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American Morning
9/11 Commission Revealed; Wind Vs. Water; AOL Digs for Gold
Aired August 16, 2006 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, nearly five years since 9/11, and the man who led the investigation into how the government dropped the ball in the run-up to the attack is angry. Former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean is angry that Congress embraced only a few of the 41 recommendations for reform that came from the 9/11 Commission, which he chaired. He's out with a new book. It's called "Without Precedent," and in it came talks about the commission's frustrations as well as the successes. I met him at Ground Zero yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (on camera): It hasn't happened in five years. We don't have another hole like this, thank God. Why not? Is it just by, in spite of our political ineptitude, or are we just lucky, or what's happening?
THOMAS KEAN, FMR. 9/11 COMMISSIONER: No, I think we disrupted some plots. Got great evidence and thank God for MI-5 and the British service, because they did what we have not been very successful doing, they got a mole in to the operation, and were to disrupt it, find out about it and the arrest the people responsible. If not, that could have been 4,000 or 5,000 innocent people could have died.
I mean, we're not as safe as we should be. They're still glaring depths in our security that should be closed. And our 41 recommendation, ways to close them, and the Congress and the administration still haven't done enough to implement a number of them.
The most frustrating thing is nobody says our recommendations aren't right. You won't find a Republican or Democrat running for office this year, who doesn't say, oh, I'm all for the 9/11 Commission's recommendation, but they don't do that. And there are a number of other things. I mean, if you told me that five years after 9/11, we're giving out all of this national security money and not doing it on the basis of who's the greatest risk, just doing it in ways of what congressman can get what for this district, that's crazy. I mean, are we nuts, not to take the areas of greatest vulnerability, in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, and recognize that's where bin Laden wants to hit, and those are the areas we've got to help with their security?
I mean, we've got to set the priority and say these things have got to happen. They've got to happen now, because safety of the American people is more important than anything else you're doing. Say that to Congress and say that to the president.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: You'll hear much more from Kean in our special coverage on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. We'll taking you inside the attack and the indelible mark it left behind with insights from all the key people -- Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, get ready for confusion. A major verdict that could affecting hundreds of families along the Gulf Coast. At issue, was it wind or water that damaged their homes during Katrina?
CNN Sean Callebs is in Pascagoula, Mississippi, where a court ruling tired to clarify things.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly depends on who you speak with. You know, you look around us, you can see very calm, late summer morning, live oak trees, very genteel southern environment. But really far from that at this point. There's a lot of anger and frustration in this area. People feel they first were hammered by Katrina, then got hit hard by their insurance agencies. They're fighting over what was covered by wind and what is covered by water. The first significant ruling is out. Who won? You decide.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS, (voice over): Katrina did this to Paul and Julie Leonard's Pascagoula, Mississippi, home. When Nationwide Insurance said the damage was from flooding, the storm surge and that the Leonards weren't covered, the fight was on.
PAUL LEONARD, PLAINTIFF IN INSURANCE CASE: We felt like we had been slighted and didn't have any other recourse. So we went to court.
CALLEBS: The Leonards hired high-powered attorney Dickie Scruggs. Now a federal judge in Mississippi has issued the first ruling in the battle of wind versus water.
So who won?
DICKIE SCRUGGS, ATTORNEY FOR PAUL/JULIE LEONARD: The first family to go to federal court won. Not as much money as we had hoped to achieve for them.
CALLEBS: In fact, the Leonards won about $1,200. Not the $130,000 plus legal fees they were seeking. And the judge ruled, insurance policies don't cover flood damage from a hurricane-fueled storm surge. So the insurance industry, facing hundreds of similar lawsuits, says it won.
Nationwide said in statement, "we are very pleased that the court ruled in our favor and upheld the long-standing flood exclusion language.
Scruggs is conceding nothing and says there is an important point in the ruling. SCRUGGS: The insurance companies had been saying that if there's any water, then there's no coverage, no matter how much wind damage.
CALLEBS: The ruling allows the Leonards to be compensated for damage they can prove was caused by high winds. Here's why Scruggs says that's important. Homes along the Gulf Coast were damaged by Katrina's winds long before the tidal surge roared in. Scruggs says this will enable him to glean more wind damage money from big insurance.
Nationwide disagrees. In its statement says, "the court found that it would be inappropriate to re-write our contract after-the- fact."
But Scruggs says, make no mistake about it, the issue of wind versus water is a long way from being resolved.
SCRUGGS: Nobody's going to go away. We're going to fight this until the last breath anybody has.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS: On the surface it sounds ludicrous. He won $1,200 for his client, not nearly enough to rebuild the ground floor of that home, but Scruggs is looking at the big picture. He has a number of other cases coming up against insurance companies in the future, cases that will be before a jury, and he thinks it is significant that he won that one concession from the judge, where now insurance companies can't say, well, there was water damage, so we're not going to pay anything. He expects to get some big decisions coming his clients' way in the future.
However, Carol, you're right, the insurance industry says they think they have everything locked up the way it should be.
COSTELLO: And the poor Leonards. I mean, they don't feel like victors at all, I would suppose.
CALLEBS: You know what's amazing, too. They kept the insurance company that they had, Nationwide. It's still covers their home. They say they don't have any hard feelings, but now they do have federal flood insurance.
COSTELLO: Well, at least they were smart enough to have that. Thank you, Sean Callebs reporting live for us in Louisiana.
Let's stay in Louisiana. Let's deliver you a happy story, and I mean deliver, because Jindal delivers. It could be a new campaign slogan for Louisiana Congressman Bobby Jindal. But this one is about obstetrics, not politics. His wife and newborn son are doing well, but things got a little hectic on Tuesday when he helped deliver his baby boy at home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: I am a big sister! COSTELLO: Four-year-old Celia Jindal (ph) is enjoying the new addition to her family. Her baby's arrival early Tuesday morning caught her parents off guard. Louisiana congressman Bobby Jindal says his wife Supriya woke him up at 2:00 a.m. with labor pains and a surprise announcement.
JINDAL: I hear her yelling. We were in our bedroom -- in our bathroom. I hear her yelling to me, saying, "The baby's coming now!" And literally, the next thing I saw was my child's head about to appear.
COSTELLO: Jindal called 911, but the baby arrived before the ambulance.
JINDAL: I gathered some towels, I did all those things they tell you're supposed to do. I offered her ice, breathed with her, did all those things. After several screams and several excruciating minutes -- I'm sure it was a lot longer for her than me -- my wife delivered a beautiful healthy baby boy.
COSTELLO: Slade Ryan Jindal weighed in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces.
Jindal told reporters he once considered a medical career.
JINDAL: I did apply to medical school and put it off, and kept thinking I was going to go. To my father's regret, I never did go.
COSTELLO: But having seen his wife give birth twice before, well, it was enough to help Jindal complete his overnight delivery.
JINDAL: We were very blessed it was not an extremely complicated birth. My wife did all the work. I mean, I really -- my job was to just make sure that the baby didn't get entangled in the umbilical cord. The baby came out smoothly. He was breathing.
One of the things I found out at the hospital, something I've never done before, I'm actually going to have to sign the birth certificate as the delivering physician.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: The baby came out smoothly. He just popped right -- and literally popped right out. Slade, by the way, is the Jindal's third child, along with 4-year-old Celia, they have a 2-year-old son named Sean.
O'BRIEN: Congratulations to them all. I'm glad that came out well. They would scare me to death if I had to do that. I guess you don't have time to think about it; you just do it, right?
COSTELLO: Right, and it happened so fast, you really didn't have to think about it much, except the shoestring on the umbilical cord.
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's about right.
(WEATHER REPORT) COSTELLO: Coming up, should kids be allowed to have cell phones while in school? The battle between parents and school officials is just ahead.
O'BRIEN: Plus, AOL on a treasure hunt, and we mean this literally. They like to dig for some gold, in a guy's backyard, and he's not very happy about it. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
COSTELLO: Should like a simple question, should kids be able to use cell phones in class? The simple answer no. It's disruptive. But nothing is ever simple, is it? There is the question of safety those cell phones provide. What better way to keep track of your kids. That's why there is a battle brewing in New York between parents and the school system.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Camella Pinkney Price, a single mother, wanted to be able to talk to her 12-year-old daughter, Lachey (ph), during working hours, so she brought her a cell phone. That cell phone may have ended up saving Lachey's life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There were kids all around here.
COSTELLO: Lachey was assault by a group of kids while walking home from her Bronx school. She used her cell phone to call for help.
CAMELLA PINKNEY PRICE, PARENT: If my daughter didn't have it that day, I don't where she would be at right now -- she could be dead.
COSTELLO: Cell phones are banned in New York City schools, a rule enforced with random inspection, but after her daughter's attack, Price, along with a group of parents, sued the city to allow kids to carry cell phones in schools.
NORMAL SIEGEL, PARENTS' ATTY.: There are reasonable alternatives to this overly wrought ban that can achieve legitimate educational interests without trampling on parents' and students' civil and constitutional rights.
COSTELLO: Mayor Mike Bloomberg insists cell phones interfere with learning.
MYR. MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: Our schools are for education, and we're going to make sure that that is exactly what we do, and the teachers cannot enforce a ban against using cell phones in the classroom.
COSTELLO: Some parents say cell phones are a safety net. With both parents working, it helps the whole family stay in touch. ISAAC CARMIGNANI, PARENT: If one is missing from school and another has to go home early than it affects everything else. So these are unique situations.
COSTELLO: The New York case is being closely watched by school districts around the country. With Columbine and September 11th never far from anyone's mind, schools are trying to balance their concern about cell phone socializing and text message cheating with parents' worries about safety. As a compromise many schools have a don't ask, don't tell policy. If a phone rings in class,it's taken away.
The New York parents want the mayor to consider alternatives to a complete ban, like having students check their phones in when they arrive at school.
PRICE: Every kid -- I'm talking for every child -- across the United States is a safety issue for their parents. Just let their parents have that one piece of their life, just to know their kid is all right.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And then there's this. Many New York principals admit the cell phone ban is really tough to enforce, especially in large schools without metal detectors, because, you know, kids just sneak them in.
O'BRIEN: A lot of parents say it's mandatory for safety, to have that cell phone with their kid.
COSTELLO: Well, we'll see what happens with the lawsuit here.
O'BRIEN: We will see.
"CNN LIVE TODAY" coming up next. Daryn Kagan here with a preview.
Hello, Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Miles, good morning to you.
"LIVE TODAY" is looking at the Army's desperate duty roster. Arab-speaking soldiers, an urgent need in Iraq, but the military gave this linguist the boot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, that I was a gay soldier and would like to continue serving in the Army as an openly gay soldier.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Policies collide. Could "don't ask, don't tell" affect national security?
And move over Jupiter, step aside Saturn, the neighborhood may be getting a little bit more crowed. New planet possibilities are ahead.
And then there's this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had a sausage grinder one time, you know, the old-fashioned sausage grinder, and I Just -- why would you travel with your sausage grinder?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: The strange, strange things people try to bring onboard airlines. Confiscated contraband becomes profit, thanks to eBay. Those stories and breaking news as it happens. "LIVE TODAY" at top of the hour.
Miles, back to you.
O'BRIEN: You know, when you see those signs that say, you know, "please, no chainsaws" on -- and you think, who's bringing a chainsaw on the plane? I mean, do you really think that's a good idea?
KAGAN: I trust you to leave your sausage grinder at home.
O'BRIEN: No more sausage grinders. I will check it, at least put it in the belly of the plane next time.
Thank you, Daryn.
Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, is AOL a gold-digger. We'll tell you why the company wants to actually, literally, dig up a backyard, hoping to find treasure in Massachusetts.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: AOL wants to dig for gold, literally. The Internet provider, a sister company to CNN, sued a spammer, but he won't pay. So they're asking a court to let them dig for gold bars that this man may have buried.
Sean Kelly of affiliate station WCVB has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN KELLY, WCVB REPORTER (voice-over): AOL will need a search engine powered by fuel to look for golden platinum at this house.
(on camera): Do you feel like AOL is coming after the wrong people here?
HYMAN GREENBAUM, SPAMMER'S FATHER: They're just fishing.
KELLY (voice-over): Hyman Greenbaum says the popular online company is an intruder and should be blocked. GREENBAUM: So unless they get a court order, it won't be done.
KELLY: AOL won almost a $13 million judgment last year against Greenbaum's son, who changed his name to Davis Wolfgang Hawke. The company accused him of violating federal and state anti-spam laws by sending unwanted e-mails to its subscribers.
GREENBAUM: I think he probably did spamming. I don't know that for sure, but I think he probably did. Certainly nowhere near $13 million.
KELLY: AOL's attorneys say they can't find Hawke to collect his assets. The company thinks he buried half a million dollars worth of gold in his parents' Medfield yard.
"This is not 'Blue's Clues,'" a spokesman said. "This is a court-supported, legally protected effort to collect assets due to us."
GREENBAUM: If they find something on my property and they can't prove that it belongs to my son, then by default it belongs to me. So say if they hit oil, I'll put up a gas station or something.
KELLY: Hawke never lived in the house, according to his father. He says his 27-year-old son left for college, began supporting white supremacist beliefs and started spamming until AOL caught up to him.
GREENBAUM: He told us he was going to hide his assets and disappear, and he appears to have done that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Spokesmen for AOL defended the company's actions saying, quote, "This is just a case of a company working on behalf of its customers. We have tried to contact the defendant, but to no avail. We have tried every legal avenue possible." So very soon, I guess, they'll start digging.
O'BRIEN: And it's all part of a promotion, too. Because folks on AOL can be part of a thing to get some of this money from the spammers.
COSTELLO: That's just business.
O'BRIEN: Just business.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
O'BRIEN: Back with more in a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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