Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Katrina Response Hearings; President Bush Selling the Message; New Orleans Storm

Aired February 02, 2006 - 08:59   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.
Tough questions expected for the Gulf Coast governors as Katrina hearings resume in an hour. Senators looking into who did what and when in the aftermath of the storm. We're live on Capitol Hill.

An overnight developing story. Police looking for the suspect who walked into a gay bar with a gun and a machete and started attacking customers. We'll have the latest on the manhunt in Massachusetts ahead.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien.

A nasty computer bug could wreak havoc on your files within the next 24 hours. And this one could be kind of hard to explain to your family.

Also this morning...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His majesty, King Phillip.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: That would be Punxsutawney Phil, out of his little stump. What did he see, or maybe not see? The marmot meteorologist is ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody.

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

The blame game continuing. Who's to blame? That's what senators want to know about the response to Katrina as they get ready to start hearings in about an hour.

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

Bob, what can we expect to hear today?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, probably more of the same answer, which is everybody seems to be to blame a little bit. All of this now is within the context of a General Accounting Office report that came out yesterday, the investigative arm of Congress, the GAO, saying that a big part of the problem was that at the federal government there was no clearly defined chain of command after Katrina hit.

They point the finger a lot at the head of the Homeland Security Department, Michael Chertoff. Homeland Security has responded that this report is premature and it reflects a misunderstanding of the way things work. But as we found out at the hearing and in a conversation that the mayor of New Orleans had with you, Miles, on AMERICAN MORNING just a short while ago, when it comes to the way things work, apparently then and maybe now things don't work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: You know, I've always said consistently that I'm a big boy. So when we want to start analyzing and evaluating it, make sure we're looking at state and the federal government also. And we're doing that now. And it's pointing out the fact that there was some confusion, there was a lack of coordination between the state and the federal government, and there was this big dance that was going on about who had final authority. And it hampered the efforts and slowed everything down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: We're going to hear a lot more about that as the governors of Mississippi and Louisiana talk to the senators at the hearing today. A lot of discussion will focus on the turf battles that went on with the federal government.

Meanwhile, probably the most ominous thing came in the testimony of Mayor Nagin yesterday when he said, as hurricane season approaches, that we're probably not ready for another big one -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Ominous indeed. Thank you very much, Bob Franken, on Capitol Hill -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush is heading out on a sales mission. He's going to be visiting three states in the next couple of days trying to sell the country on the agenda that he spelled out in Tuesday's State of the Union Address.

Let's get right to Elaine Quijano. She's at the White House for us this morning.

Elaine, good morning.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad

And the message for the president today will be about American innovation and specifically how that fits in with what the White House is calling President Bush's competitiveness agenda. For that, the president is taking his sales pitch on the road. He'll be visiting a 3M plant in Minnesota, and he's expected to talk about why he thinks it's important for Americans to continue keeping the lead when it comes to innovation. Now, on Wednesday, in Nashville, the message was also about leadership. In fact, the signs behind President Bush reading "Americans win when America leads."

President Bush tried to strike an optimistic tone, but at a time when polls show there is unease among Americans about the economy, President Bush acknowledged what he called uncertainty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We really are the envy of the world. Our economy is the envy of the world. And yet people are changing jobs a lot and there's competition from India and China which creates some uncertainty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: And another issue the president said, he acknowledged is creating uncertainty, the situation in Iraq. President Bush, though, saying yesterday that he thinks about that issue every day, acknowledging, though, that it is natural for Americans to be uncertain about that -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, one would expect.

Where does the president go next, Elaine?

QUIJANO: He is going to be -- after Minnesota, he's going to be traveling to Albuquerque, New Mexico. And again, this is part of his push essentially to reiterate the ideas he laid out in his State of the Union Address.

He'll be talking about the competitiveness agenda, he'll be speaking with some panelists there. And then he goes on to Dallas, Texas, and there we understand his focus is going to be on the importance of advanced placement courses with a focus on math and science -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano at the White House for us this morning.

Elaine, thanks.

Well, who's sorry now? Capitol Police apologize to Cindy Sheehan, and they want to drop charges against her. She was arrested for wearing a protest T-shirt to the State of the Union Address. Sheehan told Paula Zahn just how upset she was by this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY SHEEHAN, ANTIWAR ACTIVIST: This my civil rights were violated. They -- I unzipped my jacket. They treated me like I got -- I took a weapon out.

They were rough with me. I have bruises. I have sore muscles. They arrested the mother of a war hero who gave his life for this country. And why did my son die if his mother can't even wear a T- shirt? And I'm going to file a lawsuit for defamation of character and because my civil rights were violated, hoping that it will never happen to another person, hoping that my son's death will count for something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, she is not the only one they did it to. Beverly Young, who is the wife of Republican Congressman Bill Young, also kicked out, apparently, of the chamber. She was wearing a "Support The Troops" sweatshirt. You can see it right there.

The congressman made an angry speech on Wednesday, called the White House, also brought the brought the Capitol Police chief into his office. And Chief Terrance Gainer apologized to both women, saying, "Neither guest should have been confronted about the expressive T-shirts."

Mrs. Young is still mad after the apology. She says Gainer is -- and I'm quoting -- "an idiot." Sheehan also told Paula Zahn that she's going to go ahead with her lawsuit.

We should remind you, "PAULA ZAHN NOW" on every weeknight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Live pictures now courtesy WTTG. This is Fairfax County, Virginia. A construction accident, and what we're seeing there we believe is the successful conclusion to a rescue after a trench collapsed on a construction worker.

As soon as we get more details on his condition we'll get them to you. But you see him there in a gurney which has been lifted by a crane there in Fairfax County, Virginia.

We'll keep you posted -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right.

Chad, let's get right to this severe weather in New Orleans. Some of the reports coming in describe something pretty -- pretty violent.

What you got, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We had a tornado watch and a tornado warning, in fact, for the parishes around New Orleans about 300 in the morning. Now that storm has really charged ahead and into places like Pensacola. The whole storm system really kind of disintegrating now, and even the tornado watch has been discontinued.

But there's New Orleans. The line of storms did move through Pensacola and move through Tallahassee.

And Soledad, I want to get back to you so we can get to some of the guests now on the phone about the damage in New Orleans -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks. Let's get right to it then.

New Orleans resident Blayne Bondy, in fact, joins us by phone. He's in the Lakeview area of the city, which is where the 17th Street Canal is.

Hey, Blayne. Thanks for talking with us. Appreciate it.

What kind of damage have you seen?

BLAYNE BONDY, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: We've seen quite a bit of extensive damage. There's a house that s has been blown down. There was a very large cell phone tower that was knocked down and blocking a very major thoroughfare.

And every -- in this area, the Army Corps of Engineers with FEMA were doing pre-cleanup already, and they had portolets (ph) set up all throughout the area. I mean, hundreds of them, and there's not a single one that's still standing that I passed. And as well, several large 18-wheelers turned on their sides.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh my goodness.

BONDY: So it's...

S. O'BRIEN: Can you see -- are people injured? Do you know? Is it possible for you to tell?

BONDY: I was not -- I was not able to see anyone or any activity that indicated any injuries. Obviously a lot of people stopping to -- you know, to take a look at the destruction that took place last night. But from what I could tell, I didn't see any emergency, you know, personnel or vehicles, just a lot of activity, you know, around the properties that were damaged and the cell phone tower and the automobiles, the heavy equipment that were turned over.

S. O'BRIEN: In some of the wire reports, Blayne, I've read that it was a violent thunderstorm. Others are sort of questioning, well, was it a tornado?

Do you have any insight on that? What did it feel like, at least, to you?

BONDY: Last night around 2:45 a.m., I was awakened by -- I mean, it was just a tremendous amount of thunder and lightning. The power went out shortly thereafter and was not back on until around 7:00 this morning. But, you know, it was a very violent storm.

S. O'BRIEN: I've got to imagine, you know, since you've been through a really violent storm, obviously, that to be hit by something like this as fast in relative duration as it is has got to really be undermining some people. I mean, just throwing them emotionally. Am I right?

BONDY: I would imagine. You know, I know when I woke up I kept peeping out the window to see if there was any water in the streets. Fortunately, you know, the area I'm staying in is pretty high and was dry. And this morning, the route that I took I didn't see any standing water. But, yes, I have to imagine that it probably wrestled some people's nerves.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, gosh, just what you guys don't need, a big old storm running through.

Blaine Bondy joining us by phone in the Lakeview section which is near the 17th Street Canal, which is why he was talking about some concerns about the levees. Also the brother of our executive producer, Kim Bondy, who is from New Orleans originally.

Thanks, Blayne. Appreciate it -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The trials and tribulations of the Saddam Hussein trial continue. That among the stories that Carol Costello is looking at.

Hello, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I am indeed.

Hello, Miles.

Good morning to you.

Kind of a developing story happening right now in Washington. The president is now speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast to a group of senators. We don't know exactly what he's talking about, but when we find out what the subject of his speech is this morning, of course we'll bring along some of his comments to you. But as you can see, the president speaking to senators at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

On to Iraq now, where the trial of Saddam Hussein is on hold again. The chief judge adjourned court after hearing testimony from two witnesses. But none of the eight defendants were at the hearing. None of them.

Hussein and four other defendants are boycotting the proceedings because they say the judge is biased. The three other defendants are out for disorderly conduct.

A temporary shutdown at a coal mine in West Virginia to talk about now. The state's governor, Joe Manchin, is calling for safety checks. This after two mine workers were killed Wednesday in separate incidents. That brings the death toll to 16 since the start of this year. No word on how much the shutdowns will cost the state's coal industry.

More than 20 arrests have been made after a two-year investigation into a Colombian heroin ring. And get this, the smugglers used puppies to hall in the drugs.

Agents found 10 puppies, six with scars on their bellies. Ultrasounds revealed the puppies were carrying about seven pounds of liquid heroin worth about $200,000. More than 60 pounds of drugs were found in total.

If you're trying to make a quick get away, do not use a moving van. More than a dozen police cruisers in Florida chased a stolen Budget rental truck. Police say it was driven by a burglary suspect.

You can see sparks coming from the truck's tires. And eventually, the truck eventually blew a tire. Police pulled the driver over, shot him with a taser gun, and he's in custody this morning.

And we have seen a couple of instances of cars running into houses in the past couple of days, but none can compare to what happened in Duluth, Georgia. An out-of-control driver rammed his car through the side of this house, but when police showed up the driver was not there, nowhere to be found.

That's when the owner of the house led them to a bedroom where the driver of the car had quite literally crashed. He was sound asleep on the bed.

It is official. The unequivocal word on winter from Punxsutawney Phil, let's look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't like this likeness of me, it's my shadow I see. Six more weeks of mild winter weather there will be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The famous prognosticating groundhog came out of his elaborating tree stump today. He saw his shadow, and now we're stuck with six more weeks of winter. Although winter has been pretty nice in these parts. So I'm hoping that's true.

Back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: I'll take six more weeks of mild winter.

M. O'BRIEN: The way we've had it, not so bad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. That's not so bad.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Phil.

COSTELLO: Not at all.

S. O'BRIEN: You're sick of it? She's ready for spring.

All right, Carol. Thank you.

Still to come this morning, we're going to talk about Kama Sutra. No, not the ancient sex guide. We're talking about this sort of modern menace to computer users. It's a worm attack. We'll explain just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: Also, between six and nine million Americans are addicted to gambling.

You, Pete?

No, not him.

Some of them have to turn to counseling to get help. He was looking a little nervous there. But a new drug may offer you hope.

S. O'BRIEN: Later this morning, the shocking and bloody world of backyard wrestling. Will you look at this? Believe it or not, kids are taking part in this. I'll tell you what every parent ought to know...

M. O'BRIEN: Not my kids. Yikes!

S. O'BRIEN: ... ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: There is a new computer worm that's making the rounds. It's designed to prey on your desire for, well, smut, frankly.

Let's get right to Daniel Sieberg. He joins us live at the CNN Center in Atlanta with more on this.

Hey, Daniel. Good morning.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Soledad.

A pretty racy name, racy content. It hearkens back to old school of computer worms bent on destruction. It's a bit of contrast to today's financial con artists.

This worm, though, will eat through many files on your machine in a big hurry starting tomorrow. In fact, at midnight tonight. We'll have some tips to protect yourself in a minute. But first, here's a look at why a worm dubbed "Kama Sutra" seems to be spreading so effectively.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (voice over): The oldest trick on the screen, just promise sex, sexy pictures, or school girl fantasies gone bad, and watch the mouse clicks all over the globe.

MERRICK FURST, GEORGIA TECH COLLEGE OF COMP.: There are a lot of people who are going to be very unhappy on the 3rd of February. This virus will wipe out all their word process documents, all their pictures, all of their work sheets.

SIEBERG: Computer security companies like Internet Security Systems report the Kama Sutra worm has been spreading since January 16 in e-mails with subject lines like "Hot Movie," "Crazy Illegal Sex" and "Give Me a Kiss." But when users click the attachments on those e-mails, they didn't get any dirty pictures. They did unknowingly infect their computers.

The malicious code burrows deep within the Windows operating system. And on Friday, the worm goes to work.

It will overwrite and corrupt spreadsheets, family pictures, and financial statements. Just about everything. The good news, there's still time to fix things.

ALAIN SERGILE, INTERNET SECURITY SYSTEMS: From a security standpoint, users should definitely have some type of anti-virus software on there. They should have some type of intrusion prevention which basically protects them from worm -- self-propagating worms, which anti-virus can't protect you against. And there are some free applications out there as well that allow you to scan your computer for spyware, for zombie-type of software that have been installed on machines.

SIEBERG: And as an important form of insurance, now is a very good time to back up your most valuable computer files on a CD or a DVD.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: The number of infected machines varies. It's pegged between about 15,000 and 100,000 in the U.S. But as many as 700,000 infections worldwide.

And Soledad, part of the discrepancy on these numbers is because, well, many people may be a little embarrassed about this worm's nature and not report it or admit to having it. They might say, that wasn't my computer or somebody else was using it.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, because they don't want to admit clicking through e-mails about smutty, you know, sex scenes on the computer.

SIEBERG: Yes, exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: I get that. So is -- are all the e-mails that are being sent basically have in the subject line "sex pictures," things like that? I mean, is that what they should be looking for?

SIEBERG: More or less. You can -- there's a theme to all of us here. But it does change, so that can be tricky for people to try and spot it.

We have some examples of what the subject lines might look like if it comes into your inbox. You can see some of them there: "Hot Movie," a couple I can't mention, they're a little bit too obscene.

I think I can say "Crazy, Illegal Sex" on TV. There are a couple others there, "Give Me a Kiss," "Miss Lebanon 2006."

I don't know where they get some of these names from. "School Girls Fantasies Gone Bad." "The Best Video Clip Ever."

You're seeing a recurring theme here. But obviously the same tactic being used, trying to entice people to click on an attachment and to open it.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Daniel Sieberg. Thank you. Appreciate the information -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Say what you will about lawyers, but no one deserves this kind of treatment. Remember the scene coming up three years ago in L.A.? Remember this one, a client taking aim at his lawyer?

The lawyer tried to use a tree as cover. Cameras were all over the place because they were covering that Robert Blake murder trial.

Tonight on "PAULA ZAHN NOW," CNN's Ted Rowlands talks to both men, the shooter who was just convicted of attempted murder, and the lawyer who is not likely to forget this very bad day at the office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY CURRY, SHOOTING VICTIM: I was entirely focused on the gun. I was just watching the gun. You know, I knew that -- I knew that the guy could kill me. I knew my life could end right there.

And I was scared. There was no doubt about it.

I could feel the bullets hitting me. I was hit in the left shoulder three times, in the right forearm. And I could feel the impact.

I remember hearing a click, click, click. And I was relieved because I thought, my god, you know, he's out of bullets and I survived. So I was very relieved. Then he just kind of calmly put the gun in his pocket then calmly walked away. Didn't say a word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: So why did he do it? Well, tune in to "PAULA ZAHN NOW" at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time tonight. You'll know the answer.

Coming up, new hope for the millions of Americans who are addicted to gambling. I wonder if there's a pill that can help them kick the habit. That's next.

And later, eBay gets sued, accused of selling fake stuff from Tiffany's on its site. We'll tell you how to make sure you don't get suckered ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: We've got these pictures just into CNN. You're taking a look at Andrea Yates. Of course she is the Texas woman who drowned her five children.

Well, she was granted $200,000 bail on Wednesday, expected to head off to a mental health facility. You can see here she's getting into a vehicle, and in a moment this white car will pull away.

It's unclear if her family was able to raise the $200,000. They were going to try to get it from unidentified sources, according to the spokesman for her lawyer. But it was a financial challenge, certainly, for the family. They were hoping to get the bail lowered to 50,000. Originally, prosecutors wanted $1 million bail.

She's got to go to a mental health facility. And she is going to be treated at that facility. And apparently also is taking a very high dosage of anti-psychotic medicine as well. That's according to her attorney.

M. O'BRIEN: But she does -- there will be another trial, right? That's where it is headed, right?

S. O'BRIEN: There should be another trial...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: ... for her as soon as she get gets this examination from the psychiatric facility.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.

Let's move on now.

Seven billion dollars, that's how much is at stake for gamblers on Super Bowl Sunday. But for some people, gambling is not just about money. It's about addiction. Now a new study looks at a pill that may one day help.

CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen in Atlanta with that.

Hello, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Miles, this pill called Nalmefene is currently being used to treat people addicted to alcohol. And doctors say that a new study shows that it could help the six to nine million people who are addicted to gambling. Now, obviously we're not just talking about casual gamblers. We're talking about people who incurred debts of two times their annual income and can't stop. The gambling makes them feel euphoric. Their brain is soaked in these opioids that make them feel good and they feel like they can't stop.

Well, when they tried this drug that's currently used on alcohloics -- when they tried it on addicted gamblers, here's what they found. They found that 60 percent of the gamblers who tried this drug felt like they had some relief, like their situation improved. When they gave them a placebo, they felt like only 34 percent of them saw some relief. That's obviously a big difference.

Now, this drug, you saw it in a pill form. it's not available on a mass market in a pill form. It's available as an injection, so they're working on getting it in pill form and possibly having it approved to treat problem gamblers.

M. O'BRIEN: How does it work, Elizabeth?

COHEN: The way that it works talks is I talked about how the gambler feels euphoric, their brain is satiated with these opioids. What it does is it works on three different areas of the brain. And it makes it so that those opioids aren't taken in by these three areas called pleasure centers in the brain, they're just no absorbed. And you can see them there, the nucleus accumbens, the amygdala and the ventral tegmental area. Those three areas are where it makes the gambler feel good and so it keeps those opioids from being absorbed in those three areas. That's the theory as to why it works.

M. O'BRIEN: Could this pill itself be addictive? Any other side effects to worry about?

COHEN: They haven't seen an addiction problem with it. They did see at high doses some serious side effects that made a third of the people drop out of the study -- that's a lot. So people became nauseous, they had insomnia, they had dizziness. That was at higher doses of the pills. They didn't see the same problems at lower doses. As they proceed in the studies they're going to encourage people to take the lower doses.

M. O'BRIEN: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, puppies caught in the middle of an international drug sting. The special agent in charge of the case is going to join us live, tell us what's happended to these little guys.

And then later: backyard wrestling. Take a look at some of these pictures -- it's just brutal! Kids though say they think it's fun. It's obviously much more dangerous than that. We'll tell you what every parent should know.

That's coming up 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