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American Morning
Sailor Rescued; Iraq Strategy; Somalia Violence; Medical Mystery; Mayor Death Mystery; Ghost Riding
Aired January 05, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning. An injured American sailor has been rescued off the tip of South America. We're live outside his family's home with the incredible details this morning.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: White House shakeup. President Bush changing up his war strategy. Trading out the generals who've lead the fight.
O'BRIEN: Health alert. School is canceled for thousands of children while the feds investigate two deadly infections.
ROBERTS: And ghost riders. Teens risking their lives, ditching the wheel for cheap thrills on moving cars. The alarming video on this AMERICAN MORNING.
O'BRIEN: And good morning. Welcome, everybody. It is Friday, January 5th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts in our Washington bureau, in for Miles O'Brien. Thanks for joining us.
Amazingly how quickly the first week of the new year has gone by.
O'BRIEN: Gone like that. And amazingly, as well, some amazing news to tell you about. This breaking news. A rescue at sea finally. Within the hour, search teams have reached 47-year-old Ken Barnes. You'll remember, we told you this yesterday, stranded on his battered boat, called the Privateer.
Now Barnes was attempting to sail around the world, setting off from Long Beach, California. Ran into a storm, though, as he approached Cape Horn, which is 500 miles off the coast of Chile. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence is in Newport Beach, California, for us this morning. That's also where Ken's family has been anxiously waiting for any news, and finally this great news.
Hey, Chris, good morning.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Soledad.
Yes, great news for the family here in Newport Beach. You know, it was a fishing vessel, a private fishing vessel that actually reached Ken Barnes first. It had been guided by a surveillance plane from the Chilean navy. And this rescue really came at just the right time because Ken Barnes was running low on supplies, low on sat phone battery and he's been nursing a fairly severe bleeding leg injury.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE, (voice over): When a surveillance plane spotted Ken Barnes' boat, he was stranded some 500 miles off the coast of Chile, the southern tip of South America, in an area called "The Graveyard."
JUNE DEE LINN, KEN BARNES' MOTHER: It's no fun knowing that your son is out there and there's nothing you can do.
LAWRENCE: The boat was taking on water. His food supply soaked.
Barnes had hopped to go down in the record books as the first sailor from the west coast to circumnavigate the world alone.
He set out from this Long Beach marina at the end of October. Barnes headed south past Mexico and Peru. But on New Year's Eve, near Chile, he sailed into a horrible storm that left him bleeding from a sever gouge.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know where it is on his leg, but it is down to the bone.
LAWRENCE: The injured blew (ph) and the storm destroyed his mast and steering wheel. The Chilean navy honed in on his emergency beacon and with his satellite phone losing power, Barnes dialed home for quick calls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, dad.
LAWRENCE: For days this family prayed he'd be rescued before another storm moved in.
KENNETH BARNES SR., KEN BARNES' FATHER: And who are going to do that? It's not time for this love affair to be over.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he's going to be happy that he tried for his goal, but kind of disappointed that he didn't get through with it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: And again, right now the fishing vessel will take about another day or two to get back to shore. At that point, in Punta Arenas, a representative from the American consulate will meet Ken Barnes, escort him to Santiago. He may receive some medical attention there at the hospital and from there he will then fly back here to California to be reunited with his family.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: What, great, great news. Chris Lawrence. Yesterday when you were reporting on this story, I've got to tell you, I was really not sure how this was going to end, but what a terrific ending. That's such great news. Chris Lawrence for us this morning in Newport Beach, California. Thanks, Chris.
And we're going to be talking to Ken Barnes' twin daughters, Teryn and Brittney. You saw them in that piece that Chris just showed you. We'll talk about this great news, their father finally rescued at sea. That's going to be in the 8:00 a.m. Eastern hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
John.
ROBERTS: Oh, isn't it great that that story is ending well, as well.
Now to the fight for Iraq and some changes that President Bush is making to his military leadership. According to wire reports, President Bush wants to replace Centcom General John Abizaid with Admiral William Fallon. Fallon is currently the top U.S. commander in the Pacific. And Lieutenant General David Petraeus is expected to replace General George Casey as the chief general on the ground. Petraeus was in charge of training up Iraq's security forces.
CNN has learned the president's address to the nation on his new Iraq strategy could happen next Wednesday or potentially Thursday. CNN's Ed Henry has the latest now from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Senior officials say the president now plans to reveal his latest Iraq strategy in a prime time address to the nation either next Wednesday or Thursday, with plans to surge 20,000 to 30,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq. But he has to sell that controversial policy to a skeptical Democratic Congress.
And the task is complicated by the fact the president is now reshuffling key players, with U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, expected to now take the top U.S. post at the United Nations.
And today, the president is expected to formally nominate retired Vice Admiral Mike McConnell to become the director of National Intelligence. He would replace John Negroponte, who's moving over to the State Department to be the number two official.
None of these move individually are that unexpected or shocking. But combined with Thursday's resignation of White House counsel Harriet Miers, it shows a president trying to take one last shot at fixing Iraq before he slips into lame duck status.
Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: A developing story we're following for you this morning. New audiotape out on the Internet. Al Qaeda's Ayman al- Zawahiri is calling on Muslims to join the Islamic radicals who are fighting for power in Somalia. He also called Ethiopian forces for helping these Somalis "slaves of America."
An emergency meeting on the Somalia situation is underway right now in neighboring Kenya. Diplomats are addressing a very real concern that Somalia's becoming an al Qaeda stronghold. And as the fighting there intensifies, a refugee crisis too is building on the Kenyan border. CNN's Barbara Starr is in Nairobi, Kenya, this morning. She joins us live.
Good morning, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
U.S. State Department and military officials indeed are here in Nairobi today as part of this emergency meeting on Somalia. They are meeting with members of the new Somali government, with other African countries and Arab countries. Everyone is here to talk about what next in Somalia.
They are very aware of the message from Ayman al-Zawahiri calling for an Iraq-style insurgency in Somalia and, of course, that Islamic militia that was running the country within the last several days is now out of power and they are on the run. For the U.S. military, this is very significant because now, basically, a manhunt is underway here in east Africa looking for five top al Qaeda operatives that African and U.S. intelligence services believe are on the run from Somalia now in the wake of that war.
Two U.S. Navy warships are off the coast. They are stopping shipping coming out of Somalia, looking for these potential al Qaeda targets. The Kenyans have sealed off their border. And all of the intelligence services here in east Africa, along with the U.S., are stepping up their efforts to try and find the men. There is great concern that if they are on the run and they escape, they could start planning new attacks.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr is in Kenya this morning, in Nairobi for us.
Thank you, Barbara.
John.
ROBERTS: Happening in America this morning, Soledad.
In Oregon, Felice Jackson DuBois is waiting for news of her two daughters and their father missing since Monday when their airliner disappeared in Indonesia. They were the only Americans among the more than 100 passengers aboard. The girls were visiting their father, who lives part time in Indonesia.
In Minnesota, former President George H.W. Bush is resting comfortably after another hip replacement surgery. He's at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. This time it was his right hip. His left hip was replaced in 2000. Former President Bush, now affectionately known as the bionic man, is 82-year-old.
From subway, superman to superstar. The man behind an incredible rescue in New York City is finding fame and a whole lot more. Wesley Autrey was given the bronze medallion on Thursday by New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg. That's the highest honor that a civilian in the city can receive. He's also getting a free trip to Disney World for himself and his two little girls who watched as he leapt onto those tracks to saved that guy. And Autrey talked to David Letterman last night where he explained his decision to save a man who had fallen onto the subway tracks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WESLEY AUTREY, SUBWAY HERO: I took a judgment and my judgment was right.
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST: So you get down on top of the guy in the trough and the train comes and the guy, or the conductor, or the engineer who's operating the train is breaking. He sees that there's trouble, but he can't stop it in time.
AUTREY: No, he can't stop. He's tooting his horn and you can hear the brakes squeaking and but by the time he came to a full stop, five cars grazed over . . .
LETTERMAN: Five cars.
AUTREY: Five cars went swoot, swoot. And then I got this by, he's steady, you know, trying to -- and I got him locked down and I'm like, you known, excuse me, sir, I don't know you, you don't know me.
LETTERMAN: Excuse me, sir. Excuse me, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, they know each other now. Autrey is a Navy veteran. He says he was just doing what came naturally, but that more New Yorkers should do whatever they can to help their fellow man. He's getting a year long free pass, by the way, to ride the subway and the bus as well. I think he deserves a lot more than that.
O'BRIEN: Well, I was going to say, hi, how about a town car? I mean, come on, for the year. What a good guy, huh, and a great story teller. He could tell that story 100 times, fascinating to hear each and every time.
ROBERTS: It's great.
O'BRIEN: It looks a little bit like the hero act is catching on in New York City. Listen to this story. Three-year-old Timothy Ado (ph), that little boy right there, just a little bandage on his head. He's lucky to be alive. He fell out of his fourth story apartment in the Bronx on Thursday. Now police say he was hanging onto this fire escape when two men spotted him. Julio Gonzalez (ph) and Pedro Navarez worked together to make the life-saving catch of that little boy. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEDRO NAVAREZ, RESCUED BOY: I was just hoping and praying that I was going to be able to grab him. So fortunate that he was standing right next to me, because actually he bounced off of me. I couldn't get a good grip and he grabbed him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh, what an amazing -- great catch, right, at a crucial moment. The little boy was taken to the hospital. He's got a few scrapes and police are now questioning his babysitter about how the incident happened. Later this morning we're going to talk live to one of those guys who made that great save. Good for them. It's been a good week here in New York.
ROBERTS: It has been a good week.
O'BRIEN: I'm proud of my fair city today.
ROBERTS: That's terrific. Hey, it's great down here as well, but for other reasons, because it's going to be, tomorrow, 30 degrees above normal.
O'BRIEN: Oh, good.
ROBERTS: It's going to be almost 70 degrees here in Washington.
O'BRIEN: Oh, that will be beautiful.
ROBERTS: It will. Coming up, can you believe it though, another snow storm heading for Denver. Chad Myers has got the forecast.
And take a look at this. It's called ghost riding. Teens ditching the wheel and going for a dangerous ride.
Plus, it was ruled a suicide, but now the dad for the first black mayor in a small Louisiana town is getting a closer look. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: We're back at AMERICAN MORNING.
And breaking news. An American sailor stranded hundreds of miles off the coast of Chile is safe. Search teams rescued Ken Barnes just about an hour ago.
And a failing grade for rear-facing infant car seats. Consumer reports says 10 of the top 12 models in the market did not pass recent crash tests.
O'BRIEN: Well, schools are closed for more than 20,000 children in Rhode Island today while health investigators take a look into what's a medical emergency. A second grader named Dylan Gleavey died of encephalitis and two other students are now six and there's at least one suspected case of meningitis as well. John Mone, of our Providence affiliate WPRI, has our report this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN MONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Anxious parents spoke with us outside this Coventry elementary school that they can't send their children to today. It's been shut down.
MICHELLE LAMBERT, COVENTRY PARENT: I have a third grader and a kindergartner attending this school.
MONE: Michelle Lambert wants Oak Haven Elementary thoroughly cleansed before she sends her children back there.
LAMBERT: They sit at tables. They're sharing pencils. They're sharing markers. They share, you know, all -- they're sharing germs. The school needs to be disinfected.
MONE: A new suspected case of meningitis in a school child, plus three other cases of encephalitis affecting children in the west bay has prompted the state to shut down Warwick, West Warwick and Coventry schools for the rest of this week. A move affecting more than 20,000 children. State and federal health officials want a chance to investigate, so that's why the schools were closed. They believe the illnesses may have a link to mycoplasma bacteria, which usually causes the common cold or walking pneumonia.
GOV. DONALD CARCIERI, (R) RHODE ISLAND: What we're looking for is to see things that are unusual, out of the ordinary and much more frequent than we normally see.
MONE: The governor announced he'll order elementary schools in the state to all have alcoholic gel dispensers so kids can keep clean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The important point here is that the schools themselves need to do and can do a much better job with some basic procedures in place.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: That was John Mon of our Providence affiliate WPRI reporting for us.
Coming up on quarter past the hours. That brings us right to Chad Myers at the CNN Weather Center with the traveler's forecast.
Beautiful weather, obviously, in D.C. Nice here today. Good work.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: He was the first black mayor of a mostly white town in Louisiana, until he turned up dead. It was ruled a suicide, but the family of Gerald Washington isn't so sure. Now the feds are getting involved. AMERICAN MORNING's Sean Callebs has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GERALD WASHINGTON: A great feeling to be mayor of the town where you live.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Gerald Washington seemed to be on top of the world with everything to live for. He had just been sworn in as the first black mayor of Westlake, Louisiana. Then a shocking call from the sheriff that his family members still don't believe. The 6'6", 58-year-old Washington had committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest.
GERMAINE BROUSSARD, GERALD WASHINGTON'S DAUGHTER: I was in shock. I was upset. I was angry. I just said, there's no way that this was a self-inflicted wound.
CALLEBS: There father's body was found in a remote area of Westlake. Germaine Broussard and her brother, Geroski (ph), don't believe the coroners report that Washington he a revolver to his chest and pulled the trigger. They say the sheriff's investigation was sloppy and wonder why it apparently took just over four hours to pore over the crime scene, then clean the return his truck to the family instead of impounding it as evidence.
Coroner Terry Welke says it's difficult for families to accept suicide, but that is where all the evidence points.
TERRY WELKE, CALCASIEU COUNTY CORONER: If it was a homicide, there would be more injuries. In other words, he would have fought off, someone would have tied his hands behind his back, hit him on the back of the head, something of that sort, and the autopsy showed absolutely none of that.
CALLEBS: The sheriff's office isn't talking about the case. After twice meeting with the family, the sheriff handed over all evidence to the Louisiana State Police, which has taken over the investigation.
BROUSSARD: They've shown the sense of urgency that the Calcasieu Sheriff's Office should have shown.
CALLEBS: The state is now performing a second autopsy, something the coroner says is almost unheard of. And there is something else that is difficult for the family to address. As the first black mayor in an overwhelming white community, Washington's children believe he could have been targeted by someone out to get him.
BROUSSARD: And I'm sure that race did have a good deal to do with it.
CALLEBS: The state NAACP has asked the U.S. Justice Department to look into Washington's death, but says it was told that the federal agency will wait until the state police investigation has wrapped up before deciding whether to weigh in.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: A story that we're going to keep watching for you here. AMERICAN MORNING's Sean Callebs with that report from Westlake, Louisiana.
Coming up, the Dow makes a tiny gain as oil prices drop. Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business" for you today.
And don't try this at home. In fact, don't try it at all. It's a dangerous stunt called ghost riding. We'll take a look at this disturbing trend coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Breaking news and it's great news this morning. A sailor from California stranded hundreds of miles off the coast of Chile is safe at this hour. Search teams rescued Ken Barnes. We've got a live update from Chris Lawrence straight ahead.
Two people are dead after a tornado that slammed into a trailer park in southern Louisiana. Flash floods could hit parts of that state today.
O'BRIEN: For some thrill seekers, the greater the risk, the greater the reward. But police say a popular, new stunt, which is called ghost riding, takes reckless driving to a new level. AMERICAN MORNING's Dan Lothian has our report this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Ghost riding. Some call it a thrill, an adrenalin rush, but police call it a dangerous stunt. Leaving a car in gear or in neutral while it's still moving, then dancing next to it, on the hood, the roof, or the trunk, before getting back behind the wheel. Sometimes things go wrong.
CAPT. GLEN REWELL, SAN DIEGO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: To leave a vehicle completely uncontrolled and to just trust it to nature, if you will, and the forces of nature and physics, is taking "foolish" to new heights.
LOTHIAN: Twenty-five-year-old Vip Patel, who lives in northern California, says he started ghost riding about six months ago.
VIP PATEL, GHOST RIDER: Just saw people doing it, thought it was funny and wanted to try it.
LOTHIAN: His buddies videotaped the ride, then he posted it on MySpace. Patel is hooked.
PATEL: The thrill. Just doing it and, you know, taking the risk, you know. It's dangerous, but, you know, it's fun at the same time.
LOTHIAN: Ghost riding home videos have exploded on Internet sites like YouTube. Some of them mixed with a popular hip hop tune that celebrates this risky ride. It's so widespread, police in places like Stockton, California, and San Diego say it's a disturbing trend.
SGT. JEFF FELLOWS, SAN DIEGO POLICE: Well, hopefully it's a short fad, but it's already proven to lead to injuries and death.
LOTHIAN: Like this video we showed earlier. The driver bails before his truck hits a fire hydrant and crashes into an electric poll. He was lucky. But in Stockton, police say 18-year-old Davender Gulley was killed while performing a stunt out the window of his SUV. Patel says he only pushes his luck so far.
PATEL: Make sure you do it in a controlled environment and keep it safe and don't do anything out of control.
LOTHIAN: But police warn that without anyone behind the wheel, everything is already out of control.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Well, that's kind of an accident waiting to happen. AMERICAN MORNING's Dan Lothian had that report for us.
Warm weather is helping the stock market. It's almost 25 minutes past the hour and Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good morning.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Good to see you.
This warm weather is really driving everything in business news right now. And what it's done is its caused oil to go down, the price of a barrel of oil. A couple of bucks for the last few days. Oil was down more than $2 again yesterday. Down in the $55 a barrel range for crude. And that had an impact on the stock market.
The Dow edged up a little bit. Now it wasn't record territory. It was only about 6 points up. As you know, the Dow has been well above 12,500 in recent days -- 12,480.
But look at that Nasdaq. That was a big gain and a lot of chip stocks doing well. So, again, markets go into the new year in a healthy way.
Now what happened yesterday, and that kind of slowed the Dow down a little bit, is the retail sales reports. The retailers talking about how their December sales went. And they were a little bit disappointing. Also, in some part, because of that warm weather because people weren't buying the things that you typically buy for winter. And it's been so warm that you don't even buy the basics sometimes. What do I need another sweater for, gloves or whatever the case is.
O'BRIEN: Right. Right. Coat. Forget it.
VELSHI: So that hurt retail sales.
Now the thing that we're going to look for today is a jobs report. The unemployment number expected to stay at 4.5 percent. That is historically very low. It sued to be said that 5 percent unemployment was actually full employment. I know that's got people scratching their heads.
But 4.5 percent means that workers can demand higher wages. That's usually a good thing for workers. A lot of businesses say that causes inflation. It means wages go up. It also means people have more money to spend.
So all in all indicators are for a fairly positive outlook. There's one thing, and that is because housing prices are lower, people used to take a lot of money out of their homes and they'd spend that money. Now we're not seeing those kind of refinancing. So, you know, a lot of things in the mix to see.
O'BRIEN: A mixed bag is what you're telling us this morning, Ali.
VELSHI: It is a mixed bag. Absolutely.
O'BRIEN: All right, Ali Velshi, thanks.
VELSHI: See you in while.
O'BRIEN: John.
ROBERTS: Well, if people are actually beginning to save, that would be a good thing.
Coming up, some say that he is single handedly making New York City a healthy place to live. Others wonder if he's sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. New York's health czar speaks out.
Plus, new details this morning on the American family on board that missing plane in Indonesia. AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Breaking news to tell you about. An American sailor stranded hundreds of miles off the coast of Chile is rescued overnight. We've got a live report straight ahead.
ROBERTS: A developing story. President Bush replacing two of his top generals as he prepares to roll out a new plan for Iraq.
O'BRIEN: And one man's mission to make millions of people live longer. Is New York City's health commissioner a genius or is he just nosy, poking in where he doesn't belong? We've got a look at that space (ph) straight ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody. It's Friday, January 5th. I'm Soledad O'Brien in New York.
Good morning to you, John.
ROBERTS: Good morning to you, Soledad. I'm John Roberts in our Washington bureau, in for Miles O'Brien. Thanks very much for joining us. O'BRIEN: Let's begin with that breaking news. A rescue at sea. Terrific, terrific news to tell you about. Within the hour, search teams were able to reach 47-year-old Ken Barnes. He had been stranded on his boat, the Privateer, which was severely damaged. He was attempting to sail around the world. He set off from Long Beach, California, but he ran into a big storm as he approached Cape Horn, which is 500 miles off the coast of Chile.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Chris Lawrence is in Newport Beach, California, for us this morning, where Ken's family got the terrific news.
Good morning to you, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Soledad, they almost -- they told me -- I just got off the phone with them a couple of minutes ago, and they said when they first heard the news about an hour ago, they almost didn't want to get their hopes up. But now that it's been confirmed and they found out that he is in relatively good condition, all things considered, they said they are just ecstatic, it was the best possible news.
When I was speaking with his mother, she said that just a few weeks ago she had been watching what the families were going through as they watched their loved ones as they tried to rescue those climbers up on Mt. Hood. She said, "We were watching it every night, never knowing that we would be in a somewhat similar position just a few weeks later." Of course, this had a much, much happier ending for this family.
It was a fishing vessel, a private fishing vessel, a Chilean fishing vessel, that actually reached Ken Barnes first. And right now it has been guided by a surveillance plane by the Chilean navy. Now that it's picked him up, it will take about a day or two to get back to shore. And from that point, he will begin the long process of flying to Santiago and eventually back home here to California -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: What a great ending to this story, which sounded so dire in the middle of the week.
Chris Lawrence for us in Newport Beach, California, this morning.
Thanks, Chris.
And we're going to be talking to Ken Barnes' twin daughters Karen (ph) and Britney (ph). You've seen them in Chris' reports about this terrific news about their father who has been rescued at sea this morning.
Juan Carlos Munita is the director of Maritime Security and Operation for the Chilean navy, and he was coordinating the rescue effort from land. He is on the phone with us. Let's talk with him.
Thank you for being with us, sir, and congratulations on what must have been a very nerve-wracking rescue. First, tell me how it went off.
JUAN CARLOS MUNITA, DIRECTOR OF MARITIME SECURITY & OPERATION, CHILEAN NAVY: Thank you very much.
Well, we have very good news this morning since the Chilean fishing vessel has been rescuing Mr. Barnes. That was about 400 miles away off the entrance of the (INAUDIBLE) Strait in the Pacific Ocean.
Mr. Barnes is in well condition, except by the stress that he experienced since the emergency that he had days ago.
O'BRIEN: I know that he had a very bad injury on one of his legs. Can you tell me about his medical condition now?
MUNITA: Well, as I said, he is doing well right now. I just -- recently, five minutes ago, I was talking to the master of the fishing vessel. He told me that Mr. Barnes had an injury on his right leg, but it's under control now. He, himself, was taking care of his injury, and (INAUDIBLE). The fishing vessel with the first aid is taking care of that.
He said that he's in well condition, except, as I said, by the stress that he had. But it's a very, very bad experience.
O'BRIEN: Oh, gosh, one can certainly imagine.
Now, how hard was it to coordinate, first, on Wednesday, when that Chilean navy plane was able to spot this little boat out in the middle of nowhere, and then to coordinate this private vessel, a shipping vessel -- I'm sorry, a fishing boat -- that was able to run by and pick him -- literally pick him right off the water? How hard was that coordination?
MUNITA: Well, actually, it was very, very hard. First of all, because of the geography and very far and isolated area where Mr. Barnes was found.
First of all, I have to say that this -- this place -- that place is not a normal current weight (ph) for a mission and also fishing vessel. So by the time that we received the information, there were no ships in the vicinity. The closest was about 400 miles, and because the very bad weather conditions that by that time we had, it was not possible to send any asset except the P3 (ph) airplane sent by our Chilean navy to the spot.
Fortunately, in a very quick time, we spotted him. We have the information where he was. Unfortunately, we couldn't have communication with him because the (INAUDIBLE) had broken, his mast. No communication on the scene, except the satellite telephone that he had, but he was in communication with his relatives in the United States. He didn't have any communication with us.
O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a quick question before I let you go.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Can you hear me? Let me ask you a quick question before I let you go.
You said he was stressed, but I have to imagine -- and it sounded so dire for him in the middle of the week -- did the people on the fishing boat tell you what his reaction was when he was rescued? Did he grab them and kiss them and hug them? I mean, I can't imagine what you would do in the middle of nowhere when someone literally plucks you out of the water.
MUNITA: Exactly. Well, you know, the crew of the fishing vessel, because they were experienced as well, but they were stressed, also, having all this -- they were very, very happy to find him. They say that, likewise, Mr. Barnes, they were very, very happy to fulfill this mission with success.
So when Mr. Barnes is on board, we expect to have seven of our -- seven in (INAUDIBLE), which is the closest city where he is right now. And, of course, we are taking care of him. I mean, medical and personally.
O'BRIEN: Of course. And I'm sure he's incredibly, incredibly grateful. And he'll have two days, it sounds like, to thank those men on that fishing boat as they make their way into the nearest port.
Thank you for talking with us.
That was Juan Carlos Munita. He's the director of Maritime Security and Operation. Appreciate that -- John.
ROBERTS: Soledad, President Bush is weighing in on Saddam Hussein's execution nearly a week after the dictator went to the gallows. The president criticizing the sectarian taunts by some of the executioners, but also saying justice was delivered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Saddam Hussein was given a trial that he was unwilling to give the thousands of people he killed. He was given a fair trial, something he was unwilling to give thousands of Iraqi citizens who he brutalized. I wish, obviously, that the proceedings had been -- gone, you know, in a more dignified way, but nevertheless, he was given justice the thousands of people he killed were not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Two guards present at Hussein's execution are now being questioned about taking this unauthorized cell phone video. Iraq's interior minister says whoever filmed the execution will be punished.
Some changes at the top for the U.S. military leadership in Iraq. According to wire reports, President Bush wants to replace CENTCOM General John Abizaid with Admiral William Fallon, currently the top U.S. commander in the Pacific. It would be the first time a Navy man has commanded a central command.
And Lieutenant General David Petraeus is expected to replace General George Casey as the chief general on the ground in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Bush officials tell CNN that the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, is the leading candidate to replace John Bolton as United Nations ambassador.
And later on today, retired admiral Mike McConnell is expected to be nominated to replace John Negroponte as director of National Intelligence. Negroponte moving over to become the deputy secretary of state -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's get the latest now on the search for that jetliner in Indonesia. The searchers are expanding their hunt for the airliner that mysteriously disappeared over Indonesia five days ago. Three Americans, an Oregon man and his two daughters, were among the 102 people on board that Boeing 737 that went off the radar. It happened in bad weather on New Year's Day.
CNN's Dan Rivers is live from Makassar, Indonesia, with the very latest for us.
Dan, good morning.
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
You join me in the busy city of Makassar, as you say. Right behind me is the hotel where a lot of the relatives of those missing, 102 people, are waiting anxiously for news as this huge search intensifies on Sulawesi.
Today we've seen Indonesian soldiers fanning out into the dense tropical rainforest across the island to try and find any trace of that Boeing 737. So far they've found no wreckage at all. Also, out at sea an intensive hunt as well going on to see if they can find any trace of it.
We're getting more details as well about who was aboard. As you mentioned, three Americans, Scott Jackson, who was 54, who lived part time in Indonesia, and his two daughters, Stephanie (ph), 21, and Lindsey (ph), 18. Both of them are from Oregon.
They were visiting their father. They are also among the missing.
Earlier on in this hotel here we had poignant scenes as the families of the Indonesian passengers prayed together, devout Christians. Many of them praying that there will be some sort of miracle in this after four days of intensive searching, that some survivors will be found -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Dan Rivers for us with an update on that search. Hopefully they'll make some progress there.
Thank you, Dan -- John. ROBERTS: Coming up, thunderstorms and at least one tornado rip through Louisiana overnight. More snow heading for Colorado today.
Severe weather expert Chad Myers has your Friday morning forecast just ahead.
And he took on trans fats in food and smoking in bars, but is New York City's health czar taking all the fun out of life?
We'll meet him ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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O'BRIEN: As we head towards celebrations for Martin Luther King Day, all next week on AMERICAN MORNING we're taking a closer look at Dr. King's historic journey for equality. CNN got exclusive access to Dr. King's speeches and private notes, and what they reveal in many cases is very surprising -- his thoughts as he redrafted his speeches, some of the notes that he took as he read books in his private library. You'll get a look at the things he literally wrote in the margins, notes he scribbled on the back of programs.
For example, did you know that Dr. King's famous "I Have a Dream Speech," which is what we call it now, actually wasn't originally written for the march? Dr. King launched into the "I Have a Dream" part of it completely adlibbed, much to the dismay of his staff, who was very worried that he was going off of the copy.
We'll have stories like that and much more in our special which is called "Martin Luther King: Words That Changed a Nation." You can hear and see those words, some of them for the very first time, starting right here on AMERICAN MORNING on Monday -- John.
ROBERTS: It's going to be a great series, Soledad. Looking forward to that.
O'BRIEN: Oh, looking forward -- yes, it's great.
ROBERTS: Forty-five minutes now after the hour now. Chad Myers at the CNN weather center. He's got the travelers' forecast, also the cold and flu report.
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ROBERTS: Coming up, he's gone after trans fats in restaurants and smoking in bars, but some folks say New York City's health czar has overstepped his bounds. He'll give his side of the story to our Alina Cho next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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O'BRIEN: Here's a bit of a surprise. America's largest city is also the healthiest, believe it or not. Statistics show that New Yorkers have a longer life expectancy than anywhere else in the nation. And some people say all the credit should go to the city's health commissioner, who has made waves, of course, with his hard-core stance on smoking and trans fats.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Alina Cho spent a little time with the Big Apple's health czar. She's with us this morning.
Good morning.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.
We broke some bread. You know, talk about an activist commissioner.
O'BRIEN: I was going to ask you, what does he eat?
CHO: Well, he eats a lot, I can tell you that.
You know, he's the man behind New York's sweeping smoking ban, most recently the city's controversial ban on trans fats. His goal, of course, is to save lives, but critics say he's creating a nanny state, imposing his views on others and, by the way, taking the fun out of life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time you smoke, cigarettes are eating you alive.
CHO (voice over): This public service announcement is as powerful as the man behind it. New York City's health czar, Dr. Thomas Frieden, takes public health so seriously, when a New Yorker dies from a preventable disease, he blames himself.
DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, NYC HEALTH COMMISSIONER: I think that really we failed them in some important way.
CROWD: Freedom of choice! Freedom of choice!
CHO: In 2002, Frieden led a controversial ban on smoking in city restaurants and bars. Nearly four years later, there are 200,000 fewer smokers in New York, and Frieden says the ban has saved 11,000 lives.
FRIEDEN: If you can do it in New York, you can do it anywhere.
CHO: In fact, 20 states are now smoke-free. Frieden's latest battle, trans fats.
Trans fats, first commercialized as Crisco, are used for frying and baking. But studies show trans fats increase bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol.
Last month, New York City's Board of Health voted to ban trans fats in all restaurants, the first city in the nation to do so. McDonald's and Taco Bell say they're ready. KFC and Starbucks have already complied. In Harlem, the soul food institution Sylvia's made the switch more than a year ago.
FRIEDEN: You want to try some of the fried chicken?
Nobody ever went into a restaurant and ordered a plate of trans fat, but without your knowledge you're being served something that's going to shorten your life. The government's role is to stop that.
CHO: Audrey Silk disagrees. She actively campaigned against the smoking ban. Now she wonders, where will government draw the line?
AUDREY SILK, CITIZENS AGAINST SMOKER HARASSMENT: Life isn't about longevity to a lot of people. It's about quality. And many of these things are taking the enjoyment out of life.
CHO: Frieden says banning trans fats is no different than getting lead out of paint or adding fluoride to water. Now he wants to make HIV testing more accessible by eliminating written consent requirements, another controversial proposal.
Frieden says the choice is simple.
FRIEDEN: The role of government is to do what it should do to make sure that people can live a healthy, long life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: And to that end, one of Dr. Frieden's next goals is to require some New York restaurants to post calorie information on their menus.
Now, this would affect only 10 percent of the restaurants, those with standard proportions, like fast food restaurants, even Starbucks. And Frieden says many people don't know coffee, for instance, can range from 10 calories all the way to 700 calories...
O'BRIEN: A mocha latte...
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: That's right. Or that a single breakfast can be 2,000 calories at a diner.
So, you know, many people might not understand the whole calorie thing, but Frieden, Soledad, says that they should be armed with this information. You know?
O'BRIEN: There's a sense if you cut out the trans fats, then you cut out the taste. That, you know, you're eating something that tastes kind of stale or just, ugh.
CHO: Right, I can attest to the fact that that isn't the case. At least at Sylvia's.
I went up there. I tried the fried chicken. It was great. And they cook with soybean oil now. And they decided that they wanted to change their cooking ways actually before this ban.
They decided they wanted a healthier alternative for their customers. And, as you might have been able to see, the restaurant is full.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
CHO: Fried chicken is still the most popular thing on the menu.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: And they don't use trans fats.
Alina, that's a tough job, to go out and have lunch at Sylvia's.
CHO: Somebody's got to do it.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Alina -- John.
ROBERTS: When do I get to have that job? I'm asking you.
Coming up next, Ali Velshi has got the latest business news of the morning.
Plus, disturbing results of new crash tests for infant car seats. You're going to want to see this, information that could save your child's life, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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O'BRIEN: Well, downloading a movie, watching it on your TV is about to get a lot easier.
It is just about the top of the hour, and Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business."
Good morning again.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again.
Now, a lot of folks download things to their iPods, or their digital watching devices, but some folks, including me, like to watch movies on television. Now, until now, if you wanted to do that, you'd have to buy or rent a DVD and stick it in your DVD. But it's been very difficult to download actual movies from downloading sites -- and there are many of them -- and have it play properly on your -- on your DVD, because movies that are bought have a digital lock on them.
Your DVD knows how to unlock those movies. But movies that are downloaded don't -- haven't successfully been able to have been scrambled so that people can't copy them. So the studios haven't liked that.
Well, now Hollywood studios have approved a technology that will allow movies to be downloaded, or if you go to a place where you can burn a movie on to a disc at a kiosk, it will allow that movie, that DVD, to play so you can go home and play it on your DVD. You can take it with you to your parents' place, or whatever you like.
That is supposed to work well. The only thing is, if you want to use the system, you've got to have a DVD burner, either in your computer or separately with the new software.
Some DVD burners can be upgraded so they have the new software. But for people who want to watch movies, and they don't want to watch them on a little portable device, you want to download movies, this is an interesting development. You should see it becoming fairly widespread fairly soon.
O'BRIEN: OK.
VELSHI: So it will -- it will help out. It's a bit of a -- you know, it means that you don't go to buy your DVD wherever you went to, or rent it. You can pick it on your TV, download it, and watch it when you want.
O'BRIEN: That's why people at Blockbuster are really getting terrified.
VELSHI: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
O'BRIEN: All right. Ali, thank you.
VELSHI: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Some of the top stories we're working on for you this morning, most popular on CNN.com. And, of course, we've been talking about it all morning long. "Adrift Yachtsman is Rescued off of Chile" is the headline there.
The guy's been saved. That's the story. We're going to be talking to the family members in just a little bit this morning -- John.
ROBERTS: From today's "Washington Post," Soledad, they're picking up this story -- "Treatments to Keep Disabled Girl Small Stir Debate." The parents of a 9-year-old named Ashleigh (ph) are defending their decision to use medical intervention to keep her child sized for the rest of her life.
She's severely mentally disabled. She has the mental faculties of a 3-month-old. She's bedridden and will be for the rest of her life. The parents say they did this to keep her small, about 4'5", 75 pounds, so that she can more easily be moved around so that she'll be more comfortable in bed and won't develop bed sores.
But certainly causing quite an ethical debate today.
Coming up to the top of the hour now. Chad Myers at the CNN weather center.
(WEATHER REPORT)
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