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American Morning

Bush Administration Has Plan to Protect Americans in Case of Pandemic Flu Outbreak; Families of Sago Mine Victims Relive Tragedy at Emotional Hearing

Aired May 03, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The Bush administration has a plan to protect Americans in case of a pandemic flu outbreak. But is it enough? I'm Ed Henry at the White House with details.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Divers are checking the stormy waters of the Black Sea this morning looking for the victims of a deadly plane crash. We're live with the latest there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They beat on the roof bolts, and nobody listened. They waited for the blast from the surface, and those blasts never came.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Such terrible anguish. The families of the Sago mine victims reliving that tragedy at an emotional hearing. The hope is to avoid another disaster.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello in New York. Undercover video of a plot going down to bomb a New York City subway. You will see the tape, next on AMERICAN MORNING.

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

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: Our top story this morning, the White House plan to battle a possible flu pandemic. Going to reveal the full details a little bit later today. But here's already what we know already. Worst-case scenario would include a death toll of two million, at least 50 million people infected, 40 percent of the American workforce off the job.

CNN's Ed Henry is live for us at the White House.

Ed, good morning to you.

HENRY: Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: Give us a preview of what the White House is going to announce later today. HENRY: Well, of course the White House is stressing they have no evidence that a pandemic flu is about to break out, but of course they were pilloried for the slow response to Hurricane Katrina. They want to make sure that they look prepared here. They're trying to get ahead of it in this report. This report is some 220 pages. It includes more than 300 specific recommendations for both the public and private sectors. What to do, various preparations, including stockpiling vaccines. The federal government will stockpile 75 million doses of anti-viral drugs and 20 million doses of vaccines to combat any outbreak. Voluntary quarantines as well. The government pushing mandatory evacuations only in the most extreme cases, also restricting travel, and encouraging business practices that minimize contact with employees, such as liberal-leave policies, as well as teleconferences. Questions, though, already being raised about why the White House does not include closing off the borders in the case of an outbreak. The president special assistant for biodefense suggests there would be very little upside to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJEEV VENKAYYA, ASST. TO PRES. FOR BIODEFENSE: If you were to eliminate or stop 90 percent of travelers with flu from arriving in this country, you might delay the peak of a pandemic by one to two weeks. And if you limit that number by up to 99 percent, some models show that you might delay the pandemic another one to two weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: But is this report enough? No, according to Clark Kent Ervin, the CNN security analyst. He says the federal government still has a long way to go until it's prepared to tackle a possible pandemic flu outbreak -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ed, what's the cost of putting this plan as the White House is envisioning it at this point into place?

HENRY: The White House has asked for about $7 billion to start out. They've gotten almost $4 billion, still looking for $3 billion -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ed Henry at the White House for us. Ed, thanks.

CNN, of course, is going to have live coverage of the announcement when the White House unveils its pandemic flu plan. That happens this afternoon, 12:30 Eastern Time. CNN Pipeline is also going to carry that event live -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Bad weather, the likely cause of a terrible plane crash in Russia. This morning, divers are in the stormy Black Sea, looking for victims. The Armenian plane was taking tourists to the popular Russian resort city of Sochi. The plane came down just about four miles from its destination. It was a second landing attempt. The first one aborted on account of bad weather.

CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance live for us now from Moscow with more -- Matthew. MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Miles, thank you very much.

Recovery workers battling the elements, battling high seas and heavy rain, still trying to salvage what they can of that wreckage of that downed Airbus A320 aircraft that, as you say, plunged into the Black Sea just short of the runway about four kilometers -- four miles short, of the runway, in fact, in the -- off the Black Sea coast near the Russian city of Sochi, a very poor weather conditions down in that part of the world right now. They've already recovered big chunks of the fuselage. Fragments of the fuselage has been scattered across a wide area. Also, they say they've recovered the rescue workers, some 38 bodies so far.

But according to the Russian authorities, all 113 people onboard, including passengers and crew, lost their lives in this latest tragedy to afflict the people traveling to that part of Russia.

Now, the investigators, of course, looking into what could have been the cause. Bad weather still continuing there now being the main focus of the investigation. Although at this stage, the authorities are not ruling out technical failure or pilot error. They are saying, though, that terrorism, on this occasion, was not to blame.

M. O'BRIEN: Matthew Chance in Moscow, thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Another emotional day in West Virginia coal mining country. Day two of the Sago mine disaster hearings this morning. Yesterday, of course, marked by tears and anguish, and very pointed questions for politicians and for the owners of the mine, too. Those questions came from relatives of the 12 miners who were killed after that mine explosion back in early January.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM CAMPBELL, BROTHER-IN-LAW DIED IN MINE: It's about 12 men who died doing what they were trained to do.

SHELLY GROVES ROSE, FATHER DIED IN MINE: Our hearts are broken, more than just broken. They've been ripped out of our chests and shredded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin said the hearings are going to help improve rescue operations.

Two Australian miners could be reunited with their friends and family members within just days. Emergency crews are now digging an escape tunnel for the two. They began work just in the past couple of hours or so. For more than a week, these men have been stuck a half mile underground. They received iPods earlier today to kind of help them pass the time. They're expecting the job should take about two days to get them out. That's good news there.

M. O'BRIEN: It is. It's victory for the district attorney in the Duke rape case. Michael Nifong narrowly won the Democratic nomination for another term in office. He will run unopposed in the general election, so his re-election a formality now. Defense attorneys and some opponents have accused him of using the Duke scandal for political gain. Nifong said the case would go forward with or without him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL NIFONG, DURHAM D.A.: My situation with respect to that is that I feel that I did what was right, and I don't have anything to be vindicated for. I mean, obviously, I'm happy that the voters have continued me in this job, but I would tell you that if they had not done so, there would have been a sense of relief about that, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Now one defense attorney filed a motion to pull Nifong off the case.

This morning, we're seeing for the first time what prosecutors say is proof of an alleged plot to blow up a busy New York City subway station. Carol Costello live from the newsroom with more on this.

Hello, Carol.

COSTELLO: Hello, Miles.

You know, this illustrates now cities like New York are fighting terrorism in the post-9/11 world. Police reportedly paid an Egyptian immigrant $100,000 to go undercover at a local mosque. They suspected this mosque sheltered Islamic militants. Well, fast forward to today in a Brooklyn courtroom. Police say they have absolute proof their informant led them to a 24-year-old suspect who was going to plant a bomb on the subway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you? You're not going to do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Am I going to do 34th?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Caught on camera. An FBI surveillance tape shows alleged plot to blow up a New York City subway station. The man you see on the right is a FBI informant. The man on the left is James L. Shafa (ph). He's already pleaded guilty to taking part in this plot.

The man in the backseat is War Mateen Sarag (ph). He is now on trial, accused of conspiring to bomb the Harold Square subway station in Manhattan in 2004. The tape was made public Tuesday as part of the trial.

Prosecutors say the plan to smuggle backpack bombs into the subway station.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will work with those brothers, as a planner or whatever.

But to put in there, I'm not sure. I have to think about it. Give me some time to feel comfortable with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The tape suggests Sarag was reluctant, refusing to place the bombs himself, but willing to guide others as to where to put the bombs, and telling the informant at one point he had to ask his mother's permission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will not be the person to put it, because if somebody dies, then the blame will come on me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The police informant seems frustrated by the suspect's reticence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mateen, you are out of jihad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you think, brother.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm asking you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not thinking about jihad. Planning is also jihad, brother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The two men were arrested in August of 2004, just days before the Republican National Convention in New York's Madison Square Garden, not far from the alleged subway target. Prosecutors say the truth is on the tape. The defense insists its client was duped. Legal experts are also weighing in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the defendants say the same thing in these kinds of cases, that they were set up. But when was the last time that we had a conversation with someone about using backpacks to bomb a subway?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The informant, Osama Eldawood (ph), he says he went undercover to prove he's a patriot. He felt he needed to do that after the FBI and New York Police visited his home after 9/11 on a false tip. Now if the suspect in the bombing case, Sarag, is convicted, he could face 20 years in prison -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Carol Costello, thank you very much.

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, heated exchange to tell you about on Capitol Hill over Iran. We're going to tell you what the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. has said about the possibility of a military strike on Iran.

M. O'BRIEN: Also, how low can you go? A small town mayor accused of stealing money from a dead Marine.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, terrible story.

Later this morning, finding the best way to treat alcoholism. There's news that an old drug might e playing a pretty key role. We'll take a look at all those stories just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The White House building a coalition against Iran for refusing to give up the nuclear program. The U.S. -- U.N. Ambassador John Bolton says if the Security Council does not act, Washington will. Sounds a little familiar.

CNN's senior United Nations correspondent Richard Roth joining us from the U.N.

Richard, good morning to you.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Later today here in New York, the Security Council meets for the first time since the latest high-level session of big powers on the Security Council, discussing strategy yesterday in Paris on Iran. The U.S. Ambassador John Bolton here after sidestepping a heavily Democratic Party barrage on Capitol Hill grilling in Washington yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), OHIO: Do you have ten more minutes?

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMB. TO U.N.: I'm having fun, Mr. Chairman. I can spend a few more minutes.

ROTH (voice-over): The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, was, at best, being diplomatic. A congressional hearing on the future of U.N. sanctions after the oil-for-food scandal turned into a referendum on the Bush administration's plans for Iran. An anti-war Congressman asked about recent stories alleging U.S. strategic planning for military planning in Iran.

KUCINICH: Have you ever heard of that report?

BOLTON: I've never heard of the report. I've never read the article, nor do I intend to.

KUCINICH: Do you have any interest as to whether or not -- as the U.S. ambassador, you don't have an interest as to whether or not U.S. Marines are actually operating in Iran right now?

BOLTON: I said I had not heard of the report. And I didn't intend to read the article in "The New Yorker."

KUCINICH: If I gave you this article right now and walked it over, would you look at it?

BOLTON: I don't think so, honestly, congressman, because I don't have time to read much fiction.

ROTH: Bolton the promised the U.S. lawmakers the Security Council would start work this week on a resolution aimed to Iran, including a provision by the U.N. charter compelling the nation to accept U.S. demands, but some countries fear that opens the door through legal language for consent to military action one day.

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: Can you give them an assurance that the United States will not later rely on that resolution to take unilateral military action against Iran?

BOLTON: The purpose of chapter seven does not lay the basis necessarily for any further action -- peaceful action, sanctioned action or the use of force. It's to make it mandatory on the government of Iran, and that's the purpose of it right now. We're going to do this one resolution at a time.

ROTH: Bolton said that if China and Russia refused to agree, then the U.S. would seek to join with other countries outside the Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH: Ambassador Bolton says that a resolution will be introduced in the next day or so -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Richard Roth at the United Nations, thank you very much.

S. O'BRIEN: No big surprise here. Gas prices are skyrocketing. Some folks in Florida, though, are testing out a cheaper and cleaner alternative. We're going tell you how long the rest of us might have to wait for it.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The length of the ship is taller. It would be longer than either the Eiffel Tower or the Chrysler Building is high, wider than the White House and taller than the Statue of Liberty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Wider than the White House and taller than the Statute of Liberty. It is the biggest cruise ship ever, and it has set sail. We're going take you live to England for a sneak peak at the brand new Freedom of the Seas. Look at the stuff it has. We'll talk about that, too. That's ahead.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Here's a riddle for you. What is longer than the Eiffel Tower, has 1,800 rooms, an ice rink, a surf-generating pool, and all the buffet more than 4,000 can eat. It's the Freedom of the Seas. And the 160,000-ton behemoth, the largest cruise liner ever built, is steaming its way in our direction, to New York City, to the harbor. We hope they don't hit an iceberg along the way.

Robyn Curnow joins us live from Southampton, England.

Robin, it was a beautiful sight a few moments ago as she set sail from where you stand right now, making some progress, and what -- you know, the thing that's hard when we saw you last, you looked about as tall as the ship, given the angle of the shot. Give us a sense of the scale if you could.

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Miles. As you can see, she's over my left shoulder now, just steaming away into the distance, coming to warmer waters your way, indeed, because it's still very chilly here in England. But just that sense as I tried to explain earlier to you, I'm about 5'10, and this ship was dwarfing us at over 240 feet high. We were like little ants, I suppose, beneath it.

And when you walk on the upper deck of the ship, we spent a few hours on it just this week, and it's over a thousand feet wide. So, an incredible, incredible machine.

What is else interesting, it's just its size that is impressive. It's the novelties and the activities onboard that can really blow your mind. If you look at on that upper deck, we saw this wild surfing ride. There's even a rock climbing wall. There's a boxing ring in the gym, a theater that is bigger than many of the Western theaters in London, and also a three-story shopping mall below. And also don't forget that ice skating rink. So we're really looking at quite a significant piece of machinery steaming your way.

M. O'BRIEN: I should say. We're going to have to check her out when she comes in. Tell us a little about -- I mean, something like this, anything you do, something like this, it such a spectacle. Unfortunately, in this day and age, it becomes a potential target for terror. What about security?

CURNOW: I think that's a huge concern, because intelligence experts have warned that cruise ships, and the cruise line industry in general, are vulnerable to some sort of terror attack.

Here's a much smaller boat just moving by us now. We are on a working dock. So there is a lot of movement going on around us.

But definitely, in ports and docks like this across the world, security has undoubtedly been stepped up since September 11th.

When I spoke to the president of Royal Caribbean, which owns Freedom of the Seas, they said to me that there were a number of measures. They couldn't tell us about security issues. But things like scan every single piece of luggage, and of course every guest that's onboard. Over 5,000 guests and crew will be onboard that ship when it eventually goes on its maiden cruise. Also, you know, real tight access control on the ships. So those sorts of concerns very much on the forefront of the organizers; and owners' minds.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Robyn. I like the orange vest, by the way. It's a nice look for you.

CURNOW: Thanks. It's not exactly the smartest thing I've worn in my television career.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it's regulations and all.

CURNOW: But you see me, that's for sure.

M. O'BRIEN: We do understand. It's better than those bunny suits I wore in the spacecraft. Those were the worst. All right, thank you, Robyn Curnow.

S. O'BRIEN: When there's a giant cruise ship towering over you, it's good to be seen.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, you want to be seen.

S. O'BRIEN: She's about this big compared to that ship.

M. O'BRIEN: Blaze orange is good.

S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about alcohol addiction. Eight million Americans, in fact, are addicted to alcohol. There's been a big debate over the best way to treat it. Ahead this morning, we take a look at the latest advice from doctors. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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