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American Morning
DHS Porn Bust; Saddam Hussein on Trial; Red River Rises
Aired April 05, 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.
We have a story breaking last night, a high-ranking official in the Department of Homeland Security busted in a child porn sting.
M. O'BRIEN: Water, water everywhere. In the central U.S., the Red River reaches its crest. We're live with the latest on that story.
And out west, a levee break in northern California sends hundreds running for higher ground there. Could be a long time before they can return home.
S. O'BRIEN: In an upscale Connecticut community, police have a real life murder mystery on their hands. It comes on the heels of another murder in the family. More on this story ahead.
And this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm 70 years old. I want to come home. If I've got to die, let me die in New Orleans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: More than seven months after Hurricane Katrina, some New Orleans residents are literally forcing their way back into their homes. We'll tell you about this latest standoff this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: A Homeland Security official is nabbed in an online sting as he made propositions to what he thought was a 14-year-old girl. DHS Deputy Press Secretary Brian Doyle arrested for using a computer to seduce what turned out to be a Florida police officer.
CNN's Brianna Keilar reports from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Police arrested Brian Doyle at his home last night in Silver Spring, Maryland. They say that back in mid-March he began a sexually explicit conversation with who he thought was a 14-year-old girl. In actuality, police say, it was an undercover detective from Polk County, Florida, posing as that 14-year-old girl. Police say that when they arrested him last night, they caught him red-handed, that he was online with that undercover detective. They say that Brian Doyle right off the bat did tell this 14-year-old girl, the decoy, that he was a deputy press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security.
And some of the other things that they say Doyle did, they say in addition to having sexually explicit conversations that he tried to get this decoy to engage in sexual acts. That he also sent her hardcore pornographic video clips and that he sent non-sexual pictures of himself, including one in which his DHS security badge was clearly visible. He also gave the decoy his phone numbers to his home, to his office and also to his government-issued cell phone.
Polk County Sheriff's Department right now saying that Doyle confessed during an interview with police and that he has waived extradition to Florida. Right now, Doyle is in the Montgomery County jail in Maryland waiting to be extradited.
And the Department of Homeland Security has issued a response. They say that they take these allegations very seriously and that they are going to fully cooperate with the investigation.
Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Later on AMERICAN MORNING, we'll talk with the Polk County Florida sheriff, ask him how this Internet sting was conducted.
That story broke on the same day that a young victim of child pornographers was testifying on The Hill. Justin Berry told House members how he was drawn into a sorted pornographic business on the Web. He complained not enough is being done to stop the people who lured him in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN BERRY, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY VICTIM: For five years, beginning when I was 13 years old, I operated a pornographic Web site, featuring images of myself loaded onto the Internet by Web cams. I was paid by more than a thousand men to strip naked, masturbate and even have sex with female prostitutes while on camera.
I was an honor student and I was class president. My mom had used all of the latest child protective software. She checked what was happening in my room. She occasionally took away my computer keyboard, but she was no match for the child predators.
Efforts to prosecute these people are riddled with mistakes in bureaucracy. Unless something changes, hundreds or even thousands of children will be lost forever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Last year, Berry provided names, credit card numbers and other details on 1,500 potential pedophiles. So far only one person has been arrested, though -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Prosecutors in Baghdad are getting their first chance to cross-examine Saddam Hussein today. He began by accusing the current government of torture and deaths of thousands of people.
Aneesh Raman is on the phone from the courthouse in Baghdad.
Aneesh, good morning.
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning to you.
The court, just moments ago, went into a lunch recess, just before the prosecution wrapping up its cross-examination of Saddam Hussein. They say after this recess they will play some video in the courtroom.
Just before the break, though, a heated exchange between the prosecutors and Saddam. He was asked whether he condones the death, the execution of children. Saddam said he would never execute any child of Iraq. Prosecutors allege that among the 140 individuals who were executed after the failed assassination attempt on Saddam in July 1982, among them were young boys in their early teens.
After that, after Saddam said he would never execute a child, documents were put forward by the prosecutors, I.D. cards showing the children they allege were killed. Saddam saying that it was all hostile propaganda and that all the documents are fake -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a question about the proceedings, twice the microphone that Saddam Hussein was in front of was cut by the judge. Do you know why?
RAMAN: Yes, essentially Saddam embarks repeatedly on political speeches. The court has said that he has to stick to the case at hand. Saddam contends that politics is mixed in all of this. He said, at one point, that a thousand people had been killed by the current ministry of interior, saying that their workers are also involved in the court process. He has questioned again the legitimacy of the court, which he's done from the beginning.
He also got in a heated exchange with the judge, saying that he was biased, that the judge was charged in absentia by Saddam. The judge had to essentially stop proceedings, explain himself, saying that he was a lawyer that was not sentenced by Saddam's regime. So twice it was essentially cut to keep him on track -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Aneesh, final question for you, why would Saddam refuse to give a sample of his signature when he was asked by the judge?
RAMAN: Well, he was asked at the start of today's session. We understand the court met yesterday and other defendants refused to give their signature. They want the signatures to compare them to the documents. Saddam said, in typical Saddam fashion, the he was no ordinary civilian, he was Saddam Hussein, the President of Iraq. They could find his signature on any of the documents that they have in the memos. That he was simply above that procedure.
At times, he has acknowledged that all of the documents bear his signatures. At other times, he's contradicted himself and said that the documents look inauthentic. He is, at times, as well, been completely incomprehensible in his diatribe. So a little of everything from Saddam this morning -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Aneesh Raman bringing us up to speed of what's happening in the courtroom.
Thanks, Aneesh -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Tom DeLay came back to Capitol Hill like a conquering hero on the day he announced he was stepping down. The former House majority leader getting a rock star's welcome from staff and supporters there. He later told CNN he is not dropping his bid for re-election because of money laundering charges, but rather to avoid a negative personal campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TOM DELAY (R), TEXAS: I think I could win. But the damage that would be done, not only to me personally in my career, but the damage to the district that would be done isn't good for the district.
Well I know I'm not a target, because I know I haven't done anything wrong. I've paid lawyers. They spent four months investigating me as if they were prosecuting me, looking through everything for the 20 years I've been in Congress, and they have found nothing that is even unethical, much less illegal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean begs to differ. He claims DeLay has acted unethically and his behavior is just the tip of the iceberg in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD DEAN, DEMOCRATIC NATL. CMTE. CHMN.: There's an awful lot of corruption, not just of course Tom DeLay, but Bill Frist, the leader of the Senate is under investigation for insider trading. Karl Rove still has a security council -- security clearance, despite the fact that he has leaked information for the CIA identifications in a time of war. The vice president's chief of staff is under indictment.
So this is a very deep problem in this Republican culture of corruption. But certainly for the country, it's a good thing that Tom DeLay has left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: "THE SITUATION ROOM" airs weekdays, 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: It turns out that some tornado victims in Tennessee may have ignored warning sirens. Emergency officials say that's likely because the sirens seem to go off so often.
This is the view from the Tennessee governor's helicopter as he toured the devastated area. At least one official admits that early warnings could not have helped some of the victims whose homes were destroyed by the tornadoes. Twenty-four people died in northwestern Tennessee. And Governor Phil Bredesen is asking for federal disaster aid.
That's the case also in Arkansas. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee declared an emergency for the northeastern part of his state after touring the damage there. You can see the pictures. Governor Huckabee said it was much worse than he ever imagined -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: The Red River is cresting this morning in North Dakota. Right now, the river is about 19 feet above flood stage. That water could be around for quite some time.
Tom Halden of affiliate KMSP live now from Fargo with more -- Tom.
TOM HALDEN, KMSP-TV REPORTER: Yes, Miles, sitting right now about 37.1 feet. The crest was expected to happen at about 37.5, so they're very optimistic.
Just spoke with the Army Corps of Engineers. I asked them, has it crested? They said, well, it hasn't gone up since around 7:00 last night. So they're not calling it a crest, but they're definitely optimistic at this point.
People around here are trying to be optimistic in this neighborhood. Sandbags already in place, water already up to their homes, pumps working overtime, neighbors checking on neighbors in true American fashion.
And folks over here at this school, since '97, they built a floodwall around much of the property and they've been checking that every half-hour. And they're on 24-hour shifts, just being optimistic here. They say no problems so far, just a little bit of water seeping up through the ground into some of the basement in the building. So people just kind of crossing their fingers, hoping for the best, at this point -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: You mentioned '97, Tom, are these floods worse?
HALDEN: This will stack up. '97 was about 39.5 feet. This one is sitting at about 37 at this time. Will stack up probably the third or fourth worst flood in this region.
M. O'BRIEN: Tom Halden with our affiliate KMSP, thanks very much.
Chad Myers in the Weather Center this morning. Good morning, -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.
You know what they could really use is a good hard freeze to stop some of that water in its tracks and then the water actually goes down. It's almost like having a reservoir. If you can stop some of it from getting into the big streams from the little streams, but that's just really not on the horizon here, just more melting for them.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you guys.
S. O'BRIEN: More bad news.
MYERS: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thank you.
MYERS: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Well dozens of Californians are in Red Cross shelters this morning after a levee breach near Sacramento. The flooding caused the evacuation of three nearby mobile home parks. Persistent rains in northern California have flooded rivers and also led to fears of massive mudslides.
Southern California not faring much better, the roof of a drugstore in Los Angeles collapsed under the weight of rainwater. No serious injuries to report. At least two people, though, had to be rescued in other areas after they were carried away in flooded creeks.
Ahead this morning, we've got more important health news for women. Some information that vitamins -- a vitamin actually that might lower the risk of breast cancer. We're going to tell you about that.
M. O'BRIEN: Also, some anger in New Orleans as folks try to fight their way back into their homes. Fight their way back in. We'll tell you why tempers flared outside a public housing complex.
S. O'BRIEN: And a shocking kidnapping ordeal involving Garth Brooks' ex-wife. That story is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: If only you could see our floor directors Bruce and Pete.
S. O'BRIEN: Dancing in the studio this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Big Talking Heads fans, obviously.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, apparently so.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, apparently so. And so...
S. O'BRIEN: I like that whole handshaking thing you got going on there.
M. O'BRIEN: That little piggy. Yes, that's it, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: It works.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
Well, a couple of talking heads to the talking of the newsroom.
Hello, Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Man, Talking Heads, I thought they'd be going like this. Remember the video, they went like this, too? They know what I'm talking about.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, we do, we do.
COSTELLO: Thank you.
Good morning to all of you.
In the headlines this morning, Saddam Hussein back in court. The Iraqi court is cross-examining him for the first time. Trial resumed with Hussein accusing Iraq's interior minister of killing and torturing thousands of people. The new session comes one day after prosecutors indicted Hussein on separate charges of genocide. The trial could begin next month, at least that part of it.
A Delaware schoolteacher charged with 28 counts of raping a minor. Police say 34-year-old Rachel Holt had a weeklong sexual relationship with a 13-year-old student. She also allegedly allowed a 12-year-old to watch. And she gave both boys beer. Police say they started investigating after being tipped off by the victim's father. Holt is now on leave from her teaching job. She's in custody on half million-dollar's bond.
Massachusetts lawmakers want everyone in the state to have health insurance, so they are making it mandatory. The bill is now awaiting the signature of the Governor, Mitt Romney. The bill splits the cost between businesses, workers and the state. One analyst says this is probably as close as you can get to universal healthcare.
Vitamin D may help lower the risk of breast cancer. A pair of studies find women who get high levels of Vitamin D from food or supplements or who spend time outdoors in the sun are less likely to develop cancer. One study found high levels of Vitamin D lowered the risk by as much as 50 percent. Both studies are presented today at a cancer seminar in Washington.
Two top Democrats in the House are distancing themselves from Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. At issue, you know this story, that incident between McKinney and a Capitol Hill police officer. McKinney allegedly hit the officer. It's still not exactly clear what happened. We will ask Representative McKinney. She will be our guest later on on AMERICAN MORNING.
Garth Brooks' ex-wife, Sandy Brooks, is recovering after being kidnapped at gunpoint. Seems she was an innocent bystander in a chase between a suspect and a bondsman. The suspect forced her into a car and ordered her to drive. Brooks somehow managed to get away. The suspect has been arrested.
Garth Brooks, as you know, is now married to country star Trisha Yearwood. And we got a big no comment from Brooks' spokeswoman about the incident.
Maryland is celebrating its first-ever women's NCAA title. Duke trying for a shot with seconds on the clock but coming up short. The Terrapins beat Duke in overtime, 78-75. Crowds of students turned out for the mostly peaceful celebrations. Extra police units were on hand early this morning clearing out the streets, because, apparently, well, as you might expect, Chad, they were still partying.
MYERS: And they have 7:00 classes this morning.
COSTELLO: I don't think so.
MYERS: They might not make it.
COSTELLO: I don't think so.
MYERS: Good morning, everybody.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you guys.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thanks.
Business news now, Wal-Mart says it's got a plan to help out struggling urban neighborhoods.
Good morning, -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning, Miles.
And this is a little bit different from Wal-Mart's expansion plans. You know the world's largest retailer keeps on getting bigger. Wal-Mart now announcing a plan to help struggling communities by building 50 new stores in the U.S. in urban areas, areas specifically with high crime and/or high unemployment rates. And they expect to generate between 15,000 and 25,000 new jobs.
The stores will be built in vacant or rundown buildings. And Wal-Mart says this is basically a do-good effort, trying to help these areas. They're going to offer free seminars to local businesses, free advertising. They say the plan will generate about $100 million in state and local tax revenue.
Well critics say not good enough, that Wal-Mart is simply initiating a PR stunt here, trying to rebuild a fraction of the local communities that it helped to destroy. You know Wal-Mart has a lot of critics, so of course they're jumping on this right away.
S. O'BRIEN: And they do.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, they're probably running out of places elsewhere, too.
LEE: Well, you know Wal-Mart says they still have a lot of room to expand. They're planning 1,500 additional stores in the next few years.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow!
LEE: This, in addition to the 3,200 stores it already operates. So it seems like they're always finding areas.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: But this is a little different from Wal-Mart's plan to expand rurally, which is what they've done up until now.
S. O'BRIEN: And one would imagine there will be fewer protests about a you know building that's you know raised or abandoned or burned out as opposed to some of the communities they try to move into where...
LEE: Right. And having a business is better than nothing there, right, some could argue?
S. O'BRIEN: Argue the theory, so.
LEE: All right, yes, we'll see.
One other thing Wal-Mart is saying, too, "Brokeback Mountain," "we won't quit you." Starting today, Wal-Mart is selling the DVD in its stores. You can imagine what the American Family Association has to say about this. The conservative group doesn't like it, accusing Wal-Mart of -- quote -- "normalizing homosexuality" -- end quote. Wal-Mart says not an endorsement, just to respond to customer demand.
And that's the latest.
M. O'BRIEN: Just another item on the shelves.
LEE: Yes, that's right.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you, Carrie.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Carrie, thanks.
LEE: Sure. S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning in our 8:00 hour, we're going to kick off AMERICAN MORNING's "Tax Guide" series. We'll talk to an expert from "Money" magazine, have some advice about filing online. Is it for you? Will get you a refund faster. That's coming up in the 8:00 hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
First though, Carol has got a look at what's ahead in "Morning Coffee."
COSTELLO: I certainly do.
Coming up, how do you ban patriotism? A couple of schools in the good old U.S. of A. are trying.
Plus, you want to make a movie about Mother Teresa, is there any actress out there up to the task? How about Paris Hilton? Say it isn't so. I'll explain in "Morning Coffee" just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: That's Carol Costello's theme song, "Sexy Thing," right?
S. O'BRIEN: That's right.
COSTELLO: I'll take it.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: Thank you, I'm loving that.
Hey, good morning, everyone.
You know sentiment about the war is manifesting itself in many ways, many strange ways, I should say. In Wisconsin, voters went to the polls over the war. Twenty-four communities cast ballots supporting the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops. And the vote in eight other communities went the other way.
Now the voting is really just to show public opinion. It's kind of a catharsis and it doesn't carry any real power. But how interesting, people actually turned out and voted on this issue in many parts of Wisconsin.
M. O'BRIEN: Big turnout?
COSTELLO: No.
M. O'BRIEN: But a turnout?
COSTELLO: But a turnout, nonetheless.
S. O'BRIEN: Nonetheless.
COSTELLO: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
COSTELLO: Hey, you think the immigration issue is red hot, well it'll burn you in Colorado. A couple of schools have now banned patriotism. I'm not kidding, banned patriotism.
M. O'BRIEN: That's unpatriotic.
COSTELLO: I think you've got that right.
M. O'BRIEN: If you know what I mean. Yes. Yes.
COSTELLO: But some say that you know being patriotic leads to passionate debate, and you know that's a bad thing, apparently.
I'll give you an example. Shaw Heights Middle School in Westminster is banning all clothing deemed to be patriotic. The principal says racial tensions rose when some students wore camouflage pants and jackets to school. The students said they were just showing support for the troops. So that's one example. Some Hispanic students then came to school wearing Mexican flag bandanas. Both are now banned.
And in Longmont, Colorado, a high school principal has banned students from displaying flags of any nationality.
That's just ridiculous, really ridiculous.
You know let's just go to the video. Do you see the resemblance, come on, come on. There, do you see the resemblance?
M. O'BRIEN: Sacrilege.
COSTELLO: I know. It is. It really is. And I don't mean to joke...
M. O'BRIEN: My god.
COSTELLO: ... or be disrespectful, but this is a real story. A big-time director seriously wants to make a Mother Teresa movie starring Paris Hilton. That's hot.
M. O'BRIEN: My god, I hope he's got lightning rods in his suits, because he's going to...
COSTELLO: I know, I...
M. O'BRIEN: He's going to get zapped.
COSTELLO: No, he says that there really is a resemblance between the two. He did computer imaging and really Paris Hilton has some of the same features as Mother Teresa.
M. O'BRIEN: Has he been on the Internet and seen Paris?
COSTELLO: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: You know what I mean?
COSTELLO: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: That's another reason he wants to put Paris in the movie because...
M. O'BRIEN: I am just horrified. I'm horrified.
COSTELLO: He plans -- he actually plans to meet with Miss Hilton and of course...
S. O'BRIEN: OK, here's what I think.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Director wants to meet Paris Hilton. Director pitches role because, actually, looking like Mother Teresa has nothing to do with anything, even if she did,...
COSTELLO: You mean...
S. O'BRIEN: ... which she doesn't. But if she did, it still wouldn't matter, Paris Hilton, not an actress. OK.
COSTELLO: But she was in that movie.
S. O'BRIEN: Director wants to meet Paris Hilton. I'm calling this now.
M. O'BRIEN: We could probably arrange that without having to...
COSTELLO: We'll try to get him in for an interview and we'll sick him on you.
M. O'BRIEN: Wow! OK.
S. O'BRIEN: That's my theory at least.
COSTELLO: Yes, that's all I got.
M. O'BRIEN: We are definitely up now. Thanks for the coffee.
This morning's top stories are straight ahead, including how about a dinosaur that looks like a turkey, an early turkey.
S. O'BRIEN: I love that.
M. O'BRIEN: This is a prehistoric Butterball.
Plus, we'll tell you about a one-in-a-million special delivery, one mom's very busy day in the delivery room ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. A few extra packages, if you know what I mean.
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