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American Morning

Flood Destruction; Gaza Offensive; Responsible Reporting?; New Oath; Second Chance

Aired June 29, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It is Thursday, June 29. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Good morning to you.

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

At least 12 people have died so far in the severe flooding across the northeast. In upstate New York, Binghamton area, entire towns isolated by floods. About 200,000 in the northeast in all out of their homes this morning.

In Gaza this morning, Israel stepping up its attempts to rescue a soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants. Israeli tanks have been firing into Gaza. War planes have taken out a power plant, bridges and roads. Israel also has rounded up members of the Hamas-led Palestinian Parliament.

S. O'BRIEN: In Washington, D.C., one of President Bush's biggest allies makes a farewell visit. Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is going to meet with the president at the White House. Koizumi steps down in September after five years in office.

Later today, the House is expected to vote on a resolution condemning "The New York Times" and other media organizations. "The Times" disclosed a secret government program to track private bank records. House Speaker Dennis Hastert says the story may have put lives at risk.

M. O'BRIEN: In Atlanta this morning, one of the suspects in that alleged Miami terror ring will appear in court for a detention hearing. Lyglenson Lemorin and six others accused of plotting to attack several buildings, including the Sears Tower in Chicago.

In Houston today, the defense begins its case in the retrial of Andrea Yates. Yates, you'll recall, admitting she drowned her children in a bathtub. She's pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Her lawyers say severe postpartum psychosis is to blame.

S. O'BRIEN: Google rolls out its online payment service today. The service is called Checkout. It's meant to make shopping online a little bit easier as people enter credit card information into a single online account and then buy merchandise from companies that advertise on Google. And the countdown for the launch of the space shuttle has begun at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery is scheduled to liftoff on Saturday, 3:49 p.m. Eastern. Weather is a big concern. Forecasters say 60 percent chance that storm clouds are going to delay that launch.

You're going to be there.

M. O'BRIEN: I will be there for sure.

And speaking of storm clouds, at least a dozen are dead, about 200,000 other homes in the northeast this morning. Heavy rains, rising rivers and severe flooding prompting authorities to declare states of emergency in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.

One of the hardest hit places is the Wilkes-Barre area, Pennsylvania. We find Jason Carroll just outside Wilkes-Barre in Plains, Pennsylvania, this morning -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles.

And things are looking actually much better here in Plains today. You can take a look behind me, you can see where the flood level is right now. But yesterday, the flood level was all the way up to where I'm standing. In fact, where I am right now was under water yesterday, last night. So once again, things looking much better today.

Yesterday, though, the river was looking a lot more ominous.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): The rivers rose throughout eastern Pennsylvania, flooding streets and homes and forcing hundreds to evacuate. The Susquehanna River in the northeastern part of the state was expected to crest at 35 feet, 13 feet above flood stage, just shy of the 41-foot levy protecting it.

But the protection was not enough for Jason Stachokus where water overtook his basement.

JASON STACHOKUS, HOME FLOODED: Water right now, if I was to get down there, I would say probably at my mid-waist. And you're probably talking at least four feet, maybe a little more than four feet, in that basement right now.

CARROLL: Two hundred thousand people were ordered to evacuate in Wilkes-Barre. At least four people died, and that number could rise. Rescue crews in Bear Creek Mountain responded to reports of two children swept away by flood waters as they played near the river's edge. Emergency crews recovered one of their bodies.

Pennsylvania's governor, Ed Rendell, declared a disaster emergency in 46 of the state's 67 counties.

In the Maniyah (ph) neighborhood of Philadelphia, several children were rescued from one flooded area. And in West Ball Township (ph) in Pike County (ph), flood waters there surrounded homes, forcing evacuations. Residents along the Schuylkill River in southern Pennsylvania were also asked to evacuate. Back north in Wilkes-Barre, emergency crews continue keeping watch.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

They built a new levy in this area three years ago. A newer, taller levy was sought after Tropical Storm Agnes devastated this area back in 1972. Obviously took several years for that new levy system to be built. Officials here are confident, though, that that new levy system indeed held and that the worst, at least here, may be over -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Jason Carroll in the Wilkes-Barre area, thank you very much.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell will be our guest next hour. You'll hear from him 7:20 Eastern Time -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's take you about 80 miles north from Wilkes- Barre to Binghamton, New York. Governor George Pataki says the rain has caused -- quote -- "unparalleled devastation."

CNN's Allan Chernoff live for us in Binghamton this morning.

Hey, Allan, good morning.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

And certainly there is plenty of devastation in this town. Normally the river that I'm standing by, and this is the Susquehanna, normally the bank is about 100 yards behind me. But you see the water is still up to here.

Nonetheless, as Jason mentioned in Pennsylvania, also the situation improving this morning, compared to late last night. In fact, last night, just before midnight, still that American flag you see, it was half covered. The railing of a porch, you could not even see it yesterday. And the water was up to pretty much the mid-level of the first floor of that home behind me. So certainly the water is receding.

Nonetheless, the situation around here remains quite serious. About 15,000 people have been evacuated from this area. The governor declared 13 counties to be under a state of emergency. And most seriously of all, there were two fatalities northeast of here. On Interstate 88, water washed away a portion of the highway and two truck drivers plunged into a 25-foot hole. But as I said, this morning, the situation looking a little bit brighter.

And one other note very important here in Binghamton, New York, the flood walls that protect this city from the rivers pretty much have held. That was the big concern yesterday. They are 25-feet high and water certainly was pouring over some of those walls. But most of the walls pretty much remain in tact and that has saved the city of Binghamton -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow! Wow! What a mess. Gosh, that shot where you are, Allan, I've got to tell you, that's amazing to see. Thanks for the update. Appreciate that.

Let's get more from severe weather expert Chad Myers. He's at the CNN Center.

Chad, again, even behind Allan, the weather itself doesn't look so bad, although what's left behind looks pretty awful.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. Sure. And what's left behind now are homes that are full of mud. The drywall is trash. The water system is basically unusable. You've got to boil water just about everywhere, if water is even coming out of your tap. The electricity now has all water in it. It just -- it really is -- it's a long, slow cleanup process.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Well that's good news. Thank you very much, -- Chad.

MYERS: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Israel is using brute force and some tough tactics in its pursuit of a kidnapped soldier in Gaza. Israeli forces arresting several members of the Palestinian Cabinet, as well as about 20 lawmakers. And Israeli war planes buzzing the summer home of Syria's President Asad who, Israel says, supports the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government.

In the midst of this, an 18-year-old Israeli settler kidnapped Sunday by Palestinian militants is now dead. Eliyahu Asheri's body found near Ramallah.

Paula Newton joining us live from Jerusalem to bring us up to date -- Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As you say, Miles, we're awaiting the funeral of that 18-year-old settler. His mother had pleaded for his life, but he was not spared. Israeli officials say that he died with one bullet to the head and probably died shortly after he was kidnapped here on Sunday.

That, of course, has all escalated the tension here. Israeli tanks remain on the ground. Israeli planes in the air, both south and north in Gaza. And at this point, while we have had some reports of some airstrikes in the last few hours, there are no reports of any new injuries and not much damage.

But keep in mind here, Miles, most people in Gaza, more than half in fact, are without electricity. More than that without water. They don't have a lot of communication and they don't know what's going to happen next. In every instance here, Miles, no one is -- one -- everyone is wondering what is going to happen. The Israeli government says it will stick to its operation. It's called Summer Rain. They are saying they are not afraid to use the force that they have amassed.

On the other side of the coin, Hamas is saying, look, you have now kidnapped, they say, these lawmakers, these Cabinet ministers, and you need to turn them over immediately.

I wish there were better news here; but at this point, every hour brings a new escalation to this story -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: And you have to scratch your head about these tactics, the taking of the Cabinet members and the lawmakers, the buzzing of Syria President Asad's summer home while he was there, apparently. How is this being received in Israel? Is there widespread support for this kind of tactic?

NEWTON: Look, while the whole thing in Syria was, as one said, theatrical, dramatic, they do believe, the Israeli government believes, that Syria does sponsor this terrorism. And at the same time, what you hear, and I have to say, Miles, not just in Israel but in Gaza, is that both are supporting their so-called governments.

There is a real big stalemate here right now, Miles, and both sides believe that the only thing that can be understood at this point is brute force. And that's why we're all waiting on the sidelines to see what's going to happen next -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Paula Newton, thank you very much, Paula, from Jerusalem this morning -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: The House is going to take up a Republican resolution today condemning news organizations that issue news stories about a secret program to monitor private bank records.

CNN congressional correspondent Andrea Koppel has more from Capitol Hill this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is a seven-page House resolution which will be debated on the floor of the House beginning later today.

At its heart it condemns those within the Bush administration who leak classified information to the news media. It also demands that the news organizations cooperate in refraining from publishing or going to air with stories that have to do with classified intelligence information.

Now ever since this story broke last week, outrage among Republicans has been growing day by day. Earlier this week, the Republican from Arizona, J.D. Hayworth, actually wrote a letter to Speaker Dennis Hastert urging him to revoke the credentials of "The New York Times" here on Capitol Hill. You had another Republican Congressman, Peter King of New York, who wrote another letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate "The New York Times" for possible "criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act."

Now Democrats have another take. In fact, a top Democratic leadership aide accused the GOP of another strategy. In this aide's words, "distort, distract and divide."

A vote could come later today.

Andrea Koppel, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Happening in America today.

Police in Louisiana suspect the shooting deaths of four people in a trailer park north of New Orleans are drug related. Two gunmen are believed to have carried out the shootings. Another woman and a 10- year-old girl who were in the trailer survived. They called police after the gunmen left.

The latest design to replace the World Trade Center is starting to take shape. The architect says the first 20 stories will be covered with glass prisms. Also, the tower will be topped with a lighted spire that resembles the Statue of Liberty's torch.

Opening statements are expected today in the civil lawsuit against entertainer Michael Jackson. A former Jackson associate is suing him for nearly $4 million over two TV productions. Jackson is not attending the legal proceedings.

And in Los Angeles, the head of the city's Animal Services Department is bowing out of a bikini contest that was sponsored by Hooters restaurant chain. Hooters for Neuters is what it was called. It was a fund raiser to help the department's spay and neutering programs. The city said the event might be degrading to women.

M. O'BRIEN: Not touching that one.

S. O'BRIEN: Hooters for neuters.

M. O'BRIEN: Not even come close to touching that one. We'll call up Bob Barker and get him on that one, all right.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow! Hooters for neuters.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program,...

S. O'BRIEN: It definitely rhymes, that's for sure.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, it does rhyme, that is true.

We're taking on a special police force graduation in Baghdad. We're going to tell you about this one. And there was an interesting chant that broke out in the midst of all of this which might say a little something about their allegiances.

S. O'BRIEN: Then we're also going to take you right inside the big surprise in King Tut's tomb. We'll tell you what archaeologists have discovered.

M. O'BRIEN: And later, the Dell laptop computer everyone is talking about. Take a look at it. The photo is sort of making its way around the Internet. What made it explode, dude?

S. O'BRIEN: Carrie Lee has got business headlines for us.

Good morning, -- Carrie Lee.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

You probably heard about allegations of price fixing in the energy sector. Well, it looks like there could be some truth to those claims after all. We'll have that story coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.

Pennsylvania's rain-swollen Susquehanna River is receding. Thousands ordered to evacuate the Wilkes-Barre area because of the rising river.

A Michigan teen who snuck off to the Middle East to see a man she met online appears in court today. Authorities have filed a runaway juvenile petition against her. That means a judge could put her under court supervision until she turns 18 next year.

And the House expected to vote today on a resolution condemning "The New York Times" and other news organizations. This, after "The Times" disclosed a secret government program to track private bank records.

In Iraq, the U.S. military hoping to train and equip more than 325,000 members of the new Iraqi security forces by the end of this year. Now that would be an important step in allowing U.S. troops to come home. But will it end the violence between the religious sects? Given what happened at an Iraqi police graduation today, it appears Iraqis are not sure which comes first, country or religion.

Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson attended that graduation.

Nic, hello.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Well it was very interesting. When the new minister of interior in charge of the police arrived at the police graduation today, he came in waving his hands in the air. And the police graduates all struck up spontaneously with chanting Shi'a slogans.

This coming at a time of national reconciliation when the police force here, the government ministries, really want to show that this police force is equally for Sunnis and Shi'as in the country. That it is a secular force.

It was quite surprising to see this sort of spontaneous display of affiliation for the Shi'a community here. The fear of Sunnis is that it's a Shi'a police force for the Shi'a majority community here.

But the graduation was for 320 graduates who had just gone through two-month's training. And what made this particular graduation different was they pledged an oath of allegiance to the people and the country of Iraq. Again, another message from the Iraqi government trying to show that they are stamping out militias within the police force who have divided loyalties at this time -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Nic, tell us about this facility. You got a tour of this facility. It's brand new. Were you impressed?

ROBERTSON: I was very impressed. This was a ground-up facility. It cost $73 million dollars, U.S. taxpayer dollars, to build. There are eight different barracks there to house all the different cadets.

They can train at any one time about 3,200 cadets. They can push through about 10,000 a year. They have the classrooms and barracks all on one side. About -- there are about 150,000 Iraqi police trained and equipped in Iraq at the moment. The target is somewhere like 200,000. So this project has been of maximum interest. It's been the priority project for the construction companies here in Baghdad at the moment -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thanks very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: It's time to get a check of the forecast with Chad Myers at the CNN Center.

Chad, where do you want to start?

MYERS: I'm going to start with New York City, because you had a big line of storms headed your way.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Chad Myers.

Still to come on the program, more on those dangerous floods in the northeast. Check out some of these pictures. A restaurant literally washed away as the tape rolled.

And then some new hope for a little boy we're going to show you. He was mauled by a dog and then abandoned, but now he's getting a new lease on life. And he is just somebody you want to meet, so stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

We've been telling you about this terrible weather in upstate New York. Well this is the scene near Utica, New York. Pretty incredible videotape. Watch as the rising waters just take that restaurant right out. You can see it collapsing right in front of the screen there.

King Tut's mother, another top story this morning, is missing. Archaeologists working in a newly-discovered Egyptian tomb had hoped to find the young king's mother. Instead, they found a coffin full of 3,000-year-old flowers.

Dell Computer technicians have their hands on a laptop that exploded. Take a look at that sill picture right there. They're trying to figure out what caused the computer to burst into flames during a conference that was taking place in Japan. Nobody was hurt during the incident. Dell has not yet said which model laptop it was.

M. O'BRIEN: Carrie Lee is here and we have some allegations that BP, used to be called British Petroleum. What is it, Beyond Petroleum now? No, that's what they say in the ad.

LEE: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

LEE: This is a unit, a U.S. unit, of BP.

M. O'BRIEN: U.S. unit...

LEE: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: ... involved in propane allegations of price fixing. Tell us about those.

LEE: That's right. Well we're talking about some traders at the company, so not a widespread thing happening at BP here. But allegations that a couple of traders manipulated prices for propane back in 2004. Basically buying a bunch of propane and then holding on to it, withholding supply, in order to push prices higher. This happened a couple of years ago.

Now BP on the whole is denying wrongdoing. But still, this scheme made 20 million in profits. Not a whole lot when you look at the whole big picture for BP; but still, enough to cause some concern among people who have been basically thinking about energy prices and thinking that there have been some price fixing going on. We all know energy prices have been going on.

Now at the same time, the FTC has conducted a nine-month investigation into the energy industry, but not finding any widespread abuses. But still, as far as some people are concerned, this is really going to give the oil and energy markets a black eye in terms of consumers and probably even in the minds of the public to some extent. So that's what's happening there.

Meanwhile, today is the day investors have been waiting for, the Federal Reserve wrapping up its two-day meeting. We will get the latest on interest rate hikes, a possible interest rate hike coming this afternoon.

Wall Street pretty much widely expecting another quarter-point hike. Would be the 17th such hike from Ben Bernanke and team. And then we'll look for any clues to see what the Fed does in August at the next meeting.

M. O'BRIEN: You did a little drum roll there. Now...

LEE: Building up to it...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, building up to that.

LEE: ... because we've been talking about it.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

LEE: And you know the markets have really seen a lot of flux over the past week or so. And even though futures are looking higher right now after some decent gains yesterday, the Dow up 48 points, probably going to be a muted session until we get that decision.

M. O'BRIEN: Right. And what time will that happen roughly?

LEE: Right around 2:00.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

LEE: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: 2:00 Eastern Time.

LEE: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, -- Carrie.

LEE: All right. Thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: Have you guys heard this story about this little boy as a baby?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: His name is Daniel Wachira. He was abandoned in a trash heap and then mauled by a dog who bit his face. Happened just hours after he was born. Well now the little boy is getting a second chance with some pretty amazing help.

Christi Myers is with our affiliate KTRK and she has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRISTI MYERS, KTRK-TV REPORTER (voice-over): Four-year-old Daniel Wachira used to say his face was broken. Three-and-a-half weeks ago, he underwent a marathon surgery to change that. This is Daniel today.

LARRY JONES, DANIEL'S GUARDIAN: His mouth was pulled down and he pulled his mouth up. And then his nose was over here and he pulled that up. And his eye was pulling and now his eye is open. And this swelling is going to go down. And you can already see how this is blending in.

FRANCES JONES, DANIEL'S GUARDIAN: He just felt at it and felt at it and all up here right as it happened. He said Dr. Boutros did a good job. And I said, yes, he did do a good job. He said I like it.

MYERS: Daniel's guardians, Frances and Larry Jones, are grateful for the surgery donated by Dr. Sean Boutros and Dr. Mike Miller and Memorial Hermann. And they are amazed at the international fame of a child raised in their Feed the Children's Kenyan orphanage.

F. JONES: People embrace this little boy because he's inspirational. He gives people hope. He has such a wonderful attitude and people fall in love with that.

DR. SEAN BOUTROS, CHILDREN'S MEMORIAL HERMANN HOSPITAL: Daniel is one of the sweetest, most loving, curious, happy boys I think I've ever met.

MYERS: Boutros said the surgery was complicated. Daniel still wears a metal screw used to lengthen his jawbone. But his hope at the end of all the reconstruction...

BOUTROS: When Daniel meets someone, they may think that he got into an accident or something like that, but he won't look deformed that will cause second glances as you're walking down the street.

MYERS: Daniel gave me a bracelet they brought from Africa. He helped fasten it. Dexterity and good humor among his many gifts.

L. JONES: We think he has a very, very special calling in life because he literally was snatched from death and brought back to life.

BOUTROS: There's something he has in his future that's really special. And I'm happy that I had a very small part in helping him realize that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: That was Christi Myers from affiliate KTRK reporting for us.

Daniel and his guardians are now back home in Oklahoma city. They are going to be back in Houston. He's got some more surgeries planned. They think that his operations overall could take 10 years to complete. And you can see the little boy is doing so well. Top stories straight ahead this morning, including some chilling testimony from Sago Mine survivor Randy McCloy. He describes what happened right after the explosion in that mine.

And then we're going to take you to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where officials are keeping a close eye on the Susquehanna River. Tens of thousands of people have now been evacuated. That story is ahead, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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