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American Morning

Vice President Finally Speaks; Disturbing New Pictures of Abuse in Iraq

Aired February 16, 2006 - 07:00   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.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Zain Verjee in for Soledad.

O'BRIEN: The VP finally speaks, but will his explanation silence the critics? We're live at the White House.

VERJEE: Disturbing new pictures of abuse in Iraq. Will there be repercussions? We're going to take you live to Baghdad for the latest.

O'BRIEN: New developments in the Chicago jailbreak story. Now an admitted conspirator conspirator's story is changing. We'll have an update for you on this strange story.

VERJEE: And what's this? Snowboarding gets a new look at this year's Winter Games. We're live in Torino.

O'BRIEN: And have you seen this dog? Vivy is missing. It's a whippet on the loose in New York. Now this lassie is on the lam, and there's a massive search under way, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

The vice president finally takes aim at his critics after that hunting accident over the weekend. Wednesday, he said, "I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend, and you can say that is a day I will never forget," end of his quote. He offered no regrets or apologies for the way and his staff let the world know about the accident about 20 hours after he shot Austin lawyer Harry Whittington.

White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us this morning.

Suzanne, is there some hope they're that they've put this one behind them?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they certainly hope that that's the case, Miles, but of course part of the equation is how Harry Whittington is doing. We're see how all of that unfolds. But as you had mentioned, the vice president absolutely no regrets at how he actually handled the news of this. Katharine Armstrong, the ranch owner, he said the two of them agreed that she was an eyewitness to the shooting, that she was the appropriate person to go the next morning and to essentially break the news. The vice president saying, "I wanted to make sure we got it as accurate as possible, and I think Katharine was an excellent choice. I don't know who you get better as the basic source for the story than the witness who saw the whole thing." The vice president went on to explain that he did not have a traveling press corps with him, that there weren't people in place but he felt that they handled it well, but he felt that they handled it well.

He also didn't have any regrets in terms of coming out some four days later -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Suzanne, the vice president in that interview admitted at lunch time several hours before the incident he had a beer. But he said no one was under the influence. What do we know about the influence of alcohol in all of this?

MALVEAUX: Well, he was asked about that, and he said he had one beer. This was at some sort of picnic, a barbecue that happened early in the day. Then he said about four or five hours later, when they went on a break and then they went hunting. He said, during the hunting trip no one was actually drinking in that hunting party, and that confirms essentially what the sheriff's department said, which the conclusion was that alcohol didn't play a role in this accident.

O'BRIEN: All right, one other thing this has done is it has sort of laid bare some tension between the president's staff and the vice president's staff. Was there pressure from the president's staff on the vice president's staff to make that statement yesterday?

MALVEAUX: Well, there certainly was pressure coming from the White House, urging them to come out as quickly as possible with this story. There was even a plan that was in place Saturday night. Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove crafting a statement that was to be released about what was going on. That statement was put on hold, because Cheney was going to be interviewing with the sheriff's department the next morning.

There was also a plan in place for Cheney to go before to the hospital to make some sort of statement on Sunday. The news broke late in the day, with Armstrong going to her local paper, and then there was that period, that delay, that Monday and Tuesday, and then Whittington's condition deteriorated. They thought that wasn't an appropriate time, so then they waited until afterwards. But clearly there was pressure from people in the White House to get this out as quickly as possible -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux on the North Lawn, thank you -- Zain.

VERJEE: Miles, more disturbing images surfacing of apparent abuse at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib Prison. The images were originally aired on Australian Television. SBS network says that the photos and the video were taken back in 2003.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is live in Baghdad and he joins us now.

Aneesh, how have Iraqis reacted to these new photos?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Zain, good morning.

Iraqis just starting to learn about the new extremely graphic pictures. There is also video as part of that report on Australian television, equally disturbing. The pictures show a number of instances, one where naked detainees are handcuffed to the prison walls. There's a video of a detainee repeatedly banging a head against a steel door as prison guards watched alongside that.

Now Iraqis, as I said, just starting to learn about this. In the newspapers today, none of the government-backed or party-sponsored newspapers really even touched this story. It only appeared in the independent newspapers, and so Iraqis that we spoke to this morning have been calling for their government to come out publicly, viscerally and angrily and denounce these recent allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's happened more than once, and the government did not do anything about it, nor an apology from the American government. We have witnessed this more than once. It's not the first time or the second. These things are happening and there's no reaction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAMAN: Now Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari did issue a paper statement about an hour or so ago. It condemned the abuse it has seen in these pictures and in these videos. The U.S. military for its part on the ground said that the timing of this release of pictures and videos is provocative, is irresponsible and does not represent what is happening at Abu Ghraib Prison today, but that may fall on deaf ears among Iraqis -- Zain.

VERJEE: Aneesh Raman reporting to us from Baghdad.

Was Guantanamo Bay used for torture? A new report out just a few hours ago says yes, and that has some human rights experts calling for it to be closed. The report comes at a really a bad time for the U.S. in the wake of those cartoon protests and the new pictures, as Aneesh was mentioning of Abu Ghraib.

CNN's Robin Oakley is in London, and he has more on these allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POL. EDITOR (on camera): There are still 500 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and the U.N. report is a damning indictment. It says the U.S. authorities have used interrogation techniques which amount to torture, with the use of extreme temperatures, heat and light. It says that there's been excessive violence against prisoners, and that they should have proper international, legal rights. It calls for the immediate closure of Guantanamo Bay, and for people either to be brought to trial or to be released.

The timing of the report could not be more dangerous for the U.S. government in the battle for hearts and minds in the Muslim world. Many U.S. allies, particularly in Europe, have long criticized Guantanamo Bay. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, those supportive of U.S. efforts in the war against terror, says Guantanamo Bay ought to be closed. Tony Blair, George Bush's strongest ally in Europe, has called it an anomaly. The political pressure will now intensify for the U.S. to react to this, but the U.S. says the report is based on flimsy evidence. The U.N. say, well, there was no point in them going to interview detainees when they weren't going to be allowed to talk to them.

Robin Oakley, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Another twist in that wild Cook County jailbreak saga this morning. The question is, why did guards apparently help inmates get away? Yesterday we told you a tale of political intrigue. Today, we're learning, there may be a greed factor as well.

Anne Kavanagh of affiliate WFLD reports from Cicero, Illinois.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNE KAVANAGH, WFLD REPORTER: Good morning. I'm in Cicero, outside the home where a family was held hostage for hours by the escaped inmates. The prison guard, Darren Gater (ph), is free on bond this morning. He was released last night after his family posted a $500,000 bond. Prosecutors say he gave a written confession, saying that the motive for helping with the escape was political. He wanted to discredit the sheriff here in Cook County, but now, they say, it may have been money. He flunked a lie-detector test, according to prosecutors, and indicated that he was promised $50,000 for aiding the escape. An investigation hear in Cook County continues.

Live in Cicero. Anne Kavanagh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Anne Kavanagh just a little while ago.

So what is it like to be a guard, a prison guard or a guard in a jail? In the next hour we'll talk with one man who has been there and written eloquently about it. He'll tell us about the temptations and the pressures that are put upon the people who guard prisoners and people in jails.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: A prized pooch, a competitor in the Westminster Kennel Club dog show is on the loose in New York City. Not just any old dog. This is Vivy, a whippet, could be worth around 50,000 bucks, three years old, can run up to 25 miles an hour. Somehow in the midst of boarding the Delta aircraft to return home to the West Coast got out of the cage, in spite of the fact that there was a keyless lock on it. Vivy, obviously, a bit of Houdini in her.

In any case, off she went, and off went the search, as you can see here, all around Kennedy Airport, some swampland there. Vivy, as we say, is a valuable pooch, $50,000, no word on any specific reward. The owner is contemplating that. She does say this, "Vivy doesn't like the cold."

VERJEE: Vivy was spotted at the marshes surrounding JFK, but they weren't able to catch her. I think her full name is Bonam Saley Vi (ph). Do you know that?

O'BRIEN: No.

VERJEE: Yes. Vivy for short.

O'BRIEN: I love it when you talk French. Do it again.

VERJEE: No.

Coming up, Andy is "Minding Your Business." He'll tell us why one company spent thousands of dollars for an ad campaign for a product that doesn't exist.

O'BRIEN: Also the truth about calcium. It may not protect women's bones as much as everybody thought. Ahead, what every woman needs to know.

And some folks are calling it NASCAR de glass (ph) on ice. We will go live to -- I'm doing Turin today -- Turin for a preview of the Winter Games' hottest new event.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: As if the oil companies weren't making enough money, now they're getting a huge windfall from the government. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business," and he's going to tell us about that.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I am. You might have read about this, Zain, over the past couple of days. The story first broke in "The New York Times" about oil companies getting relief from royalty payments to the government, drilling for oil on public lands.

Now a Congressman, Republican Richard Pombo, is going to begin an investigation. How is it that oil companies are getting this kind of relief with prices record high?

Now the way this works, Zain, is that going back into the 1990s, this is a program to encourage exploration, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, when prices were low. The royalty relief was supposed to end when prices were high, but the Clinton administration decided to give the oil companies a waiver. This Republican Congressman apparently going after the Clinton administration, the policy that they enacted a couple years back, but it's a little bit strange to have this gentleman going after the oil companies, on this side of the aisle, so interesting kind mix of politics and oil if you will.

VERJEE: Politics and oil?

SERWER: Yes.

VERJEE: Never!

SERWER: Never, right.

VERJEE: You're working on another story, fake ad campaigns.

SERWER: Yes, this is -- where does a fake ad campaign kind of meet a fraudulent ad campaign? That's what some experts are asking today, kind of a cute thing here, a company called Oasis, which basically sells ring tones, nothing more. They have a Web-based ad campaign though. Pherotones, Pherotones are ring tones that will attract the opposite sex, and there is the fictitious Dr. Vanderhood, a Danish doctor, Zain.

VERJEE: What is the tone supposed to...

SERWER: You ring the tone and women or men, depending on who you're trying to attract, will come hithering, and Dr. Vanderhood explains all on the Web site in the instructional video. Of course Dr. Vanderhood is an actress.

I think it's good fun. I mean, I don't see how you would fall for that. Would you fall for that?

VERJEE: No, I wouldn't.

SERWER: And what's your ring tone, if I may ask?

VERJEE: Well to be perfectly honest and embarrass myself, I have just changed it to birds tweeting.

SERWER: That's nice. We should hear it sometime. Maybe not now.

VERJEE: What about you?

SERWER: Just Verizon, whatever they put on it. I'm not very creative, sorry to say.

VERJEE: Andy Serwer, thanks, as always -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Now that's a ring tone. That's what you need, Andy. We'll get you that on your phone.

SERWER: Please, thank you.

O'BRIEN: Can we hear it one more time? It really gets me going in the morning. One more time, cue it. Excellent, excellent!

Which brings us to Olympic news. A defending becomes first at the games to test positive for a banned substance. We're talking about blood doping, which of course makes us immediately think of Larry Smith. Sorry, Larry, I didn't mean to do that.

Larry, as a matter of fact, to make it whole to you, can we have one more trumpet fanfare for Larry?

There we go, excellent.

Larino Smith is there in Turin for us today.

Listen, this is serious business. We have an athlete, Olga Paileva (ph), biathlete, testing on -- or failing the blood-doping test. Tell us about that.

LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, what happens is that the IOC conducts tests, and once the athletes village opens on January 31st, 380 tests have been done by the International Olympic Committee, and Paileva, the 30-year-old from Russia, the first to test positive. She was scratched from the seven-and-a-half kilometer biathalon cross country sprint just a few moments ago, right before as this was announced.

And now what's up next for her is that she must stand before an IOC panel, and if they find her guilty, then she is banned from these Games.

So this is a bit of irony here. We talked about last hour the head of the chief of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Dick Pound (ph), had told Reuters that he believes there's doping going on in these Games, and he was saying his rationale for this is that with 12 cross- country athletes all testing for high hemoglobin levels, all at the same time right before the Games, is too much of a coincidence, and here we are just an hour later the first athlete testing positive for doping, a cross-country athlete -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Wouldn't be an Olympics if there wasn't once of these, at least one of these.

SMITH: No, at least one. More to come probably, but let's hope not.

O'BRIEN: Probably more to come. Going out on a limb there, but there have it.

Here's a sport which I think is just going to sweep the nation. Let's look at thee pictures. It's snowboarding meets synchronized swimming, I guess. We got Lindsey Kildow at first. So there we go, there they are, the snowboarding synchronized combination. What's this all about?

SMITH: Snowboard cross. You know, snowboarding was introduced to the Winter Olympics 1998 in Nagano, but this is the first snowboard cross. It's exciting. Four snowboarders all racing through various terrains, and slopes and different obstacles and things against each other. A lot of contact, collisions do happen. However, if you're caught with any kind of intentional contact with one of your competitors, you are disqualified from the match. Now the men's snowboard cross, the first qualification already done.

O'BRIEN: How do they know if it's intentional? SMITH: Well, the judges determine that. The judges determine if, you, you know -- I mean, Miles, if you reach out and hit me, guess what? That's intentional.

O'BRIEN: There you go.

SMITH: That's intentional. That's how you know, when you reach out and punch the guy next to you.

O'BRIEN: That would be a clue.

Let's do really quickly because Lindsey Kildow, she's become my favorite story of the games, she had that terrible fall, gutsy performance, didn't get a medal, but just the fact she raced and raced courageously and got an eighth was a lot in my book.

SMITH: It was, I'll say.

One more thing on the snowboard front. Seth Wescott (ph) among the four Americans who advanced to today's finals in snowboard cross. Now that's done.

Now, yes, Lindsey Kildow, here's the thing. She has four more events to go, including tomorrow's combined. And she said, you know what, she wasn't quite 100 percent in yesterday's downhill after the crash on Monday. We expect that. But neither she nor her teammates are counting her out. She's very, very tough, and she has chances now get four more medals.

O'BRIEN: She has proven. She gets a gold medal for the tough competition already. Thank you.

SMITH: That's right.

O'BRIEN: Larry Smith, trumpets, please. Thank you very much. Very nicely done, dignified, royal, Larry Smith -- Zain.

SMITH: All right.

VERJEE: Miles, coming up, more on the graphic new photos of abuse at Abu Ghraib. We're going to take a closer look at how they're playing in the Arab world.

Plus, Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff in the hot seat. Should he resign because of FEMA's follies? We're going to be asking the head of the House Katrina investigation.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: A new survey of people in 33 nations has come down hard on the United States. European nations rank higher than the U.S. What's driving down global public opinion, especially among Arab nations? Well, the war in Iraq is topping the list, but there's also Abu Ghraib, as well as Guantanamo Bay. CNN's senior editor for Arab affairs, Octavia Nasr, joins us now from the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Octavia, let's talk first of all about the new Abu Ghraib pictures we're seeing. How is the Arab media covering the story?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. EDITOR FOR ARAB AFFAIRS: Well, Arab Commentators are saying this is a bad day for Americans in the Arab world, in the Middle East, and in the Islamic world in general. Emotions were running high anyway, and the anger towards the U.S. was on the rise, but they say that these images are not going to help in any way.

But you know, you look at the Arab media, you look at the big networks, like Al Arabiya, for example, which is based in Dubai. They're covering the story, showing the pictures, bringing in experts, also officials from the U.S., human rights officials, also Iraqi ministers, and also speaking to people on the streets of Baghdad, talking to them about how they feel, talking about the humiliation that they feel, not just seeing those images that are very offensive for Iraqis, especially Iraqis, but also seeing that nothing has been done at Abu Ghraib to put their minds at ease, that this prison has been cleaned up, basically, and they don't see any proof that those abuses are not taking place anymore.

VERJEE: You talk about humiliation, that's something that, in the Arab world is mentioned very often and culturally, it has a different kind of implication. Can you explain what it is that makes it that devastating to Arabs?

NASR: Well, I'll give you the example of scores of people who live in Iraq now and who were prisoners at Abu Ghraib, whether under Saddam Hussein or under the U.S. control. Basically these people have no life at this point, because they are treated as if they were abused in this way, as if they were made to strip naked and do some indecent sexual acts in front of a camera, in front of total strangers, in front of women in some cases. This is very shameful for a lot of people, but it also destroys lives.

VERJEE: Is there an understanding in the Arab world and is the point made in the Arab media that when you're looking at the pictures of the abuses at Abu Ghraib, that the soldiers are just a handful of American soldiers and that they're not representative of all U.S. soldiers and the American people?

NASR: You know, the idea on Arab media, when you listen to Arab commentators or people in the street, the idea is that this is widespread. They don't see this as, you know -- Rumsfeld has said, for example, that these are only a few bad apples. They think that all of them are bad apples, and that is the problem. You know, when you talk about the image of the U.S. abroad, experts tell us that this is the idea on the Arab street, that all Americans in Iraq are basically doing this, and you know, you hear the commentators these days, especially since the pictures were shown yesterday on Australian television, many people are saying, you know, this is a time to show some big heads roll. They are still demanding that some big generals in the U.S. Army be held accountable. They think that those who were punished were low-level soldiers, and basically the big generals are the ones that should resign or be fired.

VERJEE: I'm looking at newspaper headlines. "Al-Hayat" newspaper headlines says, "New Pictures of the Abu Ghraib Scandal: Torture, Killing and Body Mutilation." "Al-Quds," the same lead story, "Despicable pictures of at Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, suppressing prisoners by using live ammunition, sexual abuse, barbaric beating and fallen bodies." And finally the "Asharq Al-Aswat" newspaper, "Washington: The new pictures won't add anything other than stir up anger. Those responsible were punished."

The sense of outrage obviously palpable there, but to what extent is there a danger that that outrage will translate into violence?

NASR: Well you know what, Zain, I spoke to many people in media outlets around the Middle East, and they say they are trying not to portray this story in a way -- not to put it in main pages, for example, not to show too many of the pictures, not to report it in a way to stir up anger, more anger that's already there about other issues. As you know, but they tell me that there is a very genuine fear on the street that this has the potential of becoming explosive, not necessarily because people are upset about those pictures. They know that this happened a few years ago. They know that some people were punished for them, but they say that the anger exists, and all it needs right now is fuel, and these pictures certainly offered that fuel.

VERJEE: Putting it into perspective for us, the view there in the Arab world, Octavia Nasr, CNN's senior editor for Arab affairs.

Thank you, habipti (ph).

NASR: Thank you, Zain.

O'BRIEN: What is that?

VERJEE: "Habipti," that's Arabic for darling.

O'BRIEN: She is a habipti. She does a great job. Thank you very much, Octavia.

Coming up on the program, a closer look at what critics say is the vice president's cult of secrecy and how it could end up costing Republicans in the long run.

Plus, surprising news about calcium supplements. They may not protect women's bones as much as we once thought. So if you're a woman, should you keep taking them? That's the question we'll try answer for you next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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