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American Morning
Rumsfeld Responds to Critics; Oil Prices Spiking
Aired April 19, 2006 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning. I'm Andy Serwer.
I have the latest on soaring oil and gasoline prices.
CHRISTOPHER KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Christopher King on Roosevelt Island in New York City.
A horrifying ordeal for dozens of passengers, including a number of kids, finally comes to a safe end.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he's here to stay. But the picture in Iraq isn't getting any brighter.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm Chad Myers. Big weather across the country. Even this morning, severe weather popping up. Greenville, Spartanburg and all over eastern Kentucky. Details on that coming up.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And are you thinking about baby number two or number three? Just when is the right time to do it? We'll let you know.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And Broadway's newest leading lady, looking for a record run. Yes, that's Julia. And she's trying to translate her film success into stage success.
That's ahead right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
O'BRIEN: Good morning.
The official midway point of the week for us.
I'm Miles O'Brien.
We're glad you're with us.
NGUYEN: It is a Wednesday.
Good morning, everybody.
I'm Betty Nguyen, in this week for Soledad.
O'BRIEN: More than $200 million. Are you missing it? Well, that's how much more we are spending on gas collectively every day now versus one year ago. And we haven't even hit those traditional summer highs just yet, haven't had a hurricane that would cause difficulties either.
So, is this a case of supply and demand or are oil companies double dipping on us?
Andy Serwer minding your business for us with more on that -- hello, Andy.
SERWER: Good morning you guys.
The price of oil has been streaking lately, now over $71 a barrel. The price of gasoline, the national average, $2.78. And the bad news is that experts say it's very likely to keep climbing, possibly to $3, possibly even higher as we get toward the summer.
A lot of factors in play here -- supply and demand, political pressures, growth in India and China, and new additives here in the United States into the gasoline mix all coming into play.
But, of course, it becomes a political issue, as well. And the question is are the oil companies gouging the American public?
On Capitol Hill yesterday, both President Bush and New York Senator Chuck Schumer weighed in.
Let's hear what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm concerned about higher gasoline prices. I'm concerned what it means to the working families and small businesses. And I'm also mindful that the government has the responsibility to make sure that we watch very carefully and investigate possible price gouging.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Price gouging laws could and should be strengthened because I think there's more and more of it. The oil companies can just move the price up almost at will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERWER: Now, the question is does the Congress have the political fortitude to take on big oil?
Probably not at this point, experts say. That's because the price of gasoline has not gone up that much that far that fast. It would have to stay over $3 for a significant amount of time for the American public to get wild, to start to put pressure on their representatives to really take on oil companies.
But obviously this is a situation that is changing on a day by day basis -- Miles, Betty.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Andy. NGUYEN: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says his critics don't appreciate the tough decisions he's had to make in the war on terror. He's vowing not to resign and his boss, the president, is backing him 100 percent.
Live now to the Pentagon and CNN's Barbara Starr -- Barbara, the secretary may not be going anywhere, but things in Iraq, well, they're not getting any better, either.
STARR: Not at this point, Betty.
The latest news, a roadside bomb in Baghdad, in northern Baghdad, killed one, injured 10. In southern Baghdad, another five bodies found, civilians, apparently. Their bodies showing signs of torture, which is just underscoring how tough the situation in Iraq is getting.
Consider some of these latest statistics we will show you.
The month of April, the declining death rate for U.S. troops in Iraq is over. So far in April, the month not over, 50 U.S. troops have died. That's compared to 31 last month. That ends a five month decline in U.S. fatalities.
Delays in the Iraqi parliament meeting -- no signs of progress on a new national unity government. No signs of a new prime minister. Signs today, in fact, out of Baghdad that that political deadlock is going to continue for some time.
All of this, of course, while the political firestorm here at home has raged. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld meeting with reporters yesterday, saying his critics may not be appreciating the tough decisions on Iraq that he feels he has to make. And he says he feels he has an idea of why people are so concerned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: And I think it's important that we recognize that there's a lot of change going on. It's challenging for people. It's difficult for people and we have to -- I think, be reasonably tolerant with respect to things that get said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: But Secretary Rumsfeld, while showing a little bit of quiet humbleness there, if you will, both publicly and privately, the secretary is now saying it is essential to get that new government in Iraq, essential for security, and that is the way U.S. troops will be coming home -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
Thank you, Barbara.
Retired Major General Tom Wilkerson attended that Pentagon meeting held by the defense secretary yesterday. We're going to hear from him in about 30 minutes -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: In New York, a four minute high wire jaunt turns into a long ordeal that gives me vertigo when I think about it. It happened last night over the East River between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island. Dozens of people aboard two trams trapped when the power went out. The last of them just pulled to safety about three hours ago.
Live now to Christopher King.
He's on Roosevelt Island this morning -- hello, Christopher.
KING: Good morning, Miles.
That's right, those passengers are finally safely on the ground after a horrifying 12 hour ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
KING (voice-over): High drama some 25 stories above New York City's East River. About 5:00 Tuesday afternoon, a mechanical problem triggers a series of power failures. The cars of the Roosevelt Island Tram stall. The tram operates alongside the 59th Street Bridge, shuttling passengers back and forth between Roosevelt Island and Manhattan.
It's normally a four minute ride, but this was no normal ride. Sixty-nine people were on board the gondolas. Twelve were children. The hours drag on. The tram cars and passengers dangling. 6:00, 8:00, 10:00.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: We got supplies to people on -- in both of the gondolas. That's done with a very small car that goes up over the cable and drops some supplies down. And then the operators mount the rescue vehicle, which they can only do one side at a time.
KING: Finally, at 10:52 p.m. rescue teams start transferring people from the tram into a rescue basket. A short time later, at 11:18 p.m. the cage docks at Roosevelt Island, carrying the first of the stranded passengers, seven children and five adults, to safety.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: We were happy to be down and -- and a lot of people cheered us up when we were up there. They were making us laugh. They were dancing a little bit. They were nice people. And sometimes you can find great people in New York.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
O'BRIEN: He's such a well poised kid, isn't he, Chris?
Let me ask you this, Christopher.
The -- these trams, 30-year-old trams. They were kind of put in there, really, sort of supposed to be temporary. They've been there a long time. They've had a lot of problems of late, haven't they?
KING: That's right, Miles.
The tram was stuck once last year. It was messed up for nearly as long as it was this last time around. But when they brought it -- but when that tram was stuck, they actually had to fly in an engineer via chopper to get it started again.
Now, it didn't last as long as this one, this time, of course. This was a major problem here because this is a major way for commemorating for a number of people and, of course, there's going to be an investigation into this as to how this happened and how to avoid this from happening again.
O'BRIEN: All right, in the meantime, I guess you've got to use the subway.
Christopher King on Roosevelt Island, thank you very much.
Let's check the forecast now.
Chad Myers in the Weather Center -- hello, Chad.
MYERS: Hey, Miles.
I'm walking over here now because we had a little rotation on the storm here. I was just checking out the very latest.
This is Nashville. And then just to the southeast of there, that storm right there seems to be spinning just a little bit. So if you're well to the southeast of Nashville -- I can zoom in here -- and to the south of Cookeville here, not that far from McMinnville, you kind of have to kind of watch that, maybe listen for the sirens or just keep inside for a while, keep away from the windows. That's a pretty big storm.
Also, another fairly large storm here. This is Greenville, Spartanburg, I mean, Simpsonville, look at the whole area there all dressed up in red. And then back up here into eastern parts of Kentucky, lightning sparking. Almost 7,000 lightning strikes in the past hour, all the way from the storm that's the farthest west around Nashville to the farther east that's now into South Carolina.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Big Hollywood news this morning.
Have you heard?
Tomcat now their very own little Tomkitten.
Yes, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are the proud parents of a baby girl named Suri. A Cruise spokesman says the origins of the name mean princess or red rose. No word if it was one of those silent births called for in Scientology.
And, ironically, actress Brooke Shields also delivered a baby girl yesterday. Her name is Greer. Now, this is the second child for Shields and her husband. As you may recall, Shields and Tom Cruise traded verbal punches in the press last year over anti-depressants. So an interesting little twist there, both having babies on the same days.
And speaking of babies, there is new advice for parents on how long to wait between pregnancies. That's coming up.
O'BRIEN: Also, leaving on a midnight bus from Georgia. A long journey to the Crescent City to make sure their vote counts.
NGUYEN: And a closer look at the two men charged in the Duke rape case. We'll meet a student who lives in their dorm and get her take on whether they're capable of such a crime.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The district attorney in Durham, North Carolina says there may be a third suspect in that Duke lacrosse team rape investigation and an arrest soon.
Meanwhile, we're learning more about the two suspects already facing charges, 20-year-old Collin Finnerty, 20-year-old Reade Seligmann.
Friends of the players are now coming to their defense.
Nona Farahnik is one of those.
She joins us now from Durham.
Nona, good to have you with us.
You've...
NONA FARAHNIK, FRIEND OF ARRESTED PLAYERS: Good morning, Miles.
O'BRIEN: You know both of them.
FARAHNIK: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I believe you know Collin a little better than Reade, correct?
FARAHNIK: I do know Collin better, yes.
O'BRIEN: How would you describe them?
FARAHNIK: Well, you know, first of all, if you're talking about any Duke student, we're at the number five school in the country. We're on par with all the elite Ivy League universities. Everyone of my peers is an awesome person, fantastic person and has a lot of great attributes.
Reade and Collin were both two students who fit the Duke mold of excellence. I really enjoyed both of them and having them in my dorm. It's unfortunate that they won't be there for the last few weeks of school. I...
O'BRIEN: Well...
FARAHNIK: Sorry?
O'BRIEN: Excellence is one thing.
Tell me about them on a more personal level, though.
FARAHNIK: Sure.
They are great, social guys. Reade actually, I was speaking to his girlfriend last night, who unequivocally supports him and is so distraught by these charges. Reade was usually with his girlfriend, so I didn't know him as well -- or in the library, actually.
But Collin was one of the more good-natured people in my dorm. He was always greeting everybody. I spent a lot of time in our study room with him and every conversation I had with him was pleasant and I only enjoyed the time I spent with both of those boys, again.
O'BRIEN: All right, you know, it's...
FARAHNIK: Yes?
O'BRIEN: This is a tough question, but I mean...
FARAHNIK: Sure?
O'BRIEN: ... how do you know who is capable of such allegations? If these allegations are true, wouldn't they be capable of such a crime?
FARAHNIK: No, you're right. It's a -- it's a tough thing to say something like that. But I know them well enough and a lot of my peers know them well enough to know that there is no way, no way that either of these two boys are capable of anything like this.
Even after this indictment, I would be comfortable being anywhere alone with either of the two boys. This is a completely false accusation and I feel very comfortable declaring their innocence unequivocally.
O'BRIEN: Do a lot of people on the Duke campus feel the same as you, that this is a false accusation? And if it is a false accusation, why would somebody do that?
FARAHNIK: That's right. You know, we waited for a long time before we gave, really, any support to anybody, because we wanted to see the facts of the case come out. We wanted to make sure that we weren't jumping on the gun too quickly because rape is an awful thing and it's not something that anybody wants to condone. And we all want to be quick to condemn something as awful as it. But once we saw to the two faces put behind the indictment and we knew that neither of these boys -- we knew them well enough to know that neither of these boys could have done something like this -- and even now that their lawyers are saying that they alibis, I mean there's on way to do anything but give support.
O'BRIEN: All right, yes...
FARAHNIK: I think the accusations -- sorry, go ahead.
O'BRIEN: All right, let me just -- I want to finish up with this one point...
FARAHNIK: Sure.
O'BRIEN: ... because yesterday I was speaking to a cousin of the victim. We only used her first name to protect her identity. Her name is Jackie. And she said that support or lack of support, depending on which way you look at it, is divided along racial lines.
Listen in for just a second.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACKIE, COUSIN OF ALLEGED VICTIM: In talking to people, people who don't know that she is my cousin, the majority of people who are Caucasian say that they think she's lying. And the majority of African-Americans think that she's telling the truth. So it's very real, unfortunately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Would you agree with that? Is -- is the reaction to this divided that way, along racial lines? And if so, why?
FARAHNIK: I'm not sure where Jackie got her information on -- I don't know how it is in the general Durham community. But within Duke, I know that I've spoken about this with both African-Americans, with Latinos, with white people. People's, you know, impression of this, I think, varies on the facts, not on color. I think that's a ridiculous proposition even to suggest.
And -- especially when dealing with something as awful as rape or accusing someone of rape. I -- I think to belittle it as much as to say that color is now how we're going to accuse or decide someone's innocence is absolutely ridiculous and I don't think that's what's happening on campus. I think people are listening to facts, which so far have only shown us that this guy -- these two guys must be innocent.
O'BRIEN: Nona Farahnik, who is a student at Duke University.
Thank you for your time this morning.
FARAHNIK: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Betty.
NGUYEN: The Pentagon calls in the big guns to support Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Retired generals invited to a special meeting. We'll ask one of them about what was said behind those closed doors.
And next, how long should you wait between kids to make sure you have a healthy baby? Some new advice for parents. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: OK, to maximize their chances of having healthy babies, a new study says women should space pregnancies at least 18 months and no more than five years apart.
Dr. Keith Eddleman is director of maternal fetal medicine at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital.
He is also the coauthor of "Pregnancy For Dummies."
A nice title there.
Good morning to you, doctor.
DR. KEITH EDDLEMAN, MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL: Good morning, Betty.
NGUYEN: Thanks for being with us.
OK, you should just to make sure that your baby is going to be healthy, just to make sure, at least 18 months. That's a year-and-a- half.
Why?
EDDLEMAN: Well, that gives your body a time to replenish some of the nutrients that are depleted when you have a pregnancy. It gives you time to get back to your -- your maximum health and it improves your chances of a good pregnancy outcome.
NGUYEN: It has to do with breast feeding, as well, doesn't it?
EDDLEMAN: Well, breast feeding prolongs the amount of time that -- where you can get pregnant again, so it gives your body a chance to replete some of those nutrients and it gives you a little more time.
NGUYEN: OK, so if you don't breast feed, does it change it at all? Should you wait longer or less time?
EDDLEMAN: Well, if you're not breast feeding, then you need to be more aware that you can get pregnant. So you want to intentionally try not to get pregnant for about 18 months to maximize your chances, again, of a good outcome.
NGUYEN: All right. And it says not to wait longer than five years. Why five years?
EDDLEMAN: Well, interesting, the study showed that waiting longer also increases your chances of some of the adverse pregnancy outcomes and it's not clear exactly why. But it may be related to the fact that some people who don't get pregnant for five years, that's not intentional. They're trying to get pregnant, but they're not able to. So it could be the underlying reason why they can't get pregnant that makes them have a higher rate of bad pregnancy outcomes.
NGUYEN: But if you wait longer than five years, what are the risks?
Kind of give us some details here.
What are some of the increased risks that you face?
EDDLEMAN: Well, the three things that they saw in this study were an increased risk for premature birth, an increased risk for low birth weight and an increased risk for having a baby that's small for gestational age. There are also increased risks for things like preeclampsia, which is a blood pressure disorder associated with pregnancy.
NGUYEN: And I'm reading here that that risk, it increases by the month after those five years.
Is that true?
EDDLEMAN: It does. It increases incrementally every year that you wait after five years.
NGUYEN: Wow!
Goodness, how definitive is this result?
I mean I know it looked at, what, some 60 plus countries, 11 million pregnancies.
But how definitive is this?
EDDLEMAN: Well, there are problems with the study, as with any study there can be problems. But it's the best data that we have available. And it's -- it does give clinicians a guideline to recommend to patients that they wait at least 12 to 18 months before trying to conceive and try to conceive their next pregnancy within the next five years.
NGUYEN: Does it vary by race or ethnicity when it comes to these results?
EDDLEMAN: I don't think the study could -- can definitively say that. I don't think it really had the power to say that.
NGUYEN: But we all know this, a lot of pregnancies, a whole lot of them just aren't planned. So mothers who are pregnant before that year-and-a-half interval, should they be worried?
EDDLEMAN: No. And, in fact, 50 percent of the pregnancies in the United States are not planned.
NGUYEN: There you go. A lot of them.
EDDLEMAN: But patients should be counseled pre-conceptionally that if you really want to maximize your chances of having a good pregnancy outcome, then you should try to plan your pregnancies. But the incremental risks that this study found were not so astronomical that people who don't plan their pregnancies should be worried about it.
NGUYEN: It's just a guideline, a good guideline to go by.
So as a doctor, are you now going to start telling your patients this? Or have you already been telling your patients to wait at least a year-and-a-half?
EDDLEMAN: I've been telling people usually a year or two. And I think I'll be more definitive about the 18 months, although it's not always magical. You can't always get pregnant the exact time that you want. And for patients that don't wait that interval, I think I'll reassure them and just advise them that they maybe need to be followed a little closer.
NGUYEN: Dr. Keith Eddleman, we want to thank you for being with us and sharing that insight.
EDDLEMAN: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Miles.
O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, the midnight bus from Georgia to New Orleans -- find out why some Katrina evacuees think it's the only way to make their voices be heard.
Plus, a brutal beating in a casino parking garage. Here is it all on tape. We'll tell you about the hunt for the suspects ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: With oil prices at record highs, gas prices hovering near the $3 mark, I bet your thinking about some alternatives this morning. Walking, however, is probably not a realistic option.
One solution, though, may be closer than you think.
Welcome To The Future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On my daily commute, it's not so much what I see, it's what I smell of the pollutants. Riding my bicycle changed my perspective on the environment. Automobiles are a very large source of our pollution. We really need to make a big step in improving our overall fuel economy standards.
My wish for the future is that we balance our existence on Earth.
We have all of the tools available to us today and if we don't do something to change it, we're not going to have a world to change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: When it comes to transportation, oil has become a dirty word. National security concerns, high gas prices and threats to the environment have us all scrambling for alternatives.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): By now, you've probably heard of alternative fuels. From hydrogen gas to biodiesels, the list of energy sources is long. Nathaniel Green of the Natural Resources Defense Council says his money is on ethanol, an Earth friendly fuel that's cost-effective, too.
NATHANIEL GREEN, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: There are so many ways that we can make it -- switch grass, corn kernels, wood chips. One of the exciting things about this next generation of ethanol technology is that they have the potential to be not just cost competitive with gasoline, but actually cheaper.
O'BRIEN: Something Brazil is already embracing. In fact, 75 percent of Brazil's new cars burn both gasoline and ethanol. And Green says it can happen here, too.
GREEN: Ethanol is great. But it's not a silver bullet. We need to have more efficient vehicles, as well, that we're putting this fuel in. We need a government commitment to do this and do it in a smart way.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A high wire act worth of Orlando, except these tram riders didn't want to be in a circus.
The wild details are ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I just told myself don't look down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: A good thought. A 12 hour ordeal with a happy ending.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kelli Arena outside the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, where lawyers and some relatives of 9/11 victims are trying to save Zacarias Moussaoui's life.
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