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American Morning

Egyptian Passenger Ship Sinks; Selling the Message; New Orleans Tornadoes

Aired February 03, 2006 - 08:59   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.
A passenger ship mysteriously sinks in the Red Sea. Rescue and recovery efforts are now under way for the more than 1,400 people on board. We're live with this developing story.

And controversial cartoons incense the Muslim world, sparking protests all around the world. We'll bring you that story as well.

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

Adding insult to injury, another natural disaster tears through New Orleans, damaging homes and the airport. We'll have a live report.

And super security. The XL efforts to protect the Motor City and Super Bowl XL by land, water and from above on this AMERICAN MORNING.

And it's 9:00 on the East Coast. The last hour for us this week.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Good morning, everybody.

M. O'BRIEN: And it's a busy one, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back -- absolutely.

Let's get right to a developing story right now. Survivors being pulled out of the Red Sea. This passenger ship -- we'll show you the picture right here -- sank. Well, these are locations, actually -- this is our map.

There you go. There's the ship. It sank just hours ago. It had more than 1,400 people on board.

Rescue crews are now on the scene. The ship was traveling from Saudi Arabia, headed across the Red Sea to Safaga in Egypt.

Let's get right to Ben Wedeman. He joins us by phone from Cairo.

Ben, good morning.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, good morning.

Our understanding is that as many as 30 people have been found surviving this maritime accident, according to the Egyptian Maritime Authority. Others, there are more -- possibly more than a dozen bodies have been found off the sea -- rather off the -- on the coast of the Red Sea after, of course, the Egyptian coast guard deployed four frigid (ph) helicopters and other aircraft to the area to join the search for survivors.

S. O'BRIEN: Ben Wedeman joining us with an update on what is happening there.

A really a horrible scene, as we've heard described, with the rescuers in the water trying to pull out some of the survivors, whoever they can reach. We're going to update you on this story as we continue here this morning.

American military rushing to help, too.

Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon for us.

Hey, Barbara. Good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Indeed, the international military community scrambling to help in this emerging disaster, but very tough going because there just simply aren't a lot of military assets in the region. We are now told that the Egyptian government has accepted an offer of help from the U.S. military, two things are under way now.

A U.S. Navy P-3 maritime patrol aircraft is being sent to the immediate area; however, it will take many hours before it can arrive. Also, a British ship, the HMS Bulwark, a Royal Navy amphibious ship, is in the region. It is being turned around, heading up into the Red Sea to the area. It may take more than a day for that ship to arrive on scene.

But what these assets will do, they will do what everyone is doing up there. They will patrol, they will look for survivors.

The aircraft can stay up for many hours at a time and help direct rescue efforts from the air. They will also -- the ship will render medical assistance if it can, provide clean water, and, of course, they will also look for debris, survivors, those who have perished, anything they can do to help in this situation -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us this morning.

What a tragedy. Of course, many questions remain about the cause of this. We're continuing again to follow the story throughout the morning -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: A series of political cartoons sparking protests all around the world this morning. The protesters offended because the cartoons depict the prophet Mohammed. Marchers in Libya pouring on to the streets.

A dozen cartoon printed in European newspapers. We're not showing them, but to give you an idea of what we're talking about, one of them shows the prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban.

Hard-liners in Indonesia tried to get to the Danish embassy. It was a Danish paper that first printed cartoons that were deemed offensive.

In Tehran, more street protests there. Several other European papers have reprinted the pictures. They stay it's all about freedom of speech. Muslim leaders are saying freedom of speech does not justify indignity toward religion.

In Basra, Iraq, they're stomping the French and Danish flags. The depiction of the prophet Mohammed is considered blasphemous in Islam, any depiction whatsoever.

Just ahead, we'll hear from a historian of religion about how that prohibition got started and how strictly it is practiced in the Muslim world -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: The president, President Bush, is talking science and technology again today as he spreads his State of the Union message in person. This hour he is attending a panel discussion in New Mexico.

Let's get right to White House Correspondent Dana Bash. She's in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, this morning.

Hey, Dana. Good morning to you.

Why the big push on this issue?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, I'll just have you check out these numbers, these statistics. America makes up just five percent of the world's population, but this country employs nearly a third of the world's scientists and researchers and actually spends about a third of all of the research and development across the entire planet.

Now, that should indicate that the U.S. is in fact a leader when it comes to innovation and know-how around the world. But a big problem, Republican strategists and pollsters tell you, this election year for them is that Americans simply don't think that is the case.

There is a lot of anxiety about the economy, especially when it comes to growing competition from countries like India and China. That is what the president is trying to address on this tour.

He spoke about it yesterday in Minnesota. That's what he'll talk about later today in New Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think the role of government is to shape the future, not fear the future. And I think the role of a president is to say to the American people, be bold, be confident, and if we do the right things we'll remain the leader in the word. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, this so-called competitiveness initiative is of course something that Mr. Bush first proposed a few nights ago in the State of the Union. And it's a series of modest initiatives, things like the R&D tax credit that expired last year, putting that back in place, putting more money in for research and development. And also hiring more teachers for high school students, particularly in math and science -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: A political significance, of course, to a visit to New Mexico, right?

BASH: Political significance. First of all, you know, Intel, that's where we are right now. That is the company that makes the computer chips that are probably -- the chip that is probably making the computer work right next to where you are. That is certainly one way the president can talk about innovation. That's why they chose this place.

But politically, New Mexico has two senators who actually are pushing this initiative back in Washington. They will be here today, and one is a Democrat and one is a Republican. A bipartisan initiative.

And, in fact, yesterday, Soledad, the House Democratic leader put out a statement saying she actually supports that initiative. That is not something we see very often at all, that kind of coming together on something like this.

That is another reason why the White House is pushing this, because they want Republicans to be able to take something home, something home that Americans do care about this election year, especially when they see that there's a lot of ranker in Washington. They want to actually show that they're in charge and they can do something.

S. O'BRIEN: Dana Bash for us this morning. Dana, thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: Mother Nature showing no mercy for the city of New Orleans, taking another shot at that city. Three tornadoes, including one with winds up to 157 miles an hour, blowing through the area yesterday morning about this time. It's obviously an area already devastated by Katrina.

Susan Roesgen is live for us now from New Orleans with more on all of this.

Susan, good morning.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

You know, what most people worry about here in New Orleans is what would happen after a good, long rain. With our weakened levees, people are very worried about how much flooding we might get when we have the next big rain storm. So many people couldn't believe it that New Orleans would get hit by tornadoes instead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN (voice over): In the Lakeview section of New Orleans it's almost as if the calendar has been turned back five months. Once again, streets filled with tree limbs and debris while homes that had been shored up are once again battered and broken.

BILL HURLEY, HOMEOWNER: I was really discouraged when I got here and realized how bad the inside of the house was and how wet it was upstairs.

ROESGEN: Just this week, Bill Swanson had finally finished repairing his roof after Hurricane Katrina. Then a tornado tore off the new roof, letting the rain soak the few possessions he had left. Swanson plans to start over, but some of his neighbors have had enough.

JOYCE LAMBERT, HOMEOWNER: I think the lord wants us to rebuild this house, tear it down. That's what I'm thinking.

ROESGEN: Lakeview wasn't the only area that got hit. A second tornado struck in Kenner, Louisiana, about half an hour away.

CALVIN JONES, HOMEOWNER: See, it was trying to separate it from the top from the bottom. You can see right here.

ROESGEN: Calvin Jones felt the second floor start to sway underneath him, and in just a few minutes the damage was so great that his house has now been condemned.

Nearby, the fierce winds toppled two FEMA trailers. Luckily, the people who live here had decided to spend the night someplace else because of the storm. But the wind rattled nerves and tested the patience of Kenner mayor Phil Capitano.

MAYOR PHIL CAPITANO, KENNER, LOUISIANA: It's just another problem that you have to deal with. And, you know, when you're going through so much already, it's just -- just another problem we didn't need.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: I asked the Kenner mayor whether he was ready for the start of hurricane season, and he said, yes, the city is more prepared, has a new plan to keep the pumping stations going to try to keep the water out.

Miles, of course you can see a hurricane coming. You don't get that much warning with a tornado.

M. O'BRIEN: Susan Roesgen. Imagine putting that roof on and having to go back and deal with that. My heart goes out to those people. Thank you very much, Susan.

Let's get to Kelly Wallace in the newsroom with some other headlines we're looking at this morning.

Hello, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, Miles.

We're beginning with President Bush, who is expected to sign off on the Patriot Act. Last night the Senate gave the measure another five weeks of life. Lawmakers say they will use the time to try and hammer out an agreement concerning new civil liberty protections. And the House approved the extension on Wednesday.

A trial date could soon be set for Lewis Scooter Libby. He's the former chief of staff of Vice President Dick Cheney. Libby -- you see those pictures there -- arriving in court just in the past half-hour. He is facing perjury and obstruction of justice charges stemming from the investigation into who leaked the name of a CIA agent.

Staying in Washington now, it is a new day for House Republicans. Ohio congressman John Boehner is now the House majority leader, and he is promising reform. Boehner beat out the front-runner, Congressman Roy Blunt of Missouri, who has close ties with Tom DeLay, the previous House majority leader. And as you recall, DeLay stepped down last year after he was indicted.

Emergency crews in Alaska are trying to get a massive oil tanker floating again. It broke loose from a loading dock Thursday and ran aground in the south central part of the state. The big problem here, the tanker is carrying nearly five million gallons of fuel. Some has already spilled, but we don't know exactly how much.

And so far there is a lot to celebrate after a rare and extremely delicate operation on two infants. It was called a domino transplant. And as we said, it is very rare.

Doctors in Columbus, Ohio, took the heart and lungs of a donor, a baby who had died, and placed them in a baby boy. They then gave that boy's healthy heart to another infant in the same intensive care unit. The babies, we're happy to say, could go home in about a week.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, such good news.

WALLACE: I know, Soledad. It was great to see that interview. You ask them, are the kids going to likely be friends? And the family members say, oh, yes, they expect to be very, very close.

S. O'BRIEN: And they are only a month apart. Maybe they get married one day.

WALLACE: Ooh, you know. It could happen.

S. O'BRIEN: The wedding planned already. That's a cute story.

All right, Kelly. Thanks.

WALLACE: Sure.

S. O'BRIEN: Time for the forecast and Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up in the program, call it generation debt, 20 and 30-somethings stuck under piles and piles of bills. Is it their own fault, or is there someone else to blame? We'll talk to an author of a book who claims it's a miserable time to be young.

Is she whining?

S. O'BRIEN: Kind of sounds like it.

Also this morning, the Kama Sutra worm -- we told you about this -- it's supposed to do its dirty work today and wipe out critical files on computers all around the world. How bad could it be? We'll take a look.

M. O'BRIEN: And next, more on that Muslim anger over those political cartoons. We'll look at why pictures of Mohammed could spark such outrage.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: We're tracking that mysterious disappearance of a passenger ship in the Red Sea overnight, 1,400 people aboard, 1,310 passengers, 90-some odd crew members. Egyptian TV is reporting to us right now that 100 survivors have been picked up.

We had earlier reports -- we talked to Egypt's minister of transport -- that there were numerous lifeboats that were spotted in the vicinity. But once again, a hundred survivors picked up according to Egyptian television.

This passenger ship went down in some rough weather, high seas. And we are tracking it closely to let you know how many people survived and what the cause might be -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles. Thanks.

Anger in Indonesia to tell you about today. Muslims around the world are protesting cartoons that mock the prophet Mohammed. They've been printed in European newspapers. Any depiction of the prophet Mohammed at all is considered to be blasphemy to Islam.

Bruce Feiler has written extensively about religion. His most recent books are "Walking the Bible" and "Where God was Born."

He's with us this morning.

Nice to see you. BRUCE FEILER, JOURNALIST, HISTORIAN: Nice to be back with you, Soledad, always.

S. O'BRIEN: Long time to talk to you.

You know, I don't want to show the cartoons because they're offensive. And one of our correspondents said in a range of one to 10 in offense, it's a 10. They are very inappropriate.

They ran in a Danish newspaper, but let's talk about them and describe, if we can.

In one, you see the prophet Mohammed, and in his turban they have a bomb going off. I am told that not only is it inappropriate to have something like that, that sort of looks like it is meant to be offensive, but even just a picture of Mohammed at all.

Why?

FEILER: Well, the reason that they ran this Danish newspaper is because an artist could not find someone to paint the prophet Mohammed for a children's book. That was actually the origins of the controversy. And the reason it's against Muslim tradition is that in Hadith, which are the sayings about the Koran from the prophet Mohammed, sort of an addendum to the Koran, it says you're not supposed to have images of any living creature, either a person or an animal.

And the idea is that god creates. And for someone to even depict another living creature sort of assume the responsibilities of god. So that is the tradition, but over time, actually, there have been any number of depictions of the prophet.

In fact, as sort of Islam went around the world, if local tradition had a tradition of showing human beings or living creatures, there would be. In Iran, not long ago, I saw some depictions.

S. O'BRIEN: So is the offense because it's a bomb in the turban and it's a link to terrorism with the prophet Mohammed, or is it because you're not supposed to show him at all?

FEILER: I think the baseline -- the baseline problem is you're not supposed to show any depictions of any human being, and particularly the prophet, because you're not supposed to elevate the prophet above god. The fact that it is satiric and I think linking the prophet to terrorism is a sort of -- almost like a graver offense in a lot of ways, and -- I have been thinking about this, Soledad, and I think it might seem alien to a lot of Americans, this tension with free speech, and yet there is -- think about the flag burning in this country. OK, there's a situation where a majority of Americans, it seems, want to have a constitutional amendment to outlaw burning a flag, which is to say there are some offenses that are so emotional that it's even acceptable to limit free speech.

S. O'BRIEN: Have you been surprised at the reaction? We have been showing pictures of protests around the globe in the Muslim community to this and various other newspapers where they sort of rerun the cartoons.

FEILER: Well, I think in some ways, yes, because it didn't -- the pictures were first run back in September. And now the controversy has erupted now. I think...

S. O'BRIEN: So it's more political than actually based on the cartoons?

FEILER: Another example of the politicization of religion. I think that -- I think that there is some hypocrisy here, because if it's going to be such an offense to have cartoon depictions that are offensive to religion, in any major Arab country on any given day you can find political cartoons that are offensive to Jews and in many cases to Christians.

So I think if we're going to say that there should no offense, which I think is a perfectly reasonable goal, then we have to say, well, wait a minute, what goes for Islam should go for other religions as well.

S. O'BRIEN: I heard that you were able to find when you went to Iran a depiction of the prophet Mohammed.

FEILER: In fact, in the Indian world you see lots of pictures of Mohammed. In an Iranian market not long ago, actually, I took pictures because it was so surprising to me of wall hangings of the prophet Mohammed right next to wall hangings of Mecca.

So, basically, as Islam has spread around the country and mixed with different cultures, you see that the local custom tends to influence Islam. And we see the same in Christianity. In Catholicism, lots of depictions of Jesus, in Protestant religion, not as many.

S. O'BRIEN: It's a fascinating debate, but these terrible pictures of protests, too.

Bruce Feiler, always nice to catch up with you. Thank you for coming to talk with us.

FEILER: Thanks, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Appreciate it -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, generation debt. A lot of 20 and 30-somethings are buried in a mountain of bills. But do they really have it any tougher than we did? That's next.

Plus, the dreaded Kama Sutra worm. It's set to erase computer files around the world today. Please resist your most base temptations as you read your e-mail today, otherwise you're in for a pack of trouble.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) M. O'BRIEN: You know, when I was a kid, I walked to school three miles uphill, barefoot -- uphill both ways, as a matter of fact. And it was a terrible time to be alive. Well, it turns out just about every generation says that in some way, shape or form.

Enter this new book. It's called "Generation Debt: Why Now is a Terrible Time to be Young."

Really? I'd like to be young. Can I please turn back the clock?

The author of the upbeat -- this upbeat book is Anya Kamenetz. She is a 20-something herself. She joins us now.

Anya, state your case. Why is it a terrible time to be young?

ANYA KAMENETZ, AUTHOR, "GENERATION DEBT": Well, you know what? I'm really talking is being part of the first American generation that is facing the prospect of maybe not doing as well as their parents did, because right now you have to get a college degree if you're going to make your way into the middle class. But the only way to do that for most young people is to take on an incredible five figures in debt.

You're talking about $20,000 in student loan debt, several thousand dollars in credit card debt just when you're first starting out. And no generation has really faced that kind of economic burden just in the beginning of their lives.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, I mean, my group back in '81, when we came out of school, we were pretty saddled with a lot of debt, relatively speaking. I haven't done the math on whether inflation did us justice, but I do know that interest rates were up in the high teens, unemployment when I finished at school was 7.6 percent, as opposed to 4.7 now.

So it wasn't a great time to be young either. What is different now?

KAMENETZ: Well, it's interesting that you mention '81, because in 1981, in fact, you could work full time at a minimum wage job all summer and pay for most of your college costs at a public university.

M. O'BRIEN: At a public university.

KAMENETZ: Yes, two-thirds of your costs.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

KAMENETZ: Today, you would have to work all year at the minimum wage and save every penny you earned in order to pay for a public university.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. So there's -- clearly, the minimum wage, it's about the same as it was 25 years ago. The minimum wage...

KAMENETZ: It's actually less. M. O'BRIEN: That's a whole big issue on its own. So is this a story about the minimum wage or is there something more deeply rooted here?

KAMENETZ: No, it's a story about -- you know, it's a story about the transformation from a manufacturing to a service economy.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

KAMENETZ: There's a lot fewer jobs out there for people who are just coming out of high school. If they want to raise a family, it's almost impossible.

So college really is being sold to this generation as the ticket to the middle class, and yet it's far out of reach of the average family. So what we're really talking about is, how do you get there, how do you get that golden ticket, how do you get out there? And it's just -- it's very tough for a lot of the people that I've talked to.

M. O'BRIEN: Let me as you this: is it possible that in your generation one of the most difficult things might be that you came of age in times of tremendous prosperity, really easy money, and by comparison, the real world, which is what we're more used to normally, is not so pretty, is it?

KAMENETZ: Absolutely. I mean, there is -- there is an expectations problem. There's a problem of a real deficit in financial education.

You know, a lot of these kids, they're coming on to campuses at age 18 and they're handed credit cards right away. You know, you get a Frisbee, a key chain and a free credit card with a thousand dollars right there.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. And of course you're going to spend it, right?

KAMENETZ: I mean, a lot of young people, they're being given enough rope to hang themselves with. And at the same time, you know, parents aren't teaching us about financial savvy, high schools aren't really teaching it.

M. O'BRIEN: They are saddled with debt as well.

Let me just ask you this: is your generation whining just a little bit? A little bit?

KAMENETZ: You know, I don't mind if I get attacked and being called a whiner. You know, I would like you to look at, you know, maybe the two-thirds of the kids that don't get through college, because, you know, really, it's about them. And...

M. O'BRIEN: That's in four years.

KAMENETZ: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Sixty percent I think make it eventually. KAMENETZ: No, only 28 percent have a bachelor's degree.

M. O'BRIEN: That's right. Anyway -- either way...

(CROSSTALK)

KAMENETZ: Anyway, you can call us whiners as long as you pay a little bit of attention.

M. O'BRIEN: We are paying attention to your book.

KAMENETZ: OK, great.

M. O'BRIEN: "Generation Debt" is the name of the book. Anya Kamenetz, who is probably happy to be...

(CROSSTALK)

KAMENETZ: I am right now.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

There's much more to come on AMERICAN MORNING.

Still to come...

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: (voice over): Ahead in "AM Pop," who cares about the game? We want to know about the Super Bowl commercials from rapping soda cans to dancing whoppers. Which ads will folks be talking about come Monday morning?

"AM Pop" is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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