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Sharp Political Divide Over Commutation of Lewis 'Scooter' Libby's Prison Sentence; U.K. Terror Investigation; Flooding Disaster in Kansas
Aired July 03, 2007 - 08:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, good morning, everybody.
I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Heidi Collins.
Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live. It is July 3rd. Here's what's on the rundown.
There is outrage on the left, smiles on the right, as Scooter Libby, the vice president's friend, gets a pass on prison.
HARRIS: U.K. terror plot. Eight people now in custody. Most are doctors. The latest detained at an Australian airport.
NGUYEN: And check this out. Oil and water mix in Coffeyville, Kansas. Crude spills from a refinery during a flood.
All of this right here in the NEWSROOM.
Praise and outrage. A sharp political divide today over president's commutation of Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence. No pardon, but no time behind bars for Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff.
CNN's Kathleen Koch joins us now live from Washington.
The question is, Kathleen, why did the president make this controversial decision?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, the president said that he looked at both sides of the issue. But at the end of a long two-page statement, he basically said that it came down to this: "I respect the jury's verdict, but I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive."
Now, as you can expect, the reaction to that decision to commute Scooter Libby's two-and-a-half-year prison sentence was very swift and very predictable. Democrats blasting the decision. And a few Republicans who have spoken out being largely supportive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we saw today was elevating cronyism over the rule of law. And what we saw today was further evidence that this administration has no regard whatsoever for what needs to be held sacred.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president took away the 30 months in prison, left a $250,000 fine. I haven't read the transcript of the court action which I think is necessary for any president to make that decision. But having -- having said that, since the president did it, I think it's a reasonable determination to make because Scooter Libby was not charged with this disclosure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Now, this disclosure being the revelation of the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame. There's a lot of discussion today about whether or not President Bush will pay a political price for make this controversial decision.
Right now the president's approval ratings are hovering, depending on which poll you look at, between the low 30s, the upper 20s. So in many ways he really didn't have much to lose. And he was facing a lot of intense pressure from conservatives to commute Libby' sentence, make sure he didn't spend any time behind bars. So many see this as a president rewarding a loyal aide and solidifying his base -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. So let me ask you this, Kathleen. What role, if any, did Vice President Dick Cheney play in this decision?
KOCH: Good question, question. And right now we don't have a clear answer to that.
The White House is not saying what direct role, if any, Vice President Cheney played in the president's decision. Now, certainly, Vice President Cheney and Lewis "Scooter" Libby were very close. The two men very good friends. They sometimes even carpooled together. Of course, Libby being the vice president's chief of staff from the moment he took office.
The vice president's office did put out a short statement saying that he supports the president's decision. He had said in the past that he considered Libby's conviction a great tragedy. So it would not certainly be a surprise if he had a role in this. But whether or not -- what role that may have been, we may never know -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right.
CNN's Kathleen Koch joining us live from the White House today.
Kathleen, thank you.
KOCH: You bet.
HARRIS: And angry reaction this morning to President Bush's decision to commute Libby's sentence. Libby, again, convicted of obstruction in the CIA leak probe .
The leak ended the career of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson. She contends this whole saga got started because the White House was trying to discredit her husband. Former ambassador Joe Wilson, a strong critic of President Bush's Iraq policy. Last hour, Wilson told CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" the president subverted the rule of law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH WILSON, FMR. U.S. AMBASSADOR: The president, by commuting Mr. Libby's sentence, is guaranteed that he will be under no incentive whatsoever ever to tell the truth to the special prosecutor, who has said repeatedly that there remains a cloud over the office of the vice president. This cloud now extends over the office of the president. I think there is a -- there is a very real suspicion now that the president himself is an accessory to obstruction of justice in this matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: President Bush opted to erase Libby's prison sentence, not grant him a pardon. That would have wiped out his conviction altogether.
Now, last month we asked Americans whether they supported a pardon for Libby. The CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll found an overwhelming 72 percent opposed a presidential pardon. About 20 percent wanted it.
And next hour, a White House briefing will likely focus on President Bush's decision to commute Libby's sentence. We do have live coverage. That starts at 10:30 Eastern right here on CNN.
HARRIS: Days after the failed car bombings in London and Scotland, the international investigation expands. Here are the latest developments.
A security alert now in place at London's Heathrow airport. Police there say a suspicious bag has triggered secondary searches of the departing passengers. They stress the move is precautionary but will cause some flight delays.
Earlier today a bomb disposal team destroyed a suspicious car parked outside a mosque in Glasgow, Scotland. That is a city where two men launched a failed car bombing at the airport.
The probe now expands to Australia, where an eighth person is now in custody. The 27-year-old Indian national was detained at the airport as he waited for a flight out of the country.
The British media reports he is a medical doctor. In fact, several of the suspects are said to be doctors. Experts say that may signal a disturbing trend. They say Islamic extremists may now be recruiting more educated radicals to plot and carry out attacks.
More doctors, more detonations. Let's get the latest developments in this investigation.
CNN's Adrian Finighan is outside Scotland Yard in London.
Adrian, good morning to you.
What can you tell us about the latest suspect arrested in Australia?
ADRIAN FINIGHAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
He is an Indian-born doctor. He was working at the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland. Police say that he was arrested as he was trying to board a flight out of the country on a one-way ticket.
He was working in Australia under a temporary working visa. Now, here's the connection. He had previously worked at a hospital, police say, in the northwest of England.
Here in the U.K., of the seven suspects being questioned, two, as you were saying, are doctors. Iraqi-born Balil Abdulla (ph) believed to have worked at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Glasgow. Dr. Mohammed Asha, he was the man who was arrested, along with his wife, in that dramatic raid on the M6 highway in the northwest of England at the weekend.
Two other suspects were apprehended at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Glasgow. Police have not yet said whether they are doctors.
Another suspect badly burned in the Glasgow airport attack. He's being treated at that hospital in Glasgow.
Now, the fact that police have also carried out controlled explosions in the car park at that hospital has led to media speculation in this country that perhaps some kind of terrorist cell was operating within the national health service in Britain and was using it as a cover -- Tony.
HARRIS: And Adrian, we understand there have been some evacuations this morning at London's Heathrow airport. What can you tell us about that situation?
FINIGHAN: Well, let's put this into context, first of all.
The country is on high alert. We are at our highest threat level here. It's critical, which means that authorities believe that there could be another terror attack at any moment. So they are asking for the public to be vigilant.
The police have carried out a number of controlled explosions today. There was one in Hammersmith Tube Station in West London. Another at a mosque in Glasgow today.
A suspect package was found at Heathrow's terminal four. The police dealt with it in a controlled explosion.
That has led to secondary searches now of any passengers departing the airport. That's causing delays for passengers. But the airport is still functioning reasonably normally. It just means that anyone traveling from Heathrow today, it's going to take time to get through Customs and security -- Tony.
HARRIS: Sure.
CNN's Adrian Finighan outside of Scotland Yard for us.
Adrian, thank you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: President Bush declares a major disaster in 17 Kansas counties. All are now eligible for federal funds after devastating floods.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim joins us live from Coffeyville, Kansas, this morning.
Keith, good to see you.
What are you -- boy, I see what you are standing in. What are you seeing around you this morning?
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, first of all, even though I am knee deep in this water, the water here is actually receding. But the bad news is that there is a lot of contamination in this water.
I'm going to talk about that in just a moment. But first, this water came into this neighborhood very quickly, caught a lot of residents here by surprise. And case in point is a woman that you are about to meet. She's 38 years old, a lifelong resident of Coffeyville, and never experienced a major flood before until now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OPPENHEIM (voice over): Melanie Wright (ph) can no longer walk or drive to her house like most people. She has to travel by boat.
(on camera): To you, this is the street you've been on many times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
OPPENHEIM (voice over): She could not hold back tears. This was the first time Melanie had gone to see her home since the flood suddenly overtook it last weekend.
(on camera): Is that it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. My front door is that right there. The long thing is a big glass window to my front room.
OPPENHEIM: Just days ago, this three bedroom house was home to Melanie, three of her five children, her granddaughter and her brother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see my ice chest there. I see another ice chest right there floating.
OPPENHEIM: It was a house that was passed down to her after her mother died five years ago. Melanie is a housekeeper who is just getting by. She had no flood insurance and she never suspected there was much danger of anything like this happening.
(on camera): So when you see it, it makes it real?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It makes it real that you really are homeless. What you own -- the only thing you owned in your life is gone.
OPPENHEIM (voice over): Later, we went to the motel room where Melanie and her kids are all staying temporarily. A family displaced, unsure where they will go next.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have nothing now. Nothing. I just really want to cry. That's all I want to do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OPPENHEIM: This flood, Tony, is not only emotionally devastating, it's also an environmental mess.
We're going to tilt down, and you can see what is at my feet here. That is a big oil slick. And the oil is throughout the water around here. It's pretty -- pretty gross.
What happened was, 42,000 gallons -- I'm going to kneel down, Chris (ph) -- 42,000 gallons of crude oil spilled out of the local refinery here, and some of that oil has gone downstream in the Verdigris River, heading towards Oklahoma. So far, we are told that no drinking water is affected. But all of this is under investigation, including how the oil spill out of the refinery in the first place.
There's some question as to whether or not a valve might have been left or maybe the equipment was just overwhelmed. We are still trying to figure that out.
HARRIS: Boy, Keith, that's such a mess there. In the short term -- you introduced us to Melanie (ph), and we got to see her kids there. In the short term, she's in the hotel, but what's next for her? How long can she stay in that hotel? And what are those sort of medium-range prospects like for her?
OPPENHEIM: Yes, she -- the good news is that she's a housekeeper at a local community college and will stay in a room in a dorm with her kids at the community college for the next couple of months. But when fall comes she has no living options. And this is a woman who was basically just getting by.
HARRIS: Yes.
OPPENHEIM: So, you know, she doesn't really have a lot of options. And she doesn't know.
HARRIS: And we suspect there are a lot of folks in that same predicament right now in Coffeyville.
OPPENHEIM: Yes, that's right.
HARRIS: OK. Keith Oppenheim for us.
Keith, thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, no prison time for Lewis "Scooter" Libby. The president making the controversial decision to commute that sentence. So, what is next for Libby?
Well, CNN's Brian Todd takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His appeals for temporary freedom nearly exhausted, Lewis "Scooter" Libby gets a reprieve from his president. In commuting Libby's two-and-a-half-year sentence, President Bush says in a statement, "I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive."
The prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, later shot back with a statement of his own, saying Libby's punishment was consistent with the law in his case and imposed under guidelines used every day in the U.S.
The president did leave Libby's $250,000 fine intact, and says he will remain on probation.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The White House promptly made the calculation that the only people left standing by this president are conservatives, and they want him to keep "Scooter" Libby out of jail. Therefore, nothing much to lose.
TODD: Libby had been found guilty in March of obstruction and perjury in the investigation into who leaked the identity of former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson.
(on camera): Just hours before the president's decision, a federal appeals court had rejected Libby's bid to remain free while he appealed the conviction. Analysts say he'll still likely appeal that guilty verdict, and many believe he won't get the same break the president gave him.
SCOTT FREDERICKSEN, FORMER SPECIAL PROSECUTOR: I think his chances on appeal are not good. Judge Walton tried a clean case. The prosecutor put in a very strong, well-thought-out case.
TODD (voice over): Still, with the president's action, there's little left for Scooter Libby to do on appeal but to try to clear his name.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Cal Perry, live in Amman, where I had a chance to sit down with the brother of Mohammed Asha, one of those detained in Britain. His claim, "My brother is absolutely innocent."
That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: There are eight people in custody in the U.K. terror investigation. More than half of them are said to be medical doctors. Relatives, well, they are in disbelief.
And CNN's Cal Perry visits one family in Amman, Jordan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PERRY (voice over): A fiery attack at Glasgow's International Airport. Two car bombs thwarted in London sending the city into virtual gridlock. The acts perhaps more surprising to officials than the arrests of a neurosurgeon. Dr. Mohammed Asha, born in Saudi Arabia but a Jordanian national, and his wife arrested on the M6 freeway in northern England, a long way from home.
(on camera): This is the house in Amman where 27-year-old Mohammed grew up with six brothers and two sisters. His parents remain upstairs, exceptionally distraught over the situation. They've heard nothing from the government. His brother Ahmed paints a picture of a young man who traveled to the U.K., had a baby, and looked forward to becoming a doctor.
(voice over): His brother Ahmed at first orders us to turn off the camera. But after a few moments of conversation, he agrees to tell us about his brother. And without warning, pictures and certificates of academic merit come pouring on to the table. Ahmed refuses to believe his brother is responsible.
(on camera): So what was your first reaction?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't believe about this. We don't believe it.
PERRY: You can't believe it. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't. It's impossible.
PERRY (voice over: He hails Mohammed as a top student too busy to do anything but study, graduating at the top of his class. At one point his academic successes grant him an invitation from the queen. Ahmed is quick to show us the picture.
And the man who, according to his brother, is not devout. "He didn't pray all the time," he tells me. "Mohammed didn't make any difference between Christians and Muslims. He has a lot of Christian friends. My wife is Christian," he adds.
For now, this proud family continues to wait for word that this nightmare is only a big mistake.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Let me ask you this, Cal. What is Dr. Asha's family planning to do? They say they don't believe it. So what are they going to do?
PERRY: I spoke to the brother at some length. One of their biggest concerns is this 2-year-old baby, Enis (ph). Think don't know where the child is.
Now, one would assume it's probably in the British system of some sort, that they are looking after the child. But this is really a family in the dark. They've heard nothing from the Jordanian Embassy in the U.K. and they've heard nothing from British authorities here on the ground in Jordan.
The brother told me if he hears nothing within 48 to 72 hours, he plans to fly to the U.K. to try to sort out what's going on. The father has appealed to the king of Jordan for any assistance. But this is really a family that's literally gathered around the television set -- Betty.
NGUYEN: CNN's Cal Perry joining us live from Amman, Jordan.
Thank you, Cal.
HARRIS: And this just in to CNN. The TSA, we understand, is deploying teams with special training to transit systems in select cities.
Our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, is on line with this.
Jeanne, what can you tell us about this?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Transportation Security Administration is mobilizing its so-called the viper teams. These are special security teams that are put together with resources within the TSA that are deployed at times of a heightened alert or threat. They can consist of canine units and air marshals who are not flying, transportation inspectors, and sometimes technology. The TSA says they are being deployed in Washington, Boston, New York, Houston, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, in transit systems.
As you know, U.S. officials have said repeatedly they know of no specific and credible threat against the United States. They have found no links between what's happened in the United Kingdom and any threat here. And yet, they have chosen to beef up security around aviation and around mass transit.
One of the reasons they are doing this now is that they know a lot of people in these cities in particular will be using mass transit over the Fourth of July holiday to get to fireworks and other sorts of celebrations -- Tony.
HARRIS: It's interesting. It's -- one wonders if this would have been put in place, the deployment of these teams, and maybe we just don't know the answer to this, if not for the events in Great Britain over the last few days.
MESERVE: Well, certainly it was the events in Great Britain that triggered heightened security around aviation and mass transit. So -- although it's impossible to say definitively.
HARRIS: Sure.
MESERVE: Certainly that's a contributing factor in the decision to do so today.
HARRIS: But this is beyond routine for even a holiday -- a long holiday weekend.
MESERVE: Well, I'm trying to go back in my memory here.
HARRIS: Sure.
MESERVE: They certainly have deployed most times in the past whenever the threat level has been raised to orange, for instance. And it seems to be on some other instances as well. But I can't recollect whether they have been deployed on the Fourth of July simply because of the crowd situation.
HARRIS: Sure. All right. Well, let's leave it there for now.
Our Jeanne Meserve.
Jeanne, appreciate the information. Thank you. .
NGUYEN: Well, good morning, everybody, on this Tuesday, July 3rd.
I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Good morning, everyone. A political firestorm, man, swirling this morning around President Bush's decision to commute Scooter Libby's prison sentence. Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former vice chief of staff, will not spend any time behind bars, but he will still be on probation for two years and he has to pay a hefty fine, $250,000.
A jury convicted Libby of perjury and obstruction in the CIA leak case. That investigation tried to figure out who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson.
NGUYEN: And another story that we are following very closely. Days after the failed car bombings in London and Scotland, the international investigation expands. Here are the latest developments.
A security alert now in place at London's Heathrow airport. Police there say a suspicious bag has triggered secondary searches of departing passengers, and they stress this move is precautionary. But it will cause some flight delays.
And earlier today, a bomb disposal team destroyed a suspicious car parked outside a mosque in Glasgow, Scotland. That is the city, as you'll recall, where two men launched a failed car bombing at the airport.
The probe now expands all the way to Australia, where an eighth person is now in custody. The 27-year-old Indian national was detained at the airport as he waited for a flight out of the country. Australian authorities say he is a medical doctor and, in fact, several of the suspects are said to be doctors. Experts that may signal a disturbing trend. They say Islamic extremists may now be recruiting more educated radicals to plot and carry out attacks.
HARRIS: Scooter Libby skips prison time thanks to a presidential pass.
We will talk about it with our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin.
NGUYEN: And a little bit of relief for your wallet as you hit the road for the Fourth of July --
HARRIS: A little bit. A teeny weenie bit.
NGUYEN: Don't spoil it.
But, you know, gas prices head down just a teeny little bit --
HARRIS: That much.
NGUYEN: -- as the holiday approaches.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And still to come, the terror plot in Great Britain -- new concerns ripple across London and Glasgow as the investigation now extends halfway around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Just when it looked like "Scooter" Libby would go to prison, President Bush steps in. The two and-a-half-year prison sentence given to the vice president's former chief of staff now erased. But his perjury and obstruction conviction remain.
Our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, is here this morning -- Jeffrey, good to talk to you.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, Tony.
HARRIS: Boy, it's good to have friends in high places.
TOOBIN: I'll say.
HARRIS: Oh, sorry --
TOOBIN: Exactly.
HARRIS: I thought (INAUDIBLE) --
TOOBIN: End of story.
HARRIS: End of --
TOOBIN: I think you said the end and I think we are done.
HARRIS: We're done!
TOOBIN: I think that's the end of the story, because that's the whole message here, frankly.
HARRIS: Friends in high places.
Look, was this sentence within the federal guidelines that everyone else is subjected to if they are found guilty of obstruction of justice?
TOOBIN: You know, the statement that President Bush -- one word really just leapt out at me -- when he said he thought the sentence was excessive. Excessive was the word he used.
HARRIS: What does excessive mean here?
TOOBIN: Well, it's clearly excessive in President Bush's opinion. And he's certainly entitled to his opinion and it --
HARRIS: Excessive for all of us?
TOOBIN: Well, that's the thing. There are federal sentencing guidelines. When I was an assistant U.S. attorney, what you did was there was a chart. And for each crime, each crime got a number. And the number corresponded to a certain number of months in prison.
HARRIS: Right.
TOOBIN: This sentence of 30 months is precisely within the federal sentencing guidelines for this crime. And every other person who has been convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury is sentenced under those guidelines. So this was excessive in the eyes of President Bush. But, certainly, as a legal matter, it was not excessive at all.
HARRIS: So what does the president mean when he says excessive?
Excessive for the crime he was -- what does he mean, Jeffrey?
TOOBIN: Well, what he means -- and I think legitimately what he means is he personally thought it was excessive. And the pardon power -- and commutations are part of the pardon power -- exists so that the president can override the legal system. That's why the pardon power exists. That's -- that's why there's no review of it by the courts or by Congress. And so he says in my opinion.
But this shows why pardons and commutations are generally so unpopular --
HARRIS: Yes.
TOOBIN: -- because it shows that the president is stepping in, reaching in, helping one defendant while letting everyone else play by the rules.
HARRIS: You followed this so closely for us.
The jury said what?
That he lied, correct?
TOOBIN: End of story.
HARRIS: End of story.
TOOBIN: That's what he said -- that's what -- they said he lied. He wasn't charged with leaking classified information.
HARRIS: Exactly.
TOOBIN: He wasn't charged with conspiring to do all sorts of terrible things. This was a very simple case about a guy who lied to the FBI and lied to the --
HARRIS: OK, so --
TOOBIN: -- grand jury. And the jury found him guilty and the judge sentenced him --
HARRIS: So --
TOOBIN: And it was a routine case in that respect. HARRIS: -- here's the piece where,, you know, you followed it so closely comes in. Look, you're an attorney. You're a senior legal analyst here.
Why do people -- why do people lie?
You followed this case. Did you buy I just don't recall?
TOOBIN: Well, no. I mean, I think this was, obviously, a cover-up of something. And I think what people find so frustrating about this case is that through "Scooter" Libby's life -- and someone that watched the trial, there was no doubt in my mind he was guilty.
HARRIS: Right.
TOOBIN: I mean the jury was very much correct, as far as I could tell.
But the question is who was he protecting?
Why was he lying?
I don't think we know the answer to that question. The commutation makes it that much less likely that we will ever know. And cynics will say that's one reason why there was a commutation. But, you know, the story is over now because "Scooter" Libby will never go to prison.
HARRIS: Our senior legal analyst.
He's an attorney. He's a -- he's a good one, too.
TOOBIN: All right.
HARRIS: Jeffrey Toobin.
Jeffrey, thank you for your time.
TOOBIN: I'm a recovering attorney.
HARRIS: You're recovering.
All right, there you go.
TOOBIN: (INAUDIBLE).
HARRIS: Next hour -- thanks, Jeffrey -- a White House briefing will likely focus on President Bush's decision to commute Libby's sentence.
You think so?
Live coverage at 10:30 Eastern time right here in THE NEWSROOM.
NGUYEN: Yes, I assume there will be a few questions on that topic. HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: Well, let's talk now about a remedy for the pain at the pump. Slightly -- yes, just slightly lower gas prices, as you hit the road for the Fourth of July weekend. I shouldn't say the weekend. Although it is an extended weekend for a lot of people.
HARRIS: It is. Yes.
NGUYEN: In its daily Fuel Gauge report, AAA says today's average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is just over $2.95.
Does that make you feel good?
HARRIS: No.
NGUYEN: I didn't think so.
That is just a slight drop from yesterday. One month ago, the average price was $3.16 a gallon.
So, now does it make you feel any better?
No?
HARRIS: No.
NGUYEN: Yes, pretty much.
HARRIS: All right.
Let's get another check of weather now.
Chad Myers standing by in the Weather Center -- Chad, good morning to you, sir.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know what we haven't had the threat of this year is a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.
HARRIS: The tropical --
NGUYEN: This is true.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: Right?
I mean you add --
NGUYEN: Don't even utter those words, Chad, because then it might happen.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: Well, so far, so good.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
MYERS: But you put that in the Gulf and all of a sudden -- I don't even want to know where the prices are going after that.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: SUVs, pickups, minivans all put to the test.
How safe are you and your family when it comes to being in a wreck?
BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
A daring rescue of two U.S. Army pilots in Iraq.
We'll have details next in THE NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right, there is word that two Army pilots have been rescued after their helicopter was shot down south of Baghdad.
We want to go straight to CNN's Barbara Starr, who has the latest on this.
What do, you know -- Barbara?
STARR: Well, Betty, details are just now emerging of what appears to be a very dramatic rescue yesterday when a U.S. Army Kiowa warrior helicopter was shot down south of Baghdad. It was brought down by machine gunfire, according to Army sources.
This is a two man helicopter. Just two pilots onboard. It's very lightly armed. It basically conducts reconnaissance missions.
When the helicopter went down, the two men evacuated the helicopter. They were like the one you see here. They were still taking fire.
Two Apache helicopter gunships, very heavily armed helicopters, came along to rescue them. One of the Apaches stayed above the ground filming the incident, providing cover fire. Under fire, the other Apache landed. And what the Army officials are confirming, Betty, is the two rescued pilots -- they were strapped to the outside of this Apache helicopter.
But there's a little wrinkle here. What happened was one of the Apache pilots in the rescue helicopter got out, gave his seat to one of the injured men, strapped himself to the outside and the other injured pilot was strapped to the other side of the helicopter and they lifted off and brought these two men to safety under fire.
There is videotape of this incident. The Army -- the Pentagon has not yet officially released it. We hope to bring you that video in the hours ahead -- Betty. NGUYEN: My goodness. OK, I'm trying to visualize this.
So they were actually strapped to the outside of the helicopter as it took off?
STARR: That is correct. The two men -- one of them was one of the Apache pilots because he was in the rescue helicopter. He wanted to give up his seat to one of the injured men. So one of the injured men put in that extra seat in the Apache, which only carries two, as well. The Apache pilot strapped himself to the outside. And the other injured man was strapped to the outside of the other side of the Apache helicopter and they were brought out to safety.
A, Betty, in an extraordinary twist, basically we are told something very similar happened in Ramadi later in the day. A number of troops on the ground came under fire. There was no easy way to get them out. An Apache helicopter came along, rescued one of the wounded men, strapped him to the outside of the helicopter and brought him to safety.
HARRIS: Wow!
STARR: This is not something that we have heard has happened very much before. This really is making rescues happen as you can, which is what often happens, of course, when a helicopter goes down or there's wounded troops that have to be brought to safety.
Again, the military says they have video of the first incident.
HARRIS: Yes.
STARR: They haven't yet released it. We hope to bring it to everyone as quick as we can -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes. Absolutely. That is something that you want to see, especially after hearing you describe how that occurred.
That apparently doesn't happen every, but it works when you have to use it.
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Barbara.
We appreciate it.
STARR: Sure.
HARRIS: And still to come, the power of car bombs -- how easy are they to build and detonate?
Our David Mattingly will take a look.
NGUYEN: Follow-up on the death of a pro-wrestler and his family. Chris Benoit's personal doctor has been indicted. His attorney says the charges are unrelated to what a federal prosecutor is saying in the case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK, we're pod casting today -- Betty, what -- you're pod casting me with, aren't you?
NGUYEN: Sure I am.
HARRIS: OK. OK. We do it every day here in the CNN NEWSROOM. And let me tell you something. Another reason to watch the pod cast today, Betty Nguyen sits on the set here at CNN and smokes. She is on fire. The set literally --
NGUYEN: Literally, the lights caught fire.
HARRIS: -- starts to go up. Right. And we've got tape of it and we're going to put it in the pod cast.
NGUYEN: That is not true.
HARRIS: The CNN NEWSROOM pod cast available 24/7 right on your iPod.
It's the truth.
NGUYEN: You're telling all of our secrets around here, Tony.
I tell you.
In the meantime, let's talk about this, because failed car bomb attacks in Britain -- how much damage could have been done if they had detonated properly, like the light here on this set?
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: Well, CNN's David Mattingly takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): Under the blazing New Mexico sun, a deadly weapon of terror takes shape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a car bomb. This is an improvised car bomb.
MATTINGLY: Using the same volatile ingredients investigators say terrorists attempted to use in the failed attacks on London and Glasgow, we commissioned explosives experts at New Mexico Tech to build us a similar car bomb and then blow it up.
VAN ROMERO, NEW MEXICO TECH: What will happen is this entire car will turn into shrapnel.
MATTINGLY: This is not a how-to in building car bombs. This bomb starts with about $100 of simple materials -- two tanks of liquid propane, the kind that you would attach to your backyard grill. Then, tanks of gasoline, about 20 gallons in all.
But where the London bombs reportedly contained nails, for practical purposes, our test uses metal nuts. They are less likely to cause flat tires at the site later.
ROMERO: For a suicide car bomber -- a suicide car bomber will have like a plastic or C4 explosives and they'll put that to their -- on top of the explosives. And then when it detonates, these will shoot out into the surrounding areas.
(on camera): You can see that these are items that are easy to find. Anyone can buy them. Anyone can put them together. The real expertise behind a car bomb is in knowing how to blow it up. And for security reasons, detonating a car bomb is the one thing experts here do not discuss publicly.
(voice-over): But it's clear to our experts the failed detonations in London and the apparent attempt by terrorists to manually detonate the Jeep at the Glasgow airport, that these terrorists lacked the skill to carry out their murderous plans.
ROMERO: One, they didn't have a lot of knowledge of how to do it. Or, two, they didn't have access to other types of explosives.
MATTINGLY: (on camera): Security procedures demand that we get far, far away from that explosion. We're up here on a hilltop and you can see the blast site way down there. That's about a half mile away. I'm told it's possible that that explosion could possibly throw shrapnel all the way up here. And for that reason, when the moment of truth comes, we'll all be hunkered down inside this reinforced bunker.
(voice-over): And after only 30 minutes of assembly, the car is parked in front of a hastily reconstructed building and the bomb is ready to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five, four, three, two, one.
MATTINGLY: From a half mile away, the sound takes about a second to catch up to the churning orange fireball. Watch in slow motion as the car blows to pieces. From this angle, we can see fiery debris jetting out of the back. But it's not until we get on the ground that we get a clear idea of the damage this car bomb could have done on a busy London street.
ROMERO: The casualties would probably be fire victims.
MATTINGLY: The building next to the car was incinerated by the blast. If this had been a nightclub full of people, fire could have claimed many lives. And all those metal nuts, representing nails strapped to the propane tanks, could have wounded pedestrians within a half block or more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's the other tank.
MATTINGLY: But the real surprise we found about 150 yards away. One of the propane tanks had soared away like a rocket. ROMERO: And look at that. It blew a hole right in the side of it. And all the gas comes pouring out.
Look how much is pouring out, under pressure.
MATTINGLY: (on camera): And then what happens?
ROMERO: And it starts to ignite with the fire that's created from the gasoline.
MATTINGLY: (voice-over): David Mattingly, CNN, Secora, New Mexico.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HARRIS: Boy, is that frightening.
NGUYEN: Yes, it is.
HARRIS: Still to come in THE NEWSROOM this morning, no prison time for Lewis "Scooter" Libby. That decision by President Bush raising a political ruckus in Washington.
NGUYEN: All right, check him out. He is 105 years old -- a brand spanking new American, and quite a character.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has a little motor scooter, you know, a little motorized wheelchair. And he goes up and down the neighborhood and visits everyone. He comes to our house every day for happy hour.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Now he's got something else to celebrate -- a U.S. citizenship. Yes, very good reason to be happy --
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: -- as we go into the Fourth of July.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
AUSTIN TOMPKINS: And the water just kind of ripped -- ripped everything apart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's I-Reporter Austin Tomkins describing the scene in Georgetown, Texas.
TOMPKINS: We had flooding here before, but nothing anywhere near that kind of level. There are cars and stuff like that stuck in the middle of foot bridges that were completely submerged that we didn't see before and light posts that have just been ripped out of the ground.
I'll take you further downstream and it's kind of amazing. CHERYL BUCKNER: This is my ditch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flooding behind Cheryl Buckner's home in Cashion, Oklahoma turned a drain into a rushing creek.
BUCKNER: It was just so much water and the creek -- I mean that little creek area was never like that before. And it was rushing so hard, we just couldn't believe how much water was down there. I grabbed my little camera and tried to take some of the shots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see more I-Report videos and send in your own at cnn.com. Just look for the I-Report logo.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And this just in to CNN.
We have learned that police in northwestern England have arrested two men under the Terrorism Act today. But unclear at this point whether they are suspects in the recent attempted bombings in London and Glasgow.
Again, the men were arrested at an industrial park by Lincolnshire police.
So, again, the news just in to CNN that two men have been arrested in northwest England. It's still too early to tell whether these arrests are connected to the events in Glasgow and London. We have a live report coming up in just minutes at the top of the hour here at CNN, where we will get further information -- this latest information of two additional arrests.
NGUYEN: In the meantime, good morning, everybody.
I'm Betty Nguyen in for Heidi Collins today.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.
Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Here's what's on the run down.
A new development. The government deploying viper teams on subways in major U.S. cities. The move days after the U.K. terror plot.
NGUYEN: Who's outraged, who is just overjoyed?
The vice president's one time chief of staff will not go to prison for perjury.
HARRIS: Just driving along minding her own business, then boom -- her world comes crashing in.
It is Tuesday, July 3rd, and are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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