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American Morning

Iran's Nuclear Threat; Final Moments Heard; Comeback for Brown?; Royal Graduation

Aired April 12, 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: This morning, a worldwide showdown looming over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Just a short time ago, Iran vowed to begin large-scale production of enriched uranium.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And the embattled former FEMA Chief Michael Brown being recruited to help the people of New Orleans. Who would have thunk it? The story is coming your way in three minutes.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also ahead, he's known as Solo in computer circles. Today, Gary McKinnon, the man accused of hacking into some top secret Pentagon computers, is fighting extradition to the U.S.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And now the heat is on, 97 tomorrow in Phoenix, in the middle 80s in the middle of the country. I'll tell you what that means for your weekend coming up in a little bit.

S. O'BRIEN: And the hottest concept cars and the coolest trucks and minivans and SUVs all showcased at the New York Auto Show. We're going to take you there live this morning.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us.

Isolated and yet defiant, Iran continues a steady, dangerous march toward a nuclear future. The hardline government of that nation ignoring urgent calls from the West and now even its ally, Russia, to pull the plug on its uranium enrichment program.

Tehran now says it has enriched uranium enough so that it could fuel a nuclear power plant. And the country is now vowing to drastically scale-up that enrichment campaign. Could atomic weapons be too far off in the distant future?

Here is White House correspondent Ed Henry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The mantra from the White House is that Iran has gone in the wrong direction, choosing the path of defiance instead of cooperation and needs to reconsider.

President Bush has said that war with Iran is the last option, that he's still hopeful that this can be solved diplomatically.

The good news is experts say Iran is still far from actually obtaining nuclear weapons and they can be stopped through diplomatic means.

But the bad news is that diplomacy has been a question mark for this president who has seen his credibility further eroded by facts on the ground in Iraq and developments here at home in the CIA leak case. And presidential experts, like David Gergen, say that if diplomacy fails, this president could have a difficult time making the case for war in Iran given the lingering questions over the case for war in Iraq.

Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: And now the war in Iraq. More evidence the Bush administration justified that war by relying on bad intelligence while ignoring solid information to the contrary. At issue are those supposed mobile biological weapons factories.

"The Washington Post" out with a report today saying experts who inspected those trailers almost immediately realized they had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction. And yet two days after that report got back to Washington, President Bush continued to insist the trailers offered proof Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, had a WMD program Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Republicans are offering a deal that could break the deadlock over immigration. Senate Leader Bill Frist and House Leader Dennis Hastert say they are going to drop the part of their bills that would make illegal immigration a felony. That's been a big sticking point with Democrats and also protestors on the street.

And today, jurors are going to hear the final moments of that doomed flight, United 93, doomed on 9/11, of course. That's where four prosecutors rest their case in the penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.

CNN's Tara Mergener is live for us in Washington, D.C. this morning.

Hey, Tara, good morning.

TARA MERGENER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Investigators say Flight 93 may have been headed for the Capitol on 9/11. It was a life-and-death struggle until the end.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MERGENER (voice-over): Jurors at the Zacarias Moussaoui trial will hear the final moments of United Flight 93. Cockpit voice recordings, 31 minutes in all, as passengers and crew try to take back the plane from hijackers before it crashed in a Pennsylvania field. It's the first time the tape has been played for anyone, except family of those who died on the flight and members of the 9/11 Commission.

Moussaoui faces the death penalty for lying to investigators about what he knew about the terror attacks, lies that prosecutors say ended in death.

On Tuesday, jurors heard transmissions recorded in an air control tower. Flight 93's pilot is heard saying, "Mayday! Mayday!" and "Get out of here!" One passenger's mother says you could also hear the voices of terrorists.

The trial has been an emotional one for jurors who have been subjected to gruesome video and photographs of victims, as well as 9/11 calls of people who also perished.

MELISSA DOI, 9/11 VICTIM: I'm going to die, I know it.

OPERATOR: Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.

DOI: Please God.

OPERATOR: You're doing a good job, ma'am, you're doing a good job.

DOI: No, it's so hot. I'm burning up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MERGENER: And the judge has warned prosecutors that too much emotional evidence could be grounds to overturn a death sentence.

Live in Washington this morning, I'm Tara Mergener.

Soledad, back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Tara, for that report Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: More than four years after 9/11, the first death is officially linked to the hazards of breathing the toxic air at ground zero. A medical examiner says the January death of 34-year-old New York City Detective James Zadroga was directly related to the attack. In autopsy results released Tuesday, the medical examiner said the detective died from exposure to toxic fumes and dust.

Well you would think Mike Brown, the former FEMA director, would be persona non grata around New Orleans. Seems St. Bernard Parish, however, is actually asking him for help. I guess that's a statement of how bad things are there.

Carol Costello in the newsroom with more on that.

Hello, Carol. COSTELLO: I think you said it in a nutshell, things are very bad in St. Bernard Parish. In fact, not much has changed there since the hurricane struck.

Let's take you on a Google map tour of exactly where St. Bernard Parish is. It is east of the city of New Orleans. Two thirds of it surrounded by water. During Hurricane Katrina, it was hit with, what, 13 feet of water. And that water stayed there for a while. Twenty- six thousand homes are destroyed there and probably will have to be torn down. In fact, many of the homes look just I mean, you look at these pictures, it's pretty much exactly like that right now.

Nobody knows what's going to happen to St. Bernard Parish. Residents have been wanting to move back in. And according to the Parish President, Henry "Junior" Rodriguez, he said, you know what, I'll talk to the devil himself if I thought he could help us.

And maybe that's what he's doing right now. Because when he was in Washington, D.C. a short time ago, he came up with the idea why not ask former FEMA Chief Michael Brown. Michael Brown is a consultant right now. He knows the ins and outs of the federal government and he can maybe cut through the red tape.

Of course there's some you know opposition to that idea. Louisiana State Senator Walter Boasso, for example, he thinks the council must be suffering from a case of Katrina fatigue if it is seriously considering hiring Brown. He says, "I understand we're desperate for help, but how are you going to hire a man who ran an organization that left so many of us to fend for ourselves?"

Michael Brown is going to go before the Parish Council some time next week, maybe on Thursday, and he's going to pitch his case to be a consultant. He says all the controversy surrounding him is a good thing, Miles, because that will call attention to the plight of St. Bernard Parish. So we'll keep you posted.

M. O'BRIEN: That is very interesting spin. And I'm sure we'll be there for that particular meeting.

COSTELLO: Yes, we will and a lot of other people will, too.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, indeed.

S. O'BRIEN: I can't believe he's going to go in front of them, that could be risky. I mean, the people there, they're angry.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I should say.

S. O'BRIEN: That seriously could be risky.

All right, Carol, thank you.

The wife of an American prisoner in Iraq is speaking out for the first time. Jeffrey Ake was kidnapped near Baghdad about a year ago. His wife, Liliana, is terrified to speak out publicly for fear of his safety. Last night, though, she spoke exclusively to CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LILIANA AKE, WIFE OF HOSTAGE IN IRAQ: One year ago, Jeff Ake, my husband, and father of four, was taken hostage where he remains today. He was in Iraq making certain that the Iraqi people have fresh, good water to drink.

When you kidnapped Jeff, you contacted me at my residence and we discussed matters of importance to us both. My telephone number remains the same and my willingness to continue this dialog remains as strong as it was before.

In order to resolve this matter and secure Jeff's release, you must call me again. Jeff should be able to give you the number. Please take the next step to release my husband and return his children's lives to normal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: How heartbreaking.

Ake says that the publicity that helped to free Jill Carroll has inspired her now to speak out after all these months.

You can of course watch Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM" weekdays at 4:00 p.m. and again at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Happy in America this morning, Independence, Kansas, and a mysterious abduction at gunpoint. Sixteen-year-old Kelsey Lynn Stelting (ph) back home safe now. Police believe she was taken at gunpoint about 24 hours ago. They're still searching for a suspect in that case.

A state representative in Ohio says he has a solution to that immigration debate, English only, he says. Courtney Combs is proposing legislation he says would encourage immigrants to learn English. A leader in Ohio's Hispanic community says if the state is serious, they should provide more funding for English classes, like the one you see here. The proposed bill would require the state and local governments to print all records in English only.

Flash flood warnings expiring right now in northern California, but there is little relief in sight for the already swollen rivers in that area. Officials there also fear the latest round of storms could cause mudslides as well as flooding.

Which leads us to the forecast.

S. O'BRIEN: Chad, look at these pictures. California just being walloped again.

MYERS: Yes, and look at the radar behind me. This is the same picture I showed you 24 hours ago, it just hasn't stopped.

(WEATHER REPORT) Maybe summer is not that far away.

S. O'BRIEN: Bless your heart, Chad.

MYERS: That means the kids are out of school, too, though, so watch what you ask for.

S. O'BRIEN: Then there's that.

M. O'BRIEN: Then there's that.

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

MYERS: You're welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, so where were you 25 years ago this morning? Do you know? Do you remember?

MYERS: I have no idea.

M. O'BRIEN: Do you have no idea?

MYERS: No.

S. O'BRIEN: I was in high school.

M. O'BRIEN: Twenty-five years ago, I was up early in Washington.

MYERS: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: I was a senior in college watching this, the first flight of the space shuttle Columbia, Commander John Young, Pilot Bob Crippen. The single, riskiest human space flight ever accomplished. An unproven vehicle, two million parts, the main engines have been exploding. The solid rocket boosters had never been tested with human beings. And no crew escape capability Chad.

MYERS: Right. Yes, I was in high school.

S. O'BRIEN: My god.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: I was a senior then.

M. O'BRIEN: Anyway, 25 years later, the shuttle is slated for retirement in about four year's time. NASA moving on to other things, but that day a case of space history.

Also happens to be, by the way, today, the 45th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight, the first space flight ever.

S. O'BRIEN: Really? I do remember that. I remember that being a very big deal in our family.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. S. O'BRIEN: Moving on. Ahead this morning, the latest in the CIA leak investigation.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Washington, where the central figure in the CIA leaks investigation will make still another legal argument. An explanation upcoming.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Paula Newton at the Royal Military Academy near London where Prince Harry will be graduating. Will his next stop be Iraq? That story coming up.

M. O'BRIEN: And gentlemen and ladies, start your engines, the New York Auto Show has arrived. We will take you inside these hot concept cars a little later.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news on this Wednesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Here's a look at our top stories.

Prosecutors in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial expected to play the cockpit voice recordings from United Airlines Flight 93. Only the second time they've been played. And we we'll maybe have a transcript of that.

A published report suggests the Bush administration knew two trailers found in Iraq after the invasion were not biological weapons labs despite public claims.

And top Republican leaders indicate they won't support an immigration bill making it a felony to be illegally in the country.

S. O'BRIEN: And it is graduation day for Prince Harry. The third in line to the throne now becomes a second lieutenant. Let's take a look at some live pictures of the ceremonies at Sandhurst Academy just outside of London.

And let's get right to CNN's Paula Newton. She is there live at the Royal Military Academy.

Hey, Paula, good morning.

NEWTON: Good morning, Soledad.

Beautiful pictures. Beautiful day for it today.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about exactly what has happened now as Harry becomes a second lieutenant. We can see the Queen, too, all dressed up for the ceremony.

NEWTON: You know it's incredible, this is really a coming of age for this generation of Windsors, because not only is Prince Harry here and he's graduating, the first, the second in line to the throne, his brother, Prince William, will be graduating here in about seven months.

And you know as grandparents and parents, Prince Charles and Camilla are here as well, of course the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. You know as parents and grandparents, they are very, very proud. But you've got to think they are also taking a big, deep breath today. This means that Prince Harry now, after he finishes a little bit more specialized training, could go in the conflict zone. That means Afghanistan, Iraq, everything is on the table Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: So how likely in fact is it that Harry could serve in Iraq or Afghanistan, Paula?

NEWTON: Very likely, Soledad. In fact, Prince Harry himself said and I'm quoting him "I didn't put myself through Sandhurst," this Royal Military Academy behind me, "to sit on my ass back home here while my boys are fighting in the field."

He's very serious about going to conflict zones. He has joined a reconnaissance unit. He will be the commander of 11 soldiers that will be the front advance. And you're talking about the eyes and ears of probably what will be an airborne regiment. This is serious stuff, Soledad.

And the Defense Ministry here is trying to deal with it as best they can, even suggesting that there may be protection for the prince when he's in the field. Now that's been some commanders have dismissed that. But at this point, you'd have to assume he would be a terrorist target if anyone found out exactly where he was in Afghanistan or Iraq Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. Yes, and he states it so gracefully, doesn't he?

Paula Newton for us this morning.

Thank you, Paula Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Is it lieutenant or leftenant (ph)? Don't they cross...

S. O'BRIEN: I guess it's leftenant,...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I think it is.

S. O'BRIEN: ... technically.

M. O'BRIEN: What do you think, Carrie?

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't know.

M. O'BRIEN: I don't know, we'll have to get I'll ask Paula next time.

LEE: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: Good to have you with us. LEE: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk Vioxx, shall we?

LEE: Vioxx, yes, more money paying out from the big drugmaker. A former Vioxx user has been awarded $9 million in punitive damages. This follows $4.5 million awarded to the same gentlemen and his wife last week. This is the New Jersey man who took Vioxx for four years, suffered a heart attack and now needs round-the-clock medical care. His wife says this money will be used for this purpose.

The jury basically ruled that it comes down to the labeling, that Merck was slow to notify people of the risks and to change the product label to reflect those risks.

Now this is obviously bad news for Merck. It has about 9,000 other cases it's going to have to fight. Merck says it will fight each one individually.

And in other corporate legal news, former Enron Chief Jeff Skilling continued his testimony. The prosecution is attempting to paint him as an earning's obsessed executive. He says not true. He continues to say that partnerships with energy companies were designed as a hedge to basically bring down risk at the company, not as a way to manipulate profit. At one point, Skilling's lawyer asked him if he was smart enough to mastermind a conspiracy like this and not get caught. He said, I don't think so.

And a quick check on stocks, despite strong earnings from Dow component Alcoa yesterday, we did see the U.S. markets end in the red. The Nasdaq down almost 1 percent. And it's looking like a weak start again for the market open today. Basically inflation spears fears are being sparked by high energy prices. Oil to be precise. And that is really overshadowing everything else.

S. O'BRIEN: Funny you should mention high energy prices.

Carrie, thank you very much.

LEE: OK.

S. O'BRIEN: If you are, in fact, planning a road trip, guess what, you're going to spend more on gas. Prices expected to rise this summer. The Energy Department is predicting that regular is going to be $2.62 a gallon, about 25 cents more than it was April through September of last year. And of course...

M. O'BRIEN: But that see this assumes nothing changes.

S. O'BRIEN: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: Including things like hurricanes.

S. O'BRIEN: Right, and we're hurricane season is almost upon us, so it could get much worse.

M. O'BRIEN: So we're not going there.

S. O'BRIEN: No.

M. O'BRIEN: We're not going to go there.

S. O'BRIEN: Not me. Not yet.

M. O'BRIEN: Just see what happens.

Speaking of burning fossil fuels, the auto show. You know look at that.

S. O'BRIEN: That's a nice car.

M. O'BRIEN: I mean that makes it a pleasure to spend $2.62 a gallon. Matter of fact, if you get a car like that, you shouldn't have to ask about the price of a gallon of gas.

LEE: You don't care about gas, right?

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

LEE: You're more worried about...

S. O'BRIEN: You cannot afford that Mercedes if you're asking about the gas.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Look at that. Is that what is that? That's one of those Nissans.

LEE: You're worried about insurance.

M. O'BRIEN: That's the, which one?

S. O'BRIEN: SL.

M. O'BRIEN: That's a McLaren SLI according...

LEE: Beautiful. Amazing.

M. O'BRIEN: Our gear head director Michael Sterling (ph) knows exactly what's under the hood there. Pal, you know? How many horse? What's that? Well V-8. I knew it was a V-8. Supercharged he says. Anyway, gallons per mile probably for that one. And anyway, so we will be kind of checking in there and showing you a little dream vehicles, concept cars, hybrids and SUVs what's out there.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that will be fun. All right, that's ahead this morning.

First, though, a look at some of the stories coming up.

A former insane asylum going condo in Massachusetts. Would you want to live here? We've got that story straight ahead.

And this, too, he's known as the world's biggest military computer hacker. This morning, Gary McKinnon is facing the music in court. We're live right outside the courthouse as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Here's a look at some of the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.

The world's scariest building. That's what it used to be called. It's going condo. This is the Danvers State Hospital in Massachusetts. Apparently kind of a new trend, converting former mental hospitals into luxury apartments and condos.

The Navy sinks a marriage-for-money scam. Eight sailors are now charged with arranging scam marriages in order to collect bigger military housing allowances.

And is NASA up for a round of golf? The space agency is reviewing a Russian cosmonaut's request to hit a golf ball in orbit. It's a publicity stunt, can you believe, for a golf club manufacturer.

M. O'BRIEN: They'll do anything to sell those golf clubs and, well, whatever.

The world community is on edge over Iran's nuclear declaration. And Iran announced Tuesday that the country has successfully enriched uranium for the first time, low grade still, but still, successful enrichment. The U.S. and the U.N. and the European Union all considering what to do next, but what is the threat?

CNN's Tom Foreman looks at the cause for concern.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): If you want to know why people are worried, just look at the satellite images of Iran. These are the suspected nuclear-related facilities, chemical, biological weapons facilities, and, then in green here, the missile- related facilities.

All of that matters because of what you see when you look much, much closer. One of the places that's been of cause for alarm is Natanz. Look at this place from the air here. This is a space where the Iranians acknowledge that they have nuclear facilities in that blue zone.

What's interesting, though, is what's above that. Look at that dirt area right up there. And look at pictures from just a couple of years back as to what was being developed there. Look at this, roads and tunnels and all sorts of facilities being built into a hillside here.

Now what does that look like? It's all been covered over with dirt. So, it looks like this. So, what you see is an empty plane next to the area which the Iranians are acknowledging is one of their nuclear facilities. What's underneath there? We don't really know. We do know that this is a picture from just a couple of days ago. And you can see what it looks like, again, a big empty field. The dirt has all been smoothed out. It looks like nothing has ever gone on there. We don't know what's going on beneath the ground, but it doesn't look like a bowling alley.

We do know this. When you widen out and look at the region, and you consider the missiles they have, if they put the right warheads on them, look at the range, 1,300 miles in all directions, into Africa, all the way over to India, up into Russia, even over into Europe. That's why people are watching so closely what's going on in Iran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: It's Tom Foreman.

The morning's top stories are straight ahead, including the DNA tests, they will continue. We've got the latest on the Duke rape investigation straight ahead.

Also ahead, calls for a recount. An unclear winner and a voting day stalemate that has a nation divided. No, we're not talking about America of 2000, this is Italy of 2006. We're live in Rome and we'll see if they have any hanging chads there. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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