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American Morning

New Orleans Election; Saddam Hussein on Trial; Mine Explosion; Barbaro's Battle; Alcatraz Swim

Aired May 22, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien. Welcome to Monday, everybody.

Here's a look at what's happening on this Monday morning, May 22.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair making a surprise visit to Baghdad right now. The trip aimed at showing support for Iraq's new government. He's going to meet with Iraq's president and new prime minister.

Today's court proceedings in the trial of Saddam Hussein getting off to a rocky start, guards had to remove a defense lawyer from the courtroom after she attempted to make a statement. Hussein protested her removal. It all led to a big shouting match with the judge.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on his first day -- his first official visit to the United States. During the four-day trip, Prime Minister Olmert will meet with President Bush. The two are likely to discuss Israel's plan to withdrawal from parts of the West Bank and Iran's nuclear program as well.

Federal agents say they found $90,000 in cash at the Washington, D.C. home of Congressman William Jefferson. The Louisiana Democrat under investigation for bribery. Court papers reveal that the money was found last August in a freezer.

And a Louisiana man faces murder charges today after killing four people in a church in Baton Rouge. Police are still looking for a motive. Police say the gunman abducted his wife, killed her in a nearby apartment.

Prognosis still unclear for Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, the racehorse recovering from a five-hour surgery on Sunday after breaking his leg this weekend during the Preakness Stakes. Doctors say the chance of survival 50-50 -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: A searing report out this morning concluding Katrina was a political scandal as well as a natural disaster. The report comes from engineers at the University of California Berkeley. And it says New Orleans was swamped and people died because politicians allowed cost concerns to undermine safety. It says 80 percent of the flooding could have been prevented had political leaders been less apathetic about the levee system. These engineers say politics and a lack of money led the Corps of Engineers to build floodwalls and levees on the cheap. The steel sheets that anchor the levees were less than a third as deep as what is being built now. The porous soil used in the levees was cheaper than clay. The report is at odds with the Corps of Engineers' explanation that the levees failed because of unanticipated design flaws.

So how confident are you in the government's ability to react to a disastrous storm? A new poll out this morning from CNN shows just 52 percent of Americans are confident that the government can handle the damage, 45 percent are not confident.

The official predictions for the 2006 storm season being released a little later this morning.

And our severe expert Chad Myers weighs in with that and more.

Hello, -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, get used to this view here, Miles, the tropical Atlantic. Good morning.

I found it curious, though, on that poll, on that CNN poll, that people in the hurricane zone were not so pessimistic about everybody else in the country. And I'm wondering whether you know they lived through it, whether they have -- their opinion maybe should be counted a little bit more than the people who maybe, let's say, live in Ontario or Quebec or Minnesota. We'll see.

Anyway, here is the view you're going to see from Bermuda right on back into the Tropical Atlantic, Puerto Rico also, even into the Caribbean and we see nothing. Nothing on the horizon whatsoever.

Remember even back in '90, '91, '92, some of the bigger storms. Remember Andrew, the big storm? That didn't even happen until August. So just because hurricane season is beginning here in a couple of days doesn't mean that we're going to turn the switch on and all of a sudden there's going to be tropical weather.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Chad Myers.

By a margin of little more than 5,000 votes, Mayor Ray Nagin was ushered in as -- re-elected as Mayor of the City of New Orleans and he will have to face another hurricane season coming up on June 1. Despite all the criticism he took for the city's response to Hurricane Katrina, he was in fact re-elected.

More from CNN's Susan Roesgen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Today, Mayor Ray Nagin goes back to work. He won re-election Saturday in a very close race, beating Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu by fewer than 6,000 votes.

His first order of business is a test of the city's new hurricane evacuation drill. That comes this week. And then he'll have to follow-through on a campaign promise to give people in this city guidance on rebuilding damaged neighborhoods.

Susan Roesgen, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: A look at the Saddam Hussein trial this morning, another day of fireworks in the courtroom.

Ryan Chilcote is live for us in Baghdad.

Ryan, good morning to you. Thanks for being with us. What's happening?

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, again, as you said, drama in the courtroom. This involved -- this time involving one of Saddam's defense attorneys, Bushra Khalil. She had only been in the courtroom for a few minutes when an outburst took place between her -- a real heated discussion between her and the judge.

This -- she had only been in the courtroom for a few minutes after being ejected back in April over an outburst in which she pulled out some pictures of -- some photographs from Abu Ghraib and announced to the court, look at what they're doing to your country. That's what she said to Saddam Hussein.

So just after a couple of minutes of being reinstated to defend Saddam in this trial, the judge warned her that she should behave herself.

Let's listen to the exchange that took place after that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JUDGE RAOUF ABDEL-RAHMAN (through translator): You have to get out. Get out now. You're a lawyer who is supposed to have manners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHILCOTE: And so she was again ejected from the court after being ejected back in April. This time escorted out of the courtroom by two guards -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: So odd when you see the judge essentially yelling at an attorney, you're a lawyer, you're supposed to have manners. I mean it's really not the kind of thing you see here in the United States.

I want to ask you a question about Saddam Hussein's outburst. Once again, the back and forth about, well, he's the president, how the court is going to refer to him. Do you think there's ever going to be a point when that debate ends?

CHILCOTE: No, I don't think so. It happens almost in every single trial. This time it took place after -- immediately following his defense attorney's ejection. He tried to stand up to defend her. The judge told him to sit down. And that's when Saddam, as we have seen so many times before, decided to defy the judge and speak out.

Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SADDAM HUSSEIN, DEFENDANT (through translator): I'm above your head.

ABDEL-RAHMAN (through translator): You are a defendant.

HUSSEIN: I'm Saddam Hussein. I'm the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHILCOTE: It's really fascinating. It's just one of the sticking points, really, in this trial for the judge. He insists that Saddam Hussein be referred to as a defendant. Saddam Hussein himself always insists that he be refereed to as, still, as the president of Iraq. And so do his defense attorneys. They still call him the president of Iraq, as do some of the other defendants and some of the witnesses in this trial -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And then much yelling at each other ensues.

All right, Ryan Chilcote for us this morning. He's following Saddam Hussein's trial.

Ryan, thanks.

Mine tragedy in Kentucky stirring up memories of the Sago Mine disaster. Investigators are hoping to get down into the Darby Mine today. Five coal miners died in that mine over the weekend. The sole survivor says that after the initial explosion, his emergency respirator worked for just five minutes.

CNN's Sumi Das live in Holmes Mill in Kentucky.

Sumi, good morning to you. How is the community doing this morning? What awful, awful news.

SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Soledad.

Well, as you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for this community, especially because it seems like most everybody had some kind of connection to the miners. Now during the past couple of days that we've been here, we've seen families coming together, we've seen the church reaching out to relatives of the victims.

It's strange, because the people we talk to are painfully aware of the risks of coal mining. But when asked about why they chose to return to these dangerous jobs, they almost always have the same response, the mines offer one of the few well-paying jobs around here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three of the five miners in the eastern Kentucky mining explosion likely survived the initial blast but later died of carbon monoxide poisoning, that according to the Harlan County Coroner Philip Bianchi.

That's little comfort to Tilda Thomas whose husband, Paris, was among the three initial survivors.

TILDA THOMAS, WIDOW: I think about what I'm going to have to do without him. I've just been with him since I was 16. The only man in my life I've ever known.

DAS: Two of the miners are thought to have died as a direct result of the explosion. A sixth miner, Paul Ledford, nicknamed "Smiley," survived the accident. The cause of the explosion is not yet known, but state officials say they are looking into the mine's methane level. It appears some of the miners used or tried to use self-contained rescue devices after the blast.

Paris Thomas' brother-in-law also works in the mining industry, though not at the Darby Mine. He says the emergency breathing devices for miners are insufficient.

RUSSELL TAYLOR, BROTHER-IN-LAW: I think they need to be improved. One hour is not long enough. If a man works an eight-hour shift, he should be able to last eight hours.

DAS: Russell Taylor says the mine where he works has taken steps to improve safety, but he questions why the government isn't doing more.

TAYLOR: If they had to do what we have to do, the laws would change real fast.

DAS (on camera): Do you think they're dragging their feet a little bit? Do you think...

TAYLOR: I think they're dragging their feet because they don't want to spend a dollar.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAS: The Darby Mine has been cited 10 times in the last month by federal regulators. Although the specific nature of those violations is unclear, the Mining Safety and Health Administration says the figures aren't unusual for a mine of Darby's size -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Sumi Das for us this morning in Kentucky. Sumi, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Here's some good news, gas prices starting to fall a little bit. According to the Lundberg Survey, they dipped nearly one- and-a-half cents in the past two weeks. What, you didn't notice? The report says prices could drop even more if crude oil prices hold and there aren't any refining problems, meaning watch out for those storms coming up in the hurricane season.

Currently the national average is $2.93 for self-serve regular unleaded. Wichita, Kansas has the lowest prices at $2.59 per gallon. And San Diego drivers, they're paying the most, at $3.40.

Also happening in America this morning, a rash of crashes on a northern California interstate injured at least 32. Three accidents occurred within a one-mile stretch of westbound I-80. Placer County the location. Three tour buses among the vehicles involved.

In suburban Detroit, police say a man injured at least eight when he drove a van into a church carnival's inflatable moonwalk. He's expected to be arraigned today. Six children and two adults hurt. Police say the driver fled the scene but was traced to a home in Troy.

Twenty-one-year-old Daniel Dipiero remains missing. The Ohio man was aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship when he fell overboard a week ago today. Coast Guard searched but found nothing. The ship returned to Port Canaveral yesterday.

With 2,800 pounds of dynamite, take a look at this, a Portland, Oregon landmark comes tumbling down. That's a quite a shot, isn't it?

S. O'BRIEN: Wow!

M. O'BRIEN: That's the cooling tower at the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant up in smoke there. Trojan shut down for safety reasons more than a dozen years ago. This is all part of the decommissioning process. The largest cooling tower ever demolished in the U.S. I guess you could truly say that was cool. The cooling tower, cool.

S. O'BRIEN: I get the joke.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I know.

S. O'BRIEN: Pretty remarkable picture, too.

M. O'BRIEN: Monday, I just wanted to make sure you're with me.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, we were following you completely.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, even the bad reviews didn't stop moviegoers from going to see "The Da Vinci Code." We'll tell you just how much money that movie raked in over the weekend. Here's a hint, a lot.

M. O'BRIEN: A lot. The controversy was good for the bottom line, you might say.

Speaking of the bottom line, Madonna is touring once again. And she's always crossing lines, if you will. This time she crossed a line and got herself -- stirred up a little controversy there. We'll explain.

S. O'BRIEN: Madonna, controversy, I'm shocked.

M. O'BRIEN: Imagine that one, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Then we've got this story, a little boy, who is from Arizona, training for a big swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco.

M. O'BRIEN: Boy!

S. O'BRIEN: He's just 7 years old. We'll tell you why.

M. O'BRIEN: Better wear a wetsuit on that one. That's cold water out there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.

Praise from the White House for Iraq's new government. President Bush says the first permanent post Saddam Hussein government means a new day for the millions of Iraqis who want to live in peace. The president is expected to talk more about Iraq during a speech today in Chicago.

Montenegro celebrating independence today for the first time in 88 years. Montenegro voted to secede from Serbia, ending the last alliance of the former Yugoslavia.

And never mind the reviews, "The Da Vinci Code" made $77 million in its opening weekend, 13th highest in U.S. history. Overseas, the movie set a new record taking in $147 million. That's what they call a very healthy payday.

M. O'BRIEN: I would call that a payday.

Did you see -- did you see the Preakness? Did you see?

S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, that was hard to...

M. O'BRIEN: Man!

S. O'BRIEN: And of course they've been rerunning that tape of...

M. O'BRIEN: Poor Barbaro.

S. O'BRIEN: Man, that's hard to watch.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Carol Costello is in the newsroom with more on what is the prognosis for this champion horse, as well as some other things.

Hello, -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hello, Miles, and good morning to all of you.

It's pretty much 50-50. Barbaro underwent more than five hours of surgery and so far so good. He's in intensive care. He's in an intensive care stall, I should say. There's padding along the sides. He is standing on all four of his legs. That does not mean he is in the clear.

The spectacular horse twisted his ankle at 40 miles per hour in the Preakness. And when a horse breaks his leg, well, you know what usually happens.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barbaro, Barbaro, I believe he's been called out.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just seconds into Saturday's Preakness, disaster strikes. Barbaro's Triple Crown dream suddenly over.

DEAN RICHARDSON, OPERATED ON BARBARO: This is a very, very serious injury. It's about as bad as could be.

COSTELLO: The Kentucky Derby winner broke three bones in his right hind leg. One of the bones shattered in more than 20 pieces. Any one of the fractures alone doctors consider catastrophic.

RICHARDSON: The most horse that suffered this severe injury typically put down on the racetrack.

COSTELLO: The grizzly site stunned the crowd of more than 118,000 at the Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore. Barbaro was taken to the University of Pennsylvania's Veterinary Hospital for surgery to repair his leg and save his life. The team of doctors spent more than five hours operating on Barbaro.

RICHARDSON: At this very moment, he's extremely comfortable on the leg. He practically jogged back to his stall. He pulled us back to his stalls.

MICHAEL MATZ, BARBARO'S TRAINER: From the last time I saw him until seeing him now was a big relief to see. They did an excellent job. And I can't praise Dean and his team and his staff of what they've done. I mean it's just amazing to see him walk like that. And the first thing he went in and started eating hay. So they did a terrific job.

COSTELLO: But despite the good news, doctors say Barbaro's recovery is still uncertain.

RICHARDSON: This is just the absolute first step in any type of case like this. I mean getting the horse up is a big step, but it is not the last step, by any means.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And Dr. Richardson, who led the team of surgeons, described Barbaro's chances of survival as a coin toss, as I said. And we're going to talk with Dr. Dean Richardson about Barbaro's injury and the efforts to save his life. That will come your way in the 8:00 hour of AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Carol.

S. O'BRIEN: Ken Lay back on trial even before the Enron fraud and conspiracy case is over. Sort of a bad news, bad news for Ken Lay, isn't it?

Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business."

SERWER: Yes, we've been talking about this one.

Thanks, Soledad.

This is the bank fraud trial we've been telling you about, and it continues this morning down in Houston. This afternoon, some fireworks expected where the former Enron chief squares off against John Hueston, the federal prosecutor who he squared off against in the big Enron trial.

This is a non-jury or so-called bench trial. It should wrap up in a matter of days. Ken Lay after -- outside of court on Friday said I had so much fun before, I'm going to do it again about going into trial this time. I kind of like that.

M. O'BRIEN: Slight sarcasm, do you think?

SERWER: I think so.

M. O'BRIEN: Maybe. Just a little bit. Yes.

SERWER: Yes.

Other news we're watching this morning.

The NYSE, the New York Stock Exchange, proposing a huge merger in the exchange business, if you will, proposing the first transatlantic exchange, looking to hook up with the so-called Euronext Exchange which is based in Paris. It's an exchange that operates bourses in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon. The Nasdaq bought a piece of the London Stock Exchange. All of these various exchanges looking to get together and join up.

Now, let's talk about the stock market. Not a good situation last week, of course we had that 214-point drop on Wednesday. And there are the red arrows. We ended down 2 percent across the board there. And sorry to say, things are looking kind of bleak this morning. Get this, the Indian stock market down 10 percent this morning, and futures are weak, weak, weak here in the United States. So expect those...

S. O'BRIEN: Which bodes badly.

SERWER: Yes, it does. Inflation fears and...

M. O'BRIEN: Going to be a good day, huh?

SERWER: Going too far too fast. The usual stuff we've been talking about the past couple of sessions.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Andy.

S. O'BRIEN: OK, voice of doom, thanks, Andy. Appreciate it.

SERWER: Good to see you, too. Right.

S. O'BRIEN: Nice to start our morning, 21 minutes into our morning. Good. Thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: He'll come back with good news later.

SERWER: Yes, I will.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you. All right. Thank you, Andy.

Coming up on the program, Madonna kicking off her world tour in Los Angeles. She gets greeted by some protests. We'll tell you why the "Material Girl" had to cross some picket lines.

Plus an escape from Alcatraz, a swimmer, hoping to swim the treacherous cold waters. He's all of 7. What drives a 7-year-old to push for a world record? We'll have an answer for you after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The 7-year-old boy who's going to take a little shot at history by attempting the nearly -- excuse me -- one-and-a-half- mile swim from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco. It is seen as a true endurance test and not exactly the kind of test your average second grader would take.

We get the story now from Sarah Sevier from our affiliate KPNX.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARAH SEVIER, KPNX-TV REPORTER (voice-over): With every stroke, second grader Braxton Bilbrey is building strength, practicing for an athletic undertaking most adults wouldn't try.

BRAXTON BILBREY, YOUNG SWIMMER: And they are like, wow. They don't think I can do it, but I think I can.

SEVIER: Braxton is planning his own escape from Alcatraz, a 1.4 mile swim to shore through choppy, rough and rugged waters.

Coach Joe Zemaitis says the currents could be the strongest seen in 17 years.

JOE ZEMAITIS, BRAXTON'S SWIM COACH: Even though people might think at 7 it's crazy, he's way too young to swim from Alcatraz, I'd say they're right in you know 10 million cases. But you know maybe 1 in 10 million kids can do it and he's the one.

SEVIER (on camera): If Braxton is successful, he'll be the youngest person in the world to do the Alcatraz swim all while trying to raise $20,000 for a charity that's near and dear to him.

BILBREY: I'm raising money for drowning prevention. I just don't want anyone to drown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: That report coming to us from Sarah Sevier of Phoenix affiliate KPNX.

Seven-year-old Braxton Bilbrey won't be making the trek alone. Of course he's going to be swimming alongside his coach, two other adult swimmers who have done that swim before. And the little boy is going to be our guest tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING after he completes, hopefully, fingers crossed, the big swim -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: He's going -- he'll do it. I have a feeling he'll do it. Let's get a...

S. O'BRIEN: A mile and a quarter is -- but you know aren't there sharks in that water?

M. O'BRIEN: It's nasty water. It's terrible.

S. O'BRIEN: And cold.

M. O'BRIEN: The currents are awful and...

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, the...

M. O'BRIEN: ... there's -- you know the -- you know -- so, they'll be watching out for him, after him (ph).

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. And the Coast Guard, too, I think is going to be on a -- in a boat, as well, behind him.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: So he's going to have a lot of help.

M. O'BRIEN: He'll have an entourage. That's a good thing.

S. O'BRIEN: Seven is little, though.

M. O'BRIEN: It is, but...

S. O'BRIEN: I'm worried about him.

M. O'BRIEN: I know. He's a trooper, though.

Chad Myers, good morning.

MYERS: Good morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Do you think he's -- he'll make it. He'll make it. I have a feeling he's going to make it.

MYERS: You know he's going to wear a wetsuit, obviously.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: That's going to give him a little buoyancy. That's a good thing as well. But the water is only 56.

S. O'BRIEN: Cold.

MYERS: I mean, you know, he's swimming in those waters in Phoenix, back and forth in a pool, it's probably 95.

M. O'BRIEN: Welcome to the bay, yes.

MYERS: Whoa, welcome to wintertime in the summer.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Miles and Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Sounds pretty nice in Atlanta.

MYERS: Yes.

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

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: A look at the morning's top stories straight ahead.

Victory for New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin. We'll tell you how he did it and what comes next for New Orleans, too.

And we'll find out why Madonna had to cross a picket line on the opening night of her new "Confessions Tour." That's ahead.

Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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