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American Morning

Blizzard '06; Cheney Shooting; Chicago Jailbreak; Saddam Hussein on Trial

Aired February 13, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Zain Verjee.
The snow has stopped but the headaches remain. Thousands of people trapped at airports all around the Northeast. We've got several live reports ahead to help you get through the delays.

Two escaped inmates finally give up their hostages, but their escape points to serious problems at a Chicago area jail. We're live with the latest.

The vice president shoots, yes, shoots a fellow hunter. But how does something like that happen to a pair of experienced hunters? We'll take you there live.

And this house destroyed by a small plane. Was the deadly crash just an accident or a dangerous stunt that got out of control?

That's ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning from Central Park in New York City. Take a look at those Jack Russell terriers. They can barely get over the snowdrifts here.

Good to have you with us this morning on this AMERICAN MORNING.

What a scene out here, it's a winter wonderland. The pups, good thing they've got their sweaters on.

We have got the obligatory yardstick here. Let's just see what we got, about 16 inches right there. But was -- supposedly they set a record here, 26.9 inches. I'm told for every inch of snow that falls on the ground in New York City it costs a million dollars to pick it up. So that's $26.9 million of our tax paying money.

Look at this. There's a sign here talking about the history of Central Park. Dates back to 1853. They started keeping measurements here in 1869. And this is the record, nudging out a snowstorm back in 1947 by about a tenth of an inch. It's quite a scene here.

Yesterday there were people in here with cross-country skis. This morning we see a few hardy runners, and of course the Jack Russells, who could burrow through this snow here.

It was quite a scene all along the northeast. The northeastern corridor a mess. Airports closed. Trains were not running so well. The roads were a terrible mess. I drove from Boston to New York yesterday, took five-and-a-half hours. It was really quite a scene. Some cases, zero visibility and very slick roads.

We got reporters up and down the eastern seaboard for you. Allan Chernoff is over at LaGuardia Airport where he better not speak too loudly because people are still sleeping on cots. We've got Brian Todd in Washington, D.C. where the snow was very heavy and wet, caused a lot of power outages. And finally, Chad Myers, the man who told me, hey, Miles, no problem, you can go to Boston, it's a mid-Atlantic storm.

Chad, I think you owe me one.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I do. And the whole thing turned and it pivoted on itself, Miles, and the snow came down from Boston through Connecticut and New York City. And it came down hard at times. And, boy, two to three inches per hour. And when you have three hours of that, all of a sudden there was a foot in places that there shouldn't have been. So, Miles, yes, I am sorry about that -- bud.

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, it's OK.

MYERS: All right.

O'BRIEN: It's OK. We're still friends. And actually, what I should have done before I left, I should have called you one more time, because you would have given me the scoop. I do love, though, when I sent you that e-mail on Sunday, it said, Chad, I'm in Boston. Chad's reply was simply, uh-oh, and that was it, so.

MYERS: Take the train.

O'BRIEN: Take the train. Of course I've got two kids, two dogs and all the ski equipment, not a very good idea at all.

All right, Chad, we'll check back in with you later.

MYERS: Fair enough.

O'BRIEN: I think we will go now to Allan Chernoff over at LaGuardia. The lines are starting to build there.

The truth of the matter is, Allan, I think if people really -- as Chad has been saying, and we really should listen to Chad on this one, if you don't need to be somewhere on a plane today, take a day off, I think, right?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Miles. In fact, the fact that you were able to drive, much better than trying to fly, because you would not have been able to fly into New York yesterday. All of the airports were shut down.

LaGuardia Airport officially did reopen at 6:00 this morning, but no flights are leaving just yet. The first flight is scheduled to leave for American Airlines at 8:00 to Charlotte, and that even being delayed by an hour. United Airlines, a couple of flights also delayed this morning. And we see cancellations across the board. Yesterday, more than 500 flights canceled in the New York region. So just imagine the backup that causes, not only around the nation, but even around the globe. People waiting at airports around the globe trying to get into New York, unable to do so. And that is continuing today.

And the majority of the flights on the board here at LaGuardia cancelled thus far for the day. So it still does not look good at all. They are still trying to clear off the jet way areas, the gates where the jet ways are moved, so that people can get onto the planes and get off of the planes.

Now we certainly still do have people upstairs. There are cots. People spent the night sleeping there, and certainly it was not all that comfortable. Hopefully some people will be able to get out at least later today -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Allan Chernoff.

We're going to head over and talk to the woman with the couple of dogs here in just a moment. But in the meantime, let's get over to Brian Todd. He's on the mall in Washington.

Brian, I was looking at some of the footage that was fed in yesterday. And there was a guy on the mall in Washington. He's got the Capitol behind him, the snow, and he took his shirt off. So I guess you see all kinds of people there in Washington, don't you?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Miles. You know we didn't get hit here quite as hard as you did. I don't know what that guy was doing without a shirt on. It's still pretty crazy. Very cold here this morning. It's going to get warmer.

Here is what they are warning about here. We're going to take a little shot over here. You see that slick over there. That is the black ice that we're finding on so many of the roads here. The roads are pretty clear, but that's the main problem that they are warning about. People are going to be sliding off the roads because of that. You've got icy sidewalks here on the mall and all over this area. That's what people are watching out for.

A big, big problem here, though, Miles, power outages. More than 14,000 customers in Maryland, the District and Virginia are without power this morning. We've talked to the power companies. They are working throughout the day. They hope to get most of them online by today, but they are warning that some of them may be delayed until tomorrow until they're back up.

Also, quickly, what you were dealing with up north with the airports. Reagan National this morning reporting about six cancellations, all of those flights are ones to the New York area, Providence and Boston. And Dulles International Airport, it was greatly affected by what happened to you up there in the northeast yesterday. They had 21 flights diverted to Dulles all from Kennedy Airport. All of those flights have since departed, but they're still dealing with some of that congestion here -- Miles. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Brian Todd.

Here is the scene in Central Park. There are some people who will run through almost anything.

How are you doing? How is the run going so far? Are you doing OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's beautiful. It's just a little icy, so it's slow, but otherwise...

O'BRIEN: Yes, a little slow, but you're still getting a workout?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's great. Besides, there are no cars, which is a real pleasure.

O'BRIEN: No cars is a good thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: All right, onward you go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: Keep it up. Keep it up. Keep that heart rate up.

Let's get -- Boston is where I was yesterday, and for a time it was a very grim scene. As a matter of fact, zero visibility at some points.

Our affiliate reporter, Sean Hennessey with WHDH, gives us a little glimpse as to what life was like there yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN HENNESSEY, WHDH-TV REPORTER (on camera): It came hard, it came fast and when it was over this area blanketed with a blizzard. Fortunately, it was the light fluffy stuff which means not too hard to move around. But as you can see, lots of it to move around. The area getting walloped. Some places getting up to 19 inches.

A lot of schools are closed today. That's because the roads are impassible. In other areas, the sidewalks aren't clear. Last year a student was hit walking to school in the street because the sidewalks weren't cleared. No one wants to take that chance. As you can see, the streets in downtown Boston are in decent shape. The city had to tow about 700 cars to get the roads clear because those cars were in the way.

As for Logan Airport, we're expecting delays again today, because yesterday visibility was next to nothing and more than 90 percent of the flights during the height of the storm were cancelled. So those flights have to get out again today. We're expecting a ripple effect, no doubt about it. So all in all, Massachusetts waking up on the day after, a big dig of a different kind, but life getting back to normal.

In Boston, Mass., Sean Hennessey, WHDH TV.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: All right.

Live pictures now Central Park. Take a look at that beautiful scene there. That's the east side of Manhattan, the sun rising over the buildings there. And Central Park is going to be a place, a lot of -- some of the private schools are out here in New York City, so there will be a lot of kids here sledding, having a good time.

In the meantime, let's go to -- where are we headed? We're going to head back -- we're heading back to Chad Myers who is not just a weather guy, he is a severe weather expert.

And, Chad, today it looks gorgeous.

MYERS: It does.

O'BRIEN: There's not a cloud in the sky. And it's cold, but it's going to be a beautiful day, I think.

MYERS: Right. And you said that what you measured was about 16 inches -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Yes, here let's...

MYERS: That's because the snow has packed itself down a little bit. What the Weather Service...

O'BRIEN: I broke the yardstick. I broke the yardstick. I apologize to Lindsey Noonan (ph) who...

MYERS: Where in the world did you even find a yardstick?

O'BRIEN: We have -- our -- Lindsey (ph) is very good. She had to sign it out from security.

MYERS: I guess.

O'BRIEN: I'm afraid now we've got her some problems. It looks like about 18 inches. But you're right, it settles, doesn't it?

MYERS: Yes, it starts to settle. Every hour or every two hours the Weather Service will go and just swipe off the snow that has already fallen so that another batch will fall on top of it. Because after you get about six inches, it starts to just go crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, then you don't have a real feel of how much snow it was. So there may not be anybody out there that can actually use a yardstick and find 26 inches this morning because of how it starts to pack down.

LaGuardia, though, 25.4. Chinatown at two feet of snow. Think about how small those roads are, how close the buildings are, what do you do with all of that snow? Well, they go and they take these little snow eater machines and they run through this area. The snow goes into the snow eaters. There is propane in these machines. It melts the snow and they run it down into the sewer.

Have you seen any of those yet -- Miles?

O'BRIEN: Yes, I have not seen one of that.

MYERS: No.

O'BRIEN: But look what I have got here.

MYERS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Look what I've got here. Look at Rocky! Hey, Rocky! Rocky has got a little snowman thing on here. And here is Sarah (ph) with Rocky and who is this?

SARAH, CENTRAL PARK VISITOR: Bea (ph).

O'BRIEN: Bea. They seem to be having quite a good time out here in this.

SARAH: They love the snow.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes. Do you have a snow day today?

SARAH: No, I don't. I have to go to work.

O'BRIEN: You do?

SARAH: Yes.

O'BRIEN: You do, but you have got a little time for the pups to enjoy themselves?

SARAH: Every morning have to come out and play with the dogs.

O'BRIEN: Now yesterday, when it was really coming down, what did you do, you just hunker down or what did you do?

SARAH: No, we came out here in the park.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

SARAH: Dogs need walking no matter what weather it is, so they had fun. We had fun.

O'BRIEN: It's like they could burrow in underneath if they wanted to?

SARAH: They can. We actually had to carry this little one yesterday because she became a walking snowball.

O'BRIEN: Yes, what is her name?

SARAH: Bea.

O'BRIEN: Hey, Bea! Come here, Bea! Bea's a little skittish, I think. Hey, Bea, come here! Come here, Bea!

SARAH: Come here. There you go.

O'BRIEN: What a cutie! What a cutie! Why don't you go play some more (ph).

SARAH: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: All right, well you have a good day. And I'm sure they're having a good time. They're going after the ball there and burrowing in. And enjoy the winter wonderland here in New York City.

SARAH: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Sorry you have to go to work. That's too bad.

SARAH: Yes. Me, too.

O'BRIEN: All right, back to you, Zain.

SARAH: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: You're seeing all kinds of fun people out here in the park.

VERJEE: You look like you're having a good time there -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

VERJEE: Thank you.

From a nice, cozy, warm studio, coming up, that shooting accident involving Vice President Dick Cheney. He shot and injured one of his hunting partners. How did it happen? We're going to go live to Texas.

Also, the Saddam Hussein trial, the star attraction back in court today and angrier than ever; but that may not top what happened before the hearing even started.

And later, Democratic Chairman Howard Dean joins us live in the studio. What does his party have to do to win big in the midterm elections?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: A hunting trip gone wrong, a Texas millionaire still in the hospital this morning after being shot by the Vice President Dick Cheney. But authorities think it was just a hunting accident, an accident. As we all know, accidents do happen.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Corpus Christi, and he joins us now.

Ed, how did this happen? ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was Saturday afternoon, the vice president and Mr. Harry Whittington, who is a 78- year-old attorney from Austin, were on a hunting expedition, about 30 miles southwest here of the Corpus Christi area, hunting quail. The hunting group had become separated.

And from a witness that was there Saturday afternoon, they said that Mr. Cheney had locked on to some quail that he wanted to shoot. And Mr. Whittington was coming back to join the group up from behind Mr. Cheney and did not announce himself. Despite having worn an orange vest, Mr. Cheney locked onto the quail and fired away. Many of those pellets from the shotgun blast hitting Mr. Whittington. He is in the intensive care unit here at this hospital in Corpus Christi. We understand, though, that he is doing well.

Now for the hunters in the audience, I apologize. But if you're not familiar with hunting and shotgun shells, here is a quick explainer of how this works. The shotgun shell, this red portion here that you see is filled with pellets. The closer you are to the shotgun blast, the more dangerous it is. As the pellets go away from the shotgun shell, it expands like this.

Mr. Whittington was about 30 yards away. And a friend that was with the vice president and Mr. Whittington on Saturday said that if you spend a lifetime hunting, you're bound to see something like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHARINE ARMSTRONG, RANCH OWNER: It does happen from time to time. I have BBs in my legs to attest to that. It's happened to me and it's happened to other people I know. And so, although nobody ever wants this sort of thing to happen, it does happen. And you know it's part of the risk involved. And we all try very hard to follow all of the gun safety rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Mr. Whittington, as we said, is alert, talking and is expected to leave the hospital here at some point today.

Zain, back to you.

VERJEE: Ed Lavandera, thanks, Ed.

Coming up in the next hour, we're going to get an update on Harry Whittington's condition from the hospital in Corpus Christi.

A jailbreak near Chicago is over and the hostages are free. Six men broke out of a maximum-security jail at around midnight on Saturday. Three were caught really quickly, but the others took a woman and five children hostage in the Chicago suburb of Cicero.

Keith Oppenheim is live from Cicero.

Keith, tell us what happened, bring us up to date. KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it all happened here. And it came to a peaceful end at this home behind me. And it ended at around 3:00 in the morning when two of the last six prisoners surrendered. Those two, their names are Tyrone Everhart and Eric Bernard. And they came here with a third escapee, Francisco Romero, who gave up a little bit earlier, around midnight.

The police are telling us that Romero essentially brought the group here because he knew a woman, a mom with five children. And the children dramatically were released during this whole standoff. But at the end, the mother was taken away in handcuffs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN PROFT, SPOKESMAN, CITY OF CICERO: When she also came out of the apartment, she was taken into custody, because, right now it's unclear what, if any, role she had in harboring these fugitives or aiding and abetting them as opposed to being held against her will. And that's something that investigators are going to determine with further questioning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: This all began Saturday night when an inmate at the Cook County Jail was allowed to take a shower with only one guard present. That inmate, according to police, threw some hot, soapy water onto a jail guard and then held that guard with a homemade knife, then electronically opened up a jail cell door to allow six inmates out.

They are all captured, but the problem is that this is the third jail attempt outbreak from the Cook County Jail since June. And police are investigating if there is a general security problem there.

Back to you.

VERJEE: Keith Oppenheim, thanks.

The trial of Saddam Hussein has been cut short for the day. The session was brief but really bizarre. The defendants were forced to attend, and some of them were dragged into court in their pajamas. Saddam Hussein dressed in a robe and an overcoat. He came in and shouted down with Bush and then cursed the chief judge, calling him a criminal.

Aneesh Raman has been in the courtroom and he joins us now -- Aneesh.

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

It was incredibly tense at the start of today's proceedings, Saddam Hussein the first of the eight defendants to be brought into the courtroom. As you say, he came in screaming, not physically dragged in, but he stood saying long live Iraq, down with Bush, wearing not the suit that we've seen him in before, but instead with a dish-dash and an overcoat.

The other defendants were then brought in, including Saddam's half-brother, Barzan Hassan al-Tikriti. He, at one point, pushed aside his chair, turned his back to the judge, sat on the floor facing us in the media gallery.

We're just having a press conference right now from the spokesman for the court. He has essentially said that the proceedings went forward as was needed by the court. The trial continued. We heard from two witnesses today. More set for tomorrow.

VERJEE: And, Aneesh, throughout the proceedings of this trial, Saddam Hussein really has been trying to use the trial, to use the time that he has to make his own political statements. This judge much tougher though, isn't he, trying not to let Saddam Hussein do that?

RAMAN: Yes, exactly. A style almost diametrically opposed to the former chief judge. The new one, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, really banning political diatribes. That led to the defendants walking out some weeks ago.

Today though, he silenced Saddam Hussein many times. He spoke very frankly to him and said that the proceedings had to go forward and that he would not be allowed to speak at will. We saw at the end of the session, though, all of the defendants really calmed down a bit. The tension that was there in the morning seemed to get subdued. And it seems the trial might have hit a turning point as they began to present documents and other evidence -- Zain.

VERJEE: Who seemed more in control in court, Saddam or the judge?

RAMAN: Today it was the judge. And we have to sort of rule on that day by day. We have seen in previous sessions Saddam take control. But today, the judge pushing forward at the beginning, silencing Saddam and bringing out the witnesses -- Zain.

VERJEE: Aneesh Raman reporting from Baghdad.

Thanks, Aneesh.

Coming up, an extreme case of big brother at work. Would you be willing to let your boss implant you with an electronic ID tag? What do you think? Andy is going to be telling us about that in "Minding Your Business."

Plus, Michelle Kwan calling it quits in Torino. The figure skating star explains why she may have given up her last shot at Olympic gold. That's ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Take a look at these pictures from the San Diego area. A house destroyed there. A teenager inside missing. A small plane crashed directly into the house yesterday. Two people onboard the aircraft dead.

The family who lived there were away, except for the teenager. Neighbors don't know if he was inside, so they are still trying to figure that out. The coroner will first go into the house today to look for any possible remains. The fire and burning debris set a neighborhood house on fire as well. Neighboring, I should say.

Witnesses say the plane was trying to perform an acrobatic stunt, which you don't do over houses like that. We'll keep a close eye on that one, see what that's all about.

Ford and Chevy, who is number one? Actually, the answer is Toyota, right, in some respects, right, or close to it?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Well, right. This is...

O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer is here with that.

SERWER: Yes. Miles, this has to do with automaker, make of car and model. Right now we're talking about make, which is concerning the Ford brands...

O'BRIEN: I see.

SERWER: ... and the Chevy brands. And of course these two have been battling each other for decades and decades and decades.

Ford has been number one for 18 straight years. Last month, Chevy came out and said, no, no, no, look at these new numbers, we're number one.

Well guess what, Ford has new information over the weekend that says in fact that Ford is number one. And Ford says it's going to be contacting Chevy today perhaps and telling them to get those ads off the air that say that Chevy is number one.

And of course, it depends on how you count. They're counting registrations versus estimated sales. Well, you know, it's an American thing, who's number one?

O'BRIEN: Well, yes, but maybe if they took all the time they are spending on this and designed some cars people wanted to buy, that would be better, just a thought.

SERWER: And focus perhaps on Toyota.

O'BRIEN: Note to Detroit.

SERWER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: And focus on -- yes, Toyota, which is going to clean their clock.

Let's talk about Microsoft, meanwhile.

SERWER: Right, and BlackBerry, because you know BlackBerry of course has got this huge legal challenge that we've been talking about over the weeks. A rival company looking to shut it down over a patent dispute.

But this could actually be worse news for BlackBerry, Miles, because Microsoft has unveiled a plan which could make RIM, the maker of BlackBerry, obsolete. And here is why. It recently signed a deal with a couple of phone companies, Vodafone and Cingular, whereby you can do e-mail on your phone and bypass an additional server.

And I'll explain this very quickly. If you're doing company e- mail on a BlackBerry, OK, your e-mail goes from your company server to a BlackBerrry server to your device. This new plan would get the e- mail directly from the company server to your phone. It would be quicker, it would be more reliable, presumably, and it might be cheaper, and this could be a real challenge.

O'BRIEN: Well, and one of the keys is about that BlackBerry server by virtue of that gives BlackBerry a tremendous competitive advantage. Once that's installed...

SERWER: Right.

O'BRIEN: ... companies are less inclined to go and put in other kinds of ways to get an e-mail to you, so that would be a big deal. Typical Microsoft, though, they wait and then they pounce into a market, they dominate. You know they have a tendency to do that.

SERWER: And people have been wondering if this is going to happen to BlackBerry. And this could be the first challenge that they're going to face in this away (ph).

O'BRIEN: All right. They have got some other issues as well.

SERWER: Issues.

O'BRIEN: We're watching BlackBerry, among other things.

Andy Serwer, thank you.

SERWER: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, Democratic Chairman Howard Dean is with us here in New York. He didn't let a little snowstorm stop him. He's here. These are rocky times for his Republican opponents, or so he hopes anyhow. So, that said, why are the Democrats having such a hard time building up a head of steam?

Plus, the latest on the investigation into those Alabama church fires. Looks like authorities have an idea of who might be responsible. We will fill you in on that as well. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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