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American Morning

Tillman Investigation; The War Wounded; Hollywood's Gold Rush

Aired March 06, 2006 - 07:30   ET

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

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All about that coming right up.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We are looking forward to that, Kelly Wallace, thank you very much.

And why don't you do -- how about some news headlines first?

WALLACE: I guess we'll segue to the news headlines.

MILES O'BRIEN: We're not done with you yet.

WALLACE: We're not done with me yet. I have a little more work to do. All right. We will get to those headlines now.

Hello, everyone.

After more than four years of legal wrangling, the penalty phase of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui expected to begin today. Moussaoui is the only person charged in connection with the September 11th terror attacks. He could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Opening statements are expected sometime this afternoon.

A major deal to call home about. Get it? Well, it will make sense now because we're telling you that AT&T is poised to buy BellSouth for $67 billion. The takeover would give AT&T full ownership of Cingular Wireless. The deal still needs to be approved by the FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice. A formal announcement expected today.

Ford is saying it wants a retest. The Ford Fusion received poor marks in crash tests from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. A Ford spokesman says side air bags and side curtain bags would be standard on 2007 models. The best performers in mid-size and luxury cars were the 2006 BMW 3 Series and the Lexus IS. They received top ratings in both front and side crash testing.

A crash of a different kind last night. The movie "Crash," upsetting the favorite "Brokeback Mountain" to take home the best film Oscar. It also won for best original screenplay and best editing. Philip Seymour Hoffman won for best actor for his portrayal of Truman Capote in "Capote." And Reese Witherspoon winning the best actress award for playing June Carter Cash in "Walk the Line."

And talk about commitment. Some tough video to look at. A cheerleader at Southern Illinois University falling head-first about 10 feet during a pyramid routine. She was carried off in a stretcher with a back and neck brace, but you can see she's still feels the spirit, still doing her cheerleading routine as she's being pulled away. She was waving her hands and clapping her hands as she was wheeled away and the crowd was clapping as well. And we hear that she is going to be OK. That is amazing. You know, Miles, it's hard to see in that picture but you can just tell and she fell right on her head.

MILES O'BRIEN: Can we do it again? Can we play that one more time? It's just unbelievable. And we hear she's OK. Do we have it? Let's play it one more time.

WALLACE: Let's see.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. Here we go.

WALLACE: You see her in the little circle there.

MILES O'BRIEN: Oh, yes, it's hard to see.

WALLACE: It's hard -- it's so quick it's hard to see. But, you know, just amazing for her to come on out and be doing the cheerleading moves, sends a great message to the crowd that she's hopefully going to be OK.

MILES O'BRIEN: You bet. That's the spirit all right.

WALLACE: That sure is.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right, Kelly, thank you very (AUDIO GAP).

(AUDIO GAP) Pentagon ordering a criminal investigation into the friendly fire death of the former NFL star turned army ranger. And this is the fifth formal investigation into Tillman's death. Critics of the military say the army's been trying to whitewash details of his death. Eugene Fidell a military law good to have you with us.

First of all, let's talk about definitions here. When the military talks about negligent homicide, what does that mean?

EUGENE FIDELL, MILITARY LAW EXPERT: Negligent homicide is an offense under the uniform code of military justice. And basically it means a death has occurred as a result of negligence and that is a criminal offense under the statute. All it requires is simple negligence. In other words, the same level of negligence that you might have in an auto accident. And the punishment is quite severe. It can be three years as a maximum punishment to confinement.

MILES O'BRIEN: I suspect the burden of proof, though, in the context of a battlefield scenario, is very difficult.

FIDELL: Well, the burden of proof remains proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which every prosecutor will tell you is a very difficult hurdle in any case. In the battlefield, however, it may be difficult to meet that burden, especially difficult. However, we do prosecute cases off the battlefield. They're not easy, but we do it when we have to.

MILES O'BRIEN: The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Peter Pace, was on the Sunday programs yesterday and he was talking about the three previous investigations into Pat Tillman's death and now this one. And here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. PETER PACE, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Well, although there's no evidence that there was criminal activity, the investigators did not specifically look at whether or not there was criminal activity. Criminal activity being when Corporal Tillman was killed by friendly fire, was that fire by the friendly forces fire that should have been going on or was someone potentially firing a weapon when they should not have been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN: It seems to me that is a question which should have been asked from the get-go. Why wasn't it?

FIDELL: Well, I think it was asked from the get-go, but it wasn't asked, I think, with the rigor that a proper criminal investigation investigation would pursue it. There are a number of potential offenses that come to mind just in reviewing the facts. And incidentally, some people have already been punished under the UCMJ, but not through a court-martial. They've been punished administratively or non-judicially.

The offenses that come to mind include negligent homicide, dereliction of duty. And it's my understanding that there have been some minor penalties imposed for that. And also, if stories changed as appears to have happened, because, as you know, this case has had an unusual trajectory. At first Mr. Tillman was described as having been a hero and performed magnificently, especially magnificently, let's say, and afterwards the story changed dramatically. But if the story changed, was that a result of false statements and was evidence destroyed, which seems to be the case in the sense that his uniform and body armor was destroyed. Would that involve false official statements or potentially even an obstruction of justice? I would assume that the criminal investigators would look into those issues, as well as the question of whether there was dereliction of duty or negligent homicide.

MILES O'BRIEN: A lot of people would look at this and say, the army was desperate for a whitewash here. As a matter of fact, Pat Tillman's father has been saying this for quite some time. He told "The Washington Post" just the other day, this is just "another step. But if you send investigators to reinvestigate an investigation that was falsified in the first place, what do you think you're going to get?" The military just does not have a lot of credibility on this one at this point, does it?

FIDELL: Well, unfortunately, the military's story changed substantially, a 180-degree change in fact. And equally unfortunately, this comes on the heels of the Jessica Lynch case in which a comparable, although she obviously didn't die, but a comparable change of signals occurred. I think the military is in a position to conduct an investigation. It's been two years, but they've conducted investigations on colder trails than this. And I think that one of the things they're going to have to do is see who changed their stories and why.

MILES O'BRIEN: Should there be some sort of outside investigation? Is that the only way it would have credibility?

FIDELL: This is not a case, I think, where you have to have an outside investigation. The CIB, or criminal investigation that's going to get underway now, is one that ought to generate public confidence in the administration of justice. I don't think this is an Abu Ghraib, for example, where there really should be an outside investigation and where you've had so many investigations thus far that the matter has lost focus. I think the army can bring this into focus. I think it can restore public confidence in the administration of justice and I think that's what they're fixing to do.

MILES O'BRIEN: Eugene Fidell is a military law expert. Thank you for your time, sir.

FIDELL: My privilege.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: This morning we begin a special two- part series on the Iraq war wounded. Nearly 17,000 men and women have been injured since the fighting began. Some with life changing wounds that are impossible to comprehend. AMERICAN MORNING's Kelly Wallace joins us now with their story.

Good morning.

WALLACE: Good morning, Carol.

You know, some thing we were surprised to learn, and maybe our viewers will be surprised as well, is that the Iraq War is turning out twice the number of amputees that any previous U.S. conflict. The reason is better body armor, stronger armored vehicles, meaning that more soldiers and other men and women are surviving but they're left with some serious injuries, sometimes including the loss of arms and legs. And the man you're about to meet thought he was going to die after an attack in Iraq, but thanks to a very special place in San Antonio, Texas, he is finding the strength to start his life all over again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring it up and hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Down.

WALLACE, (voice over): There is a lot that 24-year-old Christian Bagge wants to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attack that cone. Attack that cone. Come on. Push. Push. Push. Push. Shuffle. Shuffle. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. STAFF SGT. CHRISTIAN BAGGE, U.S. ARMY: I want to run. I want to swim. I want to mountain bike. The biggest goal of all is just to do what I did before.

WALLACE: What he did before the attack in Iraq, before the Humvee he was driving was blown apart by a roadside bomb . . .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Arms in. Hips to ears. Hips to ears. There you go.

WALLACE: And his life forever changed.

BAGGE: I told one of the guys, tie my wedding ring around my wrist, and they did, and that was the last image I had in my mind was my wedding ring being tied around my wrist and then I woke up in Germany with my amputated legs.

WALLACE: Before going off to war, Christian's passions including playing drums in a Christian rock band and a gal named Melissa. The two were good friends in high school who fell in love about a week before he left for Iraq. They married while he was on leave just three months before he became a double amputee.

MELISSA BAGGE, CHRISTIAN'S WIFE: There have been times when I thought it was -- how am I going to do it. But there's always someone there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dig in. Last cone. Dig in. Dig in.

WALLACE: And always someone who knows just what they are going through. The Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio is home to one of only two U.S. army amputee care centers in the country.

BAGGE: It's kind of like a brotherhood in there. We're all rooting for each other and pushing each other to do the best that they can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Push, pull.

WALLACE: The pushing comes not just from peers, but from a team of physical therapists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some people come in and they say, wow, I would have never thought that I would be able to do that again and they need to be pushed to be shown that it is possible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good. Oh, you look good.

WALLACE: Also available to amputees like Christian, state-of- the-art technology to create custom-made legs for any activity they choose. Christian's immediate goal, to run with President Bush. When the president visited the center on New Year's Day, Christian asked if they could jog together some time. He says Mr. Bush said yes.

BAGGE: He said that I would be an inspiration to other people and I think he's right, you know, hopefully, and then I can be an inspiration.

WALLACE: His positive outlook doesn't mean there haven't been really hard times. In the beginning, he was angry and depressed, and every day there are reminders of what life used to be like.

BAGGE: It takes me longer to shower, it take me longer to get my legs on, get dressed. Putting pants on is a 20-minute process and I hate it.

WALLACE: But Christian and Melissa are adjusting, even thriving, gearing up for their second wedding ceremony this weekend, this one for family and friends, since they eloped the first time.

BAGGE: You learn a lot about true love and being away from your family. You learn the important things in life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And we asked Christian if he regretted going to Iraq. He said, no. He said, of course, he wishes, Carol, he still had his legs. But know what? He said he's proud of his amputations. He says they are a reminder of what he was asked to do in terms of going over to Iraq, serving his country, and what ultimately happened to him.

COSTELLO: Interesting. You know, I visited Walter Reed not long ago to talk to another amputee who was training for a marathon. And, you know, they have so much attention while they're there. They get them into physical therapy as soon as they can. They train for races, maybe skiing or marathons or whatever. All of this attention is heaped on them. But, you know, what happens when they go home and there is that day when they are alone to deal with it themselves?

WALLACE: It is such a good point that you are raising. Because even in Christian's case, you know, he's been there about eight months now and so there's a little bit of pressure because they feel that he's adjusting, he's doing well, for him to leave and go back home to his family in Oregon. And he's resisting because he has a team of experts there, physical therapists, other people working on high tech equipment for himself. So he's even a little concerned. What the military would say is, then there would be opportunities, hopefully through the Department of Veteran Affairs and other resources, but nothing like having all those experts there, having their peers right by their side. I think we might want to follow-up with Christian in a way, you know, six months or a year from now to see what life is like when he has to leave that environment.

COSTELLO: That's right, when he's among able-bodied people, when he's not near like people. So it will be interesting to see. What do you have in store for tomorrow?

WALLACE: Well tomorrow we also wanted to take a look at how more men and women are surviving in Iraq. The survivor ability rate is higher in Iraq than previous conflicts. One of the reasons we're hearing that is, is because there are more combat medics, more highly trained combat medics, on the front lines. So we went behind the scenes at the army's only medic training school to see how they're trained soldiers to be these combat medics and we'll focus on that tomorrow.

COSTELLO: Fascinating. Thank you, Kelly.

WALLACE: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Back to you, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Good job, Kelly, thank you.

Let's check back in on the weather. Chad Myers at the weather center with that.

Good morning, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MILES O'BRIEN: Andy's "Minding Your Business."

Hello, Andy.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, you guys.

When the world's second richest man speaks, you should listen. I do. Pearls of wisdom from Warren Buffett coming up.

Plus, Northwest Airlines versus its pilots. Someone blinked. We'll have that for you ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: Bad shepo (ph), bad shepo for the Shaq.

SERWER: I disagree.

MILES O'BRIEN: You like that?

SERWER: I thought it was very dapper.

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, we should get you a white padora (ph).

SERWER: Very dapper.

MILES O'BRIEN: I think you would look quite bad in that.

COSTELLO: Oh, let's not.

SERWER: Me and Shaq who, right?

MILES O'BRIEN: You and Shaq, you're like that, man.

SERWER: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK, I want to hear what Warren Buffett had so say because I want to make some money.

MILES O'BRIEN: We will listen. We are listening. SERWER: That's right. Only Bill Gates is richer than Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the world. Only he made his money the old-fashioned way, in the markets, not in software. Saturday he released his annual report to shareholders with his letter in it that is so widely read on Wall Street. And he said a couple things. Expect sub par returns from the stock market and pay attention to costs. He said brokers and financial advisors are ripping Americans off, they're charging too much money. Frictional costs, as they're known in the business. You can't make any money if your broker is charging a lot of money, particularly when the stock market's not soaring.

What to talk about some of his . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: Wait a minute, what about his success, though? You know, are you getting to that?

SERWER: Oh, we're going to do that.

MILES O'BRIEN: OK, because I'm very curious about that.

SERWER: Well, they is a bunch of people. I mean they're not household names, but there's a bunch of about five or six people and he said it's winnowed down to three and then he said the board picked one of those three to be a successor. He's 75 years old. They didn't name which one it was, though, so there's a lot of speculation as far as that goes. He's 75 years old and says he feels fine, but he might decay, to use his words. He has a very good sense of humor and he's very funny here.

You want to look at some of his holdings?

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.

SERWER: Because he owns a lot of stocks in big companies here. And, by the way, see, those are -- that's not -- that's in billions. That's right. $8 billion, $7 billion. $5 billion in Coke, American Express, Wells.

COSTELLO: Wow.

MILES O'BRIEN: He's still bullish on Coke. I'm surprised.

SERWER: Yes, he's still hanging in there.

MILES O'BRIEN: Or hanging in on it, yes.

SERWER: Well, you know, a company (ph) point is, you know, it's -- not going to sell it when it's down, maybe it will go up.

Another note quickly here. Northwest Airlines, we've been telling you about its problems with its pilots. They went to the brink and, guess what, they both blinked. They don't want -- the pilots don't want to go out on strike and the airline doesn't want them to go on strike because it would close it down.

COSTELLO: That's how negotiations should come out, with both parties blinking.

SERWER: Right. So listen to this. They said they've got $358 million out of the pilots in terms of compensation, but that's nothing because they say, overall, they need $2.5 billion to fly profitably. So Northwest still got some work to do.

COSTELLO: You're not kidding.

SERWER: That's a lot of money.

COSTELLO: That is.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Andy.

SERWER: (INAUDIBLE).

MILES O'BRIEN: Half the fuel.

SERWER: Yes, right.

MILES O'BRIEN: Of course that would be a problem. You only get halfway to Cleveland is the problem.

SERWER: Yes, right, just make the fuel costs go down.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right, thank you.

SERWER: I know it's scary.

MILES O'BRIEN: Earlier we talked about those new car crash safety ratings and later we'll talk to the editor in chief of a magazine where they look at these things. Ah, geez, actually that would be a kind of fun job, wouldn't it, being, you know . . .

COSTELLO: To crash cars?

SERWER: Being a crash test dummy?

MILES O'BRIEN: To be doing the crashes. Yes, to be a crash test dummy. That's . . .

SERWER: There you go. Ouch!

MILES O'BRIEN: Oh, ouch!

COSTELLO: Some might say he is a crash test dummy. No, I'm just . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: It's a living.

Anyway, she will help us break down the results of all this, so to speak, "break down."

And next we are going to take you back stage to the Oscars. The big winners reflect on their golden moments, penguins and all. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: The Academy Awards came to a crashing end. The movie "Crash" the big winner. Best picture award. A bit of a surprise, but other were plenty of other Oscar worthy performances, plenty of other winners and plenty of other globiating (ph) back stage. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JON STEWART, HOST: I'm Jon Stewart and welcome to the 78th Annual Academy Awards.

NICOLE KIDMAN, ACTRESS: And the Oscar goes to George Clooney in "Syriana."

GEORGE CLOONEY, BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Wow. All right. So I'm not winning director.

We are starting now to reflect two years later some of the social and political issues that are, for the first time probably since Watergate, concerning us and we're talking about them and then films start to reflect that a couple years later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, ACTOR, THE CONSTANT GARDNER": When they test for HIV, they also test for TB free here.

RACHEL WEISZ, ACTRESS, THE CONSTANT GARDNER": Well, just for free.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A small extra service to humanity.

WEISZ: They're a drug company, Arnold, come on. No drug company does something nothing?

MORGAN FREEMAN, ACTOR: Rachel Weisz, "The Constant Gardener."

RACHEL WEISZ, BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: It's definitely nice to be part of a moment where fiction is holding a mirror up to contemporary culture and asking questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reese Witherspoon, "Walk the Line."

REESE WITHERSPOON, BEST ACTRESS: To me, this was just -- it was a great sort of accomplishment to just learn to stand in my own shoes and in my own self and be proud of myself.

STEWART: I do have some sad news to report. Bjork couldn't be here tonight. She was trying on her Oscar dress and Dick Cheney shot her.

QUEEN LATIFAH: "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp." Oh, my God. Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard. (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My heart was beeping so fast I thought it was going to pop out of my mouth and fall into the crowd.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Oscar goes to Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Capote."

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, BEST ACTOR: I just saw the role as an opportunity that was going to be a great one.

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: And the Oscar goes to Ang Lee for "Brokeback Mountain."

ANG LEE, BEST DIRECTOR: I think it's a good movie. They're moved by it, by the emotion. I think it's a good love story.

JACK NICHOLSON: And the Oscar goes to "Crash."

TERRENCE HOWARD, "CRASH," HUSTLE AND FLOW": "Crash" was the one film that made me feel like everything I've gone through in my life was worthwhile.

LUDACRIS, "CRASH": If you haven't seen this movie, you have to go out and watch it. You've got to go rent it. Whatever you need to do. I mean it is that powerful. It's life-changing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN: Coming up next hour, we'll take a closer look at what the best and worst were wearing. We'll have our fashion expert. You know, here they're talking about all these weighty issues and we're going to do the fashion. You've got to do the fashion.

COSTELLO: You've got to do what you've got to do, huh?

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, right. Yes.

COSTELLO: All right. Top stories ahead.

Sentencing begins in the Moussaoui trial.

The Pentagon opens up a criminal investigation into Pat Tillman's death.

Another body is found in Katrina's aftermath.

We'll talk to a U.S. deputy marshal about that fugitive father released to donate a kidney to his son.

And researchers call childhood obesity a global epidemic.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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