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American Morning
House Democrats Claim CIA Deceived Congress; Protest Planned in Iran for Tenth Anniversary of Student Uprising; Family Attempted Intervention to Michael's Drug Use; Tracking the Stimulus; Global Hotspots a Concern for Pentagon; What's Fueling the Booming Drug Trade; NYPD Sponsors Youth Cricket League; Obama's Balancing Act
Aired July 09, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome. Glad you're with us. It is almost 6:00 a.m. here in New York on this Thursday, July 9. I'm Kiran Chetry.
Welcome to Joe Johns, in for John Roberts. Good to see you.
JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. And he took a really good day off. It's just beautiful out there right now.
CHETRY: Where is he? He's on the left coast, right?
JOHNS: Yes.
CHETRY: He likes to call it.
JOHNS: Well, he didn't tell me. I never got the memo.
CHETRY: But if he is here, which he may be, gorgeous. Look at that. The sun coming up over New York City this morning. It is a beautiful day for sure.
And we're following several developing stories this morning. We're going to be breaking them down for you in the next 15 minutes.
There is a bombshell claim out by House Democrats this morning. A letter that in it, they say CIA Director Leon Panetta recently testified that the CIA concealed significant information and misled members of Congress since 2001.
It was just about two months ago that Panetta said, "It was against our laws and values to mislead Congress." So questions this morning -- who's telling the truth?
JOHNS: It could be another day of violence in Iran. Opposition leaders calling for new protests to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of a student uprising. But Iranian leaders are threatening to smash any protests. We're using the global resources of CNN to monitor developments in Tehran.
CHETRY: And also, it's a story that you will see only on CNN. Uncovering new details about the length that Michael Jackson's family went to to try to break his reported escalating dependence on prescription drugs. Also, hear what sources close to the singer say about the final years of his life that left his family shocked.
We begin, though, with the developing story this morning. New revelations about how the CIA fought the war on terror behind closed doors.
JOHNS: New accusations that the agency does our country's dirty work. It kept some of the darkest secrets from Congress and from all of us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS (voice-over): Democrats now say the CIA deceived lawmakers for years, especially from 9/11 till now. And that the CIA's own boss admitted it in closed-door testimony. A letter signed by seven House Democrats accuses director Leon Panetta of contradicting himself and telling Congress that CIA officials misled Congress about significant actions for a number of years since 2001.
And in light of that, they want him to take back a statement he made on May 15 when he said misleading Congress was "against our laws and values." Back then, Panetta was defending his agency against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said the CIA lied to Congress in a classified briefing she received in 2002.
SEN. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: They mislead us all the time.
JOHNS: Pelosi said the CIA held back details about harsh interrogation techniques including waterboarding, something the Obama administration considers torture. Since then, many Republicans have called Nancy Pelosi's complaint an unwarranted attack on the integrity of the CIA and have demanded that she back up her claims.
It is not clear what specific actions the Democrats say the CIA lied about or concealed. A CIA spokesman tells CNN that Panetta stands by his earlier statement that it is not CIA policy to mislead Congress.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: The timing of this letter is no coincidence. Today the House is scheduled to vote on an intelligence measure which would give lawmakers access to top secret briefings.
CHETRY: We're also following developments out of Iran this morning, where more post-election protests are being planned in more than 200 cities and towns across the country to coincide with the ten- year anniversary of a student uprising. You're looking at amateur video that was shot.
Iranian officials warning that any new protests will be "smashed" by security forces. CNN's Reza Sayah is live at the CNN Center in Atlanta following the latest developments.
And what are you hearing from your sources in the region right now about these planned protests? REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kiran, at this hour, things are quiet in Iran. It's about 2:30 local time in the afternoon, the past one we've seen protests. They haven't started until about 4:00, 4:30 local time.
So, if anything is going to happen, look for it to happen in the next few hours. We haven't seen mass protests in about 11 days now, but lots of buzz that people are going to take to the street en masse once again to say to the government that this isn't over.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAYAH (voice-over): In his televised speech, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared an end to the disputed vote. But opposition leaders and their supporters say they're not finished fighting.
Heavy Internet chatter on Twitter, Facebook, and in e-mails calls on Iranians to take to the streets on Thursday to mark the ten-year anniversary of a student protest that led to a deadly government crackdown. Rallies are scheduled in more than a dozen cities outside of Iran as well, including New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and Munich.
Opposition leaders delivered a joint statement this week condemning the vote and describing the crackdown that followed as savage and shocking.
"We are saying the government has no legitimacy because it does not have the vote of the people," said Mir Hossein Mousavi on his Web site.
Author and analyst Reza Aslan says the conflict is now taking shape out of public view.
REZA ASLAN, AUTHOR, "HOW TO WIN A COSMIC WAR": This is far from over. I think what's happened is that although the number of people on the streets have obviously diminished, the uprising itself has in some ways shifted from the streets to the halls of power.
SAYAH: In those halls of power, a heavyweight face-off. On one side, the establishment -- President Ahmadinejad backed by supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Iran's powerful security forces. On the other, the opposition, led by disgruntled candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, all are founders of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and disciples of the father of the revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini.
ASLAN: Right now, it seems as though the two sides, the pro- Ahmadinejad and the anti-Ahmadinejad sides have fairly solidified. It's the people in the center, which is primarily the clerics, the religious establishment, that has yet to go one way or another.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAYAH: In a country where the word of God outweighs democratic institutions, observers say it's the influential clerics that could be the difference maker. But early indications are, they are even split, some siding with the option, others siding with the establishment.
But all eyes today on Tehran and other cities throughout Iran. Security forces are going to be out in the street. So will protesters possibly making for another volatile situation, Kiran.
CHETRY: Another interesting development, Reza, that people talked about was the fact that as long as this continues to get the attention of the world, there are many protesters who believe that their voices will be heard. They think that if the world stops focusing attention on that, that their plight could sort of fade off the map. What are they saying about that this morning?
SAYAH: Well, the focus of the world hasn't shifted, either. Keep in mind, other than the scheduled protests in Iran, we have scheduled protests in more than a dozen cities outside of Iran -- Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Munich. So a lot of efforts are being made outside of Iran to keep the focus on what's happening inside.
CHETRY: Reza Sayah for us this morning. Thanks.
And, of course, we want to know what you think about the post- election turmoil in Iran. Go to CNN.com/amFIX to share your thoughts.
JOHNS: President Obama this morning in Italy for day two of the G-8 summit. Today's talks focusing on fixing the economy and the planet.
In the meantime, brand new polls you're seeing for the first time on CNN on how Americans view the president. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 70 percent believe the president is a strong leader, 28 percent think otherwise.
The number of Americans who say the president is a strong leader is down 10 percentage points from February. And the number of Americans who believe the president is tough enough is down by nine percentage points. And when asked if President Obama has a clear plan, 53 percent say yes. That's down 11 percentage points.
CHETRY: A lot of people pointing to worries about the economy and the new economic numbers out there putting it almost at double- digit unemployment that really are making this administration take a few hits right now.
JOHNS: A lot tougher than people thought, in fact.
CHETRY: Yes. A lot worse than people thought as well
Well, it's eight minutes past the hour now.
And also new this morning, the U.S. suspects that North Korea may be behind the massive cyber attacks that targeted dozens of government Web sites here in the U.S., also in South Korea over the July Fourth weekend. Officials say that Internet addresses have been traced to North Korea, but that doesn't necessarily prove that the North Korean government was involved. They also went on to say that it would be difficult to quickly identify the attackers.
Police in Nashville are now confirming the death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair was indeed a murder/suicide. They say it was his 20-year-old mistress who shot him four times while he was sleeping then turned the gun on herself.
The Nashville police just released this video from last Thursday of Sahel Kazemi being arrested for DUI. McNair was a passenger in the car with her. He was not charged. McNair was married and had four children.
And it's a story you'll see only on CNN. Sources close to Michael Jackson revealing exclusive details about the singer's final years and new insight on the strained relationship with his family because of purported drug use.
It's nine minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." You know, there's some good news at the gas pump this morning. I mean, just think, it was a year ago that we're paying more than $4 a gallon at the tank.
JOHNS: Yes. I don't ever want to go back to that again. It's brutal.
CHETRY: No, I don't think anyone does.
JOHNS: Oh, my gosh.
CHETRY: Well, AAA is now saying that gas has dropped for the eighteenth day in a row. The national average now, $2.58 a gallon.
Well, the operator of a Boston trolley could face three years in prison if convicted on negligence charges. Twenty-four-year-old Aiden Quinn indicted yesterday.
Safety investigators say he admitted that he sent a text message seconds before his trolley rear-ended another one back in May. They say that Quinn ran through a yellow on red warning lights at about 25 miles an hour before that crash. More than 60 people were injured. The crash costs some $9 million in damages.
And also authorities in Cook County, Illinois are investigating an alleged grave selling scheme at a historic African-American cemetery. Four cemetery workers are in custody accused of digging up more than 100 graves, dumping the remains, then reselling the plots to unsuspecting customers.
Civil rights figure Emmett Till, blues legend Dinah Washington are among the prominent African-Americans buried at the Burr Oak Cemetery. Just before 8:00 Eastern, we're going to talk with Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart about that investigation. And now to a story that you'll see only on CNN. New details this morning about the Jackson family's desperate intervention to try to get Michael off of drugs.
JOHNS: And the fallout that left his family shut out of Michael's home and life. Here's CNN special investigations unit correspondent Drew Griffin.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Joe and Kiran, it was 2007. That was two years after Michael Jackson's trial for child molestation in California. The jury acquitting him, but he was scarred. He all but disappeared, first going to Bahrain for a kind of self-imposed exile, and then briefly to Ireland.
We're told he was happier, but that his career was going nowhere. This was a period when he rarely saw his family. Now sources tell us Michael Jackson became fixated with music superstar Celine Dion and that permanent show she was starring in in Las Vegas.
Jackson thought that kind of show might be his path back to show business, so he moved to Vegas. In early 2007, he was believed to be living in this large rented home. Two sources close to the family say Janet Jackson, who'd seen little of her brother in recent years, visited him there and was shocked.
We're told the house was nearly barren of furniture and creepy looking, according to one source. But it was the sight of an extremely thin, disheveled Michael Jackson that frightened Janet.
And that brings us up to the NBA all-star game weekend in February in Las Vegas. Janet Jackson there with two of her brothers. She asked those brothers to go back with her to Michael Jackson's house, trying to convince Michael to get help.
Reportedly, Michael ordered his new security guards not to let them in. We've also learned that Michael Jackson at that time was refusing to take calls from his own mother, Katherine Jackson, who had been repeatedly pleading with her son to get help.
Now, all through this time, the family had been concerned. And according to both our sources, Michael Jackson would simply refuse to see anybody who tried to stop him from using drugs. One source saying that if you tried to deal with him, he would shut you out. You just wouldn't hear from him for long periods of time.
Another source was telling us the family was concerned for a long time, but it was Janet now who tried to force the issue two years ago. We must tell you that back in 2007, "People" magazine did report about an alleged Jackson family intervention.
The Jackson family denied it, releasing this statement which said in part, "We categorically deny ever planning, participating in, or having knowledge of any kind of intervention whatsoever."
Now that statement was signed by members of the Jackson family, but not signed by Janet Jackson -- Joe and Kiran. JOHNS: Intervention. That's a story a lot of people can relate to around this country, trying to get somebody straightened out when they're in real trouble.
CHETRY: Right. And it's always, you know -- and the trick is trying to convince people who are -- they're allowed to fend for themselves and they're allowed to make their own decisions.
JOHNS: Right.
CHETRY: They tend to surround themselves with people that don't tell them what they're doing is wrong. That's the problem. Sad situation. And Drew Griffin has been digging up a lot of new details, so we'll continue to follow that with our special investigations unit.
Also this morning, there are some new developments into the investigation into Michael Jackson's death. Sources telling CNN the singer's long-time dermatologist, Arnie Klein, is on the list of doctors being investigated. Klein spoke to CNN's Larry King last night about Jackson's drug addiction and also whether he fathered any of Jackson's children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Did Michael tell you he used Diprivan?
DR. ARNIE KLEIN, JACKSON'S DERMATOLOGIST & FRIEND: I knew at one point that he was using Diprivan when he was on tour in Germany. And so he was using it with an anesthesiologist to go to sleep at night. And I told him he was absolutely insane. I said, "You have to understand that this drug you can't repeatedly take. Because what happens with narcotics, no matter what you do, you build a tolerance."
KING: Now what about all the rumors about you and the fathering of those children?
KLEIN: Here's the most important thing -- Michael loved those children as a father. Those children loved him as a father. As far as I'm concerned, that's the most important grouping there is.
KING: That's not answering the question.
KLEIN: No, because I'm not going to answer it the way you want it answered.
KING: Well, you donated a sperm.
KLEIN: Once.
KING: To a sperm bank.
KLEIN: To a sperm bank. I don't think I should go over my legal affairs because I think to the best of my knowledge, I'm not the father.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: "To the best of my knowledge, I'm not the father?"
CHETRY: That's what he said.
JOHNS: You either are. It's like being half-pregnant. It doesn't happen.
CHETRY: Right. Well, he -- then he said he donated sperm to a sperm bank.
JOHNS: Yes.
CHETRY: So I guess there's -- there's where the - "to the best of my knowledge" comes in.
JOHNS: It's a fascinating interview to watch the whole thing.
CHETRY: It was. It was.
And he also, again, is one of the doctors being investigated and he's also talking of this. So we'll see where that investigation leads.
Meanwhile, it's 17 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." It's 20 minutes past the hour now.
Five months after approving the president's $787 billion economic stimulus package, some members of Congress are now asking, where is the stimulation?
Republicans are saying the president's plan isn't working. With all the talk of shovel-ready projects, ready to dig, build and put people to work, they want to know where billions in stimulus money has gone.
CNN's Kate Bolduan following the story for us from Washington. So there's been a lot of back and forth over this question, Kate. Is the stimulus working? And then there are others who say, wait a minute, we haven't even gotten anywhere near releasing all the money yet. So give it some time.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Both very good questions. Both definitely being asked -- is the recovery plan making a difference?
Well, some House Republicans are giving a resounding no to that. And as we saw in a House hearing yesterday, they say the stimulus isn't living up to what the president and congressional Democrats predicted.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Even as the Obama administration counts the jobs being created by recovery act spending...
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're starting to see some real progress.
BOLDUAN: ... unemployment has soared to 9.5 percent, and 3.4 million jobs have been lost in the past six months. Republicans say the stimulus isn't working and Wednesday, they pounced.
REP. BRIAN BILBRAY (R), CALIFORNIA: I think we need to justify how much money we're spending and where are the jobs saved and where have they been preserved? And I think we've got major credibility crisis here.
VOICE OF REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: The president is quoted as saying that the stimulus has "done its job." Is that true or not true?
ROBERT NABORS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET: We believe that the stimulus has had the impact that we had predicted, which is job creation.
BOLDUAN: In the hot seat, the president's deputy budget deputy director Rob Nabors, who said the stimulus plan is slowing the economic free fall. Nabors said 150,000 jobs have been created or saved.
NABORS: It's a work in progress, but a steady progress.
BOLDUAN: The Government Accountability Office says of the $29 billion delivered to hard-hit states so far, most has gone to pay Medicaid costs, balance budgets, and avoid layoffs. At the same time, Tom Evslin, Vermont's chief recovery officer, says funds for big job producing investments like broadband and the electric smart grid are still caught in the stimulus pipeline.
TOM EVSLIN, VERMONT OFFICE OF ECON. STIMULUS AND RECOVERY: The frustration has been that the money hasn't come out, and we kept hearing later and later dates for the money coming out.
BOLDUAN: Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick says states are ready and waiting.
GOV. DEVAL PATRICK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: No fund, no projects. No projects, no jobs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Also in the hearing, Robert Nabors, the deputy director of OMB, he seemed to indirectly criticize states for making what he called unwise choices to simply use stimulus money to balance their budgets, Kiran. The administration has said actual stimulus funding will peak in 2010.
CHETRY: And the, of course, there's talk of perhaps another stimulus. How is that going over on the hill? BOLDUAN: You can definitely be sure that was asked in the hearing, in that hearing yesterday. This all, of course, comes from a White House economic adviser, Kiran, earlier this week, as you know, bringing up the possibility saying, we should possibly start thinking about a second stimulus.
Well, the House majority leader had said earlier this week also that he would be open or would consider a second stimulus. Well, Robert Nabors, the White House's deputy budget director, said very clearly no one in the administration is talking about a second stimulus at this point. Right now, we're just concerned about implementing the recovery act that's already been passed. So, there's our answer for now.
CHETRY: All right. Kate Bolduan for us this morning. Thanks so much.
Twenty-four minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's been a deadly day in Iraq and Afghanistan with bomb blasts killing dozens. The two war zones may be the U.S. military's primary concern, but there's plenty more to keep the Pentagon's top brass up at night.
Barbara Starr is following that for us at the Pentagon.
Good morning, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Joe. Well, you know, we decided to have a look around the world at some of these hot spots which are not combat for the U.S. military but sure has them plenty concerned. So just for a few minutes here, we're going to rename CNN's magic wall, the wall of worry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Let's begin here in western China where sudden violence flared this week, forcing the Chinese to put their own security forces on to the streets as ethnic tensions boiled over between two groups -- the majority Han Chinese and Chinese Muslims who say they're suffering discrimination.
Why is this so significant? Well, of course, the Obama administration would much rather have China focusing on getting North Korea to give up its missile and nuclear program rather than focusing on ethnic tensions and security operations on their own streets.
Over here in Iran, we've seen much of the same thing for the last several weeks, of course. Iranian forces on the street against their own people since the disputed elections. Some of it has quieted down a bit partially through intimidation, of course. But nuclear is still item number one over here in Iran as well.
Just this week, we saw top U.S. officials say they're getting worried that time is running out for diplomacy with Iran on its nuclear efforts and that military options still remain on the table.
Over here, Honduras in Central America. Once again, troops on the streets in a place we never expected it. There was a military coup. Violence broke out, demonstrations.
This is a country that's been peaceful for decades. Why is this so important now?
Well, of course, Honduras is a major part of the Central American counter-drug issue. In this area, it's a major shipping route for drugs coming up from Colombia on to American streets.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: So look at it this way, Joe, in all three of these places, we're seeing countries put their troops, their security forces on the street against their own people. It's an area of instability. Look for Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the weeks ahead to start talking about this challenge more and more. Joe.
JOHNS: Well, Barbara, the U.S. military is pretty well spread out right now, as you know. It's not like we're going to send troops into all of these different places. What's the challenge for the Pentagon here?
STARR: Well, you know, that's exactly the issue. Right now, in fact, there's a major study under way here that Gates has ordered up. It's called the quadrennial defense review.
Every four years, take a look at the world and what do you do about it? How do you fashion the military? What weapons do you buy? How do you train the troops? What do you do about all of these places?
And, you know, the list of countries goes on and on. Just think about Somalia and Africa -- a country that is falling apart that there are now great worries. It could become the next Al Qaeda safe haven. So it's something to follow. There aren't a lot of immediate solutions -- Joe.
JOHNS: The world is a very dangerous place right now. Thank you so much, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
CHETRY: Just about half past the hour now. We check our top stories.
A preventive strike from Iran's government aimed at preventing further post-election street demonstrations. Officials warning that security forces will "smash" any attempt at new protest.
Opposition leaders, though, have still called for rallies in Tehran and other Iranian cities today to coincide with the tenth anniversary of a student protest that led to a deadly government crackdown.
JOHNS: Full refunds are now being offered to thousands of fans who bought an estimated $85 million worth of tickets to one of Michael Jackson's 50 comeback shows. In a new e-mail to ticket holders, concert promoter AEG says fans also have the option to receive a ticket as a commemorative item in place of money. AEG has also created a Web site to sell merchandise that would have been sold at Jackson's concerts.
CHETRY: And journalist Lisa Ling says that she has spoken to her sister who's currently a prisoner in North Korea. Laura Ling and Euna Lee both reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV were sentenced last month to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korea and, quote, "hostile acts." Here's what Lisa Ling told CNN affiliate KOBR about the conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA LING, LAURA LING'S SISTER: It was a tremendous relief to hear Laura's voice last night. It's only -- it was only the first time I've heard her voice in weeks. And so for the last two weeks, we were just going day and -- day -- you know, long days just without hearing anything. And that silence has just been so terrifying and deafening.
Without actually seeing her and without -- people actually seeing her physically, it's very difficult to tell. But she was very specific about the message that she was communicating and she said, look, you know, we violated North Korean law and we need our government to help us. You know, we are sorry for everything that has happened but now we need diplomacy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Laura Ling who suffers from an ulcer also told her sister that she is seeing a doctor regularly and that she is OK. But still, the State Department calling for the release of both of those journalists.
The brutal drug trade violence ravaging Mexico and pushing deeper into the U.S. is in part fueled by what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called "America's insatiable appetite for drugs." My next guest says there's also another reason behind the booming drug trade and that is foreign policy decisions that we made that have unintended consequences.
Joining me now is Ryan Grim. He's the author of the brand new book, "This is Your Country on Drugs," a look at the history of getting high in America. He's also the senior Congressional correspondent for the "Huffington Post" Web site.
Thanks for being with us this morning, Ryan. So, when we talk about these unintended consequences, one of the things that you talk about in your book is NAFTA and how that really opened up the borders for a lot of these trucks to get in here, many of which were not being checked for contrabands.
RYAN GRIM, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, "THE HUFFINGTON POST": And actually one way to look at these unintended consequences is actually to call them something like expected but acceptable consequences of a policy.
1994 was a terrific year to be the head of a Mexican drug cartel. And actually President Clinton knew it at the time, and that has since come out. He knew that if you opened up the border, that it would be a boon for drug trafficking. One official called it "a deal made in narco heaven."
See, you have to understand what was happening at that time. In the '80s, drugs were coming up from Colombia through the Caribbean up to Miami into the U.S. Now we come and we step on cocaine in the Caribbean. That moves it over into Mexico in the early '90s. So just when NAFTA comes in -- 1994 is when the Mexican cartels get 2,000 trucks a day just pouring over the border.
In the exact same time in the '80s, we went after the meth industry...
CHETRY: Here in the U.S., right?
GRIM: ... domestically here in the U.S. pushed it down into Mexico. So the Mexican cartels took over meth and cocaine in the early '90s. Then they get this free flow up through the border. At the same time, we were cutting off the California border for immigration reasons. So the cartels were kind of forced to shift eastward.
And you can think of a Mexican drug cartel here -- you're thinking, you know, what we really need to do -- we need to crack that Des Moines market. No, they were forced that way.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Right. And so fast forward now to 2009 as we've seen the problem, it has been in part because the Mexican government is trying to crack down harder as well. So what is the solution when tougher enforcement can sometimes just squeeze the trade into another place?
GRIM: The solution that increasingly is being offered in Mexico is legalization. It wasn't covered here much in the U.S. press, but the Mexican government has effectively decriminalized the marijuana possession and is talking about decriminalizing, you know, a lot of other drug use down in Mexico, because they're the ones that are really bleeding and dying down there, because this is a real drug war, not a -- not a metaphorical one. This is -- you know, people are shooting and killing each other.
CHETRY: Right.
GRIM: A lot of people in the U.S. now are actually calling for legalization, saying it's the logical extension of what Hillary Clinton said -- if there's an insatiable appetite for drug use, then why are we trying to sate it by locking people up? Just deal with the fact that people do get -- that people do get high -- you know, treat it as a public health problem and stop going to war against it. CHETRY: You know, it's an ideological argument that does get support. However, a lot of people say politically it's just not viable to try to legalize drugs in the United States.
But at the same time -- this brings us to the next topic of drugs that are legal here, prescription drugs, and the abuse that has skyrocketed as well. We have an interesting statistic that talks about deaths by overdosing on prescription drugs like oxycodone, methadone, fentanyl, jumped more than 90 percent between 1999 and 2002. This is the stat that we have.
Some have said that this about the time that drug companies were allowed to advertise about the effectiveness of their painkillers.
What do we do about this growing problem?
GRIM: Well, you know, it's a -- it's a difficult situation, because what I argue in the book is that for hundreds of years, going back to the beginning of American history and around the rest of the world, going back to the beginning of world history, people have sought out inebriation in one way or another.
And if you attack one drug -- let's say you go to war against marijuana, and it becomes less available. Then people are going to shift over to something like prescription drugs that they see as maybe not having the same stigma as something -- something like cocaine or something else.
CHETRY: Right.
GRIM: It goes all the way back. 1830s, we started to stigmatize alcohol. Drinking plummeted, but then people started doing opium. And there was a giant rise in opium addiction. It's been going on through the course of American history. You can't stop people from some certain level of getting high, and so...
CHETRY: Right. And you also talk about the reason why -- quickly, because -- but I found it so fascinating, the nature of life here in America. What makes it so different?
GRIM: Right. As the rise of the -- of the Internet has kept kids inside and as they've been overscheduled and they have less free time, that's less time to go into the woods, to the alley, behind the shed and smoke a joint.
They're sitting in front of their computer and the thing that's more available to them is across the hall in the medicine cabinet. So since 2000, you've seen about 20, 30 percent reduction in teen pot use. And you've also seen a rise in teen prescription drug use.
That's just how it's going for centuries and how it will keep going.
CHETRY: This is a very interesting book. "This is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America."
Ryan Grim, thanks for being with us this morning.
GRIM: Thanks for having me.
CHETRY: Thirty-seven minutes past the hour.
Also a quick programming note -- at 9:00 a.m. Eastern...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: As I was saying before the break -- no. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
A check now of the "AM Rundown." These are the stories that are coming up in the next few minutes you want to stick around for.
Extreme weather is back on the radar this morning. We're going to be checking in with Reynolds Wolf to see who may be under the gun and whether your travel plans may be affected.
Also, school is out and apparently cricket is in. We're going to find how the New York Police Department is reaching out to kids in immigrant communities with one of the most popular sports outside of the U.S.
And President Obama is overseas, but he is taking some heat back at home. There are some new CNN opinion research polls about how people feel especially as it relates to the economy. So, we'll bring you that as well.
JOHNS: And Christine Romans is here, "Minding Your Business." And I guess we're going to have to talk about toxic assets yet again.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You bet your toxic assets. We're going to talk about toxic assets.
JOHNS: Love those toxic assets.
ROMANS: What happened to those? I thought -- remember we had to get them off the banks' books. They were the root of all of the problems of the banking sector.
Well, four months after the plan was announced and several alterations later, we now know who are the financial firms who are going to take part in what is known as PPIP -- one the worst acronyms after TARP. I'll spare you all that.
But basically this is a plan to get those toxic assets off the banks' books and put them into a market where people would buy them and sell them. We can value them. BlackRock, AllianceBernstein. Some other companies -- Invesco on this list. These are the nine companies, the financial firms that the treasury department has announced will manage this so-called -- this scaled-down program to help the big programs to make a market to get these assets off the books.
What happens next? Well, $30 billion of your money goes into this to match the money that gets raised from these banks. Firms will raise $500 million in 12 weeks and then 10 smaller firms have also been tapped as partners. These are smaller, minority and women-owned businesses to opening this program to a lot of different folks there.
The Treasury Department position is why is this scaled down? It's because the situation has changed over the past four months. The banks are in frankly a better position than they have been. Critics, though, will say that it's scaled down because, you know, the program maybe won't work.
And there's a big -- a big fund manager named PIMCO. You probably heard of Bill Gross. He's this fund guru. He originally was going to have his firm be involved. But now he stepped back and said, no, this isn't really right for us. We're not really sure about some of the details of this plan. We're still involved in other government rescue efforts, but just not this one.
So, we'll see if it works.
CHETRY: And you have "Romans' Numeral" for us this hour?
ROMANS: I do. It's 10. My "Romans' Numeral" is 10, and -- 10 months, actually.
JOHNS: Ten months?
CHETRY: Ten months since TARP was passed?
ROMANS: Yes. Actually, yes it is 10 months since TARP was passed. And it's also 10 months since we first started talking about how to get these -- gosh darn toxic assets off the banks' books.
Ten months later, it's now a scaled-down plan to try to create a market. We'll have to wait and see -- some of the analysts are saying they're looking forward to this and see how it works. Others are saying it's just small and it's not exactly -- it's not exactly the broad -- getting the toxic assets off the banks' books that they've wanted in the beginning.
JOHNS: Not a silver bullet.
ROMANS: You know, there are no silver -- I need to buy some of those silver bullets. We need -- you know, we need some of those.
JOHNS: Yes, I've got a couple.
ROMANS: See? You're saving them?
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Ten months, you could have another kid.
ROMANS: I know -- yes, I could have -- oh, gosh, no. A lot has happened in 10 months. I feel like I've had a kid in the last 10 months.
CHETRY: Christine, thanks. We'll check in with you in the next hour as well.
It's 43 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. A live look at Las Vegas. Eighty-two right now going up to 104 degrees. Yes, it's going to be sunny there today. You want to stay in that air conditioning where the machines are.
CHETRY: Yes, exactly. And listen for those coins to drop.
All right. We're up 46 minutes past the hour.
Our Reynolds Wolf is in the weather center in Atlanta this morning following extreme weather for us.
Hey, Reynolds, good to see you.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good to see both of you guys.
(WEATHER REPORT)
JOHNS: Excellent. Thanks so much, Reynolds.
WOLF: You got it.
JOHNS: It is 6:47 right now, and we're heading out to the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Few American teenagers would rank cricket among their favorite sports, but it's wildly popular in much of the world.
CHETRY: It sure is. The New York City Police Department launched a youth cricket league, trying to reach out to kids in immigrant communities who don't know much about America's national pastime. And the league is now in its second year.
To prove you it would be quite a big hit, our Richard Ross is wielding the willow for us.
Wielding the willow...
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Don't ask me.
JOHNS: Wielding the willow.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: That's cricket talk. You know you know it now.
Hi, Richard. ROTH: Hi. You sure you don't want to talk about baseball?
All right. It used to be in the summertime in the City of New York, but to keep the kids off the streets, all you needed was a bat and a ball. New York has changed. The melting pot has gotten even thicker. More immigrants from around the world, and a tougher job connecting with these groups for the NYPD, the police.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROTH (voice-over): Teammates cheer on the batter. But they're not playing baseball on this New York City field. He is actually a batsman because this is cricket.
Many of the teenage players come from the city's Caribbean and South Asian neighborhoods. The New York police department started this league in an effort to foster better relations with those immigrant communities which in the past may have been lacking.
AMIN KOSSIN, DEPUTY INSPECTOR, NYPD: This is the sport they're comfortable with. So we need to be comfortable with it as well.
We want to forge new relationships. We need to show them that we're willing to expand our horizons as well.
ROTH: Now on its second year, the league has expanded to ten teams and 170 players.
KOSSIN: We provide all the uniforms, the fields. We put together the schedule, and we assist the kids if they need to get down here with transportation. And they love it.
ROTH: And what happens on the field is having an impact off it.
KABISHWAR BRIDGEPAUA, CRICKET PLAYER: I think it makes a big difference, because once you represent this NYPD league, it makes you think twice of what you're doing, what you want to do like when you're out there on the streets and stuff, you may think twice.
ROTH: And others hope that the NYPD gains better insight into their community.
GLYNE HURLEY, CRICKET COACH: We are also very happy that the police are involved due to the fact that perhaps they have a different perception and improved relationship between the two.
ROTH: Cricket's been called the gentleman's sport, but it hasn't stopped girls from participating.
LOWATTI CHOWRIE, CRICKET PLAYER: Oh, my friends, they think it's pretty cool. And being the only girl, they cheer all the time for me. And even my little sister, she thinks it's pretty cool to play with all of the guys.
ROTH: And league members believe this is just the beginning for cricket in America. NIGEL THOMPSON, CRICKET COACH: I think it will be a while before, you know, we turn it to ESPN and we decided, baseball or cricket? Basketball or cricket? It might be a little while, but this may start.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good job, guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROTH: Traditional cricket matches can last days. The New York Police Cricket Youth Leagues play a shorter version called a 20-20, which go about three hours, that's even shorter than some American League Baseball games these days. I'd like to come on the show later to explain more. So you can keep this in mind. This is the bat that is used in cricket.
CHETRY: And what about this glove?
JOHNS: I want to see that thing.
CHETRY: That's a very, very interesting looking glove.
(CROSSTALK)
ROTH: That's you. So you hold it here and you hit it with this flat side.
CHETRY: OK. And then what is this guy for. This is the (INAUDIBLE).
ROTH: That's the wicket-keeper's glove there. But it's a wonderful game. And it should get more popularity perhaps like soccer in America. But it will take time.
JOHNS: Wildly popular in the Caribbean. Just wildly -- in places like Jamaica. And, you're right, it goes on for days.
CHETRY: Yes. The funny thing is like an erotic Federer match, right?
ROTH: Exactly.
CHETRY: But, you know, the interesting thing is the NYPD has gotten very creative with some of their community policing tactics that have really, really worked and made a difference. And this is another neat example of that.
ROTH: That's right. Six teams, now ten teams. It's booming. I mean, New York City, as you know, you can go through the Borough of Queens and you can come across dozens of communities. It's a veritable United Nations there with youth who need to be occupied at times.
CHETRY: Pretty cool.
ROTH: (INAUDIBLE) CHETRY: Here's the glove back. Thanks, Rich.
Let me know if you get any good at it.
ROTH: Yes. We've had a lot of talk of gloves lately.
CHETRY: Sure. Richard Roth for us. Thanks.
Straight ahead, we are live with President Obama. He's at the G- 8 in Italy.
Also some exclusive new details about Janet Jackson and the trip to visit her brother in Vegas that left her worried for his safety and health. Our Drew Griffin has been digging into new details.
It's 55 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 57 minutes past the hour now.
And President Obama is meeting with world leaders in L'Aquila, Italy this morning. And what they're trying to do is figure out how to cool things off. The issue of global warming is the focus of a summit right now taking place. But back here at home, critics are turning up the heat on something else. That would be the economy.
Republicans are saying that the president's stimulus isn't working. They want to know where the jobs are. And our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry joins us live from L'Aquila this morning to take a look at that. And we also got that new poll out from CNN Opinion Research that shows that people ask if Obama has a clear plan. 57 percent only said yes, that's down 11 percentage point since February. And a lot of people are attributing that to some jitters about the economy.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good morning, Kiran. Obviously the economy as well as climate change, two hot button issues there back in the states. It's also dominating the agenda here as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice-over): President Obama may be in Italy for his first G-8 Summit, but he's trying to stay focused on a pressing concern back home -- the still ailing U.S. economy.
Mr. Obama quickly joined the other leading industrialized nations in reaffirming their commitment to restoring growth in global markets, and he's vowing to help tighten financial regulations.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We discussed the importance of Europe and the United States raising standards on financial institutions to insure that a crisis like the one that's taken place will never happen again. HENRY: The president is also trying to move aggressively to deal with another potential crisis -- climate change. He helped lead the group to support a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions among developed countries, an 80 percent cut by 2050.
MIKE FROMAN, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: This is a significant step forward in that the G-8 -- this is the first time the G-8 has published this sort of data on where countries are with regard to their prior commitments.
HENRY: But the declaration has no enforcement mechanisms, though White House officials hope it provides momentum for real change.
The president also wants to use the G-8 to gain momentum for his effort to stop Iran and North Korea from obtaining nuclear weapons.
OBAMA: It's very important for the world community to speak to countries like Iran and North Korea and encourage them to take a path that does not result in a nuclear arms race in places like the Middle East.
HENRY: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi moved the summit to the city of L'Aquila to highlight devastation from an April earthquake. People still living without homes here are playing off Mr. Obama's campaign slogan, "Yes, we can," by telling the world, yes, we camp.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: Now, Mr. Obama met this morning with President Lula of Brazil. One of the key developing countries not signing on to this greenhouse gas cuts. Meanwhile, G-8 members also not signing on to new sanctions against Iran, a key priority for Mr. Obama. This is a reminder that there are real limits to this global institutions in terms of improving real radical change.
Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Ed Henry for us this morning in L'Aquila. Thanks so much.
And as the president continues his trip, CNN will be with him at every stop. On Monday, America's first black president visits Africa, and our Anderson Cooper will be sitting down one-on-one exclusively with President Obama. You can see that interview Monday night 10:00 p.m. Eastern on "AC 360."
