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American Morning

Paying the Price in the Heartland; After Al-Zarqawi; Heart Of The Game

Aired June 09, 2006 - 07:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Rape case. The defense attorney says the second exotic dancer at the lacrosse team party called the rape charge a crock. And she says she only left the accuser's side for five minutes. She's since changed her story.
The Chinese government has pulled the movie "The Da Vinci Code" from theaters after a run of a little more than two weeks. Beijing giving no reason. The film, which is grossing more than $13 million there before it was yanked.

Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Good to have you with us on this Friday.

Let's get the latest CNN gas gauge for you. The national average, $2.90. A month ago, $2.89. An extra penny. Just imagine, if you will, a pump of $2.89 on it. A year ago, $2.12. Ah, there we go. There's the pump. Numbers please. Survey says. There you go.

All this week we have been taking a look at how the rising cost of fuel is affecting people living in the heartland. AMERICAN MORNING's Dan Lothian has crisscrossed Iowa. Today he joins us from Mason City, home of Meredith Wilson, the writer of "The Music Man." But there's no trouble in River City, right, because he's at an ethanol plant and he's going to tells us that this may be one solution to wean us from oil.

Good morning, Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

That's right, no trouble here. You know, ever since gas prices started to go up, there's been renewed focus on alternative fuels like ethanol. Now there's also been a lot of debate over whether or not this really is the answer. Well, this story isn't about that debate. This is a story about how people in one state have grabbed on to ethanol and have created somewhat of a gold rush.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN, (voice over): All across the heartland, a new crop is sprouting out of the ground and the harvest is golden.

DAVE SOVEREIGN, GOLDEN GRAIN ENERGY: This is a home run for real America. LOTHIAN: Tucked in between corn fields and often snuggled next to key railroad distribution lines, ethanol plants, like Golden Grain Energy in Mason City, Iowa, are seen as a good bet against high energy prices.

SOVEREIGN: We're using corn and partially the storage (ph) grains from . . .

LOTHIAN: Dave Sovereign, a farmer for much of his life, is also this company's chairman. He's invested heavily in four ethanol producing plants and one other alternative fuel project and his spending spree isn't over.

SOVEREIGN: Ethanol's just a natural part of that agriculture. In fact, an extension of what we've been doing.

LOTHIAN: With so much corn to fuel production, Iowa has become the country's leading maker of ethanol. The fuel touted as a cleaner, more efficient alternative to gas. Twenty-five plants have been built here so far. Three in just one week. At least 17 more are on the way. The boom is projected to create thousands of jobs and struggling farmers who got in early are reaping huge benefits.

DWYANE LYNCH, GOLDEN GRAIN ENERGY: It makes you feel pretty good when you walk uptown and you run in to these people.

LOTHIAN: Golden Grain, which is expanding, says it's 750 investors received more than $9 million in tax credits and cash dividends last year. The gold rush starts here as soon as the corn arrives. It then enters a maze of conveyor belts, pipes and vats. A fully automated system starts breaking it down.

CHAD KUHLERS, PLANT MANAGER: You're milling and your cooking. Now you're fermenting. Then you start distilling. Then you decant.

LOTHIAN: And then, three days later, out pours this clear liquid, ethanol.

Is this really the answer for our fuel needs?

SOVEREIGN: This is definitely a part of the answer.

LOTHIAN: Nothing is wasted in the process of turning corn into fuel. This mountain, the by-product, is sold as cattle feed. While everything is running so smoothly right now, Sovereign, who has experienced the highs and lows in farming, realizes there is a potential risk in this business, too.

SOVEREIGN: I think, overall, there's going to be some growing pains, but, overall, we're going to survive it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN: About half of the plants in Iowa are owned by farmers. The rest are owned by Wall Street types. Now what's interesting. To show how popular it is, Sovereign told me that when he was trying to raise money about four years ago from investors, it took him about 90 days. That was pretty fast at the time. Now you can raise that money in about 24 hours. And he says just about every day he hears from investor who want to get in.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: I guess they're calling it ethanol.com or something now.

LOTHIAN: That's right.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about -- we always like to know how you're doing on your fuel bills as you continue to traverse across Iowa. Fill us in, Dan.

LOTHIAN: That's right. Are you ready for the numbers?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

LOTHIAN: They've really shot up since the last time that we gave them to you on Wednesday. So far we've traveled 1,358 miles. We purchased 82.1 gallons of fuel in our suburban. We spent $224.54 for gas. And the average price per gallon $2.72. And, by the way, what we saw throughout the entire trip, gas prices trending up.

M. O'BRIEN: Hey, could we put that graphic up one more time? That suburban there looks pretty old. Are you driving a 1975 suburban? Look at that thing. I don't think they make that one anymore.

LOTHIAN: I don't think it was that old. I don't know what the year. It was not that old.

M. O'BRIEN: I don't know. You're not driving that suburban, trust me.

LOTHIAN: (INAUDIBLE) the old school kind. You know, the look.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. You like the old school. You're kind of that guy. All right. Dan Lothian, we'll see you in a lit while. Thank you.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning, a triple killer in Virginia is getting a second chance. About an hour before Percy Walton was to be executed, Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine offered a delay. He's allowing an independent commission to look into claims that Walton is both mentally retarded and insane. The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down a stay of execution request.

A Maryland man is charged with planning to attack an abortion clinic. Police say the suspect hid a bomb in his friend's closet. Officers tried to disable it. It went off prematurely. Nobody was hurt but the explosion, as you can see in these pictures, set the house on fire. Hundreds of evacuations to tell you about. In Chester County in South Carolina, an old cotton mill has been on fire since Tuesday morning. Firefighters say they're keeping watch. They're letting it burn itself out. Five hundred people in the area were evacuated because of all the thick smoke.

True blue friend, get the purple heart. Aaron, the German Shepherd, was shot in the jaw while he was chasing a suspect. He kept right on going, though, ended up catching the guy. The Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police awarded him with the purple heart last night. He got a standing ovation, as well.

Betty McNeil vowed she'd get her college degree before her grandkids did. And at 82-years-old, Ms. McNeil graduated on Thursday from Harvard University. In some respects, though, she's just like every other undergraduate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY MCNEIL, 82-YEAR-OLD HARVARD GRADUATE: Well, I'm a procrastinator. And, actually, I wrote my essay on procrastination and turned it in about a half an hour before it was due.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: McNeil spent nine years getting her liberal arts degree. She retired last year after 25 years with Harvard's Health Services Department.

Thirty-seven minutes past the hour. Let's check in with Rob, get a look at the weather. Chad's off today.

Hey, Rob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may be gone in Iraq, but some fear his legacy will live on. What is ahead now for the insurgency? We'll talk to the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

S. O'BRIEN: Then it's a hot market for stolen copper. We mean really hot. Take a look at this fire. It's just been determined by investigators that actually it was copper thieves who were responsible for this. We'll explain just ahead.

And then in am pop. This new documentary. Oh, what an amazing story. It's inspirational. Seriously, you need to bring your daughter to see this.

M. O'BRIEN: Really?

S. O'BRIEN: It's called "The Heart of the Game." We've got a preview of the documentary just ahead this morning. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) M. O'BRIEN: It is the day after in Iraq and the question is, who is emboldened by the death of the terror mastermind Abu Musab al- Zarqawi? Will the terrorists renew or ratchet up the violence in retaliation or will this be a turning point for the fledgling Iraqi government? Joining us now from Baghdad to answer some of those questions, Zalmay Khalilzad. He is the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

Mr. Ambassador, good to have you with us this morning.

Yesterday, in the midst of all of this news, 37 people died, upwards of 90 people wounded in violence, bombings. Did the terrorists, in fact, give you an answer yesterday?

ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Well, of course, what happened the day before yesterday, the death of Zarqawi, was a set back, a strategic set back for the terrorists. Zarqawi was a charismatic and effective leader of the terrorists. He was brutal. He had a network of relationships that brought money. He got recruits into the organization.

But I believe with his death, while the organization suffered a setback, I do not believe that by itself will end terror and violence. It provides an opportunity for the Iraqi leaders to bring Iraqis together, to take advantage of the death and demise of Zarqawi, to force the terrorists to change their ways or to bring them to justice. But this is a moment of opportunity.

M. O'BRIEN: Mr. Ambassador, I'd like to try get some kind of perspective on just the significance of Zarqawi. First of all, I just want to share with you a couple of things that have been written about this. "New York Times" this morning in their editorial says this.

"At time Washington appeared to deliberately exaggerate his importance to create an identifiable enemy and to distract attention from the more authentically Iraqi-rooted insurgency."

And then a publication called Al-Quds Al-Arabi, widely read in the Middle East, an influential paper based out of London. "The U.S. administration will exaggerate the assassination as a major victory because it has been facing catastrophic losses in Iraq. Following the death of Zarqawi, al Qaeda in Iraq will be stronger and more lethal."

What do you say to that? That, first of all, al-Zarqawi's importance was inflated and thus his death is being given more weight than it should?

KHALILZAD: Well, I think it's important not to exaggerate both the importance of his death, what the impact it will have, and also not to understate it. It is a fact that he was an important leader, the significant leader in terms of terror in Iraq. He's the one who provoked sectarian violence. He wanted to have Shia-Sunni war in Iraq and, at the same time, he wanted to have Muslims fight against non- Muslims in the world.

But there are other forces who are also active in the insurgency, but he was particularly brutal and he intimidated some of the others into not negotiating with the government. But I think with his demise, there is an opportunity, as I said before, to work to improve the security situation should the Iraqi leaders make the right decisions, which is very important for them to do given that they have a government of national unity now. But at the same time, it's important to recognize that violence is likely to continue not only from the terrorists who were associated with Zarqawi, but from the other sources as well because they have their own reasons for wanting to carry out violent acts.

M. O'BRIEN: Mr. Ambassador, from the president on down yesterday, a very measured response. It stands in contrast to mission accomplished and some of the responses post the death of the Hussein sons, Saddam's capture, the Iraqi elections, for example. Listen to Senator John McCain briefly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: I think it's going to be long, hard and difficult. And this is a significant day, but it really doesn't change the long-term challenges we face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: And a lot of people at home listening to that would interpret that as saying, the men and women in uniform over there aren't coming home any time soon. What can you tell them this morning? Can you give them any sort of assurances that this could possibly be a turning point which might bring the troops home?

KHALILZAD: I think that what the American people should know is that with the formation of the national unity government yesterday and with the killing of Zarqawi, that their leaders in Washington and those of us in the field know what we're doing because there has been a bit of crisis of confidence and whether we know what we're doing, whether we have a plan for success and yesterday and the day before were good days in that regard. But they also have to know that we have taken on a very important and difficult mission in Iraq. And this is about the future of this region and the future of the world at this time. And it will take a lot of effort. And it will take a lot of time to accomplish the mission that we have taken on.

M. O'BRIEN: Mr. Ambassador, thank you for your time this morning. Zalmay Khalilzad is the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

Andy's "Minding Your Business." We'll be back with that in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: This just in to CNN.

The Arabic language TV network, al-Jazeera, is saying it has a recorded announcement from the number two man of al Qaeda, Ayman al- Zawahiri, and that they will be playing that tape very shortly. It appears, however, this is not a direct response to the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. There are other subject matters that are discussed in this tape. We're going to monitor it. Octave Nasser (ph), who is our senior Arab editor, will be watching it very closely for us, among others, and as soon as it is played and we're able to translate it, decipher it, we'll get it to you.

But once again, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number two man of al Qaeda, out with a tape. But given the delay in getting these tapes to al-Jazeera, we believe it doesn't have any content related to the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. We'll keep you posted.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Am pop this morning. There's a new movie out. It's a tale of persistence and guts and overcoming obstacles. The story revolves around young woman on a high school basketball team in Seattle, Washington, and a star player who struggles with a very big problem. Best part of all is that it's all true. The documentary's called "The Heart of the Game."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL RESLER, ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL COACH: Why are there three on a trap? Why three?

I can honestly, deeper from my heart, say that I could care less about winning and losing.

Carolina.

However, winning is more fun.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, (voice over): That's Bill Resler, a professor who takes on the job of coaching the Roosevelt Rough Riders, a mediocre girl's high school basketball team.

RESLER: We work as a team. We hunt (ph) as a team. What we do tonight (ph)?

S. O'BRIEN: Wrestler's philosophy and unorthodox coaching style brings the team together.

Film maker, Ward Serrill.

WARD SERRILL, DIRECTOR, "THE HEART OF THE GAME": I followed him into the gym and I found some extraordinary young woman there. They were just bashing and crashing into each other playing really physically and aggressive but laughing and having more fun than any gym that I had seen anywhere. And I said, you know, kind of naively to myself, you know we've forgotten about this in our culture and maybe it's a win. That this is what it's about.

S. O'BRIEN: Why is the team mentality so important to you?

RESLER: Virtually everything we do in life we're combined with other people. Learning to work as a team, be part of the team, equally have people rely on you, all of those lessons are really important for what you're going to do in your life. S. O'BRIEN: Resler turns the Rough Riders around in his first year ever as coach. That's where the movie begins.

RESLER: I was told by the gym teachers that there was a girl in the gym class that was good enough to make the varsity as a freshman. And just one look at her she owned that gym.

S. O'BRIEN: Your story, which really was focused on the coach and the girls, became focused on one young woman.

SERRILL: I was there the moment she came in and I remember saying to myself, I've been waiting for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Darnellia Russell has basketball skills most only dream about.

S. O'BRIEN: So when Darnellia walks on the court, what did you think of her?

RESLER: I thought she had a chance to make it look like I know how to coach.

S. O'BRIEN: The Roosevelt Rough Riders improve and even advance to the state tournaments. Darnellia's only a junior and dozens of colleges are looking at her. But Darnellia's struggling and pregnant.

When she comes to you and says, I'm leaving school, what did you think? Your star player.

RESLER: I didn't care whether she was a star player or not. I have a moral duty that she's going to graduate from college. If she's not going to graduate from college if she doesn't graduate from high school. So when she told me that, my view of that is, now there's a problem to be solved. We're going to get her to get this done.

S. O'BRIEN: Coach Resler gets tutoring for Darnellia, who gives birth to a baby girl. She returns to Roosevelt High and the Rough Riders for a slightly delayed senior year. The state's Interscholastic Activities Association, which supervises high school sports, says Darnellia's ineligible. The school has to go to court to see if Darnellia can play.

By virtue of having her on the team, you put your own team at risk. There's got to a point where you say, listen, cutting her loose, honestly, will be better for the team.

RESLER: It's not my decision, it's the inter circle decision. The team will make that choice. I told them that there's a good chance we're going to lose our lawsuit and we can forfeit the whole season. I will say that when they came to me and told me that they had unanimously voted that they're going to play Darnellia, I cried.

DARNELLIA RUSSELL, "THE HEART OF THE GAME": I didn't cry. I was just excited that they really wanted me to be able to be seen by the colleges and they really, you know, loved me and wanted me to be on the team. S. O'BRIEN: You're crying now.

RUSSELL: Oh. How do you do that?

S. O'BRIEN: She is crying.

Rapper and actor Chris "Ludacris" Bridges agreed to be the film's narrator.

CHRIS "LUDACRIS" BRIDGES, NARRATOR, "HEART OF THE GAME": He sent it to me and I loved it and I got involved. I told him, hands down, there's no question, I would love to do it.

S. O'BRIEN: What did you love about it?

BRIDGES: I loved about how young women, you know, deal with issues of self esteem and self confidence and really the comradery of the team. And the most I got out of it was, of course, young Darnellia here because of all the obstacles she faced. I mean, she just kind of overcame every single obstacle.

S. O'BRIEN: Can you still play ball?

RUSSELL: Of course. I'm still a hooper. Still got the skills. And I'm ready the show them to the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, we don't want to give away the big cliffhanger ending.

M. O'BRIEN: We need to know. We need to know what happened.

S. O'BRIEN: This is such a great movie. This is such a great movie.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, you had me a little misty there.

S. O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, if you have a teenage daughter or almost teenager daughter or preteen, you need to take her to this movie.

M. O'BRIEN: We do.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We do.

S. O'BRIEN: An update, Darnellia's baby is now two and a half years old. She's finishing community college. She's hoping that she's going to be able to transfer to a four-year program because that means she can get her degree and then go on to the WNBA. No degree, no WNBA.

SERWER: Oh, interesting.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, really?

SERWER: I didn't know that either.

S. O'BRIEN: The problem -- that's the key. She can't just go straight to the WNBA and she needs her college degree.

M. O'BRIEN: Why not? Why can't she do that?

S. O'BRIEN: That's the rules.

M. O'BRIEN: That's the rule there.

SERWER: That's the rules apparently, right? I didn't . . .

S. O'BRIEN: This is such a great movie, I've got to tell you. It opens in New York and L.A. today and then it opens nationwide later in the month.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm going to watch this one.

S. O'BRIEN: Fantastic.

SERWER: Yes, and Ludacris has quite a movie career these days, right?

S. O'BRIEN: Ludacris, fantastic in this movie. The narrator, he is spot on. And, of course, it's all true. It's all real. That's my two thumbs up on that one.

M. O'BRIEN: Ludacris. What do you call him? Do you call him just Lu?

SERWER: No, you call him . . .

S. O'BRIEN: No, Chris. He wants to be called - - he used to be Ludacris when he was a rapper, now he is Chris Bridges.

M. O'BRIEN: Just Chris. Gotcha.

SERWER: OK. Good deal.

S. O'BRIEN: Great guy. Great guy.

M. O'BRIEN: Copper prices going through the roof. Interesting, unintended consequence of all of that, huh?

SERWER: Yes, it's really amazing. This is the convergence, really, of two stories we've been telling you about over the past several weeks. First of all, let's flash back to early May. That huge, devastating fire on the Brooklyn water front. The largest fire in New York City in over a decade. Four hundred firefighters. Devastated huge swathes of the water front down there.

Now, flash forward to the past week or so when we've been telling you about copper thieves stealing metal for scrap because prices have been soaring. How are these stories connected? Well, as it turns out, the fire, according to New York City authorities, was set unintentionally by two homeless men who were stealing copper and then melting the insulation off to sell it for scrap.

These two homeless guys, here's what happens. They made a fire with old tires and they were running the wire through the fire to burn the insulation off because copper, without insulation, goes for more than wire with insulation on it. The fire got out of control, spread and you saw those horrifying consequences. Fortunately, no one killed in that fire. But, you know, of course, it was just utterly huge and amazing.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, as soon as that information came out, I was thinking of you. It came in right after we'd had that conversation about the copper problem and the stealing of it.

SERWER: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: So that's just upsetting (ph).

SERWER: Just -- yes, really, it's a mystery solved.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, Andy, thanks.

SERWER: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: A look at the day's top stories are coming right after this short break. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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