled to report Iran to the Security Council.
The wording in that resolution very specific, it's been agreed and set out by the five permanent members of the Security Council, including the United States, along with Russia and China, who are two of Iran's biggest allies, of course having close economic ties. Essentially the report spells out what the big international concern is that the international community does not trust Iran when it comes to its nuclear ambitions. Iran, for its part, says that if it is involved in any way with the Security Council, it would consider that to be an end of diplomacy and would resume full uranium enrichment activities. So this is a very crucial meeting indeed -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: If in fact Iran is referred to the Security Council, then what happens with the sanctions, do they stay on the table or no?
CHANCE: Well of course the United Nations Security Council does ultimately have the power to impose what are called here punitive measures. One of those measures could of course be sanctions. But the wording of this draft resolution that's being debated here in Vienna is very specific. But, at the moment, it would just be a report to the Security Council, that (ph) the Security Council wouldn't take any action until at least March when there's a full report on Iran by this U.N. nuclear agency.
And so, at the moment, sanctions are not on the table, but certainly that's the long-term, medium-term prospect if Iran does not come into compliance and convince the rest of the world that its ambitions are purely peaceful. Of course it says it is, but there are many countries in the world believe it is developing nuclear weapons.
S. O'BRIEN: Matthew Chance in Vienna for us this morning.
Matthew, thanks -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: This morning the mines of West Virginia are expected to go silent. The state's governor taking drastic action and making a bold request in the wake of two more accidents and two more deaths. It's been a year of tremendous loss for mining families in West Virginia. And we don't need to remind you the year is only one month old.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. JOE MANCHIN, WEST VIRGINIA: Mine companies, supervisors and the miners themselves are to engage in the thorough review of safety procedures before any work or production is to continue.
M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): And with that, mining in West Virginia may grind to a halt, a safety stand down after two more deadly accidents in the same day. In one, a mine support popped loose underground, killing one miner. Then just about two hours later at a surface mine in the same county, a bulldozer ran into a gas line. That started a fire that killed the driver.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just makes you worry, you know, when they go out to work.
M. O'BRIEN: Miners' families have good reason to worry. Since the beginning of the year, 16 miners have died in West Virginia. On January 2, an explosion at the Sago Mine trapped 13 miners, only 1 survived.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two hundred and eight violations on them for safety and they can't shut it down for the safety of our families.
M. O'BRIEN: Then on January 19, a fire at the Aracoma Mine killed two more miners. After that accident, Governor Joe Manchin said this.
MANCHIN: If I have anything to do with it and if I am able that every breath in my body to make the changes that need to be made to make sure no family ever goes through what we've been going through.
M. O'BRIEN: So yesterday the governor asked for all mines to shut down pending safety checks. It's a tall order. West Virginia is the nation's second largest coal producer. But after all the loss of life, it may be the only choice.
GLEN HALSTAD, MINER: If one of your kids asked you that, sure, you're going to say no, I'm not going to die, baby (ph). But we don't know that.
DIANE SMITH, BOONE COUNTY RESIDENT: There's been so many accidents since the first of the year, it's just unbelievable, wondering what's going to happen next.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Governor Manchin says he doesn't know how long it will take mining companies to finish the inspections. In some cases, they could be wrapped up in just a matter of hours; in others, much longer.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's take you live now where Punxsutawney Phil is only, well, an hour and 15 minutes away or so from telling us what the future will hold. Six more weeks of winter or early spring, of course, is the big question?
M. O'BRIEN: Actually, I think he's going to predict a Steelers victory based on the yellow towels there. Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: He also apparently going to weigh in on how the Steelers will do in the Super Bowl.
M. O'BRIEN: Might as well, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: The whole thing is basically one big old party. And I think they are jumping up and down to keep people warm because they have been partying all night. Last year, Phil, the groundhog, saw his shadow, which of course is an omen. You see the shadow, that means more winter.
M. O'BRIEN: That's bad.
S. O'BRIEN: Six more weeks. He has been doing this for 120 years. And they claim there's only been one...
M. O'BRIEN: Same groundhog?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, one Punxsutawney Phil. That he's been making the -- same guy making the same predictions -- same guy -- same groundhog.
M. O'BRIEN: A marmot. He's a little marmot.
S. O'BRIEN: Same marmot.
M. O'BRIEN: The meteorological marmot.
S. O'BRIEN: Making the predictions over the last 120 years -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: How does your record...
M. O'BRIEN: Don't you hate this, Chad?
S. O'BRIEN: How does your record compare to...
M. O'BRIEN: I mean, really, you go to school for this.
MYERS: They...
M. O'BRIEN: You do all the things you do to be smart about this...
S. O'BRIEN: And the groundhog gets the glory.
M. O'BRIEN: ... and here comes this groundhog.
MYERS: Well last week it was that Woolly Mammoth in Virginia. Remember that guy?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
MYERS: But...
S. O'BRIEN: What's the world coming to?
MYERS: There is still, though, so many other -- just stay with me here -- there is Birmingham Bill,...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
MYERS: ... Buckeye Chuck, Dunkirk Dave in New York, French Creek Freddie in West Virginia, General Beauregard Lee in Georgia, Jimmy the groundhog Wisconsin, PV (ph) the woodchuck...
S. O'BRIEN: Sounds like Jimmy the groundhog in Brooklyn.
MYERS: Jimmy -- he's Jimmy the groundhog.
M. O'BRIEN: He's going to break your knees if you don't get it right, you know what I mean? I'm Jimmy the groundhog.
MYERS: No, actually, Pothole Pete, he's the one who's going to break your knees. M. O'BRIEN: Pothole Pete.
MYERS: And Staten Island Chuck, he's the one that's going to. And Sir Walter Wally in North Carolina.
S. O'BRIEN: Can I tell you something?
MYERS: Wee Willie in Canada.
S. O'BRIEN: Chad.
MYERS: Go ahead. Go ahead.
S. O'BRIEN: Here's what Punxsutawney Phil's people say in their release.
MYERS: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Pay no attention.
S. O'BRIEN: The others are -- Phil is the only true weather forecasting groundhog, the others are just imposters. So that list, frauds all.
MYERS: Well how about this one, it's Claude the crawfish in Louisiana. I think that's an imposter. I mean, you know. But he says he's an honorary groundhog.
M. O'BRIEN: What does the crawfish do?
S. O'BRIEN: Could they see their shadow?
M. O'BRIEN: Does he crawl out of the water and see his shadow and go back in?
MYERS: He comes out of -- yes, he comes out of the mud and looks up at the sun.
S. O'BRIEN: They eat them and -- kidding, joking, all the crawfish lovers who want to protect crawfish.
MYERS: I know. I know. All right.
S. O'BRIEN: Certainly.
MYERS: Got to get to this.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thank you very much.
MYERS: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, how low can you go? I mean this is really a very disturbing story. An alleged drug smuggling scheme using these guys, these little puppies. Look at them, puppies as drug mules. Got really disturbing pictures and disturbing information also about this case.
M. O'BRIEN: Also, newly sworn in Justice Samuel Alito, who said he was too conservative? His first vote is not what you might expect. He breaks ranks with conservatives on his first day on the job.
S. O'BRIEN: And BlackBerry users, listen up, looks like the government is stepping in to keep all of our e-mail service going, at least for a little while longer. We'll explain just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
M. O'BRIEN: It's called the Soledad amendment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Dionne Warwick, got to love it.
M. O'BRIEN: What a voice.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: What a voice.
S. O'BRIEN: Love her.
Welcome back, everybody.
Let's get right to Carol. She's got an update on some of the top stories this morning.
Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.
New developments in the trial of Saddam Hussein, the trial has now been adjourned until February 13. The announcement coming after what's considered to be the smoothest day of testimony so far, probably because no one was there.
Take a look at those empty chairs. None of the eight defendants show up. Hussein and four other defendants are boycotting the trial because they want the chief judge barred from the remaining courtroom -- actually, they want the judge thrown off the case. And until the judge is thrown off the case, they won't be back in the courtroom.
Coretta Scott King will be remembered today during a mass in Atlanta. Some 200 people turned out last night for a candlelight vigil. They gathered at the foot of Martin Luther King Jr.'s statue at Atlanta University Center. We're still waiting to hear about funeral plans because they have not been announced yet for Mrs. King. But Georgia's governor has offered to let her body lie in the State Capitol. We've heard of drugs swallowed by people, hidden in aerosol cans, even in fake bananas. Well now smugglers are using puppies. More than 20 arrests were made after a two-year investigation into a Colombian heroin ring. Agents also found 10 puppies, 6 with scars on their bellies. Ultrasound scans revealed the puppies were carrying about seven pounds of liquid heroin worth about $200,000. More than 60 pounds of drugs were found in all.
Did anybody say conservative? Samuel Alito, the country's newest Supreme Court justice, siding with the High Court's moderates and liberals in a death penalty case. On his first day on the job, Alito joined five of the other justices in deciding to grant a last-minute stay of execution for a Missouri inmate.
And we've seen a couple of instances of cars running into houses this week, but none can compare to what happened in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth, Georgia. An out-of-control driver rammed his car through the side of this house. But when police showed up, he wasn't there. That's when the owner of the house led them to the bedroom. It seems the driver had crashed into the house and then gone to the bedroom and onto the bed to take a nap and he was sleeping when police came to get him.
S. O'BRIEN: He was exhausted.
COSTELLO: I guess so.
S. O'BRIEN: That was a lot of work running right through that house, my god.
M. O'BRIEN: Tuckered me out, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: What would you do if you find someone in your bed after they have plowed through your home? I think, could you get up?
M. O'BRIEN: It's a night to remember, I should say, yes, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Or I guess, like the homeowner did, let them sleep until the cops come and come get him.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Try to throw some handcuffs on him.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, exactly, keep him still. Weird.
Let's get right to Carrie Lee. A lot to talk about this morning, including...
M. O'BRIEN: BlackBerrys, the BlackBerry reprieve.
LEE: Soledad, I know you're going to be happy to hear this. Miles, not sure about you.
S. O'BRIEN: BlackBerry. LEE: But BlackBerry has cleared another patent hurdle. Now this story has been going on for quite a while. Here's the latest.
The U.S. Patent Office issued a fifth non-final rejection of NTP's patent claims. NTP is a smaller company claiming that they have basically invented the wireless technology BlackBerry uses. So now the Patent Office has rejected five, all five, of the patents at the center of this long-running dispute. NTP can appeal. However, we won't get a final decision until February. Now that's the first part of this story.
The second part, and this is where it really gets interesting, the Justice Department is now urging the judge in the case to delay any plans to shutdown BlackBerry service until they can basically guarantee that government workers won't be shut out. So they're saying please wait until we can work this out because people in Congress use their BlackBerrys so much we can't be without it, so.
M. O'BRIEN: And the military and intelligence...
LEE: Exactly.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
LEE: Exactly.
M. O'BRIEN: ... and on and on it goes.
S. O'BRIEN: So...
LEE: They want to make sure the government employees are exempted, basically.
S. O'BRIEN: So they don't think that the patents then -- there's a patent conflict? I mean NTP has now been shutout?
LEE: Exactly, for now, for now. Now they can appeal, so it's not the end of this story.
M. O'BRIEN: Well I think they might, don't you think?
LEE: And I'm sure they will.
S. O'BRIEN: But there was an original offer, a settlement, right, by RIM, RIM to NTP?
LEE: This has been going on for quite a while.
S. O'BRIEN: Millions and millions of dollars.
LEE: Goes back to 2001.
M. O'BRIEN: Well NTP wants a billion, right? Don't they want a billion dollars, something?
LEE: Yes, it's something like that. Yes, exactly. M. O'BRIEN: That's some real change.
LEE: Exactly.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: So we'll see.
Research In Motion stock yesterday up 9 percent on the patent news. Fell a little bit because of the Justice Department angle.
Futures altogether this morning looking a little bit weak, but we did see some nice gains yesterday. So that's a look at business news so far this Thursday.
M. O'BRIEN: That chart, that's a stock in motion...
LEE: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Boy, it's had a wild ride.
S. O'BRIEN: And bad motion toward the end.
LEE: (INAUDIBLE) maybe a lot of short-term traders buying and selling,...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: ... you know, depending on the news of the day or week here, so.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Carrie, thank you.
LEE: OK.
M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carrie.
S. O'BRIEN: "Morning Coffee" is ahead in just a moment. We're back in a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: They're having a good time there.
M. O'BRIEN: You know, was one of the Village People a hedgehog or...
S. O'BRIEN: No. No.
M. O'BRIEN: No. Or a groundhog or...
S. O'BRIEN: Quite certain no.
M. O'BRIEN: No, no, no, it's a fireman, policeman, yes. S. O'BRIEN: They're waiting for Punxsutawney Phil.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Seven twenty-five we're expecting him.
M. O'BRIEN: There you go. It's getting exciting there.
COSTELLO: OK, but we must interrupt the celebrations in Pennsylvania to go to "Morning Coffee," because I've got some good stuff.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's do that.
COSTELLO: You know how politicians say they never read the paper or watch the news? So not true.
S. O'BRIEN: Or follow their polls.
COSTELLO: It's so not true.
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
COSTELLO: The Joint Chiefs are launching an attack on a cartoon. They say it is tasteless and disrespectful.
This is what they are talking about. Take a look. The political cartoon shows a wounded soldier with no arms or legs. And there is Donald Rumsfeld playing doctor. He says in the cartoon, I am listing your condition as battle hardened.
The artist, Tom Toll (ph), says it is commentary on the Secretary of Defense's comments last week. Remember what he said, he dismissed reports saying the military was stretched too thin. That cartoon ran in Sunday's "Washington Post." The letter of protest from the Joint Chiefs is in today's edition, and you can check it out online.
How do you restore your reputation once you have lost it on Oprah? It's a tough thing. Well, James Frey, the author of "A Million Little Pieces," is certainly trying. Frey is now issuing a full statement about his literary lies in his book. Here's just a taste.
He says, "I altered events and details all the way through the book. And I am deeply sorry to any readers who I have disappointed."
You can read the statement in total inside his book. Of course you'll have to go out and buy a new copy because he's not going to mail you a letter if you already have the book.
M. O'BRIEN: Of course not (ph).
COSTELLO: The other interesting thing...
M. O'BRIEN: A little catch there, you have to buy the book.
COSTELLO: A little catch, yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Now how do we know we can believe him now?
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Who the heck knows?
The other interesting thing, though, I was in two bookstores yesterday, and the Oprah's Book Club sticker is still on the books.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
COSTELLO: So they're still selling the book under those auspices, which is interesting. And I checked Amazon.com. His new book, "My Friend Leonard," number three on the "New York Times"...
S. O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you is what he should do is keep his mouth shut and then relaunch, write a book about the scandal.
COSTELLO: You're right.
S. O'BRIEN: And go on Oprah a year later and talk about how he has changed everything...
COSTELLO: You are so right.
S. O'BRIEN: ... and he's sort of...
COSTELLO: And he needs...
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: He needs a new literary agent because his agent dumped him.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: So maybe you should check that out.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: Hey, the Super Bowl is Sunday.
M. O'BRIEN: So I hear. Yes.
COSTELLO: My favorite day. And I will make a bet with you right now Jerome Bettis' mom and dad will be shown by network cameras 52 times. You know they always show his mom and dad in the audience because...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... they've been to every blessed game. Bettis is of course a Pittsburgh Steeler.
Here is his mom cooking dinner for Jerome's teammates. She and (INAUDIBLE) they said never missed a game. Actually, my bet is a good one because 50 percent of all bets placed in Las Vegas on the Super Bowl are now called prop bets. That is bets not on the score, but on side issues like how many times we'll see Mrs. Bettis.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, and you know number of passes by Hasselback. How long will be the first run by Bettis?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: I mean it's pages of these things.
COSTELLO: So it's bets placed by people who really don't know football and can still have fun placing a bet in Vegas.
S. O'BRIEN: Give me that list then.
M. O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE) you know, there you go. That is your...
S. O'BRIEN: I'm your girl for this one.
M. O'BRIEN: ... list. All right.
S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. Hope you win.
COSTELLO: I hope so, too.
M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carol.
Morning's top stories are straight ahead. Cindy Sheehan's anti- war T-shirt got her arrested at the State of the Union on Tuesday night. Now she's getting an apology. We'll tell you who is offering up the mea culpa.
And later, it's not the actors that got small, it's the actual picture. We'll take you to a film festival where everybody is phoning it in.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
