Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Panhandle on Alert; Grim Search; Milosevic Viewing

Aired March 16, 2006 - 06:00   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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Texas is burning. Raging wildfires now bearing down on six small towns and residents there being urged to get out. We'll have the very latest on this developing story.

M. O'BRIEN: The damage continues in Hawaii, more old dams in danger of bursting. A live report is ahead.

S. O'BRIEN: A damaging admission from the author of "The Da Vinci Code," his spoken words spell some big trouble for the written ones.

M. O'BRIEN: Some schools are paying students just to show up, so what lessons are they learning? A closer look this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: And Jessica Simpson snubs the president. Find out why the blond bombshell says no way to a Republican fund raiser.

M. O'BRIEN: We begin again in the Texas panhandle this morning where wind-driven fires continue, are still swallowing up huge swathes of the plains. The fires now bearing down on six towns. Officials urging people there to get out.

So far, 210 fires have burned up to 840,000 acres. And this morning, officials are worried the flames could cross over into Oklahoma.

Also today, Texas Governor Rick Perry will be out assessing the damage in the devastated region.

With more on the crews desperately trying to bring the fires under control, here is Mike Rosen with our affiliate KTBC in Austin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE ROSEN, KTBC-TV REPORTER (voice-over): Hundreds of miles from where Texas is burning and the Forest Service is calling the shots...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this thing up to date here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

ROSEN: ... the Texas National Guard is on 24/7 alert. LT. COL. DAVID MADDEN, TEXAS ARMY NATL. GUARD: And of course the main effort is up into here. We have dozer crews here and here.

ROSEN: The last of seven of the Army National Guard's bulldozers now in the panhandle got a DPS highway escort overnight to help dig a perimeter to stop the flames. These two Black Hawk helicopters, complete with giant water buckets, are stationed at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, as well as two Chinook helicopters near Dallas.

MADDEN: And the helicopters, their primary mission is to take care of this area in here.

ROSEN: In case fires erupt in north and central Texas while all Forest Service aircraft are committed to the panhandle.

MADDEN: We maintain situational awareness, the entire fire situation. We receive reports from the field, our engineer crews, our helicopter crews, et cetera.

ROSEN: It is here at Camp Mabry that the Guard oversees deployment, including flight plans and constantly monitors the weather, not only to anticipate fire conditions and where they might have to go, but also flying conditions.

C.W.O. FRANCISCO PERALES, TEXAS ARMY NATL. GUARD: Because if it gets beyond 35 knots for a Chinook, it can't start or stop and 45 for the U-860 (ph). So they're just -- they could receive damage to their rotor systems.

ROSEN: So they know whether it's even safe to send the help that is so desperately needed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: That report from Mike Rosen of our affiliate KTBC in Austin, Texas -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: In Oklahoma, at least 14 wildfires are burning. One of the biggest has reached the outskirts of Oklahoma City. Three thousand acres have been lost there. For now, firefighters say it is safe, though, for folks to return home.

Let's get right to the latest forecast from Chad. He's at the Weather Center this morning.

Hey, Chad, good morning to you. How is it looking for folks there?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Looks better today in the panhandle, not so good in Kansas and Oklahoma. There was a wind shift overnight. There was a cold front that came by. The winds yesterday were all from the south.

Now you see which way the winds are coming from. The little pointer coming down from parts of Nebraska through Kansas. That is a cold, dry air mass. Dry is the problem. These people need wet air mass. They need rain. And if you notice, the rain is, and snow, way up to the north. There will be six inches of snow in Chicago today.

But the cold front may help firefighters a little bit, maybe try to push the flames back toward the areas that have already burned. They don't burn again once they've burned once. But the firefighters have to be very careful on that wind shift when it does come.

Back to you guys.

M. O'BRIEN: Hey, Chad, before you get away,...

MYERS: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: ... the situation in Hawaii, the rain going to continue there?

MYERS: You know I just looked at it. The rain has kind of been sparse around there, but there is no let up in the threat of rain until Saturday morning. So you know these showers come and they go. The waves of moisture, they run up the hillsides. They are mountains. That's what the Hawaiian Islands are, they are mountains. The air goes up those mountains and then it just rains and then the water runs off. That's what's been happening in Kauai and the big island, too.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Chad.

That combination of heavy rain and some very old earthen dams has made for a very serious situation there. Two bodies now recovered in the wake of that dam collapse we've been telling you about. Lots of concern about some of these other old earthen dams, some of them upwards of 100 years old, built in and around sugar plantations.

These pictures were taken while Hawaii's Governor, Linda Lingle, flew over the area on Wednesday. Along to help and assess the damage was Hawaii's State Senator Gary Hooser, who joins us now on the phone from Honolulu.

Mr. Hooser, good to have you with us. What did you see on that tour?

SEN. GARY HOOSER (D), STATE SENATOR KAUAI: Well, Miles, I saw a lot of really severe damage of the valleys and homes and a lot of destruction and other dams, also, that looked to be at risk.

(CROSSTALK)

M. O'BRIEN: How concerned -- yes.

HOOSER: Go ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: How concerned are you about these other dams? Tell us about that.

HOOSER: Well I'm very concerned. You know we have about 60 dams like this on Kauai and many, many more throughout the state, and they're old. The one that burst that caused all this damage was built in 1890. This is an agricultural community. And it's in transition to more and more development, high-end luxury homes, that type of thing.

And some of those dams look very, very full and waterlogged. And so we're having inspectors go up right away to take really close looks at them to make sure that they're not also at risk of bursting and causing more damage.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. We see some live radar, by the way, on the left-hand side for our viewers at home, giving you a sense of some of the rain that can persist in that area. And as the rain continues, you worry about these other dams, I guess the real question is how much warning will people have if some of these dams are about to give way? Do you have a system in place to get people out of harm's way?

HOOSER: That I think is a problem. There has been no system. The people now, of course, are very, very much aware of the problems. Most people living in low-lying areas and in the path of these potential dams, at least today, are aware of it. But we need to implement a much better warning system. You know this is a national problem, also. Apparently there is over 3,000 dams nationwide in small rural areas like this that are in similar situations.

M. O'BRIEN: What's interesting...

HOOSER: You know my first concern, of course, is to continue the search and rescue efforts of the seven people that are missing and support their families, as well as insure the integrity of the dams that are already there.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, and why don't you bring us up to date on that search and rescue effort.

HOOSER: You know there's seven people missing, young and old, men and women, and two bodies have been found. A very sad, sad time here for our people in Kauai. We're a small community. In Kauai we're a family, but the word is ohana, and so it really affects the community out there on the north shore.

M. O'BRIEN: Senator Gary Hooser, who is a State Senator from that part of the world, having just toured that area, we wish you well, and certainly hope the rest of those dams hold. Thank you for your time.

HOOSER: Yes, thank you very much for your interest.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush says he believes Iran is America's greatest threat and reserves the right to a preemptive strike to protect the country. The White House National Security Strategy Report comes out today, talks about what might happen if diplomacy fails to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons.

Quote -- "If necessary, however, under long-standing principles of self defense, we do not rule out the use of force before attacks occur -- even if uncertainty remains as to the time and the place the enemy's attack." And more gruesome discoveries to report this morning in Iraq, officials say 25 bodies were found throughout Baghdad on Wednesday, all had been shot and stripped of identification. And that brings the total number of bodies found since Sunday to more than 160.

With no signs of violence subsiding, an Iraqi Parliament was sworn in just a few hours ago. The 275 members now face the tough job of selecting a new government. That includes a president, two vice presidents, then pick a prime minister.

Coming up in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, we're going to talk to the Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.

M. O'BRIEN: The body of Slobodan Milosevic is on its way to be displayed for public viewing in Belgrade today. The former Yugoslavian president died Saturday while on trial for war crimes in The Hague. There was a hero's welcome when his body arrived back in Serbia, but many still in the Balkans feel that justice has been cheated by his death.

Alessio Vinci live in Belgrade with more on that.

Alessio, just describe the scene and the emotions for us.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.

Well, I'm standing outside what is known now as the Museum of Revolution, formerly known as The Museum, of the 25th of May after the date, the birth date of Joseph Tito, the Yugoslav leader that ruled this country for 40 years after the end of World War II.

This is where the body of Mr. Milosevic is expected to arrive here momentarily and he will be displayed for public view for two days, today and tomorrow, before being carried to his hometown of Pozarevac, it's about 50 miles south from here, for his burial.

You can see here behind me there is already a small crowd of several hundred people. We do expect many more to arrive throughout this day. This museum -- we understand inside this museum, by the way, we understand there is a Rolls Royce that the Queen of England had given Tito when he was the president of this country.

And interesting enough, right to the right of this museum is the villa where Milosevic used to live after being deposed from power in 2000 and where he lived right before he was arrested and eventually transferred to the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague. This a site of an intense standoff between the Serb police and Mr. Milosevic who, at that time, even threatened to kill himself because he didn't want to give himself up to the Serb authorities.

Miles, back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Alessio, how to handle Milosevic's funeral has been a difficult issue and reflects a lot of the divisions which remain there. Tell us a little bit about that. VINCI: That is correct. I mean you have to understand that the people who rule this country today are those very same people, those very same leaders who ousted him from power back in 2000 in that sort of bloodless revolution that took place here in Belgrade. And of course they do not want to recognize or honor him as the former president of this country, because they believe, of course, he is responsible for so much tragedy that has affected so many people, not just here in Serbia, but throughout this region.

So they, the Serb officials, have refused to give him and to organize a state funeral and they don't want to have anything to do with whatever is being organized here. So everything that you see here behind me has been organized by officials from the Socialist Party who are organizing this display. They expect tens of thousands of people to be here throughout the next two days, and then eventually more and many more on Saturday for a big rally here in Belgrade.

Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Alessio Vinci, thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING, a tense situation to tell you about in France. Tens of thousands of high school and college students are fighting for the right to work.

M. O'BRIEN: Then the federal government finally decides if it's going to pursue fines over Janet Jackson's Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction. Took them a while to figure that one out, didn't it?

S. O'BRIEN: It's kind of been a while.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: They're still thinking about it.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Also, is it the ultimate way to get kids to stay in school or is it basically just bribery? The debate over paying for attendance in classes. That story is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: You're looking at a huge protest in Paris this morning, tens of thousands of French students demanding repeal of a proposed new labor law. The students are getting support from French labor unions. The law allows employers to fire young employees within their first two years on the job without giving a reason.

S. O'BRIEN: Thus, all the marching. Can understand that.

A lot to tell you about in addition to that story, let's get right to Carol. She's in the newsroom for us with an update.

Hey, -- Carol. CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Good morning all of you.

Did Saddam Hussein have weapons of mass destruction? The Bush administration is making its case with the release of thousands of newly declassified documents. The first reports were made public on Wednesday. They are on the Web site for the military's Foreign Military Studies Office. The release will continue over the next several months.

Prosecutors in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial say the judge's decision makes their case impossible. They want the judge to reconsider throwing out half of their key witnesses. Prosecutors filed a motion calling the order terribly excessive. No word on whether the judge will hold a hearing today on that motion. The trial is set to resume again on Monday.

The man who kidnapped, raped and killed Carlie Brucia is on death row. A Florida judge followed a jury's recommendation and sentenced Joseph Smith to jail. He showed no emotion as the verdict was read. Surveillance video caught Smith abducting Brucia outside of a car wash back in 2004. Carlie Brucia would have turned 14 today. This would have been her birthday.

Police in central California looking for a motive in a shooting at a Denny's restaurant. Witnesses say a man with two handguns opened fire into a lunchtime crowd. He killed two people and wounded two others and then he turned the gun on himself.

Also in California, police say a deadly crash on a sidewalk may have been caused by an argument. The vehicle jumped a curb, killing a teacher and wounding eight students. The driver, a woman, has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and hit and run. She claims her boyfriend grabbed the steering wheel during an argument.

Former FEMA Chief Michael Brown deliberately ignored a new national disaster plan in the wake of Katrina. That's according to the result of a new White House investigation cited in "The Washington Post." The report also claims Brown circumvented his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. It's part of a House report set to be released later today.

Six more towns in the corner of the Texas panhandle on alert for possible evacuations. A massive wildfire heading their way. More than 860,000 acres have been destroyed since Sunday. A red flag warning also in effect for parts of Oklahoma. That means conditions are ripe for a fast-moving wildfire.

Chad, tell us it's going to get better out there.

MYERS: It will today, although the weekend there may be some showers, but with those showers may come some wind.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thank you very much. Good morning, -- Carrie Lee.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Friday eve.

S. O'BRIEN: That's an optimistic woman, isn't it?

LEE: I know. Just trying to be optimistic at this hour.

M. O'BRIEN: I think of it as slump day.

LEE: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: Thursday is my hardest day.

LEE: Really?

S. O'BRIEN: Really?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, it is. Friday I can power through.

LEE: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: Thursday the sleep deficit catches up, but...

LEE: All right.

S. O'BRIEN: You're on vacation next week. We don't even want to hear from you.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm powering through.

LEE: Yes, halfway there, yes. OK.

S. O'BRIEN: And why is the FCC still talking about Janet Jackson's breast?

LEE: We're still talking about it, I know. Five hundred fifty thousand dollars, that's the fine and they're basically upholding it. The FCC upholding its fine against 20 CBS stations for the Janet Jackson incident. And we all know about this. The term wardrobe malfunction...

M. O'BRIEN: And there we go.

LEE: ... now embedded in our psyches, probably in Webster's as well at this point. CBS continues to disagree that the incident was legally indecent. But FCC statement says that the station consciously and willfully failed to take action to prevent the broadcast of the material.

Now this is kind of a precursor to a $3.6 million fine the FCC is proposing against CBS-owned stations for an episode that was aired for the show "Without a Trace." I don't know if you've ever seen that. It's a crime show.

S. O'BRIEN: Of course. LEE: And basically a wave of rulings against 49 programs here.

What the FCC is trying to do is step up and have its standards run across the board more. Programming from 6:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. rulings here pretty strict. Some other things in question, 'Surreal Life 2," there was a scene with blurred nudity and also some use of the four letter "S" word. You know what I'm talking about. We're not allowed to say that.

S. O'BRIEN: OK.

LEE: So FCC trying to step things up here.

M. O'BRIEN: Any day now they'll come in with a fine on that Elvis appearance on the Sullivan show. It's coming.

LEE: Retroactive. And then you're going to have to...

M. O'BRIEN: It's coming. Well it takes them a little while to...

S. O'BRIEN: Don't be so pushy.

LEE: Retroactive, plus interest, right, from the 1950's?

M. O'BRIEN: That's right. That's right.

LEE: It'll be a billion dollars.

M. O'BRIEN: They're not speedy.

S. O'BRIEN: More than like the true media correspondent, retroactive, plus interest.

Carrie, thanks.

LEE: By the way, Dow and S&P at four-and-a-half year highs. S&P crossed 1,300 for the first time since 2001.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, we need to have you start bringing in doughnuts or something when that happens, right?

LEE: Sounds good to me.

S. O'BRIEN: I mean we do that with Andy in the morning, too.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, show us the doughnuts, right. All right.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. OK, tomorrow for sure.

LEE: OK.

S. O'BRIEN: Carrie...

LEE: If it were only that easy.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

LEE: Sure.

S. O'BRIEN: Well Liza Minnelli, as we all know, has been married many times. I think it's four times she's been married. But the entertainer who is...

M. O'BRIEN: I lost track, but I believe you.

S. O'BRIEN: The last one was a real headline maker, if you know what I mean. But she's, of course, won all kinds of awards. Says she has reached her limit. That's it. She's done.

M. O'BRIEN: She's done. She's...

S. O'BRIEN: That's what she said, I'm done.

M. O'BRIEN: But she's not completely done with marriage. Listen to what she told Larry King last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZA MINNELLI, ENTERTAINER: Here's what I've learned. Larry, I've learned that I'm never getting married again. There is no good reason for it. So I intend to have a 17-year-old, whose name I don't know, right. I intend to have a 35-year-old who is an intellectual and marvelous to talk to. And I intend to also have about the guy who is about 93 with one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel. What else can I say?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: That's a strategy. Forget marriage, just have a range of guys.

M. O'BRIEN: What do you call a male harem, is it a harem?

S. O'BRIEN: I don't -- marem (ph)

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, marem.

Anyway, you can watch "LARRY KING LIVE" every night 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

And which leads us well to "Morning Coffee," I think, doesn't it?

Carol Costello, good morning, again.

COSTELLO: How can I possibly follow that?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.

COSTELLO: Hey, you know how members of Congress get all hot and bothered about the corrupt nature of Hollywood? Well forget about that, because these boots are made for walking right to Capitol Hill. Jessica Simpson gets set to wow your congressional representative. And yikes, she snubbed President Bush in the process. "Morning Coffee" is coming your way next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Don't know what that was. The sun rising coming through the windows right out there. We don't have a window here.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Nice work, Brad. Good job over there.

S. O'BRIEN: You rock, Brad.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. I'm awake now.

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

M. O'BRIEN: Good to see you.

S. O'BRIEN: "Morning Coffee."

COSTELLO: It is time for "Morning Coffee."

S. O'BRIEN: They only gave you a paper cup today.

COSTELLO: Well you can see my role on this show, I get a paper cup.

M. O'BRIEN: The cup...

COSTELLO: That's OK, because it is time for "Morning Coffee."

America will hear about the nation's new security plan today and Iran will be on the agenda. But the heck with that, Jessica Simpson will be on The Hill. Yes, she will meet with your very willing congressman to talk Operation Smile. You know the international effort to provide surgery to needy kids with facial deformities. She's now the head spokesperson, Jessica Simpson.

But that's not the juicy part, no. Jessica is dissing the RNC. Apparently her boots are not made for walking to a Republican fund raiser, even if she gets to meet face to face with Mr. Bush himself. Her people say she'd love to meet the president to talk about Operation Smile but not at a Republican fund raiser. She doesn't want to turn her career into a political thing.

S. O'BRIEN: That actually, I think, makes kind of sense.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: I mean, although other stars...

COSTELLO: Well, the Republicans say Bono does it all the time...

S. O'BRIEN: Right,...

COSTELLO: ... so why can't Jessica Simpson?

So there you have it, a little tiff between Jessica Simpson and President Bush.

S. O'BRIEN: I...

M. O'BRIEN: I suspect it'll be standing room only wherever she appears in the...

S. O'BRIEN: Whatever congressman's offices she's in.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Bipartisan support you might say.

COSTELLO: I think she'll have plenty of that.

M. O'BRIEN: Both sides of the aisle, if you know what I mean.

COSTELLO: That's right.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Because, as you know, while the fine people of our nation's Capitol will be gawking at Jessica Simpson, Sharon Stone wants some of that. She says Hollywood erases women after 40. That's why she's glad...

M. O'BRIEN: She looks fine. That's ridiculous.

COSTELLO: She's 40 and she looks fantastic.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Anyway, she says but that's why she's glad she made "Basic Instinct 2" in Britain...

M. O'BRIEN: That poster.

COSTELLO: ... because there you can be 48 years old and walk down the street and men give you the old once-over. They whistle at you. To maintain those lusty stares...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, but how do the men look? What do they look like? I mean she didn't say anything about that.

COSTELLO: I think some British men are...

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Some British men are very attractive, are you kidding?

S. O'BRIEN: Hi, Hugh Grant, hello.

COSTELLO: Anyway. Hello.

S. O'BRIEN: Exhibit A.

COSTELLO: Any who, to maintain those lusty stares, however, Stone does travel with quite an entourage, nine people, including her publicist, her makeup artist and her hair extension person. She has a separate person to just...

S. O'BRIEN: I travel with my hair extension person.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I've got a hair weave guy. I do, always with me.

COSTELLO: Really?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: I got a paper cup.

S. O'BRIEN: They do a really good job.

M. O'BRIEN: Isn't it nice?

S. O'BRIEN: It's so real looking.

M. O'BRIEN: This morning's top stories are straight ahead as we continue to weave our broadcast. Dan Brown's huge admission on the stand at "The Da Vinci Code" trial. And how you can purchase something George Clooney took home on Oscar night. A little stardust there. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com