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American Morning

Deadly Suicide Attack in Iraq; Leaker in Chief?; Surgery Risks for Obese Kids

Aired April 07, 2006 - 08:59   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.

A deadly suicide attack in Iraq to tell you about. The story is still developing right now.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At least 40 people have been killed after dual explosions rock a mosque in the capital.

I'm Aneesh Raman in Baghdad. That story coming up.

M. O'BRIEN: A little closer to home, tornadoes ripping through the Midwest. That severe weather system not done yet -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Nineteen tornadoes yesterday, there may be more than that today. High risk of severe weather through the southern plains today. Details coming up in a few minutes.

M. O'BRIEN: And then there's this, an unexpected spring break trip down the side of a mountain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I remember is flying and my seat belt holding me right here and bumping around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: How this family managed to ride out a major avalanche in their SUV.

S. O'BRIEN: And some new allegations in the CIA leak case. Now Scooter Libby is pointing a finger at the president.

Those stories all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: We begin with some dramatic and violent developments now happening in Iraq as we speak. A suicide attack at a major Shiite mosque in Baghdad. Forty are dead at least.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is watching it for us.

Aneesh, what do we know?

RAMAN: Miles, good morning.

That death toll has risen just in the past half-hour or so from four to 40. We also understand well over a hundred people were wounded after three suicide bombers detonated at a major Shia mosque in the capital.

You see the scenes of aftermath, the anger that is there among the worshipers just hours after noon prayers had ended. This mosque, called the Baratha Mosque (ph) in northern Baghdad, is a mosque whose imam is a member of parliament for Skiri (ph). That's one of the major Shia parties in the government.

This will undoubtedly be seen as an attack not just on the Shia people, but also on that party. And again, these initial casualty numbers that we have at the moment are that at least 40 people were killed. And as well, one of the suicide bombers, we understand, was inside the mosque in a hallway that leads to the major building that is in the mosque compound. That is where the suicide bomber detonated.

Because of the prominence of this mosque, we understand there is security on the perimeter. Cars are only allowed to get so close. People are checked, we understand, before they go in to worship. That said, it is now unclear how this suicide bomber with an explosives vest was able to get inside -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Aneesh, this comes after that deadly attack we were talking about in Najaf yesterday. You can't help but say that the sectarian violence seems to have no end in sight.

RAMAN: Well, this is the concerted effort of the Sunni insurgency to bring this country into a civil war. Shia militia have long said that if Iraq's security forces cannot protect their people or their sites they will do it themselves. They will fill that void.

The problem is that they are also behind a large number of reprisal attacks against Sunnis. That has been the low-level civil strife ongoing in the past six weeks since the bombing of that Shia mosque, the Askaria Mosque.

So the biggest concern for Iraq's government is to put security forces on the streets and disband the militia. The biggest problem, there is no government yet -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, there were some words of a possible warning, and part of that warning was that there might be as many as seven car bombs throughout the city.

What do we make of all that?

RAMAN: Yes, the warning coming from Iraq's interior ministry that oversees the police forces, they had cautioned that they had intelligence suggesting up to seven car bombs could be out in the capital could be attacking mosques at noon prayers. They were cautioning people to remain vigilant. Also, though, within that morning -- within that warning was a sense that said, if security personnel did not do everything in their power to prevent the attacks, they would suffer consequences. That seems an admittance that there are those within Iraq's security forces who are either not doing enough or are aiding these attacks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow. All right.

Aneesh Raman for us in Baghdad.

Thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Severe weather conditions could mean dangerous storms in the plains states today. Western Kansas has high wind warnings right now. A string of tornadoes and funnel clouds hit the southeast and north central parts of Kansas on Thursday. No serious injuries to report there. A few homes were damaged.

In Texas, nine homes burned. High winds there are driving a new round of wildfires. Two towns near Amarillo were evacuated on Thursday while firefighters battled the outbreaks. Threats still there. People, though, are returning home now.

People in California's north central valley have also gone back to their homes. More rain, though, is expected over the next five days, and that could create more flooding like the levee break that sent a foot and a half of water right through Merced and then chased people out of their homes back on Tuesday.

All that brings us to severe weather expert Chad Myers. He's at the CNN Center this morning.

Chad, I guess some good news, but not for long, it seems like.

MYERS: Yes, right.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Chad Myers.

They were driving down a mountain road and in an instant they were riding a wave of snow in their SUV. And we're happy to report when the snow settled they were all there to tell their amazing tale. We get the story from Jed Boal of our affiliate KSL in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JED BOAL, REPORTER, KSL (voice over): Michael Thomas, his wife and five young kids skied in blizzard conditions all day. But it was the drive down the mountain the St. Louis family will never forget. They picked up two Alta workers bumming a ride and they headed down the ice-packed road.

MICHAEL THOMAS, FATHER: Driving down the road. Next thing you know, we're off the road and tumbling, and you just thought, oh my God. This must be an avalanche.

BOAL: Their large SUV went over the edge in White Pine Sled area, halfway up the canyon. They landed hanging upside down in seatbelts. One of the teenager workers kicked out a window. Thomas estimated they rolled 100 to 150 feet down the canyon.

ADAM THOMAS, SURVIVED AVALANCHE: And I remember lying and my seatbelt holding me right here and bumping around.

BOAL: Amazingly, no one was hurt. The worst of it was scrapes and bruises on 10-year-old Adam's face. His two younger brothers and two younger sisters are fine. The rescue crews were amazed.

SGT. TODD GRIFFITHS, SALT LAKE CO. SHERIFF'S OFFICE: When we got to it, there was little kids climbing up out of the snow, you know, covered in snow, little 3-year-old snowballs coming out of there. So it was pretty exciting to see they were all OK.

BOAL: Little Cottonwood Canyon was closed all afternoon for avalanche control. It was reopened around 5:00 p.m., about an hour before the Thomas family drove down.

M. THOMAS: Just a little shaken up, but fabulous condition. Happy to be alive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: That report was from Jed Boal of our Salt Lake City affiliate KSL. Crews in Little Cootonwood Canyon hope to have all of the roads reopened later this morning -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Some breaking news to get to this morning just out of London. We've been following the case of "The Da Vinci Code". Well, it turns out the court has ruled and it's in favor of Dan Brown, the author of that famous book "The Da Vinci Code".

Key points in the lawsuit. The suit, of course, was by two writers who claimed that Brown had appropriated their materials. The writers, Baigent and Richard Leigh, suggested that he took shortcuts and stole their theme essentially. There were allegations that he lifted the theories that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child and that the blood line survives to this day.

Dan Brown did mention in his -- in his testimony and acknowledged his debt to their work. However, the judge has found that he does not plagiarize their material. And, in fact, Dan Brown will, of course, probably -- in fact, both sides probably have benefited very much from this -- this trial, as increases have been seen for both of those books in that trial.

Congressional about-face from Cynthia McKinney, the Georgia Democrat who claimed that her scuffle with a Capitol Hill Police officer was racial profiling. Well, she's now apologizing for the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. CYNTHIA MCKINNEY (D), GEORGIA: I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all, and I regret its escalation. And I apologize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Cynthia McKinney is accused of hitting the officer when he tried to stop her from entering a House office building last week. A grand jury is investigating the case.

Even as McKinney tries to put the issue to rest, another little scuffle to tell you about. This time involving a reporter and a guy who's in the congresswoman's entourage.

Take a look. A television reporter runs up to the congresswoman, tries to question her. This happened right outside the Capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello again. Ms. McKinney, did you speak to the grand jury at all? Have you spoken to a grand jury, Ms. McKinney? Have you spoken at all to the grand jury about anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to put your ass in jail next time you push me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, do you work for the Capitol Police?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't work for the Capitol Police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who are you a police officer with, sir?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: You heard McKinney's guy tell the reporter that he's a police officer. An aide to McKinney, however, says the man is the congresswoman's driver and also a personal friend.

Well, maybe that settles it all.

Let's get right to some of the other stories making news. Carol Costello in the newsroom for us this morning.

Hey, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, this just in to CNN. A driver plows through a group of protesting students in Paris. The group was demonstrating against the government's new jobs law. And as I said, that driver simply plowed through the crowd.

At least nine people are hurt, and there are reports the students took the incident into their own hands. They overturned the car before police were able to intervene.

We'll have more on this story later. President Bush's credibility on the line this morning. After months of saying he will find those responsible, new documents suggest President Bush was actually the one who approved some intelligence leaks. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has testified the leaks were used to boost the case for war in Iraq. That's according to newly-released court documents.

The president hearing more criticism. This time, during a Q&A session in North Carolina. A man named Harry Taylor told the president he was ashamed of U.S. policies. It was one of the rare times an audience member who wasn't cleared beforehand was able to address the president.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY TAYLOR, CRITICIZED PRESIDENT BUSH: No, I didn't have to be cleared. I was just astonished, and it's remarkable that I went and got a ticket. And I have been active, not notoriously so, but been active. I wasn't sure if they would let me in at any juncture. And they did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Taylor also says he was grateful to the president for allowing him to finish. As you might imagine, Taylor got some boos from Bush supporters.

The Senate back to work on a new immigration bill. A possible compromise settled late last night. If the measure doesn't get hammered out soon it could die. Congress leaves for a two-week break later today.

And Eva Longoria has her biggest cover yet, a giant 100 by 75- foot recreation of the "MAXIM" magazine issue that she was featured on. The recreation is in the Nevada desert near the California state line.

It reads, "The only magazine big enough to be seen from space." And only in Vegas. It's part of MAXIM's 100th issue celebration.

And I should mention, we are awaiting the president to make some remarks later today on the economy. He's currently at a prayer breakfast in Washington at the Washington Hilton.

That's a look at the headlines this morning. Back to you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Carol.

More on that new development in the CIA leak case coming up. The president reportedly authorizing the leak of classified information that ultimately led to ID'ing (ph) an undercover CIA agent. We'll look at whether he has a credibility gap that he has to worry about now. S. O'BRIEN: There's sure to be questions about that when we hear from the president this morning.

Also, this question: Is surgery the right answer if you're an overweight teenager? Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at the risks of an increasingly popular procedure.

M. O'BRIEN: And one of FEMA's first big tests post-Katrina. Those deadly tornadoes in Tennessee we've told you about this week, we'll look at how FEMA is fixing its image while handling this recovery.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: President Bush now front and center in the CIA leak investigation. Court papers in the case of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former top aide to the vice president, Dick Cheney, indicate the president gave him -- Libby, that is -- the OK to leak classified information on Iraq.

Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider joining us now from Washington to walk us through this.

Bill, good to have you with us.

This is an interesting turn of events. The White House response thus far is, well, first of all, this is just what Mr. Libby says. But secondly, you can't call it a leak because the president has the authority to release this information.

What do you make of that?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the White House doesn't really want to get into a discussion of this issue. For one thing, it makes the president look a little, well, shall we say, hypocritical?

In 2003, he said, "There's too many leaks in Washington, too many leaks of classified information. And if there's a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is." Well, it turns out that the president himself authorized the leak.

It wasn't a crime. This is according to Mr. Libby. It was not a crime for the president to do that because, as the attorney in the White House said, anything he authorizes is instantly declassified. But it does make the president look a little foolish and deceptive, because this leak was authorized, again, according to Mr. Libby, to discredit a political critic of the administration. It was authorized for political reasons, and that's a little bit embarrassing.

M. O'BRIEN: So, it puts the administration in kind of the difficult position of having to discredit its former chief of staff for the vice president or attempt to do that. SCHNEIDER: Yes, that's right. And, you know, there could be the case that the president could be called to testify, although the constitutional standing is not clear and the case won't go to trial until next January.

What the administration is doing as damage control -- and this is just not talking about it -- their answer is, we don't talk about a case that's under investigation right now. Because if they did start to debate the issue of, when is a leak not a leak, then they're going to be sounding very much like the debate that you may remember over "it depends on what the meaning of 'is' is." And that's very much not what Mr. Bush wants to be his style.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. So let's -- let's talk about declassifying secret information.

What is the normal course of action? Under what pretext -- I guess the president has full authority, right? He can release anything he wants?

SCHNEIDER: That's right, he can release it, and he's given the vice president authority to declassify information as well. Normally it's done for national security purposes, but in this case, as I say, Mr. Libby alleges that it was done for political purposes.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. Let's -- I guess the trail of information is kind of interesting here where, you know, would the president have called in a staff member and said this kind of thing? How would this have been released?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the president appears -- again, all of this is Mr. Libby's testimony, as reported by the special prosecutor. Mr. Libby told the grand jury, according to the special prosecutor -- I have to be careful here, this is a legal proceeding -- that the president informed the vice president that he was authorizing the release of this classified information, this intelligence information so that it could be leaked to the press. And after that, the vice president's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, had a meeting with a "New York Times" reporter and divulged the information.

So the chain went from the president to the vice president to Mr. Libby, and then to "The New York Times".

M. O'BRIEN: All right. We -- there's a poll out this morning that's worth looking at. Tell us -- tell us what you make of these numbers here.

I think we've got them on a full screen. This is AP-Ipsos poll.

It basically, I think, puts it if I remember the numbers -- there you go, 33 percent. The question is: "Do you want Republicans or Democrats to win control of Congress?" When asked, 33 percent went to the Republican side, 49 percent said Democrats, 15 percent, neither. I'm not sure what they're thinking, who's going to run Congress.

But let's -- this is -- with a midterm election coming, those are scary numbers for the Republicans.

SCHNEIDER: They certainly are. And that's got Republicans very scared, indeed, because it looks like there could be -- could be a tidal wave coming. And a lot of people, a lot of Republicans are worried about another 1994 midterm election in reverse. That was when Republicans swept over the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives that had been there for 40 years, and even seats that were supposed to be safe suddenly got swept away and Republicans gained their majority, which they've held for the last 12 years.

Well, could it happen again? It would only take 15 seats -- a 15-seat gain for the Democrats to take control of the House. It would take -- it took 40 in 1994. And those numbers are very bad for Republicans because it looks like the voters are in the mood to throw the bums out. And when they get into that kind of mood, no telling what could happen.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Things turn sour quickly.

Are there 15 seats that are really in play, you think?

SCHNEIDER: There are probably a little bit more than 15 seats that are in play. We're not sure how many exactly are going to be in play. After all, Tom DeLay just abandoned a seat last week. That may now be easier for the Republicans to hold.

But 15 seats does not look impossible. It's still going to be tough, it's still going to be tough, but Republicans are very scared by those numbers. Double-digit lead for Democrats, even though a lot of people say, well, we're not sure what the Democrats really stand for.

You know, when people are angry at something, they'll vote for something different even if they're not entirely sure what it is.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. But they always still like their incumbent, though, too. We've got to factor that in.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Bill Schneider, thank you. Always a pleasure -- our senior political analyst.

SCHNEIDER: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: More and more obese teenagers are turning to surgery to lose weight. Is the operation too risky in a kid? Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to take a closer look for us this morning.

Then later, the ancient documents that may prove that one of the bible's biggest villains, Judas, was actually a hero.

We'll explain just ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: This morning, Durham, North Carolina, is the latest stop on CNN's Fit Nation tour. It's all about finding solutions to America's obesity epidemic.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is live in Durham this morning.

Hey, Sanjay. Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

It's been an interesting tour, for sure. We've been in five cities so far. Durham just down the road here. We were at an event last night, several hundred college students joining us.

Soledad, you know, we talk about the obesity epidemic so much on television. It got a little frustrating, quite honestly, to just talk about it. We wanted to take it on the road a little bit and actually come up with some solutions with college students.

This is our van, by the way. This van actually goes around the campus for a couple of days ahead of time, polls students, finds out what attitudes are from college students, specifically about obesity, what they think is going on in our society as well.

One of the astonishing things that comes out is the rate of bariatric surgery. People rather going under the knife instead of eating less and moving more. Astonishing numbers, especially in children.

Here's what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice over): Jonathan Hernandez was a normal-sized baby. His mother says he didn't start getting big until third grade. As he got bigger, he stopped going out and he stayed in his room.

JONATHAN HERNANDEZ, BARIATRIC SURGERY PATIENT: What would people think when they saw me like that? You know, it was like -- and then I didn't want them to, like, look at me, and look at me, like, "Oh, my god, look at him" -- like that.

GUPTA: At 16 he weighed 402 pounds. His sleep apnea was so bad that even breathing was difficult. He had to undergo a tracheotomy.

MARYDALE MASSEY, JONATHAN'S MOTHER: He was so big that it was pressing on his heart and on his chest and he couldn't breathe.

GUPTA: In two years he's lost 90 pounds after having weight loss surgery at a new pediatric program offered in Atlanta.

DR. MARK WULKAN, EMORY CHILDREN'S CENTER: It's a life saver, and it's life-altering for these children. I think you give them back a piece of their childhood. GUPTA: Dr. Mark Wulkan performs bariatric or weight loss surgery that involves inserting a band that clamps down on the stomach, restricting access. The Food and Drug Administration has not approved the use of the so-called lap band for children 17 and under, but Wulkan believes it's safe, in part because it's reversible.

(on camera): Hospital officials around the country say the increased demand for adolescent weight loss surgery has prompted them to create special programs for obese kids. In fact, one surgeon here in Atlanta told us he used to get requests for surgery once a year, now he's getting them once a month.

(voice over): Weight loss surgery can cost up to $25,000, with Medicaid sometimes picking up the tab. And the issue surrounding obese teens are complex and cultural. Nutrition and fitness expert Dr. Pamela Peeke urges extreme caution when it comes to surgery.

DR. PAMELA PEEKE, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: We don't have long- term data outside of three to five years, and at that time we're seeing that it appears a large number, if not a majority, are actually regaining their weight.

HERNANDEZ: Bye, Kaitlyn (ph). See you tomorrow.

GUPTA: Jonathan's mother says, for her son, having the operation was a lifesaver.

MASSEY: That saved my baby's life.

GUPTA: Despite the work, Jonathan says he'd do it all again. He now has good friends, has taken a great interest in drama class, and just went to his first prom.

Jonathan's mother sums it up this way...

MASSEY: Now he's enjoying life to the fullest, believe me. I mean, to the fullest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Sometimes it's the only option. Never a great option, but sometimes the only option, this bariatric surgery, the lap band procedure specifically.

Now, it's not FDA-approved for children as of yet, but a lot of doctors do use it off-label when they think it's the only option. Children typically have to go through psychological testing as well beforehand to make sure they can tolerate it both physically and emotionally -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, gosh. But, you know, I wonder why it would even be debated for kids like the one in your story. I mean, you know, clearly, there's really no other option.

GUPTA: That's right. And, you know, the numbers have really tripled for children like him over the last 10 or 15 years or so. You know, who knows where it's going to be headed? I mean, there's a lot of critics still, as you might imagine, of this procedure, Soledad. People thinking that, you know, children should just be eating less and moving more. Why do we need to go under the knife? But as you can see, sometimes it's the only option.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Sanjay, thanks.

GUPTA: Hey, and Soledad...

S. O'BRIEN: Yes?

GUPTA: ... would you give a hug to Kim Bondy for me as well -- the last day?

S. O'BRIEN: You got it.

Our executive producer is taking a leave of absence.

All right, Sanjay. Thanks a lot.

Let's go to Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Any minute now we're expecting to hear from President Bush from the White House. We'll bring that to you, of course.

And later, millions of Christians believes Jesus was betrayed by the apostle Judas. But a stunning new discovery could change all of that. A little revisionist history here. Was Judas really a hero?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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