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American Morning

A Defiant Iran; Severe Weather Watch; Lack Of Control?; Rallying For Iraq

Aired August 31, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Making nuclear fuel. So expect a flurry of meetings at the United Nations soon, all focused on possible sanctions for Iran. Richard Roth is at the U.N. for us this morning. Aneesh Raman is in Tehran for us there. We begin with Aneesh.
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good morning.

The deadline has now arrived and Iran has left little doubt it will defy the west and continue its nuclear program. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking to large crowds earlier today in northwestern Iran, saying the country would continue to pursue its right. He said yesterday sanctions would not dissuade Iran from continuing its program.

This defiance is built around two things. One, Iran feels it has the right for peaceful, civilian nuclear energy. That without credible evidence of a weapons program, sanctions are not enough to stop them. But in a broader sense, Iran is rising and wants to be seen as the sole superpower in the Middle East.

In the past week, Iran has offered extensive financial aid to Lebanon, aid across the border to Iraq and it has growing allegiance on the Muslim streets in Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan. Iran's president want the U.S. to see it as an equal and wants direct engagement and is willing to push this defiance towards that end.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Aneesh, thank you very much. To the United Nations now, our senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth is there and he joins us with a preview of what lies ahead.

Hello, Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Well, the Security Council will receive a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency detailing Iran's failure to cooperate. But there will be no rush or scramble to establish sanctions against Tehran today. The United States is going to try to maintain this fragile coalition it has gradually built against Iran. There was an agreement a month ago to continue a dialogue about sanctions if Iran failed to comply by today. The U.S. pointman on this is Nicholas Burns, who says the United States will consider first sanctions against any nuclear-related equipment or industry in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLAS BURNS, UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE: We're not going to be intimidated by anything the Iranians do. And they've got to understand one thing, they are fairly isolated on this issue. They now have the entire Security Council, all the permanent members, including Russia and China, saying that they've got to cease and desist. And you had countries like India and Egypt also vote against them in the International Atomic Energy Agency. So the Iranians have to sit back and they'll have to calculate the cost of isolation, the increased pressure that is going to come their way, and this is not going to be a plenty time for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: China and Russia have lucrative business ties with Iran. Britain says the sanctions issue probably will not come up in the council formally for consideration until the annual general assembly special September get-together here, Miles, when a lot of the high- level ministers will be here ready to discuss it.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, as time goes on, is there concern from the perspective of the U.S. that this fragile coalition will unravel?

ROTH: No. I think diplomats think if the U.S. rushed too quickly, it might unravel. But they think they have time to build their case. But stay tuned.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. We will. We always do. And Richard Roth is the person to give it to you. Thank you very much.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk a little bit about the weather now and CNN, of course, you hurricane headquarters. We're watching two big storms right now. There's Hurricane John. It's a category three storm. It's churning in the Pacific along the Mexican coast. Tropical Storm Ernesto, meanwhile, is back in the Atlantic gaining strength there.

Let's track the storm this morning with Keith Oppenheim in Charleston, South Carolina, Harris Whitbeck, who's in Cabo San Lucas (ph), Mexico, and severe weather expert Chad Myers, who's at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Keith, let's begin with you. Good morning.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

It's raining a little bit here in Charleston. We're in Waterfront Park with a good view of the harbor. So as the storm comes in, we can really see the wind as it picks up, which it isn't too bad just yet.

But as we pivot around and it's raining slightly, we're really going to be watching the rain today. As one official told me, they don't call it low country around here for nothing, because this city tends to flood in spots when it's just a bad rainstorm. And today is expected to be significantly worse.

Keep in mind, this storm is supposed to hit early this afternoon at high tide. So with a storm surge of maybe one to three feet, this city and the general area there could be some significant flooding. So, Soledad, that's really what we're going to be watching mostly today.

Back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: Where it can do a ton of damage as Chad Myers tells us often.

Let's get right to Chad in the Severe Weather Center. Chad, right? I'm right on that, aren't I?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You are. But, you know what, if it hit Charleston, unfortunate for Charleston, but that would do the lowest amount of damage that the storm could do because that means it would be in the water the shortest amount of time and wouldn't have a chance to get up to 65 or 70 or 80 miles an hour. You get north of Charleston, on up into Myrtle, maybe all the way up into Holden Beach, that's the area that's really under the gun for a long duration storm in the Atlantic Ocean.

The farther it gets on up toward Cape Fear, all the way up to Cape Hatteras. If it gets to Cape Hatteras, this is going to be a category something hurricane by that point. But if it is down here in Charleston, as one of the arms coming in right there to Keith.

But if it does get up to Charleston, or maybe all the way up to Myrtle, it will not be the hurricane yet. It will not have a chance to be a hurricane before it moves back on land. And then as it does move back on land, it will diminish in intensity, obviously.

Here's the storm now. It moved right over the cape. It is now in the water and it is forecast to move to the north. And by later on, probably tonight, it will just be making landfall, maybe close to midnight. If the center of the line is correct. If the left sideline is correct, it will make land fall a lot earlier, 8:00 tonight. If the right side is correct, that may be all the way until 4:00, 5:00 in the morning. And that's when it actually gets stronger and that will be a hurricane at that point in time. The forecast is for it to just be a tropical storm.

One way or the other, a lot of flooding in the mid Atlantic states from Richmond, to D.C., all the way back down even maybe to Charlotte. You guys are going to see a lot of rainfall for many days in a row. And that problem will even have some wind problems in D.C. and Richmond for tomorrow.

Back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Chad. Let's keep talking about Hurricane John, though. It's rolling along Mexico's coast, as we mentioned, lashing the tourist areas with heavy winds, lots of rain. People say it could hit Baja, California, before it heads out to sea. We want to check in with Harris Whitbeck. He's live in Cabo San Lucas for us this morning.

Hey, how is it looking, Harris.

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Here in Cabo San Lucas, things are quite calm. The local civil protection authorities will be meeting later today to decide what to do in terms of the 25,000 or so people who would be affected by Hurricane John. They are talking about issuing evacuation orders here. They say they have over 160 sites that could be used as temporary shelters.

Many of the people here are American tourists. This is a very popular tourist destination for people coming in from the United States. Many of the hotels along the coast here have already suggested to their guests that if they can get out of here, they should do so today. But we understand that many of the flights going back to the U.S. are already overbooked and sold out.

Some hotel managers here say that they're going to ask their guests to stay in ballrooms in the hotels. They feel that they are safe enough. But everybody is concerned about this. What could be a very, very powerful storm hitting the tip of the Baja peninsula. Earlier in the week, just a couple days ago, we saw how it was already affecting other popular tourism destinations like Acapulco and Nanchania (ph).

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it could be a huge, huge mess. We're going to watch that one as well. All right, Harris Whitbeck for us. He's covering that story from Baja in Mexico. Thank you.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Was fatigue a factor in the cash of Comair Flight 5191. We know that only one set of eyes was in the control tower for that morning. But now we're learning those eyes were a little bit sleepy. CNN's David Mattingly live at Lexington, Kentucky, with more.

Hello, David.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

It seems to be a matter this morning of doing the math. Eight hours on, nine hours off, two hours of sleep before another eight-hour shift. It seems to add up to one sleep deprived air traffic controller.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATTINGLY, (voice over): Federal crash investigators reveal at the time of the Comair crash, the Lexington, Kentucky, air traffic controller was not only doing two jobs, he was doing them on two hours of sleep. Forty-nine people died when a Comair commuter jet crashed into trees after turning on to the wrong runway early Sunday morning. The air traffic controller was working the overnight shift alone and with very little down time.

DEBBIE HERSMAN, NTSB SPOKESWOMAN: On Saturday morning, he went on duty at 6:30 a.m. He went off duty at 2:30 p.m. He then had nine hours off. He went back on duty at 11:30 p.m. and was scheduled to be on duty until 8:00 a.m. the next morning.

MATTINGLY: Federal officials earlier confirmed to CNN the controller was working alone in violation of FAA policy and performing both radar and ground traffic duties. The Comair jet was his 17th flight of the night. He gave clearance for take-off while guiding another flight on radar.

HERSMAN: A review of the tower tape shows that he was vectoring the American Eagle Flight around weather at the time that he was working the accident airplane.

MATTINGLY: On Wednesday, a caravan of buses carried family members to the scene of the crash. Authorities were out in force to ensure privacy. At the Lexington Blue Grass Airport, a large lighted barricade has been erected at each end of the short runway where Flight 5191 made its tragic wrong turn. Less than 100 yards away, a memorial continues to grow as people touched by the tragedy bring flowers and notes of sympathy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: In spite of his lack of sleep, this air traffic controller -- it is important to point out -- still gave the correct instructions to the Comair flight before it took off. He told them to go to the correct runway. It is still not known, Miles, why this crew turned on to the wrong runway. A runway that was dark and was too short for them to take off.

M. O'BRIEN: So this controller really had his hands full. Because when she says that he was vectoring another aircraft around weather, this person was in instrument conditions. It's the controller's responsibility to help that plane get around a thunderstorm or whatever. So he really had a lot to handle at that moment. And maybe the sleep issue might be a bit of a red herring because he just had a lot to do.

MATTINGLY: That's right. And the schedule that he was on is still within FAA guidelines. He's only allowed eight hours off as a minimum and he had nine hours off. But it's clear he was not watching the Comair flight as it was taxing on the ground and making that wrong turn.

M. O'BRIEN: David Mattingly in Lexington, Kentucky. Thank you very much. Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, happening this morning in America.

In Nevada, polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is headed to court. It's happening today. An extradition hearing is scheduled in Las Vegas. Authorities in both Utah and Arizona want to try him on charges of arranging marriages between underage girls and older men. According to a source involved in the case, he is likely to be transferred to the Purgatory Jail, which is near St. George in Utah. That's right. It's called Purgatory Jail.

A terrible story to tell you about in Bakersfield, California. Two children killed when a military shell that they were playing with exploded. According to a local paper there, the shell was given to the kids by a neighbor. He had used it as sort of a conversation piece. He thought that it was spent. Five others were hurt in the blast.

In Alaska, return to full production of the nation's largest oil field could happen sooner than they thought. One of BP's executives is says that patching the corroded sections could help the company get back to full production before they replace the 16 miles of pipes. Meanwhile, the interior secretary, Dirk Kempthorn, got his first look at the pipeline corrosion yesterday.

About 1,000 firefighters in California's San Bernardino forest are doing all they can this morning to try to put out that raging wildfire there. So far it's paying off. Crews have been working throughout the night, building lines, setting backfires. They expect to surround the 2,000 acre fire by tomorrow night. Some good news there.

And some pretty amazing photos coming from the front lines of a massive wildfire in southern Montana. Take a look at this. One day, the big timber fires doubled in size, 8,000 acres now burned. Officials had to evacuate two small towns. The wildfire also shut down parts of an interstate highway for seven hours.

Hollywood today mourning the loss of actor Glenn Ford. He died yesterday. Actor Shirley Jones co-starred with Ford in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father." Remember that? She recently called Ford one of the cornerstones of the film industry. Police say paramedics found him dead in his home. He was 90 years old.

M. O'BRIEN: True icon.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Sad news there.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

Still to come on the program, a stunning string of bank robberies. How did bombers hit as many as 22 banks at once?

S. O'BRIEN: And with violence on the rise in Iraq, how can President Bush boost support for the war? We'll take a look at his new strategy.

M. O'BRIEN: Plus, a big reversal of fortune for the makers of Vioxx. A judge nixes a $50 million award. We're "Minding Your Business" ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.

In Iraq, another car bombing aimed at an Iraqi police patrol. Two dead, nine wounded.

In Samarra, a judge from Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit was kidnapped four days ago, found dead. He was shot several times.

In southern Thailand, a stunning, coordinated bombing. There are reports 22 banks hit at once. Two are dead, 28 wounded. The homemade bombs left in garbage cans near customers set off with cell phones. Police suspect Islamic insurgents.

Violence in Gaza. A Palestinian militant killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops. Israeli defense forces say he was a top commander of the al Axa Martyrs Brigade. Meanwhile, the IDF says Israeli forces withdrew from a Gaza city neighborhood after at least five rockets were launched by Palestinian militants in their direction.

Tokyo jolted by a magnitude 4.8 quake today. No immediate reports of injury or damage and no tsunami threat.

It is the ninth anniversary of Princess Diana's death in Paris. Admirers remembering her by laying flowers at the gates of her former home.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush is in Utah this morning. He's going to try to boost support for the war in Iraq with the first of a series of speeches. In just a few hours, the president will address the American Legion's national convention, which is taking place in Salt Lake City. White House correspondent Ed Henry is there.

Good morning, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Call it Bush 3.0. This is the president's third series of speeches, trying to shore up the mission in Iraq. A clear sign that the White House realizes the first two versions didn't get the job done.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY, (voice over): With violence in Iraq getting worse, President Bush can hardly tout progress on the ground anymore. So he's rolling out a new and improved PR strategy. At least his third crack at a series of speeches on the stakes in the war on terror. GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And they're speeches to make it clear that if we retreat before the job is done, this nation will become even more in jeopardy. These are important times. And I seriously hope people wouldn't politicized these issues that I'm going to talk about.

HENRY: This time focusing the sales pitch on a broader, ideological struggle between the forces of freedom and tyranny all around the globe that administration officials liken to World War II.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Once again we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of facism. Today, another enemy, a different kind of enemy, has made clear its intentions with attacks in places like New York and Washington, D.C., Bali, London, Madrid, Moscow and so many other places.

HENRY: The new message got a test run Tuesday when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spoke to the American Legion and took the gloves off, suggesting current White House critics support the type of appeasement that sparked the rise of Nazi-ism.

RUMSFELD: A sentiment took root that contended that if only the growing threats that had begun to emerge in Europe and Asia could be accommodated, then the carnage and the destruction of then recent memory of World War I could be avoided. It was a time when a certain amount of cynicism and moral confusion set in among western democracies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: Now, the president said he doesn't want this to be political. Yet when he arrived at the airport here in Salt Lake City late last night, he was greeted by 2,000 screaming supporters. Almost like a campaign rally. The president can use the support right now. There's planned to be a very large anti-war rally here in Salt Lake City today, even though Utah is, obviously, one of the most conservative states in the country.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ed Henry for us in Utah this morning. Thanks, Ed.

CNN's going to be carrying the president's speech at the American Legion's national convention in Salt Lake today live. It's scheduled to begin at 11:20 a.m. Eastern.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Ahead on the program.

Today is the U.N. deadline for Iran to shut down its nuclear program. Does anyone have any doubt how Tehran will respond? We're one of the few that are live in Tehran. We'll check in.

Plus, the tug of war between two states over polygamist cult leader Warren Jeffs. He has a date in court today and a deadline for his trial. We'll tell you where he's headed ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: All right. For those of you keeping score at home, we believe it is five to four on the Merck Vioxx trials. That company has decided not to do a big settlement. Instead, it's fighting individually these cases that Vioxx caused medical problems for people. Andy Serwer is here to tell you about a few other wrinkles in this whole thing.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's getting more and more complicated. Merck winning five and the plaintiffs winning four, Miles.

And what's going on here, a couple wrinkles to tell you about this morning. First of all, a judge in New Orleans has thrown out a $50 million compensatory damage award to a plaintiff in one of these cases. That would be one of the cases they lost. Calling this award grossly excessive.

However, the judge upheld the liability against Merck. So this is sort of a mixed bag. Not sure what to do with that in terms of scoring. The judge ordered a new trial in terms of the damage award. So I guess he would have to say it's still a loss for Merck then.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. I mean, that is not unusual in any sort of civil case for the punitive portion of it to be reduced later.

SERWER: Right. That's absolutely correct.

Now another story to tell you about here in "The Wall Street Journal." This one concerning a Vioxx case in Rio Grand City, Texas. This is another case that Merck lost back in April. $32 million of damages here.

But listen to this. This is a starting revelation here. It turns out that one of the jurors in this case not only knew the plaintiff, which is not surprising because Rio Grand City only has 12,000 people, but this plaintiff, who was the widow of a man who died after taking Vioxx, lent the juror money. Lent the juror between $5,000 and $10,000 previous to the trial. This came out because someone who knew both the plaintiff and the juror knew about . . .

S. O'BRIEN: Because it's a tiny town.

SERWER: Because there's only 12,000 people in the town -- knew about this relationship and informed one of the Merck lawyers. Apparently there was exchange. They worked at a school and this person observed the plaintiff taking money out of her bosom is how the newspaper characterized it.

M. O'BRIEN: Is that a mistrial, you think?

SERWER: Well, Merck is -- always was going to appeal and now they are sure to appeal. And they've got some . . .

S. O'BRIEN: That's got mistrial all over it.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

SERWER: I mean that's not right.

S. O'BRIEN: I'm no Jeff Toobin, but, I mean, come on.

SERWER: I think that's going to make things difficult for the plaintiff's lawyers. So let's just leave it at that.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, wow. Interesting.

M. O'BRIEN: And what else you got?

SERWER: A little bit to talk about Verizon coming up soon, Miles, dropping their greedy fee. Remember the greedy fees we were talking about?

M. O'BRIEN: We do remember the greedy fee.

SERWER: Yes. Yes. And now they're following their suit of BellSouth.

M. O'BRIEN: They've come up with a not so greedy fee.

SERWER: Sort of. Yes. We'll explain.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thanks.

SERWER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Also ahead this morning, we're going to know finally who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame. We're going to take you to Washington, D.C., to talk about that this morning.

And this. Ooh, it looks like a good time. Kind of messy. Thousands of people getting together to toss some tomatoes. We'll tell you why.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes, that looks fun.

SERWER: Count me out.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. I don't know. That's ahead. Stick with us.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, man.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien. Good morning, everybody. M. O'BRIEN: Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs is scheduled to appear at an extradition hearing today in Nevada. Authorities in both Arizona and Utah would like to bring charges against Jeffs. Sources close to the case, though, say Utah will get the first crack at him.

CNN's Peter Viles joining us from Las Vegas with more -- Peter.

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, Warren Jeffs arrested Monday here near Las Vegas. He was riding in a brand new Cadillac Escalade with his brother and one of his 40 wives. Now he is wanted in both Arizona and Utah on similar charges. The charge is essentially that he arranged marriages between underaged girls and older men. The penalty for that is stiffer in Utah. That is why he's expected to go to Utah.

The big question, though, we don't know the answer to -- excuse me -- is will he recognize the court's authority today? We just don't know how he's going to behave in court and whether he's going to recognize that there are rules he has to adhere to, other than the rules of his own church that he has made over the years -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, Peter, does he consider his church and his -- the domain of his church separate from the United States then?

VILES: We don't really know how he places himself in this. We know it's a breakaway sect. The Mormon church disavowed polygamy over 100 years ago. This is a breakaway Mormon sect. He considers himself a prophet. The FBI says he has 10,000 followers in these two little communities right on the border between Utah and Arizona. So we just don't know what he thinks of the rule of law in this country, and what he thinks his obligations are under those rules -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Have you seen much indication that his followers will be there? Are they there in Las Vegas to witness this hearing?

VILES: No indication whatsoever. You know, it's the middle of the night here; it's 4:00 here. He is due in court at 5:00. No indication whether there will be any sort of show of support. He had a visit yesterday from a brother here in prison. But we don't know if he'll be represented by counsel. The local media here says that in Nevada you don't get a court-appointed lawyer for an extradition hearing. So we don't even know if he'll have a lawyer. But there's no sense here that there'll be a big show of support for him from these people in these communities who, according to all press reports, have sort of been living in fear of this guy for many, many years -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Peter Viles in Las Vegas, thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Iran faces a United Nations deadline today over its nuclear ambitions. Everyone's expectations, in fact, is that Tehran will remain defiant against the West. Already today Iran's president says the country is not going to stop uranium enrichment. Rejection could lead to sanctions. Let's get right to CNN's Robin Oakley. He's in London, awaiting a report this morning by the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Hey, Robin, good morning.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Soledad.

That IAEA report is really the key development today. As you say, we're expecting Iran to continue its defiance, and we expect the IAEA report to say that Iran has continued to enrich uranium.

But we're also expecting the report to say that the enrichment of uranium has only continued at a slow process, that there hasn't been any stepping up of the production rate, and that the kind of enriched uranium being produced is not, at this stage, sufficiently pure to be able to be used in nuclear weapons, that it could only be used for a civil energy program, which, of course, is what Iran says it is interested in doing -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Robin Oakley for us this morning in London. Robin, thanks.

Is former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage the man who triggered the CIA leak case. Two sources close to CNN say he is. Armitage is not admitting anything.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken joins us live from D.C. with more.

Hey, Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Hello. He is staying, Soledad, in his "no comment" mode. But it's pretty much believed ever since this began that Armitage may have been one of the sources. And we are now told, CNN has been told by a couple of sources, that he had privately admitted, and then admitted to the grand jury that he may have inadvertently identified somebody who had a classification. That is to say Valerie Plame. He did say, according to these sources that he had told a couple of these reporters, including Bob Novak, that Valerie Plame was the wife of Joseph Wilson, who is the big administration critic. Now of course he has not been prosecuted, and that of course raises a whole bunch of other questions -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: So then he said no comment. Has he admitted anywhere else that he's actually done this?

FRANKEN: Well, it's apparently it's come up in conversations -- it has come up with conversations within the administration. He also said so to the grand jury.

Now, remember that in order to be prosecuted for having disclosed the identity of somebody who was classified, you would have to intentionally do that and intentionally know that the person had a classification. Apparently he did not know, as a lot of people did not know, that she was considered secret, her identity was considered secret, which would explain why he was not prosecuted. S. O'BRIEN: So then do you think he will be prosecuted?

FRANKEN: There is very little expectation of that. And it begs the question, why Scooter Libby? And Scooter Libby, the former chief of staff of the vice president was not prosecuted for disclosures, but for lying to investigators, obstruction of justice and perjury. And there's that adage that often times it's not the crime that gets you in trouble, but the alleged cover-up.

O'BRIEN: Yes, that is the old adage, and it's often true.

Bob Franken for us this morning. Thanks, Bob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Every now and then, we come across a story we think something must have gotten lost in the translation. Well, here is one for you. Take a look at Spain's most popular -- one of their most popular summer festival. The object here -- isn't that lovely? To throw tomatoes or tomatoes, or I guess they would say tamates (ph), right? Did I do that right, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: At each other.

Do you get it, Chad? Do you get it?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, unless it's a big acid peel, I'm not sure. I don't know.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, Louisiana St. Bernard Parish struggling like everybody else in the region to recover from Hurricane Katrina. We caught this story this morning of one very bright spot. We'll tell you about a gift that's made the school's big shining light there.

M. O'BRIEN: Out series "Red Tape and Rubber" continues today. AMERICAN MORNING's Ali Velshi tells us why a guy in Brooklyn -- Brooklyn, New York that is -- lost his homeowner's insurance because of Katrina. We'll connect the dots for you. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: As we've been highlighting all week, progress in the Gulf Coast is brutally slow. Virtually every part of that area's infrastructure, including the schools, has been utterly devastated. But in New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish, where just a fraction of residents have returned, the school system is back and it's strong. That's because of strong leadership and lots of help.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Doris Voitier is the superintendent of the St. Bernard Parish public schools. Joan Larovere is the cofounder and also the vice president of the Virtue Foundation.

Ladies, nice to talk to both of you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very nice to be here.

S. O'BRIEN: You, to a large degree, have been a shining light in a really dark situation. Everyone raves about your performance in the parish for bringing the schools back.

Tell me a little bit about how you were able to pull it off.

DORIS VOITIER, SUPT., ST. BERNARD PARISH SCHOOLS: When we found out that we were not going to get any significant help in the very beginning from our federal government, because they couldn't make things happen quickly enough, we just took matters into our own hands. So we got a local contractor, located some portables in Georgia and in Carolina, had them shipped down, and in three and a half weeks, we put together a school in the parking of Shalmut (ph) High School so we could welcome our children home.

S. O'BRIEN: How excited were the students to be back? A lot of times, kids don't want to be in school, but in this case, that was not the case.

VOITIER: You just saw so many hugs, and smiles and welcoming with the teachers, the students and the parents. We had a little boy run up to his best friend, a little first-grader, who said, just ran up to him and said, "Jeff, I thought you were dead." I mean, these are the kinds of things these children were going through.

S. O'BRIEN: And are dealing with now.

VOITIER: And are continuing to deal with, absolutely.

S. O'BRIEN: How much of your role in the schools is also psychological counseling and help to bring things back to normal?

VOITIER: We've been very aware of that over the past year, so we've had our school counselors, and social workers and teachers looking for signs of that, and we've partnered with LSU School of Health and Allied Sciences, and they're lending us some additional support to work with our children.

S. O'BRIEN: On Wednesday, the handout of laptops, what was it like?

VOITIER: It was just phenomenal. It was so exciting. The kids were just thrilled. You know, there's been an outpouring of generosity among the American people for our children, but this is something, I think, is going to be the beginning of more of on educational focus, back to education, rather than the toys, which they needed at one point. But this is going to help us redevelop our curriculum program and make technology an emphasis again in our classrooms. So we're excited.

S. O'BRIEN: It's the computer handout, and the excitement, too, that brings us right to Joan, because it was the Virtue Foundation, along with Apple, that kind of pulled this all together.

This is the beginning of what you want to do, right?

DR. JOAN LAROVERE, V.P. VIRTUE FOUNDATION: Yes, it's the beginning. We've been committed, Virtue Foundation has been committed to trying to assist in rebuilding an education system here better than what was here before the hurricanes. We have already distributed 60 computers. The first lot in March went to Tanchipoha (ph) Parish, where there were children displaced there, and the others to the Renaissance Village trailer park in Baker. This is now part of another donation. We are going to be distributing 600 Apple iBook computers across Louisiana for afflicted children.

S. O'BRIEN: And you hope people will take the lead and pony up some more?

LAROVERE: We are very much hoping people will take the lead and pony up some more, and if they wish to can contact Virtue Foundation, and we will help in that.

S. O'BRIEN: That's your cell phone, I should say, that's been ringing.

LAROVERE: Yes, that's mine. I'm so sorry.

VOITIER: Yes, that's mine. I'm so sorry.

S. O'BRIEN: No, no, it's fine. I think it's an indication of just how busy you are. I guess, in a lot of ways, it's a good sign.

And you know, you look around and you say, is the cell phone ringing a good thing or bad thing? And is the fact that this guy has put up a sign and written the number on his front door a good thing, even though the house is a wreck? It sort of looks like someone is here caring (ph), and they're gutting, and, well, they're going to demolish their home. I mean, how do you look around and see what's going on here?

VOITIER: Well, first of all, the cell phone ringing is a good thing, because it shows we have some communication back. For a long time, the cell phones didn't work, the phones didn't work, we had no electricity, no grocery stores, nothing here, and we came back out of those ruins.

So as you look around now and you see some of the rebuilding, that gives us hope in our community. Our people want to come home, and they're bringing their children. Their children want to come back to us. And we've got now 3,412 children as of yesterday.

S. O'BRIEN: Out of how many?

VOITIER: Out of 8,800, so almost 40 percent back, and that is really a greater percentage than the number of residents who have returned today. So the children wish to come home, and they're forcing their parents really to come back because they want to be here. S. O'BRIEN: Well, then that's a good thing.

VOITIER: Absolutely.

S. O'BRIEN: Doris Voitier and Joan Larovere, thank you, ladies. Thanks very much. Appreciate it.

LAROVERE: Thanks, Soledad.

VOITIER: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: If you want to support the Virtue Foundation Katrina Education Initiative, just log on to www.virtuefoundation.org. They certainly need the money. They certainly need the surprise.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, what great efforts, and there are some kids who appreciate school.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, it's been so interesting to talk to the kids. They all say, I was dying to get back to school. I don't even like school and I wanted to get back to school.

Then, you know, we've been telling you the story about Pearlington, Mississippi, another area totally devastated, only 800 people there now. The town started off with 4,000. And like St. Bernard Parish in New Orleans, they've been struggling to rebuild. We've been following this family, the Swanson family. These are some of the kids. They have four kids, and look at what they've been living with and living in, a trailer like this size. This is a tiny trailer. They now have two on their property. The kids literally sit around and just kind of hang out all day. The little girl, Lisa, she sleeps -- this is a shelf in the trailer.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh. Wow! That gets old very quickly, doesn't it?

S. O'BRIEN: Could you imagine?

Anywhere there's a new foundation that has now offered to help. The volunteers have really been incredibly hands on, trying to clean up the place. So the new foundation, the Pearlington Project it's called, they're going to will build houses for the community. It's a relatively small community, 800 people. You know, it's actually doable.

M. O'BRIEN: So people can volunteer? Can do you down and do that?

S. O'BRIEN: People can volunteer and also...

M. O'BRIEN: I've got some tools. I'm in.

S. O'BRIEN: You're actually very handy. You could do that. You should go to Pearlington. It's a great little town. No post office, no grocery store, no schools. The kids travel like 10 or 11 hours every day just to go to the nearby school. Volunteers -- anything that's been done, the volunteers have helped out.

So the Pearlington Project, they're trying to get the money together. They're going to start building homes, because the FEMA trailers run out in February. You've got to start returning your FEMA trailers.

M. O'BRIEN: Do you think they're going to really yank those trailers out from under them? I bet...

S. O'BRIEN: Who knows? I hope FEMA doesn't do that. So they're going to try to get that going.

Anyway, if you're interested in helping out the little town of Pearlington, Mississippi, which we have profiled a ton over the last year, go to www.pearlingtonproject.org. Both excellent causes.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm going to load up the pickup truck and head down there.

S. O'BRIEN: You could actually do that. People don't know that about you, but you can build stuff. That's pretty impressive.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, thank you. Shucks.

Up next, Andy is "Minding Your Business." He's a handy guy, too. If your -- no he's not.

S. O'BRIEN: He's going no, I'm not.

M. O'BRIEN: If you're thinking about selling your cell phone, you best stay tuned as well, or you may become a victim of an identity theft. We'll give you some tips on protecting yourself when it's time to say goodbye to the old phone.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Well, Wednesday may be Prince Spaghetti today, but Thursday is Miles-cam day. And we're rolling out our new e-mail today. Take note, viewers, milescam@CNN.com is now the place to send your queries to, who else? Me. The place to see your answers is CNN.com/pipeline, 10:30 Eastern Time. Whatever's on your mind, we can talk about the shuttle, whether it got battered by the storm, we'll talk about that crash in Lexington, Kentucky, and then the proverbial, are Soledad and I married? The answer is yes, but not to each other.

S. O'BRIEN: So you see, you say yes and it throws people.

M. O'BRIEN: I know, it does.

S. O'BRIEN: Stop with that.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

M. O'BRIEN: Top stories after break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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