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American Morning

World's First Face Transplant Recipient; Prison Break in Yemen; Super Bowl Ads Report Card

Aired February 06, 2006 - 08:30   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING, with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR; The Steelers won, the Seahawks lost. Many people drank way too much, and advertisers paid a ridiculous amount of money for airtime.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Pretty much sums up the game, doesn't it?

VERJEE: I'm Zain Verjee in Soledad. Where is she? Abducted by aliens?

O'BRIEN: She has to take a little time off, and we hope she enjoys it.

VERJEE: Yes, she will. I'm sure she will.

Well, you know, great story today. We saw some amazing pictures. Less than two hours ago, we got to see and hear the world's first face transplant recipient. Now Isabelle Dinoire appeared at a news conference with her doctors in France.

And Jim Bittermann was there. He joins us live from Amains in France That's just north of Paris. Tell us about her recovery and what she said -- Jim.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, the most amazing thing for me is the fact she was able to sit there and tolerate the questions from the press for nearly two hours. She seemed to very patient. But in fact she demonstrated very clearly that much of her face has been restored by this operation. She was able to speak reasonably clearly.

And one of the things she wanted to say to the reporters particularly was to clear up any doubt there was about exactly what happened in May when she was attacked by the family's pet Labrador.

Here is what she told the press.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISABELLE DINOIRE, TRANSPLANT PATIENT (through translator): When I woke up, I tried to light a cigarette, and I couldn't understand why it didn't fit in my lips, and that is when I saw the dog beside me. I went to look in the mirror and was horrified. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BITTERMANN: The doctors showed us few pictures of how bad she looked after that attack by the dog. In fact, she had no lips, no chin. All of which had to be restored by this operation. She had run around for six months with a surgical mask over her face because she was so embarrassed. And when it came time, when they finally found a donor that was a very good match for Isabelle Dinoire. She was quite happy to immediately undergo the operation.

Apparently it's gone quite smoothly. There have been a couple of small incidents, especially just before Christmas. There was a period of rejection of some of the facial tissue, but that seems to have gone away the doctors increased the dose of the antirejection drugs, and now it's time for her to get on with her life, as she said to the press -- Zain.

VERJEE: Jim Bittermann reporting. Thanks, Jim.

(NEWSBREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Twenty-three inmates of a prison in Yemen are now on the loose, and there is real concern some of them, about 13, have already rejoined the jihad against the United States. How serious is the threat and how reliable an ally is Yemen in the war on terror? Questions we will pose now to Barbara Bodine, former U.S. ambassador to Yemen.

She joins us from Boston. And from Washington, CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen.

Good to have you both with us.

Peter, let's begin with you.

Who got out?

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, this guy Badawi is the main person who got out. He's being described as the mastermind of the Cole attack, which I think is a little hyperventilating. He was certainly an important player in the Cole conspiracy, but not the mastermind. He and 10 other associated members of al Qaeda got out. Not for the first time, by the way. These people got out of prison in Yemen in 2003. So this is the second time, this being Cole conspirators, have got out of a Yemeni prison, certainly very embarrassing for the Yemeni government.

O'BRIEN: I should say. Barbara Bodine, what does this tell you about the government there? The fact that a tunnel could be dug in this prison? Clearly accomplices were involved. Is the Yemeni government looking the other way?

BARBARA BODINE, FMR. U.S. AMB. TO YEMEN: No, I don't think that you can say that about the Yemeni government. This is, obviously, a very elaborate plot. To dig a tunnel of that length in downtown Sanaa is not a simple undertaking. In a way, it also says that the prison was much more fortified and these people were far better guarded previously, but this does not...

O'BRIEN: I'm sorry, I don't get your point. This proves they were better guarded?

BODINE: That in a -- to be perfectly honest, if you simply wanted to get one person out, there were other ways to do it. This was a very elaborate plot to get almost two dozen people out. But I don't think that this is a slap at the Yemeni government, per se, or their support for counterterrorism -- our joint counter terrorism effort. This was a prison break, a very sophisticated well-planned prison break, but not necessarily part of a Yemeni government acquiescence.

O'BRIEN: Let's get back to that in just a moment. Peter, before we do that, let's talk about how serious the threat might be with these 13 out. I think sometimes we have a tendency to overstate the threat of individuals in the war on terror. But in this case, could these 13 have some real impact?

BERGEN: Well, I mean, it's too early to tell, which may be a simplistic answer. I mean, certainly there are jihadist in Yemen, and there have been historically, and we've seen attacks in Yemen against Western tourists, against the USS Cole, against a French oil tanker, and these people are likely to join us with al Qaeda remnants in the north or the west of the country. I think that's quite possible, but obviously 13 people is not necessarily a huge deal.

And I agree with the ambassador completely, that the Yemeni government has tried to cooperate to the degree possible in the war on terrorism. One of the problems is that Yemen is a very poor country. The government doesn't control the whole country. And I think that prison break is sort of emblematic of their lack of control.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk about that for just a moment. Barbara Boxer, Senator Barbara Boxer, on Wolf Blitzer's program yesterday, let's listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: I feel that it really does underscore the fact that we are in a global war against terrorism. And if we have so-called allies in the world, that are saying that they want to help us, and yet how do 23 people, you know, quote/unquote "escape," it raises some terribly difficult questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: You hear the skepticism in her voice, ambassador -- quote/unquote escape, so-called allies.

Is Yemen really an ally?

BODINE: Yes, I do think Yemen is. And as Peter stated, this is an extraordinarily poor country. It not only doesn't have complete control, but we need to understand that this prison is not up to the standards of the U.S. prison. This is not breaking out of Rikers.

O'BRIEN: Well, maybe as allies, we should help fortify their prisons?

BODINE: That could probably be something we could be doing, and we have been working with them for almost 10 years, working on their prison system.

But I think it is a leap to say that because there was this elaborate escape, and for everything we can see, it was a genuine escape, that somehow the government of Yemen is not a true partner. They are a true pan in this war on terrorism.

O'BRIEN: Final thought, Peter Bergen.

Likely they'll be recaptured. There is lawless, mountainous regions, much like there are in the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan in Yemen. Is it likely they will stay there and not be captured, or who knows?

BERGEN: Well, I mean there was a similar prison break of Cole conspirators in 2003 in Yemen, and those people were found. So you know, there is perhaps some hope.

But one final point is that we've had al Qaeda escapees from Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, which is one of the most highly fortified U.S. military bases in the world, so these things do happen. It doesn't necessarily imply some conspiracy on the inside.

Thank you very much, both of you, Barbara Bodine, former U.S. ambassador to Yemen.

BODINE: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: And our terrorism analyst Peter Bergen.

And be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Zain.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VERJEE: Well, Andy is "Minding Your Business" just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. What do you have?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Zain, just what the world needs now. More hotspots. Plus, are you ready for wireless TV? I know I am.

Stay tuned to AMERICAN MORNING, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: The Internet unplugged. Your cable TV un-cabled. You know, it reminds me of the old days, Andy, when we had those rabbit ears and a little tin foil on them. Remember when television was wireless?

SERWER: Yes, I guess we are going back to the future. This is a bunch of "look, ma, no hands reports" to tell you about. First of all, you know about hotspots. Those are wireless zones where you can go and use your laptop computer without plugging in, places like Starbucks, other places have them. The problem is, of course, that if you don't have the correct ISP or phone service, you have to pay more to download software. In other words, the business is not standardized.

Now a new company now is founded called Fon -- F-O-N -- founded by Google and Skype, which is the wireless Internet company -- telephone company, I should say, owned by eBay, is going to setup hotspots around the globe. There are about, oh, I'd say, less than a hundred thousand hot spots, believe it or not, or tens of thousands of hotspots around the globe. This company intends to have a million of them over the next four years, $21 million this company has funded to build all these.

O'BRIEN: T-Mobile is a big player in this, right?

SERWER: Right.

O'BRIEN: And would they be the giant in that field right now?

SERWER: They're one of them. And, of course, this guy, this entrepreneur, a Spanish entrepreneur, has a global vision. So, of course, all across the globe that would be just one player. But it would be ambitious to see how this thing would work. It will.

You can read about it at money.com, by the way.

Now how about wireless TV? Ye, it is sort of a back to the future story here. You know about Wi-fi. Get ready for a new trend called "millimeter wave." A couple of scientists at IBM are announcing a new technology run on computer chips, which will allow TVs to be set up without using cable attachments. In other words, you can run television, cable television that will basically be wireless. And this is a very high-speed wireless technology that will allow machines to be set up, say about 30 feet away, which is different from regular Wi-fi, which you have to be about, oh, 150 to 300 feet away. In other words, Wi-fi has a wider range. This is a smaller range.

O'BRIEN: More intense?

SERWER: But it's faster. So you could actually have a television set...

O'BRIEN: You can do like high-definition?

SERWER: Right, high-def TVs.

O'BRIEN: Run the cable kind of wireless hub, and if you get -- you can cook hot dogs if it gets in the way of the signal?

SERWER: And you know, you got to wonder about all these wireless radiowaves going on.

O'BRIEN: I do wonder about that. I do. There's a lot of stuff in the atmosphere.

SERWER: In the air.

O'BRIEN: So to speak. There's something in the air more than the atmosphere as the old line goes.

SERWER: Right.

VERJEE: Indeed. Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

VERJEE: There's much more still to come here on AMERICAN MORNING. Ahead in "AM Pop": The Steelers might have won the game. The Stones might have rocked halftime. But what about those commercials? we'll tackle the winners and the losers of the Super Bowl ads, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next time, use Fed Ex.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: That Fed Ex commercial from the Super Bowl was voted number one in the "Wall Street Journal"'s online poll. So now it's time for a little Monday morning quarterbacking in "A.M. Pop." Which was your favorite Super Bowl commercial?

Joining us now with her take on the spots that scored during the big game and the ones that didn't is Suzanne Vranica. Thanks so much for joining us.

SUZANNE VRANICA, ADVERTISING REPORTER: Thanks for having me.

VERJEE: So why was the Fed Ex one such a big hit?

VRANICA: I think Fed Ex is always a big, great advertiser during Super Bowl. They know what works. It's always clever laughter. Really surprise endings no one saw coming. Sprint Nextel is another one that just was phenomenal last night.

VERJEE: I thought they wrote the script great on the Fed Ex one.

VRANICA: They know their target. You know, lots of beer- swilling guys in college watching these games. They know what works. And it was really a surprise. And that's the key. You have to surprise and you have to entertain. If you go for serious, you're really, you know, risking your brand out there.

VERJEE: You talked about the Sprint Nextel one. Let's listen to that for a minute.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can watch live TV on my new Sprint phone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, my Sprint phone has TV and it downloads music.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can check e-mail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have that. And crime deterrent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Try and take my wallet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me your -- aw!

ANNOUNCER: Live TV, wireless music downloads, e-mail and crime deterrent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm filing a grievance, Ben!

ANNOUNCER: On the Sprint Powervision network.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: All right. Why was that one so appealing? I mean, who was it targeting?

VRANICA: Totally targeting those -- you know, people have parties. Super Bowl is about loud crowds, breaking through the clutter. You know, you're competing with 60 kind of great ads that are running through the night. So a surprise ending. And anything that's -- you know, yes, it's a little violent, but people want to -- you know, are drinking and they want to be surprised and they want to be entertained. And that certainly did it.

VERJEE: Chad Myers, our weather anchor, was very entertained by the secret fridge, as many people were, as well. Tell us a little bit about that one and why that worked.

VRANICA: Well, Anheuser Busch, you know, had five minutes of air time. They basically study and research these audiences all year long. The test their ads with about 500 people before the game. That ad did phenomenally well last night. You know, had a surprise twist at the end. Great character acting. And again, you've got college boys that love that stuff and that's their target audience these days.

VERJEE: College boys and others didn't like the Burger King ad. It was one of the biggest losers. Why?

VRANICA: I think it was a great disappointment. Everybody -- you know, Burger King's actually got their brand back on track after years of really lots of fumbling in advertising. And everybody expected some dramatic King advertising. And what they got was this big song and dance number. People thought it was cute, but they left scratching their heads. People we called last night during after- hours polling said horrible. Really horrible remarks about it. So they didn't do well.

VERJEE: How about the ads compare to last year and the years prior to that? I mean, it seems less risque, I think, you know?

VRANICA: I think last night, people were really happy about what they saw. Last year's ads got toned down because of the whole indecency debate. This year I think advertisers really took off their, you know, gloves and came out punching. You had violence back a little bit. You had tons of surprises. So I would say a step up from last year, but not back to where it should be.

VERJEE: What about the Dove one? The self-esteem, the girls? True colors?

VRANICA: It's hard to hate an ad like that, you know? Most people had no problem with it. And a lot of people thought it was just a nice break from what was going on. You know, tons of sophomoric humor going on all night long, so what's 30 seconds or 60 seconds, a chance to kind of take a breath and see something beautiful? Beautifully shot.

VERJEE: And more women were also watching, too. A significant number of women.

VRANICA: Oh absolutely. You have 90 million viewers, and over 30 million of them were women. So why not target them?

VERJEE: Does this translate very quickly into ad sales?

VRANICA: For some countries, it does. I think you have to follow it up. You have to have other things going on in the background, tie-ins at the supermarket. Emerald Nuts (ph) saw their sales double last year, you know, for the ten weeks after the game. That's an amazing kind of register rate. And, of course, everything plays into that. But, you know, look at the dot-com craze. How many companies went IPO just based on the fact that they had a hit commercial on the Super Bowl?

VERJEE: Suzanne Vranica with "The Wall Street Journal." Good to talk to you.

VRANICA: Thanks for having me.

VERJEE: Thank you. Thanks for coming in. Back to Fabio -- I mean Miles!

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. I was going to do that sock puppet thing. Remember that one? What was that one? Pets.com? Tell me what it was? Yes. They still exist? Are they still in business? I guess they are, I don't know. In a moment, the nation's top lawman says what is good enough for Lincoln and Roosevelt is good enough for Bush. But is today's war somehow different? Jeff Toobin will read us our rights ahead.

And later, the power of the pen. A picture worth a thousand protesters, some of them very violent. Is it a question of freedom of speech, or is it just gratuitously offensive? We'll check in with one of the great cartoonists and his opinion will surprise you. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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