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American Morning

Abu Ghraib Release; Gaza Standoff; Targeting The Times

Aired June 27, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Family feud taking an unexpected turn. Did a multimillionaire shooting victim write his own recipe for disaster.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And the east coast already under water. Now the flooding could get worst because of more rain on the way. We'll give you your forecast just ahead.

MILES O'BRIEN: And working for supermodel Naomi Campbell. Well, it may be a contact sport. Another made goes to court saying the supermodel struck her. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Let's get right to the developing story that we're following for you this morning. Eight people now have been pulled out of the rubble of that collapsed building in Clinton, Missouri. Rescuers are still trying to get another man who was wedged in the debris and another who so far has been unaccounted for. It happened about 80 miles southeast of Kansas City. The rescuers working through the night after that 100-year-old building 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 kind of a crackling or crumbling sound within the building and then it just collapsed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard a rumbling and the walls kind of swolled out a little bit and then all of a sudden the top of the building just collapsed in. 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 wanting help and there just wasn't to much you could, you know, do because, you know, cars were smashed and it was everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: One of the two men who's missing was on the building's third floor. No one's been able to reach him or talk to him. Later this hour, we're going to talk with one of the men who's escaped a building's collapse. Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: In Iraq today, the gates of the infamous Abu Ghraib Prison opened up and about 450 prisoners walked free. It's part of a reconciliation plan on the part of the new Iraqi government. A hope there to quell the violence, but obviously very controversial when you consider the possibility of the people with blood of U.S. soldiers on their hands could possibly be walking free. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson was at the prison for the dramatic moment when those gates opened up.

Nic, first of all, just set the scene for us. What was it like as you witnessed this?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, all the prisoners were lined up behind a wire mesh fence inside another metal cage. And then the national security adviser of Iraq, Muwaffaq al- Rubaie, came and stood on a raised podium before the prisoners. The prisoners were wearing sort of new shirts. Some of them had the same shirts on as the prisoner stood next to them. They appear to have just been handed out to them. They were holding new towels in their hands, wearing the towels on their heads to keep the heat of the day off of them.

They were given a big speech on what the national reconciliation plan was all about. And then there was a round of applause. And then slowly the prisoners were allowed out of this metal cage one by one, shook hands with the national security advisor, got on a bus and then left to go to their home.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Do we know, Nic, about who these people are and what they stand or stood accused of?

ROBERTSON: I asked the national security adviser that question. In fact, I asked him, could these people here, any of these people, have been involved in acts to kill or injure Americans? He said they were arrested and detain on suspicion of security violations. But he said none of them, in period of their detention, have been found guilty of killing Americans, killing Iraqi security forces, killing Iraqi civilians. And he said that's why they were being let go.

I talked to some of the people there. One of them told me he had been arrested for having a cell phone, a mobile telephone, with a camera in it. And I said, well what were you doing with that camera? Oh, he said, I was just standing outside my house. He had been detained for eight months.

Another man showed me his charge sheet who said he was accused of making vehicle bombs, car bombs, and that he had been picked up with explosive residue on his hands. He had been held for a year and a half. He told, though, he was innocent.

Miles. MILES O'BRIEN: Well, that's an interesting mix there from a cell phone to somebody who had explosive residue. So it's clearly a mixed bag there. I guess the real question Americans, of course, would be concerned, of course, if people who were involved in the deaths of American soldiers, or maybe American soldiers, that would concern them greatly.

But on the ground there in Iraq, is there any sense or any indication at this early stage if this reconciliation is helping curb the insurgency in any way?

ROBERTSON: We're not getting a concrete picture from the government. They're not talking about insurgents handing over weapons and ending their fight. What they're saying is that they're getting positive indications from their intermediaries.

Now what exactly that means really isn't clear. But the government is certainly saying, at this stage, that there are some low-level, positive indication. And I did ask, could any of these people being released go back to or go and get involved in the violence again? And I was told that perhaps one in 1,000, one in 10,000 could.

But I was told by the national security adviser, this was a risk Iraq would have to take. That they were prepared to take in order to build this reconciliation.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Risky indeed. Nic Robertson in Baghdad. Thank you very much.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: A dangerous standoff in the Middle East to tell you about this morning. Israel is ready to launch a major military offensive into Gaza in response to the Palestinian militants who are holding an Israeli soldier hostage. CNN's Paula Hancocks is live for us in Jerusalem this morning.

Good morning to you, Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Soledad.

Well, hundreds of Israeli troops, along with tanks and armored vehicles, are lining up on that Gaza/Israeli border at the moment. They've been there since Monday and they're waiting for the green light from the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert.

Now Olmert has said the time is running out for the Palestinian militants to hand over the Israeli soldier that was kidnapped in the attack on Sunday morning. Two Israeli soldiers were also killed in that take.

Now Olmert has said that he will not negotiate with these militants. The militants, the groups that claim they are holding the soldiers say they would have given information for the soldier if Israel releases all Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons at the moment.

Now Olmert has said that is not going to happen. He is not going to negotiate. And they are trying to negotiate behind the scenes, along with President Mahmoud Abbas and the prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, trying to discover exactly where this soldier is and trying to talk to these militants to make sure that he is released safely.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Paula, it sounds as if tensions are certainly running very high, certainly among those who are involved in the negotiations. What about among the people? What's the mood like in Israel right now?

HANCOCKS: Well, in Israel, you have military service. So the majority of people who have children here would have had a child either in the army or currently in the army or will grow up and be in the army for a couple of years. So it is something that's very close home to many Israelis. And the fact that it is an Israeli soldiers that has been kidnapped would affect many people.

But there have been chats with the people on the street in the past couple of days and Israelis are also saying that they do understand something has to be done. Shimon Perez, the prime minister, saying also hat you cannot negotiate with these militants because that would be blackmail. Saying they wanted a prisoner swap or at least prisoners released for any information on this particular soldier.

So the troops on the border at the moment are standing by. The Israeli prime minister wants the militants to see these troops are there. He wants them to know that if he has to, he will give the order for them to do a broad operation, as he calls it, in Gaza. But at the same time, he doesn't want to go in yet because he does not want to jeopardize the life of this one soldier.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Paula Hancocks for us this morning. Paula, thank you for the update on that.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Happening in America now.

One person in custody after a possible hostage standoff in Austin, Texas. Officials say it all may have been part of a raid on illegal immigrants. Not clear if they were being held hostage or if someone panicked and called the police. Trying to sort that one out.

A southern California port opened this morning after a scare that turned out to be a hoax yesterday. A threatening message found in the hold of a cargo ship at the port. L.A. area. It said nitro plus glycerin, my gift for G.W. Bush and his Jewish gang. The FBI found no nitroglycerin or any other threat. The port was reopened after several hours of shutdown.

Emergency crews in southern Idaho testing how quickly they would be able to respond to a potential bioterror attack. About 120 emergency and health officials taking part in a full-scale drill. Hazmat teams, washed down shoppers and carried off fake wounded ones. The second half of the drill is set for Thursday.

A 10-day nationwide search for an eight-year-old New Hampshire boy ended Monday after his mom was spotted at a Florida bus station kissing a teenager she's believed to be involved with. The boy's mother and the teen met at a high school where she worked as a youth counselor. The three were taken into custody after a station worker noticed the woman kissing the teenager while her young 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 planting a kiss on a 16-year-old with the eight-year- old standing right there. I thought that was kind of, you know, didn't seem right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not talking a peck on the cheek here?

LESTER: No. We're talking about a full lip-lock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN: The boy's father headed to Florida today to ask a judge for custody so he can take the boy back home.

Florida police are asking for help in catching a burglar. Check out this surveillance video. Shows the suspect crashing through the store's roof. He then puts on the mask, takes $1,000 from the counter.

Rush Limbaugh held at the Palm Beach International Airport for about three hours yesterday. Had a bottle of Viagra. The radio talk show host detained because the prescription was not in his name. Still claims the pills were his. Limbaugh reached a plea deal with Florida prosecutors in April on charges of doctor shopping for prescription painkillers. That prescription was in his doctor's name.

Yet another employee of Naomi Campbell suing the supermodel. The latest is a maid who filed a suit against the 35-year-old Campbell accusing her of civil assault and personal injuries. This comes on the eve of Campbell's scheduled appearance today in a Manhattan court on charges of assaulting another housekeeper with her cell phone. Naomi Campbell is a British citizen, faces up to seven years in prison, and possible deportation if convicted.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Cleanup crews are still pumping water out of Washington, D.C. this morning. Flooding crippled the city yesterday. The roads and rails were under water. People couldn't get to work. Most government offices are expected to be reopened today though. The National Archives is going to remain closed.

Further north into Albany, New York, there are rivers in place of roads. Take a look at some of these pictures here. Basements, of course, flooded. So far, though, no word about any evacuations.

So what's it going to look like today? Let's get right to Chad with an update.

Hey, Chad. Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MILES O'BRIEN: Coming up, the political fight over a top U.S. general's plan to pull troops out of Iraq. We'll take a closer look at why Democrats are fuming.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Also, "The New York Times" under fire this morning from the White House. More fallout from that secret surveillance program.

MILES O'BRIEN: And potentially more legal trouble for the makers of Vioxx. We'll tell you why the drug may have been more danger than everybody thought, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Eight people have been pulled out of the rubble of a collapsed building in Clinton, Missouri. Rescuers are still trying to get to two people who are believed to be trapped in the debris. It happened in Clinton, which is about 80 miles southeast of Kansas City. The Elks Club was holding a meeting on the second floor of that building. The floor gave way. Don Eaton (ph) is one of the survivors and we spoke by phone just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON EATON: All of a sudden there was a loud noise and I turned to see what it was and the floor had disappeared. And so as I turned back around, before I had a chance to move, the floor underneath me caved in and myself and nine other members of the Elks Lodge dropped with the floor down halfway between the first floor and the second floor with the third floor and the roof caving in on top of us. So it all happened so fast, but yet it seemed like everything was moving in slow motion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: To look at those live pictures of that roof collapse.

The Senate takes up the debate on flag burning today. Right now the amendment seems to be just one vote shy of passing. The House already passed its own burning ban amendment.

Also in Congress, Army and Marine Corp leaders outlining the rising costs of the war in Iraq today. Just the cost of replacing, repairing and upgrading equipment could top $12 billion this year. That's three times the average amount that's been spent since the war began.

And a special jog for an Iraqi War veteran is ahead today. Staff Sergeant Christian Bagge is set to take a couple turns around the White House jogging track with the president. Baggy lost his legs in a roadside bomb attack. He says one of his recovery goals was to run with President Bush.

The surgeon general is set to release a major new report on the effects of secondhand smoke on non-smokers. It is the most comprehensive study since the first surgeon general's report came out about 20 years ago.

And we move one step closer to another space shuttle launch today. The crew of the shuttle Discovery is expected to arrive at Kennedy Space Center this afternoon. Discovery is scheduled to be launched and Saturday.

Miles.

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Is disclosing a secret government program to track the money trail of terrorists is 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 the 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 "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: 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)

MILES O'BRIEN: Mary's report first aired on "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer. You can watch it weekdays at 4:00, 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

So now dangerous is Vioxx and how soon did the company know that it was dangerous? One lawyer says the answer could be manna from heaven for those suing Merck, that company. Andy is "Minding Your Business" ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: "The New England Journal of Medicine" is out with a correction on a key study that involves the pain killer Vioxx. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Hello, Mr. Serwer. Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Huge implications for drug giant Merck. As, of course you know, it's under fire over this drug, Vioxx. And there are over 13,000 lawsuits that the company face.

Here's the story. "The New England Journal of Medicine"" had previously reported that implications, negative implications, started to show up in patients, certain patients, who took this drug after 18 months. In the correction published yesterday, though, they said that these negative effects could occur in as little as four months. Huge, huge implications. And you can see, because if you are a patient who had problems, and they occurred in only after nine months, well, according to "The New England Journal of Medicine" previously that wasn't long enough for you to have ill-effects. Now it is long enough.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: How did they make this mistake? I mean is a correction because it was a typo kind of correction or did they go back and look at the research?

SERWER: It's unclear right now, Soledad. It appears that it involved looking at the study and understanding how the data was assembled. So this is going to get Merck scrambling. And, interesting, a story in the AP quotes a legal expert who says, if I was a plaintiff's lawyer I would say, this is like manna from heaven.

MILES O'BRIEN: I should say.

SERWER: Right?

MILES O'BRIEN: For those of us keeping score, where do they stand on the cases right now?

SERWER: I'm uncertain exactly what that is.

MILES O'BRIEN: OK. All right.

SERWER: I think it's somewhat even.

MILES O'BRIEN: It's divided. I think it's about an even split.

SERWER: I think it's divided. It's three and three, I'm being told. Thank you very much for that.

But they might have to go and do this, settle this all wholesale in a class action basis, which would be billions of dollars.

MILES O'BRIEN: Which they've so far resisted.

SERWER: That's right. They wanted to settle piecemeal.

In other news this morning to tell you about. General Motors, of course we've been telling you over the past couple days, offered that huge buyout package to 113,000 of its workers. The final numbers are in and it is a staggering number of auto workers who have opted to leave the auto giant.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Fifty thousand.

SERWER: Forty-seven thousand six hundred. You're very close, Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I was going to guess 50,000.

MILES O'BRIEN: Oversubscribed.

SERWER: Oversubscribed, as they say. That's right, 47,600.

MILES O'BRIEN: Wow.

SERWER: Thirty-five thousand at GM, 12,600 at Delphi. The company, GM, says it could save $5 billion this year mostly because of those costs. And some are actually questioning whether too many people have taken . . .

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: You could save a lot of money if you fired everybody or if they all took a buyout, but you need them to actually work their jobs, right?

SERWER: They're going to have to rejigger lines here a little bit, because that's a little bit more than they anticipated. So it's a huge number, isn't it?

MILES O'BRIEN: Coming up, we're going to talk about U2?

SERWER: Yes and how NBC is partnering with U2 to preview its TV season. And isn't that a real development? How the world is turning and moving forward. We'll get to that later.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: That's interesting.

MILES O'BRIEN: I should say. Thank you, Andy Serwer.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

MILES O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, we're going to take you back to Clinton, Missouri, where that desperate search remains underway as we speak. A hundred year old building collapses. Fifty people were inside. All but two now are out. And the effort continues to get those two still inside.

Plus, a bizarre case we're going to tell you about. A businessman accused of trying to stage his own murder. But there's a little twist. Wait until you see who he blamed instead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Happening this morning. Two men are still trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Clinton, Missouri. Eight people were helped out of the debris overnight.

About 450 prisoners released from Abu Ghraib Prison today in Iraq. It's part of the Iraqi government's reconciliation plan. The military says none of those prisoners were being held for violent crimes.

And it's David versus Goliath in the World Cup today. Defending champion and perennial power-house Brazil taking to the field.

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