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American Morning
Obama in Saudi Arabia; Air France Wreckage Found; New Bin Laden Tape Found; Two American Journalists On Trial in North Korea
Aired June 03, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up now at the top of the hour, it's just a minute before 8:00 Eastern. Thanks for joining us in the most news in the morning. It's Wednesday it's the 3rd of June, I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
A lot going on today. Here's a look at what's on our agenda this morning. Stories that are going to be breaking down in the next 15 minutes. We're showing you the live picture of President Obama in Saudi Arabia now and beginning his four mission there. The trip to the Middle East is designed to help repair relations with the Muslim world. We're going to be live in Riyadh. Again for some insight on the top issues that will be discussed.
French officials say that they may never find the flight data recorder of Air France's Flight 447. The Airbus jetliner carrying 228 people crashed in the Atlantic, off of the coast of Brazil. Debris from the plane has been spotted on the surfaced but officials say that there's no hope anyone survived that crash.
Facebook, in the early stages of developing an internal payment system. It would allow users to buy credit which they could then exchange for virtual goods. We're going to tell you about the new system that could make it easier for the social networking sites and others to get at your money.
ROBERTS: First, as we speak, President Obama making his way to King Abdullah's farm for a welcome reception. He arrived in Saudi Arabia about 30 minutes ago. This trip to the Middle East puts him at the center of some of the most sensitive issues facing his presidency. From reaching out to the Muslim world to kick starting the stalled Middle East peace process.
CNN's Ed Henry is live in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Very short time and a lot on the agenda. Ed, how much do you think that he can get accomplished?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the big question, John. He added this stop in Saudi Arabia, a very quick stop, to show his respect to King Abdullah who is a pivotal player in the region, could help restart those Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that were stalled but also this whole trip is about trying to re-start the entire U.S. relationship with the Muslim world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HENRY (voice-over): The president's outreach to the Muslim world began week one when he gave his first television interview in office to al Arabiya.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My job is to communicate, the fact that the United States has a stake in the world being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be language of respect. I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries.
HENRY: On a later visit to Turkey, the president took his shoes off to show respect before entering a mosque. And in a speech to the Turkish parliament tried to make a clean break from the rhetoric of the Bush years.
OBAMA: So let me say this as clearly as I can, the United States is not and will never be at war with Islam.
HENRY: Top aid say the president plans to build on that theme in Cairo, where expectations are building, perhaps too high.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody is looking for him as the magical man.
HENRY: Ibrahim El Moallem, a media mogul and influential cultural figure in Egypt, says years of frustration has built up on the Arab street.
IBRAHIM EL MOALLEM, SHOROUK GROUP, LEADING ARAB PUBLISHER: We think if he can handle the problem of the Arab-Israeli conflict, not in a biased, not in a double standard way. And if he can really begin to reach in overall comprehensive just peace, this would immediately win the heart and the mind of the Arabs and the Muslims.
HENRY: That's one reason in advance of his trip, the president has been getting tough on Israel. Pushing a two-state solution in meetings with the resistant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And he used the meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last week to issue a warning to Israel.
OBAMA: In my conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu, I was very clear about the need to stop settlements, to make sure that we are stopping the building of outposts, to work with the Palestinian authority in order to alleviate some of the pressures that the Palestinian people are under.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: Now some the pressure the president has been putting on Israel has raised alarm among some pro-Israel Democrats back in Washington. The president trying to alleviate those concerns. In an interview with the BBC saying that Israel should be invested in two- state solution, because it could help quell violence here in the region. But it shows that this is going to be a very difficult balancing act for this president all throughout this trip -- John.
ROBERTS: Certainly going to be. We'll be watching it all very closely. Ed Henry for us this morning from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ed, thanks so much.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Also new this morning, even before President Obama arrived in the Middle East, the number two man in al Qaeda al-Zawahiri urged Egypt to reject President Obama. It was a taped message. He said that the president's speech tomorrow will not change the, quote, "bloody messages, the U.S. military is sending Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Chinese government shutting down some blogs. Internet forums as well as social Web sites like Twitter. All that is taking place on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the pro-Democracy uprising in Tiananmen Square. Microsoft, Yahoo! have publicly protested calling China's actions inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression.
And the White House insisting national security was not jeopardized after reports that highly confidential information about the nation's nuclear sites and programs was accidentally released on the Web.
"The New York Times" reporting that the 266-page document was published accidentally online last month. The information was removed from the government Web site yesterday after inquiries from "The Times." "The Times" saying that documents contain no information about military nuclear operations.
And Brazilian and French authorities now say that the wreckage spotted in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean did come from Air France Flight 447. There are no signs of human remains. French investigators say the crash site is so deep that the so-called Black Box recorders, which could reveal why that plane crashed, may never be found.
CNN's John Zarrella is in Rio de Janeiro where the doomed flight to Paris originated.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, whatever hope families of the missing might have had quickly evaporated late yesterday afternoon when government officials here announced there was little doubt that debris found off the coast of Brazil came from Flight 447.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): No one could hold back the tears. Their fathers, mothers, children -- all missing, as families gathered at the airport in a nearby hotel awaiting word on their loved ones, the Brazilian Air Force was finding what everyone dreaded, debris, a life vest, seat, metal drum and an oil slick.
Commercial vessels from France and the Netherlands in the area begin looking for survivors. About 700 miles off Brazil's Atlantic Coast, no one was found.
(on camera): The search for the missing plane is not confined. It just where the debris was found, but encompasses hundreds of square miles, and that's because the ocean's currents could have carried that debris many miles from where the plane may have gone down.
(voice-over): Joining the search now, the U.S. Navy has sent one of its P-3 Orion Aircraft to the area. It's a massive international effort for a tragedy that has touched so many people in so many countries.
CHRISTIE NELSON, PASSENGER'S FRIEND: It's the flaming red hair, just trademark red hair.
ZARRELLA: Christie Nelson looks at photographs of Ann Harris' Facebook page. Harris and her husband, Michael, were on the flight. Nelson had known them about six months, but they were like family. Part of an expatriate community living and working in Rio, they dined together, partied together. The Harris's from Texas, Nelson and her husband from Canada.
NELSON: I really hope that they are able to determine how this happened and that we can all rest assure that it was quick and easy.
ZARRELLA: Determining how it happened may not be easy. The area where the plane is believed to have gone down is some 8,000 feet deep. Recovering the plane's data and voice recorders may prove very difficult.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: The Brazilian Air Force and Navy search all night and will search all day. Continuing to look for more debris from Flight 447. At the end of the day, they tell us, they would have searched thousands of square miles of the Atlantic Ocean.
John?
Kiran?
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: John Zarrella for us this morning live from Rio de Janeiro.
John, thanks so much.
You know, we've been following the president as he's in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today, beginning his tour of the Middle East there. And tomorrow, of course, it's all leading up to that big speech in Cairo. What can the president hope to gain from this and can he really repair relations between the United States and the Muslim world?
We're going to be talking with Egypt's former ambassador to the United States coming right up.
It's 7-1/2 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Nine-and-a-half minutes past the hour now. And we do have some breaking news for you this morning. We are working furiously to confirm more details right now what we know is according to Al Jazeera, they are playing an audiotape as we speak reported to be from Osama Bin Laden.
Again, the audiotape being played on Al Jazeera right now. According to them, he slammed our president on policy in the Islamic world. Also mentioning Pakistan and the Swat Valley. Of course, that's a region right now where U.S. troops, as well as Pakistani troops, have been, really, trying to push forward to route out al Qaeda and Taliban forces there.
So, again, an audiotape purported to be from Osama bin Laden being played, as we speak, on Al Jazeera, the Arab network. We are working to confirm whether or not it is indeed the terrorist mastermind, and also more details about what is being said on that audiotape. So keep it here. We're getting developing news on this by the second.
ROBERTS: And if it is, and if it's a recent tape, it would certainly seem to be an effective counter to claims by Pakistani officials that he's probably dead. So that would be a little bit of news in and of itself.
Well, President Obama getting a warm welcome in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, today. He arrived there in just the past hour. It's the first stop on his five-nation tour of the Middle East and Europe. The centerpiece of the president's trip of course is a speech to the Muslim world tomorrow from Cairo.
And joining us on the telephone right now is Nabil Fahmy. He's the former Egyptian ambassador to the United States, now with the American University in Cairo.
Mr. Ambassador, good to talk to you.
Let me start off by asking you this question. The recent University of Maryland Zogby Public Opinion Poll in the Arab world found that 61 percent of Arabs still dislike President Bush, but 51 percent say they are hopeful for a new relationship that President Obama can build with the Muslim world.
It appears that the president has got a lot of goodwill going into this trip. Do you think he can use that to repair relations between the United States and the Arab world?
NABIL FAHMY, FORMER EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S. (via telephone): First of all, I think the results that you mentioned are indicative that all of this talk about anti-Americanism being deep and widespread around the word, particularly in the Middle East, is not really as strong as the argument seems to be.
Secondly, yes, I do think that President Obama can use what he has to start dealing with the problem. He will probably make an excellent speech, talking about compassion, about tolerance, about respect, about working with diversity and, of course, dealing with issues of extremism and terrorists. I expect all that. But he's talking here in the Middle East in Egypt, where Muslims exist, in the Middle East, where the birthplace of the Muslim religion. This is a region of believers, so he will be well received. But to convince them, he's going to have to put some meat on the table. If not in the speech, then at least very quickly after that.
On the political issues that are concerned to Middle East, the Israeli conflict situation in Iraq and, of course, also Afghanistan.
ROBERTS: Yes. Congressman Keith Ellison, who is the only Muslim member of Congress in the United States said that the president needs to make something happen here. That, you know, words are one thing, but as you said, he needs to put some meat on the table. He needs to make something happen.
How long does he have before that reservoir of goodwill turns against him?
Mr. Ambassador, are you still there?
Well, it sounds like we might have lost the ambassador. But certainly suggesting that the president does need to put some meat on the table if he hopes to make some things happen in the Arab world, and of course, the broader Muslim world around the globe as well.
Well, tomorrow morning at 6:00, AMERICAN MORNING is going to bring you special coverage of President Obama's much-anticipated speech to the Muslim world. Again, that's at 6:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
Presently, it's 13-1/2 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: And we're back at 16 minutes after the hour on the Most News in the Morning.
We're following breaking news today. Al Jazeera, The Arabic network, is apparently playing a tape purported to be the voice of Osama Bin Laden today, talking about President Obama's policies in the Muslim world, slamming him for them, accusing the president of following Bush administration policy in, quote, "antagonizing Muslims." He also talks about what's going on in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, which may give us some idea of the recent nature of this tape.
I mean, just the very fact that, you know, President Obama's taken power would make this, at least, fairly recent. If he's talking about that, which would then be very interesting because we'd heard from Pakistani officials in just the last few weeks that they believe that Osama bin Laden is probably dead because they haven't heard from him.
So, you know, while it can be expected that Osama bin Laden would try to gain the upper PR hand here, as President Obama is out there in the Middle East trying to make his case for better relations between the United States and the Muslim world. What's most interesting about this tape is the fact that he may very well still be alive.
Well, a quick look now at the A.M. Rundown, and stories coming up here in the next few minutes.
Why Cairo? Our political panel weighs in on President Obama's location choice to deliver his speech to Muslims worldwide.
Who is the Republican front-runner in the next race for the White House? A new CNN poll is out this morning.
And a day in the life of a trauma neurosurgeon. We're going inside Dr. Sanjay Gupta's world. He takes us inside the operating room this morning, which is going to be a fascinating tour for you.
CHETRY: Yes, we look forward to that. Meanwhile --
ROBERTS: This was sort of take-your-camera-to-work-day for Sanjay.
CHETRY: I guess, it was. Well, he takes his camera to work every day for this job, but not his other one.
17-1/2 minutes after the hour now. And we're talking about social networking sites. They are of course hunting for ways to make new money of course.
Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
It's just a matter of time, right? I mean, all that stuff was free.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of people on these sites and there's a lot of ways to make money. But you have to figure out how to make money without really irritating the people around these sites.
Would you pay, I'm just curious, would you pay real money to buy a fake beer for Kiran or me?
ROBERTS: You mean like --
CHETRY: Don't spend your money on fake. It's just not the real thing.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: It's sounds like -- it's sounds like, no.
ROBERTS: Is this a trick question?
ROMANS: No.
ROBERTS: You mean like fake beer, like a near beer?
(CROSSTALK) ROMANS: No, no, right. You know how you go on Facebook, for example. You can buy somebody a gift, or you can buy them a beer or martini or something, you know. And you send them a little martini.
ROBERTS: Sort of like a greeting, like an e-mail greeting card?
ROMANS: Right. Would you pay for that? Would you pay to send us a fake gift?
ROBERTS: Are you kidding?
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Well, this is one of the ways --
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE)
ROMANS: Thank you. OK, so Facebook is trying to find a way to maybe buy these credits. So you buy a bunch of credits, and then you can use those credits to buy things to send to your friends, right?
ROBERTS: What's the matter? Is the real world not good enough?
ROMANS: I know. I know. John, you can buy me a real beer. So Facebook trying to target some ways to use -- to use its site to make some more money. What are they trying to do? Well, you look at how many people are on this site. It's astounding.
I want to be very clear here. Facebook is not trying to charge you to use Facebook. They're just trying to find a way to be interface for more commerce on their site.
ROBERTS: Monetize the web site.
ROMANS: Exactly. Monetizing social networking, that's what it's called. So it's not charging you to use it, but clearly they are going to try to find ways to take that chart there and turn it into more money, to diversify a little bit of way from just advertising revenue and try to find other ways. So it would be, you buy some credits, you could use those credits on the sites. You know, do advertising. Or you use those credits to buy stuff from the gift shop to send to people.
ROBERTS: You know, electronic greeting card, maybe. But fake beer?
CHETRY: The other thing, too -- I mean, because the places where you upload your pictures are starting to say, you know, you can't just keep your pictures on here if you're not buying, you know, some pictures. So, I mean, you know --
ROMANS: That's right.
CHETRY: It's churning. I mean, the Web has been free for a long time so --
ROMANS: Right. 200 million people are active users of Facebook. There's also MySpace, there's Twitter. There are all this other things. Now, there are those people who are holdouts, of course.
OK. So let me -- which brings me to the "Romans Numerals." And I have a "Romans Numerals" for this one.
ROBERTS: And that would pretty tell what is the "Romans Numeral."
ROMANS: And it is a very big, big number. The "Romans Numeral" is 13.9 -- how many zeros is that?
ROBERTS: That's a billion.
ROMANS: That would be billions. $13.9 billion. That's how many minutes were spent on Facebook by the users just in April.
ROBERTS: Oh, my Lord.
ROMANS: I know.
CHETRY: Oh, man.
ROBERTS: Get a life.
ROMANS: I know.
CHETRY: Wow.
ROMANS: And when we divided that by like 200 million.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Go out and play baseball, you know.
ROMANS: I know. I know.
ROBERTS: Do something.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: A lot of people are checking up on their high school boyfriends and their --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: High school boyfriends, they'll get to you every time.
All right.
ROBERTS: 13.9 billion hours?
ROMANS: That's minutes, actually.
ROBERTS: Oh, minutes, sorry. That's not --
ROMANS: Still, it's so many. I know, I know. On Facebook, something that I didn't even know existed a year ago.
Isn't' that funny?
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Just like the fake beers John sent to you in the past year.
All right. Well, how about this one? John doesn't have to worry about this. He's busy with BlackBerry elbow, Christine. And I have double stroller wrist. But what about this one?
How can a man look cool pushing a stroller?
My husband asks this a lot.
Well, apparently, may be one like this.
Jerry Seinfeld apparently has one of this. It's called the Roddler. OK, they're being dubbed the hot rods for toddlers. You can customize them with iPod docks, white wall tires and even DVD players.
You think they'll be enough, you know, to look at without the DVD player, but there you go. Let's see the Roddler again. There's a bunch of other stuff here.
But, anyway, apparently they start at $2,500.
ROBERTS: Look at that.
CHETRY: Look at that thing!
ROBERTS: Isn't that slick or what.
CHETRY: And they can go up to $5 grand.
ROMANS: What recession?
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Wow. That looks like a customized Harley road king.
CHETRY: Yes. It looks like a Be Dazzled for me.
ROBERTS: Or maybe more like actually an Indian, I think.
ROMANS: Real auto sales are plunging, but the Roddlers, they're through the roof.
ROBERTS: I bet that was modeled on the Indian motorcycles. It's got those swoopy fenders.
CHETRY: Right. Yes, fancy stuff. ROBERTS: Very, cool. Yes. Wow.
CHETRY: How about that?
And, you know, let's get your husband --
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Hot toddlers.
ROMANS: Hot toddlers.
CHETRY: Thanks, Christine.
All right. Well, right now, it is 22 minutes past hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Within hour, the two American journalists captured and accused of spying in North Korea are set to go on trial. And the sister of one of the journalists, reporter Lisa Ling from CNN's "PLANET IN PERIL," has pleaded for their release.
Jason Carroll here now with what a trial in North Korea could mean.
And I'd expect that's one of the last places in the world you'd ever want to go on trial -- North Korea.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. You know, one expert on the region actually called trials like this, as you know, basically a show trial, because defendants are not judged by a jury. They're basically judged by the state.
One of the many problems here is so little is known about North Korea, let alone the country's legal system. What is known a fair trial, not likely.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): Trapped in one of the most isolated countries in the world, North Korea, imprisoned, accused of spying and awaiting trial. This is what American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee are facing. Their families pleading for their release saying both women are terrified.
LISA LING, SISTER OF KIDNAPPED JOURNALIST: They never meant to cross into North Korea. I mean, that was never their objective. And if for some reason they may have, then we are sorry. And we hope that the North Korean government will show mercy.
CARROLL: Lisa Ling received a surprise call from her sister last Tuesday saying she was being treated fairly. Ling who is also a journalist has reported from North Korea for "National Geographic" and knows just how dangerous the country can be.
LING: How does the great leader defend it against big powers like America.
CARROLL: With his wife's trial just one day away, Laura Ling's husband said the strain has been unbearable.
IAIN CLAYTON, HUSBAND OF KIDNAPPED JOURNALIST: As you can imagine, it's probably been, you know, the worst few months of my life.
CARROLL: Both Ling and Lee are reporters for "Current TV," a media venture started by former Vice President Al Gore. They were reporting on North Korean defectors living along the China-North Korea border when they were taken into custody on March 17. The North Korean government claiming the two entered the country, illegally, a charge the State Department and Lisa Ling deny.
In an interview on AMERICAN MORNING, former vice president says he'd even consider going to North Korea to help.
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: I would do anything within reason including that at the drop of the hat. But it is -- that's not -- it's not some place that you just buy a ticket and show up at the airport.
CARROLL: Complicating diplomacy, North Korea angered the world with recent nuclear test and missile launches. Ambassador Wendy Sherman is an expert on the region and has met the country's leader, Kim Jong-Il, and knows he will influence the trial's outcome.
WENDY SHERMAN, FORMER NORTH KOREA POLICY COORDINATOR: He understands how important family is to each other. And so I hope that he takes that understanding and releases these two young women and returns them to their families.
CARROLL: Victor Cha has also been to North Korea, the former director for Asian Affairs under George W. Bush says the country's legal system has little rhyme or reason.
VICTOR CHA, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, CSIS KOREA CHAIR: I think what you would expect to see is something in between a prison sentence to, you know, perhaps even sentencing to some sort of labor camp. Hopefully, those will just be a token sort of punishment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Well, representatives from Sweden have been working behind the scenes to try to engage some of the North Koreans. They are looking at what happened in the '90s when an American pilot accidentally flew over the region and was taken into custody. He was released after he promised to apologize.
Of course, they are hoping that something like that can happen again this time. But, you know, this time, they also have the increased tension at that they weren't dealing with in the 1990s.
ROBERTS: Yes, exactly. They're firing missiles around all over the place and getting ready potentially for another long-term -- long- range missile test. So, you know, all of that is going to complicate all of this.
CARROLL: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Jason, thanks so much for that.
Don't miss "AC360" tonight, by the way. Lisa Ling and the husbands of Laura Ling and Euna Lee will be live with Anderson in a vigil for the reporters' release. That's on "AC360" tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
CHETRY: And it is 28 minutes after the hour right now. We're following breaking news this morning.
The Arab TV network, Al Jazeera, is playing an audiotape that's purportedly from Osama bin Laden. Now, on this tape, the voice criticizes President Obama's policies toward Muslim countries. Also accuses the president of following former President Bush's policy, in quote, "antagonizing Muslims."
That tape aired shortly after President Obama arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the first leg of his Middle East tour. Some of the other statements purportedly said on this voice recording by Osama bin Laden. He's ordered to Zardari to prevent the people of Swat. He's referring to the Swat Valley in Pakistan from implementing Sharia law, as well as strikes and destruction. All of this led to the displacement of about a million Muslims.
So this voice purported to be Osama bin Laden is referring to some recent events taking place in Pakistan. Again, the veracity of this tape still needs to be confirmed. But this is a tape that's now playing on Al Jazeera network purported to be from Osama bin Laden. We have our people looking into it, and we'll get more details and information as soon as it becomes available to us.
Meantime, there are no signs of life, unfortunately, this morning, where an Air France jetliner carrying 228 people crashed in the Atlantic Ocean. Debris from that plane spotted on the surface, but answers to what went so horribly wrong could be miles below. French officials saying this morning they may never find those flight data recorders.
The price of gas going up a couple more cents while you were sleeping. The average cost nationwide, according to AAA, is now $2.55 a gallon. Price increasing every day for 36 straight days rising 50 cents a gallon over that period.
And will the new face of the GOP, please stand up. According to the latest CNN Opinion Research Poll, there's really no clear front- runner emerging to take on President Obama in 2012. In fact, it looks like a three-way tie for first place. Republican voters were asked to pick from five potential candidates. Mike Huckabee getting 22 percent of the vote. Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney getting 21 percent. Newt Gingrich and Jeb Bush finishing well back. And there could be other names, of course, surfacing many years yet to go.
President Obama's Mid-East mission now underway. He just arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He's meeting with Saudi King Abdullah, and that's just the appetizer, if you will. The main course is being served tomorrow. That's when the president delivers a major speech to Muslims from Cairo, Egypt.
Joining us now to weigh in on the president's speech, David Frum, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush. He's in Detroit. Also, in Washington, Donald Baer, a speech writer from the Clinton White House. I want to thank both of you for being with us this morning. We have a lot to get to.
David, I want to start with you. You took issue with President Obama choosing Cairo, Egypt as the backdrop for this major speech to the Muslims. You wrote, "the president could have spoken from Indonesia, perhaps Bangladesh - each of them home to more Muslims than live in the Arab Middle East. Indonesia and Bangladesh, the prevailing forms of Islam are moderate and tolerant." You went on to say that the countries are working to build a more democratic society.
So tell us more about why you think he should have chosen a place other than Cairo, Egypt.
DAVID FRUM, EDITOR, NEW MAJORITY.COM: Well, I have a number of worries about the speech. One of them is the president will allow that habit of thinking that Muslim equals Arab to influence, over influence his approach. The problems of the Arab world are very separate and particular and they are different from the issues of the larger Muslim world.
Second, it just showcases some the problem of even doing such a thing as a speech to the Muslim world because you have to ask the question, who does that include? Does that include the secularists? Does that include liberals? Does that include women? Does that include gays? Or is the president going to be pushed back into situation where he somehow agrees that it's the most angry and alienated Muslims who are the most authentic and that could be a very dangerous situation if he finds himself in it.
CHETRY: Got you. Don, some would argue that given the political importance of the Middle East region, especially right now that this is exactly where he should be resetting relations, where the flame, if you will, will fan the highest for anti-American sentiment. What do you think, Don?
DON BAER, FORMER CLINTON SPEECH WRITER: Well, I agree with that. Because in addition to this being a historic speech to the Muslim world, it's a speech to the Middle East world and it's a speech about the Middle East crisis. And he's made that clear. President Obama made that clear. He tipped it off in an interview he did yesterday with Tom Friedman from "The New York Times" in which he said he's going to be honest with all sides in this debate today - or tomorrow. And I think that's a critical part of it. So I think they've chosen the right place to do it.
Plus, Egypt, a very important country in the Middle east with a large population that he doesn't want to speak to. An important thing to bear in mind is that many, many huge percentage of young people in the Middle East, in the Muslim world that he's trying to speak to too about opportunity and new directions.
CHETRY: And David, how does he balance this tricky issue about democracy? o, not pushing for greater freedoms in this speech in the Middle East could alienate some who are trying to, sort of, be activist for democracy. And at the same time, you have these autocrats who are going to be really key for him to get Mid East peace. Hosni Mubarak, others, how does he balance that fine line?
FRUM: Well, that's a perfect example of the problem I'm talking about that when you go to the Middle East, it means you are talking about Palestinians. I don't think that it's all true that the solution to the Palestinian problem would solve the larger problems in the Middle East nor I do think such a solution is available.
Look if you're talking about India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, home to probably the majority of the world's Muslims, democracy is the answer. It is the answer in Pakistan, It's for sure the answer in Bangladesh. When you allow yourself to be sidelined and allow yourself to be captured by this one issue, yes, it gets very difficult because we don't want a democracy tomorrow in Egypt because would that would be very difficult and so we end up allowing the small issue to drive the United States away from its own principles.
CHETRY: And, Don, I want to ask you about this as well keeping in mind the American audience. Of course, he's going overseas to give a speech. He was criticized when he spoke in Turkey appearing by some to really apologize too much for things that America had done in the past. He got some criticism from former republican Governor Mitt Romney about it, saying that he is troubled if it turns out - if this turns out to be an apology tour that that would be misguided. So how measured does he need to be keeping his American audience in mind?
BAER: Well, I think what we've begun to see with President Obama is that what he really is in this big speeches is the great explainer. He really likes to take these complex issues and try to turn them through their various sides and show people the various facets and help different sides understand each other's point of view and that's really where he's positioning himself in American politics and in world politics at this point.
So I think for an American audience, he's going to try to be explaining also what he sees the Muslim world being about, what he sees the Middle Eastern conflict being about, and explaining, and I think typically audiences of all sorts are walking away from those speeches, going that was a reasonable approach. It gives us some ground work to go forward on.
CHETRY: All right. Well, both of you should know, you've done this many times before, I'm sure that you'll be listening to hear exactly how our president puts what he's going to say tomorrow in Egypt. Don Baer as well as David Frum, it's great to talk to both of you. Thanks.
FRUM: Thank you.
BAER: Thanks. CHETRY: And remember, you can hear it right here on AMERICAN MORNING 6:00 a.m. tomorrow we're going to be bringing you a special coverage of President Obama's much-anticipated speech to the Muslim world. 6:00 a.m., right here at the start of our show, on CNN.
ROBERTS: Well, timing is everything, just as the president touches down in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Arabic language Al Jazeera plays a tape, reportedly from Osama Bin Laden. We'll find out more about that coming up next.
36 minutes after the hour.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ROBERTS: Coming up at 39 minutes after the hour. Of course, we've been talking this morning for the last few minutes about a new tape being played in the Arabic language network, Al Jazeera, purportedly to be the voice of Osama Bin Laden slamming President Obama's policy in the Muslim world. Also talking about the situation in the Swat Valley in Pakistan.
Let's bring in CNN International's Octavia Nasr. She has been following the situation for us. You know, the most interesting aspect of all of this, Octavia, because you can expect Al Qaeda to launch some sort of PR campaign against what the president is doing in the Middle East but we heard from Pakistan's president and former high- ranking officials as well that they believed Osama Bin Laden was dead. If this is indeed confirmed to be his voice it would seem to put certainly a contrary opinion on those claims.
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN INTERNATIONAL SENIOR. EDITOR OF ARAB AFFAIRS: Absolutely, John. And as we always say here on this show, on CNN, when Osama Bin Laden is dead, we will hear first from Al Qaeda. This is something that Al Qaeda is not going to shy away from, telling the world, they will describe him as a martyr. They will hail him. It won't be sad news for them. So really on the internet, on those radical Islamic sites is where you will hear that news confirmed.
Going back to the tape, what's interesting about this tape, it's airing on Al Jazeera. The timing of it is very suspicious, I must say, because of late, all of the messages from Al Qaeda, we've seen online. This one airs on Al Jazeera timing right when President Obama lands in Saudi Arabia. The home of Osama Bin Laden. The tape was most likely hand delivered. It was sent by courier. So it's very hard to tell whether Al Jazeera received it today or last week and they just waited to air it, to time it, along with the Obama trip to the Middle East.
ROBERTS: You've got to wonder, Octavia, did they have a little label on it that said "do not open until 3:00 a.m. AST on June 3rd." But let's talk about this idea. You know, we wonder if this is really Osama Bin Laden and you know, is this tape really recent? He does talk about Pakistani operations in the Swat Valley up there in the northwestern section of Pakistan and blames President Obama for supporting it and also suggesting that President Obama is following former Bush administration policy.
Here's what he said in a little bit of translation that we have. He said "this basically means that Obama and his administration put new seeds of hatred and revenge against America, the number of these is the same number of those victims and refugees in Swat and the tribal area in northern and southern Waziristan."
Of course talking about displaced refugees because of the Pakistani military operations against the Taliban there. "This way, Obama proved that he is walking the same road of his predecessors to build enmity against Muslims and increasing the number of fighters against the U.S. and establishing more lasting wars so the American people need to prepare to only gain what those seeds bring up."
I mean, obvious propaganda here.
NASR: Obvious propaganda. It also tells us that Bin Laden is - if this proves to be him. As a matter of fact, the voice on the tape is very much like that of Osama Bin Laden. Al Jazeera obviously knows Bin Laden very well. They know the sources as well. We've listened to that audio, it sounds very much like Bin Laden. We wait for CIA confirmation of the voice recognition. But what it tells us really is that this message was taped after April 1st of this year. This is when the operation in Swat Valley intensified and this is where you saw that mass exodus of Pakistani's leaving Swat Valley.
He references that. And Bin Laden is known to use his historical references in order to tell his listeners when he taped the message. So this is a message that was definitely taped after April 1st of this year. Again, when Al Jazeera got it, that is unknown. And I, personally, just judging by previous experiences with these tapes, I would say Al Jazeera got it earlier and they waited to time it with the Obama trip to the Middle East.
ROBERTS: All right. Octavia Nasr for us this morning in Atlanta. Octavia, thanks so much. And, Kiran, of course, we heard from Bin Laden several times on audiotape, most recently earlier this year but hasn't been seen on video since 2004 which maybe what leads Pakistani authorities to think that he might be dead but if this is confirmed as his voice of course it wouldn't be.
CHETRY: that's right and we're going to get a little bit more insight on this situation right now with Dan Rivers, who's in Islamabad. And as we talk about on this tape that purported to be audiotape from Osama Bin Laden, he mentioned the ramped up offensive by Pakistani military in the Swat Valley. Those -- those battles intensified in late April. And so if you can, what does that tell us about the authenticity of this tape and also the message that Osama Bin Laden, if it is indeed him, is trying to get across?
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean it's difficult to know, you know, from what we've gathered the scant information that we've got. But on the surface of this, it would appear as Octavia was saying that this tape appears to make references to the Swat Valley offensive which started in the last couple of months. So this appears to be very recent references which would, as you've been discussing, mean that this is, if it is proven to be Osama Bin Laden, that's a big if, would seem to prove that he is still alive.
Now this is of course massive news here. I spoke to the interior minister of Pakistan just a few days ago and I asked him do you think Osama Bin Laden is dead or alive and he said, "unless he emerges from somewhere with a tape or a voice everyone is assuming that he is dead." Well, that exactly what appears to have happened now. He's emerged with a tape. We're not sure exactly when it was recorded but if it is, this does makes references which could only have been made in the last couple of months, which would suggest that, you know, that he is still alive.
Now what we need to find out now is can the CIA or someone confirm that this is his voice through their voice recognition software, you know, coming now on this. But this certainly would appear confirmation that he is indeed still alive. That the Pakistani government were wrong when they told me that they assumed that he's dead. It seems very incontrovertible proof that he is alive, if they can confirm this.
CHETRY: This is also interesting. In the March 14th tape that was -- audiotaped, that was reported to be by Osama Bin Laden. Made by Osama Bin Laden. He decried Israeli actions in Gaza. There was another tape that did not get as much play but it was played by Al Jazeera, that called for Somalia's new president to be overthrown.
It's interesting that the content of this tape is talking about a region that's much more closer to where people think that he may actually be. The Swat Valley region. And he is specifically making reference to the refugees who've been forced to flee that area because of the efforts of the Pakistani military, to root out Al Qaeda in that region.
RIVERS: That's right. And that's tapping in to a key fear here that you know that's tapping in a key fear here that 2.5 million people, that's a massive number of people, who have been forced to leave the Swat Valley just in the last couple of months, just in, you know, since the beginning of May, in fact. So, you know, very massive movements of people in a very short space of time. Now you know it's not going to take much for disaffection to build among those people. They've been forced to move by the fighting involving the Pakistani Army trying to kick out the Pakistan's Taliban there.
But you know what he seems to be trying to tap into is saying you know this is sowing seeds which is basically going to come back and haunt America. You know, huge numbers of people -
CHETRY: Right.
RIVERS: Being moved, forced into camps. Lots of terrible conditions is that going to breed more extremism in the future?
CHETRY: And Dan, that's my question in terms of trying to get the hearts and minds on his side. The United States has pledged about $110 million in humanitarian aid right now, for these people, this place. The United Nations could end up needing upwards of $500 million or more to really help them out but who is being blamed? Meaning, is it the United States and the Pakistani military? Or are the people who have been displaced saying, wait a minute, it's the whole Al Qaeda involvement here that's cost Pakistani military?
RIVERS: Well, it's difficult to know, you know, who is being blamed. It depends on who you ask. But basically I think there is certainly a lot of support with the people we've talked to who's been out in the streets in the urban fences here in Ralpindi and Islamabad. There's a massive amount of public support for what the Army are doing. I think that a lot of people felt that, you know, this situation had been allowed to fester in the Swat Valley far too long, that something has to be done.
But you're right, the key problem now is funding and getting you know aid to these people. Now the U.N. is asking, I think it's $453 million, something like that. Only 20 percent of that is so far pledged and promised. So there's a massive gap between what the U.N. is saying they need and the amount of money that they've actually got.
CHETRY: All right. So this continues. Dan Rivers, great to get your perspective from inside Islamabad on the news this morning. If you're just joining us, there is an audiotape purported to be by Osama Bin Laden that references recent actions at least by late April of the fighting going on in that Swat Valley region of Pakistan.
ROBERTS: All right, it's now coming up at 48 minutes after the hour. Of course, you've all heard of "Gray's Anatomy" but what about Sanjay's O.R.? We've got that for you coming up next.
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ROBERTS: For many Americans she'll be forever known as the lovable mother on "The Cosby Show." But now actress Phylicia Rashad has got a new role and it's really showing her range and it's getting a lot of major buzz. It's part of our special series "Black in America," Alina Cho shows you why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN, CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Phylicia Rashad may be best known for her 1980's role as TV's favorite mom. Clair Huxtable in the "Cosby Show."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cliff, listen to yourself.
CHO: The sitcom was considered groundbreaking in its portrayal of an upper middle class African-American family. Nearly two decades later, Rashad is breaking ground again. This time on Broadway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no.
CHO: The 60-year-old actress plays Violet Westin in the Pulitzer prize-winning play "August - Osage County," a drug-addicted mother in a dysfunctional family. The mood to cast Rashad is unusual and it's making headlines because all of her relatives in the play are white. PHYLICIA RASHAD, ACTRESS: I didn't know what to feel.
CHO (on camera): And how did you feel?
RASHAD: I didn't know how to respond because it was so unexpected.
CHO (voice-over): One scholar of African-American theater calls it a significant step and a sign of the times.
PROFESSOR HARRY ELAM, STANFORD UNIVERSITY DRAMA DEPARTMENT: In this age of Obama in many ways, things are opening up and opening up possibilities and so this allows producers to think outside the box.
CHO: There have been plays in the past that have been recast with actors of a different race than the playwright originally intended but that's usually involved all of the actors like on "Golden Pond" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" which also featured Rashad. The actor downplays the significance of playing the matriarch in an all- white family.
CHO (on camera): Do you look at this role as being groundbreaking as well?
RASHAD: I am an actor doing my work. That's how I see it. I'm an actor doing my work.
CHO (voice-over): Will audiences buy it.
ELAM: Theater is built on the convention of disbelief. That you will accept something when you walk into the theater so you can see an actor playing a dog, a chair, and you'll accept that for the time that you're in the theater.
CHO (on camera): Is your hope that there will be more Violet Westin casts who look more like you?
RASHAD: My hope is that it won't matter. That is my hope. And my hope is that we really put the tomato in our shoe and catch up and that it won't matter.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: That's one way of putting it. You know, scholars of African-American theater hope that by casting Rashad in this role it will also open up doors for black directors and for black producers that it will, in a sense, have a ripple affect and move beyond the faces on the stage.
Now on the question of believability I can tell you that I saw "August - Osage County" myself over the weekend. I was watching the reaction of the people. I talked to some people after the show, John, and I can tell you that people were so moved by the story. It's an incredible story. So moved by the acting that they really weren't paying attention to race. And that I think is a good sign of the times. ROBERTS: Terrific. Well, Phylicia's a great actress.
CHO: She most certainly is.
ROBERTS: Absolutely. Thanks so much, Alina.
CHO: Tony award-winning.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Alina. Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, you always see him here on CNN but what is Dr. Sanjay Gupta doing when he's not on the air? It's actually one of the most common questions that we get from our viewers. So for the first time our chief medical correspondent is going to take you inside the operating room with him.
Sanjay joins me now. You know this is so fascinating. The whole situation. I actually was having lunch with a friend and she said to me, does Sanjay still operate? I said every Monday. That's right. You saw him down there at Grady Memorial Hospital. But you know, people are very curious as what exactly goes on inside an O.R..
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and decided to give you a peek. I've never done this before. I wanted to show the viewers at home, you and John as well, Kiran, sort of what these days are like and what my first love really still is. I still do practice medicine, still do practice neurosurgery. So we invited the crew in for a day. Take a look.
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GUPTA (on camera): Pretty early morning. Two big cases today. Two of the biggest cases that we do in neurosurgery for the most part. Ruptured aneurysm and a sad story of a high school student who dove into a pool and broke his neck. He was supposed to graduate this weekend. So we're going to see what we can do for him. Let's go and find out where everybody is. Still on three or where he is? Okay. See you in a few minutes.
Dr. Chabra is my resident. He's going to be doing the case with me today.
DR. VINNI CHABRA, CHIEF RESIDENT, GRADY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: She's got some old stroke there. OK. Let me show you that.
GUPTA: This is I think probably the biggest trauma centers in the southeast. We've seen more trauma here than any given day than I think just about anywhere else. They were doing cases here last night, the other team, and obviously it's 6:00 a.m. now, we're getting started with a new case. We'll be operating till late into the evening tonight.
Six-minute scrub. Can I have some irrigation please.
Everything now is three dimensional at the base of the skull. And you're dealing with a sort of time bomb here because the aneurysm itself could rapture.
Give me a temporary clip please. Come on, come on, come on. I would have blood ready. We lost a fair amount there. OK, hang on. Let's just take a second OK, look around, see what we've got.
Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
99 percent of the operation goes exactly as you expect and then one percent can be a bit of a extravaganza and so, but you know, the patient's going to be great. All of the blood is out of her brain. The aneurysm is clipped. She's never going to have this problem again. So -
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: I got to tell you it's sort of wild watching that, real melting of the world of medicine and the media there. What was going on in there was an aneurysm that had ruptured in a woman and intraoperatively, during the operation, it ruptured again, which is one of the scariest things. It's funny I always tell people here, Kiran, that when the live shots are not going well and something on television is not going well, you go look, it's not like an aneurysm just ruptured on you, so take a second here and it was weird to have all of that come together.
CHETRY: You know I was just about to say that. We always say listen it's not brain surgery, it's TV news, right? You do both, however, and the thing that is so fascinating is that all of us who are not surgeons think about and I really revere you guys because you are really making these life-and-death decisions. There is no script and if something doesn't go right, someone's life hangs in the balance, so how do you, I guess, put all that aside and just focus?
GUPTA: Well, you know, it's interesting and I think we have conversations about this as well quite a bit among surgeons. You know, you train a lot. After medical school I trained for seven years during a training program and then I did a fellowship. I think so much of it just becomes your memory, your muscle memory and just your training overall that kicks into action. I was sort of making the point at the end there that 99 percent of what we trained for is for the one percent of the things that hardly ever happen.
You know, most of it goes very smoothly but then when you have a rupture like that your training has to kick in, you have to be able to take care of things within seconds, or otherwise you know, you have a problem.
CHETRY: I imagine it is must be much like pilots - Sullenberger.
GUPTA: Yes, I think it is very similar to pilots.
CHETRY: How he made that life-and-death decision that landed in the Hudson.
ROBERTS: 99 percent routine, one percent sheer terror.
ROBERTS: Exactly.
How about our own Mc-freaking-Dreamy down there in Atlanta. Way to go, Sanjay?
ROBERTS: I knew, John, you would have some sort of comment. I'm sure.
CHETRY: What was that?
ROBERTS: John, you should have been a surgeon. You're good at just about everything that you tell us. I think you should have done this.
ROBERTS: I have the hands of a surgeon.
CHETRY: He actually, Sanjay, by the way, had to remove a splinter in between the commercial breaks for my heel.
GUPTA: Are you kidding?
CHETRY: He did a darn good job there. There were needles all over the place but we all survived.
ROBERTS: Today -
GUPTA: I'm not surprised John did a good job at all.
ROBERTS: Today is splinter. Tomorrow we're dissecting aneurysm. Sanjay, love you so much. Thanks, man.
GUPTA: See you guys.
ROBERTS: Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you again tomorrow.
CHETRY: All right. Enjoy yourself for the rest of the day. Coming up after the break, CNN NEWSROOM following breaking news with Heidi Collins.
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