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American Morning

Life Behind Bars for Moussaoui; Sexual Predator?; Overweight Kids

Aired May 04, 2006 - 09:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: His life spared. The jury concludes Zacarias Moussaoui was just a bit player in the 9/11 attack. We may hear from the al Qaeda wannabe one last time in just about an hour.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Susan Candiotti in Bartow, Florida, where a former high-ranking Homeland Security official is in court to answer charges of soliciting sex from a minor.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Childhood obesity, it's quite literally a growing problem. But there are little things you can do to get your kids headed in a healthier direction. We'll tell you what they are.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Airports on the East Coast doing fairly well this morning, although we do have Atlanta at 30-minute departure delays. We'll take a look at the rest of the day coming up.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad.

And I can't float like a butterfly, can't sting like a bee, but I'm just stupid enough to step in the ring with the Muhammad Ali of White Collar Boxing. Yes, you heard me right, White Collar Boxing. We're raging bullish on that sport on this AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: You look like you know what you're doing.

M. O'BRIEN: It's all in the look, right? It's all in the look.

S. O'BRIEN: Fake it until you make it.

M. O'BRIEN: That's right.

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

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

Mixed reaction this morning. Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is being formally sentenced in the next hour. Perhaps his last chance to speak in public. Then it's life in maximum security prison.

CNN's Kelli Arena live now for us from Alexandria, Virginia.

Perhaps the last morning we'll see you there in Alexandria for this story, Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Let's hope so, Miles. It's been long.

You know, you have heard me each and every day talk about how Moussaoui has continually taunted the United States, usually with one- liners. He either says, you know, "God curse America," "God bless Osama bin Laden." He usually waits until the jury and judge are gone from the courtroom, but today, in front of the judge, he will get an opportunity to have his say when he's sentenced this morning at 10:00.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA (voice-over): On his way out of the courtroom, Zacarias Moussaoui yelled, "America, you lost!" Defiant until the end, he never expressed any remorse for 9/11. Still, the jury decided Moussaoui will not be executed. The 37-year-old is expected to spend the rest of his life in a maximum-security prison.

Carie Lemack lost her mother on September 11th.

CARIE LEMACK, 9/11 FAMILY MEMBER: He's an al Qaeda wannabe, and he does not deserve any credit for 9/11, because he was not part of it, and I am so glad the jury recognized that.

ARENA: Other 9/11 family members were disappointed.

MARGARET POTHIER, 9/11 FAMILY MEMBER: I think he deserved the death penalty. And I'm sorry he didn't get it.

ARENA: We know from the verdict forum that three jurors believed Moussaoui's role in the 9/11 conspiracy was minor, and that he had limited knowledge of the attack plan. The jury rejected the government's claim that Moussaoui's actions resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths on September 11th.

PAUL MCNULTY, DEP. ATTY. GENERAL: We respect that, and we accept that. But accountability for the crimes committed has been achieved through the prosecution. There's no doubt about that.

ARENA: No jurors were swayed by the notion that executing Moussaoui would make him a martyr for al Qaeda. They also weren't convinced he was mentally ill. Though the majority accepted the defense's argument Moussaoui came from a dysfunctional family, with a violent father.

EDWARD MACMAHON, MOUSSAOUI'S DEFENSE ATTY.: The court charged us with defending Mr. Moussaoui's constitutional rights, and we have done so to the best of our abilities.

ARENA: Even though the four-and-a-half year legal drama did not end with a death sentence, President Bush defended the outcome.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They spared his life, which is something that he evidently wasn't willing to do for innocent American citizens. (END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: You know, Miles, some family members say that it should have been al Qaeda higher-ups, like September 11th mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who were facing justice. And it's still not clear at all what the Bush administration intends on doing with those al Qaeda detainees.

M. O'BRIEN: Kelli, a quick point for you here. Some of the family members have been saying that maybe the jury got duped, that he led them to believe he wanted to die as a martyr, and thus they came back with the verdict he secretly wanted.

Have you thought much about that?

ARENA: You know, it's very hard to get into the minds of the jury, obviously. You know they're anonymous, a closed jury. We haven't heard from any of them. But Moussaoui went back and forth on whether he thought that it would fulfill his jihad to get executed or not to.

He said in court that he didn't believe that he should be put to death because that wasn't an honorable way to die. But before in statements he said that it was. So, we really didn't know where he was coming from.

And on the verdict form, the jury -- there were no jurors who said that it mattered to them in their decision whether or not he would be made a martyr for al Qaeda. So, at least in terms of what they wrote down, in terms of, you know, what went into that decision- making, that, they say, was not a factor.

M. O'BRIEN: Kelli Arena, thank you very much.

The prison where Moussaoui likely will be going is called Supermax, or sometimes the Alcatraz of the Rockies. It's in Florence, Colorado, it's about a hundred miles from Denver.

Inmates are kept in 7 by 12-foot soundproof rooms with steel doors. There's a desk, a stool, a bed. All of them made of poured concrete, all of them attached. Windows, really just slits, look out at the sky or a wall.

On the prison grounds, motion detectors, laser beams, guard dogs, and cameras, all surrounded by a 12-foot-high razor wire fence. One section is known as "Bombers Row," and it includes the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski; shoebomber Richard Reid; the Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols; Centennial Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph; and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was accused of masterminding the '93 World Trade Center bombing. Timothy McVeigh was there before he was executed.

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

S. O'BRIEN: Testimony at the Sago Mine disaster. Public hearings resume this hour in Buckhannon, West Virginia.

Do we have live pictures of that?

There they are. You can see it's about to get under way.

Today's focus is going to be on the investigation by state and federal agencies into that January disaster that killed 12 miners. On Wednesday, a mining professor said that in fact a lightning strike could have caused the explosion.

The hearings are going to end with statements by family members, which you'll recall is exactly how it began. You can of course expect that's going to be very, very emotional.

The first court appearance in Florida today for a former Department of Homeland Security spokesman. Brian Doyle faces nearly two dozen charges stemming from his alleged attempt to seduce a 14- year-old girl over the Internet.

CNN's Susan Candiotti live at the courthouse in Bartow, Florida, this morning.

Hey, Susan. Good morning.

CANDIOTTI: Hello, Soledad.

At this very first court appearance here in Florida, if defense attorneys have their way their client will get bond. And if he does, those lawyers would like to fly him home to Maryland, where they would like to have him examined by psychiatrists who specialize in sexual dysfunction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice over): The disgraced former Homeland Security deputy press secretary decided against fighting extradition to Florida to face 23 felony counts. Brian Doyle stared straight ahead as he sat in a patrol car, but there was no avoiding cameras as he was led into booking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Doyle, why did you do it? Do you have anything to say?

CANDIOTTI: Last month, the Polk County, Florida, Sheriff's Office admittedly shocked itself by busting a federal government official in an Internet sting operation. He was likely shocked, too, when arrested at his home in Maryland by a female deputy. That's her escorting Doyle to a squad car, who he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

Doyle's charged with sending her hard-core pornographic materials, materials to seduce a minor. He's also accused of e- mailing the undercover cop 16 pornographic video clips. The titles include, "Big (BLANK)," "babysitter14," "twin1," "homemadeporno" and "panties".

SHERIFF GRADY JUDD, POLK COUNTY, FLORIDA: He would send the clip and then discuss what he wanted her to do with him or what he wanted to do with her. This guy is a criminal. We hope to see him in the Florida state prison system for a very long time.

CANDIOTTI: Doyle did not attempt to hide his face or what he did for a living. Police say he e-mailed his intended young lover his photo, wearing a Homeland Security lapel pin and I.D. badge. And that wasn't all.

CARRIE RODGERS, POLK COUNTY SHERIFF'S SPOKESWOMAN: In the very first conversation online he told our detectives who he was, gave them his office and home phone numbers. And once we verified that's who he was, obviously we were more surprised at his level at Homeland Security.

CANDIOTTI: Within days of his arrest, Doyle resigned. As he got ready for his first court appearance in Florida, his hands at times trembling, a man who once had access to classified government secrets was again wearing another set of handcuffs and forced to select a pair of jailhouse slippers before put in isolation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: Now, usually when Doyle would be transferred from Florida to Maryland, he would have had to face a long, grueling bus ride with other prisoners. It could have taken a week. But instead, he wrote a check for $2,000 so that he could fly commercially. Of course under police escort -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, I remember you saying how shocked everybody was when this happened. I mean, especially people who worked with him. Any warning signs? Any indication that he had problems like this?

CANDIOTTI: Well, for one thing, Soledad, he worked for "TIME" magazine for 25 years, and according to sources, between 1999 and 2001, he was once disciplined for using "TIME" company computers to watch pornography. Now, the question is, did any of this show up when he was going through a background check to work for Homeland Security? We can't get a solid answer about that, nor can we get an answer that, even if that did show up, would he have been -- would they have stopped him, prevented him from getting him the job in the first place?

S. O'BRIEN: The plot gets thicker and thicker, right?

Susan Candiotti for us this morning.

Thanks, Susan. Appreciate it.

Coming up in just a few minutes, AMERICAN MORNING'S Dan Lothian is going to look at some ways that parents can be more involved in their kids' online activities.

That's just ahead. Stay with us -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's get the forecast in. Chad Myers at the CNN Center.

Hello, Chad.

MYERS: Miles, it is a golf day.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Back to you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: We hate that strong weather thing. All right, Chad. Thank you. We'll watch that tomorrow when it happens. It sounds all right in some places.

Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Chad.

Coming up next, Zacarias Moussaoui will spend life in prison. The real masterminds of the 9/11 attack are either still at large or, if in custody, unlikely to ever see a jury. We'll give you a report card on the war on terror.

S. O'BRIEN: And then coming up at 20 minutes past the hour, we'll have your morning "House Call." Today, some pretty simple and pretty small steps you can take that will help your kids lose weight.

M. O'BRIEN: And about 30 minutes from now, we're going to go live to the Vatican. The pope has excommunicated a pair of Chinese bishops. The church in China doesn't recognize the Vatican and there appears to be a growing rift.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: You got questions? I've got obfuscations for you. I'll do the best I can.

AM@CNN.com is the place to send any question you might have about the program, about CNN, about news coverage, about what it's like to box with the Muhammad Ali of White Collar Boxing, and all those kinds of things. The place where you see the answers is CNN.com/Pipeline, 10:30 Eastern Time.

So, take a look at my desk. There's the Miles Cam all spooled up and ready. The office could use a little tidying, but that's another issue entirely.

So, please send us your e-mails now. We're going to give you a little preview at the end of the program of some of the questions that you have on your mind.

Stay with us for more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) M. O'BRIEN: Zacarias Moussaoui will not be put to death. A jury has not recommended the death sentence. He'll be formally sentenced to life if prison -- and not easy time by any stretch -- a little bit later today.

The question is, what does this do? Does it put any sort of ding in the war on terror, when in many respects the real masterminds of the 9/11 attack remain far away from the reach of a jury or a judge?

CNN security analyst Pat D'Amuro is a former FBI assistant director. He's currently chairman and CEO with the Giuliani Security and Safety Outfit, and he joins us from Washington today.

Pat, good to have you back with us on the program.

PAT D'AMURO, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be here, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's play for you right away a little excerpt from the president's remarks post-ruling from the jury -- it's not ruling, but verdict from the jury.

Let's listen.

D'AMURO: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: As I think about the trial, I can't help but think about the families who lost a loved one on September the 11th. I think about the rescuers who tried to save lives in the burning buildings. I -- and I know that it's really important for the United States to stay on the offense against these killers and bring them to justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: You know, he says that it's important to stay on the offense and bring the killers to justice, but when you look at the real -- the masterminds of this plot, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, they remain held in kind of a limbo, being interrogated, and to the point now for several years where it's highly unlikely they'll ever come to trial.

Do you think that's a good strategy?

D'AMURO: I think you're right, Miles. I don't think these individuals will ever see a U.S. court of law. However, that doesn't prevent all the information that the FBI and the agency has developed over the years with these individuals to be used in some kind of military tribunal or some type of hearing down the road.

The question is, what is the government's plan to achieve just that goal? Will they see a military tribunal, or will they just continue to hold them?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. And you've got to wonder -- let me ask you this, when somebody is being held for that long, at a certain point how much information do they have left?

D'AMURO: Well, information about future plans is probably very minimal and probably almost non-existent right now from some of the individuals that have been incarcerated for so long. We know that al Qaeda takes a tremendous amount of time in planning different types of terrorist attacks. They would actually hold class-type situations in Afghanistan when they would talk about future attacks and give almost homework assignments to future terrorists to say, what attacks do you think would be successful against the United States or some of our allies?

M. O'BRIEN: Let's listen to what some of the victims' families had to say about this. Carie Lemack, who was with Soledad just a little while ago, yesterday had some things to say about how she -- about the priorities in this war on terror.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARIE LEMACK, 9/11 FAMILY MEMBER: We have to look at the real problems in this country. If we're going blame Zacarias Moussaoui, he's not the real problem. The real problem are the terrorists who do want to kill us, like Osama bin Laden, who is still not captured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: So, in essence, what they're saying is, in a certain sense, this trial was kind of a show trial, a sideshow. Would you agree?

D'AMURO: I don't agree with that, Miles. You know, Moussaoui was here to conduct a terrorist attack. Intelligence indicates that he was not going to be part of 9/11, but that he was probably going to be used in a future attack involving an airplane and trying to crash it into a building.

So, Moussaoui was here to kill United States citizens, as we know other individuals have come into the country to do so. So, he's definitely a threat.

This removes the threat from the American population, from the American public. It helps protect them.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, let's go back to '93, the first World Trade Center attack. I know you know a lot about that one. And in that case, the real masterminds did go to trial, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh. And they -- it was a different strategy at that time.

Was that a mistake then?

D'AMURO: Well, those two individuals you mentioned didn't go to trial in the '93 bombing, although their names were starting to surface during that investigation, as well as Osama bin Laden. His name first came up in the first World Trade Center bombing in trying to recruit Mujahedin and funds from a radical mosque in Brooklyn and sending that over to Afghanistan.

Now, the individuals were tried in the World Trade Center bombing. We did have the trial of the blind (ph) sheik for the terrorist (INAUDIBLE) investigation. The East African bombing was a very successful investigation and trial where four individuals were convicted and four individuals were indicted in London.

So, there is the method in my opinion to bring these people to justice in the United States. The administration decided to take a different course, and now we have to see what the end game is, what the plan is for the individuals that are currently in custody.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Sorry, I misspoke there on the defendants in that case. But I think you got the point.

D'AMURO: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: Pat D'Amuro, thank you very much for being with us.

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

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning in our "House Call" segment, tips for parents with overweight kids. We're going to tell you about some very simple lifestyle changes that can help your son and daughter shape up, and fast.

And then later, parents get an eye-opening lesson in online safety. We're going to show you how one state's trying to make moms and dads a little more cyber-savvy.

Those stories ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Live pictures now from the White House. The National Day of Prayer is today, and all throughout the nation, not just the White House. People are stopping, pausing and spending a few moments in prayer. The president is seated in the room, and I'm not sure who is about to sing there, but that is what's going on at the White House.

Meanwhile, I want to tell you about what's going in West Virginia today. It is the third and final day of those Sago Mine hearings. They've been at times very emotional, as family members have asked poignant questions of the mine owners and the regulators who should have been looking out for those miners who perished the first of the year, a dozen of them, underground at the Sago Mine.

We're going to be watching that testimony as well today. So, stay with CNN, and we'll keep you posted on all those matters -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles. Thanks.

In this morning's "House Call," did you know that 35 percent of American children, over a third, are overweight or at risk for having a weight problem? New studies suggest, though, that some very small lifestyle changes could make a very big difference for overweight kids.

Dr. Jim Hill is the director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado.

Nice to see you. Thanks for coming in to talk to us this morning.

JIM HILL, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk first about the study -- 216 families were involved, and they were asked to either -- I guess both, cut 100 calories and take 2,000 more steps than they would normally do.

What did you find?

HILL: Right. Well, in each family, they had one kid who was classified as overweight or at risk for overweight, and what we found is, over six months, the kids in the intervention group that did the two small changes either stayed the same or reduced weight in relation to their peers. They grew, but they grew at a lower rate.

So, we want kids to grow. They're growing at too heavy a rate. So, these two small changes that families can make can slow excessive weight and let kids grow more into their weight.

S. O'BRIEN: I guess the point of looking at small changes, or changes that are really doable, especially if you talk about a busy family and kids who may not be that, you know, incentivised to really focus on their weight. A hundred calories, 2,000 steps just doesn't seem like enough to make a big difference.

HILL: See, this is the point that sometimes we're asked to make heroic efforts to change things. And the beauty of this study is we asked them to make changes that are sustainable.

Two thousand steps, easy. Cutting 100 calories, easy. These are things families can do, and the study shows that over time these small changes will make a big difference.

S. O'BRIEN: Yesterday, as you know, we were reporting on this deal that would take sodas out of schools, basically, in a lot of schools.

HILL: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, tens of -- millions of kids I think really affected by this. Do you think that's going to have a positive influence? I mean, make a big difference in the obesity problem in children?

HILL: I think it will make a difference, and I think the companies get a lot of credit for doing this. So, this is changing the environment. So, making it less easy to get those choices, then you combine it with what we're doing and help kids make the choices.

I mean, they can still go and buy the sodas. What we would like for them to do is make some additional small changes and slow weight gain.

S. O'BRIEN: You've done the math. If a kid has a can of soda, a bottle of soda every single day for a year...

HILL: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: ... that's 15 pounds a year.

HILL: This is the whole idea, that we're gaining weight due to these small degrees of overeating. So, simply cutting out one soda could potentially prevent a lot of weight gain over a year.

S. O'BRIEN: Does the same thing hold true for grownups? Because, of course, children -- I mean, the beauty of the kid is, if you can hold the weight steady, they grow.

HILL: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: And so they can end up, you know, being thin grownups under this plan. Adults, we kind of start at the weight we're going to have. Does the same things -- does it make sense for adult, too?

HILL: It totally makes sense for the adults, because the average adult in the U.S. gains one to two pounds every year. You don't notice that over a year or two years, but over time it can make a big difference. So, simply doing these two small changes can allow adults to stop gaining weight. And, in fact, in the study that's what we found, that parents of these kids didn't gain weight either.

S. O'BRIEN: Really? That's interesting.

Now, 2,000 steps, I heard that and I thought, well, how much is 2,000? Because it's extra steps. It's not just...

HILL: It's extra steps.

S. O'BRIEN: It's not just -- you have to do more, above and beyond what you're already doing.

HILL: That's right.

S. O'BRIEN: Two thousand steps, give me an example.

HILL: So, we give the kids pedometers that count the steps, and we ask them to do 2,000 more. That's about a mile, or if you're in New York City, about 20 blocks.

You can spread it out over the day. It takes 15 minutes. So, five minutes here, five minutes there, 2,000 steps. It's easy to do. Everybody can do it.

S. O'BRIEN: It really is very easy. And everyone should do it.

HILL: Absolutely.

S. O'BRIEN: Dr. Jim Hill, it's nice to see you, joining us this morning with the University of Colorado.

Thank you very much.

HILL: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks for the insight -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, how to become an Internet watchdog. An eye-opening lesson in child predators. What every parent needs to know to keep your kids safe in cyberspace.

And why Pope Benedict has just excommunicated two Chinese bishops. We're live in Vatican City with that.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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