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American Morning

The Voice of Terror; Enron Founder Ken Lay on Stand Today

Aired April 24, 2006 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is ridiculous. This is not -- this is not normal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed. Up, up and, oh, my. Gas prices up nearly another two bits. And that's left some people searching for a better deal.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The voice of terror -- a new audiotape from Osama bin Laden. We're live with more on what he has to say.

M. O'BRIEN: In just a few minutes, a rare glimpse into Iran's intentions, we hope. Iran's president ready to take journalists' questions.

S. O'BRIEN: And the man right in the middle of the Enron collapse is now ready to talk. Enron founder Ken Lay on the stand today, in his own defense.

M. O'BRIEN: And there once was a small city on the Emerald Isle that ended up in a big rile over a count of heads while people weren't in their beds. And now who in Limerick will smile?

That's ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

I think that was a limerick to say that they're having some big census issues in limerick in Ireland.

M. O'BRIEN: It's pretty bad when you have to explain my limericks. But there you have it.

S. O'BRIEN: I like -- well, I know this story and I have no idea what that limerick meant.

M. O'BRIEN: You have no idea what that was about? OK.

S. O'BRIEN: But it was very nicely rhyming.

M. O'BRIEN: Suffice it to say you'll want to tune in.

All right, thank you. Let's begin with gas prices, I'm sorry to report. It's another daily disappointment for drivers, another jump in gas prices pushing the price per gallon closer to $3. And that's just the average. Many people are already paying well above that, like folks around where we live here.

CNN's Sumi Das live now from Hammond, Indiana this morning, where it's a little bit cheaper than it is in Chicago, and thus people are migrating -- hello, Sumi.

SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Miles.

Thank you.

Well, here's a question that a lot of Americans may be asking themselves -- how far out of your way would you go to save a few pennies a gallon on gasoline? Ten miles? Fifteen miles? Well, a good number of Chicagoans are driving nearly 25 miles to drive and buy gas here, in Hammond, Indiana, where a self-serve regular gallon costs about $2.89. On average, that's $0.11 cheaper than it is in Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is ridiculous. This is not -- this is not normal.

DAS (voice-over): New week, more pain at the pump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gas prices are outrageous because it's costing us too much money to travel.

DAS: According to the Lundbergh Survey, gas prices jumped to a national average of $2.91 a gallon for self-serve regular. Nearly all of the increase the result of crude oil prices. The Lundbergh Survey says average gas prices hit $3 or more a gallon in Washington, D.C. California, Nevada, Hawaii, Wisconsin and Illinois. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a student so, you know, the money that I have is somewhat limited and it just makes it really difficult. It's something that I used to not think twice about doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the high cost of fuel has some people crossing state lines for a bargain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a little insane that the prices are high in Chicago and he's right across the border and there are about $0.50.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not happy about it, but I guess I don't feel like we have much choice in the matter.

DAS: If self-serve prices weren't high enough, full service may be a luxury many drivers can't afford, with some stations charging $0.50 to $1 more per gallon for the privilege of filling you up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do it once a week, so it's not like I do it every day. DAS: The peak summer driving season is just ahead and analysts expect things will get better after they get worse.

So what's a driver to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're going to cut back. We're not driving this summer. Normally we take a nice long vacation, a driving vacation, and we're just not going to do it this year.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

DAS: As gas prices have climbed steeply over the past week, it seems like more people may be willing to make the drive from Chicago to Hammond. A manager here tells me that business has really picked up in the last few days -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, do the math before you make the trek, though.

Sumi Das in Hammond, Indiana.

Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: An audio message playing on the Al Jazeera television network is said to be from Osama bin Laden. He says all Americans, not just the nation's leaders, are responsible for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Joining us this morning, senior international correspondent Nic Robertson.

He's in London -- Nic, good morning to you.

What's the significance, do you think, of this message?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Soledad.

I think it's significant because if we look back at Osama bin Laden's last statement, three months ago, he was appealing directly to the people of the United States, offering a truce with them if the war in Iraq and Afghanistan could be ended. And he said the way to end that was to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq.

Now what's he doing is ratcheting up his anger, saying that it's not just the U.S. government that's responsible for these ongoing wars, but now it's also the responsibility of the U.S. citizens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Any war is the joint responsibility of the people and the government. While war continues, people renew their allegiance to their rulers and politicians and continue to send their sons to our countries to fight us. They continue their financial and moral support while our countries are burned, our homes are bombed and our people are killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, what makes that significant in the way that Osama bin Laden disseminates his message, this is -- appears to be, at least, an indication for any al Qaeda supporters that it's not only OK now to go out and attack U.S. troops, U.S. government officials, but it's OK to go ahead and restart attacks U.S. citizens -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: The tape also refers, Nic, to the conflict in the Sudan.

What exactly did he say about that?

ROBERTSON: Well, there he's telling Muslims that they should go and support the fight in the west of Sudan, that they should support the Arab forces there. He says that they should expect a long conflict there, that he is not supporting a peace deal between the United States and the Sudanese government.

This is another one of his rallying calls, essentially, to the Muslim population around the world, trying to say that the West's interests are not serving Muslim interests and that you should join the fight in Sudan, that we shouldn't let this territory grow -- because this is what he believes -- in a peace deal between the United States, that the United States might help broker in southern Sudan with the conflict that's going on there, that would cede territory away from Muslims.

And that's what he's opposed to -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson for us this morning.

Nic, thank you -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: After weeks of emotional, often surprising testimony, the jury will finally begin deliberating the fate of Zacarias Moussaoui later today. They will decide if the Al Qaeda operative lives or dies.

But first, closing arguments.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve live at the courthouse in Alexandria with a preview -- hello, Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.

The prosecution and the defense will each get about an hour to summarize their case and then the jury gets the case of the one man charged in connection with 9/11.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): It has been a harrowing two weeks of testimony and exhibits.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to die, aren't I?

UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm going to die.

MESERVE: 911 calls; the Flight 93 cockpit voice recorder which captured the struggle between passengers and hijackers; the searing, often tearful recollections of 9/11 survivors and families of those who did not survive.

The prosecution used all of these, on top of Zacarias Moussaoui's own testimony.

PETE WHITE, FORMER PROSECUTOR: The key to the government's case so far has been Moussaoui's own admission that he was part of the plot and that he was one of the people who was going to fly planes into buildings on September 11, 2001.

MESERVE: Moussaoui testified that Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, was part of that plot. But the government conceded during the trial that there was no evidence that was true.

The defense tried to use Moussaoui's apparent exaggeration to bolster the testimony of two mental health experts, who said Moussaoui is a paranoid schizophrenia.

WHITE: The psychiatric testimony that they put on can be very powerful. They had very credible and very authoritative sources that testified for them regarding Moussaoui's psychiatric state.

MESERVE: The defense also put on the stand 9/11 family members who do not support the death penalty, though they could not say that explicitly in court.

Alice Hoagland, who lost her son on Flight 93, was one.

ALICE HOAGLAND, 9/11 FAMILY MEMBER: We are all part of the human family. None of us is beyond redemption.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

MESERVE: The death penalty requires a unanimous jury. The defense need only sway one juror and Moussaoui will spend the rest of his life in prison -- Miles, back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Jeanne Meserve in Alexandria, thank you very much.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Happening in America today, a pivotal day expected in the long running Enron trial. Company founder Kenneth Lay is scheduled to take the stand for the first time in his own defense. It comes two weeks -- rather, after two weeks in the hot seat. Former CEO Jeff Skilling was there, of course. Skilling and Lay face fraud and conspiracy charges.

New DNA results in the Duke rape investigation are due out on May 15th, and that's the same day the two players already charged will appear in court for the next hearing. Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty are both charged with rape and kidnapping. Durham D.A. Mike Nifong says the timing of the new DNA evidence is a coincidence.

A hearing today for five Riverton, Kansas teenagers suspected of planning a Columbine style attack at their high school. Police say they found guns and knives and coded messages in one suspect's bedroom. The Kansas attorney general still has not decided on charges for those teens.

Meanwhile, fellow students did their best to put it all behind them. They came out for the Riverton high school prom on Saturday night. One parent said she was concerned about her son's safety, was letting him go, though, because you can't "be scared to live. You have to go on."

A pretty shockingly similar story out of Alaska to tell you about. Six seventh grade boys arrested over the weekend. Police they were planning an all out attack on North Pole Middle School as revenge for being picked on. Nine others were also suspended in connection with the possible plot. Police now ready to patrol highways at that school, they say, just in case.

That brings us to a check of the forecast and Chad Myers, who is at the CNN Center for us -- good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a new prime minister chosen in Iraq. He now faces, though, a number, a list, a litany of tough challenges. Coming up next, our interview with the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.

M. O'BRIEN: And a CIA official takes the fall after leaking word of secret prisons. We'll take a look at what's behind all these leaks. We'll ask a couple of former CIA people if it's ever justified to leak to the media.

S. O'BRIEN: Plus, you'll remember New Orleans Charity Hospital. It was shut down after Hurricane Katrina. Some say it's too damaged to ever reopen. We'll take a closer look just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Right now in Iraqi, talks are going on to form the country's first full-time, post-Saddam Hussein government. The major obstacle was removed this weekend, when a new prime minister designate was named.

Earlier this morning, I spoke with Zalmay Khalilzad.

He is the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Ambassador Khalilzad joins us this morning.

Nice to see you, sir.

Thank you very much for being with us.

Here's a short...

ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Well, it's nice to be with you.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.

Here's a short list of what Jawad al-Maliki has to do. He's got 30 days to form a combat, as you well know; win approval from parliament; deal with competing factions that would like to run the interior ministry and the oil ministry and the defense ministries, as well. And in addition to that, outside of the 30-day deadline, he's got to manage corruption. He's got to try to bring some stability back to Iraq. He's got to try to revive the economy. He's got to deal with the militias and try to disarm them. He's got to deal with the insurgent violence.

How long do you think people will give him to succeed on these fronts?

Al-Jaafari, as you well know, had four months and was unable to do it.

KHALILZAD: I hope he doesn't watch this program because he might turn down the job, given the long list that you enumerated.

No, you're right. There are lots of...

S. O'BRIEN: And the list goes on, as you know.

I mean that's a short part of the long list. I mean it goes on and on, in all seriousness.

KHALILZAD: Exactly.

I worry that, as I said, that he might turn down the job. No, Iraq is going through a difficult period. It's doing state building and nation building and fighting an insurgency and a terror all at the same time. But what he needs to do is to set up some clear priorities, two or three, achieve those goals then embrace more objectives.

S. O'BRIEN: Does he have more support among the Kurds and the Sunnis than al-Jaafari had?

KHALILZAD: No question about that, because the Kurds and the Sunni parties, as well as the cross sectarian parties, objected to Prime Minister Jaafari and the main parties all support Mr. Maliki. S. O'BRIEN: Carl Levin basically says that the U.S. has not done enough to force Iraqis to try to meet the deadlines that they need to meet.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER")

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: For many, many months here now, including on this show, what I've been urging this administration to do is to tell the Iraqis that unless they promptly got a government in place, that our continued presence could not be counted on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Do you think, sir, that the U.S. should be applying more pressure to the Iraqis, saying, listen, you know, we're going to take our troops out, leave you without our troops, if you don't get your act together in this government?

KHALILZAD: I appreciate what Senator Levin has said and I have said that to him. We have been pressing the Iraqis very hard. I myself have. And we have told them that the -- during the discussions leading to the selection of six and the nomination of the prime minister, that, you know, not only are the Iraqis losing patience with them, but also the American people are losing patience with them.

And that would put at risk -- if American support or the American people stop supporting what we are doing in Iraq, that would put the entire enterprise at risk. They understand that. But at the same time, we have to understand, from our side, that what's happening here, what has been happening here is not your typical dividing the spoils of victory in an election, but really for leaders of different communities, for the first time, to talk to each other about what it means to be Iraqi, how they ought to organize themselves in a government, what the rules, procedures and institutions of the government would be.

And they are very difficult issues to deal with and I think I have urged our people back home to be patient while pressing Iraqis to hurry along.

S. O'BRIEN: Ambassador Khalilzad joining us this morning.

It's nice to see you, sir.

Thank you so much for your time.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to live pictures now coming to us from Tehran, Iran, the presidential palace. Iranian President Mahmood Ahmadinejad holding a news conference for international journalists. Only the second time he's done that. Of course, the issue on most people's minds in that room, including our own Aneesh Raman, who is there, Iran's nuclear program and Iran's response to the United Nations, the West calling to stop enriching uranium.

The Iranians insist it is a civilian program. The concern is, of course, that that same enriched uranium could be used, ultimately, in atomic weapons.

This tense standoff continues, the West versus Iran. And into this comes this news conference. Perhaps it will shed some more light on Iranian intentions, which, over the weekend, were described by one of the spokesmen for the president as "an irreversible program."

We're going to monitor this news conference for u.

Aneesh Raman is in the midst of that group of reporters there.

As soon as he breaks free and can dial in to us, we will bring him to you.

So stay with us and we'll keep you posted.

Still to come, a rugby game threatens one of Ireland's oldest cities. That's right. We'll explain. And we'll talk to the city for now, maybe the town's mayor, ahead.

Plus, remembering Garrett. The son of a U.S. senator, he suffered from depression and eventually he took his own life. And now his story is helping other families battle mental illness.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: A city of 54,000 is wondering this morning how, if their rugby team won, and they had a wee bit of fun, how their city may now be a town.

We're talking about the City of limerick, hence the silly rhymes that I'm giving you right now. And the problem was a census was held concurrent with some very important sporting events and as many as 30,000 of the city's 54,000 would be away at a rugby game, thus diminishing its status, perhaps making it a town. And, of course, you know what that means. That means funding.

Let's check in with the mayor of limerick, Mayor Diarmuid Scully.

Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

MAYOR DIARMUID SCULLY, LIMERICK, IRELAND: Good morning, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: We do appreciate you wearing the mayoral -- you said it's not a necklace.

What's the term?

SCULLY: Well, this would be the mayoral chains.

M. O'BRIEN: The mayoral chains. Or, as we would call... SCULLY: So the...

M. O'BRIEN: ... it, the bling.

SCULLY: The mayor chains of limerick.

M. O'BRIEN: The bling...

SCULLY: The bling, indeed.

M. O'BRIEN: The limerick bling.

SCULLY: Very old bling.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. All right.

So, first of all...

SCULLY: Very old bling. Well...

M. O'BRIEN: Here was the problem. You had this important, a couple of important sporting events...

SCULLY: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: ... rugby being the big one. But there was also a hurtling match...

SCULLY: We had, indeed. We...

M. O'BRIEN: And so it...

SCULLY: There was also a major hurling match in Tarliss (ph), yes.

M. O'BRIEN: And you wanted people to be in town...

SCULLY: Essentially the...

M. O'BRIEN: ... for the census, right?

SCULLY: Yes. The census was picked, Sunday the 23rd of April was picked as our census night, assuming it would be a very quiet, normal Sunday evening. It was the Sunday after Easter and the Sunday before our May bank holiday weekend, our public holiday weekend, which is sort of the start of summer, when a lot of people would head away.

So it was selected as this very nice, quiet evening when everybody throughout the country would be at home, could fill in their census forms, could register themselves, where they lived, where they were staying that night. And that way you would get an accurate reflection of the population around the country.

Fortunately or unfortunately, we got through to the semi-finals of the European Rugby Cup, which was held at the -- in Dublin. Now, I suppose for a U.S. equivalent, if you can imagine the Red Sox playing for the World Series in Yankee Stadium and that for some strange reason, the Boston City Council picked that night to do a census of Boston, that would be the equivalent.

The -- between the two matches, we -- our hurling team was also in the semifinal of the national hurling league in Tarliss, in County Tabreri (ph) that day. So between the two matches, about 30,000 of the 54,000 people in the city were gone.

Now, in Irish terms...

M. O'BRIEN: So, wait a minute.

So more -- wait a minute.

SCULLY: ... it not...

M. O'BRIEN: Let's get this straight. I want to get this straight. More than half the city...

SCULLY: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: ... was gone. And it's...

SCULLY: More than half were gone, yes.

M. O'BRIEN: And it's very important for census there...

SCULLY: We were a ghost town for the weekend.

M. O'BRIEN: ... you have to be in your city, right? You have to be in the city?

SCULLY: You have to be in your city for it.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

SCULLY: You have to be in your city at midnight. Now, thankfully, the people that went to the hurling match, Tipperary is not very far from us. It's not a long way from limerick. So they were able to get back on time.

A lot of the people from the rugby match aren't back yet. They're coming back in dribs and drabs this afternoon. So we won't know the outcome until we see the final figures.

But thanks to a lot of the publicity we've got around this, the census enumerators here have not been working very hard this morning. Most of them have stayed home. Most of them haven't gone around to collect the census forms.

So we're hoping that enough people will make it back in time to fill in their forms.

The magic figure for us is 50,000. Now, we'll still be a city in Irish terms, because we're actually the oldest city in Ireland. We go back to 1197, and that's based on a charter. But in European Union terms and in terms of European Union funding, if the population dropped below 50,000, that's the cut off point. We would no longer be a city.

And it would cost us, in any fiscal year, between $3 million and $5 million a year would be lost because of that. So it's quite significant.

M. O'BRIEN: So that...

SCULLY: So we're still counting heads and we're hoping that enough people get back.

M. O'BRIEN: You might have to sell the bling if it gets too bad. So...

SCULLY: We might have to sell the bling, but...

M. O'BRIEN: Well, let me ask you this.

SCULLY: Well...

M. O'BRIEN: They gave you -- they gave you a bit of a grace period and so that might save the day for you?

SCULLY: They did.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

SCULLY: That might save the day. The loophole was that if you -- if you, for some reason, failed to fill out the census form that night -- now, bear in mind that that's a misdemeanor and you could actually fail, you know, face sanctions for it -- but if you failed, you could fill it out the following morning.

Now, what I've been asking the census here is to be very flexible in their interpretation of morning and to allow morning to stretch for the rest of the week if they can and give people enough time to get back.

While they haven't confirmed that they would do that, I think by their actions we're starting to see a little bit of that today, because we did win the rugby match yesterday. We're now through to the final against Beiritz (ph) in Cardoff (ph) at the end of May. And a lot of people stayed in Dublin to celebrate.

So, I mean, there are people getting off trains and buses and cars and coming back into limerick now.

But I've been talking to a lot of them and I haven't -- I've yet to meet anyone who actually filled out their census form in Dublin. So that means that hopefully they'll be able to fill out their census form here and we'll get over this hiccup.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, maybe with...

SCULLY: I did say, it's all down to French television, I guess. M. O'BRIEN: Maybe the silver lining here...

SCULLY: We'll see.

M. O'BRIEN: ... is that if the enumerators were celebrating, they might be seeing double, and thus double counts. So that would be good, right?

SCULLY: Yes, well, I think that was part of it. Of course, the whole problem started, actually, with the French -- I should think Americans could probably appreciate -- in that French television has a bigger audience than Irish television. And the two semifinals -- one was being played in Ireland, one in France.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, I see.

SCULLY: And they insisted that they were going to go ahead on this Saturday and theirs had to be pushed to the Sunday. So...

M. O'BRIEN: Ah, there you go. Blame it on the French.

SCULLY: Hopefully we'll get our revenge by beating them in the final.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's hope.

All right, well...

SCULLY: But if we beat then in the final, that will do the job.

M. O'BRIEN: ... keep us posted on how things go.

We want to make sure you stay a city there.

Limerick...

SCULLY: I will, of course.

I will, of course.

M. O'BRIEN: Limerick, Ireland Mayor Diarmuid Scully, always a pleasure hearing from the old sod.

Thanks for checking in with us.

SCULLY: Thank you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

All right.

You're welcome.

SCULLY: Thanks very much indeed.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a dangerous scare on board a United Airlines flight. A passenger tries to open a door mid- flight. You're going to be surprised to find out who was there to save the day. We'll tell you, just ahead.

Plus, New Orleans' Charity Hospital on the brink. What will it take to save one of the nation's best trauma centers? We'll take a look at that as AMERICAN MORNING continues in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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