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American Morning

Dangers Journalist Face in Iraq; Power of Music; Rules of Engorgement

Aired May 30, 2006 - 08:31   ET

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


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: CBS reporter Kimberly Dozier in intensive care right now. Doctors at the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany are reassessing her condition. She has severe injuries to her lower body, able to move her toes, though. We're told she's responsive. She was injured in a car bombing in Baghdad that killed two members of the CBS news team. Cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan were killed in the attack. Dozier remains in critical condition. A U.S. soldier and an Iraqi translator also died.
"Time" Magazine's Michael Weisskopf knows a fair amount about the dangers journalists face in Iraq. He lost his hand in a grenade attack. He's written about the experience in a very soon to be published book which is called "Blood Brothers."

Michael Weisskopf, nice to see you from Washington D.C. How are you? It's been such a long time since we've had a chance to talk.

MICHAEL WEISSKOPF, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Good to see you.

S. O'BRIEN: My goodness, we were so worried when we heard those reports about you. How are you doing?

WEISSKOPF: Good, good. Glad to hear it.

S. O'BRIEN: How hard is it for journalists to get the story out in Iraq when you keep hearing not only the violence that has obviously killed two members of the CBS News crew and another journalist as well, but also it sounds like every single day Iraqis and U.S. soldiers, too.

WEISSKOPF: Soledad, it's becoming increasingly like robotic surgery. You've got to do it almost from a distance. Either you are in a -- some type of protected environment, like your housing compound or the green zone, or you go out with American soldiers, which is, of course, is very risky. In either case, you're really not interacting in that community like we once did.

When I first got to Iraq, soon after the American invasion, it was possible to get a flavor for the society and how the Americans and the American model was working there.

S. O'BRIEN: But you know, when you travel with the troops, because as you point out, the other option to stay in the hotel and try to file your stories that way. So those who go out with the troops, were your nervous all the time? Was everybody sort of under the sense that they could be attacked any time, or was there a point where it started to get comfortable and you felt safe?

WEISSKOPF: It was a little bit like Russian roulette. Every time you got into a humvee and suited up with the armor, and the helmets and the ballistic glasses and you went out, you were as protected as you could be. And after all, you were with American soldiers who knew the terrain, they knew the risks. But nevertheless, even for them, it really was a crap shoot as to whether or not you'd be the guy in the humvee when the roadside bomb went off. The platoon I was with for three weeks lost its lieutenant that way,a fine young man. And this is repeated over and over on a daily basis in Iraq. If a reporter happens to be in that humvee at the time, he's caught in the same crosshairs as a soldier.

S. O'BRIEN: You are widely credited with saving the lives of everybody inside that humvee when you picked up a grenade that had been tossed into the humvee, picked it up and threw it out, and it blew your hand off is what happened.

The military has said many times, as you well know, tell the good stories, tell what's happening, the positive thing that is are happening in Iraq. Many journalists say, we'd like to do that, but can't get there. Is that a fair response?

WEISSKOPF: Not terribly. At this point, the American military is pretty open to the imbedding process. The question is how journalists should best go about it. I spent almost a month with the platoon, a little over three weeks, and that probably was a little bit too comprehensive. It's good to get in and out, because odds are against you, in the long run, avoiding this kind of an attack. It is important to get in on the frontlines. That's where life is, you know, really at the edge, and watching our military operate that way is an important part of the story. Also, being at the tip of the spear helps you better understand how the American occupation is faring in the Iraqi society. The question is, how long we stay there, whether we expose ourselves to the same risks day in and day out as the soldiers who are paid to do that, and trained to do that.

S. O'BRIEN: Why go when you know the risks, and when you see, not only the injuries to our colleagues, but also obviously service men and women and Iraqi civilians, too? Why go?

WEISSKOPF: Jack Dillinger said that you rob banks because that's where the money is, and you go do places like Iraq because that's where the story is. It's very poignant. It's really at the center of American policy. It's a huge issue back home. You want to be there on the firing line. You want to go where the story is, and for many reporters, we feel a sort of an invincibility. If you are there trying to gather information for the public, and the public's right to know, you get kind of puffed up with your sense of omnipotence, and sometime that's a false sense.

S. O'BRIEN: "Time" magazine Michael Weisskopf, thanks for talking with us, Michael.

WEISSKOPF: Thanks, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And again, the book is called "Blood Brothers." It's due out in October, is that right?

WEISSKOPF: Yes, it is.

S. O'BRIEN: Going to talk a little bit about what happened to you on that day back in 2003 and your recovery as well. Nice to see that you're well. Thanks.

WEISSKOPF: Thanks, Soledad, bye-bye -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The Black Eyed Peas are touring South Africa, giving a free concert, launching a new children's charity. The group hopes its own rags-to-riches story will provide an inspiration to others. And apparently that is happening.

CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh met an ex-con whose life has taken a turn because of the Peas.

Hello, Alphonso.

ALPOHNSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.

As you mentioned, the Black Eyed Peas are spending their final hours in a multiday tour in South Africa that included a benefit concert. The concert was sort of a payback, a giving back, as it were, to their fans in South Africa, fan that I learned come from some of the most unusual play places.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAN MARSH (voice over): Bruno Majola and guitarist Fistos Kakweve (ph) are aspiring musicians, but they hit their musical stride in one of the more unlikely places, prison.

BRUNO MAJOLA, ASPIRING MUSICIAN: See, I was involved in gangsterism (ph), and we were like terrorizing, you know, robbing people, you know, stuff like that, stealing

VAN MARSH: Bruno just finished a six-year sentence. He says music keeps him on a straight path.

MAJOLA: I just need to take my pen and paper and write maybe. That's what keeps me going actually. So it like distances me from doing bad things.

VAN MARSH: One of Bruno's musical idols, the American group the Black Eyed Peas. And like Bruno, members of the Peas came from rough backgrounds.

(on camera): This is a return trip to South Africa for the Black Eyed Peas. They performed here a few years ago but said that they were surprised to see so few black in the audience.

WILL.I.AM, THE BLACK EYED PEAS: Not that I have -- not that I have a thing about performing in front of white people. I love Switzerland. I didn't think I was going to come to Switzerland in Africa. VAN MARSH (voice over): So this time the band made it a point to meet fans in impoverished Soweto (ph) township, where they handed out tickets to their free concert in Johannesburg. The Peas' aim was to bring South Africans together through music.

FERGIE, THE BLACK EYED PEAS: It would be selfish of us to see all this and not do anything about it, to see the dichotomy of, you know, the richest of the rich living next to the poorest of the poor, and the poorest of the poor not being able to come see our shows.

VAN MARSH: For Bruno, it was a rare chance too meet one of his musical inspirations.

MAJOLA: For me being here actually with them, it really showed me that maybe some other time I'll be there overseas, maybe like them, doing same thing like Black Eyed Peas here.

VAN MARSH: The concert didn't disappoint fans, black and White, as well as a self-described reformed convict-turned-musician, who until recently could only watch the Black Eyed Peas from a prison TV.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAN MARSH: Bruno was there with about 20,000, at least 20,000, other Black Eyed Pea fans. Many of those fans actually got the tickets by ordering them through their cell phones for a small charge of about $1.50. All of the proceeds, Miles, going to children's charity here in South Africa.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Alphonso, tell us about Bruno's career.

VAN MARSH: Absolutely an amazing story. It was truly amazing to sit down with this guy. He actually contacted one of South Africa's larger recording artists, one of the bigger recording houses here, kept calling and calling from his prison cell, and when he was released about three weeks ago, he hooked up with the recording artists, and now he has a contract.

M. O'BRIEN: Excellent end to that story. Alphonso Van Marsh, from Johannesburg, thank you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Andy's "Minding Your Business" ahead. Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.

The changing way that Americans shop. I'm not talking about Wal- Mart. I'm talking about yard sales and shopping at home. It's big stuff. I'll tell you about that coming up -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Also ahead on the program, a story you can kind of sink your teeth into. Actually that idea is not to do too much chewing I think. We'll take you inside the world of competitive eating. It is a gutsy world. We'll talk to the author of "Horseman of the Esophagus."

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, we're going to talk to a guy holding on to a baseball that could be worth a lot of money. He is the proud owner of Barry Bonds' 715th home run ball. He's not letting it go for now. We'll ask him what his plans are, though, in the future.

And next, the champions of chowing down, the emperors of eating. The author of a new book "Horsemen of the Esophagus" takes us inside a sport you may not want to know about the insides of, if you know what I mean.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Well, we sure hope you finished your breakfast. This next story may impact your appetite a little bit. There's a sport for everyone, you know. And for growing numbers, that sport is eating.

Writer Jason Fagone spent a year in the world of competitive eating, wolfing down details and regurgitating them into a tome called "Horsemen of the Esophagus."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Jason, good to have you with us this morning. This is your first book.

JASON FAGONE, AUTHOR, "HORSEMEN OF THE ESOPHAGUS": It is.

M. O'BRIEN: You've written for magazines. Did you ever think your first book would be on people who shove hot dogs down their throat for a living?

FAGONE: I never did. I never did.

M. O'BRIEN: Did you think it was a book? Initially, when you first did the assignment?

FAGONE: Well, I wasn't sure what it was, but I was definitely intrigued. You know, I was intrigued by this visual of everything that seems to be awful about America. You know, sort of our rapacious appetite and our imbecility and our greed. And so I immersed. I immersed myself in this professional competitive eating circuit, and I spent a year going to 27 contests and went around the world and tried to find out what it was like to be an eater and to do this.

M. O'BRIEN: It is you uniquely American, isn't it? FAGONE: Yes. It is sort of goes back to our history with the Fourth of July pie contest. You know, we would have a, you know, pie contest and then we'd catch a greased pig and then we would read the Declaration of Independence. And, you know, and it sort of evolved into a league that was started originally as a joke, as a kind of lark, in a way, to lampoon mainstream sport. And now it's become very serious.

O'BRIEN: Now, your favorite competitive eater, David "Coondog" O'Karma.

FAGONE: Coondog, yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Tell me about the Coondog. Why do you like him so much?

FAGONE: Coondog. Well, he's not the greatest eater in the world. You know, the greatest eater would be the Japanese -- the skinny Japanese guy who wins the Nathan's hot dog competition.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I want to hear about that in a moment.

FAGONE: But Coondog -- I mean, he's the tag team bratwurst champion of Canton, Ohio, which is not a great tribute to have on your wall. But he -- you know, he's a house painter, he's 49. And, you know, he does this as a solution to a certain kind of mid-life crisis. And he's, you know -- he's trying to get something real out of it, which is what surprised me during the book. You know, spending a year on this, it's that, you know, the eaters, for the most part, are kind of like you and me. They're not really freaks and eccentrics.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, Sonya Thomas is someone who he is familiar with. Tell us about -- Sonya is amazing. I met her because she does pretty well at the Coney Island hot dog event.

FAGONE: Very well.

M. O'BRIEN: And she weighs probably 103 pounds dripping wet.

FAGONE: Yes, it depends, 100 on the dot. Yes, she's very tiny. I mean, she basically has been demolishing the circuit ever since she started eating in 2003. There's almost nothing she hasn't won. She's won so many contests that her promoters have to list them alphabetically.

M. O'BRIEN: And I just can't -- I don't get it. Do you get it? Did you figure it out? How could somebody...

FAGONE: Figure out how she does it?

M. O'BRIEN: ... 100 pounds is able to do that?

FAGONE: Yes, well, I mean, you can see it's very seriously eaters. They all train. They stretch their stomachs. You know? Some of them train with tough foods they chew with their jaw to increase the jaw strength. And some of them have -- seem to have a natural ability to relax the esophagus at will so it becomes kind of like an inner tube that you can pour food down.

M. O'BRIEN: Man. You're ruining my breakfast right now. And they always dip it in water. The good ones always dip it in water.

FAGONE: Yes, to soften it up.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, you actually shared a meal with one of the champions. Kobayashi. Famous -- tell me, did he eat like crazy?

FAGONE: No. He was actually a very delicate eater. Surprisingly. He ate a salad and he just kind of picked at it.

M. O'BRIEN: Really?

FAGONE: But he did have -- you know, Kobayashi is a body builder. I mean, he has...

M. O'BRIEN: There he is doing the hot dog routine.

FAGONE: Oh, yes. He can do this like nobody else can. He's sort of -- he doubled the record in 2001 when he came over from Japan. And...

M. O'BRIEN: Look at him do the hot dog thing. Let me ask you this. Throughout the course of this, were you tempted to try to do this, to see what it was like? To really experience it?

FAGONE: I did. I did do it, if only to have credibility with the people I was writing about. I ate in a pastrami contest here in New York, and I did horribly. I was really an embarrassment as a competitive eater.

M. O'BRIEN: Really? Nowhere -- not even in the close to being...

FAGONE: I ate one pastrami sandwich in, I think, in ten minutes.

M. O'BRIEN: And the winner did what?

FAGONE: About four and a half.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh my gosh. The book is "Horsemen of the Esophagus." Great writing, by the way.

FAGONE: Hey, thank you very much.

M. O'BRIEN: Good job, enjoyed it. It's a fun read. And we appreciate you being with us. Jason Fagone.

FAGONE: Thanks a lot, Miles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: One sandwich in ten minutes? That's not in a contest. That's just eating lunch.

M. O'BRIEN: That's lunch!

S. O'BRIEN: That was interesting.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, a look at the top stories, including a House hearing, which is going to start in just about 30 minutes on the FBI raid of a Congressman's office.

Also, we'll update you on the condition of CBS reporter Kimberly Dozier. There's word that marines involved in the alleged massacre in Iraq could face murder charges.

Firefighters are trying to control a 2,000-acre brush fire in Florida. We'll update you on that.

And a massive humanitarian effort in Indonesia. We're live with details of the recovery. Those stories all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

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