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General Motors Plants Going Idle; New Documents Show Condoleezza Rice Approved Waterboarding; Taliban Threatens to Take Control of Pakistan; Obama to Meet With Top CEOs on Credit Card Abuses; Tiny Airport Gets Stimulus Money; New Evidence on "Craigslist Killer" Suspect
Aired April 23, 2009 - 06:58 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: It's coming up now to a couple of minutes to the top of the hour.
Thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning.
CHETRY: Yes, and thanks for being here.
You know, the other thing that's funny is, I guess his body was so perfect, they didn't have to change a thing. I mean, usually, the uproar over magazine covers is they change, you know, people's actual waist size and thigh size. Pump up their pecs.
ROBERTS: He's in good shape. He's in very good shape.
CHETRY: He sure is.
All right. Well, here's what's on the agenda. The big stories that we'll be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
Pakistan's army making a big pushback against the Taliban. Right now, six platoons are trying to take back control of government buildings and bridges from the Taliban just 60 miles now from the capital of Islamabad. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is saying that Pakistan is facing an existential threat and risks falling into terrorist hands.
Thousands of GM workers could learn as early as today whether their plant will go idle this summer. According to reports, the struggling auto giant will temporarily close most of its U.S. factories for up to nine weeks this summer.
If you use a credit card, you probably notice the banks have been raising those rates and fees. Well, today, President Obama is going to be meeting with executives of credit card companies to press this case for new consumer protections. So what kind of relief can you expect? We're going to be speaking with Austan Goolsbee, who is on the president's Council of Economic Advisers.
ROBERTS: Well, back to a developing story now. It's a summer vacation that no one wants at General Motors. Our Christine Romans following developments for us. They're going to close down instead of two weeks for more than two months. That's pretty drastic. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That's what the fear is here among a lot of people who work there, and a lot of the suppliers waiting for word today for those thousands of GM employees about just how big the shutdown would be this summer. This is what the company is saying.
The company is not confirming what's going to go on here. But a lot of folks are waiting to find out today just how long that idling could be. We have nothing to announce at this point. When we do, we will share that information first with our employees.
Usually, these companies shut down for a couple of weeks in the summer to retool for the next model year to make tweaks on the assembly line. Nine weeks is a very long time.
But, listen, think of it this way, there's already a five or six- month supply of many GM cars and trucks already there, already made, already ready to go, but demand is down so sharply. And frankly, many consumers are nervous about what the future of this company holds that people just aren't buying a lot of cars and trucks, certainly not as many as they did last year, down substantially. And frankly, it's that financial crisis. It's also the concerns about what's happening to this company.
The risks here are the buyers actually become more wary and more nervous and hold off on buying a GM car at this already a very tough time. The other risk is the suppliers. The suppliers have already faced catastrophic delays from previous shutdowns, so we're going to wait to find out just how long this is.
Remember, June 1st is the deadline with the Treasury Department for a final deal on the restructuring for this company or it's going to be structured bankruptcy.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we'll wait and see what GM says about this today. Thanks, Christine.
ROMANS: And remember your car, if you buy a GM car, remember the government has guaranteed that warranty. So, I mean, that's something that's important. They've put in some safeguards in place, so you shouldn't be nervous about buying a GM car at this point or any of the cars, frankly. Those warranties are guaranteed by the government.
CHETRY: Thanks.
Well to a developing story out of Washington -- new documents from the Senate Intelligence Committee indicate that Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, verbally approved waterboarding in 2002. Now the timeline is the most detailed to date, laying out how the harsh interrogation program by the CIA was conceived and then given the go-ahead.
Our Zain Verjee has details for us on this this morning.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, documents show that Condoleezza Rice had more of a role in authorizing torture than she's previously admitted. Secret memos that were declassified by the Obama administration show that Rice approved a CIA request to subject terror suspects Abu Zubaydah to waterboarding while she was national security adviser. Here's what she said previously about torture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States does not engage in torture, doesn't condone it, doesn't expect its employees to engage in it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: Bush administration officials say that the information obtained from Abu Zubaydah led to the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed whose the architect of the September 11th attacks. Last fall, Rice told the Senate Armed Services Committee that she had only been present at meetings where CIA interrogations were discussed and she said that she didn't remember the details -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Zain Verjee for us in London this morning. Zain, thanks so much for that.
And on the other side of the globe this morning, terrorists are threatening a fragile nuclear-armed nation. Six platoons of Pakistan's army are moving in to a district just 60 miles from the capital of Islamabad after Taliban militants from the nearby Swat Valley started taking over.
Meanwhile, police say dozens of armed militants attacked a truck terminal burning five tankers carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is underscoring the seriousness of the threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think that we cannot underscore the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan by the continuing advances now within hours of Islamabad that are being made by a loosely confederated group of terrorists and others who are seeking the overthrow of the Pakistani state, which is, as we all know, a nuclear-armed state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: CNN's Ivan Watson is live at the Pakistani capital with the very latest for us.
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A deadly ambush took place in Pakistan's Buner District, located a little more than 60 miles from the Pakistani capital. That region was occupied by Taliban militants earlier this week.
Now, paramilitary forces and police were on their way into that district in a convoy when they were ambushed by militants. One police officer killed, another wounded, says a local police officer. The spokesman for the Pakistani military say that meetings are under way. Negotiations are under way between Pakistani government officials, between local officials, and the Taliban in that district.
They have set up roadblocks. They've been broadcasting on FM radio. They say they are there to impose Shariah law. Again, a little bit more than 60 miles from the capital of this nuclear-armed nation.
Now, the spokesman for the Pakistani military, he has a tough warning for the Taliban. "The Taliban will either move out or they'll be thrown out one way or another. And in a reminder that this is more than just a one front conflict, on the western side of Pakistan in the city of Peshawar, there was an ambush today of a fuel depot. Police in Peshawar say that militants attacked fuel trucks that were going to carry fuel to American NATO forces in Afghanistan, attacked them with rocket-propelled grenades blowing up at least six fuel trucks.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Islamabad.
ROBERTS: New this morning. New concerns today about vials of that potentially deadly virus that have disappeared from the nation's top Army research lab. The vials have been at the facility in Maryland for more than a decade. An Army spokesman says the virus causes flu-like symptoms at first and in about one and 100 cases, the patient dies.
Officials say dozens of homes have burned and thousands of acres have been scorched as raging wildfires threaten tourists in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. So far, no injuries have been reported. Shelters have been set up and evacuations ordered. Firefighters are also dealing with strong coastal winds.
Plus, President Obama sitting down with the bosses of the top credit card companies today. What the meeting could mean for you and your next Amex bill just ahead.
It's coming up now on six minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Eight minutes after the hour now.
Just when it appears that the U.S. and Cuba may be were on the verge of a diplomatic breakthrough, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro throwing up yet another roadblock. It's raising some questions about who's actually in charge of the island nation.
CNN's Havana bureau chief, Morgan Neill, is looking into that for us this morning.
MORGAN NEILL, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Kiran and John, analysts have begun to talk about a thaw in relations between the United States and Cuba. But now, ex-Cuban President Fidel Castro is weighing in with a new essay. The message that seems to be, not so fast. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEILL (voice-over): Confined to the sick bed, no longer Cuba's official leader, Fidel Castro still carries a lot of weight and has a platform to express his strong views. He says U.S. President Barack Obama is misinterpreting these words from his brother, President Raul Castro.
RAUL CASTRO, CUBAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We have sent word to the North American government in private and in public that we are ready when they want to discuss everything -- human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners -- everything, everything, everything they want to discuss but on equal terms.
NEILL: What Raul meant to say, writes Fidel Castro, was that Cuba isn't afraid to discuss anything. As far as so-called political prisoners, Fidel goes on, they're actually "in the service of a foreign power that threatens and blockades our country," referring there to the United States.
The essay published in state newspapers Wednesday comes just days after President Obama's words at the Summit of the Americas appear to signal a thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations. And it raises an important question for those dealing with Cuba -- who's in charge? Is it the country's president or the bedridden head of the Communist Party?
On the streets of Havana, no clear answer. Who's in charge says this man? In the end, he says, it doesn't matter. They're one in the same.
But this woman says she didn't agree with Fidel's essay. "The president is Raul. He's the one you have to listen to now," she says.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEILL (on camera): And it's not an academic point. If the U.S. and Cuba are to improve relations, those in Washington are going to have to figure out just who is it they're negotiating with -- Kiran and John.
CHETRY: Morgan Neill for us in Havana.
ROBERTS: Yes, right.
So all of those credit card fees, penalties, high interest rates, what is the government going to do about it. We'll go to the White House coming up next and talk with one of the president's top economists about the plans.
Plus, why was $200 million in federal cash spent at a tiny airport that almost no one uses. Well, it might have something to do with the senator whose picture hangs in the lobby.
It's 10 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Coming up on 14 minutes past the hour. We fast forward through the stories that will be making news later today.
How much will going green cost you? That's what lawmakers are trying to figure out at a hearing over the new climate bill today.
At 9:30 a.m. Eastern, top energy industry reps will be discussing ways to avoid the potential high costs of going green.
And the national football champions will get a presidential congratulations today. President Obama will meet with the University of Florida Gators at 3:30 Eastern in the White House East Room.
And happening now, world leaders gathering in Brussels to try to figure out ways to beat piracy. The nations are trying to raise money to help Somalia's struggling security forces take on the pirates -- John.
ROBERTS: Executives from the nation's largest credit card companies will meet with President Obama at the White House today. It's tough times for them and for you as well. The president is looking to stop some questionable practices that make it close to impossible for some people to ever catch up.
Austan Goolsbee is on the president's Council of Economic Advisers. He's also the chief economist on the president's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. He's live outside the White House for us this morning.
Austan, it's good to see you again. You know, a lot of the companies that the president is going to be meeting with got money from taxpayers at the same time that they're raising interest rates on them, charging them penalties, all these exorbitant fees. What is the president going to tell them today?
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, MEMBER, PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Well, I think the president is a, he's going to listen. They want him to express their concerns and discuss where they think the legislation ought to be going. But I think the president is not a newcomer to trying to get the banks to clean up their act on various credit card practices and I think he will make that clear to them.
You know, even the applications they got to be written in English. I mean, this thing now is sort of like a law school exam just to fill it out. You can barely read it.
ROBERTS: Right. But will the president say to these credit card companies, hey, economic times are really bad here. You're squeezing people to the point that they're never ever going to catch up. They're going to be in debt forever.
GOOLSBEE: Well, you know, they may have a discussion along those lines. I think one of the key things the president is concerned about is the lack of transparency, the lack of simplicity, engaging in practices that are, you know, a little predatory or in some cases way over the line. You know, turning fees rather than being an actual penalty into a gigantic source of revenue and profits -- things like that need an examination. Certainly the fed and Congress have been working on that.
ROBERTS: So where's the teeth in all of this? Is he just going to sit down and say, hey, it's kind of unfair what you're doing? Some of the stuff crosses the line. Some of it goes way over. Is he going to sit down with him and say change your ways or we're going to do it for you?
GOOLSBEE: I think it may be closer to change your ways. Certainly, he wants to listen to what they have to say and hear from all the stakeholders. But the president, as I say, is not a newcomer to calling for this. And now you've got the Federal Reserve and Congress moving and the president has been working with them to outline these principles of simplicity, fairness, and non-predatory action.
ROBERTS: So obviously...
GOOLSBEE: He's made clear people should pay their bills. I mean, it's not -- this is not -- they shouldn't be banks giving away free money. People need to pay their bills, but credit card companies need to do what's fair.
ROBERTS: So the credit card companies are saying hey, this is all a bad idea. To impose new regulations on us, you're going to tighten up credit. You're going to make existing credit even more expensive for customers who are current on their bills. So how does the president thread the needle between this idea of protecting consumers and making sure that he doesn't tighten up credit and potentially forestall an economic recovery?
GOOLSBEE: Look, I think there is that needle to be threaded and I think he will be able to do that. It's not like he has not thought of those issues.
As I say, he knows that it's important for people to have access to credit. That doesn't mean we're going to justify any behavior that a credit card company wants to engage in because they've been engaging in a series of types of practices that are really not called for.
I think they probably would have a more sympathetic ear if we hadn't just gone through a multiyear process where they were making the same claims for all kinds of financial products...
ROBERTS: Right.
GOOLSBEE: ... and saying don't tighten the rules. Let's rip up the rules of the road. We know what we're doing. Just go ahead and trust us. And now we're into this problem.
ROBERTS: Well, a lot of people are looking for some changes. So we'll be watching this meeting very closely.
Austan Goolsbee, it's good to catch up with you again. Thanks for being with us. GOOLSBEE: Great talking to you.
ROBERTS: All right.
Don't you think it's time that the politicians you elected got graded? Well, we certainly do.
Join us on President Obama's 100th day in office for the "CNN National Report Card." On Wednesday night, you get to grade them with CNN's best political team on television. Together we're going to rate the president, Congress and state leaders. That's Wednesday beginning at 8:00 Eastern on CNN and CNN.com/reportcard.
CHETRY: Well, $200 million for a tiny airport? A powerful congressman funneling them -- your tax dollars. We're following the money.
It's 18 1/2 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-one minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's time for your political ticker this Thursday.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took a shot at former Vice President Dick Cheney during some tense exchanges with House Republicans on Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DANA ROHRABACHER (R), CALIFORNIA: Are you in favor of releasing the documents that Dick Cheney has been requesting to be released?
CLINTON: Well, it won't surprise you that I don't consider him a particularly reliable source of information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Clinton was being grilled over President Obama's decision to release classified memos on torture from the Bush administration.
Last week, Governor Sarah Palin firing back against ethics complaints. Palin's office says she's being victimized and the claims are categorically false and ridiculous. The latest of a dozen complaints as the governor violated rules by accepting employment from her own political action committee and also speaking at an anti- abortion dinner.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano working to repeal the so-called real I.D. law. It came after 9/11 and forces states to prove those who have driver's licenses are either U.S. citizens or legal residents. Many governors consider the law a burden. Napolitano, a former governor of Arizona, says she wants to find a different solution -- John.
ROBERTS: A tiny wee speck of a Pennsylvania airport with just a handful of commercial flights got $200 million in federal cash. And that's got a lot of people asking why and looking to Congressman John Murtha for an answer.
Our Jim Acosta is tracking this story from our Washington bureau for us this morning.
Jim, I hear this airport is so small, they recently had it carpeted.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've heard of bridges to nowhere. These are airports in the middle of nowhere. Now located outside the small city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, John Murtha Airport may not see many passengers but it's seen plenty of arrivals of tax dollars from Washington, including funds from the stimulus, which as it turns out is injecting millions of dollars into airports and far flung places.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): The airport in Johnstown, Pennsylvania offers just three commercial flights. In between the arrivals and departures, there aren't many faces around.
SCOTT VOELKER, JOHN MURTHA AIRPORT GENERAL MANAGER: When the flights come in, that's when the people are here.
ACOSTA: Right.
VOELKER: Other than that, it's empty.
ACOSTA: But this face is everywhere -- Congressman John Murtha, the airport's namesake is hard to miss. Consider one of the kings of pork on Capitol Hill, the Pennsylvania Democrat has piloted almost $200 million from Washington to Murtha Airport.
STEVE ELLIS, TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE: He's pumped in nearly $200 million into this project that has virtually no passengers. I mean, it's practically a museum piece.
ACOSTA: And earlier this year, the airport found a new revenue stream receiving $800,000 from the stimulus to repave this backup runway.
This makes sense to you?
VOELKER: Makes a lot of sense.
ACOSTA: Even though the airport manager says that runway is perfectly safe.
If it's not a safety issue, why does it have to be done?
I don't know, you tell me. VOELKER: It's recommended after a certain period of time that asphalt and concrete and those kinds of things be replaced.
ACOSTA: Murtha Airport is not the only remote airport getting stimulus money. Even U.S. territories are tapping in like Guam and America Samoa. Taxpayer watchdogs wonder if some of that's air pork.
ELLIS: The problem is that you're not getting the multiple bang for your stimulus buck that you're really looking for. When you see, you know, deadbeat airports that are getting some of this cash so they can do their second runway, it really feeds cynicism around the country about the stimulus and about the projects.
ACOSTA: A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson issued a statement saying Murtha and all the small airports met the requirements for the use of the stimulus money. But Murtha Airport's manager Scott Voelker has seen taxpayer money wasted before. Take this $8 million air traffic radar system installed at Murtha in 2004. It's not even staffed.
VOELKER: It's just been sitting over there and that radar has been spinning for all these years.
ACOSTA: Those lights have been flashing over there...
VOELKER: Exactly.
ACOSTA: For five years or so.
VOELKER: With no...
ACOSTA: With nobody running it?
VOELKER: Exactly, no purpose. It's just sitting there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Airport upgrades account for $1 billion in the stimulus. As for Murtha, he issued a statement saying Murtha Airport is vital infrastructure designed to attract additional business to the Johnstown area.
On his congressional Web site, Murtha strongly defends earmarks, saying it's his job to direct federal funds to his district, John. And I got a list here of all of these airports around the country, many of them small, that have received stimulus money. My favorite besides American Samoa: King Salmon Alaska, population 442 people, $9.7 million from the stimulus.
ROBERTS: Wow. The airport manager was certainly stumped for an answer when you said if it's not a safety issue, why repave the runway?
ACOSTA: Yes.
ROBERTS: But let's got back to this air traffic control center. How was that justified in the first place?
ACOSTA: Well, they justify it because this airport also is used by the International Guard out in Pennsylvania and they were hoping to use this facility also for training purposes. But all these years since that system was put in there, they just haven't had it staffed. Even the military has decided not to put people inside that air traffic control center to train people on an air traffic control radar.
So as of right now, air traffic control is run out of Cleveland for this tiny little airport. The people at the airport would like to see that changed.
ROBERTS: Wow.
ACOSTA: They would like to see at least some people put in there to run these flashing lights and that radar that's spinning out in the middle of the runway, John.
ROBERTS: And any comment from Congressman Murtha on why he got $200 million for this place?
ACOSTA: He strongly defends it. You know, we read that statement from Congresswoman Murtha. He declined our request for an on-camera interview. But they say that this is all about bringing business to the Johnstown area and he strongly defends earmarks. He is probably the biggest defender of earmarks on Capitol Hill. He sees nothing wrong with bringing home the bacon, John.
ROBERTS: Wow, all right. Jim Acosta for us this morning. Jim, thanks so much.
ACOSTA: You bet.
ROBERTS: Fascinating story this morning.
ACOSTA: You got it.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: Twenty-seven minutes past the hour. Breaking news -- as the Taliban strengthens its control over a district just 60 miles outside of the capital of Pakistan, officials there say that the terrorists have set up checkpoints and have locked courthouses. As we speak, Pakistani forces are on the move. In a moment, we'll get more insight on the danger, the high-stakes danger and the threat it poses to other nations nearby and the U.S.
More trouble for GM. According to reports, the struggling auto giant will temporarily close most of its U.S. factories, possibly for up to nine weeks this summer. The "Detroit Free Press" also adding GM will not be paying back the billion dollars it owes the government by June 1st. What happens as a result of that is still up in the air.
Christine Romans is all over the story this morning. And the CEO of AirTran says that if the U.S. lifts the tourism to Cuba, his airline wants to fly there. AirTran's top boss told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution "I think it's going to be a very, very strong leisure destination." AirTran is based in Orlando with its biggest hub in Atlanta.
Well, developing this morning, reports of disturbing new evidence in the Craigslist murder case, physical evidence, items that could alter the case against Philip Markoff completely. He's being currently held without bail. Randi Kaye has more on the potentially damaging new evidence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Inside the apartment he shares with his fiancee, suspected "Craigslist Killer" Philip Markoff may have kept women's underwear hidden in a medical book titled "Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body," souvenirs, if you will, from his alleged victims.
Two Boston newspapers and ABC News report that information comes from law enforcement sources. The paper sources called the garments "mementos" but did not say from which alleged victims they were taken. When we asked, neither Boston police or the district attorney would confirm or deny the report. But if it's true, this criminologist says it may be a token of success.
JAMES ALAN FOX, CRIMINOLOGIST, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: We all like to keep souvenirs of our successes, whether it's in sports or in business. And here is a souvenir of his success at being an offender.
KAYE: Also tonight, new information about the moment Markoff was arrested. He was not alone. A spokesman for the district attorney told me Markoff's fiancee seen here on their wedding Web site was with him in the car and headed for Foxwoods Casino. He says Markoff had $1,000 in cash.
Markoff is charged with murder in one attack, kidnapping and armed robbery in another. His lawyer did not return numerous calls but said in court, he's not guilty.
Investigators say Markoff met his alleged victims through ads for erotic services they posted on Craigslist. Prosecutors say Markoff tried to rob Julissa Brisman before he murdered her. ABC News reports Markoff went gambling two days later and won $5,300.
KAYE (on camera): The D.A.'s spokesman says gambling debt is just one possible motive. He says Markoff may have had a darker motive, not just a purely financial one. The spokesman says Markoff chose vulnerable women who would be reluctant to speak out.
(voice-over): But one alleged victim is speaking out. She told the Boston television station she thought the man in this hotel surveillance tape was her attacker, who she says is Markoff. Investigators say the woman was bound and robbed in this Westin hotel in Boston. She says she survived because she didn't fight back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just complied with everything he wanted me to do, and I didn't resist him in any way.
KAYE: The woman said Markoff only wanted her money, nothing else. She says he duct-taped her mouth before he left the hotel room without a word.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I twisted out of my ties within one minute after he was gone.
KAYE (on camera): Because of the charges, Philip Markoff is suspended from medical school here at Boston University. But his former lab partner Tiffany Montgomery told a Boston newspaper he was, "strange, strange in a dark way." She told the paper she had class with him for years. She recalled his mood swings and described him as disturbed.
KAYE (voice-over): Years before that, a smiling Philip Markoff in his high school yearbook. He was a member of the bowling team and golf league. Next to his baby picture, a note about his poker skills. A different time, a different life. Before the shackles and the burning question -- did he do it? Randi Kaye, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: New this morning, three vials of a potentially deadly virus have disappeared from the nation's top army research lab in Maryland. The Army's criminal investigation command is now searching for those vials. An Army spokesman says humans infected with the virus usually suffer flu-like symptoms at first and in about one in 100 cases, the virus can be deadly.
Another virus causing concern this morning, and this time it's not PCs that are at risk. Mac computer owners generally think they're immune from viruses, but the IBOT net might change that. Researcher say the harmful computer virus targets Macs through pirated versions of the Mac software IWorks. Cybersecurity expert says it was just a matter of time, and Macs will be more vulnerable as they become more and more popular.
Outrage over an iPhone game called Baby Shaker has driven Apple to remove the game from its iTunes store. The object of the game is to quiet a crying baby by shaking the phone until red Xs appear in its eyes, indicating death. The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome condemned Apple for approving the game's sale.
Human cloning, sounds like the stuff of science fiction. But a controversial fertility doctor is claiming that he has actually done it. A documentary on his work aired on the Discovery Channel last night in Britain and showed two couples attempting to clone deceased relatives. Here's a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a look. Take a look.
I couldn't get better, actually.
They look wonderful.
All my babies are doing well. They look beautiful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we have three very good embryos that could be in utero today. And if the implantation is successful as well, and the pregnancy is maintained, as we say in the U.S., we have a home run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: We're paging our Dr. Sanjay Gupta for all of the facts in this case. CNN's chief medical correspondent is in Los Angeles this morning. Who is this guy? What is he doing, Sanjay? And is what he's doing legit and on the level?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is actually no way to prove any of what you just saw as being scientifically valid. And I think that's the response that a lot of people in the scientific community this morning after having watched that. Despite what you've seen there and despite what they're alluding to, the fact that they said that they cloned human embryos. You can't validate any of that.
He's name is Panos Zavos. He lived in Kentucky. He is a naturalized citizen but he is from Cyprus originally. He is doing a lot of this work in the Middle East where there are no specific regulations or laws banning human cloning. We've been keeping tabs on him for sometime, John.
You may remember back in 2004, he said he created a cloned embryo at that time. But no scientific proof was ever offered up. He's being followed by a documentary filmmaker Peter Williams who had some notoriety because he documented the first IVF -- in vitro fertilization. And he's been following along Dr. Zavos for sometime. But again, an appropriate dose of skepticism is quite necessary when evaluating this. It's going to get a lot of buzz this morning, John.
ROBERTS: Well, what are other researchers saying? Is it even possible to clone embryos?
GUPTA: Well, you know, the technique has been known for sometime in animals, for example. And a lot of people remember Dolly the sheep. For frame of reference, I think about 277 attempts before they got Dolly the sheep. There were a lot of failed attempts. No question the technique has improved significantly since then and different types of animals have been cloned. So the technique is pretty well known. But there are lots of potential complications and risks and the safety is just not there. The societies that oversee this sort of thing say it's clinically, scientifically ethically unacceptable to even be trying this right now. Because while the techniques are there, they're not good enough, John, to be doing this in humans.
ROBERTS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning. Doc, good to see you. And Sanjay is going to be on Twitter this morning, by the way, answering your questions. Just follow AMFix. Again, the doc is online for us all morning long -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, a big resort town threatened. The latest on the Winfield (ph) wildfire that already destroyed 8,000 acres on the South Carolina coast. Dangers at Myrtle Beach as well. The weather center following all of this for us.
And gang violence, drugs, corruption, all of it happening inside America's prisons. Two congressmen are taking on a system they say is broken. We also have a senator live on our show to talk more about why he thinks major changes need to happen, just ahead.
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CHETRY: Top videos right now on cnn.com. Most popular. Divorce by text. In Saudi Arabia, a man texting his wife informing her their marriage was over, and a court approved it. Saudi law permits men to divorce their wives simply by saying "I divorce you."
Not sure what to do with the useless junk cluttering up your closet. Well, maybe this video can help you, from transforming dartboards into vanity mirrors and making cool clocks out of books that you don't read anymore. This I-reporter can show you how. So then you still have the same junk it's just that you're using it for a different purpose. Rock on.
Also, a group of UCLA scientists are fed up, and they're protesting the protester taking it to the streets against animal rights extremists who say they've done things like set their cars ablaze and other acts the FBI considers to be domestic terrorism. Well, those are the top videos right now on cnn.com.
We're following another developing story for you this morning. The FBI and several Muslim groups are at odds. They are accusing the feds of spying on them while they pray. Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is taking a look at the controversy from Washington.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, the FBI is being accused of using McCarthy tactics against Muslims. The FBI says not so.
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MESERVE (voice-over): Among some worshippers at the Islamic Center of New York, a belief that the FBI is violating Muslims' constitutional rights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's unfair that only you know they're infiltrating the honor of the Muslim morals, the church is (INAUDIBLE) and they're not doing that...
MESERVE: After 9/11, Muslims and law enforcement built bridges. Muslims taught FBI agents about their religion and culture.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Struggle is the literal translation of jihad.
MESERVE: The FBI respects Muslims' freedom to worship.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We never make any advances without dialogue.
MESERVE: But for some, the relationship has gone sour. In Detroit, Minneapolis, southern California, allegations that the FBI is conducting surveillance in mosques.
AGHA SAEED, MUSLIM ADVOCATE: If there's evidence of somebody still working (INAUDIBLE) directly or indirectly, it should not be used to target the entire mosque.
MESERVE: In Irvine, California, the FBI has accused of paying a paid informant in this mosque and using him to radicalize and entrap young worshippers. The FBI says it was a legitimate investigation.
JOHN MILLER, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: The FBI does not infiltrate mosques as a general practice nor does it investigate or gather intelligence on activities that are protected by the first amendment. What the FBI does do is it gathers intelligence about individuals who may be a threat in terms of an act of violence or a threat to national security.
MESERVE: The FBI ended its relationship with a prominent counsel on American-Islamic relations because of its connections to Hamas, the designated terrorist group. That angered some Muslims and further erosion of the relationship is possible.
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MESERVE: A coalition of Muslim group is asking Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate whether the FBI has been asking Muslims to spy on fellow worshippers. If it's not satisfied with Holder's response, the group may formally suspend cooperation with the FBI. John, Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: Jeanne Meserve for us this morning. Jeanne, thanks so much.
Americans locked up in staggering numbers, overcrowded, over budget, and hardly seems to be working. We're talking with one senator who says the system is broken and needs a major fix. Jim Webb just ahead.
And the economy is on the skids. But Americans are giving President Obama high marks for his first 100 days. We'll look at how the president has been able to rebound from the controversy. It's 42 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Forty-five minutes after the hour. Let's fast forward now to stories that will be making news later on today. The suspect in the killing of government intern Chandra Levy has arrived in Washington. He is expected to be formally charged with her murder and make his first court appearance today.
At 2:30 this afternoon Eastern, Attorney General Eric Holder heads to Capitol Hill for a house budget hearing. Don't be surprised if the questions turn from budget to harsh interrogation techniques. The issue of whether to prosecute Bush administration officials who authorized those interrogations is likely to come up.
Sasha and Malia live at their parents' office, and today lots of other kids can see where the Obamas work too. Michelle Obama will welcome children of executive office employees to the White House in honor of Take Your Child to Work Day.
A fierce wildfire is spreading out of control on the South Carolina coast. It's threatening Myrtle Beach during peak season for tourists with golf clubs. Our Rob Marciano is tracking all of the extreme weather for us. And let's start down there in the east coast. Don't seem to have the weather in the big monitor. But can you give us sort of a broad brush, Rob, of what we're looking at today?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We're going to show you some additional pictures. Obviously, the pictures that you showed were daytime that sparked up just before sunset. And that fire continued to burn overnight last night.
Winds out of the west at about 10 to 20 miles an hour. Humidity average this time of the year. But they're still struggling with this thing. About 40 homes in total have been burned. 2,500 people evacuated west of Highway 17. So last night a busy night there as the thing headed towards the resort community and beach town of Myrtle Beach.
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CHETRY: Right now, Pakistan's army taking on the Taliban just 60 miles from the country's capital. And your safety could depend on their success. We'll take you there live. It's 47 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
There's a new push from Congress to try to overhaul America's prisons. Senator Jim Webb calls our system a national disgrace. He says while we have just 5 percent of the world's population, we have 25 percent of the world's known prisoners. Also drugs, corruption and violence rampant inside of our jails and prisons. Senator Webb is co- sponsoring a new bill to try to tackle these problems.
He joins us live from Capitol Hill. Senator, thanks for being with us this morning. SEN. JIM WEBB (D), VIRGINIA: Good morning.
CHETRY: You also wrote a great article in "Parade." "Pushing to fix the prison system." What are the biggest problems as you see them?
WEBB: Well, I've been involved in this issue for many years as an attorney and as a journalist. In fact, at one point, I spent a month going through the Japanese criminal justice system. And so, when I came to the Senate in '07, I decided to hold hearings on mass incarceration and on drugs policy and to try to figure out where the criminal justice system itself is broken, because we've got, as you said, we got 2.38 million people in prison. We got seven million inside that criminal justice system. And yet, our neighborhoods aren't any safer, particularly with the violent gangs...
CHETRY: Right.
WEBB: ... transnational gangs, et cetera. So the answer is, broken everywhere. And so, I introduced a bill at the beginning of this year to get a national commission, a high blue-ribbon -- high- ranking blue-ribbon commission, with a leader appointed by the president, to get an entire look at the system, all the way from sentencing to the conditions inside prisons to re-entry program and a look at the gang situation and to come up with a specific set of policy recommendations where we can fix the whole thing.
We got 24 or 25 sponsors already in the Senate on this. The administration has said they will support us. It's something that we just urgently need to do...
CHETRY: Yes, it's also...
WEBB: ... with the problems that we have here.
CHETRY: Right. It's quite a tall order. And of course, you know that yourself. You write that our prisons are overcrowded. We know that they are ill-managed in some cases. You got violence, physical abuse, hate, breeding grounds that perpetuate and magnify these same types of behavior that we purport to fear. This is what you were writing about. But why can't we control what happens in our prisons?
WEBB: Well, the question isn't just the prisons. The question is the criminal justice system at large, how we decide who goes to jail, what we do with them when they are inside jail, how we assist people who want to lead a better life when they get out, how we deal with the situation with gangs. They all interrelate, and I think that it's just one of these things that every American has a self-interest in fixing.
Yet, when you get up here in the policy level, it just continually falls off the radar screen because politicians don't want to be accused of being soft on crime and it's, you know, it's not one of these issues that you see make the floor in a comprehensive way. So, this is what we want to do. This is like a chance -- one chance in 50 years... CHETRY: Right.
WEBB: I think to really get our arms around this and fix it.
CHETRY: I want to ask you about something else about the huge percentage of the growth of incarceration since the 1980s. A lot of this is the result of nonviolent crimes as we've been talking about. Research showed that 60 percent of people in state prisons are serving time for a drug offense, who are serving time for drug offenses and had no prior history of violence or any significant selling activity.
So once again, the question goes back to legalization. Is there some way to address this problem and would you support perhaps legalizing marijuana?
WEBB: Well, I think what we need to do is to put all of the issues on the table. You're correct. If you go back to 1980 as a starting point, I think we had 40,000 people in prison on drug charges. And, today, we have about 500,000 of them. And the great majority of those are nonviolent crimes, possession crimes or minor sales.
At the same time, we've got a situation with Mexican drug cartels conducting violence along the border, operating in more than 230 American cities and we aren't getting our arms around that in a proper way. So we need to put it all on the table. That's why we need a presidential commission to look at these things, people who have high stature in these career areas and to report to the Congress about the best way to go forward but nothing should be off the table.
CHETRY: All right. And that includes, as you're saying, possibly looking at legalization?
WEBB: Well, I think that they should examine every aspect of drugs policy to see what is working and what is not working and where the consistencies are and, quite frankly, where the inconsistencies in terms of how people end up in the system with similar activities.
CHETRY: All right. Senator Jim Webb, thanks for talking to us this morning. And before launching this bill, by the way, Senator Webb's office collected more facts about America's prison system and we put some of them up now in an AM Extra.
We told you America has 2.3 million people behind bars. That is five times higher than the world's average incarceration rate. Another five million are either on probation or out on parole. That makes them part of the criminal justice system. And the number of jailed drug offenders here in the U.S. has increased 1200 percent since 1980. That research also says four times as many mentally ill people are in prison than in mental health facility.
ROBERTS: Danger in a nuclear nation. Pakistan's army on the move this morning trying to stop the Taliban from taking over the capital. We're going there live, just ahead.
And cracking down on credit card abuse. President Obama meeting top CEOs this morning. So will they stop charging those outrageous fees? We'll find out. It's 56 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: President Obama hasn't shied away from controversy during this first 100 days. But he has displayed a keen ability to rebound from criticism and that has some of his critics wondering why the outrage doesn't stick. Joining us now from Arlington, Virginia is CNN political contributor Bill Bennett, also the author of "The American Patriot's Almanac." Bill, it's good to see you this morning.
BILL BENNETT, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: So the president attracted, you know, a fair amount of controversy in that summit in Trinidad and Tobago, the other day when he shook hands and was all smiles with Hugo Chavez. It prompted Jonathan Martin in Politico to write, "Several times a month in his young presidency, Barack Obama has done things that cause conservatives to bray, using the phrase once invoked by Bob Dole, 'Where's the outrage?'"
The president seems pretty Teflon in his first 100 days, Bill. A lot of stuff just kind of bounces off of him.
BENNETT: Yes. The American people are giving him a lot of breaks. It is the first 100 days. They liked him. They voted for him. They elected him, and they want him to succeed. All that is understandable.
The second 100 days, I think it's going to be different. These are no longer matters of photo-ops with Hugo Chavez. What he has unleashed here with the CIA interrogation memo is the furies, and this is going to be a major issue, and I think an embarrassment and problem for him.
Maybe more important, you know, CNN has been great on this, covering the situation in Pakistan, John. This is the real world. This isn't the warm-up now. This isn't rehearsal. This is the real game now. The Taliban moves in on the capital of Pakistan, we are talking about serious international crisis, then we'll find out about our commander in chief.
ROBERTS: You know, Mitt Romney wrote about foreign policy in the National Review Online taking on President Obama saying, "The leader of the free world has been in timid advocate of freedom at best. And bold action to blunt the advances of tyrants has been wholly lacking."
He slammed him for a number of different things, acquiescing to a 50-minute rant from Daniel Ortega at the Summit of the Americas, not doing anything in response to North Korea's missile test, not holding Iran's feet to the fire, trying to open dialogue with them.
But a lot of people might say, Bill, that after eight years of Bush administration policy, this country needs to go in a different direction. BENNETT: Well, you know, that's the argument, and that was the argument in the election. And I think we were safe. I think we were doing pretty well, actually.
But I mean, the problem with Obama, as far as I'm concerned -- and I really tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. I didn't just jump on him right away -- is that when he goes to Europe, when he goes to Trinidad and Tobago, it seems to be himself that he wants to represent and talk about, not the United States of America.
It's like he's in campaign mode. It's about him. There's preening about -- he preens for himself, but he doesn't seem to instinctively want to talk and defend the government of the United States, the people of the United States. He is America. He is not the candidate anymore, and he better be very careful.
It is unprecedented, John, what he did in Europe. To go to Europe, be on foreign soil and to apologize for all the errors and faults of the United States. Again, he's getting a break. It's his first 100 days. But four years is a long time.
ROBERTS: All right, well, we'll continue to follow this very closely. Bill Bennett for us this morning. Bill, it's good to see you. Thanks so much.
BENNETT: Thanks, John.
