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American Morning

Severe Weather; Police Station Attack; Moussaoui Trial; Hawaii Storms

Aired March 21, 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. Welcome, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Roberts, in for Miles O'Brien this week, good morning to you.

O'BRIEN: Take a look at these pictures. First full day of spring. You couldn't tell from the pictures as severe weather batters the Midwest, dropping more than a foot of snow in some places.

That same system is now moving east. It's bringing heavy rain to parts of the south and the mid-Atlantic. We've got the full forecast straight ahead this morning.

ROBERTS: Protests in the United States mark another year in Iraq, but insurgents there are putting another violent exclamation point on the struggle this morning. We're live with the latest from Baghdad.

And open all night, but is that a good thing? A closer look at our 24-hour world in our weeklong series "Sleepless in America."

O'BRIEN: We begin with severe weather this morning moving east now from The Plains States. Five deaths are blamed on the storm so far. Missouri still under an advisory, but a winter storm warning has been lifted in Nebraska. Central Nebraska really saw the worst of it. Twenty-five inches piled up on Monday. No surprise that the roads are the biggest problem. Stretches of I-80 closed during the day.

Ten inches of snow fell in Kansas, enough to close I-70 from Colby in western Kansas to the Colorado border. Crews are trying to get the road clear by this afternoon.

Gary Smallen (ph) of our affiliate WOWT is covering the storm in Omaha, Nebraska for us, and coming up in just a little bit.

A winter storm warning is up for parts of Indiana after an unusually mild winter. They are expecting their heaviest March snow since 2000, about six inches today. Some schools have already closed their doors this morning.

And that same slow-moving storm has finally moved out of Texas. Dallas now trying to recover from the flooding caused by eight inches of rain. Officials there say the storm will help ease the drought, but not reverse it.

Our severe weather expert, Chad Myers, at the CNN Center for us this morning.

Hey, -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Where do you want to begin in that list I just gave you?

MYERS: Well, I guess -- I mean most of the people actually were impacted in Dallas. That's where the biggest population was. And that is some very good news for the rain, bad news for the flooding, but about six inches of rain in Dallas over the past 72 hours. Now that rain has moved into Atlanta and points eastward.

The snow was back here in Nebraska. And, man, did it come down yesterday. And it's still coming down across the quad cities, Moline, now to Indianapolis. And you're going to have an ugly day from Indianapolis over to Cincinnati, right through Dayton and Columbus, right along that I-70 corridor. That's where the winter storm warnings are.

Look at some of the numbers from Greeley, Nebraska at 25 inches of new snow. And then maybe the towns you have heard of, Grand Island, Hastings and Kearney, 20 to 20.7, 17.5 inches of snow.

Here is what's coming up for the next 24 hours, it really loses a lot of its intensity. It's not going to be moving as slowly and it spreads that stretch of snow there right across Cincinnati and just south of it into Salem, Indiana and the like.

The rest of the country, though, a couple of light rain showers this morning across parts of Georgia. But some of those showers could be severe later on today, just briefly severe, before the front moves offshore. Snow, obviously, stretching across the Ohio Valley. And another storm system coming into the Pacific Northwest. Salt Lake City, you get snow. Rain all the way from San Francisco on up into Seattle.

More to come in a little bit. We'll look at Hawaii in the next half-hour.

ROBERTS: The winter is still hanging on.

Thanks, Chad.

In Iraq this morning, a deadly siege on a police headquarters. At least 15 officers were killed and some 30 suspected terrorists were freed in the operation.

CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is live for us in Baghdad.

Nic, can you tell us what happened there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, that siege took place about 65 miles northeast of Baghdad in the town of Muqdadiya, a heavily Sunni neighborhood. We are told by police that about 100 insurgents stormed the police headquarter. They fired rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine gun fire. They killed 10 Iraqi policemen, wounded -- killed 15 Iraqi policemen, wounded 4 others.

Now in the gun battle, we're told that 10 insurgents were killed, 16 wounded. But what the insurgents were able to do in that gun battle was release more than 30 detainees, most of them believed to be insurgents from the lockup inside that police headquarters. Twenty vehicles destroyed in the attack. We're told many of those police vehicles from the town of Muqdadiya -- John.

ROBERTS: Nic, much of the violence in the past couple of days has been aimed towards Iraqi police. How vulnerable are those forces at checkpoints and the stations?

ROBERTSON: They are vulnerable. They ride around generally in soft-skin vehicles. At their checkpoints, they might have body armor and an AK-47. At their headquarters, they would likely have concrete gates, concrete pillars around their gates to provide some defense.

Muqdadiya, where this happened, is an interesting place, in as much as -- and I visited it late last year. It is an area where the battle space, as the U.S. military likes to describe it here, was going to be handed over to the Iraqi Army, to Iraqi security forces, so that they would have control over their area. By now that was due happen. It appears once that has happened, here in this area at least, that the police are vulnerable to a large-scale attack like this -- John.

ROBERTS: All right. We'll check back with you a little bit later on, as always. Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thanks.

Protests continue from coast to coast across America as the war in Iraq now enters its fourth year.

In San Francisco, police arrested 17 people at a protest demanding that the prisons in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay be shut down.

In Cleveland, a thin line of about 150 protesters demonstrated outside as President Bush spoke about the war in Iraq at a downtown hotel. There were no arrests there.

Music from REM there in New York City where giant peace symbols on stage and an anti-war concert called "Bring Them Home Now." Headliners included activist Cindy Sheehan, her son was killed in Iraq, as well as actress Susan Sarandon who will play her in an upcoming movie.

O'BRIEN: A CNN "Security Watch" this morning to tell you about. Prosecutors back in court in the sentencing trial of al Qaeda member Zacarias Moussaoui. But when testimony resumes in just a couple of hours, some unexpected witnesses are going to take the stand.

CNN Justice correspondent Kelli Arena has our report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Some new government witnesses will be screened by the judge this morning. They are possible replacements for witnesses who were tainted by Carla Martin.

Carla Martin is the government attorney who is accused of trying to coach aviation experts who were supposed to testify at the trial. Last week, the judge ruled that the government could present new witness who had no contact with Martin. And it's those individuals who are here today.

Yesterday, the jury heard from the FBI agent who arrested and interrogated Moussaoui. Harry Samit told jurors that he was stopped at every turn by FBI headquarters as he was trying to investigate Moussaoui. He says that he was pretty much convinced from the beginning that Moussaoui was a terrorist who wanted to hijack airplanes, but says that his supervisor stopped him from getting warrants to search his belongings.

Now Samit's testimony is very important, because the government argues that if Moussaoui had told the truth about all that he knew, the FBI might have been able to stop the September 11 attacks. But the defense says, regardless of what Moussaoui said, the FBI would never have been able to act in time.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Alexandria, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: You want to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

ROBERTS: Mayor Ray Nagin is out with a new blueprint for rebuilding New Orleans, but it comes with a huge warning for folks who want to come back to the city. That's ahead.

O'BRIEN: Kind of an odd proposal there.

Also ahead this morning, we're going to tell you about our special series. It's called "Sleepless in America." Today we're taking a look at how this country has become the one that's open 24/7.

ROBERTS: Plus, incredible videotape of a cat that must really have nine lives. Only eight of those left now after this.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Somebody clean that window.

ROBERTS: Please. It looks like it's been raining all night, but it hasn't.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, no, it hasn't. It's just a little...

ROBERTS: Nice outside in New York today. Still a little chilly, though.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Spring is here, kind of, sort of.

ROBERTS: Maybe.

O'BRIEN: Let's get right to Carol. She's got a look at the top stories this morning.

Hey, Carol, good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Some daffodils are up. That's a good sign.

ROBERTS: Yes, but they're frozen now.

O'BRIEN: I was going to say, are those real?

COSTELLO: Well they're frozen, they'll last longer.

Hey, good morning, everyone.

Boosting security at the nation's chemical plants that will be the focus of a speech this morning for Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Secretary Chertoff is expected to say new government safeguards need to be put into place to better protect facilities from potential terror attacks. Critics have said the administration has not done enough on this issue. We'll listen for Chertoff's comments less than three hours from now.

Federal aviation experts are heading to the site of a deadly plane crash in the tourist town of Branson, Missouri. All four people aboard the small engine plane were killed. The plane was heading for Lubbock, Texas. The pilot reported problems shortly after takeoff. No word yet if bad weather may have played a part.

Andrea Yates' retrial on hold until the summer, the defense had asked for a delay because two key witnesses couldn't testify this week. Lawyers argued that going forward without their testimony would deny Yates a fair trial. She's accused of drowning her five children in a bathtub back in 2001. Yates' original conviction was overturned last year because of false testimony.

The Bird Flu is expected to make its way to the United States this year. Officials say they are stepping up testing and planning to get rid of any contaminated poultry. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt says people are not yet at risk from the virus.

Rebuild where you want, but rebuild at your own risk. That is the message from the New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin. He threw out recommendations from his own advisers to limit rebuilding in New Orleans, but warned that some areas in low-lying parts of the city are still vulnerable to flooding. And talk about having nine lives. Take a look at these pictures. There's a cat in the tree. This cat is -- 80 feet this cat fell. And, as you can see, it kind of like landed on its back. Here it is in slow motion, I think. So you see the cat. It's been up there for a couple of days. It's dehydrated.

It falls from the tree. And there you can see it, actually, its fast descent down to the ground. It wants to land on its feet and it lands on its back. And then it pops over to its feet and it runs off. And the cat is perfectly fine this morning. This happened in South Carolina. Do you want to look at it again?

Hey, Chad, let's get to you now.

MYERS: All right, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys.

O'BRIEN: You know who is in Hawaii, right?

MYERS: Andy Serwer is in Hawaii.

O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer is in Hawaii. He's on vacation with the family. That must be fun.

ROBERTS: Timing is everything, isn't it?

O'BRIEN: Well you said a couple of days where it hasn't been a lot of rain.

Let's check in with Andy. He joins us by phone.

Good morning.

MYERS: No.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning you guys.

O'BRIEN: Wakey (ph), wakey.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He can't stay away. He just loves AMERICAN MORNING so much.

O'BRIEN: Man, how is your vacation going? How is the weather, -- Andy?

SERWER: Well, listen you guys, it in fact poured the first day or so. We were really experiencing those torrential rains. It was like someone opened up a spigot. You know it's not just like a tropical shower in the afternoon, it was pouring. I'm on the big island where the damage has been, you know, less than on Kauai and some of the other islands; but still, it was really bad.

Yesterday, however, things seemed to be drying off a little bit. I'm trying to not talk too loud so as not to jinx it.

ROBERTS: Right. Andy, I mean look at the bright side, the greens are soft and hold, right?

SERWER: Yes, good golf day after, John, you're absolutely right there. But you know it's really a rain phobia here. It's top of the line. It's what everyone is talking about, because, of course, you know tourists are concerned and the people who work here in the tourist industry are very concerned as well.

O'BRIEN: And what's the forecast looking like? You said two days of dry so far.

MYERS: Right.

O'BRIEN: But what do you think ahead for Andy?

Andy, are you there for a week or two weeks?

SERWER: I'm here through the weekend, so...

O'BRIEN: OK.

SERWER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: All right, so can he salvage his vacation or not, -- Chad?

MYERS: Yes, it looks pretty good. I mean it is Hawaii. It rains in Hawaii, but it is still paradise.

So I mean, Andy, I guess you are right about there somewhere north of Kona. But as the rain comes in here, it's down along the volcano. So maybe today would not be the day to go down and see the Puoo (ph) vent, but maybe the next couple of days will be dry. And then it looks like Thursday, Friday really will be wet again for you. But, like you said, golf is good, right, because the greens are all nice and spongy.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: It's still paradise.

SERWER: Yes, true.

O'BRIEN: Literally spongy.

SERWER: I mean the first day, you know the weather is very localized, as Chad is saying, you know little cells blowing in and out and you see them all the time. So I'm hopeful it's like that. And we went up to the observatory last night, Chad, on the top of Onaka (ph),...

MYERS: Excellent.

SERWER: ... which is just gorgeous. And there were stars out. So I'm hoping that the clear weather is going to continue for at least a little bit. But you're right, they are talking about more rain coming in. And they can really not afford that given how saturated the ground is.

ROBERTS: Wow.

O'BRIEN: The pictures.

MYERS: So you found the Saddle Road?

SERWER: Yes, exactly.

MYERS: And drove it back at night?

SERWER: Incredible drive up there. It's just amazing.

MYERS: It is.

SERWER: Hang on to the steering wheel with two hands.

MYERS: It actual is. All right guys.

O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, continue to have a nice vacation, as much as you can, considering the weather.

Thank you, -- Chad.

MYERS: You got it.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Andy, for getting up with us this morning.

SERWER: Muhala (ph) to you guys. OK, thanks.

ROBERTS: I sure hope it dries out a little bit. Sure. Hope it dries out a little bit for you and everybody else on the island, too.

O'BRIEN: Gosh.

LEE: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: Keeping all and your kids inside the hotel room.

LEE: Ordering room service after room service.

ROBERTS: Yes, because we make light of how it improves the golf courses, but it causes some serious problems.

O'BRIEN: It's huge, yes, huge problems.

LEE: Yes, absolutely.

ROBERTS: Let's take a quick look at business news now. The new Federal Reserve chairman had some confusing things to say on Wall Street.

Here to explain, Carrie Lee. She's got our "Financial News Update" for us this morning.

Good morning.

LEE: Thanks, John.

Well you know former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan spoke in a very cryptic way. People were wondering if Ben Bernanke might be a little more straightforward. Well, a little bit, perhaps.

He spoke in New York to an economic group last night, the first speech to Wall Street as Fed chairman. And basically what he was talking about is the fact that the yield, the money you get on a long- term bond investment, is the same as short-term. Typically you invest your money for the longer term, you should get more back, right? Well that's not the way it's been working. He did say, though, that that doesn't necessarily signal an economic slowdown. So some reassuring words there.

Of course Wall Street trying to look for any clues about interest rate hikes. The Fed is meeting next week. Bernanke heading that meeting -- that two-day meeting for the first time. Wall Street expecting another quarter-point hike. What happens after that, well that's the big question. But growth has been slowing. Inflation is under control. So some people thinking well maybe after May we might not see many more rate hikes. They do look at a number of factors, though.

In terms of stock action yesterday, markets were pretty flat, and this morning they are looking a bit mixed as well. But remember we have the Dow and S&P closing in on five-year highs. And investors taking a breather yesterday after a four-day rally, so a little bit of a mixed session so far early on this morning.

ROBERTS: So constructive ambiguity on the part of Bernanke?

LEE: Yes, you know he's using words like global savings glut (ph), global equilibrium, interest rates, you know, kind of confusing a little bit.

O'BRIEN: And everyone is like, huh?

LEE: But the bottom line, he says that this -- that the long- term bond does not presage a significant economic slowdown. So if you have to take anything away from it that's the thing to take away.

O'BRIEN: Some reassuring words.

LEE: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: All right, Carrie, thank you very much. We'll check in with you a little bit later.

LEE: OK.

O'BRIEN: Let's get to Carol. She's got a look at what's ahead in "Morning Coffee." What you got for us?

COSTELLO: Well, coming up, it looks like one Farewell Tour just wasn't enough for Barbara Streisand. She's back. Plus, how Amazon.com found itself right smack in the middle of an abortion debate. Your cup of "Morning Coffee" is coming your way next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Pictures from our affiliate KETV. Snowing, Omaha. Nebraska got 25 inches of snow in some parts. So more snow they do not need.

COSTELLO: Well, but it...

ROBERTS: Yes, that would be nice if it was the night before Christmas.

COSTELLO: That's true.

O'BRIEN: Yes, but it's not.

COSTELLO: But if you're going to get snow, you might as well get 25 inches, especially if you're going to get snow in the spring, so why not go for the gusto?

O'BRIEN: Right, you might as well set some records is what I always say.

COSTELLO: That's right.

ROBERTS: You know, what the heck, go big or go home, right?

COSTELLO: Right.

Hey, it's time for "Morning Coffee."

O'BRIEN: What you got?

COSTELLO: Well, let me tell you.

Amazon.com is apparently done taking sides in the abortion debate. Not that anyone at the company publicly did so in the first place, but an e-mailer pointed out to them that if you search the word abortion, you got a prompt asking if you were really looking for information on adoption. An Amazon spokeswoman says the question was based on technology and not human input. But now they have made a human change to the technology to avoid any further confusion.

ROBERTS: Did they have an explanation for how that happened?

O'BRIEN: Yes, that's...

COSTELLO: Well they actually say the same thing happens if you put in the word plague, comes back with a prompt asking you if you meant plaque. O'BRIEN: Well that's a spelling issue, right?

COSTELLO: Well abortion and adoption they say are very close.

O'BRIEN: Not that close.

COSTELLO: That's what -- I'm just saying what Amazon is saying.

ROBERTS: Plague and plaque are one letter away.

O'BRIEN: Plague and plaque, I mean.

COSTELLO: Abortion, adoption, OK. Well, anyway, that problem has been fixed.

O'BRIEN: That's their story and they're sticking to it.

COSTELLO: They're sticking to it, right.

O'BRIEN: OK.

ROBERTS: Right.

COSTELLO: If you missed Barbara Streisand's Farewell Tour, do not fret, you are getting another chance. That's right, she's doing it again. The "New York Post" reports Streisand is planning another Farewell Tour this fall. She last said goodbye to fans on stage six years ago. This Farewell Tour will reportedly stop in 20 cities with the best tickets going for $1,500 a pop.

O'BRIEN: Worth every dime.

COSTELLO: Wow! What's Babs getting out of the deal?

O'BRIEN: A lot.

COSTELLO: Two million bucks a concert.

ROBERTS: Which of course is why this is her second Farewell Tour.

COSTELLO: Yes, right.

ROBERTS: The Eagles have been making a fortune doing this since 1984, so.

COSTELLO: So why not Babs?

ROBERTS: Exactly.

COSTELLO: That's right.

Take a look at this picture. This is on the "New York Daily News." You can see that this is Hillary Clinton and she's dangling her husband, Bill Clinton, like a little puppet. I've been showing this picture around the newsroom this morning. ROBERTS: And she's got a little baton in her hands, too, like she's the conductor.

COSTELLO: Yes. So he's kind of like whipped, at least that's what it appears to me. So I was just wondering if this is a sign of things to come if she does run for president in 2008? Because, to me, it's kind of sexist, because I can't imagine Bob Dole dangling Elizabeth Dole like a little puppet or Dick Cheney dangling his wife like a little puppet.

ROBERTS: Yes, but flip it around the other way and can you imagine it?

COSTELLO: I can't. Bill Clinton dangling Hillary, no, I can't.

ROBERTS: No, no, no, no, Liddy hanging Bob Dole as a puppet or you know?

COSTELLO: But I can't. I can't imagine that either. I can't imagine that would ever be a caricature on the cover of a newspaper.

O'BRIEN: I think it's less sexist. And, wow, that is an ugly picture of Hillary Clinton and Bill, too.

ROBERTS: It's a very New York thing.

COSTELLO: Yes, it's -- I don't know, it's very interesting, because it -- I don't know, a lot of people had strong reactions to it but in different ways. So it should be a very interesting 2008, if, of course, Hillary Clinton decides to run.

O'BRIEN: That's a big if.

COSTELLO: Yes.

ROBERTS: I'd say it's pretty much guaranteed.

O'BRIEN: Yes, we'll see, no one talking yet.

All right, Carol, thank you.

We're going to take a look at the morning's top stories straight ahead, including Al Gore's political future. Find out what he has to say about a run for the White House in 2008. Plus, the good news is you can get anything at any time in this country. The bad news is, what's that doing to our sleep? Our special series, "Sleepless in America," is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING Quick News at cnn.com/am.

Still to come this morning, in a 24/7 world you can get virtually whatever you want day and night. You can even go work out at the gym around the corner here. It's a 24-hour-a-day gym. Is the convenience coming at the expense of our health? We'll take a look at our series "Sleepless in America" just ahead this morning.

ROBERTS: You know I saw this morning on my way in to work at -- I guess I left the hotel about 4:00 a.m., a 24-hour Starbucks. It's the first one I've seen. But apparently in Atlanta they've got one as well, so I mean you've got to cater to the client's hour, right?

O'BRIEN: Everything is open here in New York, certainly, 24 hours a day. We've got that series coming up.

ROBERTS: The 24-hour gym.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Relief comes quickly to Australians battered by a massive cyclone. Amazingly, no loss of life. How were they able to avoid an outcome like Hurricane Katrina?

Severe weather may be blamed for a tragedy in Texas. The roof of a crowded restaurant collapses. At least one person is dead.

And is our get anything any time mentality keeping us awake at night? We're going to take a look at how 24 hours may not be enough in a day in our special series "Sleepless in America."

ROBERTS: I always figured that I would have a great life if I could sleep, you know, three, four hours a night and just, you know, work and do whatever I needed to do for the rest of the 20 hours.

O'BRIEN: Yes, the whole sleep thing just kills all that time, doesn't it?

ROBERTS: Yes, it does.

O'BRIEN: If you could just cut sleep back to three hours, you'd be fine. See, I figure if they just extend the day to 28 hours, then I'd be good.

ROBERTS: Yes, there you go.

O'BRIEN: Work out just fine.

ROBERTS: Good idea.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Pete.

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