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American Morning

Bridge Bombing; Gas Prices Drop; Rudy Giuliani & 9/11; Minding Your Business

Aired June 11, 2007 - 06:00   ET

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

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Bridge blast. Americans killed. Trapped in a shattered overpass south of Baghdad.
Plus, new details of the plan to arm the enemy, to fight al Qaeda in Iraq.

And welcome relief. What's driving the drop in the price of gas? How low will it go, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

And good morning to you. It is Monday, the 11th of June. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.

Good to see you this morning.

ROBERTS: Good to have everybody with us.

CHETRY: That's right. Absolutely.

Well, you're probably waking up a little bleary eyed if you ended up watching "The Sopranos" episode. Last night the season and series finale. Did it pay off or did it disappoint?

ROBERTS: I missed it. And apparently that wasn't such a bad thing to miss it because there's a lot of complaints about it. Apparently HBO's Web site crashed because so many people were writing in to say that they didn't like the way that it ended. Here's a quick little piece of sound from it just so you know what we're talking about.

CHETRY: That was pretty much it. I mean a very . . .

ROBERTS: That was the most exciting part of the show.

CHETRY: Yes, anti-climatic ending. But we want to know what you think about it. We want you to e-mail us, americanmorning@cnn.com and hopefully our server won't crash because of complaints.

ROBERTS: Yes. And we'll look at what you have got to say about it and we'll air some of that a little bit later on this morning.

Also some other stories "On Our Radar" this morning.

A bombshell new report in the country's immigration judges claiming that politics played a big role in deciding who got appointed to the bench. Is it the start of a new PR crisis for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales? Because don't forget, we found out in testimony that some of those U.S. attorneys and other people in non-political positions at the Department of Justice were appointed because of their partisan leaning. So all of that coming up for you this morning.

CHETRY: Right, coming up on the day that there's going to be a symbolic no confidence vote on Gonzales in the Senate. We'll bring you all of that.

As well, President Bush wrapping up his eight-day European trip with a stop in Bulgaria. The president met with Bulgaria's president within the last couple of hours and actually spoke about America's stalled immigration reform bill. He says that bill will be revived. President Bush heading back to Washington today, planning a visit to Capitol Hill tomorrow to lobby for that bill.

And the Senate plans today to debate and then deliver a symbolic vote of no confidence in Alberto Gonzales, the attorney general. The White House planning to ignore it. President Bush also telling reporters in Bulgaria this morning that the vote has no bearing on Gonzales' future as attorney general.

ROBERTS: Gonzales is taking the heat for playing politics in the firing of federal prosecutors. Now there are questions about how immigration judges were chosen. This morning's "Washington Post" reports that at least a third of the immigration judges picked by the attorney general in the last three years were loyal Republicans or White House insiders and that half of them were inexperienced in immigration law.

CHETRY: To Iraq now and an attack on a U.S. convoy south of Baghdad. Iraqi police say that a suicide car bomber blew himself up on a major highway overpass killing three American soldiers. In Tikrit, a police building was also targeted. At least 10 people were killed. Most of them officers. Paula Hancocks is watching both stories live in Baghdad for us this morning.

Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kiran.

Well, we have updated information from Tikrit. That bomb yesterday, we understand, has now killed 15 people, 47 wounded.

Now this is something we've been seeing a lot of here in Iraq. The fact that these insurgents are targeting police stations, police checkpoints and certainly yesterday evening we saw another checkpoint being targeted. As you mentioned, three U.S. military were killed in that particular attack. Six more wounded. An interpreter wounded, as well.

Details are conflicting at this point between the U.S. military and the Iraqi police. An Iraqi police official from Hilla, nearby, just about 25 miles south of Baghdad where this took place, say that a suicide car bomb exploded next to a checkpoint which was being manned by U.S. military at the time and that caused a highway overpass to collapse. Now according to this particular spokesman, he says that this is how these U.S. military personnel died.

Now certainly it took a few hours to clear the area. Bulldozers were brought in to try and free those that were still trapped in the rubble.

Kiran.

CHETRY: Paula Hancocks for us. Thank you.

ROBERTS: A new U.S. strategy in Iraq may be about to expand. It basically works on the premise that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. American commanders say they have successfully tested arming Sunnis who promise to use the weapons to fight militants linked with al Qaeda. The problem is that Sunnis have also been linked to violence against U.S. troops in the past. Critics say it could amount to arming both sides of a civil war in Iraq. We'll talk with John Burns, he's "The New York Times" Baghdad bureau chief, in our next half hour.

Seven suspects are under arrest today for an assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Listen to this tape and you can hear rockets firing as Karzai was speaking yesterday.

It's like they landed not to far away. Karzai went on with the speech, telling the audience not to be afraid. That nothing is happening. No one was hurt. The Taliban claimed that they fired those rockets.

Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman taking a tough stand on Iran. On CBS' "Face The Nation" on Sunday, Lieberman said the United States should consider a military strike against Tehran because of their involvement in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN, (I) CONNECTICUT: I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq. And, to me, that would include a strike into -- over the border into Iran where I -- we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Iran has been in the Bush administration's cross-hairs for allegedly supporting Iraqi insurgents and for failing to dismantle its nuclear program.

Well, former Secretary of State Colin Powell says the military prison at Guantanamo Bay should be closed immediately. In an interview on "Meet The Press" he called the prison a major problem for America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Guantanamo has become a major, major problem for America's perception as it's seen, the way the world perceives America. And if it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo, not tomorrow, but this afternoon. I would close it. And I would not let any of those people go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The prison is currently home to about 400 suspected terrorists.

CHETRY: We'll here's some decent news to wake up to this morning. The price of gas is dropping. The national average now at $3.11. That's down 7 cents in the last three weeks according to the Lundberg Survey. CNN's Stephanie Elam joins us now with more on this.

So, yes, you get to bring us some good news this Monday morning.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we'll definitely take it. Because this is according to the Lundberg Survey. We're talking about 5,000 gas stations that are being surveyed here. And this is looking at across the nation what's going on.

And so you're probably saying, like 7 cents, like why do I really care? But it shows that we're moving in the right direction. And also we know that gas prices usually go up as we head into that summer driving season and, obviously, this may give us a little bit of hope that that weird $4 a gallon gas number that we were hearing about might not happen.

CHETRY: So they thought it would peak at Memorial Day and possibly go down. And so 7 cents, actually, is pretty significant of a drop for just the past couple of days. We saw it rise, it seemed, exponentially.

ELAM: Oh, yes. Since January it was up about more than a dollar. So if you look at that coming back down, it's giving us a little bit of a hope. And just from January to where we are standing in June right now, according to the Lundberg Survey.

Stocks that we do want to watch because now, of course, the issue still remains the refineries. That's still the issue. They're operating at 90 percent capacity when normally it's 96 percent. There's fires. There's other issues that they're dealing with. But right now this is giving us a little bit of hope.

CHETRY: We'll take it.

ELAM: Yes, definitely.

CHETRY: Stephanie, thank you.

ELAM: Sure.

CHETRY: We'll check in with you a little later.

ELAM: All right.

CHETRY: John.

ROBERTS: A space walk tops your "Quick Hits." Atlantis astronauts are planning to venture out later on this morning to attach a solar array to the International Space Station. NASA is also working on a fix for the shuttle's thermal tiles. One of them peeled back on liftoff on Friday and could be a danger when the shuttle returns to earth.

Paris Hilton got a jailhouse visit from her sister, Nicky, and her ex-boyfriend yesterday. TMZ.com reports that Paris is eating only cereal and bread. An inside look at the jails in Los Angeles live in our next hour.

He's America's mayor and he's running as the candidate who is tough on terrorism. In fact, for him it all comes back to terrorism. But what does Rudy Giuliani's record on terror show? We kick off a special series just ahead.

Plus, Reynolds Wolf is in with your forecast this week.

Rain in the Plains there, Reynolds?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Chance of thunderstorms today not only in parts of the central Plains, but also into the southeast. We'll give you the full weather burrito coming up in just a few moments right here on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: A twister in New Mexico tops your "Quick Hits" now. The National Weather Service says it touched down twice south of Santa Fe yesterday. Then it started hailing. Hail the size of golf balls. State police had to shut down part of Interstate 25.

To China now where four straight days of violent rainstorms are drenching the southern part of the country. Officials say that more than 65 people have been killed, more than 150,000 are now homeless. Landslides destroyed homes, crops and railway systems in southern China.

Also, heavy rains in Australia cutting off towns and farms. Farmers saying they had to swim their horses and cattle out to safe ground. At least 5,000 people were evacuated after fears that the Hunter River, northeast of Sydney, would break levees.

The time now is 11 past the hour. Chad Myers is off and we have Reynolds Wolf with us filling in.

Good to see you.

WOLF: Good to see you too.

CHETRY: Up from Atlanta.

(WEATHER REPORT) ROBERTS: Coming up to 13 minutes after the hour. We're beginning a new series this morning. Every Monday we'll tell you about a defining moment for one of the presidential candidates. Something that tells you who they are and why they want to be president. For Rudy Giuliani, that moment was 9/11.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN EDWARDS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But what this global war on terror bumper sticker, political slogan. That's all it is. That's all it's ever been.

RUDY GIULIANI, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These are real problems. This war is not a bumper sticker. This war is a real war.

ROBERTS, (voice over): And in the GOP presidential race, Rudy Giuliani is the tough-talking candidate who says he'd be the best to lead that war. Why? Because he's been through it twice. During the 1993 and 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.

DOMINIC CARTER, NY1 SR POLITICAL REPORTER: He is Mr. 9/11, but his entire record is now going to be scrutinized.

ROBERTS: Dominic Carter, New York 1's political reporter, covered Mayor Rudy Giuliani's eight years in office.

CARTER: And from the first day he became mayor of New York City and his entire tenure, terrorism was not so much on his radar screen. He was more of a law and order mayor.

ROBERTS: After 9/11, Carter says Giuliani was an extraordinary leader. Though he and others questioned Giuliani's judgment before the attack.

CARTER: There's the issue of the building placement for the emergency command center.

ROBERTS: The Office of Emergency Management headquarters was located one block away from the World Trade Center. Too close to a previous terrorist target without any backup site, according to the 9/11 Commission report. During the 9/11 attack, the command center was destroyed.

CARTER: There's the issue of the radios between the police and fire department. There are firefighters and retired police officers that are vowing to follow him around the country and raise the issues.

ROBERTS: The 9/11 Commission report also found that "the mayor's directive for incident command was followed on 9/11." But "it is also clear, however, that the response operations lacked the kind of integrated communications and unified command contemplated in the directive." And while these actions may cause some to question his past judgment in the war on terror, there are others who say he will do fine if there are any future attacks. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who helped fight the war on terror during the Clinton administration, feels Giuliani's 9/11 background will trump all. LOUIS FREEH, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: Given his experience and his leadership and the challenges that we face, that he's the best and the brightest and I'm very, very pleased to support him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Giuliani defends his decision on where to place the emergency command headquarters at the number seven World Trade Center building. Giuliani says the site made the most sense during an attack because of its proximity to many federal agencies that were also housed in that building.

Next Monday we'll hear from former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as we continue to look at the presidential candidates for 2008.

CHETRY: An emergency landing on a crowded beach tops your "Quick Hits" now. Police in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, say that a single engine plane lost engine power and landed nose down in the sand. There you see it right there. Awfully close to a family with kids. Nobody was hurt, though.

And wouldn't you know it, a blackout leaving a dozen roller coaster riders hanging upside down 150 feet above the ground. They were stuck that way for half an hour at an amusement park in Arkansas. Officials say the X Coaster's (ph) two cars were, of course, at the peak of the loop when the power failed. A lot of red faces, no one hurt though, when the passengers finally got off that ride.

Well, it's the world's most popular search engine and it's under fire this morning. Why one watchdog group says Google is not keeping your personal information private. What Google has to say about this new scathing report. We're going to have details when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-one minutes after the hour.

A manhunt in Montana tops our quick hits. Kelly Frank, the man accused of trying to kidnapping David Letterman's son, is on the run after escaping from prison in Montana. Frank and another man took off in a prison truck on Friday while doing unsupervised work on a prison's ranch.

In Detroit, the fans went to the ballpark expecting a ball game. Instead, it looked more like a Hitchcock movie. For almost the entire game between the Mets and the Tigers, birds were camped out in the outfield. The infield. One even walked in front of the pitcher's mound. No birds were hurt, though, by any flying balls.

And some six months after disappearing, a basset hound named Fred turned up some 430 miles from his home in California. He was found in Flagstaff, Arizona. Fred and his long lost family have been reunited.

CHETRY: You know, they were reunited thanks to that chip they put into dogs now. The microchip. And when they scanned it they said, hold on, this is in Riverside County, California. How the heck did he get here? But anyway, Fred's probably tired. He deserves a steak.

ELAM: He probably deserves family love at this point.

CHETRY: Hi, Stephanie. Good to see you this morning.

ELAM: Good to see you too.

We're going to talk a little bit about what's going on here with Google and their privacy. Apparently a watchdog group out of London, Privacy International, is claiming that Google is not so good about taking care of its users' personal information. And so they gave Google its lowest possible grade.

This is the first time that this organization has actually come out with these ratings. And they said that that honor is actually reserved for "comprehensive consumer surveillance and entrenched hostility to privacy." Now none of the other 22 search engines that were surveyed got that low of a score, although some of them, like Yahoo! and Microsoft, got the second lowest score.

However, Google says it aggressively protects its users privacy. But what it does do is holds on to information. So let's say you're into gardening. It would go ahead and send you ads for gardening along with your searches. And that's part of the issue that Private International has.

But this is what Google's general counsel had to say about that. As you can see there. "It's a shame that Privacy International decided to publish its report before we had an opportunity to discuss our privacy practices with them."

Now, Privacy International says that they actually didn't get a call back when they reached out to them and now claims that Google has started a smear campaign against the organization. I don't think there's any love loss between the two here about how this is happening.

But Google also says, you know, that just last year they fought a U.S. Justice Department inquiry trying to get, actually, reviews of millions of searches and they stopped that from happening. So they're saying, hey, we are actually protecting your users. It's just how they use it to get those advertising dollars into their company.

CHETRY: Right. But Google's been under fire for the other thing they do where they take that van out and they start snapping pictures of street that you can then look at under Google earth. People say, hey, this just opens it up to, again, another invasion of privacy.

ELAM: Invasion of privacy and also safety with that one because it shows where different facilities are. You can find out exactly how to get to like a gas tank or something like that and so that has been also an issue for Google. They're having a lot of issues around privacy right now.

CHETRY: Stephanie, thank you.

ELAM: Sure.

ROBERTS: Her mother says it can't be true, but the medical examiner in New York says an ingredient found in muscle creams like Bengay or Icy Hot contributed to the death of a high school track star in New York City. Seventeen-year-old Arielle Newman died in April after her body absorbed a lethal amount of the chemical methyl salicylate.

Scientists claim the cause of Autism is unknown, but a group of parents believe vaccines cause the disease. Specifically a preservative in the vaccine called Thimerosal. Today begins arguments in a special hearing to determine if vaccines are the cause and if parents should receive payments from a special vaccine injury compensation fund.

CHETRY: The U.S. military arming militants. Up next, we're live in Baghdad with the very latest on a controversial and some say flat out dangerous plan to fight anti-American insurgents in Iraq. We're coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: And thanks so much for being with us once again. It is Monday, June 11th. I'm Kiran Chetry.

ROBERTS: Good morning. I'm John Roberts. Good to have you with us.

Stories "On Our Radar" this morning. Could treating prostate cancer put you at risk for a heart attack. A troubling, new study is out about one of the most popular ways to treat prostate cancer. It has to do with lowering the levels of male hormones. We're going to be talking with a lead researcher from that study straight ahead.

CHETRY: Also, many people stayed up last night, and the two of us were not among them, but some very disappointed with the series finale to "The Sopranos." The final scene had just about everyone talking this morning. Full of suspense and suspicious characters, but what really happened to Tony and his family? Apparently HBO's Web site just jammed. In fact, the server paralyzed for several moments last night of people writing in. Not all of them favorable, let's put it that way. But we want to know what you thought. E-mail us, americanmorning@cnn.com. "The Sopranos" season final episode, did it deliver? We'll read some of those e-mails in a few minutes.

ROBERTS: A suicide bomb collapses a major highway overpass south of Baghdad. Iraqi police say three U.S. soldiers were killed. It took rescue crews 45 minutes to clear the rubble. Bridges have become an increasingly popular bombing target for insurgents recently.

And a suicide bomb in a police building in Tikrit killed 15 wounding 47 more.

A new U.S. strategy in Iraq may be about to expand. It basically works on the premise that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. American commanders say they have successfully tested arming Sunnis who promise to use the weapons to fight militants linked with al Qaeda. The problem is that the Sunnis have also been linked to violence against U.S. troops in the past. Critics say it could amount to arming both sides in a civil war. We're going to be talking with John Burns, "The New York Times" Baghdad bureau chief, coming up in our next half hour.

CHETRY: President Bush wraps up his eight-day European trip with a stop in Bulgaria. The president met with Bulgaria's president within the last couple of hours. And he also used that time to speak about the stalled immigration reform bill. He says the bill will be revived. President Bush heads back to Washington today and plans a visit to Capitol Hill tomorrow to lobby for that bill.

And the Senate, today, planning to debate and then deliver a symbolic vote of no confidence on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The White House planning to ignore it. President Bush tells reporters in Bulgaria this morning that the Senate vote has no bearing on Gonzales' future as attorney general.

ROBERTS: Gasoline prices are down. That's right. You heard it here first.

The national average price dropping more than seven cents over the past three weeks to $3.11 a gallon for self-serve regular. That according to the Lundberg Survey. It is the first price drop since January.

Chicago still has the nation's most expensive gas at $3.61 a gallon. Jackson, Mississippi, has the cheapest at $2.87.

CHETRY: Well, if you ever want to know where your apple or your carrot came from, there is a California company that has started selling farmers' stickers with tracking numbers. The numbers can then be checked online to show you where the food was grown, when it was picked, and even who picked and packaged it.

Only a few farmers have signed up so far, but if you do find a sticker on your produce, you can check it out. It's harvestmark.com.

ROBERTS: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. That could be the latest very controversial U.S. strategy in Iraq.

American commanders say they have successfully tested a new way of fighting Iraqi insurgents. Now they want to expand it. What they're doing is they're arming some Sunni groups who are promising to use the weapons to fight al Qaeda militants and not the U.S. military.

"New York Times" Baghdad bureau chief John Burns is live now with the latest for us from Baghdad.

John, you say in your article this morning where you're talking about all of this that this is a strategy fraught with risk.

JOHN BURNS, BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF, "NEW YORK TIMES": It is, indeed, because some of these groups, possibly most of them, are Sunni insurgent groups that have previously fought the Americans. So giving them weapons, number one problem, will they be used against the Americans? Number two, will they use them against the Shiite-led and dominated Iraqi forces? Number three, will they use them in the broader Sunni fights to topple the new Shiite government of Iraq?

So, fraught with risk is probably an understatement.

ROBERTS: We have heard many, many times from American commanders that in their outreach to Sunni groups, that they would not reach out to groups that have attacked the United States in the past.

Have they completely dropped that condition?

BURNS: Well, one commander that we talked to yesterday, General Rick Lynch, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division who has a task force that straddles the southern approaches to Baghdad, real -- real badlands, he says that no way is he going to negotiate or provide any kind of support to any unit that have people who have attacked Americans. He said -- and I quote -- he said, "Let me tell you how the negotiation will go with those folks." He said, "It's going to be, 'You're under arrest. You're coming with me.'"

So at least in General Lynch's territory there is going to be a very tough line on this, but I think the devil, as he himself said, is in the details. The problem is, how do you determine whether or not a Sunni group that suddenly announces itself as ready to fight al Qaeda has, in fact, previously been killing Americans? Very difficult to do.

ROBERTS: Very difficult to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Do they have any kind of method?

BURNS: Absolutely. Well, they have a new method for determining this in the future, which is biometrics, which all of us who carry passes have become familiar with it.

You can't get accredited by the Americans. These new Sunni fighting groups will not be armed, supplied, given arms, ammunition, fuel, cash, et cetera, unless they go through biometric testing. That's to say, retinal scans, fingerprints. All weapons that are handed to them, the serial numbers will be kept.

So, if they should use those weapons against the Americans, against the Iraqi forces, or in an attempt to destabilize the government, then expos facto, they could get caught. But to determine, if you will, now, as a prior matter, whether or not any of these folks have killed Americans I think is in fact -- is going to be pretty difficult. And we know that in Baghdad, in the Amariya (ph) district of Baghdad, which is one of the real Sunni strongholds of Baghdad, about five miles west of where I'm standing, that the -- within the last 10 days, American forces have in fact given arms, ammunition and cash to a group that has the 1920s Revolution Brigades, a Sunni insurgent group with Ba'athist background that has in fact fought Americans.

ROBERTS: Wow. Everything old is new again. And they say that it's working in Anbar province. We'll see if it works elsewhere.

John Burns, the Baghdad bureau chief for "The New York Times".

Thanks for joining us, John. Good to see you.

CHETRY: Kidnapped, robbed and beaten at Disney World topping our "Quick Hits" now.

Two tourists forced into a car at gunpoint yesterday made to take money out of an ATM then taken to a remote spot and beaten. They did get away and are not seriously injured.

And space shuttle Atlantis astronauts are planning a space walk later this morning. They're going to be attaching a solar array to the International Space Station.

NASA is working on a fix for the shuttle's thermal blanket. There you see it. One of them peeled back on liftoff on Friday.

I believe that's about a four-inch separation there. It could be a danger when the shuttle returns, so they're going to try to figure out what they want to do with that.

Well, it will strike hundreds of thousands this year, prostate cancer, but could one popular treatment be as dangerous as the disease? We're going to hear from the lead researcher in a startling new study.

Plus, your e-mails about "The Sopranos" series ending are pouring in. We're going to read a few of those. The consensus seems to be a pretty big disappointment.

Let us know if you feel differently.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: The great toilet paper caper tops our "Quick Hits" this morning.

Police in Iowa say that Suzanne Butz (ph) stole three rolls of two-ply from the women's bathroom and then stuffed them into her shirt. She was trying to smuggle them out of the courthouse in Marshalltown when she was busted by an employee. Because of previous charges against her, Butz (ph), who stole the toilet paper, could face up to three years behind bars.

That's a year for each roll.

CHETRY: Butz (ph)? Are you kidding?

ROBERTS: Appropriately named.

Broadway honored its own on Sunday night at the Tony Awards. Most went to just two shows. "Spring Awakening" won eight awards, including best musical. And "The Coast of Utopia" won seven, including best play.

And check out this video for you. Take a look.

Every day it seems we get one hail of a storm somewhere in this country. This time it was Nebraska. Marble-size hail pelting down in Ogallala, in western Nebraska. Part of a storm system moving through the state last night.

CHETRY: Well, we've been getting a lot of e-mails about our question to AMERICAN MORNING, which was, "What did you think of the final 'Sopranos' series episode?" And it's pretty much summed up by this one e-mailer, who said, "A series that took excruciatingly long breaks led their fans down a path for a great ending and surely left us empty. Being 'Soprano'd' should be a new word in the dictionary that means to raise expectations, only to disappoint in the end."

ROBERTS: It's a new verb that we've invented this morning.

But a lot of season finales are like that. The "MASH" season finale was like that.

CHETRY: "Seinfeld" a lot of people...

ROBERTS: "Seinfeld" as well.

CHETRY: Reynolds is yelling "Seinfeld" over there in the corner.

ROBERTS: "Sex and the City" was...

CHETRY: Was good.

ROBERTS: ... pretty good.

CHETRY: Right.

ROBERTS: As was "Cheers," right? The end of "Cheers".

CHETRY: I liked that as well.

ROBERTS: Yes.

Well, 40 minutes after the hour. Chad Myers is off today. Reynolds Wolf filling in.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: Well, there is a new study about treating prostate cancer that you'll really want to listen to this morning. It's whether the hormone treatment that is commonly used in about 40 percent of patients can actually bring on heart attacks and other heart troubles. It is important news for men, their wives, their daughters, because nearly 220,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed this year alone. So we turn now to Dr. Anthony D'Amico. He is the lead researcher of a study and a professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Anthony, thanks for being with us this morning.

DR. ANTHONY D'AMICO, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: You're welcome.

CHETRY: First of all, explain your findings.

D'AMICO: What we found in a study of international collaboration between Australia, Canada and the U.S. of about 1,300 men, that men who were getting life-saving cancer therapy with a treatment called hormonal therapy, that, in fact, some of them, those in particular over the age of 65, or those with diabetes, or smokers, had heart attacks that they were going to have five or six years later within two or three years after starting the hormonal therapy. This was a striking finding in that we found that you actually shorten some men's lives, as opposed to lengthening them.

And so what we're recommending is that in men over the age of 65, or in diabetics or smokers, or men who have pre-existing heart disease, a heart attack or a stroke, that before the hormonal therapy is initiated, that they have an evaluation of their heart with a stress test or some other form of non-invasive testing.

CHETRY: I got you. So does this apply mostly to the over 65 category? Or what about men who are under 65 who are being treated with this therapy, that I believe it's given when you found that the cancer has spread outside of the prostate, correct?

D'AMICO: That's right. This is for very advanced prostate cancers, cancers that have, for the most part, left the prostate either microscopically or macroscopically. You can see it.

And there were some men under age 65 in the study, but most of the heart attacks that were noted were in men who are older. This is the population of men who are predisposed to having the hardening of the arteries already present, and we think the hormonal therapy might put the final step, the clot, perhaps, into that hardening of the arteries situation.

CHETRY: So what do you recommend then for people who are looking at treatment or currently being treated for prostate cancer?

D'AMICO: Even in these advanced forms of prostate cancer they progress very slowly, so there's plenty of time, months, for people to have an evaluation by a heart doctor, a cardiologist, usually a stress test, where they run on a treadmill, or sometimes they can even do just an imaging scan of the heart called a PET CT. And this will give the doctor the information they need to know if this man is at risk for a heart attack.

And if he is, have it corrected. The intervention could be as simple as an aspirin or maybe something more complex, like surgery. But once it's corrected, then they can go on to get the life-saving cancer therapy without a problem.

CHETRY: And we found these hormone treatments to be a double- edged sword not only for prostate cancer treatment, but also breast cancer treatment as well.

Do we -- does this highlight the need for maybe new medications or a different route?

D'AMICO: We're constantly looking for new treatments, but we find that hormonal therapy, like in breast cancer, also in prostate cancer, is one of the most effective forms of treatment.

CHETRY: Right.

D'AMICO: There is always new investigations going on, but right now this is one of the best treatments we have. And it does save lives. It's a small proportion of men who are at risk for these heart attacks. Only one in 50 of all the people who actually underwent the treatment. Nonetheless, it's a preventable problem with a simple evaluation before the hormonal therapy has begun.

CHETRY: All right. So, in a way, this is good news, because it is, you know, making people more aware of this. And knowing that it's preventative or treatable is also good.

Dr. Anthony D'Amico, professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School.

And thank you for your input on this study.

D'AMICO: You're very welcome.

ROBERTS: Coming up now to 46 minutes after the hour.

Smooth criminals top your "Quick Hits" now.

"Ocean's Thirteen" was a high roller at the weekend box office, making a cool $37 million in its debut weekend. That sank "Pirates of the Caribbean at Worlds End" to the number two position.

The Church of England is threatening to sue Sony over the video game "Resistance: Fall of Man". The church says images of an English cathedral appear without permission. It also called violence in the game "sick".

During the game, hundreds of people are killed in a virtual shootout inside the cathedral.

Well, an era in television is over. Coming back here on AMERICAN MORNING, we'll take a look at the end of "The Sopranos" and whether or not it was worth waiting for.

Stay with us. The most news in the morning is here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Forty-nine minutes after the hour now.

A recall for tainted beef tops your "Quick Hits" now.

United Food Group is expanding its recall for meat that may be contaminated with E. coli. Check your freezer for meat bought in April. If you see "EST. 1241" printed on the USDA mark, make sure that you return it.

A weapon of war inspires a bidding war in France. A golden- crusted sword that Napoleon took into battle more than 200 years ago sold for nearly $6.5 million at auction on Sunday. That is four times its estimated value.

And if there's anything worse than naked bike riders, it's global warming. In 70 cities, bikers took to the streets in their bicycle seats wearing little hore than a helmet to protest excessive use of gasoline-powered vehicles.

A sight you've got to see to believe.

CHETRY: Yes, you're right.

Well, speaking of see to believe, I'm glad that John and I slept through it last night, because I heard it was a huge disappointment. I'm talking about, of course, "The Sopranos" series finale.

Let's just take a quick listen to the end.

Wait. Did our cable go out? I'm sorry. Let me call the cable operator.

That's not the end, Lola.

LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That was the end. And you're not the only person to say that.

In fact, I feel like millions around the country who were watching were thinking the same exact thing: Did my cable go out?

It didn't. David Chase chose to end it abruptly. But, you know, he's never been conventional. So are you surprised?

CHETRY: Although -- and you follow this, because, I mean, this is your living.

OGUNNAIKE: Right.

CHETRY: You've reviewed shows for years. Eight years people vesting so much time every Sunday night into "The Sopranos," dealing with these long hiatuses.

OGUNNAIKE: Right.

CHETRY: Was it a copout, Lola?

OGUNNAIKE: I don't know if it was a copout necessarily, but I do think that people are feeling like it was. I mean, the reviews by the critics, they've been terribly unhappy.

CHETRY: In fact, your old stomping ground, "The New York Times," said in their review, "There was no good ending, so 'The Sopranos' left off without one."

How are people responding to that?

OGUNNAIKE: "New York Times" not happy. "Daily News," the cover, "One Wacky Ending." They gave it two and a half stars.

"The New York Post," Linda Stasi, "In a finale that was spectacularly disappointing, creator David Chase delivered just one hit. After making us think for the last five minutes that Tony was about to get killed... nothing, dead air."

CHETRY: Yes, it's true. And actually, our e-mailers as well, one wrote, "'The Sopranos' ending episode might be the absolute worst in TV history. Good thing there's not another season. I would never watch again."

That coming to us from Dave.

OGUNNAIKE: Really quickly, if you haven't watched it, turn off your TV.

What happened, we saw a little bit of it. They're in a diner, they're eating. There's a guy, a shady guy at the bar.

You're thinking maybe this is going to be the end. A little hit of a godfather there. You think that he walked into the bathroom, he may come out and whack Tony. And again, nothing. Your heart is beating fast the entire time, and it is a bit of a letdown.

CHETRY: It really is.

So, is this all leading us up to a movie?

OGUNNAIKE: Well, I said that last week, and I think I may be right. They've left it open-ended. And maybe there will be a movie that will finally answer all these questions that were left unopened.

CHETRY: All right. Well, we'll see if they didn't make people so mad they won't go spend the money at the box office.

Probably not.

OGUNNAIKE: I think people will want to go.

CHETRY: I think so, too.

Well, AMERICAN MORNING'S own made woman, Lola Ogunnaike.

Thank you.

OGUNNAIKE: Not swimming with the fishes. Not swimming with the fishes. ROBERTS: A prison book ban tops your "Quick Hits" now.

Thousands of books are gone from the shelves of America's prisons. It's part of a long delayed post-9/11 edict that is finally in effect. It is supposed to stop extremist religious books from falling into the hands of violent inmates. Civil rights leaders are threatening to fight the ban.

First Lady Laura Bush condemns the killing of an Afghan journalist. Zakia Zaki was killed last week by gunmen who reportedly backed the Taliban insurgency. Zaki is the second female journalist to be killed in Afghanistan in a week.

Love movies but not the movie theaters? Hate waiting for movies to hit the video store? iTunes is working on a plan that's going to make you very happy. The story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

The most news in the morning is here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Some friendly advice topping our "Quick Hits" now.

Democratic Senator Barack Obama, and presidential candidate, of course, getting some foreign policy advice from former secretary of state Colin Powell. Powell says that the two have met twice so far. Powell served in two Republican administrations. He said it was too early to decide who he is going to support for president next year.

And how do you get a half-ton beluga whale from Chicago to Tacoma, Washington? Well, in the belly of a chartered DC-8. Six year old Qannik, which means "snowflake" in Inuit, flew in a padded tank to the Tacoma Aquarium, where he will be joining a 14-year-old male.

Wait, so there's going to be two males? That one is named Beethoven, by the way. So he got a chartered flight. It looks comfy.

There he goes.

ROBERTS: Just a couple of minutes left in this hour. Ali Velshi is off today. Stephanie Elam "Minding Your Business".

We've heard about his idea of cable companies thinking of offering you first-run movies while they're in theaters in your home, but now somebody is actually really trying to negotiate this.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And this one could really appeal to a lot of people, John, because we're talking about iTunes.

If you could get your movie off of iTunes while still in the theater, a lot of people would like that. And that's what Apple is trying to have happen.

They're looking to do this with some major studios out of Hollywood. Reportedly, they're looking to rent movies for $2.99 for 30 days before that would expire. "The Financial Times" did report this yesterday.

Now, "The Wall Street Journal" says it's not clear which studios would participate. Paramount Pictures, it sounds like they're interested. Universal Studios, not so much at this point.

iTunes already offers movies, older movies, and TV shows. So this is not that much of a change. But this would allow them to compete with Video on Demand, so it would be huge for them. Obviously after that they would probably want to go ahead and sell the movies, but right now studios aren't really feeling the pricing for that, because for just $14.99 for new titles, a DVD is $18.99, so that could undercut what the studios make.

But overall, if this launch is as it sounds like it wants to do this fall, it could be something that would be very interesting to the people that are checking it out and want to get their movies while they're in flight.

You can move it -- it will have digital right (ph) software, though, so you won't be able to just go ahead and take it and put it on anything. You can move it to one device and maybe watch that while you're on your flight. But that's it. You won't be able to copy it.

ROBERTS: That's a lot less money than what we were talking about with the cable companies. They were thinking $20, $30.

CHETRY: Yes, buying the box.

ROBERTS: Yes.

ELAM: Well, see, that's why an issue, how much it would undercut what they want to do with the studios as far as selling those movies by just that little bit on iTunes. But obviously they're pushing for it.

CHETRY: Stephanie, thanks.

ELAM: Sure.

CHETRY: And the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

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