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American Morning

Abu Ghraib Release; Targeting "The Times"; Dream Run

Aired June 27, 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, Tuesday, June 27. I'm Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Here is a look at what's happening this morning.

In Clinton, Missouri, right now rescue workers are trying to free three people who are trapped in the debris of a collapsed building. The building's roof gave way last night and collapsed the floors below. Seven people have been rescued so far this morning alone.

In Washington, D.C., President Bush is going to deliver a speech on the line item veto. Later, he is going to jog with an Iraqi war vet who is a double amputee. The soldier said his goal during recovery was to run with the president.

M. O'BRIEN: Also in Washington today, lawmakers grilling Pentagon brass on the high cost of the Iraq war. Right now the war costing roughly $12 million a year.

Also D.C., lawyers for Saddam Hussein say they will reveal new evidence to reporters. This on the heels of reports Hussein believes he can help quell the insurgency in Iraq.

S. O'BRIEN: The crew of the space shuttle Discovery arrives at Kennedy Space Center today. Discovery is scheduled for launch on Saturday.

And in Manhattan, super model Naomi Campbell set to appear in court on assault charges. You might recall back in March Ms. Campbell's housekeeper accused her of assaulting her with a cell phone. Meanwhile, another maid is filing suit claiming that Naomi Campbell attacked her, too.

M. O'BRIEN: Feeling a little thicker around the middle? We have some new excuses for you this morning, part of a controversial new report from the "International Journal of Obesity." I'm a subscriber. Fewer people smoking, which means less appetite suppression. And apparently more fat people having sex, making more fat children.

S. O'BRIEN: Are procreating.

M. O'BRIEN: There you have it.

And a lingering storm could dump more water on the already waterlogged D.C. area today. Heavy rains yesterday caused severe flooding, downed trees, plenty of travel headaches.

Chad Myers at the Weather Center with more.

Good morning, -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning guys.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, bad on all fronts.

All right, Chad, thanks.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Nearly 500 Iraqi prisoners walked out of the infamous Abu Ghraib Prison. It happened just a few hours ago. The release is part of the Iraqi government's national reconciliation plan.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson was at the prison. He joins us from Baghdad this morning.

Nic, good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

The minister of -- or one of the government ministers was there to give a speech to the prisoners before they were released. He told them that they were being released as part of their national reconciliation plan. There was rounds of applause for the minister before the prisoners came out and shook his hands on their way to release.

The prisoners I talked to, some of them had been there for a year and a half. Another had been there for eight months. He said he had been arrested on the corner for holding a cell phone. But all of them said that they thought this was a good idea to help with national reconciliation. But they did say that unless all prisoners were released, they didn't think that the government -- they didn't think that the plans would go far enough unless all the prisoners were being released -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Is there any indication, Nic, that this reconciliation plan, amnesty other people call it, is working?

ROBERTSON: Well the government says that it is getting indications, positive indications from its intermediaries who are dealing with different elements within the insurgency. Certainly the government is not reporting at this stage that any insurgent groups have heard the amnesty and are laying down their weapons. So it seems to be, at this stage, just very -- a very sort of slow or low indication, if you will, from the government. What the minister did say when I asked him this morning, he said it is a necessary step. They have to take this step. Even if some of the people they are releasing go out and then commit acts of violence, he said they have to take this risk at this time. He said this is a model. The reconciliation model is a model that is followed all over the world for ending conflicts -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson is in Baghdad this morning.

Nic, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: A desperate search for survivors of a building collapse under way at this hour about 80 miles southeast of Kansas City. It's happening in Clinton, Missouri. Last night, a 100-year- old building, three stories, collapsed. About 50 people inside. At this hour, rescuers believe three are still trapped in the rubble. Seven people were pulled out overnight. It happened during an Elks Club gathering. The building just buckled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have a cause for why it happened at this point. And I'm sure that they're not totally sure about what happened either. There have been reports that they heard some a kind of a crackling or crumbling sound within the building and then it just collapsed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard a rumbling and the walls kind of swell out a little bit. And then all of a sudden the top of the building just collapsed in and you could hear glass shattering and the rocks. And as soon as it happened, a cloud of smoke covered all the building.

You couldn't see anything, but you could hear people yelling and screaming and hitting on stuff inside wanted help. And there just wasn't too much you could you know do because you know cars were smashed and it was everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Some of those trapped inside now using cell phones to talk to the rescuers. We're going to keep you updated on the rescue operation all throughout the morning -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning.

A bottle of Viagra kept Rush Limbaugh at Palm Beach International Airport for over three hours on Monday. The radio talk show host was stopped because the prescription was not in his name, although he said the pills were his. Limbaugh's lawyer says the pills were labeled for privacy purposes. An ominous message scrawled in the hold of a cargo ship shut down a southern California port on Monday. A dock worker discovered the writing that said "Nitro plus glycerin, my gift for G.W. Bush and his Jewish gang." The FBI found no nitroglycerin or any other threat and the port was reopened after several hours.

A Navy fighter pilot is dead after his F-18 Hornet jet collided with another during a training exercise on Monday in California. The other pilot ejected and survived the crash, which is now under investigation. Smoke could be seen, as you see right there in the videotape, rising from the scene of the crash.

A nationwide search for an 8-year-old New Hampshire boy is over. It ended on Monday after his mom was spotted at a Florida bus station kissing a teenager that she is believed to be involved with. The boy's mother and the teen, who met at a school where she worked as a youth counselor, ran away with him 10 days ago. The three were taken into custody after a station worker noticed the woman kissing a teenager while her son watched.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALONZO LESTER, CALLED IN TIP TO POLICE: When I saw her plant a kiss on him, I thought that was kind of strange, you know, an older lady like that kind of kissing a 16-year-old with the 8-year-old standing right there. I thought that was kind of you know -- didn't seem right.

QUESTION: And we're not talking a peck on the cheek here?

LESTER: No, we're talking about full lip lock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: The woman's husband discovered that his wife and son were missing after she failed to show up for work on June 16. He also noticed that the bank account had been drained -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The Bush administration ratcheting up criticism of "The New York Times" this morning. The president calling the paper's story on a secret program to track terrorists through our bank transactions disgraceful and causing great harm to the country. It's part of a broad administration attack on "The Times" that some Democrats say amounts to shooting the messenger.

Here's Mary Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is disclosing a secret government program to track the money trail of terrorists a matter of public interest or a blow to national security? The debate is so fierce the president is weighing in after "The New York Times" first reported this story last week, followed by the "Los Angeles Times" and "Wall Street Journal." GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The disclosure of this program is disgraceful. For people to leak that program and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America.

SNOW: Radio talk shows and conservative blogs have targeted "The Times" with sharp criticism, and so has Vice President Dick Cheney.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: "The New York Times" has now made it more difficult for us to prevent attacks in the future.

SNOW: On Sunday, "New York Times" Editor Bill Keller took the rare step of explaining the decision to publish the story, saying it -- quote -- "followed weeks of discussion between Administration officials and 'The Times.'"

Treasury Department Secretary John Snow wrote a scathing letter in response, calling "The Times" decision "irresponsible."

Keller told CNN's "THE SITUATION ROOM" it was a hard call, but he felt the paper has a responsibility.

BILL KELLER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "NEW YORK TIMES": I believe they genuinely did not want us to publish this. But I think it's not responsible of us to just take them at their word.

SNOW: Republican Congressman Peter King, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, says "The New York Times" may have violated the Espionage Act.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: I believe that the attorney general of the United States should begin a criminal investigation and prosecution of "The New York Times." And that would include the writers who wrote the story, the editors who worked on it and the publisher.

SNOW: King also criticized the paper for disclosing the NSA telephone wiretapping program last year.

Media observers say journalists have the responsibility to ask the question does the public have enough information about the war on terror?

TOM PATTERSON, KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT: So the press asks itself, essentially, who's going to shine a light on this administration if it's not us? And so I think the press is feeling a different kind of burden than it normally does and is somewhat less inclined to bend over to you know the imploring of the administration that it not take things public.

SNOW (on camera): We also contacted the "Los Angeles Times" but did not receive an immediate response. "The Wall Street Journal" did say in a statement, in part, "we believe both our readers and the government were well served and that no laws were broken in reporting this story." Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Mary Snow's report first aired on "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer. You can watch "THE SITUATION ROOM" weekdays at 4:00, 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

S. O'BRIEN: S till to come this morning, will the Constitution be amended to protect the flag? There is a real possibility. We're going to take a look at this burning issue just ahead this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: And then wanted in Florida, a burglar with some probably sore knees this morning. Details of an usual robbery.

S. O'BRIEN: And President Bush helps make a dream come true for an American soldier who was wounded in Iraq. We've got the inspirational story just ahead.

Plus, Andy Serwer has got some business headlines for us.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning you guys.

How are Internet service providers teaming up to fight child pornography? Plus, "Grand Theft Auto" gets a subpoena. We'll tell you about that coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.

An update now, two people are still trapped in the debris of that building collapse in Missouri. The roof of a three-story building gave way last night.

In Iraq, about 450 prisoners have been released from Abu Ghraib Prison. It's part of Iraq's national reconciliation program. Officials say none of those people were convicted of a crime.

And that proposed constitutional ban on flag burning may be closer than ever before to ratification. Senate supporters say it's within one vote of approval. The vote could come tomorrow. It's already passed in the House -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: For one Iraq war vet dealing with some devastating injuries, the long road back will include a run with the commander-in- chief later today. Staff Sgt. Christian Bagge lost both of his legs but didn't lose sight of his goals.

AMERICAN MORNING's Kelly Wallace first introduced us to this courageous soldier a few months ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring it up and hold it. Hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it. Down.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is a lot that 24-year-old Christian Bagge wants to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attack that cone. Attack that cone. Come on. Push, push, push, push. Shuffle, shuffle. Keep going, keep going, keep going.

STAFF SGT. CHRISTIAN BAGGE, U.S. ARMY: I want to run. I want to swim. I want to mountain bike. The biggest goal of all is just to do what I did before.

WALLACE: What he did before the attack in Iraq, before the Humvee he was driving was blown apart by a roadside bomb...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Arms in, hips to ears, hips to ears, there you go.

WALLACE: ... and his life forever changed.

C. BAGGE: I told one of the guys, tie my wedding ring around my wrist. And they did. And that was the last image I had in my mind was my wedding ring being tied around my wrist. And then I woke up in Germany with my amputated legs.

WALLACE: Before going off to war, Christian's passions included playing drums in a Christian rock band and a gal named Melissa. The two were good friends in high school, who fell in love about a week before he left for Iraq. They married while he was on leave, just three months before he became a double amputee.

MELISSA BAGGE, WIFE: There have been times when I thought it was how am I going to do this? But there's always someone there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dig in. Last cone. Dig in, dig in.

WALLACE: And always someone who know just what they are going through. The Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio is home to one of only two U.S. Army amputee care centers in the country.

C. BAGGE: It's kind of like a brotherhood in there. We all -- we're all rooting for each other and pushing each other to do the best that they can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Push, pull.

WALLACE: The pushing comes not just from peers, but from a team of physical therapists.

CAPT. JUSTIN LAFERRIER, U.S. ARMY: Some people come in and they say, wow, I would have never thought that I would be able to do that again. And they need to be pushed to be shown that it is possible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good. You look good.

WALLACE: Also available to amputees like Christian, state-of- the-art technology to create custom-made legs for any activity they choose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Accelerate.

WALLACE: Christian's immediate goal, to run with President Bush. When the president visited the center on New Year's Day, Christian asked if they could jog together some time. He says Mr. Bush said yes.

C. BAGGE: He said that I would be an inspiration to other people. And I think he's right, you know, hopefully that I can be an inspiration.

WALLACE: His positive outlook doesn't mean there haven't been really hard times. In the beginning, he was angry and depressed. And every day there are reminders of what life used to be like.

C. BAGGE: It takes me longer to shower. It takes me longer to get my legs on, get dressed. Putting pants on is a 20-minute process and I hate it.

WALLACE: But Christian and Melissa are adjusting, even thriving.

C. BAGGE: You learn a lot about true love and being away from your family. You learn the important things in life.

WALLACE: Charting a new life with new limbs and new friends who know what it's like to walk in their shoes.

Kelly Wallace, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: The Bagge and Bush run is planned for 3:30 Eastern on the White House grounds, and we'll keep you posted on that -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Good for him.

Time for a check of the forecast this morning. Chad is at the CNN Center.

Hey, -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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

Still to come this morning, Oprah Winfrey has scored a literary coup, scoring an article from a Pulitzer Prize winning author who stopped giving interviews 40 years ago. We'll tell you who it is.

And author J.K. Rowling hints at how she plans to finish her seventh and last Harry Potter book. Fans are not going to be happy about this hint. That's coming up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back.

Here's a look at some of the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.

The Supreme Court is staying out of Pooh Corner. The justices have decided not to hear the case that was brought by the granddaughter of Winnie the Pooh's creator. She's trying to gain control of the popular character's copyright.

A coup for Oprah Winfrey and her magazine. Harper Lee, author of the classic "To Kill A Mockingbird," has written an article for the upcoming issue of "O." You'll remember that Lee stepped out of the spotlight decades ago, hasn't even given an interview in about 40 years.

Also, the end might be coming for Harry Potter, literally. Author J.K. Rowling says she's killing off two characters in the final Potter book. Harry could be one of them.

Imagine the...

M. O'BRIEN: Too much information.

S. O'BRIEN: Imagine -- it could, it could, might.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: She's hinting. She's hinting.

SERWER: Sounds...

S. O'BRIEN: Or it could be a PR ploy.

M. O'BRIEN: I think it's, as Andy says, sounds...

SERWER: You don't say that unless you're going to do it.

M. O'BRIEN: ... you know.

SERWER: Right?

M. O'BRIEN: It would be disappointing them. Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: She said -- may is the word she used. And then she said I don't want to get hate mail so she stopped.

SERWER: No.

M. O'BRIEN: Anyway.

SERWER: I think she might have painted herself into a corner, but...

M. O'BRIEN: Possibly.

S. O'BRIEN: Well she doesn't want the characters to live on without her. She sort of like -- she wants to control them.

M. O'BRIEN: There you have it, it's certain.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I'd buy that.

SERWER: Makes sense.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

SERWER: OK. Enough.

S. O'BRIEN: Enough.

M. O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer, good morning to you bright and early.

SERWER: I know.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about actually a pretty serious subject here.

SERWER: Yes, indeed. The nation's top Internet service providers are banding together and will create a database of child pornography images and develop tools and work with law enforcement to police this problem. Here are the biggies: AOL, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Earthlink, NetZero and Juno. They will be working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

And basically what they will be doing is encrypting child pornography images that they find. And then if they find people e- mailing these images about, they will be able to catch these people and notify law enforcement.

It's an interesting and novel and new approach to fighting this terrible, terrible problem. And it will be interesting to see how it works and whether it works.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, and the difficulty has been how do you match images and coming up with ways of creating a database like that?

SERWER: Right. And then there are freedom speech issues as well. And so you know what's pornography and what isn't? It's these timeless issues that we face as well.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

SERWER: And I think child pornography, of course it's pretty clear what that is.

Another somewhat related issue I guess you could say, video game maker Take-Two Interactive has received two subpoenas -- it has notified shareholders -- yesterday from the Manhattan D.A. office. This relates to its "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" game over these hidden sexually-explicit scenes. They are not shown here, of course.

But you may remember, this has been an issue that has gone on for a while. There are scenes that are in these games. And at first this company suggested that the scenes were created by outside programmers who had altered the games and then later acknowledged that in fact their own people had made these images. And they are called hot coffee. I wasn't aware of that. Those images are called hot coffee.

And apparently investigators are also looking into documents that relate not only to these images but also compensation documents relating to the executives of this company as well. So that relates to another problem, which we have seen over the past couple of weeks. So it's a whole mishmash of trouble. And you can see, probably understand why the stock was down about 20 percent yesterday.

M. O'BRIEN: I should say. And how is the market in general?

SERWER: The market overall was good. You know we had merger Monday yesterday and you can see the Dow was up 56 points and the other indices followed suit as well. We had that big mining deal and the big pharmaceutical deal as well. Big interest rate decision on Thursday, but futures right now are sort of mixed and flat. So we'll be following that for you this morning as well.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Andy, see you in a little bit.

SERWER: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: The morning's top stories straight ahead, including the desperate search for survivors of a building collapse in Missouri. Several people rescued overnight. We have the latest for you.

And the flooding was fast and furious in the northeast. More heavy rain is on the way, unfortunately. We'll take a look at some of the destruction and what lies ahead ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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