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American Morning

Karr's Legal Team; battle For Baghdad; Nuke Showdown Coming?; Katrina: One Year Later; Stem Cell Breakthrough?; Accused Of Terrorism

Aired August 24, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to hear more from Sheryl Crow this morning as she opens up about her breakup with Lance Armstrong and her fight to beat cancer. That and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris, in today for Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: Nice to have you. Thanks for helping us out. We appreciate it.

HARRIS: Good to be here.

O'BRIEN: Some new developments to get to you this morning in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. Suspect John Mark Karr now has a legal team that is representing him. Late yesterday, California Attorneys Jamie Harmon and Patience van Zandt told reporters that Karr had retained them to represent him. We spoke to those two attorneys yesterday when their situation was still unclear. Let's get right to Peter Viles. He's in L.A. That's where Karr is being held.

Hey, Peter. Good morning.

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

John Karr spending his fourth night in custody here at the county jail in Los Angeles, in that same six by nine cell that he was places in Sunday night. Now there's no official word, either here in Los Angeles or in Colorado, on when he might be sent to Colorado. But one of these two women who has come forward and says they are going to be the attorneys. A woman named Janice Harmon is saying she doesn't think he'll be sent to Colorado this week, but it will be next week. She's also says he's very isolated in this cell. Does not have access to any television coverage. Doesn't know what's being said about him or being said about the case. And this attorney, Janice Harmon, maintains that is a good thing for John Karr.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANICE HARMON, JOHN KARR'S ATTORNEY: He's completely isolated from any kind of media contact at all. So he doesn't have any idea what's going on in the wide world about his case or himself. And so I think that assists in allowing him to become more grounded as time goes by.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VILES: Now there is some confusion on who is ultimately going to represent John Karr in court. He's been in court once and he was not represented by that woman, Jamie Harmon. He was represented by a public defender here in Los Angeles. And the Karr family in Atlanta has engaged a Hollywood producer by the name of Larry Garrison (ph), partly with the hope that Larry Garrison can somehow line up a high- profile defense attorney. So we don't really know for a fact who's going to represent him if and when he faces a judge in Colorado.

Soledad.

O'BRIEN: The Hollywood producer is going to line up the high- profile attorney?

VILES: This is a producer who specializes in true crime productions, although he hasn't produced a lot. He has a lot of stories in development. And the family, apparently, gave him the rights to the Karr story, both in television and movies and books and whatever, in return. There's no money that's changed hands as we understand it. But in return, one of the things he's going to do is try to interest a high-profile attorney in taking the case. I know it sounds kind of strange.

O'BRIEN: It really does. It really does.

Let me ask you a final question. We learned more about what happened in Sonoma. What Sonoma police really have now said about Karr's behavior concerning the JonBenet Ramsey's case. There is a link there, isn't there?

VILES: Yes. This is the investigation five years ago that led to child pornography charges against John Karr. And the sheriffs department in Sonoma County has finally put out a long statement saying what happened in that investigation. They say that it became clear during the investigation that John Karr had an apparent fascination with the murders of Polly Klaas and JonBenet Ramsey and that occasionally he said things, made illusions, placing himself in the killer's role. Clearly this would set off alarm bells. That said, the sheriffs department said that they were aware of no confession that he made and no special knowledge that he had of the case.

So what did they do with this information? According to the sheriffs department up in Sonoma County, they gave it to the FBI five years ago and also to Boulder officials five years ago. And that's really news because we had no inkling that Boulder officials even heard the name John Karr five years ago. But according to this statement from Sonoma, they gave them that information five years ago.

Soledad.

O'BRIEN: And it looks like they were well aware then.

All right. Peter Viles for us in L.A. this morning. Thanks, Peter.

Tony.

HARRIS: Well, a new CNN poll is asking Americans is the U.S. safer from a terrorist attack now than it was before 9/11? Less than half of the respondents, 43 percent said yes, 32 percent say the U.S. is about as safe as it was before 9/11, and 25 percent say the U.S. is less safe. Thirty-seven percent of those polled said they believe the war in Iraq has made the country safer from terrorist attacks, while 55 percent said no, they don't think the war helped. And when asked if local police in their community are prepared for a terrorist attack, only 27 percent said yes, while a whopping 70 percent said no. The poll was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation on behalf of CNN.

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq is warning the world about the increasing sectarian violence in Baghdad. Zalmay Khalilzad writes in "The Wall Street Journal," "it is vital that Iraqis control sectarian violence and come together against the terrorists and outside powers that are fomenting the violence. The battle of Baghdad will determine the future of Iraq, which will itself go a long way to determining the future of the world's most vital region."

CNN's Barbara Starr joins us live now from the Pentagon with more on the Baghdad story.

Barbara, good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony.

Well, the ambassador even goes further in that article and says there's a "urgent crisis" in securing Baghdad. That this will determine the future of Iraq because, of course, the face of Baghdad is the face of Iraq that the world sees. The ambassador offered just a couple of statistics that underscore the problem.

Twenty-one hundred people died in Baghdad in the month of July. Seventy-seven percent of those deaths attributable to sectarian violence. That is now, of course, the number one security issue in the country and especially in Baghdad.

So what, of course, is being done about it? About 12,000 additional forces, troops -- that's Iraqis and U.S. troops -- have been in Baghdad now for several weeks trying to get a handle on the violence, going through the most dangerous neighborhoods, patrolling, trying to show more of a security presence. Now, according to Pentagon officials and officials in Iraq, that's working in a lot of areas. More troops, the violence is down.

But it's far from over, because as the ambassador goes on to write, there is going to have to be more training of the national police. Some of the police leadership might even still be replaced. So the situation, whether this works over the long-term, this security operation, remains very uncertain.

Tony. HARRIS: Sounds like it. CNN's Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you.

O'BRIEN: The Reverend Jesse Jackson is heading to the Middle East tomorrow in hopes of freeing those two Fox News journalists. The Palestinian news agency, Ramattan, released a video yesterday showing Olaf Wiig and Steve Centanni. The two say on the video that they're in fairly good condition. Wiig's wife has pleaded for his release. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANITA MCNAUGHT, WIFE OF KIDNAPPED JOURNALIST: Olaf and Steve have always worked for the interests of the Palestinian people. They came here to support you by telling your story. I do not question that you who are holding them have suffered greatly, as everyone in Gaza, in the Palestinian territories is suffering. But these two men are not responsible for the injustices that you speak of and they should not be punished for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: The group has issued a 72-hour deadline demanding that the U.S. release Muslim prisoners in exchange for the two men.

What to do next with Iran? That is the question the Bush administration's mulling right now. The State Department admits that Iran's proposal for nuclear negotiations falls well short of the terms outlined by the U.N. Security Council. For more on the possible response, let's go right to CNN's Ed Henry. He's at the White House for us.

Hey, Ed, good morning.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

A pretty muted response so far from President Bush. He huddled yesterday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and then the State Department put out that formal statement that you noted, saying Iran's response falls short of the U.N. demands. The U.N.,of course, having a carrot and stick approach here. The carrot being economic incentives if Iran, by August 31st, agrees to suspend its uranium enrichment program.

But now the big question, where is the stick? Will the U.S. push the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany, to really push for some tough sanctions against Iran? I pressed White House Spokesperson Dana Perino yesterday on that very point. She's stepping up to the podium in place of the vacationing Tony Snow. She was non-committal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA PERINO, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: I do not have information for you as to specific next steps, but that's what they're talking about. HENRY: Do you want tough sanctions, though? I mean, what can you do? There's been a carrot out there with incentives, but where's the stick from the United States?

PERINO: We're going to allow all of our allies to -- the P-5 plus one to talk about it and try to figure that out. And when we have next steps to announce, we'll announce them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: The (INAUDIBLE) is the White House knows it's going to be extremely difficult to get China and Russia on board for those tough sanctions. That's why the president is also engaging in some telephonic diplomacy yesterday. A 14 minute phone conversation with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who's about to head to the Mideast on a big trip, including a stop in Iran, to really try to give diplomacy one last shot.

But the bottom line is the clock is ticking. There's a lot of international fear that what Iran is really doing here is stalling, running out the clock so they can edge closer and closer to getting nuclear weapons.

Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Ed Henry for us this morning. Ed at the White House. Thanks, Ed.

HENRY: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Tony.

HARRIS: Happening in America.

Some disturbing statistics this morning out of the Citadel Military College in South Carolina. A new survey released by the school says almost 20 percent of female cadets reported being sexually assaulted since enrolling. The Citadel opened its doors to women 10 years ago. The school's president said he released the statistics in order to address the issue.

In Alaska, more problems today at the nation's largest oil field today. Production at Prudhoe Bay has been reduced again, this time because of a problem with a compressor. Officials say it will take several days to repair. Production at Prudhoe Bay was nearly slashed in half after pipeline corrosion led to an oil spill earlier this month.

The lone survivor of the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia is taking legal action. Randy McCloy Jr. is suing the mine's owner and several companies that supplied or installed equipment for negligence. Twelve miners died in January when an explosion trapped them underground. McCloy was severely injured. The lawsuit claims unsafe working conditions led to the disaster.

There's a state of emergency this morning in Washington because of wildfires raging all over the state. Nearly 3,000 firefighters are battling the biggest fire, which recently doubled in size to about 120,000 acres.

For the second time this week, strong storms blew through Tucson, Arizona, toppling trees and leaving thousands without power. Downed power lines fell on top of about a dozen cars, trapping drivers and passengers inside their cars.

And nearly a year after Katrina slammed ashore, Alabama's governor admits there's still a lot of work to do. Governor Bob Riley toured one devastated Gulf Coast town on Wednesday. He spoke with community members about moving ahead and said he's proud of the work that has been done so far.

Severe weather expert Chad Myers is at the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta.

Chad, we're about -- I guess about a week away from the anniversary of Katrina's landfall.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right.

HARRIS: What do we know about the storm . . .

MYERS: The second landfall.

HARRIS: Second landfall.

MYERS: Right.

HARRIS: So what did we know about the storm at this point in time last year?

MYERS: It was just developing. It was Tropical Depression 12 and it was developing into the name Katrina, as a Tropical Storm Katrina.

How ironic is it that the map behind me is actually Hurricane Andrew, which made landfall on this date in 1992. And guess what, Andrew went right through the Bahamas, through south Florida. And then guess where it went? It did a billion dollars of damage in Louisiana, while Katrina actually made landfall in Florida first. We forget about this an awful lot, and actually killed six people there.

Here's what I was saying on that date one year ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: The weather for the day ahead. Chad Myers is at the CNN Center with the latest. You're talking about the tropical depression now, tropical storm.

MYERS: Correct. Yes, Tropical Storm Katrina was tropical depression number 12, but now has gained enough strength to get a name. Depressions don't get names, they just get numbers. But now it has a name. The 11th named storm of the year. So we're well on our way.

Here you go, from Nassau, right on back into Miami, that's where the storm is going, gathering strength. This is very warm water here. This is premium gas in this storm right now, because the warmer the water is, the stronger the storm gets and the quicker it gets that way.

So by late Thursday night into Friday morning, overnight Friday morning, that's when we're probably going to see landfall. But certainly south Florida in the teeth of this storm. Then it gets into the Gulf of Mexico. Then it turns to the right and possibly somewhere along the Gulf Coast. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MYERS: Isn't it ironic that that middle track was right through New Orleans and that's what we were thinking at this time last year and that's exactly what happened. As the storm got into what we call the loop current, very warm water that comes out of the southern Caribbean, up between Cancun and Cuba, and then on up into the Gulf of Mexico. Katrina got into this very warm water. We'll learn and we'll talk more about the loop current so that you know what it is and how it affects big storms. It is the warmest water in the Caribbean and in the Gulf of Mexico and that's what Katrina got into for way too long and that's why it reintensified to that category five storm.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Gosh, it almost gives me chills to remember you talking about that.

HARRIS: Took us right back, didn't he?

O'BRIEN: You know, and showing those paths and saying it could, you know, could hit the Gulf Coast. Well, it could and it sure did. Thanks, Chad.

AMERICAN MORNING's going to be live in New Orleans on Tuesday, August 29th. Got a special edition planned. A year later, "Katerina: One Year Later." We're going to take a look back and also look forward as well. That's on Tuesday, our special coverage event.

California biotech company says it's found a way to develop stem cells without destroying human embryos. How does this change the medical and political debate? More now from our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This tiny cell is called an embryonic stem cell. Think of it as a blank slate that can turn into any cell in our body. Although it's so small, it can't even be seen with the human eye, many researchers believe cells like this may hold the key to curing diseases like Parkinson's, diabetes, even a spinal cord injury. But many government-funded researchers believe their efforts to study embryonic stem cells are hampered by laws which prevent them from destroying embryos. JOHN GEARHART, JOHNS HOPKINS MED. INST.: You're certainly going to compromise the development and the functioning of that embryo. No question about it.

GUPTA: But now a new study published in the journal "Nature" might hold a solution. A researcher for a private biotech company, Dr. Robert Lanza, employed a technique which is now used with infertility patients to check for genetic problems in their embryos.

DR. ROBERT LANZA, ADVANCED CELL TECHNOLOGY: You remove one cell from an eight-stage embryo, and then that cell is allowed to divide. And then one of those cells is sent off for testing and the other cell is then used to create an embryonic stem cell line.

GUPTA: Providing more cells for research but sparing the embryo.

LANZA: Over 2,000 healthy babies generated using this biopsy procedure. To date, we don't see any increase in any abnormalities.

GUPTA: So it sounds like a win-win situation, right? Not so fast say prominent stem cell researchers like Dr. John Gearhart of Johns Hopkins. He says there are many concerns about the long-term safety of this approach.

GEARHART: The contention that no harm is done to the embryo from which this cell has been removed is still under investigation.

GUPTA: And that's something that might still take a long time to sort out.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Because researchers who receive government funding aren't allowed to do any stem cell research that destroys a human embryo, many scientists complain that keeps them out of this highly competitive field.

HARRIS: And still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, two young men wrongly accused of being terrorists. They talked to CNN about the lasting damage done to their lives.

O'BRIEN: Looks like the housing market might be cooling off. So does that mean it's time to buy? We'll take a look.

HARRIS: Plus, a CNN exclusive. Singer Sheryl Crow opens up to Larry King about her cancer diagnosis and how it changed her life. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And happening this morning.

In Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan forces kill seven suspected al Qaeda members. Local officials deny the victims had any connection to the terror group. The military says they were after a known al Qaeda operative at the time.

According to some Palestinian witnesses, Israeli forces crossed into the Gaza Strip today. Troops are said to be taken up positions on rooftops in a southern Gaza border town. The Israeli army isn't commenting.

AT&T is going to court to try to figure out exactly who stole confidential customer records, including Social Security and credit card numbers. The phone giant says 25 data brokers did it by posing as customers.

More details now on that Northwest Airlines flight headed to India and escorted back to Amsterdam by F-16s yesterday. According to the Dutch media, passengers say air marshals swooped in after 12 people started fidgeting with mobile phones and plastic bags. The 12 are still in custody.

O'BRIEN: Arrested on terrorism charges, then freed. The charges dropped, the stigma remains, though. It is a dilemma that faces college students in Ohio. Everybody read about their arrests. Seems, though, that very few people know they've been cleared. CNN's Jonathan Freed has the young men's story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): When Osama Abulhassan and Ali Houssaiky searched for their names on the Internet, they find themselves, but can't bear to look at what they say.

OSAMA ABULHASSAN, CLEARED OF TERRORISM CHARGES: Fifty-eight thousand results and every one on the first page is terror-related.

FREED: And on the second page and the third page. The terrorism references just keep going.

ABULHASSAN: We want to clear our names. We want everybody to know we were innocent.

FREED: Osama and Ali are Lebanese-Americans from Dearborn, Michigan. They were arrested in Ohio earlier this month after a traffic stop. Police found more than $10,000 in cash in their car and a dozen pre-paid cell phones. The type authorities have been told to watch out for because they're hard to trace and can be used by terrorists, even as detonators for bombs.

ALI HOUSSAIKY, CLEARED OF TERRORISM CHARGES: The money was inside here, you know. And the 12 phones were just laying down, you know, back here.

FREED: So the two 20-year-olds, who say they bought and resold about 600 phones in the last two months to make money for college, found themselves behind bars and charged with money laundering in support of terrorism and soliciting or providing for an act of terrorism. They believe they were targeted because they're Arabs. Police in Marietta, Ohio, insist they profile people based on behavior, not racial background. Osama and Ali say trying to explain it all to their parents was surreal.

ABULHASSAN: To have to call them and to have to talk to them from behind the glass with handcuffs, we both said it was probably one of the most devastating things we ever went through. HOUSSAIKY: Because I've never ever, ever in my life seen my dad cry. And he was just telling me, keep your head up. Don't worry about it. He's like, you're going to get out, don't worry.

FREED: County prosecutors dropped the terrorism charges after a few days, saying they didn't have enough evidence to make them stick. But the two men are still facing falsification charges, accused of changing their story about why they were buying the phones. They initially told police it was for a family business. They say they never intended to mislead, they were just flustered by being arrested.

What do you say to the person who says, I hear what they're saying, but, come on, they had $10,000 in cash and a bunch of cell phones in the car. There must have been something going on.

ABULHASSAN: Is it illegal to carry cash?

HOUSSAIKY: It's not illegal to carry money. Is it illegal to buy phones? It's not illegal to buy phones. So what's the problem?

FREED: Ali gets wistful when remembering how his picture used to appear in the local paper because of athletic awards. He's determined to stay in college and become a high school teacher. The experience has prompted Osama to want to study law. But the two friends worry they may never escape the stigma of terrorism.

Jonathan Freed, CNN, Dearborn, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Similar story for three Texas men of Arab descent. They were also arrested in Michigan early this month. They too were buying hundreds of cell phones. Terrorism charges against them have been dropped. They still face other charges that could put them in jail, though, for up to 25 years apiece.

Still to come, is the much-maligned Pluto really a planet? Tell you why it could get demoted today.

And a day at the beach is great, but a lot of folks are just too busy for vacation. We'll look at the incredible shrinking vacation and find out how some companies are forcing workers to take some time off. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Who's back. Singer Sheryl Crow giving her first primetime interview since her breast cancer diagnosis and her big breakup with Lance Armstrong. She talked to Larry King in a CNN exclusive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHERYL CROW, SINGER: The whole experience, when -- because my life really changed around that time. My life went from being what it was, with plans being made, to getting this diagnosis, which really dictated that I show up for myself. And nobody else could do it for me.

And I'm a person that's always taking care of everyone else and making sure everyone's happy and is feeling appreciated. And, you know, I have this big business of touring and people who work for me. And also I just take care of a lot of people. And I'm always the last person I take care of. And it really demanded that I show up for myself.

And a lot of the women that I've spoken with who have gone through the cancer experience say that there is the metaphysical aspect of nurturing that's related to breasts. And a lot of women just are always giving out nourishment and nurturing and not receiving it. And so this was my time to really learn that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: I thought she was so great last night. You know, and she's so right. I mean, it's true, women give, give, give. Larry King, too. You can catch all the great newsmakers on "Larry King Live" every night 9:00 p.m. Eastern. That was a terrific interview with her.

HARRIS: Man, I'm sorry I missed it.

O'BRIEN: Oh, it was great. Well, you know . . .

HARRIS: Wow. We'll see it this weekend.

O'BRIEN: Yes. She's fantastic.

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