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American Morning
Lockdown on Capitol Hill; Saved by Text Message; Newborn Stolen; Pope Apologizes for Controversial Remarks on Islam
Aired September 18, 2006 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A lockdown on Capitol Hill this morning after an intruder makes his way past security and into the building. The latest on this developing story, ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello, in today for Soledad.
hAnd we are watching that developing story in the nation's capital. In fact, at the Capitol building, a man runs into the building where he is not supposed to be. But now that man is in custody, but the Capitol remains in lockdown.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve joins us now from Washington. She has the latest.
Good morning, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Actually, we are told now that the Capitol has reopened. Once again, it has reopened after this intrusion which happened about an hour ago.
According to a construction worker involved in visiting the visitors center on the east side of the Capitol, a white Chevy Blazer came into the construction site at a very high rate of speed, according to this eyewitness. This individual in his car actually went over a wall and crashed into another wall, got out of his truck and then started running towards the Capitol.
He was apprehended by the U.S. Capitol Police inside the Capitol, but they did lock down the building as they did a very thorough search, office to office, to make sure there were no other people who were not authorized to be in that building, inside. Apparently, they're satisfied that no one is, and now they have reopened the Capitol building for business -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jeanne, do you have any idea how far into the Capitol that man made it?
MESERVE: It's still uncertain. There are conflicting reports about exactly how far in he got. I will say, however, that the chief of staff for Senator Bill Frist was interviewed on the air a short time ago. He said that he believed the individual had not gotten very far inside and that he had been stopped.
Of course, security at the Capitol had been greatly increased since 1998. At that point, there was an intruder who got into the Capitol and killed two U.S. Capitol Police officers. There are many layers of security around the building now.
I can tell you as someone who visits the building frequently, it can be very difficult to get inside. This individual, apparently, found a soft spot, though -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jeanne Meserve reporting live from Washington this morning.
Thanks.
MESERVE: You bet.
O'BRIEN: A suspect in the kidnapping of a South Carolina teenager is in jail this morning, accused of kidnapping and holding 14-year-old Elizabeth Shoaf for 10 days in an underground bunker. She was rescued after she managed to send a text message to her mother.
CNN's Drew Griffin live now from Camden, South Carolina, with more -- Drew.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Miles, that text message came late Friday night. Her parents were going out to attend a vigil and told me Friday night, quite frankly, they were beginning to think the worst of their 14-year-old daughter who had been snatched walking home from her school bus stop.
For 10 days, she was held in that underground bunker. Then, her captor, a man named Vinson Filyaw, fell asleep. She picked up his cell phone and text messaged her mother. This is the message that she got...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADELINE SHOAF, ELIZABETH SHOAF'S MOTHER: I had seen that it said one message received. I didn't know who it was. What I did was looked at the text, and I ran straight to him and told him, "It's Elizabeth." Nobody else has my cell phone number except for my friends, and they would have -- names would have popped up.
We called the police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: The message, "Mom, this is Lizzie (ph). I think I'm in this area," near a certain road, Miles. She was able to determine the road from hearing trucks near her neighborhood. She knew she was not far. Police were able to use triangulation to center that cell phone on a certain spot in the woods and there they found her, 14-year-old Elizabeth Shoaf, standing at the front entrance to this 20-foot-long, 8-foot-deep tunnel that the suspect had dug. He took off. He knew that she had made some kind of a phone call, so he took off.
He was picked up along a South Carolina highway running, literally running from police early Sunday morning. He faces charges, along with his common law wife, who was aiding and abetting in this kidnapping.
We're live in Camden, South Carolina. Drew Griffin.
Back to you, Miles
O'BRIEN: Drew, so he knew that she had gotten a hold of his phone and done that text message and no harm befell her as a result of that. She's pretty fortunate, I guess.
What are police saying about that?
GRIFFIN: Very fortunate. What happened was he woke up and said, "What are you doing? What are you doing with my phone?" And she said, "I was just playing."
He had already been wanted by police for months and had been eluding them in this series of underground bunkers that he had dug, so apparently he just decided to take off. He told Elizabeth, "You can't leave this bunker because I have it booby-trapped." That turned out to be not the case, but she believed, and why she stayed in that tunnel was because she felt it was going to blow up if she tried to leave there.
O'BRIEN: Wow. Drew Griffin in south Carolina.
Thank you.
Meanwhile, there's a desperate search under way this morning near St. Louis for a kidnapped infant. Take a look at Abigale Lynn Woods, just 10 days old today. Police say she was snatched after a stranger approached her mother at her home, slashed her mother's throat.
For more on this, we turn to CNN's Jonathan Freed, who is live in Union, Missouri.
Hello, Jonathan.
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Miles.
Well, the sun is finally up here in Union, Missouri, and we were talking to the sheriff earlier today. He is saying that the search, which had been somewhat scaled back yesterday because of rain, is going to be out in full force again today.
One of the things, though, Miles, that they are really focusing on and asking for are tips, leads from the public. And they say that since Friday, they have received about 160 tips and they have so far managed to sort through about 60 percent of those, saying that those have not necessarily gone anywhere.
They're saying that among other things, people are calling and saying things like, well, perhaps they saw the baby at a convenience store. They say that investigators have been doing things like looking at security and surveillance video from stores.
Again, they're going to continue looking in the area around the home where this happened. The sheriff confirmed for me earlier that a knife was found outside the property near the family's home where this abduction happened, as well as other evidence inside the home. The sheriff wouldn't go into detail, Miles, about exactly what was found inside, but did say that lab tests were being conducted.
Now, the parents -- the grandparents here have been very vocal. It's not easy for them, Miles. I was chatting with them earlier. But they say that it's important for them to keep up their resolve and to get out in front of the cameras and ask for help.
And let's listen to the grandmother now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAYLENE OCHSENBINE, ABIGALE'S GRANDMOTHER: We're going to step up to the plate. We want -- we want our baby back.
I mean, we don't -- we don't want to go after this woman or nothing. We just want her to give her back, or if somebody knows to -- to help us get her back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FREED: Now, the grandparents were telling me earlier -- I was asking, well, you know, "How is the mother doing?" And they're saying that she's quite distraught and could really only get out a few words at a time -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jonathan Freed in Union, Missouri.
Thank you.
And if you have any information, police are asking you call this number on your screen: 888-265-8639 -- Carol.
COSTELLO: A policeman hunt under way in Pittsburgh for a suspect in the shooting of five Duquesne University basketball players. One of the players in critical condition this morning.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Alina Cho live in Pittsburgh on the campus of Duquesne.
Alina, what do you know?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, good morning to you. Duquesne's athletic director is calling this a traumatic time for the university and for its basketball team. Many students here are expressing disbelief, and the university is responding by stepping up security.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice over): Police say the five Duquesne basketball players had just left an on-campus dance early Sunday morning around 2:00 a.m. Not long after that, there was apparently a verbal exchange with a man who is not believed to be a student. Shots were fired, and the suspect is still at large.
CHARLES DOUGHERTY, DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: Other members of the basketball team, other members of our student body performed as a team. In some cases heroically, pulling people out of the line of fire, getting them assistance, rendering first aid, and making sure they got the medical care they needed as quickly as possible.
CHO: The university president says the community is still in shock because the Duquesne campus is known as a safe place.
DOUGHERTY: We're sad because our students have been injured. Other students have witnessed the injuries. Families are concerned. Parents are concerned.
We are a community of faith, and so our first instinct, our first response is prayer for those who have been wounded, prayer for their families.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Three of the five students injured in this shooting are still in the hospital this morning. The most critically wounded player happens to be a cousin of former Houston Rockets star Hakeem Olajuwon.
And Carol, I would like to talk a little bit about the teamwork involved in the face of tragedy. The athletic director tells me that one of the players who was grazed by a bullet was actually able to help one of his more seriously injured teammates by getting in his car, Carol, and taking him to the hospital.
COSTELLO: Good for him.
Alina Cho reporting live from Pittsburgh this morning.
Thanks.
Health officials are expanding the recall of spinach products contaminated with the E. coli bacteria. The FDA now saying a certain kind of assorted bagged lettuce, the spring mix, is no good. Spring mix under the brand names Farmers Market, Hy Vee and Fresh and Easy should be thrown out immediately.
The E. coli outbreak has now spread to 19 states. So far, about 109 people have gotten sick. That number is expected to go up.
Federal health officials are helping state health departments conduct tests now. Fifty-five still in the hospital. Sixteen with a form of kidney failure. The outbreak is being blamed for one death in Wisconsin.
O'BRIEN: There may be some room for negotiation now over the treatment of terror suspects. And key Republicans who broke with President Bush over changing the rules apparently now opened to compromise.
Meanwhile, the president heads to the United Nations, where he could face some tough questions on this very issue.
CNN's Kathleen Koch has more for us this morning from the White House.
Hello, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
No immediate agreements, but this weekend both the White House and top Republican senators started talking negotiation instead of confrontation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH (voice over): When it comes to the secret CIA prison program for terrorists, President Bush has been adamant.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Congress passes a law that does not clarify the rules, if they do not do that, the program is not going forward.
KOCH: But top senators in his own party remain just as insistent that reinterpreting Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions to define what CIA interrogators can and can't do could free all nations to do the same and endanger U.S. operatives.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Suppose the Iranians captured an American and they decided that they would modify the Common Article 3 to suit their purposes...
KOCH: The White House is now voicing flexibility.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to find a way so that we can do this without changing or modifying what's called Common Article 3. That is what Senator McCain thinks is so important.
KOCH: And Republican senators who challenge the president now say they want to give him clear rules for U.S. interrogators.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I will give him all the tools that I know how to give him that are constitutional that will make us safe, but I don't want these tools to become clubs to be used against us. KOCH: Rather than tweaking an international treaty, balking senators proposed to change U.S. law. McCain suggests amending the War Crimes Act of 1996 which defines war crimes and the penalties for committing them. Still, some aren't convinced that would give CIA interrogators enough protection in a court of law.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), Texas: I do think it's going take more than amending the War Crimes Act because when the Department of Justice passes judgment on whether an interrogation technique is lawful or unlawful, they're going look at the whole -- whole range of laws.
KOCH: Even if both sides are willing to compromise, a House committee has already passed its own version.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH: And this is one of just many issues on the president's mind as he heads to New York City in just over an hour for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. The president will be meeting with several world leaders and then speaking Tuesday morning to the General Assembly as a whole about his goals of moving democracy forward in the Middle East. But certainly, Miles, the president will also be doing listening and will be getting quite an earful from world leaders who are none too happy about the secret CIA prison program overseas and U.S. efforts to clarify the Geneva Conventions.
O'BRIEN: Kathleen Koch at the White House.
Thank you very much.
KOCH: You bet
O'BRIEN: Patricia Kennedy Lawford has died, the sister to President John F. Kennedy. She once tried a career in Hollywood. She married the famous rat pack actor Peter Lawford. She divorced him, later moved to New York, where she founded the National Committee of the Literary Arts.
She was 82 years old, died of complications of pneumonia.
COSTELLO: And coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, the pope saying he's sorry, but the threats and protests continue. Find out why some Muslims are demanding what they call a real apology.
That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, it seems like a page out of the military handbook for the Huns or the Visigoths. A new plan to ring the city of Baghdad with a trench. Or is it a moat? The idea is to try and stem the insurgent violence.
Is a good idea? Will it work?
Joining us now for some answers is our CNN military analyst, Major General Don Shepperd.
General Shepperd, always a pleasure to have you with us.
Let's talk about...
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Pleasure to be here, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Let's zoom in on Baghdad here with the Google map and just give people a sense of perspective and size here.
As we go down, it's basically about the size of the city of Chicago. And I'm just going to draw quickly here -- when you draw a ring around it, that ring circumferences about 80 miles. The idea would be to have multiple checkpoints, I think upwards of 23 check points all the way around there -- 28 checkpoints.
Does it seem like a good idea to you, General Shepperd?
SHEPPERD: Well, it sounds a little nutty, Miles, dig a moat or something filled with crocodiles. That's not the idea here.
It's a standard counterinsurgency technique to control entry and exit into an area that you're interested in controlling. It's worked in Falluja, it's worked in Samarra, Rallah (ph), other areas out to the west out there in Anbar province. But these are much smaller cities, cities of 300,000 or less.
Baghdad is a city of around, oh, somewhere between five and seven million now. So, as you said, it's like cordoning off, trenching off Chicago and trying to control traffic in and out. Huge traffic lines going in. And a lot of this has to do with Ramadan coming up in October and the threat of much violence there, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. A couple of things I want to ask you about, though. It seems like there's an assumption here that the insurgents must be outside the city and coming in, or something like that, if this is going to be something that is going to work.
SHEPPERD: Yes. Of course, the insurgents have to get explosives into the city and have to have free travel into the city. You can look for bad guys through these checkpoints if, indeed, they come through the checkpoints and not over the trenches or through the berms and what have you. So, again, it's a matter -- it's a matter of control.
Now, one of the big problems, of course, is inside the trenches, the violence that goes on, Shia against Shia, the militia against militia, and then the Shia against Sunni militias that are taking place inside, but it will be easier to control if you can keep the bad guys out or know who is coming in and out and keep explosives out, Miles. It could work.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, I mean -- so you think it could, but there's got to be some weapons and explosive caches inside the city of Baghdad. I mean, it's a huge place. SHEPPERD: Oh, it's a huge place. You've been there. There's all kinds of places to hide weapons. There's weapons inside there.
This is a -- I won't say a desperation measure, but some of it is psychological, saying we've got to get control on this. The murder rate reportedly has gone down, but it's still very high. Fifty-two bodies discovered in one 24-hour period over the weekend.
To gain control of Baghdad, to get the confidence of the people in the new government, they've got to maintain security in Baghdad. This is probably worth a try, don't know if it will work.
O'BRIEN: All right.
Well, let's talk about the bigger picture here, because I know you have talked about this a little bit in recent days, and this has been out there. A lot of conservatives, frankly, are saying it's time to send in many more troops because the goals, the mission that the U.S. military is tasked with far exceeds the boots on the ground there. So you either scale back the goals or send in a lot more troops.
Are you with those conservatives who say that?
SHEPPERD: Yes and no. First of all, you don't have enough troops to do everything you would like to do in a perfect world. You don't have enough troops to control the borders, to fight the war in Anbar province, to maintain security in Falluja, or Ramadi, all the cities out there in the west that you would like to maintain.
O'BRIEN: And to man the moat.
SHEPPERD: And to man the moat and to train the Iraqi forces. But, if your mission is just to train the Iraqi forces and say, look, we're leaving pretty soon, you better get ready to take over, there is enough troops to do that and maintain -- and maintain some security or help maintain security in Baghdad.
So, it's one of those things we're probably not going to send in more troops, we're probably going to leave over time. We're probably going to put the pressure on the Iraqi forces. So there's enough forces to do that, but not enough forces to do everything.
O'BRIEN: Yes, but what I hear about the Iraqi security forces is that there are growing concerns that they have been infiltrated by these insurgent factions, and that turning it over to them may not do much good.
SHEPPERD: No question that that has happened. Now, the army seems to be going pretty well, the training of the army seems to be going very well.
This is the year of the police, training the police. The police are infiltrated. They are corrupt. They have not changed their culture. So the idea is to make the army strong to make up the police, train the police, get them up to speed, and then we can slowly wind our way out of there. Again, it's a -- it's a strategy, it's a plan, and we'll see if it works over time. But lots to be seen yet, Miles.
O'BRIEN: A final quick thought. If you were a general and you were in charge of this, would you ask for more troops, or would there be pressure on you from up high not to do that?
SHEPPERD: There's probably pressure on up high because of politics in the United States. I'd ask for more troops if I needed more to do the mission I was given. But I think we should be working our way out of Iraq.
We should not be adding more troops, we should not be getting deeper in. We should work our way out and put the onus on them. It's still going be an ugly place when we leave. They're going to make out of Iraq whatever they will over time, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Major General Don Shepperd.
Thanks, as always -- Carol.
SHEPPERD: My pleasure.
COSTELLO: Coming up, is Senator Barack Obama cooking up a run for the White House in 2008? Find out why some people say it is a real possibility.
And later, a sneak peek at the fall TV season. The new show "Ugly Buddy" just one of the programs sitting pretty with the critics.
"AM Pop" just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Got some live pictures to show you. This is courtesy of our affiliate KTLA, and we are in the Los Angeles-Ventura County border. And this is live pictures of the so-called Day fire which has now chewed up about 90 square miles of brush along there and has been burning since Labor Day, being whipped now by those Santa Ana winds, prompting the evacuation of about 2,500 residents. Two homes destroyed in one of the fires, and now some concern about the artists enclave of Ojai, which is about 75 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Only about 15 percent contained. Burned about 60,000 acres-plus, or 93 square miles so far.
Let's go up to space, too, and bring you up to date on that story we told you about a little bit earlier.
What originally came across as a -- I wish I had the pictures of the crew. Do we have the pictures of the crew? Because we have some fresh stuff that came down just a moment ago.
We don't have that? OK. Imagine a crew floating around in space doing just fine, because that's what's going on right now. It came across first -- it got our attention because there was a report of smoke on board the International Space Station. It turns out there was an unusual smell.
There was a spill of potassium hydroxide. The potassium hydroxide is used in a device called the electron which is a Russian device which converts water into hydrogen and oxygen. It's called electrolysis. And the potassium hydroxide is used in that process.
Somehow that spilled in the mix causing quite an odor. It will take about 36 hours to circulate all the air in the space station.
There we go. And that's Jeff Williams, doing just fine, thank you very much.
Do you know what he said in the midst of all this? First radio call down, "Please call my wife, tell her everything is OK."
Jeff Williams, you just got the good husband award of the year.
All right, Carol.
COSTELLO: Good for him.
O'BRIEN: Everything's OK up there. It's all good.
COSTELLO: That's what I want my husband to do.
O'BRIEN: That's what you want. That's what you want.
COSTELLO: That's right. I would be mad at him.
O'BRIEN: Well trained. He's a well-trained astronaut.
COSTELLO: Good for her.
O'BRIEN: All right.
COSTELLO: Imagine a doctor telling you that you need an organ transplant or you might die. What would you do? One group of people has thought long and hard about it.
And as CNN's Kareen Wynter reports, they're part of a controversial organ donor club in which members get first choice.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENNIFER ZWETTLER, LIFESHARERS MEMBER: It's terrifying to wake up knowing -- let alone going through the surgery, but am I going to get this surgery? Is my life going to be saved?
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Jennifer Zwettler was in the prime of her life when she was stunned by a sudden health scare five years ago. She thought she'd need a liver transplant and joined the National Organ Transplant Registry but was afraid it wouldn't come through in time. Luckily, she didn't need it.
ZWETTLER: It was the scariest thing. But -- I mean, you can't even imagine what it feels like.
WYNTER: Terry Wallis has had no such health scare but was concerned about her chances of receiving a life-saving organ. Both Wallace and Zwettler belong to a unique organ donor club where membership has potentially life-saving privileges. Members agree to donate their organs within the group before making them available to the general public
TERRY WALLIS, LIFESHARERS MEMBER: If anybody in the group needs body parts -- that sounds awful, doesn't it? But if anybody needs them we get first dibs on it.
WYNTER: There were 28,000 transplant operations performed last year, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, but some would-be recipients never made it to the operating room.
(on camera): Nearly 90,000 people are on the national organ transplant waiting list. Thousands die each year waiting on organs.
(voice-over): That's why Dave Undis created LifeSharers, a nonprofit network of organ donors.
DAVE UNDIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF LIFESHARERS: It occurred to me that if you put -- if you tell people that you are going to put them at the front of the waiting list if they donate their organs when they die, then more people will donate.
WYNTER: Not everyone who receives an organ on the national transplant waiting list, Undis says, has agreed to donate an organ.
UNDIS: Giving a transplant to someone who won't donate their own organs is like giving the Powerball jackpot to somebody who didn't buy a ticket. It just doesn't make sense.
WYNTER: Bryan Stewart, with the California's state donor registry disagrees.
BRYAN STEWART, ONELEGACY: Any time you worked outside of the established allocation process, you are not necessarily giving the organs to people that are most in need.
WYNTER: Stewart says there are 600,000 registered organ donors in California, whereas LifeSharers only has 6,000 members nationwide. Since no members within LifeSharers have died since its inception four years ago, no one has received a transplant
STEWART: The likelihood that someone in LifeSharers is going to benefit from a donor that is part of LifeSharers is extremely low.
WYNTER: Carolyn Fagundo was given 18 months to live when she was placed on the established national waiting list for a lung transplant. She got a new lung 28 days later. FAGUNDO: I counted on the system to work for me, and it did. So I do believe that the system does work. It's just a matter of, you know, time.
WYNTER: But Jennifer Zwettler feels LifeSharers gives her an advantage.
(on camera): You've been faced with life or death decisions in the past. How much faith do you have in LifeSharers?
ZWETTLER: I have a lot of faith. I probably would have been dead if I would have thought negatively and not put any trust or faith in anybody.
WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Coming up in the program, the anger over the pope's comments on Islam. We'll tell you why his apology hasn't been enough to end the threats and the protests. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back to the program. I'm Miles O'Brien.
COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello, in today for Soledad.
An apology, personal and public, from the pope. The pontiff Sunday said he was deeply sorry for offending Muslims in a speech last week. He had quoted a 14th century emperor who referred to Islam as "evil and inhuman." The remarks have triggered Muslim anger around the world. So will the pope's apology bring an end to the protest?
Faith and values correspondent Delia Gallagher joins us now to try to put some understanding to this, because it's so odd. I mean, as far as I remember, I can't remember a pope ever apologizing for anything like this.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH AND VALUES CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is unusual that a pope would come out and sort of offer a personal apology, you know. But it's not odd, necessarily, for Pope Benedict to have written something which causes consternation. I mean, certainly as cardinal he did that, but it was within kind of Catholic circles.
And now we see this a little bit on a larger stage, because he is a person who doesn't mince words as such, and sometimes is provocative. And I think, if anything, you can say that this speech is provocative. He raises certain questions about Islam and about Christian beliefs in general.
COSTELLO: But he's probably maybe not used to the political side of being the pope, whereas... GALLAGHER: Well, I mean, he's an intelligent man. I think he could have figured out that this might have been upsetting to some people. But I think he placed more weight on the importance of sort of putting this out there as what he considers one of the fundamental points of departure for dialogue.
COSTELLO: Well, let's take a look at what he said exactly. He said -- quoting in his speech -- he said, "The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war. Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread the sword, the faith he preached." He's quoting a 14th century emperor.
GALLAGHER: Yes. He's using that to get into the whole question of violence and religion. And he believes that Christianity, which believes in a sort of rational god, doesn't countenance a god that would be pleased by violence. And so sort of raises the question, you know, would an Islamic god be pleased by violence? Is that something that is rational to think? Is rationality even a part of that calculation?
COSTELLO: And the terrible irony of this is that violence did happen right after he went public with this quote.
GALLAGHER: Right. And I...
COSTELLO: I mean, there was a nun killed in Somalia, although we don't know if that's directly related. Five churches were fire bombed on the West Bank. There was violence in Iraq, as well, because of these remarks the pope's made. So now he comes out and he issues another apology.
And let's play that before we get -- go ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE BENEDICT XVI (through translator): I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So some say, you know, it just doesn't sound like he's sorry enough.
GALLAGHER: Well, I think, you know, again, he is -- seems to be, at least, sorry for the reaction. Because he can't possibly be pope and not be sorry if you see that, you know, you've encouraged violence in any way. But I think that he feels it's been fundamentally misunderstood. And he puts it out there as a kind of theological debate, really. And so maybe it's not -- you know, he thought that was the right forum to do it. But on the world stage, it becomes a different sort of thing.
COSTELLO: There was an article in the "New York Times" that said he usually writes his own speeches. This time, Vatican officials looked over his speech and said, you know what, Pope Benedict, maybe you shouldn't say this right now. And he put it into his speech anyway. Do you think there will be...
GALLAGHER: Well, I think there's a question about whether people really sort of said that to him or not. Because, you know, this is a new papacy. He is very used to writing on his own and operating on his own. And so, you know, there may have been some concerns at certain levels of -- at the Vatican. But I'm not sure how many people went to him and said don't say it.
But even if they had, I think probably he would have taken it into consideration but, as we saw, would have gone ahead anyway with what he thought was kind of essential, important point to make about dialogue. And the Vatican officials keep coming out and saying, well, go back to the text, read it, try to understand it. So they've got to keep reiterating that point, but they probably also learned for the future.
COSTELLO: Delia Gallagher, thanks so much.
O'BRIEN: CNN "Security Watch" now. Now five years since the U.S., still shaken by the 9/11 attacks, woke up to yet another kind of threat, anthrax. It was bioterrorism sent through the mail, aimed at politicians and the media. To this day, it remains a mystery. But what safeguards are in place now?
For that, we turn to CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve, joining us from Washington -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Miles, the consensus among experts is there has been progress, but nowhere near enough.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): D.C. firefighters test white powder to see if it is anthrax. This time it's a drill,but they do it for real two or three times a week. Improvements in testing technology allow them to identify this as flour, but a conclusive test for anthrax still takes 24 hours.
DEP. CHIEF LAWRENCE SCHULTZ, D.C. FIRE DEPT.: It's still not where we need to be, that will allow me to walk away from a scene and be able to give some definitive information to the people who may have been exposed.
MESERVE: From detection to response, critics say, there are holes, despite the $23 billion spent on biosecurity since 2001.
When a Department of Homeland Security system sensor system detected the bacterium toolerina (ph) during a protest on the Washington Mall last year, local authorities say they weren't told about it for a week. It turned out to be harmless. But critics say that lapse might indicate what the response to a real anthrax attack would be like. TARA O'TOOLE, UNIV. OF PITTSBURGH MEDICAL CENTER: I don't think it would roll out completely smoothly, and I think there'd be a lot of missing parts.
MESERVE: In 2001 anthrax was sent in the mail. The Postal Service has since installed detection systems that screen more than 100 million letters a day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's reliable and it's very sensitive.
MESERVE: But large envelopes and packages are still unscreened. What if a lot of people were exposed to anthrax? Doctors are now better trained to recognize symptoms, but there is still no rapid test to confirm their diagnosis. Public health labs have improved and expanded, but experts say hospitals do not have the beds, equipment or staff to handle a large influx of patients.
The Centers for Disease Control has stockpiled antibiotics for 41 million people.
DR. TANJAY POPOVIC, CDC: And those are extremely large numbers, and a massive improvement over what we have had several years ago.
MESERVE: Although there were almost two million doses of an old anthrax vaccine on hand, production of a new vaccine has been delayed, and critics say the country doesn't have a system for distributing any of those drugs if they're needed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: Though the nation is not completely ready to deal with another anthrax attack, experts say we are more prepared for anthrax than we are for almost any other biological agent -- Miles, back to you.
O'BRIEN: And Jeanne, the original case not solved. There was a person of interest for some time. And do we have any idea if the investigation is at all active?
MESERVE: Really, Miles, I can't address that, I'm sorry. I know that Kelli Arena is filing on that later today. I've just been looking at the preparedness aspect of this, so sorry.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jeanne Meserve, thank you very much.
Be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Election day 2006 is just 50 days from today, but for those eying a running for the White House, 2008 is also getting pretty darn close, at least for them. It all begins in Iowa, and that's where we find Dana Bash today.
Good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know ,Senator Tom Harkin's steak fry is an annual Iowa event that always draws presidential hopefuls looking to win over Democratic activists. This year, potential 2008 candidates, like Iowa's governor, Tom Vilsack, and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, were in attendance, but even they knew most of the 3,500-plus in the crowd came to catch a glimpse of a rising star in Democratic primary, Barack Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice-over): For hungry Democrats, a day to sample their new possibilities. The crushing crowd At this annual Iowa steak fry devouring Barack Obama. Rock star treatment for a 45-year-old senator in office just two years, 97 of 100 in Senate seniority.
A phenomenon not lost on the host, Senator Tom Harkin.
SEN. TOM HARKIN (D), IOWA: I said we tried to get Bono to be here, but we couldn't, so we got the next biggest rock star i America, Barack Obama.
BASH: A trip to Iowa, home of the kickoff caucuses usually means you're dipping a toe in the presidential waters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope that you'll be running for president one of these times.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS: I appreciate that.
BASH: Here there are T-shirts and petitions, begging him to run in '08. He doesn't say yes, but he doesn't say no.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can we recruit you to run for president?
OBAMA: Well, I don't know about that. But I'm here to make sure -- you can recruit me to make sure we get more Democrats in office in '06.
BASH: Obama has visited 25 states raising money for candidates this year. He urges Democrats to be tougher on national security, and scolds the Bush White House.
OBAMA: Tough talk doesn't make you tough, that alienating our allies isn't our strategy, that junking the Geneva Convention so that Colin Powell, and John McCain John warner have to stand up and say enough, that's not being tough on terrorism!
(APPLAUSE)
BASH: One thing they like is his definition of Democrat.
OBAMA: We don't want government to solve our problems, but what we do expect is that government can help. The government can make a difference in all of our lives.
O'BRIEN: Obama appears well aware celebrity guarantees crowds, but not necessarily lasting success.
OBAMA: When I look at sort of how I'm covered, there's a lot of emphasis on the celebrity and the sizzle.
BASH: If he keeps coming back, there will be more questions about substance, from ethanol to Iraq to that senator named Clinton. But this was a day to say hello, flip a few steaks and just enjoy the sizzle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Now Obama may try to side step questions about 2008, but there is evidence of more than a passing interest. Throughout the day at his side, he had a Democratic activist who ran Al Gore's 2000 campaign here in Iowa, and his staff made a point, Carol, of introducing him to an activist who was quoted in the local newspaper saying she was going to drive 130 miles to see if he was the real deal.
COSTELLO: It's just such a phenomenon. And you know, some people just have that it factor, I guess. You talk about him not having much of a record in the Senate to run for president, but sometimes that's a good thing, isn't it?
BASH: Well, you know, that is the thing that -- you talk to people at that event, and all around here in Iowa, it's the question of whether or not you do what you need to do in politics, which is seize the moment and if the moment is right for Barack Obama, whether he's been in the Senate for two years or 20 years, many people say maybe he should actually really think about it in 2008.
But at the same time, there are those who I talked to yesterday who said he's young, maybe he should take his time, spend a little time here in Iowa, spend time in the Senate, get more experience, then we'll take a better look at him.
COSTELLO: Dana Bash reporting live from Iowa this morning, thanks.
O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, the fall TV season is here. Which hot new shows should you be watching? We'll give you a viewing guide ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: At "A.M. Pop," it's premier week on network TV. So what's hot and what is not for the new fall season. "Newsweek's" Mark Peyser has seen a lot of the pilots. He gets paid to do that. Not a bad way to earn a living.
MARK PEYSER, "NEWSWEEK": That's what you think. You haven't seen them all.
O'BRIEN: That's true. It might have its down moments.
Good to have you with us. PEYSER: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Let's start with NBC, last place. Do they have a winner there in this -- it's called "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip?"
PEYSER: That's right. They bet a lot on this show actually. It's Aaron Sorkin from "The West Wing" returned to television, behind- the-scenes look at sort of, like, a "Saturday Night Live" comedy show, although the show itself is a drama. Matthew Perry from "Friends" returning to television. Very-high profile. It better work or NBC's in trouble.
O'BRIEN: Do you like it?
PEYSER: I do. It's very smart. If you like "The West Wing," I think you'll like "Studio 60."
O'BRIEN: Oh, similar kind of thing.
All right, a lot of buzz on "Ugly Betty." Tell us about that premise.
PEYSER: "Ugly Betty" is about a young Latino girl who lives out in the burroughs, who's not very attractive, hence the title, who gets a job at a very cutthroat fashion magazine, like "Vogue" magazine, and has to sort of use her spunk to make it, despite the fact that she doesn't exactly look the part.
O'BRIEN: And this is a theme that really hasn't been addressed in network television.
PEYSER: Right. Everybody always beautiful. Here's a girl that really isn't supposed to be beautiful and has to make it on her own, and she's adorable, and I think the people will really sort of take to her.
O'BRIEN: ABC is out with a program called "The Nine." This is kind of a "Lost"-like type show. Tell us about that.
PEYSER: Right. It's "Lost"-like in that there are a lot of flashbacks. It's about nine people who are held hostage in a bank, and every week you flashback to bits of the hostage situation, and then forward to see how their lives have progressed after they have been freed.
O'BRIEN: And you like it?
PEYSER: Yes, it's suspenseful. You have to watch every week because you're not going to know the whole story, so it's appointment television. You've got to decide if you want to do that.
O'BRIEN: That is the trend. You really have to commit to a season, not just an episode anymore.
PEYSER: Yes, "Lost," "24." They think that you're going to watch every week, and you know, good luck. O'BRIEN: Yes, let's look at what CBS has to offer, "The Class." Tell us about that one.
PEYSER: "The Class" is a sitcom by David Crane, the guy who created "Friends." It's his first show since "Friends," about a group of people 20 years after third grade they've reunited and their lives get sort of re-entangled. Some of them are in love. Some of them start to hate each other. It's sweet. It's nice. And there aren't a lot of comedies out there.
O'BRIEN: Yes, so the sitcom isn't at its most healthy point.
PEYSER: No. I mean, and this isn't going to change your life. It's a very traditional sitcom in that way, but it will make you laugh and the characters are varied, and I think they're nice.
O'BRIEN: And finally also from CBS, "The Shark." Tell us about that. It's James Woods.
PEYSER: Right, James Woods, big movie star. Every year, some big movie star decides to make a go of it in television. Here's James Woods playing a cutthroat lawyer who decides to go -- he's a defense attorney to begin with, and then he has a crisis of conscious and becomes a DA and tries to sort of be a good guy.
O'BRIEN: Change the world, make it better, all that stuff.
PEYSER: Though it's not in his nature, so that's sort of the premise of the show.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. So what do you think overall, good season? Does it look like it's a good season?
PEYSER: You know, it's like Christmas morning with networks. Everything looks great because they put it in the prettiest packages, and then you've got to live with it for a while. I think there are a lot of solid efforts. There aren't a lot of clunkers. We usually look for the show that we think's going to explode after the first week and be great or just die. And things seem solid, but I would reserve judgment and watch for a couple weeks.
O'BRIEN: Marc Peyser, watches TV for "Newsweek" magazine. Thanks a lot.
PEYSER: Thank you, Miles.
COSTELLO: That's what I would like to do for a living, just watch TV. But I'm on it, and now I must say this. "CNN NEWSROOM" is just minutes away. Tony Harris is at the CNN Center with a look at what's...
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And, Carol, you get to watch it a little bit, too. Good morning to you.
O'BRIEN: We're watching. I'm watching this. HARRIS: Well, stay informed, everyone. In the "CNN NEWSROOM," kidnapped, held hostage underground. A teenager uses a cell phone to text her way to freedom.
Now is the time. Get a deal on new wheels. Gerri Willis stops by with tips to help you drive a bargain.
And you go, girl. We introduce you to the world's first female space tourist. Join Heidi Collins and me in the "NEWSROOM." We get started at the top of the hour, right here on CNN.
Back to you.
COSTELLO: We'll be there, and I will be watching.
HARRIS: See, there you go. All right, Carol.
COSTELLO: Thanks, Tony.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I mean, what else do you watch when you're on TV? You watch yourself, right?
Up next, Andy is "Minding Your Business. "
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: I'm confused. We'll do the food report here. How badly are the spinach growers in California being affected by the E. coli outbreak?
And would you like some wasabi mayo on your gourmet hot dog?
COSTELLO: Ooh, yes!
SERWER: I don't think I would -- well, we'll see. We'll discuss that. Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
COSTELLO: Coming up at the top of the hour, President Bush leaves next hour for the world stage. We preview his crowded schedule at the United Nations.
And that spinach warning we've been talking about, well, it's expanding to even more brands. Much more on AMERICAN MORNING to come.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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