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American Morning
President Promises to Help Mexico in 'Brutal' Drugs Wars; Gov. Palin Appears Before Sellout Crowd; Dealing With a Disaster: Is America Prepared?; United Airlines' Unfriendly Skies; Afghan President to Overturn Controversial Rule; Treating Addicts at Home; Citigroup Posts $1.6 Billion Earnings; Hero Captain Headed Home
Aired April 17, 2009 - 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: And a very good morning to you. It's Friday, it's the 17th of April. Welcome to the Most News in the Morning. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. It's a good morning for us. A better morning for Ashton Kutcher this morning because he had Twitter.
ROBERTS: Some you lose, and some you lose.
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: A story of my life. I lose everything at times.
CHETRY: We'll explain more of that in a second. Not that, the Twitter situation.
A lot more to cover this morning. Big stories that we're going to be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
President Obama is on the move this morning. In just a few hours, he'll leave Mexico for the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. And the president and Mexican President Calderon discussed the drug violence raging in that country that's now spilling over into the U.S. We're going to get reaction from Mexico City.
Also new this morning, counting down to a long awaited homecoming. The captain of the hijacked cargo ship is finally headed home to Vermont. Right now, a huge celebration is expected for Captain Rich Phillips as one of his crew members talked to CNN about the ordeal they all endured at the hands of Somali pirates.
And Sarah Palin rocking the house. The Alaska governor speaking to a sellout crowd at a Right to Life event in Indiana. It was the first big major event outside of her home state of Alaska since the election. So could 2012 be in the cards for Palin? We'll take a look.
ROBERTS: But first, President Obama in Mexico City right now. And in just a few hours, he'll leave for Trinidad and Tobago to attend the Summit of the Americas leaving behind a nation waging war with vicious drug cartels. In his first trip to Latin America, the president is promising a new crackdown pledging to beef up security along the border and eliminate the flow of guns and cash into Mexico.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president and picks up the story from Mexico City.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, only five U.S. presidents in 100 years have visited Mexico City. And President Obama will have spent less than 24 hours here in the southern neighbor, underscoring this very important trip.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Obama came to give Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon, his props for taking on the country's deadly drug cartels. Mr. Obama said the U.S. shared responsibility for the flow of weapons, cash, and drugs.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But I will not pretend that this is Mexico's responsibility alone. More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States.
MALVEAUX: When Calderon reiterated the point, Obama was left shaking his head and seemed eager to move on.
OBAMA: The relationship between Mexico and the United States cannot just be defined by drugs.
MALVEAUX: While both leaders pledged more resources to monitor the border, President Obama acknowledged he couldn't get delivered on his campaign promise to reinstate the assault weapons ban. Since the ban expired, Calderon says the violence in Mexico has gotten worse, acknowledging that Congress has little appetite to take on the issue. Mr. Obama instead urged the U.S. Senate to ratify a long-stalled regional treaty aimed at tackling the drug trade.
OBAMA: But what we focused on is how we can improve our enforcement of existing laws.
MALVEAUX: Now, on to the twin island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago for the fifth Summit of the Americas. Obama is touting progress with Cuba, his administration's recent move to relax restrictions for Cuban-Americans.
OBAMA: And so I think what you saw was a good faith effort.
MALVEAUX: But his Mexican host like many other Latin American leaders said Obama's move is inadequate and called for the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba to be lifted.
FELIPE CALDERON, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO (through translator): We do not believe that the embargo or the isolation of Cuba is a good measure for things to change in Cuba.
(END VIDEOTAPE) MALVEAUX: Despite the fact that Cuba will not be represented at the summit, the fear is is that it could very well dominate the discussion -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning from Mexico City. And while Cuba will not be present at the Summit of the Americas, the U.S. trade embargo against the island figures to loom large at this weekend's gathering. Just hours after President Obama said it was up to Havana to make the next move, Cuban President Raul Castro responded.
Yesterday during a meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Castro said his government is willing to discuss everything with Washington as long as it's on equal terms. Chavez, who recently called the president "ignorant," will be at the summit but the White House says the president has no plans to meet one-on-one with Chavez.
CHETRY: All right. Time now to take a little bit deeper on President Obama's trip to Mexico. John Ackerman is a professor and columnist who's been giving us some perspective on the president's trip. He's in Mexico City. He joins us there this morning.
John, thanks for being with us.
PROF. JOHN ACKERMAN, INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL RESEARCH, UNIVERSITY OF MEXICO: Hi, Kiran. How are you doing?
CHETRY: Great.
ACKERMAN: Great to talk to you again.
CHETRY: Well, we're glad to have you. Let's talk a little bit about the assault weapons announcement that President Obama said yesterday. So there's going to be no ban. It's just not likely to happen here in the U.S., but it's something that Mexican President Felipe Calderon really wanted. There was also no movement on that disputed issue of Mexican trucking, Mexican trucks being able to enter our border. So was anything substantive accomplished?
ACKERMAN: Well, not really, Kiran. It was a very quick meeting yesterday, only a few hours President Calderon and President Obama got to talk with their respective teams.
The press conference was basically very general about the general issues. No firm commitments on either side. President Obama repeated a very important issue about the United States taking responsibility for the violence and the drug problem in Mexico with the consumption and the weapons issue, although not taking any kind of serious or formal commitment to confront the issue on the U.S. side.
On the Mexican side, still lots of saber rattling, talk about this as a war instead of talking about deeper, long-term institutional transformation which is what will really solve the problem here in Mexico.
CHETRY: Right. And you did. You talked yesterday when we spoke with you about the importance of focusing on the reasons behind the drug violence, the social decay, the poverty, the inequality in Mexico.
ACKERMAN: Exactly.
CHETRY: Were those issues addressed at all in these meetings?
ACKERMAN: Not really. They tried to branch out a little bit and talked about the environmental issues, about migration, about economic cooperation in a very general way, though. Again, this is a very quick visit and there's actually a problem with that. It was very sort of bureaucratic as well, Kiran.
Obama last year, he wrote an article about the relationship with Mexico in the "Dallas Morning News." And if you look at that, he makes a very specific problem that his meetings with Mexico and with Canada would be transparent, would be open to society, and would really involve the participation of the Mexican and Canadian society.
This meeting was very much bureaucratic. He was holed up within government offices. He had no opportunity, President Obama, to actually interact with the Mexican people.
This was unfortunate. The Mexican people are very excited about Obama, the president of the United States. But they are sort of left waiting for a moment to actually meet the new U.S. president. I hope this happens soon.
CHETRY: Right. Well, this was his first trip and maybe in subsequent visits that will happen.
John Ackerman, thanks so much for joining us this morning for your perspective.
ACKERMAN: Thank you very much. It's a pleasure.
ROBERTS: Also developing right now, a hero heading home. Rescued American sea Captain Richard Phillips is on a flight back to New England right now. Camera crews spotted him shortly before he boarded a private jet in Kenya yesterday.
Phillips is traveling from Mombasa to his home state of Vermont. He's scheduled to arrive in Burlington at 4:30 eastern this afternoon.
Meantime, Phillips' crew aboard the Maersk Alabama has been catching up with family since returning yesterday and they're opening up about the showdown with pirates who took Captain Phillips hostage. The ship's engineer spoke to our Larry King last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LARRY KING LIVE")
LARRY KING, CNN HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Did you fear for your captain, John?
JOHN CRONAN, ENGINEER, MAERSK ALABAMA: Yes, I did. We all did. Yes, we did. He went above and beyond the call to ensure our safety. I can't thank that man enough. He is the reason I'm here tonight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Navy SEALs killed three of the four pirates who are holding Phillips. The captured pirate believed to be 17 years old will be brought to New York City to face federal charges. And stick around because coming up at our next hour, we'll be talking live with John Cronan we just there with Larry King.
Well just like old times for Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor is a huge hit in America's heartland. A look at her speech to a conservative audience and what it might say about her presidential ambitions.
And charge the large. United is the latest airline to make obese passengers pay for two seats on some flight. We have both sides of the mile-high weight debate coming up for you.
Seven and a half minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's just about 10 minutes after the hour, and let's fast forward to stories that we'll be making news later on today.
This morning at 9:30 Eastern, the Dow kicks off trading above 8100 for the first time in more than two months. And right now, we're standing by for earnings from both GE and Citigroup which are expected to drive trading.
At 5:00 p.m. Eastern in St. Louis, Vice President Joe Biden will focus on one of the most daunting problems facing families with children -- the rising cost of college. The vice president and the middle class task force will take questions and discuss ways to make college education more affordable.
And in about 20 minutes' time, NASA is going to roll out the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The launch pad 39B (ph) at the Kennedy Space Center. It may be the last time two shuttles are on the launch pad there at the same time. Atlantis is also being readied for a May 12th flight to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. Endeavour is scheduled for a trip on the 13th of June to the International Space Station.
Imagine, two shuttles on the launch pad at the same time? Like America has got a space program.
CHETRY: How about it? And we'll be able to keep in shape on the Colbert up there on the International Space Station. The new treadmill that was named after the talk show host on "The Daily Show".
ROBERTS: Yes. It's not the worst thing it could have been named after.
CHETRY: That's true. Well, now to politics and Sarah Palin's return to the national spotlight.
This morning, the Alaska governor will attend a charity breakfast in Evansville, Indiana for families like her own who have a child with Down's syndrome. It follows her post election coming out so to speak. In a Right to Life fund-raising dinner last night, Palin's appearance was a big hit and it led to more speculation about a possible run for the White House in 2012.
CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley has a closer look.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran and John.
You know, the organizers of last night's event invited Michael Steele, head of the Republican National Committee to be the keynoter, and he gave a moving address. But guess who the star was?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), ALASKA: Thank you so much.
CROWLEY: She came.
PALIN: Thank you, Indiana.
CROWLEY: She spoke.
PALIN: It is great to be in Indiana, the crossroads of America.
CROWLEY: She rocked the house. Officials of the Vanderburgh County, Indiana Right to Life Banquet didn't think there was much chance Alaska Governor Sarah Palin would accept their invitation to the group's biggest fundraiser, but she did.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We immediately sold out before actually it was released to the public.
CROWLEY: She talked about stimulus money, the beauty of Alaska, her days on the campaign trail, and to this room full of abortion opponents about her 1-year-old son Trig, a Down syndrome child.
PALIN: I had to call upon my faith and asked that my heart be filled up. And I'll tell you the moment that he was born, I knew for sure that my prayer was answered. And my heart overflowed with joy.
CROWLEY: The anti-abortion movement is a core constituency in the Republican Party. And the speech was Governor Palin's first this year in the Lower 48. It does have people talking about her 2012 intentions and parsing her words.
PALIN: I have a feeling that I'm going to leave here with new energy and with inspiration, and I will restart my engine.
CROWLEY: Personally, professionally, it's been a rough road for the governor since the Republican ticket was defeated in November. Her relationship with Levi Johnson, father of her grandchild, is the stuff of soap operas. Her dealings with state lawmakers are not much better. Legislative battles have been bitter. Democrats and a few Republicans complained the Indiana trip shows the governor is more interested in her national ambitions than in state business.
PALIN: Which is ironic because these are the same critics who would love to see me outside of the state forever permanently, you know, outside the governor's office anyway.
CROWLEY: 2012 is political light years away. It's not likely anyone including Sarah Palin has decided whether to run for president. But she has set up a political action committee. She took the trek from Alaska to Indiana for a pretty well-covered mini show. At the very least, she's laying down a marker.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: This morning, Palin stops by a meeting of S.M.I.L.E., an organization of parents with Down syndrome children. Then it is back to Alaska. But her offices, she has thousands of invitations to speak. We'll see her again -- Kiran and John.
ROBERTS: Candy Crowley for us this morning. Candy, thanks so much.
Mexico's drug wars killing thousands of people and the violence spilling over into the United States. President Obama backing the country's ongoing battle and promising to beef up security along our southern border. We'll talk to a retired army general who says the president is taking a step in the right direction.
It's 14 1/2 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
And there is super tight security in Mexico City this morning as President Obama prepares to leave the capital for the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. The big focus of his quick but important visit to Mexico, the country's drug violence that is a growing threat to U.S. security. And the president's message yesterday, both nations share a responsibility.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We have responsibilities as well. We have to do our part. We have to crack down on drug use in our cities and towns. We have to stem the southbound flow of guns and cash. And we are absolutely committed to working in a partnership with Mexico to make sure that we are dealing with the scourge on both sides of the border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And joining me now to talk more about the administration's aggressive action to combat the border violence, retired Lieutenant General Russel Honore. He's a CNN contributor and author of the new book "Survival: How a Culture of Preparedness Can Save You and Your Family From Disasters."
General, we'll talk about the book in just a minute. But first of all, let's start with the border.
If the president came to you, if you were still active duty and the president came to you and said, General Honore, I want you to secure the border, stop the flow of drugs, guns and violence across it. What would you do?
LT. GEN RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, I would reach out to all branches of the Mexican government as well as the U.S. government and have a comprehensive joint integrated command and control system. That has been slow to come with Mexico.
You know, when you look at friends to the north, the Canadians, the Canadian Air Force and the U.S. Air Force protect our airways daily. We have an integrated command and control center, NORAD, worked out of Colorado Springs. We need that same type of partnership, but for years we have not been able to build that with our partners to the south, with Mexico. And hopefully, the president's meeting will bring together inner agencies on both sides of the border because this is a comprehensive problem.
ROBERTS: So what the president is doing right now in terms of putting more federal agents on the border, more surveillance, high- tech scanners, x-rays, more helicopters, will that work? Will that do it?
HONORE: It's going to make a difference. But until we do something about the drug use in America and the availability of the assault rifles -- now if we stop selling them and stop them going south, a lot of people in the world that can sell assault rifles. So it's a comprehensive issue that maybe even the Congress is going to need to take a look at and loosening some of the technology that we have that we can share with Mexico.
You know, six years of war, we've got a lot of experience, a lot of technology. Military and military has been slow to come. It's getting better. But I think if we have an integrated military and civilian law enforcement operation with the Mexican army and government, we could do better.
ROBERTS: Let me swing into your new book "Survival" which was written a lot out of your experiences with Hurricane Katrina. You were John Wayne dude who came riding in and really sort of coordinating the relief effort there. When you look at we went through with Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, other disasters in this country in terms of creating a culture of preparedness in this country which you say is of paramount importance, are you surprised of how unprepared we still are given our experiences?
HONORE: Yes. And I think we could do so much better than we're doing right now with just some cultural shifts. If we think back to the day when you and I were growing up, when we were prepared for a nuclear exchange with the Warsaw Pact, we taught survival techniques in school.
We taught kids what to do. Families had preparedness plans. We had civil defense. Yet, we see the horrific effects of floods every year, of tornadoes. And it's almost like we've forgotten how to take care of ourselves. We've got to get that back into our culture.
ROBERTS: You talk on page 220 of the book about going around and talking with state and local officials about their preparedness plans.
HONORE: Yes.
ROBERTS: And you say, "Often when I talk with state and local officials about their disaster preparedness plans, they start the conversation with what happened in New Orleans won't happen here because we're better organized." You go on to write, "But better organization is often a myth based on good intentions and false premises." It sounds like we really haven't learned anything.
HONORE: Well, I think we have a plan. The government has put a lot of money into preparation since 9/11 and Katrina. That hasn't made its way into our homes. You know, if we were to do an assessment here in the studio, of how many people have a weather radio, how many of them have an evacuation kit, how many of them have three days' supply of food and water, few hands would go up.
That is why we need to help with the media and education to remind American people that we're going to continue to have disasters. We're still struggling with flooding out in the Dakotas. We got tornadoes come and still people don't have early warning or radios to wake them up in the middle of the night.
ROBERTS: I do have a NOAA weather radio, but in my apartment I've got some half-eaten ribs and a bottle of beer.
HONORE: Three-day supply, John.
ROBERTS: It wouldn't last me three days.
General, it's great to see you this morning. Thanks. Congratulations on the book, and thanks for coming in.
HONORE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Appreciate it - Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, still ahead, United's not so friendly skies. The airline will now charge overweight passengers for a second seat on certain flights. Is it unfair? Humiliating? We want to hear from you.
Also, the White House shifting its strategy when it comes to dealing with drug addicts. But are treatments programs really more effective than jail time? We're going to get some answers on that as the debate over legalizing drugs continues to heat up our show hotline.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLER: I smoked marijuana for a while. Didn't have a job, didn't have a life. Stopped doing it, got a great job, got a great life. Don't legalize marijuana.
CALLER: I'm a combat veteran from Iraq. I've been out and I have post-traumatic stress syndrome among other things. But instead of going and taking a whole bunch of pills like Xanax and anti- depressants, I really just prefer to smoke weed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twenty- five minutes past the hour now.
Overweight passengers are paying a price these days on certain commercial flights. United, the latest carrier to double charge obese passengers, in some cases even bump them from full flights. Well, as you might imagine, the airlines new seating policy is creating a bit of a controversy. We're digging deeper on it this morning with Carol Costello in Washington.
Hey, Carol. You know, when we saw the story yesterday, we put it up on our Twitter page. And boy, there are very different and very strong opinions about this.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You either are for it or you're against it. I don't think there's any middle ground here. And, you know, United has joined eight other American airlines and will now require obese passengers to buy an extra seat if one is not available. Some people are not very happy about this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): It's all the rage in the world of flight, to "charge the large," as Slate online puts it. United Airlines is the latest to jump onboard. It will now require passengers who are unable to fit into a single seat, buckle the seatbelt, or put the seat's armrest down to pay for an extra seat if one is not available. If they refuse, they're booted from the flight. It's not sitting well with everyone.
BRANDON MACSATA, ASSOCIATION FOR AIRLINE PASSENGER RIGHTS: It's clearly a money-making thing that the airlines have engulfed themselves in once again. And we're really not surprised because they seem to be at it almost weekly now.
COSTELLO: United doesn't see it that way saying it cares about all of its customers. It just wants to ensure that everyone's travel experiences are comfortable and pleasant. Plus, the airline says it's gotten hundreds of complaints from thinner passengers who have been made extremely uncomfortable by what United calls infringement. People we talked with were more charitable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two seats is just out of control.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think to some degree, it's kind of like discriminating. To me -- my personal opinion, it's not cool.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's not fair. That because they're heavy or overweight or whatever, they have to buy two tickets. I find that to be ridiculous.
COSTELLO: And others say the airlines themselves caused the infringement problem by cramming in too many seats.
MACSATA: I'm six feet, I weigh about 190 pounds. Most coach seats, I'm crammed in like a sardine. And if somebody is next to me of the same build which is not overweight, we're fighting over the armrest. If somebody in front of me goes to recline their chair, now, I can't even use my laptop because I'm crammed in.
COSTELLO: So why not charge "Mr. Long Legs" extra or people with crying babies? Don't they infringe on pleasant travel experiences too?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Just asking.
You know, Canadian Airlines, they consider charging obese passengers more too. But Canada ruled charging the morbidly obese amounts to discrimination because Canada considers being morbidly obese a disability and actually requires airlines like Air Canada to provide a second seat for free for its large customers. So there you have the other side, Kiran.
CHETRY: There you go. All right, Carol. Well, as I said before, a lot of people have very strong opinions on this issue. We want to continue to hear from you about this.
Do you agree with United's new policy and the policy of some of the other airlines as well? Cast your vote on our show page at CNN.com/amfix. You can also sound off on our hotline. It's 877-MY- AMFIX -- John.
ROBERTS: Just about half past the hour now, and checking today's top stories. The Justice Department releasing Bush administration memos detailing alleged torture tactics that allowed the CIA to use on terror suspects. The tactic included waterboarding, facial slaps, sleep deprivation, and keeping detainees naked.
President Obama says the interrogators won't face prosecution. He released a statement saying, "I respect the strong views and emotions that these issues evoke, but nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he and other military leaders have "begun a dialogue" with President Obama about the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy, the ongoing ban on gays who serve openly in the military. But Gates warned it may take a while to change existing policies because it's a "complex and difficult problem. President Obama pledged during the presidential campaign that he would work to repeal the law and allow gay men and women to serve openly.
Also this morning, Afghan President Hamid Karzai saying he will overturn a law that has sparked outrage and protest among women in Afghanistan. The law allowed men to force their wives into having sex. Critics say the law amounted to legalized rape and harkens back to the days of Taliban rule. Afghanistan's president tells our Fareed Zakaria that the law was wrapped up in a much bigger bill and he wasn't aware of the measure when that bill passed.
And brand new video that you're seeing for the very first time -- American nuclear experts being forced out of North Korea. They flew out this morning just one day after Pyongyang expelled nuclear inspectors from the United Nations. Earlier this week, North Korea vowed to kick out all international inspectors.
President Obama promising to help Mexico combat the brutal drug trade violence that's ravaging that nation and pushing deeper into the United States. And this morning, we're taking a serious look at the problem and searching for solutions in our special series, "Drug Nation." Today, combating drug use in your community and a new emphasis on treatment rather than jail time.
Here's CNN's Jim Acosta with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUDGE PAUL GLUCHOWSKI, PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY JUVENILE DRUG COURT: You're going to stay on house arrest and we're going to order you to perform 10 hours of public and community service.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It looks like court. It sounds like court. But this is drug court, a drug treatment program.
GLUCHOSWSKI: Although you are to be commended for seven months' sobriety, I want to remind you you're on thin ice.
ACOSTA: At this drug court in Virginia, it's Judge Paul Gluchowski's job to keep young offenders in line. And because these are juveniles, we're not going to show their faces.
(on camera): If somebody were to think that drug court is the easy way out, what would you say to that?
GLUCHOSWSKI: I would say that they should come and talk to some of the participants. That a lot of them probably wish they never agreed to undergo drug court. And a lot of them have given up because it's too hard.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Screw up in drug court and the judge can slap you with a ankle-monitoring bracelet.
GLUCHOSWSKI: We are going to terminate you from drug court.
ACOSTA: Or throw you back in the juvenile detention.
GLUCHOSWSKI: If they don't give up, then when it comes time for graduation and you see the shine on your face when you know that they have accomplished something, and they know that. That's what it's all about.
ACOSTA (on camera): Have you seen a change in your son?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huge change in my son, yes.
ACOSTA (voice-over): His son is about to graduate from the one- year program.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a son -- the son that -- sorry. The son that I knew, you know, two years ago that I like to go fishing with and hunting with, I felt like is coming back.
ACOSTA: The man tapped to become the nation's drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, also has a son battling addiction. White House and Congress want to see more drug courts, boosting funding for the program 250 percent.
GIL KERLIKOWSKE, NOMINEE FOR DIRECTOR, NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY: Our nation's drug problem is one of human suffering. I've experienced the effects that drugs can have on our youth, our families, and our communities.
ACOSTA: Sixty percent of drug criminals sent to prison re- offend, compared to just 17 percent of graduates of drug court. Drug policy experts like those numbers, but say the nation needs more treatment options.
RYAN KING, THE SENTENCING PROJECT: For individuals who don't have the resources, don't have public health insurance, can't afford themselves, the single best way that they can access treatment is to get arrested. And they have to enter the criminal justice system and then hope that they'd be offered some sort of treatment alternative if they meet whatever the statutory criteria are for their particular jurisdiction.
And that's wrong. What we need to do is make sure for every American out there that is abusing drugs and wants to stop, that they have the resources made available for them regardless of whether they can afford it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: The White House is making one other major change in policy. The drug czar will no longer be a Cabinet level position. A key Republican in Congress says that will chop the new drug czar off at the knees. But it's happened once before on the U.S. war on drugs by the first President Bush -- John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: Jim Acosta this morning with that report. Stay around with us because in our next hour, Alina Cho digs deeper into a growing argument -- is prison or rehab the best option for drug addicts. Plus, America's very first drug czar, Bill Bennett, joins us live with his take on the topic.
CHETRY: And still ahead, three shots, three kills. That's how Navy SEALs took out those pirates. We're going to meet the man who trained those snipers to perform in the most difficult and dire circumstances.
It's 34 minutes after the hour.
Also, she put smiles on the faces across the world. Susan Boyle became a star with her incredible voice. And in just about 20 minutes, she's going to join us right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH WINSTON, ACCOUNTANT: This is the 1983 Itasca RV. I'm going to convert this RV to run on alternative fuels, specifically used vegetable oils.
If you're afraid of working on your own car, then I don't recommend this. But if you're a shade tree mechanic, this isn't that difficult to do. This is the last piece of the vegetable oil fuel line that I'm attaching now.
See how close we are to starting it. Oh, almost. You could miss one hose, car won't start.
Your exhaust smells like whatever you just cook in the oil. My exhaust smells like overdone Chinese food.
Three billion gallons of vegetable oil gets produced by restaurants and school cafeterias in a year. Wouldn't it be cool if we could use some of that to power some trucks and some buses?
Probably put in about 50 hours total on this, even more satisfaction than completing a tax return.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Pictures of the lifeboat where Somali pirates held Captain Richard Phillips hostage revealed a precision marksmanship that was required for that rescue. You can see the shattered glass where Navy sharpshooters fired just three shots, taking out the three pirates. CNN's Gary Tuchman spent time with the sniper trainer to learn just how it's done.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This man was in charge of training hundreds of elite U.S. Navy SEAL snipers for three years.
The identities of the snipers who killed the three pirates in the Indian Ocean are purposely not revealed, but --
(on camera): The three snipers in the Indian Ocean trained between 2003 and 2006, they would have come across you?
BRANDON WEBB, FORMER NAVY SEAL SNIPER TRAINER: Yes.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Brandon Webb now owns a private company called Wind Zero, which focuses on state of the art law enforcement training, including sniper skills. He takes it to the mountains east of San Diego.
WEBB: The idea is to shift your hip over.
TUCHMAN: Webb gives me an M4 sniper rifle, a miniature version of the three-month course that a small and very talented percentage of Navy SEALs get to take. We're 100 yards from the target. Somewhat farther than the vessels were from each other in the Indian Ocean drama.
WEBB: And you have to adjust your eyes back and forth so you can pick up a clear shot in the scope. Do you have the --
TUCHMAN (on camera): Yes, I see a rock right now.
WEBB: OK, so you have to...
TUCHMAN: Where's that rock.
WEBB: ...shift around to find your target.
TUCHMAN: I find the kill target in the scope, lining it up in the scope's crosshairs. When the shot is ready, I'm taught to say, "We're hot."
Here we go. We're hot.
WEBB: Here you go.
TUCHMAN: Did I hit it?
WEBB: Yes. You're about 4:00, 5:00 of center. Your hit -- that was a solid hit.
TUCHMAN: All right. Here we go.
WEBB: We're hot. Hit.
Make sure that fire is all the way engaged. Put your thumb, fully up. There you go.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Even though I'm hitting the target, it's hardly a stressful situation. I wonder what it would be like if I was dealing with someone's life. And the question on everyone's mind -- how do you line up a target when you're rolling on ocean waves?
(on camera): If we're on water, what would I be doing differently?
WEBB: It's really critical that you'd get a stable shooting position.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): You take your eye away from the scope for a split second, you can miss the kill.
(on camera): There you go.
WEBB: Got it?
TUCHMAN: Yes. But was this expert in any way surprised by the sniper's success off the Somalian Coast?
WEBB: I would say definitely expected -- expecting it.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): SEALs don't suffer from a lack of confidence.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, San Diego County, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Yes, it's one thing to be lying there prone with a bipad...
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: ... but you know another one when the ship is going like this and the vessel is going like that. Those SEALs well-trained.
CHETRY: And the amazing thing also is they had to shoot through the window. So, I mean, even harder.
ROBERTS: Yes. I tell you, they did a good job -- amazing job.
They're calling him Captain Courageous. Richard Phillips on a plane bound for America this morning. At the top of the hour, we're live in his hometown of Vermont, where a hero's welcome awaits a rescued hostage.
Plus, forget about nice spring weather, hail, even snow could hammer parts of the country today. We'll check in with our Rob Marciano to see whether it could throw a wrench into your weekend travel plans.
And stick around, because it's a huge day here on the show. We're just about 20 minutes away from talking live with Susan Boyle, the woman whose incredible voice and story brought tears to the eyes of people around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Forty-five minutes after the hour now. Just in to CNN, some big news about Citigroup ending the first quarter. Our Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning. What's it all about?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Citi's per share loss, and that's the way we're measuring this to make it real simple folks -- this 18 cents a share. That was less than expected. We'd expected a big loss for this company in a per-share basis per each share of stock. We've had expected a big loss. And it was slightly less than expected, 18 cents a share. And revenue was about $24.8 billion.
Revenue is different than earnings. Revenue is what the money that they're bringing in. So we're digging into this very long and complicated earnings reports to let you know how your money is at work here. But on a very near term basis, no negative bombshells in here that we can see that are going to be a problem for the stock market today.
The company also saying -- Citi saying that it's reduced its head count by 65,000 people, think of that, since its peak. And also Vikram Pandit who runs this company. And, you know -- remember, you are a big shareholder of this company. This is what he says about these complaints that Citi is not lending money. That it's got all this government money and it hasn't been lending.
He says, "We continued to extend significant amounts of credit to U.S. consumers. We've continued to focus on supporting the U.S. housing market."
Since October 2008, he said, "we have worked with borrowers and combined mortgages totaling about $13.5 million, trying to avoid potential foreclosure." He said that they were able to keep nine out of ten folks of their distress borrowers with Citi Mortgages in their homes.
So, obviously, an appeal there, a bit, to you and I and the American people who had been asking a lot of questions about what Citi and others have been doing with their money.
Real, quickly, I want to tell you about GE as well, because this is a company that you probably have in your 401(k) or your portfolio somewhere. It's very important part of the American economy. GE's profit was down 35 percent. No surprise there.
We knew that profit at GE was going to be tough. In fact, many people had expected GE's profit to be down a lot more than this. So, in the twisted way that it works on Wall Street, profit down 35 percent, could end up being good news for people who had been very braced for a lot worse.
CHETRY: As long as you do better than what they estimate...
ROMANS: Yes.
CHETRY: ...that's what sort of...
ROMANS: That's the whole game. That's the whole game. So I don't see on my first flash glance here any big negative bombshells in GE or Citi. And if I find one, I will come back and tell you.
ROBERTS: Thank you. Appreciate that.
ROMANS: Sure.
CHETRY: Well, there's been a Sarah Palin sighting I guess you could say. The former V.P. candidate headlining a dinner last night. We're going to hear what she had to say after a long stretch of silence.
Also, a tree taking root in one man's lung? This really happened. And now a patient's operation revealed a condition that the surgeons never could have imagined.
It's 48 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fifteen minutes past the hour now. And welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. You know, trees can grow in a lot of places. But a person's lung usually isn't one of them.
CNN's Jeannie Moos has the story of A little fir tree that became quite a big problem for surgeons.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trees can grow almost anywhere -- out of cement, out of basements.
But in your lungs?
They're saying this Russian man must have inhaled a fir tree seed. Surgeons thought he had cancerous tumor. He was coughing blood. But when they operated...
VLADIMIR KAMASHEV, UDMURT REPUBLICAN ONCOLOGY (through translator): What is it? What could it be?
I was simply shocked.
MOOS (on camera): They found a tiny fir tree. In his lung, that tree grew to a size of about two inches.
(voice-over): The patient said he was just glad it wasn't cancer. But he couldn't explain it.
ARTYOM SIDORKIN, PATIENT (through translator): Maybe I inhaled a fir tree bud somehow, I don't remember.
MOOS: Now, even the weatherman is cracking jokes.
BILL EVANS, METEOROLOGIST: Yesterday, I inhaled a sesame seed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no.
EVANS: And I grew a Big Mac, I think, in my lung.
(LAUGHTER)
MOOS: And kids are citing the tree in the lung as proof of what their parents once warned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't eat watermelon seeds or a watermelon will grow inside of you.
MOOS: Of course, there are skeptics.
And a Russian plant expert says...
OLGA BARANOVA, UDMURT STATE UNIVERSITY (through translator): This is absolutely impossible that a green plant could have grown inside a human body from this small seed.
MOOS: It needs light, water and a certain temperature, though a spokesperson for London's Royal Botanical Gardens told "The Guardian" a seed might be able to germinate in the damp, dark conditions of a lung.
Talk about evergreen...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, that's terrible.
MOOS: ...surgeons found an inch long sprig in this, at the time, 16-year-old California girl's lung. She had been having problems for years.
MCINTYRE: Stupid me, I had to put something in my mouth when I was a baby.
MOOS: At the age of two, her parents called 911 when she had a choking fit next to the Christmas tree. But then it passed.
(on camera): Now we've done lots of stories about weird things being inhaled or swallowed. I'm sorry, I'm out of control.
(voice-over): So was Hannah the Lab, who loved chasing golf balls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seven, eight, nine.
MOOS: They took nine out of her stomach.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was that in your belly?
MOOS: Or the dog named Penny, who had 75 pennies, a quarter, two dimes and a nickel removed from her stomach. But a diagnosis of fir in the lung...
UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN (SINGING): Old Christmas tree, old Christmas tree...
MOOS (on camera): ...sort of gives new meaning to the words of that old Christmas favorite.
(SONG PLAYING): Not only green when summer's here, but also when it's in your lungs, oh dear.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: That must be the great lost recording of that song. I haven't heard that particularly right before.
CHETRY: That's very gross. Sorry.
ROBERTS: Well, we've heard the claim from a lot of sources, including President Obama. Ninety percent of the weapons used by Mexico's drug cartel supplied to them by America. But is that really the case? We'll have the truth-o-meter test coming up for you just a couple of minutes.
And singing sensation Susan Boyle. She's become an overnight superstar, and right now she's getting ready to join us here on the Most News in the Morning. Don't miss it. She's just a few minutes away now. You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Fifty-six minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. President Obama in Mexico tackling that nation's most pressing issue, the violent war against drug cartels. He's addressing America's role in the crisis. In particular, stopping assault weapons from the U.S. from flowing across the border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: This war is being waged with guns purchased not here but in the United States. More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that line our shared border. So, we have responsibilities as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: President Obama is one of several leaders to throw out that 90 percent number. So we wanted to find out the facts behind the figures? So who to call on in a case like this? None less than, Bill Adair, the founder of Politifact.com. He joins me now from Washington, D.C. with this morning's edition of the truth-o-meter.
Bill, it's good to see you this morning.
BILL ADAIR, FOUNDER, POLITIFACT.COM: Thanks for having me, John.
ROBERTS: All right. So let's put up the statement again so that people can see it at home.
President Obama said, quote, "This war is being waged with guns purchased not here but in the United States. More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States." And the truth-o-meter said...
ADAIR: Half true on the truth-o-meter for that one. And the reason is he's missing some important context. The number as you mentioned it's been cited often, not just by President Obama, but by Secretary of State Clinton and many others is based on an ATF analysis of weapons they were given by Mexico to trace.
But it does not necessarily reflect the overall universe of all weapons. Some estimates say that could be as low as 17 percent of the guns coming from the United States. The expert we talked to said that was too low. It probably is closer to 90 percent. But Obama missed some context, so he gets a half true on this one.
ROBERTS: All right. A half true for that one. Now, the other topic that we want to talk about on the truth-o-meter. The Department of Homeland Security earlier this week issued a memo suggesting that because of the economic climate, because of the fact that we've got the first African-American president, that may lead some right wing extremist groups to get into a new recruiting drive and be able to recruit some new folks to their cause. It also mentioned that returning veterans may be susceptible to recruitment.
Now Janet Napolitano when she was on our air yesterday apologized for that statement. But Florida Congressman Gus Bilirakis is still very upset by this. He said, quote, "The Department of Homeland Security's view is that returning military veterans and gun owners are likely to commit terrorist acts." You ran that one through the truth- o-meter. What did it say?
ADAIR: That one got a barely true on the truth-o-meter. And that's because it's really a distortion of what the report says. If you read the report, and even though it's supposed to be -- not be released, it's widely available on the Internet. If you read the report, it does not say that.
What it says is that veterans might be targets for recruiting, not that they would be likely to commit terrorist acts. And it's important to note that the department did a similar report on extremists from the left side of the political spectrum. So the risk here is extremists from both ends of the spectrum. So Bilirakis gets a barely true on this one.
ROBERTS: All right. Bill Adair this morning with the truth-o- meter. Bill, thanks so much. It's good to see you. Have a great weekend.
ADAIR: Thanks, John. You too.
