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American Morning

Immigration Officers Cast a Big Net; Al-Zarqawi's Replacement

Aired June 15, 2006 - 08:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN HOST: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN HOST: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us this morning.

Carol Costello in the newsroom looking at some headlines.

Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN NEWSROOM: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you. We have two new things to tell you about, the first in Iraq. American deaths have now passed the 2500 mark. We're going to get more information on that and pass it along to you in a moment.

Also this -- there has been a land mine attack on a bus in Sri Lanka. At least 64 people killed earlier today, more than a dozen of them children. We just got these pictures in to CNN. You can see this bus on its side. Family and friends waiting for news from behind a closed gate. Authorities blaming Tamil Tiger Rebels; Sri Lanka's air force launching air strikes on the rebels in response.

At least ten people killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, this morning: the bus bombing wounding 15 others. The explosion comes as U.S. and coalition troops are launching a major operation to root out insurgents in southern Afghanistan. It's being called the largest military offensive since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

President Bush is due to address the Initiative for Global Development in the next hour. The president will talk up what his administration has done to end world poverty -- set to take the podium at 9:50 Eastern.

Later today, the president shows his green side: he'll create the world's largest marine sanctuary. The 1400-mile region off Hawaii is home to more than 7,000 species of animals.

And Cher -- yes, that Cher -- goes to Washington today. She's set to take the stand before the House Armed Services Committee. Cher wants U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to have better helmets. The ones most troops use now protect them from bullets, but not from bomb blasts. Cher will speak on behalf of the group Operation Helmet.

Doctors in Los Angeles say they're optimistic about two formerly conjoined twins, but the girls are still not out of the woods. A team of 80 doctors worked overnight around the girls. They were born connected from the lower chest to the pelvis. The surgery is expected to wrap up later today, but it could be months before the girls are given the all clear.

That's a look at the headlines this morning. Back to you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Carol. Thank you very much.

We've been dipping in and out of the briefing by Major General William Caldwell in Baghdad. He does a weekly briefing, updating what's happening in Iraq. Moments ago, he showed a new picture of Abu al Masri. Let's show you this picture. This is now the man who is believed to be the now new most wanted man in Iraq, the new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, replacing Abu al Zarqawi, who was killed, as we well know, in two bomb blasts recently. So, this is the picture of the man who now takes his place on the Most Wanted List. This is coming to us from a military briefing being led by General William Caldwell this morning. Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Well, the feds weren't mailing it in on this one. They say Operation Return to Sender was a big success. Immigration officers cast a big net and caught more than 2,000 so-called fugitive aliens. Here's CNN's Casey Wian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These violent gang members have been terrorizing American communities for years. Now they're heading home, hopefully for good. Nearly 400 members of the notorious MS-13 and other street gangs were among the almost 2200 fugitive illegal aliens nabbed by ICE during a 19-day sweep, dubbed Operation Return to Sender.

JULIE MYERS, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, ICE:: These individuals represent the worst of the worst.

WIAN: They include Salvadoran Franklin Rodriguez, known as Hollywood, convicted in the stabbing of a 13-year-old boy who's now in a wheelchair for life. And Jose Rios of Mexico, who has a 20-year violent criminal history, and at least 13 arrests. ICE says 146 of the fugitives have convictions for sexual offenses involving minors.

The crackdown apprehended fugitive illegal aliens from 41 nations, including Iraq, Indonesia, Pakistan, Libya, and China. The arrests were spread throughout 34 of the 50 United States, including more than 700 in California and 400 in Texas.

MYERS: We can no longer allow the interior of the United States to be a safe haven for illegal aliens.

WIAN: ICE says more than 800 of the fugitives have already been deported. The rest are either in deportation proceedings or in the criminal system, facing outstanding charges. While Operation Return to Sender is a clear victory for federal authorities, it's also a reminder of how much more remains to be done. JOHN TORRES, OFFICE OF DETENTION AND REMOVAL: If you were to go poll the state prisons, for example, there's potential data that there may be as many as 300,000 people in our state prison system. That doesn't account for how many people might actually be out on the streets, though.

WIAN: That number is estimated at half a million illegal aliens, already under a judge's order of deportation, still living in the United States. ICE says, by the end of this year, it will have 52 Fugitive Apprehension Teams operating nationwide, triple the number it had at the start of 2006.

(On camera): But until the nation's borders and ports are secure, there's no guarantee that the fugitives they capture and deport won't be able to sneak back in. Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Casey's report first aired on "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT," which you can catch weekdays, 6:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Soledad?

S. O'BRIEN: Following up on a story we first told you about back in April: families displaced by hurricane Katrina now demanding to go back to their homes in four public housing projects. The federal government, though, has decided to tear down those projects. Jonathan Betts of our affiliate WWL has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN BETTS, WWL (voice-over): Week two at a camp outside the St. Bernard development, where its former residents demand to come home.

ROSE GUY, RESIDENT: I don't know nowheres else. This is the only place I ever lived.

BETTS: The U.S. Housing secretary announced they, and many other public housing residents, won't be returning to their old homes. In a sweeping plan, HUD declared four major housing projects in New Orleans will come down. CJ Peete, Uptown, the Cooper development in Central City, Lafitte, near Tramme (ph) and St. Bernard in Gentilly.

The four developments will all be bulldozed to make room for mixed-income housing, like the River Garden Project, that replaced St. Thomas.

ALPHONSO JACKSON, HUD SECRETARY: Our redevelopment effort represents a major step forward, but it also means that, sadly, not all of the residents will be able to return home in the near future.

BETTS: Four other developments will stay open, Iberville, near the French Quarter, Guste, in Uptown, Fisher and Hendee Homes, both on the West Bank. They will be renovated to make room for another 1000 families by August.

RAY NAGIN, MAYOR, NEW ORLEANS: This is huge. Every unit in the city is going to be demolished and redeveloped.

BETTS: The announcement pushes forward a plan, launched in the late 1990s, which saw the demolition of the Fisher development and other barracks-style public housing, to make room for smaller, mixed- income neighborhoods.

SONDLETIA YOUNG, RIVER GARDEN RESIDENT: You don't have to worry about people breaking in. You don't have to worry about no drug selling. You don't have to worry about a lot of things that you would have encountered in public housing.

BETTS: But the old-style developments certainly won't go without a fight. Many former residents feel the city is pushing them out.

STEPHANIE MINGO, IBERVILLE RESIDENT: We just got three strikes against us -- it's that we poor, we black, and we live in a project.

BETTS: In April, protestors stormed St. Bernard, demanding it reopen. And today, residents promised the fight is not over.

NICKOLE BANKS, HOUSING ADVOCATE: It should be just repaired and opened back up, because the need is so large.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Housing and Urban Development is going to increase the voucher money paid to landlords to help displaced residents pay the higher rents that are now in place ever since Hurricane Katrina. Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Happening in America, at the Pentagon: a ground- breaking ceremony today for a 9/11 memorial. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be there. A hundred and eighty-four lives lost in the Pentagon and on American Flight 77 on 9/11.

Firefighters in Arizona battling to contain a 6200-acre wildfire: despite strong winds, crews yesterday were able to keep it contained and prevent the flames from spreading to some nearby homes. The fire was caused by lightning, earlier this month, near Heber.

A busy ferry dock on the Seattle waterfront opened again today. A bomb scare forced the evacuation during rush hour last night. A man drove past the ticket booth onto the ferry without stopping. A bomb- sniffing dog detected something fishy. Turns out, he had fireworks.

Federal authorities arrested 55 illegal immigrants Wednesday at Dulles airport outside of D.C. The raid took place as buses carrying the workers to a construction site stopped at security. Authorities say the arrests are part of a government effort to root out undocumented workers at sites that could be targeted by terrorists.

A man charged with kidnapping his daughter ten years ago in Arizona now in federal custody in Virginia. Authorities in Roanoke arrested 57-year-old Danny Arthur Moran on Sunday, the FBI saying Moran abducted his 2-year-old daughter outside his mother's home in '96. The girl has not been found.

Let's check the forecast now, Chad Myers at weather center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, Chad, thank you.

A moment ago, we told you Major General William Caldwell, in his briefing, showed a picture of Abu al Masri, the Egyptian who they now believe is taking over for al Zarqawi, who was killed in a raid and bombs dropped on his safehouse. These are the pictures now of Abu Ayyub al Masri.

Let's get to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, because this is really, I think, Barbara, interesting on two fronts -- first, the fact that they're showing this picture, obviously trying to eliminate him before he gets as much sway over the people in Iraq as al Zarqawi had, certainly. And then also, I know you've got sort of a sad milestone to tell us about. Good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello to you, Soledad. They are now showing this picture, and it had been a matter of some debate over the last couple of days deep inside the military about whether to put this picture of Abu Ayyub al Masri out in public. They wanted to make sure that U.S. troops knew what he looked like, that if they came across him and captured him, they would know who they had in their hands. But on the other hand, there was the debate on the other side. Putting this picture out, again, another frame, another large photograph, does this man automatically now become an icon for the insurgent movement in Iraq? Is it another rallying point for him?

That had been the debate. But apparently, they have now decided to go ahead and put this picture out. A good deal of information now known about this man, an Egyptian that first met Abu Musab al Zarqawi in Afghanistan back around 2001 at training camps in Afghanistan. Al Masri trained as an explosives expert, came to Iraq to the Baghdad area somewhere around 2003, they believe, established one of the first Iraq al Qaeda cells in the country. Now said to be by the U.S. military, a, quote, "senior operational commander for al Qaeda in Iraq." He has worked with Zarqawi lieutenants in Fallujah, it is believed. It is now believed he is basically in charge of operations, al Qaeda operations in Iraq across the southern part of the country.

But General Caldwell going to some lengths to explain that while they believe al Masri has taken over, there may well be a power struggle inside al Qaeda in Iraq. There may be other people, he says -- he named a couple of them -- that may try and make their move to take charge. So it's going to be very closely watched to see how all of this shakes out, what they can learn about this movement now that its main leader, Zarqawi, is gone. Soledad?

S. O'BRIEN: And certainly with that treasure trove, as they've been calling it, of information off the hard drive, combined with this more information about al Masri, it certainly makes it all very interesting at this point. Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon -- Barbara, thanks. Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, a U.S. Marine who went above and beyond the call of duty. He ran for city council back home while serving in Iraq, and he won! We'll ask how he plans to do both jobs.

And the only golfer sponsored by Hooters is the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with. And that's the problem. The life and hard times of John Daly, ahead on American morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The U.S. Open tees off today at Winged Foot Country Club, West Chester County, New York. One of the bigger draws on the tour, John Daly, not in the field -- didn't qualify. So it goes in the up-and-down world of a talented golfer, with big talent and some strong demons. Daly's put it all in his new book, "My Life In and Out of the Rough. I talked to him recently about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(On camera): Is this book about making a few books or therapy or both?

JOHN DALY, "MY LIFE IN AND OUT OF THE ROUGH": No, it was just to get the truth and the life of John Daly out there. There's been two books out there that had just been media articles that really didn't have the facts right, and you know, it's just about my life.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. "Don't believe the hype," kind of stuff? People making things up, huh?

DALY: Yes, I don't like that. It's bad enough I had to put in there the truth, and exaggerating some of the stuff is, you know, a lot of newspaper guys like to do.

M. O'BRIEN: How hard was it to write, having to grapple with the truth, as you put it?

DALY: It was very therapeutic. You know, I don't like to live in the past, but I got a lot off my chest writing this book, you know. It made me realize in doing it that, hey, you know, it's time to do stuff in moderation, and that's what i've been trying to do the last few years of my life, anyway. But it takes a little time.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, problem is, at a certain age, we view moderation as being no fun at all.

DALY: Exactly. Well, I'm still having fun.

M. O'BRIEN: That's good, if you can find a way to do that. It's important.

Let's go back to '91 when you won the PGA Championship. Were you at all prepared for what followed after that? DALY: No, I was just a golfer, you know. All I wanted to do was play the tour and hopefully win tournaments, and that happened, but you know, people compared it, it's so different from the way Tiger was brought up -- trained for it you know, he was -- he knew how to deal with it. And my agents, SFX (ph), we had no clue how to deal with. It was just boom, boom, boom. I couldn't say no.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. That's tough, and saying no is the most important thing, isn't it, when you have that many demands on your time. It's interesting -- you mention Tiger -- here he was, brought along by his father, rest his soul -- just passed away -- but such a great mentoring relationship. You really learned golf on your own, right?

DALY: Pretty much. I learned from the Jack Nicklaus Golf Lesson Tees -- I think it was Golf Digest. They were in cartoons, showed you how to do the grip, take the club back, how to hit a slice, how to chip, how to hit a hook, how to putt. And it was in cartoon, and it was just, really -- I want to come out with something like. That I think it would be cool to teach young kids how to play golf that way.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. And the cartoon where they have to draw the cigarette in, and stuff, and the beer.

DALY: Well, we won't put that in.

M. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this: something must have really led you to golf, for you to take that upon yourself. Most kids aren't saying, Hey, I want to be a golfer, right? That's unusual.

DALY: Well, in 1970 I was watching Nicholas and Trevino battle it out.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, that was a great era.

DALY: I said this is what I want to do, and I was learning to play other sports, and just fell in love with golf. I used to, we had a nine-hole golf course in Darnell (ph), Arkansas. I'd go wade in the ponds, get my balls, and to go the baseball field and learn how to play. So it was pretty totally different from the way Tiger was brought up how to play.

M. O'BRIEN: Tell us a little bit about the demons. Your friend Jack, as you like to call him, Jack Daniels, you've put him aside for now, maybe given up drinking. You still drink some beer. You still smoke. Are you still gambling?

DALY: A little bit.

M. O'BRIEN: How do you scale all that back so it's manageable?

DALY: Um, just learning, you know? You know, I can go into a casino now and bring cash and play a $25 slot machine -- I never thought I could do it without getting the adrenaline rush, but I do. I still play a little bit of blackjack, but nowhere near the money I wasted away in the 90s. DALY: Good to have you drop by.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Miles, appreciate it.

DALY: Pro golfer John Daly. His book is my life in and out of the rough. He's out of the rough these days. Congratulations.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: That's quite a book. It's quite a read.

Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" up next. Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad. Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Big Ben Roethlisberger, you may have heard, is in the soup, but did you know it was Chunky's Soup?

And the world's lamest car. Good thing it's outrageously expensive. We'll bring you that stuff coming up next.

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

Also, you're going to be previewing for us your Prisons Day.

SERWER: Yes, my visit to jail. That's right.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, that's ahead. Thanks, Andy.

Also ahead this morning, those bogus relief claims after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Investigators say FEMA debit cards were used to buy everything from fireworks to a vacation in the Dominican Republic. So how did those claims get past everybody? We're going to check in with a top official from FEMA, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Got an update for you from San Francisco, some breaking news in. It looks like there's been, a magnitude 4.7 earthquake recorded near Gilroy, California. That's about 24 miles southeast of San Jose, which is south, of course, of San Francisco. The quake, though, felt as far away as San Francisco, where they reported shaking that lasted several seconds. A 4.7- magnitude quake is considered to be not a particularly strong quake. Three smaller quakes measuring between 2.9 and then 1.6 were recorded in the minutes after this one. All this coming to us from the U.S. Geological Survey. It happened about 4:24 this morning on the West Coast. That is the update in San Francisco.

So some good news there, because right now we're told no reports of any injuries or any damage.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

M. O'BRIEN: Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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