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American Morning
Crocodile Hunter Dies in Accident; Al Qaeda Leader Behind Bars
Aired September 04, 2006 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The crocodile hunter is dead. Steve Irwin, who made a career tempting fate, is killed diving on the Great Barrier Reef.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq, a key al Qaeda leader is behind bars. Some say he is at the heart of what's stirring sectarian unrest. And Iraqis say it's a big victory.
Is he betraying now his fellow al Qaeda terrorists?
M. O'BRIEN: The Labor Day kickoff to the election season.
Will the political wind shift on Capitol Hill?
S. O'BRIEN: And we're going to show you this morning how to truly master your food bill. You can save big money at the supermarket. Tips from "Consumer Reports" ahead, and much more, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
Happy Labor Day to you.
S. O'BRIEN: And a very sad story to begin with this morning.
It comes to us out of Australia.
Steve Irwin, better known, of course, to the world as the crocodile hunter, is dead. He was killed by a stingray while he was diving along the Great Barrier Reef. The stingray's tail apparently punctured his chest and they believe it may have even hit his heart.
Steve Irwin was just 44 years old.
We get more on the career of Steve Irwin from Alex Smith of Australia's Channel Nine.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ALEX SMITH, CHANNEL NINE, AUSTRALIA (voice-over): Steve Irwin was more than extraordinary. He was an international phenomenon.
STEVE IRWIN, CROCODILE HUNTER: I can't stop, mate. I'm just -- I'm on fire. I wake up in the morning and I'm on fire. I just can't do enough.
SMITH: And the world couldn't get enough. Long before he was a household name at home, he was star of the week on U.S. television.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Irwins are the real crocodile Dundees of Queensland in Australia.
SMITH: It all started at his parents' Australia zoo on the Sunshine Coast. That grounding and his boots and all approach...
IRWIN: Full force. Full force. Go, go, go!
SMITH: And that trademark style...
IRWIN: Crikey! That's the biggest crocodile upheaval in Australia Zoo's history.
SMITH: ... made Steve Irwin one of Australia's most successful exports.
IRWIN: I want you in there with me, Charlie.
Mate, all right, you're coming in with me.
SMITH: Even Hollywood beckoned.
IRWIN: There you go, mate.
SMITH: But along with wife Terri and their two children, Steve's heart was never far from the Aussie bush and his beloved Australia Zoo. There were controversies along the way.
IRWIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
SMITH: But no controversy could shake his self-belief.
IRWIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in peaks and troughs and try and keep a nice, little, happy playing field and surround yourself with your family.
SMITH: He leaves behind a massive nature conservation project funded by his multi-million dollar empire. But perhaps his greatest legacy would be to encourage others to follow their dreams.
IRWIN: I am the proudest Australian bloke on the face of the Earth.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: That reports comes to us from Alex Smith from Australia's Channel Nine.
Apparently Irwin went into cardiac arrest when he stung by the ray. He was swimming over it at the time.
The crew called for a MediVac, but by the time they got there, it was too late.
In just a few minutes, we're going to talk to animal lover Jack Hanna about his late friend, Steve Irwin -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Tourists visiting Amman, Jordan became targets today when two gunmen opened fire. Jordanian officials say one British tourist is dead. CNN has confirmed among the wounded two British citizens, one Australian and one New Zealander and one Dutch citizen; also, a tour guide of unknown nationality is also apparently injured.
A key al Qaeda operative in Iraq behind bars this morning. Hamed Jumaa Al Saeedi, who also goes by a few other aliases, is apparently the number two man in that organization.
CNN's Michael Holmes joining us from Baghdad with more -- Michael, tell us about him.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi to you, Miles.
And good morning, everyone.
Well, the national security adviser here, Mowaffak Al-Rubaie, announced this arrest at a news conference on Sunday.
Now, the man in question, according to Al-Rubaie, was the number two man. He was second in command to Abu Ayyub Al-Masri, who himself took over al Qaeda in Iraq after U.S. troops, you'll remember, killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. That happened back in June.
Now, according to officials, he has admitted receiving money from other groups who had been kidnapping Iraqis and getting ransoms for their release. He was apparently caught with three other Al Qaeda members.
But why is he significant in particular?
Here's part of the news conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): He is the one who is directly responsible for the criminal Haitham al-Badri, the mastermind and the bomber of the Samarra shrine. He has implemented the policy of Al Qaeda in Iraq and the orders of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in triggering sectarian sedition and violence in Iraq between Sunnis and Shiites.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, Miles, of course, the bombing of that Samarra shrine in February -- it can't be understated the importance of that. That was a very holy place for Shias. It didn't kill many people, the explosion itself. But I'll tell you what, it is what really sparked the major sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni that we've seen in Iraq, and in particular here in Baghdad, in recent months -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: You mentioned Zarqawi. Zarqawi was killed in June.
What's the best sense as to how much that hobbled Al Qaeda in Iraq and how much will this arrest help?
HOLMES: You know, that's a very important question, and it's -- it puts things in perspective. You and I know there have been a lot of al Qaeda number twos arrested over the last few years. And when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed by those U.S. troops, it really was a speed bump in terms of al Qaeda's ability to operate in Iraq.
Now, the arrest of this man, well, the Iraqis say it's putting a major dent in Al Qaeda in Iraq. But that remains to be seen. Al Qaeda, as you know, is very much a cellular organization. It doesn't have an H.Q. or anything like that. And these cells operate, often, very independently of each other. And we're even told that this man, Al Saeedi, he was controlling a number of cells in and around Baquba.
Now, elsewhere around the country, those cells are operating pretty independently.
So, I think over the long-term, it probably won't have much effect. Maybe the short-term, a little -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Michael Holmes in Baghdad, thank you.
Another al Qaeda tape is out and once again we're hearing from an American member of that terror group.
Adam Gadahn, a 29-year-old -- 28-year-old Californian wanted by the FBI is asking Americans to convert to Islam.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM YEHIYE GADAHN: And the leaders of the West also find it convenient to point the finger of accusation at the other because it helps them to avoid having to face difficult questions about the West's dark and bloody past, and equally dark and bloody present.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: A counter-terrorism expert tells CNN the American's comments may be the warning of an imminent attack. Still other experts in the region say it may be a bid to soften the group's image -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Are you feeling confident about your job, your investments, the value of your home?
On this Labor Day, President Bush is going to try to convince Americans that all is well with the economy.
CNN's Kathleen Koch at the White House with a preview of the president's speech this morning -- hey, Kathleen, good morning.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. And it is a sales job with a lot at stake. You know, the mid- term elections are just two months away. Democrats need just six seats to take control of the Senate, some 15 to take control of the House. And both parties are very aware that the economy is a very important issue for voters this election year, right up there with Iraq, with the war on terrorism.
And so the president is going to a maritime academy in Piney Point, Maryland to make the pitch to Americans that his economic policies are working.
He is expected to cite unemployment figures that came out recently showing that unemployment dropped slightly in August, to 4.7 percent, and that the president -- that the economy has generated -- had this job growth for some 36 straight months during Mr. Bush's presidency.
But Democrats insist the president, rather, is out of touch with those many Americans who are still out there not enjoying and reaping the benefits of the economy and living paycheck to paycheck. They point to figures that show that between 2001 and 2005, that median household income dropped half a percent, that during that same time period, the poverty rate nationwide rose from 11.7 to 12.6 percent.
So certainly both parties out there pitching hard to reach voters with their spin on the economy -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: No surprise there.
Kathleen Koch at the White House for us.
Thanks, Kathleen.
KOCH: You bet.
S. O'BRIEN: CNN's is going to have live coverage of the president's comments about the economy.
That's later this morning, at 11:50 a.m. Eastern time.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, while you are focused on getting the kids settled into school, Democratic political operatives are focused on unsettling the political status quo. The mid-term election is set to move into overdrive. Nine weeks of campaigning lie ahead.
When it's over, who will control Congress?
AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken with more.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The -- it kind of makes you choke up, doesn't it?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, it does, apparently.
FRANKEN: A very interesting, very, very high stakes election. At issue, control of Congress. Most of the experts saying that the House of Representatives is certainly in play, perhaps the Senate.
Both sides, the Democrats and the Republicans, say they are going to focus on national security, the war in Iraq, the war on terrorism.
And as we see in the all important Pennsylvania Senate race, both sides are going to do their level best to finesse the issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "MEET THE PRESS, " COURTESY NBC)
BOB CASEY, U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: We need new leadership. We don't need a deadline, a time line, we need new leadership. And part of that leadership, I think, involves a couple of things.
Let me just go through four of five of them.
One of them is the question of accountability. Our troops have been accountable with their lives and yet a lot of politicians in Washington haven't been held accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "MEET THE PRESS, " COURTESY NBC)
SEN. RICK SANTORUM (R-PA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: I think we'll win or lose this war right here in America. I think we'll win or lose this war because the American pe...
CASEY: Let's have a...
SANTORUM: Please let me finish.
Because the American people are not going to stand -- are losing their resolve because of the tactics the terrorists are using.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: As I said, it's going to be a political war here in the United States until November. The Republicans, if they lose control of the House, are going to see Democrats who are very willing to just stop the Bush administration in its tracks in the final two years. And Democrats say they are going to, in fact, make an issue in this election of President Bush, even though he isn't running -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, the late Tip O'Neill said all politics is local. These are congressional districts. There's a lot of local issues which will come into play. But it seems like there's an unifying national issue at stake here.
FRANKEN: Well, it's an interesting point. Yes, it's true that all politics is local. I never knew if it was is or are. But, in any case, the truth is, is that terrorism is viewed as a local issue and the Republicans are hoping they can make that case, as well as the Democrats saying it.
So there's going to be a fight that both sides are anxious to have. M. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken in Washington, thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Ten minutes past the hour.
Let's get right to the forecast with Chad, who's at the CNN Center this morning -- hey, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, animal lover Jack Hanna will join us to talk about his late friend, crocodile hunter Steve Irwin.
And al Qaeda and the president's war on terror.
Are we safer today?
We'll get an inside perspective.
S. O'BRIEN: Plus, it's Labor Day. You're home, maybe avoiding work. We'll bring work to you.
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao is going to join us. We'll talk to her about wages, the economy and why we -- some of us don't seem to feel like we have any money left in our wallets.
That's all ahead.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: A victory in Iraq, a heated battle in Afghanistan and yet another videotaped diatribe from al Qaeda. It's just another day in the war on terror, which has engulfed us now for nearly five years.
Joining us now with more on whether we're safe or not is Lawrence Wright.
He is the author of a fascinating and telling book called "The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and The Road to 9/11."
He also has a piece in this week's "New Yorker" detailing more information about al Qaeda and its supporters.
He's joining us now from Austin, Texas.
Lawrence, good to have you with us.
LAWRENCE WRIGHT, "THE NEW YORKER": It's a pleasure, Miles.
Thanks.
M. O'BRIEN: The news of the morning first.
We just want to share with people an except of this Al Qaeda tape. It has the American we've seen before, Gadahn, in there talking about Islam and trying to convince Americans to convert.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM YEHIYE GADAHN, VIA INTERNET: We invite all Americans and other unbelievers to Islam, wherever they are and whatever their role and status in Bush and Blair's world order. And we send a special invitation to all of you fighting Bush's crusader pipe dream in Afghanistan, Iraq and wherever else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: It seems to me it's just another piece in a rather sophisticated public relations and marketing campaign on the part of al Qaeda.
What does that say about the health and well being about this terror group?
WRIGHT: Well, first of all, Adam Gadahn has taken on this kind of Tokyo Rose role. And he's speaking to the troops and also to -- he even gestured to my colleague, Seymour Hersh, at "The New Yorker."
It says that they know a lot about America, that they're still able to get their -- their word out and that the mother ship, al Qaeda, is not entirely destroyed, and, in fact, is still attracting recruits.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, how much, though, is it, you know, a headquarters operation with issuing marching orders and how much is it just, essentially, the tapes offering some sort of inspiration to other cells which act autonomously.
WRIGHT: That's the main thing that al Qaeda has become. And the al Qaeda theorists have already planned for al Qaeda, the organization, to be eliminated. They knew early on, before 2001, that the top leaders would eventually be killed or captured. What they planned was to spread the word, create small groups around the world and then also struggle for territory, to begin to form a kind of army that would contend openly for territory.
M. O'BRIEN: This morning we have, of course, the continuing battle for Iraq. Also, we're hearing some troubling news out of Afghanistan, southern Afghanistan. The poppy production is way up. There is an offensive underway at this moment.
The question is are things going from -- are things getting worse in Afghanistan?
And in that sense, has, has Osama bin Laden achieved the goals of 9/11, in bringing the U.S. into the region and bogging it down? WRIGHT: Oh, yes, he has. I mean, if we had been able to concentrate our forces in Afghanistan, I think we would have much more of a success story there. But as it is, what we see in Iraq is what he had planned for us in Afghanistan. He didn't expect the Taliban to be swept aside so easily and his own troops to be pummeled, as they were.
And in November or December of 2001, al Qaeda was really dead. It went through three years of a kind of zombie-like existence, but Iraq was the match that set the prairie on fire.
M. O'BRIEN: I want to shift to your book a little bit, because we've heard so much -- if you've read the 9/11 Commission Report or just read the news about it, you know that in the run-up to 9/11, one of the big complaints was the FBI and the CIA were not communicating well, this so-called wall between them.
I'm -- your book details it in ways I had not seen before, specifically, an FBI agent, Ali Soufan, an Arabic speaker of Lebanese descent who, if he had been given proper access to CIA intelligence, probably could have unraveled the whole thing in advance.
The question I'm left with is has it been fixed and what might we be missing now?
WRIGHT: Well, first of all, when Ali Soufan was assigned as the case agent of the Cole bombing in October of 2000, he was one of only eight people in the FBI who spoke Arabic. And now, he did a fabulous job of investigating that and could easily have uncovered the 9/11 plot if the CIA had not blinded the FBI to the presence of al Qaeda in America.
But the real thing that we need to do in our intelligence agencies is hire more people like him. We do not need to have new departments or new heads of the intelligence. All we really need is good Arabic, Urdu and Pashtun-speaking agents on the ground who are close to these communities.
That's where we've really failed. And having another bureaucracy isn't going to fix that problem.
M. O'BRIEN: Do they exist, though?
WRIGHT: They -- these agents? There are some.
M. O'BRIEN: The...
WRIGHT: There are not nearly as many. Listen, the FBI -- just to take an example -- it formed itself around fighting the mafia and, to some extent, the IRA. And if you go on the seventh floor of the FBI headquarters in Washington, who do you see? You see Irish and Italian Catholic guys. They're from the same community, the same neighborhoods. They know the people that they're working against.
We haven't gotten anywhere near that with radical Islam.
M. O'BRIEN: Lawrence Wright, we've got to leave it there.
Lots more we could talk about, but thank you for your time.
WRIGHT: It's a pleasure.
M. O'BRIEN: He is the author of "The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and The Road To 9/11."
Everyone should read it.
Thank you -- Soledad.
WRIGHT: Thank you, Miles.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, much more on the life of the crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin. We're going to talk to out of this world's other foremost animal experts, Jack Hanna.
And a bittersweet ending for Andre Agassi. The inspirational tennis star is bowing out. At the U.S. Open, he offered up a tearful farewell to his legion of fans. We'll tell you what he said.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Like Jacques Cousteau and Marlin Perkins, Steve Irwin brought the wild world a little bit clearer to us. But it's that wild world that ultimately ended his life early. He was sort of stabbed by a stingray, it's believed. And the Australian icon died this morning. He was 44 years old.
Join us this morning to talk about Irwin's impact is another very well known animal expert, Jack Hanna.
He joins us by phone from Big Fork in Montana.
Jack, thanks for talking with us, especially on such a terrible, terrible occasion.
I have to imagine that you'd want to send your condolences to the family members and the friends who are just shocked.
JACK HANNA, "JACK HANNA'S ANIMAL ADVENTURE": Yes, I really do. You know, Steven and his family, Terri and all the kids, it's a tragic thing. It's just -- it's unbelievable, really. You think of Steve Irwin, you think of people that are invincible and, you know, it's just hard to believe it happened.
S. O'BRIEN: It's shocking. And, you know, at first I thought maybe he was shooting -- I know he was shooting a documentary and I thought maybe he was shooting something about stingrays in this documentary. It's believed now that that stingray may have stabbed him and maybe even punctured his heart. It turns out, according to one of the guys he worked with, that that wasn't the case, that he was actually shooting some kind of children's show in a break on the Great Barrier Reef and this happened.
I guess it just reiterates how dangerous all of this can be, especially when you're dealing with someone who made it look so easy.
HANNA: Yes, you know, Steve, you know, when I started my own show, there were two, now there's 29. And there's some guys who try to be Steve Irwin and, you know, but there's only one Steve Irwin. The guy really lived his life this way. He filmed his zoo in Australia, filmed in the Great Barrier Reef. And Steve really knew what he was doing. He was one of the finest reptile people in the world. He knew about reptiles like nobody did. He was raised that way.
So when you do that, you know, obviously, you know what you're doing. You know, Steve was one of these guys, though, that loved to bring the animal world to us in a much closer way. And all of us have our own way of doing it. And stingrays are not an animal, by the way, that really are aggressive, that come for you or anything else. They range from one foot to 10 or 12 feet wide, you know? And it sounds like this was a big one. And those barbs, you know, if you step on them in the ocean, then they sting you, that type of thing.
But, I mean, there's a lot of places, like the Columbus Zoo and other places, that have touch tanks. Sea World has a great touch tank for stingrays and nothing ever happens. And it's an unfortunate accident. You know, who knows what was happening and what he was doing? I guess we'll know that in a few days.
But that barb is big. Someone said the barb actually went right through his chest, you know, is what I've heard, too. So it just, you know, that could be very deadly, obviously, if that happens.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
Right.
Let's talk about his legacy. I mean here's a guy who, as much as, I think, what he did on camera and, you know, how risky things looked when he was pulling off some of these stunts with animals, he really, at the heart, was an environmentalist and wanted people to learn about animals to protect them.
HANNA: Yes. He really did, all because of how he was raised. If you saw how he was raised in his zoo in Australia, in Queensland there, you knew that this guy, from, what, eight or nine years old, was working with crocodiles, snakes and all sorts of things. And you have to know that. Of course, he told that to his viewers when people were watching all that.
So, you know, that was one of those things that you had to understand, that what you were watching, you couldn't do yourself. Like if you watch an Indianapolis 500 racer, you know, you know you can't take your car and go 200 miles an hour. And that's kind of the same thing with Steve.
S. O'BRIEN: Right. You could still enjoy it and think well, I'd never do that, but, boy, is he amazing when he does it. It seems like it's a freak accident. When you hear a report like something -- of something like this that happens to a close friend of yours, does this make you rethink -- I mean, you and I certainly have had our fair share of sitting down and handling, you know, animals that I've been afraid to touch.
HANNA: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: Does this make you rethink anything that you do, Jack?
HANNA: Well, sometimes. You know, we've -- we all have had a few accidents. But you must remember the one word is respect. You have to respect what that animal -- what you're working with can do. A wild animal is like a loaded gun--- it can go off at any time.
A lot of the animals that I work with are animals that we use for educational purposes and that type of thing. But, you know, I do everything in the world that I can do to make sure that -- you know, 99 percent of the time that someone is hurt by an animal, it's your fault. The times I've been hurt, it's been my fault.
And you just have to be careful of that. You know, you have to know what your limits are, what that animal is, because they're wild animals. They have their defenses, you know?
People use the word dangerous and that sometimes is a -- is a word that's not fair to that animal because that animal only has been given the defenses that god gave it.
So you have to understand what all that involves and if you understand that, like I have for many, many years, then hopefully nothing will happen. You try and bring the animal world to people so they can learn in the best way possible, like Marlin Perkins' started, as you just said, and Jacques Cousteau and Steve. And, you know, they brought a lot to us. And, you know, hopefully we can continue that in a safe way.
S. O'BRIEN: Jack Hanna is the director emeritus at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
Thanks, Jack.
And nice to talk to you, and I'm sorry it's on such a sad occasion.
We appreciate your time.
You might remember that Larry King sat down with Steve Irwin back in 2004. You can see that special interview again tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. We're going to replay it for you.
A short break and We're back in just a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON BIRGER, SENIOR WRITER, "FORTUNE": The reason the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is on the list this year is because this is the first year it's been eligible. The CME went public in January 2003, so finally they have three years of financial data on which it can be judged.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is actually the world's largest financial market. They trade things like grains and pork bellies. But what's been a big grower in recent years for the CME has been stock index futures.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has a very exciting partnership with Reuters and they think that there could be a growing market for a centralized exchange for foreign currency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
Carol Costello is here with a look at the headlines -- good morning, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
Good morning, Soledad.
And good morning to all of you.
We are watching a developing story out of Jordan for you. A gunman opened fire on tourists in downtown Amman. At least one person was killed, a British tourist. Six other people hurt, including a Jordanian tour guide. The suspect has apparently been taken into custody. There's no word on a motive.
In Afghanistan, a car bomber takes aim a NATO military convoy in Kabul. At least four civilians and a British soldier killed in that morning blast. Either others injured, including four NATO troops.
One of the largest manhunts in New York State history underway this morning. Authorities looking for the man who is suspected of shooting two state troopers. One of them died yesterday. Thirty-two- year-old Joseph Longobardo never regained consciousness. The other trooper is doing a little better this morning.
The escaped fugitive is Ralph "Bucky" Phillips. He's been on the run-since April. A possible sixth tropical storm of the Atlantic season is taking shape. We're watching for a potential Tropical Storm Florence. In the meantime, the East Coast is starting to dry out from Ernesto. Boy, it was nasty. The storm flooded roads and left nearly 100,000 people without power this past weekend. In fact, some customers could be without lights until Wednesday.
A tennis career spanning two decades has ended in a very classy way. Andre Agassi shed tears after he was eliminated at the U.S. Open by the young German player, Benjamin Becker. The tennis great had appeared in the U.S. Open 20 times. He acknowledged his loyal fans at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. He said, "You have willed me to achieve even in my lowest moments."
As I said, a classy way to end. I can't believe he's not going to play anymore.
M. O'BRIEN: Maybe he'll be back.
COSTELLO: You never know these days.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: There are -- lots of people have retired...
M. O'BRIEN: Fix the bath, you know?
S. O'BRIEN: ... and then unretired (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
M. O'BRIEN: It has happened.
COSTELLO: It's true.
M. O'BRIEN: You know, they find a way to fix that (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
S. O'BRIEN: I'm going to miss watching him play. Gosh.
COSTELLO: He's amazing to watch play.
S. O'BRIEN: That's true.
All right, Carol, thanks.
M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, Labor Day, of course, is a celebration of America's workforce. That's why we're here working for you today.
President Bush is going to accentuate the positive in a speech today on the economy. According to a new government report, the national unemployment rate approached a five year low of 4.7 percent in the first half of 2006. More than 5.4 million jobs were created.
Joining us this morning from the White House, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.
Good morning.
Nice to see you, Ms. Madam Secretary.
ELAINE CHAO, LABOR SECRETARY: Good morning.
S. O'BRIEN: How are you?
CHAO: Good, thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about some of the figures.
CHAO: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: I mean if the news is so good -- let's throw this poll up. You can see 63 percent of Americans who are polled say they feel negatively about the way the economy is going, the state of the economy.
Why is that, do you think?
CHAO: Well, I think, first of all, you need to think where that poll is coming from. And overall, you know, our economy has experienced 36 straight months of job creation. Over 5.7 million net new jobs have been created in the last two years alone. The unemployment rate, as you mentioned, is 4.7 percent, which is lower than the average unemployment rate of 5.7 in the decade of the 1990s. And average hourly earnings increased 3.9 percent just in the last year.
S. O'BRIEN: Well...
CHAO: When we talk about consumer confidence, consumer confidence, you know, fluctuates up and down. But what we need to see is consumer spending. And consumer spending remains very strong. And we begin -- we continue to see across-the-board job gains.
What we are seeing is not so much a wage gap, but a skills gap. What we have is the majority of the new jobs that are being created require higher skills, more education. And so that means that we've got to focus more on worker training, retraining and education.
S. O'BRIEN: But, in fact, aren't some of those jobs that are being created low skill jobs and jobs that don't pay as well...
CHAO: No.
S. O'BRIEN: ... so what ends up happening is, yes, you've added jobs to the rolls, but they're not as good as the jobs that the people are actually losing?
CHAO: No, that's not true, because the majority of new jobs, the majority of the 5.7 million new jobs created require higher skills, more education. So by definition, they're better paying jobs. Our economy is evolving. It's transitioning to a knowledge-based economy. And so workers with higher skills, more education, will be in greater demand. And consequently their wages will be bid up. And as we talk about wages, it's real important to talk also about compensation.
More and more different kinds of pay is coming into play. Compensation includes total benefits. So there are health care benefits, retirement benefits, paid leave, for example. And one can't really talk about wages without talking about total compensation...
S. O'BRIEN: Right. And let's...
CHAO: ... which has increased 6 percent since 2001.
S. O'BRIEN: And if you talk about overall wages...
CHAO: Yes?
S. O'BRIEN: ... and total compensation, you could say, OK, maybe overall your wages are up, but your actual, your real wages are not necessarily moving. For example, because health care costs are so much more expensive, wow, yes, you're getting more in your health care costs from your employer. But as far as money that you get to bring home to buy groceries, no. You're not seeing anything more in your pocket.
CHAO: No, that's not true either. After tax, on an after tax basis, personal income has actually risen. And it's very important to know that. Because of the president's tax cut. The after tax disposable income increased 9.2 percent since 2001. And that's what really matters, as you mentioned, after tax dollars in people's pockets.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, but, you know, when you look at Census Report, and I'm talking about 2004, 2005, which I have in front of me.
CHAO: Yes?
S. O'BRIEN: And they break it down by fifths. And you can see, yes, if you're in the highest fifth, the top 20 percent of the labor pool, then you're doing great. Your numbers are up. Your real median income numbers are doing very well.
But all the other fifths, the other fourth, 80 percent of Americans, are actually down. I mean, you know, in front of me, over 2004, 2005...
CHAO: That's not really true. That's not really true, either.
S. O'BRIEN: The Census is wrong?
CHAO: The Census is only one year. Basically -- and it is not right. Basically, everyone's wages has increased over the last five years. So what we are talking about now is not who's losing, who's gaining, but who is gaining more than others who are also gaining. That's a big difference.
S. O'BRIEN: Well...
CHAO: So if everyone's wages has increased over the last five years and what we're -- so we're talking about the relative increases. And overall, the rates have been pretty much the same.
S. O'BRIEN: Let...
CHAO: The poverty rate...
S. O'BRIEN: Let's...
CHAO: The poverty rate, for example, in, you know, is about 12.6. In the 1990s, the poverty rate was 13.7 percent. So the poverty rate has dropped and overall incomes has increased.
And what we're talking about, again, is not, you know, who's gaining...
S. O'BRIEN: But remember...
CHAO: Yes?
S. O'BRIEN: ... the poverty level, that number, the number, the dollar number, hasn't really risen. For example, I mean if you look at the minimum wage...
CHAO: Yes?
S. O'BRIEN: ... $5.15.
CHAO: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: $5.15 an hour.
CHAO: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: Would you support that going higher? $7.25 is what's been pushed for.
CHAO: Well, the administration supports an increase in the minimum wage. In fact, there was a minimum wage bill just a month ago in the Congress. The House of Representatives passed it. It was a bipartisan bill. Thirty-four Democrats voted for it. And the Democrats in the Senate killed it.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, what I thought the Republicans...
CHAO: Now, they...
S. O'BRIEN: ... the Republicans hold the Senate, right? So, I mean, it's...
CHAO: Well, they need the majority. They need, basically, you need about 60 votes to be functional. So basically the minimum wage bill, which increased minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 in the Senate, which is what they wanted -- which is what the Democrats wanted -- did not go through because the Democrats did not support the minimum wage bill.
S. O'BRIEN: Because it was linked, of course, to the estate tax being dropped.
Correct?
CHAO: Well, of course. It's a, you know, that's a typical, classic compromise. Some people get some things, other people get others. If the Democrats really wanted this as an issue, they would have voted for it. Instead they would have...
S. O'BRIEN: What do you think would be a fair wage, minimum wage? What should minimum wage be?
CHAO: Well, $7.25 is what I think the bill -- is what I think everyone has coalesced about.
S. O'BRIEN: But, you know, you do the math on that...
CHAO: Yes?
S. O'BRIEN: ... that's like $19,000 -- sorry, that's -- if you -- if you're making that, that's incredibly low, still.
CHAO: There are about two...
S. O'BRIEN: Do you think people can live on that?
CHAO: There's 2 percent of our population -- of our working population that earns minimum wage. We have 137 million people who are working. We have basically 2 percent, that's less than 2 percent, actually, of people who earn minimum wage. We have less than 225,000 people who are head of households who earn minimum wage.
The largest component of people who earn minimum wage are actually young people who are entering the workforce for the very first time.
And so we want people to come into the workforce. We don't want them to stay at minimum wage jobs. We want them to grow and to get better paying jobs. And that's where knowing and understanding that our economy is a knowledge-based economy is very important.
We're training and retraining and education, more education of our workforce is very important to helping people gravitate toward those jobs that, indeed, are paying better wages.
S. O'BRIEN: Elaine Chao is the labor secretary.
Happy Labor Day to you.
Thanks for joining us this morning.
We appreciate it.
CHAO: Thank you so much.
Happy Labor Day.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's get a check of the forecast.
Chad Myers is at the CNN Center -- hello, Chad.
MYERS: And good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Supermarkets are expanding into more than just a place to get essentials for dinner. Coming up, how you can make the right choices. But we're not just talking nutritionally. We're talking financially, as well. We'll get supermarket smart, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Iran says it will negotiate but it will not stop enriching uranium first. The Iranian president, Mahmood Ahmadinejad, making that vow in a meeting with the U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. So the nuclear standoff continues.
Amid the tension, Ahmadinejad's predecessor is here in the U.S.
Our Zain Verjee conducted an exclusive interview with Mohammad Khatami.
Zain joins us from Chicago with more -- hello, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles.
How are you?
The former Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, as you say, here in the United States. We talked extensively last night, for about an hour, and a lot of it was focused on the nuclear question that's factor here.
He said that -- he was insistent, actually, that Iran is not out to build a nuclear bomb. It's not interested in nuclear weapons at all. He says essentially what they want is technology so that they can generate the electricity that they need now and presumably in the future, as well. And what Iran wants is just nuclear energy.
He also said that they have a right to do that under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Now, as you know, the United States and many European countries, Miles, have been very suspicious of Iran's nuclear program, saying that they suspect that it's being used as a cover so that Iran develops a nuclear bomb. President Mohammad Khatami said and expressed to us some concern that Iran could become a military target.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
VERJEE: Couldn't the deadlock, if it does come to that, over the nuclear issue, lead to an attack on Iran? Do you worry about that?
MOHAMMAD KHATAMI, FORMER IRANIAN PRESIDENT (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We are definitely worried and hopeful that such a thing will not take place, such attack will not take place. I think, in all honesty, the probability of such a thing taking place are very low and I firmly believe that the only power that can undertake -- can take such steps is the United States. And, quite frankly, I think the United States has caused itself enough problems in Iraq and the U.S. public opinion will no longer permit the U.S. government to create such problems in other countries.
And I think such talks can only increase the difficulties in communications. We live in a very sensitive region in the Middle East. And, also, other activities that other countries in the region are pursuing and other countries in the world are pursuing, I don't think that Iran -- Iran's activities are any more dangerous than what other countries throughout the world have been pursuing.
I think there should be a fair view of what's going on and we should not increase or bring about any more crises in a region that's already challenged with many crises that it's dealing with.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
VERJEE: And one of the ways, Miles, to alleviate the crises in the various regions, President Mohammad Khatami really promoting the idea of a dialogue of civilizations, saying mutual respect and mutual understanding between Muslims, Christians and Jews is absolutely imperative, respecting their identities, their histories and their cultures.
And he's off to New York next to talk more about that -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: It's interesting. He sounds like a moderate when he says something like that.
VERJEE: Absolutely. I mean he stands in a far contrast to President Mahmood Ahmadinejad. And, in fact, he has been viewed as a moderate person, a moderate Iranian that was elected by the Iranian people back in 1997 on a platform of moderation and democracy. This was a guy that many people say the Clinton administration felt that they could really deal with.
President Khatami telling us that he felt that there was a lot of progress and dialogue and some of that understanding during the years of the Clinton administration. But that, he said, appears to have stalled.
M. O'BRIEN: Zain Verjee in Chicago. Thank you.
You can catch Zain's full exclusive interview with the former Iranian president this afternoon, 4:00 p.m. Eastern time in "THE SITUATION ROOM," right here on CNN -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, the struggle just to make a living.
Is the American dream becoming a financial nightmare?
We'll take a look ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: The grocery game -- it sounds like some new TV reality show. But there's actually real money to be saved when you play it.
Carol Costello has got more this morning -- good morning.
COSTELLO: You know, that's a good idea, a TV reality show about grocery shopping. It could work.
S. O'BRIEN: Isn't that "The Price Is Right" sort of?
M. O'BRIEN: Gripping.
COSTELLO: Sort of. Yes, exactly.
Yes, in reality, grocery shopping is a kind of game. And the new issue of "Consumer Reports" can help you win by shopping smarter, cheaper and faster.
Their study found most Americans shop for groceries at least once a week, but that does not mean they like it. Thirty percent complain about closed checkouts, 16 percent about congested aisles and 11 percent about advertised specials that were out of stock.
Forty-two percent actually changed grocery stores, citing things like high prices, long waits and poor selections. As for finding the best bargains, size does not matter. Stores like Trader Joe's, Costco, Aldi, Sam's Club and Wal-Mart Super Center provide an alternative to regular supermarkets while still letting you shop until you drop.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: Back in the old days, it seemed so simple. You went into a grocery store with your family, you grabbed what you needed and then you left.
Not so anymore. There are more products, more brands, more stores to choose from. Now you have to be supermarket smart. And to do that, you need help.
KIM KLEMEN, "CONSUMER REPORTS": I'm Kim Klemen.
I'm deputy editorial director for "Consumer Reports."
COSTELLO: OK, so there are two kinds of grocery stores, one that's a little more upscale and one that's not.
And so what should we do as consumers?
KLEMEN: Consider going to two different kinds of grocery stores for your shopping -- one for most of your shopping where you're going to get the best prices you can find in your area; and the other kind of store for your produce, your vegetables, your fruits, your breads.
People need to know that convenience foods are really costly. And sometimes it's worth the extra price. You're late for making dinner at a dinner party, you want the bagged lettuce. But when you can spare the time, shred it yourself, cut it yourself.
Here we have the same kind of cheese, exactly the same way, we have .42 pounds. If they grate the parmesan for you, it's costing you $17.99 a pound. If you do it yourself, it's cheaper.
With tuna fish and other products like peanut butter and ketchup, you think that you're saving money if you buy the larger size. But ounce for ounce, this tuna fish is cheaper if you buy the smaller size. This is $7.03 per pound in this size, but it's almost $8 per pound in this size.
COSTELLO: Wow!
KLEMEN: So I would buy two of these rather than one of these.
COSTELLO: So I notice the milk and the butter in the back of the store.
KLEMEN: There's a reason for that. You come in maybe multiple times a week to buy milk or to buy meat or something like that. They put those items in the farthest flung corners of the store so that you pass a lot of other stuff before you get there, and their hope is that you'll pick other stuff off the shelves, stuff you weren't intending to buy. So you spend more money in their store.
COSTELLO: It's something you really don't think about, but cart traffic, what does that tell you?
KLEMEN: One of my favorite pieces of advice in this story is that many stores are laid out so everybody's going counter-clockwise. What we recommend you try is to go clockwise. You're going, you know, against the traffic, against the crowds. You're going a little bit faster than you otherwise would. You're shopping more efficiently and you might just save some money.
You should consider grocery shopping as if it were a game. They're trying to keep you in your store for as long as possible because the longer you spend, the more money you're going to spend.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: All right, a few more tips from "Consumer Reports."
Look up and down. Grocery stores typically put the most expensive items right between carts and eye level. You can find bargains low and high.
Check out the check outs -- supermarket scanners sometimes make mistakes. They really do. So pay attention.
Watch nutrition labels. Sometimes stores put fatty foods near healthy foods and produce, and that can confuse consumers into thinking they're low fat. The bottom line? Pay attention.
And you can learn more about the rules of the grocery game in the October issue of "Consumer Reports."
S. O'BRIEN: Excellent advice.
COSTELLO: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
S. O'BRIEN: Carol, thank you.
COSTELLO: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: We've got a look at our top stories right after this short break.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: The crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin, is dead. The daredevil Australian is killed while shooting a new show.
M. O'BRIEN: A developing story out of the Mideast. A group of foreigners gunned down at a popular tourist spot in Jordan.
S. O'BRIEN: Ernesto is gone, but what the storm left behind still lingers. A Labor Day cleanup is now underway.
MYERS: And I'm meteorologist Chad Myers in Atlanta.
Tropical depression number six now developing. It could be and it's forecast to be Hurricane Florence by the end of the week.
We'll have more on that coming up.
S. O'BRIEN: Good morning.
Welcome back, everybody.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
Thanks for being with us.
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