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American Morning
Dubai Ports World Steps Back From U.S. Ports Deal; Judge In Al Qaeda Trial Warns Prosecution On Shaky Ground; U.S. Ready To Pull Out Of Abu Ghraib Prison
Aired March 10, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's Friday, yes.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Payday.
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
Dubai pulls the plug. President Bush finds a political lifeboat, but Republican lawmakers, they're still making waves.
S. O'BRIEN: Closing down another controversy, U.S. troops ready to pull out of Abu Ghraib Prison once and for all.
Also, a disturbing attack to tell you about in Detroit, two pregnant women terrorized by a man who tries to push them into oncoming traffic. We've got more on this story.
M. O'BRIEN: NASA heading into the Bermuda Triangle again. A hi- tech divining rod heads for a nail-biting entry into the orbit of Mars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, "THE APPRENTICE": I haven't spoken to her. I feel a little guilty about that because I like Martha.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: But can this friendship be saved? The Donald on the doyen of domesticity, the latest chapter in their nasty feud, there is more to tell.
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome, everybody.
Let's start with the CNN "Security Watch" this morning and a political lifeline thrown to President Bush. Dubai Ports World steps back from the deal to manage six U.S. ports and out of the Republican infighting over port security.
CNN's Dana Bash has our story this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The president and his aides will begin today hoping that the political nightmare that snuck up on them a couple of weeks ago is finally over. But they're also facing the harsh reality that after weeks of mounting division and open defiance from nearly all Republican lawmakers on his signature issue, security, Mr. Bush lost.
Now, DP World's dramatic decision to pull the plug saved Mr. Bush from having to use the first veto of his presidency on this issue. And it appeared that it was abrupt, but actually it was the result of more than a week of pressure from lobbyists, the White House and Congress to bend the cold hard political facts that the opposition was simply too fierce to overcome.
Now, lead GOP opponents say they think that this is actually over now. But members of Mr. Bush's own party were so eager, even gleeful, at the prospect of splitting from the president, the question is whether this is a sign of permanent problems or just a one-time dustup?
Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Well "Time" magazine is reporting this morning that one of the companies under consideration as a U.S. partner for Dubai Ports World is Kellogg, Brown and Root. Now KBR is a subsidiary of Halliburton, which of course is the company that was formerly headed by the Vice President, Dick Cheney.
KBR is already partnered with a company called ISS to provide security for U.S. Navy ships at ports in the Middle East. ISS is owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates.
Well stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: The judge in that al Qaeda trial is warning prosecutors they're on shaky legal ground. The issue: was Zacarias Moussaoui legally obligated to tell investigators what he knew about 9/11 when he was arrested about a month before the attacks?
CNN's Kelli Arena with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Jurors will get a day off today after hearing yesterday from the FBI agent who arrested Zacarias Moussaoui back in August of 2001. That agent, Harry Samit, says that Moussaoui repeatedly lied to him about why he was taking flight lessons, about where his money came from. Samit also says Moussaoui denied being a member of a terror organization.
Now that testimony was key, because the government argues it was those lies that prevented agents from stopping the September 11 attacks. Moussaoui's defense team argues that Moussaoui had no direct role in September 11, that he didn't know any details of the plan, that he never had any contact with any of the hijackers. And they will aggressively cross-examine Samit on Monday.
Jurors also heard from Moussaoui's flight instructors, one from Oklahoma, one from Minnesota. They say they were suspicious from the very beginning. The flight instructor from Minnesota saying that anyone coming in trying to learn how to fly a 747 with as little experience as Moussaoui had was bound to raise suspicions.
Kelli Arena, CNN, Alexandria, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: The U.S. is bailing out of Abu Ghraib, the infamous prison that has become synonymous with mistreatment of prisoners. General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, says it should happen in the next few months. Of course pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused there at the hands of U.S. soldiers proved a costly scandal, to say the least, for the U.S. image.
Aneesh Raman live now from Baghdad.
Aneesh, how is this all going to occur? And wasn't this supposed to happen a while ago?
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, exactly. There's been a lot of talk here about this very notion. And now, officially, the U.S. military says in the next two to three months they will vacate Abu Ghraib Prison, in doing so, relocate some 4,500 prisoners that are currently under coalition custody.
What they are doing is building a new facility at Camp Cropper. That's near the Baghdad International Airport. It is where, at the moment, high-value detainees, like Saddam Hussein, we presume, are kept.
And so they are building a new facility there to house these detainees. They think that should be done in two to three months, although the Pentagon is saying it could take longer. They will then move the detainees and handover the Abu Ghraib facility to the Iraqi government.
Now, as you say, Abu Ghraib has been the source of continued controversy here. It was a torture center under Saddam Hussein. And of course after the war, it is where American troops abused detainees. So for Iraqis, they would likely want to see an end to Abu Ghraib completely. At the moment, unclear what the Iraqi government will do with it -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: I suspect that a lot of people would like to see it leveled. What is likely to happen, though? What do you think the new Iraqi government will do with that building?
RAMAN: Well as a lot of people would like to see it leveled, some would like to see it as a museum of sorts. But for the Iraqi government, you have to keep in mind, too, there isn't a lot of infrastructure here, so they see this as a facility that works, a prison. Now there are any number of security issues around it. It's a dangerous area, for the moment. We understand from government officials, Iraqis, that they don't want to use it as a prison, just yet, because of the security issues, but they reserve the right to do so in the future. It's a building that works and that's good enough for them at the low bar -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman in Baghdad, thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Prayers and songs this morning for those who were killed in an Atlanta courthouse one year ago, March 11 of last year. If you recall these pictures, complete mayhem at the Fulton County Courthouse. An accused rapist allegedly overpowered a deputy, shot a judge and a court reporter. He escaped to a parking lot, then shot another deputy.
Brian Nichols also charged with killing a Customs agent. This is what police say happened. Then he took Ashley Smith hostage and held her in her apartment for 24 hours. Well during that day and night, Ashley claimed that -- calmed Nichols down, rather, by reading from the book "A Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren, and then she turned him in. Remember all this?
In the next hour, we're going to talk about that day and see what happened on her first trip back to the apartment. A look back is ahead.
Detroit now, and a bizarre and really dangerous attack on two pregnant women, a really bizarre story.
Cheryl Chodun of our affiliate WXYZ tells us how a man, apparently deranged, chased after two women with his SUV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERYL CHODUN, WXYZ-TV REPORTER (voice-over): What you are seeing is one SUV ramming another over and over again, accelerating so hard that the tires were burning rubber. Police say inside the suspect's car was this man, 50-year-old Earl Boyd (ph). The victims were two moms-to-be, terrified, of course, at what was happening.
Listen to the 911 call.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My God. My God.
911 OPERATOR: Ma'am, what's going on?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's pushing us hard.
911 OPERATOR: OK, I understand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My God.
(SCREAMING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Screaming "what do you want with us, my God, are you going to kill us?" I mean, it was just scary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was the scariest day of my life, the life of my child, the fact that my husband wasn't there, my best girlfriend and her child, all four of our lives were in danger and I -- there was nothing we could do except scream and pray.
CHODUN: And he started blowing kisses and jumping curbs and forcing them into oncoming traffic. And then, they say, he was ramming their car until police came to the rescue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just hope that he is prosecuted to the fullest degree.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Constant thinking of the what ifs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, but babies are good, and so that's the most important part.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Babies are safe, they say. The women, of course, so terrified, actually, that they want to remain anonymous.
That report was done by our affiliate WXYZ's Cheryl Chodun.
The suspect, we should mention, also charged in Detroit with assault with a motor vehicle -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's check the forecast now, Chad Myers with a Friday forecast for us.
And where do we need to go to get some good weather -- Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Stay right there.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Excellent.
MYERS: Stay right there.
M. O'BRIEN: Sweet. Sweet.
MYERS: Near record temperatures. The record for today in New York City's Central Park was 71. It's going to be very close.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you guys.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow!
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Well, good evening, Poipu, so sorry.
MYERS: A good night, I hope.
M. O'BRIEN: Good night, or whatever is going on there, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, really, good night.
Thanks, -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Here's what might be a surprise, or not, the rich getting richer. According to "Forbes" magazine, there are now 102 more billionaires than there were last year. Yes, Bill Gates still at the top of the heap. The Microsoft chairman's net worth is listed at $50 billion. Warren Buffet is number two on the list, way behind, $42 billion. And also Ingvar Kamprad of Sweden.
M. O'BRIEN: The Ingvar Kamprad?
S. O'BRIEN: Ingvar Kamprad of Sweden, who is the founder of Ikea.
M. O'BRIEN: There you go.
S. O'BRIEN: And he is -- a list -- the list, though -- this is a growing list, it's 793 names long. One name that's dropped off the list and that would be Martha Stewart.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, she still rhymes with rich.
S. O'BRIEN: So it's been a rough...
M. O'BRIEN: She rhymes with rich, anyhow. It's...
S. O'BRIEN: That is so -- that is so unfair.
M. O'BRIEN: Well that's -- I'm cranky. It's Friday.
S. O'BRIEN: And she's had a rough year.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: I mean, and now add insult to injury, she's also dropped off the list.
M. O'BRIEN: She's no longer a billionaire. She'll make ends meet somehow.
There's a NASA spacecraft that is homing in on the Red Planet as we speak, and it's hoping to find more evidence of water, eventually. But first, it's got a few important hurdles to get through. We'll explain about that in just a few moments.
S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, Katrina victims obviously need all the help they can get in rebuilding, so why has about $2 billion in relief money gone unclaimed? M. O'BRIEN: And Disney has some legal troubles on its hand -- hands. We'll tell you why the studio is in for a rumble with, of all organizations, Hell's Angels. Hell's Angels. I'm the attorney for Hell's Angels. I'd like to see that business card.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Keen (ph). I'm keen on Keen.
S. O'BRIEN: Good for you.
M. O'BRIEN: Who ...
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
M. O'BRIEN: Sorry. Once again who bring him out of it (ph).
S. O'BRIEN: Lots to get to this morning.
Not at all, you're hip, you're cool, we all know it.
M. O'BRIEN: Thanks.
S. O'BRIEN: We love you.
M. O'BRIEN: Thanks for mollifying me.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to Carol. She's in the newsroom with a look at some of the top stories this morning.
Hey, Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I think Miles' middle name is just funk. Miles Funk O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's me.
S. O'BRIEN: How did you know that?
M. O'BRIEN: It's the funk, yes.
COSTELLO: I don't know. We're tight, me and Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Notice I took the bifocals off when you said that.
S. O'BRIEN: Because it doesn't work with funk.
M. O'BRIEN: Because funk guys don't wear bifocals, do they?
COSTELLO: No, definitely not.
S. O'BRIEN: Funk guys...
COSTELLO: Hey, good morning. Good morning, everyone. The U.S. is stepping up its rhetoric against Iran over nuclear powers. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is calling Iran the central banker for terrorism.
In the meantime, Iran's leader, Ali Khamenei, says the U.S. is using the nuclear issue as a pretext for -- in his words -- "a psychological war." Iran's decision to resume uranium enrichment goes before the U.N. Security Council today. Of course we'll be following any developments for you.
Not worth the hassle, that's what some states are saying about nearly $2 billion in Katrina disaster relief. Congress approved the funds six months ago, but the Health and Human Services Department says so far it's gotten requests for only a fraction of it. So states say they don't want the bureaucratic hassle and didn't know of any displaced families actually qualified for financial help.
U.S. marshals have added the fugitive father we've been telling you about to their list of 15 most wanted. A $25,000 reward is now being offered for Byron Perkins' arrest. He's likely traveling with his girlfriend, Lee Ann Howard. Perkins' son, Destin, is running out of time for a kidney transplant. He is now getting dialysis twice a week. And Destin's mom says he's becoming more and more depressed.
Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch has been shut down. California officials slapped a stop order on the property. Seems Jackson hasn't paid his employees since December and he hasn't renewed their insurance. Total fines: nearly $170,000. But who knows if Jackson will pay? He's been living in the Persian Gulf since being acquitted on child abuse charges last June.
The so-called text message girl is back at home. She was found Thursday in New York, three days after her mom received text messages from the girl's cell phone claiming she'd been abducted and raped. Police are now looking into that story, because they are starting to believe it was a hoax. They are also checking into the girl's home computer. Seems the girl was visiting a lot of sites she should not have been on.
I think she's in a lot of trouble -- Chad.
MYERS: Well at least she's home. There you go there.
COSTELLO: Yes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: Miles, back to you.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Chad.
The search for water and perhaps even signs of life on Mars shifts into a new gear today. Later today, after a seven-month jaunt across the solar system, a NASA spacecraft will hit the brakes and hopefully thread the needle between tragedy and triumph.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): It is a high-speed, high-temperature, high-wire act watched ever so closely from 300 million miles away. When the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at the Red Planet, they will be turning blue at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. Memories of the mean Mars season of 1999 seared in their memory when they lost an orbiter and a lander just two months apart.
Planetary scientists call the Red Planet the Bermuda Triangle. Over the years, only one-in-three Mars missions have been scientific hits.
FUK LI, MARS PROGRAM MANAGER, JPL: If you look at this kind of numbers, they may be great, if you are considering them as batting averages for -- when you play baseball. But for us, those are very sobering numbers.
M. O'BRIEN: Assuming they hit a dinger this time, the orbiter will be joining an active armada of robotic Martian explorers launched by NASA, two other orbiters and the intrepid and seemingly indestructible rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Their big picture goal, find evidence of water, past or present, which might lead them to proof of Martian life.
RICH ZUREK, MRO PROJECT SCIENTIST: Mars, of all the other planets in the solar system, is the most Earth-like, the most likely that if life developed elsewhere, in the way that it did on the Earth, that would be on Mars.
M. O'BRIEN: This orbiter is carrying the most powerful suite of scientific instruments ever sent to Mars. A telescope that can see rocks the size of a desk, a mineral mapper and a radar that will look for water, ice and its geological trail and a camera and an infrared device to watch the Martian weather.
The forecast for some interesting discoveries is good, assuming the spacecraft beats the odds and arrives alive at an unforgiving destination.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Now if all goes well today, the spacecraft begins an important phase called aerobraking. For the next six months or so, it will dip into the atmosphere just enough to drop it into the ideal orbit. About two hours is the ideal orbit. And then it will circle the planet for one Martian year, which of course, as everybody knows, is two Earth years.
S. O'BRIEN: I did not know that.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I didn't know that.
M. O'BRIEN: There you go.
LEE: We do now.
S. O'BRIEN: Everybody knows.
Carrie, what's wrong with you?
M. O'BRIEN: You could have played along. You could have...
LEE: Learn something knew every day. That's why people watch this show, right?
S. O'BRIEN: It's two Earth years.
M. O'BRIEN: Of course. All right. What...
S. O'BRIEN: You're scaring us, man.
LEE: Hello.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk business news.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm a full give more (ph) today.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, you are. You're full.
M. O'BRIEN: Sorry.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk business news now. Amazon working on a deal.
LEE: Yes, the latest deal here, Amazon.com reportedly wanting to get into the movie downloading business. The company reportedly talking to Paramount, Universal Studies and Warner Brothers, which, like CNN, is a unit of Time Warner.
The deal would let customers go to Amazon.com, download movies and TV shows for an unspecified fee and then either watch them on their computers or, and here's the key, burn them and keep them on a DVD. A lot of downloading services out there, but none, as of yet, lets people actually keep or burn what they download.
This, of course, would be a big competitor to Apple's iTunes, if it all works out. Amazon is already one of the biggest sellers of DVD and VHS tapes. So we'll see if this actually works.
It makes sense, you know, they have a Web site that people already go to to look up movie data, things like that. So reported from "The New York Times" and "Wall Street Journal" so far.
S. O'BRIEN: Always trying to leverage that synergy.
LEE: Yes. Here's...
M. O'BRIEN: So I'm trying to figure out, if you're an attorney for Hell's Angels, what do you wear? Three-piece suit? Leather?
LEE: Probably -- you know probably some Hell's Angels actually are attorneys so they can, you know, use their...
M. O'BRIEN: I am -- you're right.
LEE: Right.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm being stereotypical, aren't I?
LEE: What you're getting at here is that Hell's Angels suing a unit of Walt Disney, Buena Vista Motion Pictures. They're putting out a film slated for April called "Wild Hogs." It stars John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence. It's about middle-aged wannabe bikers looking for adventure out on the open road. That comes from the studio. They soon encounter a chapter of Hell's Angels.
Hell's Angels is suing because they never approved the movie's use of their name and their symbol. And so they are suing for trademark infringement, which kind of makes sense, I think.
M. O'BRIEN: Do they have a trademark and everything and copyright and apparently -- and lawyers?
LEE: Well apparently they do. Apparently they do.
S. O'BRIEN: And we won't be showing it on our air because that would be trademark infringement.
LEE: I don't know how many members, probably thousands, though, so you can understand. They should get some of these guys, I think the original or real members, to star in the movie. I think that would be cool.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that would have made everything a little more calm.
M. O'BRIEN: So who wins, Mickey Mouse versus Hell's Angels? Just leave it at that, right?
LEE: We'll leave that for another day.
S. O'BRIEN: I can tell you that.
All right, thanks -- Carrie.
LEE: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.
Let's get right to Carol with a look at what's coming up on "Morning Coffee" this morning.
Good morning.
COSTELLO: They'll just have to change the name to Heck's Angels, which isn't as effective.
Coming up in "Morning Coffee," a kid who owes his college education to a baseball card. Wait until you hear what he found. And a total ban on junk food. Parents, rejoice, no more door-to-door candy sales at Christmas. Just a taste of your "Morning Coffee" next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Love me a little OutKast first thing in the morning.
Good morning. Welcome back, everybody.
M. O'BRIEN: It's a good way to start the Friday morning.
COSTELLO: You know Big Boi is in a movie?
M. O'BRIEN: What?
COSTELLO: Big Boi is going to be in a movie. I don't know which one.
M. O'BRIEN: Big Boy, the burger guy, you mean? What Big Boy?
S. O'BRIEN: No.
M. O'BRIEN: What are you talking about, I don't know?
COSTELLO: I have such a headache.
S. O'BRIEN: Miles,...
COSTELLO: I thought your middle name was funk.
M. O'BRIEN: You mean Big Boi...
S. O'BRIEN: ... I think we love you because you're really, really, really out of it.
M. O'BRIEN: You mean the...
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: ... rapper Big Boi.
COSTELLO: That's B-O-I, Boi.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I -- Boi.
M. O'BRIEN: I get it.
S. O'BRIEN: Carol.
M. O'BRIEN: I get it.
COSTELLO: I'm so...
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: That was so wrong. OK.
Well let's get right to "Morning Coffee" then, shall we? S. O'BRIEN: Shall we? Yes.
COSTELLO: We all know that America's kids are getting bigger, and not in a good way. But how far should you go to make sure they stay really trim? The school board in Santa Clara, California is considering an all-out ban on junk food. Sounds good enough, doesn't it?
M. O'BRIEN: Good idea.
COSTELLO: It's a good idea, but that ban would go much farther than just getting rid of soda vending machines and adding healthy snacks to the lunch menu. The ban extends to fund raising efforts, such as bake sales and candy sales at Christmas, which makes me rejoice, because everyone always hits me up.
S. O'BRIEN: I love the bake sales.
COSTELLO: Do you?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: Well they won't be selling candy in Santa Clara in the school system. It'll be like bran muffins.
M. O'BRIEN: Wrapping paper. They'll do the wrapping paper routine. You've gotten that? Yes.
COSTELLO: But this ban even extends to like birthday celebrations, like, in the classroom. And imagine the look on a child's face when he gets that bran muffin with a candle in it at his birthday.
S. O'BRIEN: That's so sad. I like the cupcake thing.
M. O'BRIEN: Have some carrots, Johnny (ph), on your birthday, enjoy.
S. O'BRIEN: Carrots with Ranch dressing.
COSTELLO: Yes, exactly.
Now to the world of high finance and baseball cards. Allow me to explain. Seventeen-year-old J.J. McCormick has been collecting baseball cards for years and years and years. He's in Jacksonville, Florida. Last year he found a one-of-a-kind gem in a special pack of baseball cards that he just happened to buy. It was a Babe Ruth card. It had a small swatch of the Bambino's uniform included on the back and stitched in was the Babe's name. Isn't that amazing?
M. O'BRIEN: That's pretty cool. That is pretty cool.
COSTELLO: That is a great find.
M. O'BRIEN: That's a keeper.
COSTELLO: You would think so, but no.
M. O'BRIEN: For a seller.
COSTELLO: Yes. Yes. This Florida teenager held onto the card for a while, but he finally broke down and he sold it on eBay. It went for $10,000.
M. O'BRIEN: I bet he could have gotten more.
S. O'BRIEN: I think he could have gotten more on eBay.
M. O'BRIEN: I don't know enough about cards. There could have been a bunch of those, who knows, but...
COSTELLO: I don't know.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: But $10,000 is a lot of money to this kid, because he is going to use the money for college, and he may, some day, open up his own card store.
S. O'BRIEN: Good for him.
M. O'BRIEN: Well that's good.
COSTELLO: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: At least he's going for -- you know he's not buying a boat or something, you know, he's using it for college. That's good.
COSTELLO: And I wanted to show folks something in "The New York Post" this morning, but I can't find the picture quickly enough.
S. O'BRIEN: Of what?
COSTELLO: But it's Osama bin Laden's niece. And you know she's trying to be a pop star?
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
COSTELLO: And of course her name is kind of like getting in the way. Well here it is. Here's a picture of her. She's in the bathtub wearing nothing but jewelry.
M. O'BRIEN: Being bin Laden.
COSTELLO: She wants to be taken seriously as an artist, which is why she's naked in a bathtub with just jewelry. And she is apparently shopping around a reality TV show.
S. O'BRIEN: About?
COSTELLO: About her quest for stardom and how difficult it's been with the moniker bin Laden. S. O'BRIEN: Bin Laden. Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: She could always change it.
COSTELLO: She changed a letter in the name.
M. O'BRIEN: I see. I think she's trying to bank on the name, that's just my take on it. You think?
COSTELLO: Really?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, just my thought.
S. O'BRIEN: You think?
M. O'BRIEN: I'm kind of slow this morning.
COSTELLO: OK.
S. O'BRIEN: You're terrible.
Thanks, Carol.
M. O'BRIEN: The morning's top stories are coming up straight- ahead.
Thank you, Carol.
The discovery of an animal that was thought to have been extinct for 11 million years. Is it a rat? Is it a squirrel? We don't know. Could be both.
And later, the ingredients for life possibly found in an unlikely spot in the solar system. It's a moon you never heard of. Stay with us and I'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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