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American Morning
New Bin Laden Tape; Mideast Crisis; Flooding Damage; Is It Fixed?
Aired June 30, 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 to you, Friday, June 30. Last day of June and a Friday. I'm Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.
Here's a look at what's happening this morning.
There is a new terror tape out today. It's a message believed to be from Osama bin Laden. It calls on President Bush to hand over the body of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and praises Zarqawi's work as well. Zarqawi was killed in Iraq earlier this month in a U.S. missile strike.
Israel is now suspending a ground offensive in southern Gaza to give negotiations a chance. Israeli officials are trying to broker a deal for the release of a kidnapped soldier. Overnight, Israeli planes pounded Palestinian targets. They're trying to keep the pressure on Hamas.
M. O'BRIEN: In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, folks heading home this morning wondering how much flood damage they will find. Residents in parts of New York and New Jersey, however, still out of their homes. The evacuation order is in place while crews check structures, look for hot wires and gas leaks.
In Miami, those alleged terrorist wannabees will be in court, and we expect more details about their plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and FBI offices across the country. Six of seven accused terrorists slated for a bond hearing.
S. O'BRIEN: Congress and the White House working on a new plan for trying suspected terrorists who are being held in Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court ruled that military tribunals set up by the Bush administration were against U.S. and international law.
Traders are driving up the price of crude oil on international markets today. They're expecting high demand for gasoline this weekend. AAA is predicting that more than 40 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home during the July 4 holiday.
M. O'BRIEN: And we doubt he's wearing blue suede shoes, but Japanese Prime Minister and Elvis fan Junichiro Koizumi is going to Graceland today. He's traveling to Elvis' home and now shrine with President Bush whose iPod includes a lot of country music, as well as John Fogerty, Joni Mitchell and The Knack, but apparently not The King. Maybe he'll be won over today. S. O'BRIEN: That might change.
M. O'BRIEN: It might change.
The space shuttle countdown continues at the Kennedy Space Center today. Discovery slated for launch tomorrow afternoon, 3:49 Eastern. That's just when the afternoon thunderstorms kick into gear in Florida and NASA says they are the only issue standing in the way of an on- time departure for the crew of seven.
S. O'BRIEN: We begin this morning with a new message from Osama bin Laden to tell you about. In a posting on an Islamic Web site, a voice believed to be that of the al Qaeda leader talks at length about the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and calls him the "Knight of Islam" who was killed in a hateful American raid.
CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson live for us in Baghdad this morning.
Nic, good morning.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, the first thing that is striking about this particular message from Osama bin Laden is that it's different. It has on the screen bin Laden on one side and video of Zarqawi on the other side. The audio message plays out. It's the same production company that has produced videos, tapes, audio tapes for bin Laden and his right- hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in the past.
This one, praise for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who was killed here three weeks ago. It says al Qaeda leadership is very sad to see that he's passing, but that he should be praised, that poets should write poetry about Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
But in this message, a message for President Bush, saying that he should send Zarqawi's body back to Jordan for burial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSAMA BIN LADEN, AL QAEDA LEADER (through translator): I say to Bush, you should deliver the hero's body to his family. And don't be too happy, our flag hasn't fallen. Thanks to god it has passed from one lion to another lion in Islam.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Now the message goes on to say that al Qaeda will continue its battle in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Somalia and Sudan as well -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: A busy month, the month of June, for communications, if you really think about it. The Zawahiri tapes, three of them, and then the Osama bin Laden tape, we believe. What do you make of that, four tapes in basically four weeks? ROBERTSON: Certainly the al Qaeda leadership, bin Laden and Zawahiri, are trying to make themselves relevant. They're trying to show that they can comment on recent events.
I think here the latest two messages, the one from this one from Osama bin Laden and the one a week ago from Ayman al-Zawahiri paying tribute to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, casting him, setting him up as a hero, which is interesting, because they have had differences with him in the past. They have criticized him, sent letters to him trying to curtail his killing of Shi'a Muslims in Iraq, to curtail the brutal beheadings of people.
But I think the flurry of messages, if you will, it's bin Laden and Zawahiri staying relevant, getting their message out to the al Qaeda faithful around the world, even though they cannot be operationally involved -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson for us this morning.
Nic, thanks -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: The Israeli military is still determined to force the release of a kidnapped soldier. Israeli war planes striking northern Gaza today, but a ground offensive on hold now to give negotiations with the Palestinians a chance.
CNN's Paula Newton joining us now from Jerusalem with more.
Hello, -- Paula.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning, Miles.
A very busy night in the air for the Israeli military and a very dramatic night on the ground for people in Gaza. Most significantly, the Israelis targeted what was a Palestinian Interior Ministry building. The Israelis claim that that was used as a base of terrorist operations, and so they say they took it out.
In the meantime though, as you mentioned, the Israeli military remains poised on that north Gaza border. They are poised but not pouncing as of yet. The reason, behind the scenes there seems to be some diplomatic action. It involves Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who has told a newspaper that in fact he has seen that the side, Hamas, that are holding the kidnapped soldier, has said, look, based on some conditions, we may release this guy.
On the other hand, Miles, they're also saying, the Israeli government is saying, look, we don't agree to any conditions. We want him released unconditionally.
What we're looking at right now is a bit of a pause, an impasse, for probably at least the rest of today -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: But, Paula, no proof that this soldier is alive, right? NEWTON: And that's key. When we talk about conditional or unconditional, Israel in certain subtle languages almost saying, look, prove to us that we have something to negotiate over, try and give us some proof that this guy is still alive and then maybe we can talk.
M. O'BRIEN: Paula Newton in Jerusalem, thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Flood waters on the East Coast starting to recede. The problems, though, are not. At least 14 people have been killed. Entire cities still submerged. The cost of the cleanup could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Let's get right to CNN's Allan Chernoff. He's in Binghamton, New York again today.
Hey, Allan, good morning. Look at that.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
And yesterday I actually could not possibly have been standing here. In fact, no one could have. The water was terribly high, in fact, well up that American flag, and the current was extremely swift. But as you can see, the water has receded to the point where people can now return to their homes and begin the cleanup.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Bad enough to have your home flooded, but Stacey Gould saw it happen to her restaurant, too.
STACEY GOULD, FLOOD VICTIM: It felt like I was going to fall apart. It's just really too much to bear to think I might, you know, at one time lose my home. And then if we can't financially recover from this, you know, with a business, it just seemed like -- it seemed too much to take on both ends.
CHERNOFF: About half the people in Broome County, New York suffered flood damage, and about 5,000 were unable to return to their homes. Though few were as hard hit as Stacey's.
GOULD: By the time we were done with the last of getting our TV and our dining room chairs and tables upstairs and everything, the house was completely surrounded.
CHERNOFF: Surrounded, but she thinks it still won't be covered by her catastrophic flood insurance.
GOULD: It was probably about, you know, up to here, but the fire department was there, and they said please don't do that. We've got a boat.
CHERNOFF: With her home engulfed, Stacey focused on trying to save her natural food restaurant, "The Whole in the Wall." She and her business partner pumped three feet of water from the basement, then looked over the damage. GOULD: A lot of our files, you know, they were in our desk drawers and stuff. So they're soaked, you know. And I don't know. Some stuff is on computer. You know, but -- and I don't know what you do about stuff like that. This is the freezer. Luckily it has a nice seal on it. But you can see it's just -- we're going to have to get rid of a lot of the stuff that's on the base there. This represents, like, you know, 10, 12 grand.
CHERNOFF: The business won't be covered by insurance either, leaving Stacey and her partner sifting through the restaurant to see just what can be salvaged.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Stacey and Jim and their friends were here at the home late last night cleaning up. They were using shovels and also hoses to get rid of about two to three inches of silt. Lots of filth over here, as you can see, brought up by the river.
They also had to use a sledgehammer to knock down this bathroom door. The reason, this washing machine was floating. It was actually blocking the entire door. So they have got a big job. But I can tell you, the wood floor is looking a lot better than it was yesterday -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Well I guess that's a little bit of good news. What a mess.
Allan Chernoff for us this morning.
Allan, thanks.
Let's get right to the forecast with Chad.
Good news, Chad, for us this morning?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Pretty good.
S. O'BRIEN: OK, good.
MYERS: Pretty good. The rain is about done. Did you see any rain in your city yesterday?
S. O'BRIEN: A little bit, yes, but only at the -- early in the morning.
MYERS: Only in the morning. OK.
S. O'BRIEN: Early in the day.
MYERS: Well they even had some floods down, some flash flood warnings down in midtown Manhattan later in the day as big showers rolled in.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Chad.
Happening now in America.
Another death at Disney. A 12-year-old boy dead after riding the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at the Disney-MGM theme park. Byron (ph) Russell says his son Michael was limp at the end of the ride. He tried to revive him with CPR to no avail. The ride was inspected. Apparently it was operating normally. An autopsy planned for today.
In Durham, North Carolina, a Duke University lacrosse player now back on the team. Ryan McFadyen had been suspended for sending an e- mail about killing strippers after that team party where a stripper said she was allegedly raped. A school official says McFadyen accepts responsibility for his error in judgment. Three of McFadyen's teammates indicted in that alleged rape case.
And a raid on two houses in Elk Grove, California comes up with quite a few plants. Hundreds of marijuana plants to be specific. Police say about $3 million worth of -- the rooms of these houses were set up specifically for pot growing, as you can see. Right in the middle of a residential area where neighbors say they had no idea what was going on. A handful of arrests have been made.
S. O'BRIEN: They were doing a little hydroponic thing.
M. O'BRIEN: I would say it's pretty...
S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. Wow!
M. O'BRIEN: ... rather sophisticated.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: I guess you could call that high technology.
S. O'BRIEN: High-droponics.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Anyway.
S. O'BRIEN: That was kind of funny.
M. O'BRIEN: That was good. Very nicely done. I'm very impressed.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you. Thank you very much.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm rubbing off on you.
S. O'BRIEN: Still gone (ph).
Still to come this morning, Star Jones-Reynolds in her first TV interview since she left "The View" just the other day, talking to CNN's Larry King, telling him her side of the story. We've got the highlights this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: And countdown to the shuttle launch. NASA says the foam problem is still kind of an open question. They fixed some areas but they're worried about others. And the top engineer and top safety officer for the shuttle program would prefer it not fly. We'll tell you about this tense countdown.
S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, they're the big hit -- that was a bad belly flop --...
M. O'BRIEN: Ouch.
S. O'BRIEN: ... of the pool party. Find out what it takes to be a champion belly flopper.
M. O'BRIEN: Looks like Andy.
S. O'BRIEN: My.
M. O'BRIEN: Not that one, though.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I get to follow that, good.
Let's talk some business here. Coming up, the stock market went gaga yesterday to the upside. We'll tell you why exactly and we'll take a look at how trading shapes up today as we head into that holiday weekend coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
Happening this morning.
Israeli war planes pounding Palestinian targets overnight. They have put a ground defensive on hold, though. They're giving negotiations a chance as they try to win the release of a kidnapped Israeli soldier. You're looking at live pictures this morning of Israeli tanks on the border with Gaza.
New tape released that's believed to be from Osama bin Laden. The tape is full of praise for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terror leader who was killed in Iraq on June 7.
And the flood waters are receding. Still too dangerous this morning, though, for many folks to go back to their homes in New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Some evacuees will be heading home, though, later today -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at some live pictures now coming to us from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The space shuttle Discovery is there on the launchpad, 39B, underneath all that scaffolding. About 33 hours to launch now, assuming the weather permits. That is the only issue that NASA is looking at right now.
But it is also a very tense countdown. This is only the second flight since the loss of Columbia. A year ago, Discovery flew. NASA had spent about a billion dollars and an awful lot of effort to try to fix the problem with foam falling off the external fuel tank, which was the undoing of Columbia, leading to the demise of that crew of seven.
But the foam fell off again and engineers had to go back to the drawing board. Is it fixed this time?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liftoff of America's first space shuttle.
M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): The fatal flaw was there from day one.
BOB CRIPPEN, FIRST SHUTTLE PILOT: It looked like pieces of popcorn kind of coming up over the nose. And they continued throughout most of ascent.
M. O'BRIEN: From liftoff to low-Earth orbit, the first shuttle pilot, Bob Crippen, was surprised to see a blizzard of isolating foam break off the external fuel tank during the first launch. But for some reason neither he, nor anyone else at NASA, got worried.
MICHAEL GRIFFIN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: The very name foam caused part of the problem. You don't think of foam as being a deadly weapon. And somebody says you hit a piece of foam going a few hundred miles an hour, OK, so what? Well, it turns out it's not so what, it's deadly.
M. O'BRIEN: Deadly indeed for the crew of the shuttle Columbia. A suitcase-size piece of foam flew off that shuttle's external tank shortly after liftoff in January 2003 striking the leading edge of the left wing. When Columbia returned to Earth 16 days later, searing hot gases seeped into the wing, incinerating the space craft, killing all seven aboard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liftoff of space shuttle Discovery.
M. O'BRIEN: Two-and-a-half years and nearly $2 billion later, the problem incredibly happened again during the launch of Discovery last summer. Fortunately, the foam did not hit the orbiter this time.
MIKE FOSSUM, COLUMBIA ASTRONAUT: It was, for all of us, it was kind of like, you know, no. You know what did we miss? And at the same time it's like you know good night. You know are they at risk? Is there -- are they in danger here? And so all of us really held our breath you know for a day or two.
M. O'BRIEN: It was back to the drawing board for NASA engineers. The solution this time, remove two long pieces of foam that covered some cables and tubes. The so-called PAL ramps were the source of the foam that fell off Discovery. It was a big change and the new design was put to the test in wind tunnels and computer simulations.
STEVE LINDSEY, DISCOVERY COMMANDER: And we've done everything we can to convince ourselves that it's safe to fly in this configuration.
M. O'BRIEN: Steve Lindsey will command the next shuttle flight.
LINDSEY: The only way we could take the next step was to flight test and go actually do it. And I feel like we're at the point where it's time to go flight test.
M. O'BRIEN: So is everything fixed? Maybe not. Engineers are also worried about three dozen other pieces of foam that could break loose, so-called ice frost ramps, but they don't have a fix yet.
NASA managers have decided not to wait for one, because even if Discovery is damaged by falling foam, engineers are certain they will know the shuttle is unsafe to come home and the crew can wait for a rescue mission on the Space Station.
GRIFFIN: We are trying, of course, to protect crew, and I've made that quite clear. And I don't believe we are taking a crew risk. OK. If we were to lose another vehicle, I will tell you right now that I would be moving to figure out a way to shut the program down. I think at that point we're done.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: NASA engineers revealed yesterday Discovery will fly with a special wiring harness that would allow ground controllers to land the orbiter completely by remote control, something that can't be done previously.
If the shuttle were damaged and the crew had to wait on the Space Station for another shuttle and a rescue mission, NASA does have a plan to try to bring Discovery back in tact, if possible, to the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Now weather permitting, Discovery is set to launch tomorrow afternoon, 3:49 Eastern. I'll be there and so will the former shuttle commander Eileen Collins, who flew the last mission of Discovery one year ago, providing us expert commentary. We'll be live all throughout the day, and we'll be hoping that those storm clouds stay out of the picture.
It's time to go to a surf school that's gone to the dogs. Take a look at Murphy (ph). Looks like he's a Pointer, right? Short-hair Pointer, one of those dogs. Great dogs. He's one of the students at the famous dog surfing school in San Diego. Yes, it's famous.
You knew about the dog surfing school, right?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, I did.
M. O'BRIEN: Hang 20, I guess, right? I don't -- anyway. So it's all part of a 300 -- well, no, it'd be, yes, 20, wouldn't it? I don't know. Counting up paws.
S. O'BRIEN: The math is good. I got you...
M. O'BRIEN: Anyway, it's all part of a $300-a-night pet-friendly resort package, complete with...
S. O'BRIEN: Three hundred dollars a night.
M. O'BRIEN: ... filet mignons for the pouches. Remember to wait at least a half-hour before trying to hang all the full 20 there.
S. O'BRIEN: I get that.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. All right.
These dogs are a little more serious about their sports. Take a look at this. They're competing in the incredible dog challenge regionals in St. Petersburg.
S. O'BRIEN: My god.
M. O'BRIEN: Talk about a belly smacker there, right?
S. O'BRIEN: They look very intense. Look at that.
M. O'BRIEN: This is -- they do the jumping into the water thing. They do the chicane thing there. And then of course you know the Whippets always win the jumping contest. And then of course it's always these Border Collies that go after the frisbees and do so well. The winners will move on to the national championships which will be held in October after the dog days of summer.
S. O'BRIEN: Less athletic and far less graceful is this. I'm sorry if you're eating breakfast. So sorry.
M. O'BRIEN: Just ruined my breakfast.
S. O'BRIEN: Denver Water Park welcomed everybody who wanted to try out in the big belly flop contest. As you can imagine, contestants came in all sizes, but seems apparently large was one of the main sizes. And the guy, apparently biggest of all, captured the title and a free trip to Cancun. Look at that.
M. O'BRIEN: Is that the winner there?
S. O'BRIEN: That hurts.
M. O'BRIEN: That was pretty good. This is -- that's got to be it. That...
S. O'BRIEN: That -- maybe that guy, maybe that guy.
I have a bit, listen. This actually makes me tear up a little bit.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm sorry, I'm a little bit teary.
S. O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, this is not a cheesy commercial. This is the real deal. This is the handing over of the torch, well, really the poncho and the hat and the mule.
M. O'BRIEN: Right. The music is a little cheesy, but still,...
S. O'BRIEN: I know, but this is the...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes. S. O'BRIEN: They're really doing the handover. That's the Juan Valdez. Seventy-one-year-old actor Carlos Sanchez who handed it all over to the new guy Carlos Castaneda. I think he's 29 years old. And Carlos Sanchez had the job for 37 years.
M. O'BRIEN: Wow!
S. O'BRIEN: So really, I mean,...
M. O'BRIEN: He looks great, by the way.
S. O'BRIEN: He does look great.
M. O'BRIEN: He's timeless. He could keep going, but...
S. O'BRIEN: And he talks in Spanish about how important the job is and that he represents to the world you know not only this company but also you know Colombian coffee in general.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: I mean it's just really moving. And it's all in Spanish and it's -- I am just getting all choked up about it. It's sweet.
M. O'BRIEN: It's a new era for coffee. All right.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it's basically a marketing ploy.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, you certainly bought into it.
S. O'BRIEN: But I bought into it hook, line and sinker.
M. O'BRIEN: A little weepy here over the passing of the donkey halter.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, that was me.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, still to come, Andy has business headlines for you and explains why stocks actually rallied on word the Fed was raising interest rates. You know it's all about expectations on Wall Street.
But first, Star Jones in her own words. She tells Larry King why she says she's the one who was wrong.
Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back.
Here's a look at some of the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.
Another death at Disney. A 12-year-old boy collapsed after riding the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. His father performed CPR, couldn't revive the boy. An autopsy is planned for today.
More than 40 people taken into custody on both sides of the U.S.- Canada border. The suspects allegedly brought marijuana south to the U.S. and smuggled cocaine north into Canada. Authorities say they have been watching the suspects from hidden cameras.
And Star Jones-Reynolds telling her side of the story why she's no longer on "The View." The former co-host appeared in an exclusive interview last night on "LARRY KING LIVE."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAR JONES-REYNOLDS, FORMER HOST OF "THE VIEW": When they first told me that my contract was not going to be renewed, they asked me to stay to a certain date, specifically to July 13. And they specifically said what week they wanted me to talk about it and that I could go out on my own terms. And I had been planning to do it on Thursday.
LARRY KING, HOST: But.
JONES-REYNOLDS: But, Larry, if you think about it, I was told April 21 that my contract wasn't going to be renewed. So for two months I've been going to "The View" every single day, doing my job 100 percent professionally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Stocks soar as interest rates rise.
Andy Serwer is here to explain what is going on.
Hello, -- Andy.
SERWER: Hello. I'm going to explain and I guess Star Jones won't explain.
M. O'BRIEN: No.
SERWER: Kind of an abrupt transition there.
M. O'BRIEN: It'll be interesting.
SERWER: But, listen, I have a great job, but it is true that some days are better than others and this is one of them.
M. O'BRIEN: You're not announcing you're leaving the show?
SERWER: No, I'm not.
M. O'BRIEN: Good.
SERWER: Not at all, at least I hope not.
M. O'BRIEN: Just wanted to make sure.
S. O'BRIEN: Do we all have to lean in and hold hands?
SERWER: I hope not.
The stock market took off yesterday. That's what I'm talking about. The best day in three years for the blue chips and up 270 -- 217 points, excuse me, those Dow Jones industrials.
I'll tell you what happened. First of all, early in the morning, GDP up 5.6 percent. The best showing since the famous sugar high third quarter of 2003, up 7.2 percent in the wake of those tax cuts by President Bush. But what was really going on yesterday, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the 17th time, up to 5.25 percent.
Now why did the market respond positively? Because, as so often is the case, the important news was in the Fed's statement. The moderation in the growth of aggregate demand should help to limit inflation pressures over time, is what they said, suggesting that they are not so hawkish on inflation. Meaning they may not have to continue raising rates at the pace they have been.
M. O'BRIEN: That sentence is what set the market in gear?
SERWER: That one little sentence. And don't you wish that you had that kind of power, Miles, just that sort of an innocuous little sentence and make all of America...
M. O'BRIEN: I did this?
S. O'BRIEN: No, that would be such a bad thing.
SERWER: ... so much richer?
Let's take a look at the actual numbers yesterday. I mentioned the Dow being up 217 points. Take a look at the Nasdaq. That's almost 3 percent. That is a whale of a day. So that's some really good stuff there.
And as far as looking ahead to today, though, as you might expect, futures are flat to weak. Everyone likes to take a little breather after that.
M. O'BRIEN: Sell off. Sell off. Except everybody is going to head to the beach.
SERWER: Well, I was going to...
M. O'BRIEN: So they might...
SERWER: Yes, that's right, by noon, by 1:00...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: ... it will be very thin down there on Wall Street, as they say.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy Serwer, see you in a bit. SERWER: See you in a bit.
M. O'BRIEN: You're just getting started.
SERWER: I am.
M. O'BRIEN: So are we.
The morning's top stories are straight ahead, including a new audio tape believed to be from Osama bin Laden. We'll take a look at what it says and what it means.
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