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American Morning
Indonesia Hotel Bombings Kill 9, Injure 50; Debate on Health Care Overhaul Heats Up; Reaction to Obama's NAACP Speech; Stimulus Money Saves Jobs in Florida; Hepatitis C Scare, Thousands of Patients at Risk
Aired July 17, 2009 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: That now brings us to the top of the hour. Thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning, on this Friday. It's the 17th of July. I'm John Roberts.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello in for Kiran this morning. Here's what's on the agenda. The big stories we'll be breaking down in the next 15 minutes.
Two luxury hotels bombed in Indonesia. At least nine are reported dead. More than 50 injured. A live report straight from the scene in just a minute.
ROBERTS: Then overhauling America's health care system. Some House Democrats now complaining that the White House is slowing down the process.
Dana Bash on the attacks President Obama does not want imposed on you.
COSTELLO: And the president's passionate speech to the NAACP on its 100th anniversary. A celebration of how far we've come, but some very tough talk, too. Breaking through America's racial divide, just ahead.
ROBERTS: Breaking news to tell you about right now, though.
Coordinated attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott Hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia have reportedly killed nine people and injured more than 50. Explosions rip through the buildings this morning. Police saying the bombs were likely planted in a coffee shop and a restaurant at with the breakfast crowd. These are two hotels traditionally filled with westerners and foreign businessmen.
The State Department says several American citizens have been injured. Police have sealed off the areas around both hotels.
CNN's Kathy Quijano is on the phone with us from Jakarta. What's the very latest from there this morning, Kathy?
KATHY QUIJANO, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): Hi, John. Yes, the police confirmed in a press conference earlier that eight people died in these two blasts that hit Jakarta this morning, including one foreigner, a New Zealand national. Fifty-three others were injured including 18 foreigners and most of these foreigners are being treated in hospitals around the city.
Now police officers say that they found an unexploded bomb inside the room on the 18th floor of the J.W. Marriott hotel. The police say it indicates that the bombers were probably staying at the hotel prior to the explosions in preparation of the attacks.
General Sukarno (ph), Nana Sukarno (ph) also said that all three bombs were similar. They were actually low explosive devices, that they were still investigating and looking into more into what kind of materials were used for the attacks.
The president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, also said from the palace earlier that he condemned the attacks. He called on the (INAUDIBLE) and that he was sure that police and military forces will be able to find those responsible for these attacks -- John.
ROBERTS: Kathy, we've mentioned a couple of times this morning that security precautions at that Marriott hotel and at the Ritz- Carlton across the street were heightened quite substantially after an attack on that Marriott hotel back in 2003. Police suggesting that the bombers were guests at the hotel, may have been there for a couple of days. Did they have any idea how they got those explosive materials through those security checkpoints or around the security operation there?
QUIJANO: I guess that's the biggest question that everyone is asking here, especially investigators now who are at those hotels trying to piece the whole thing together because you are right. Security was heightened at the Marriott hotel which was the target of an attack in 2003. Twelve people died there, including one foreigner, as well.
Since then, security has been heightened and all of the western hotels and the establishments in the city. It's very difficult to get into these hotels. At the Marriott, cars can't drive all the way up to the entrance of the hotel. People have to walk through metal detectors. Their bags are checked before we enter the hotel.
The same (INAUDIBLE) you know, if you go through the basement, the cars are checked and people also have to go through metal detectors to get into the hotel. So, it's a question that, you know, I'm sure many people here are asking to how where -- how did this bomber get the materials into the hotel. After you check in and use one of the hotels, one of the operational centers that the police here called that room was found on the 18th floor -- John.
ROBERTS: Yes. It would appear that despite the enhanced security precautions there, it still exists a significant loophole there -- significant hole in security.
Kathy Quijano for us this morning from Jakarta. Kathy, thanks so much.
COSTELLO: On to politics now. President Obama had made health care reform a top priority this summer and again a boost early this morning when a House committee approved tax hikes on the wealthy to help pay for it, but the trillion-dollar price tag is triggering fresh opposition from some unlikely places.
Dana Bash live in Washington this morning. So who's complaining?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, many conservative Democrats, Carol. They're skeptical that health care legislation their party is trying to pass will actually curb the calamitous cost of health care for Americans.
Well, it looks like they may have a reason to be worried. At least that was the message from a very important voice in the health care debate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice-over): It was a Democrat who asked the question. Will any of their health care plans actually reduce skyrocketing medical costs? The answer, no.
DOUGLAS ELMENDORF, DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE: In the legislation that has been reported, we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount. And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs.
BASH: With that, the head of the Congressional Budget Office, whose words carry enormous weight in Congress, dealt Democrats a devastating blow, since President Obama repeatedly says curbing health care costs is a central goal of reform.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've set some clear parameters in terms of what I want to achieve. We have to bend the cost curve on health care.
BASH: But CBO Director Doug Elmendorf warned Democrats' plans would actually raise costs because many, including the president, are resisting what Elmendorf calls a critical element to keeping medical spending down, taxing employer-provided health care benefits.
It had been one of the ways a bipartisan group of senators planned to pay for health care reform. Now that it's off the table, they're having trouble making the numbers add up. And in a stunningly candid moment, the frustrated Democratic finance chairman blamed the president.
SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D), MONTANA: Basically, the president is not helping us with tax exclusion off the table. It's still difficult to come up with revenue measures and other savings measures.
BASH: Because of the president's prodding to move faster, there had been hope for a bipartisan deal this week, but that's no longer in the cards.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BASH: Now, publicly the White House and Democratic leaders are downplaying the CBO director's stark warning and Senator Baucus's open frustration with the president. But, privately, a senior Democratic leadership aide told me it's a "potentially devastating one-two punch" that couldn't come at a worse time.
And, Carol, this source admitted that an already difficult push by the president to get a health care deal by August "just got more difficult." time just got more difficult."
COSTELLO: Almost impossible. Dana Bash live from Washington this morning.
Also new this morning, former Iranian President Rafsanjani calling for the release of anyone who was arrested or detained in the government's crackdown on post-election protests. Rafsanjani made the demand at a sermon this morning in Tehran, where tens of thousands of opposition supporters have gathered. "The AP" reporting police fired tear gas at some Iranians as they headed to the prayer session.
ROBERTS: Pope Benedict XVI has been hospitalized after a fall while vacationing in northern Italy. That's according to the Vatican. The 82-year-old pope reportedly fractured his wrist and is having it surgically repaired.
COSTELLO: President Obama made a rousing speech last night before the NAACP. The group celebrating its 100th anniversary. The challenge the president handed down and reaction from the experts, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: A historic event in New York. The nation's oldest civil rights organization welcoming the nation's first African- American president to mark its 100th anniversary.
President Obama had been criticized during the campaign for his tough talk about black men living up to their family responsibilities, and he certainly didn't pull any punches on that front last night. But he did offer plenty of optimism about the state of race relations in America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I understand there may be a temptation among some to think that discrimination is no longer a problem in 2009. And I believe that overall there probably has never been less discrimination in America than there is today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Where is our nation 100 years after the creation of the NAACP?
Michael Eric Dyson is a professor at Georgetown University and a cultural critic. Tara Wall is a conservative columnist and political analyst for "The Washington Times." They join us this morning from our Washington bureau. And our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, who covered the speech last night, is here in New York.
Michael, why don't you start us off. That statement that there's probably never been less discrimination in America than there is today. What are your thoughts on that?
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, of course, the president is recognizing the historic legacy of fights against white supremacist social injustice and racial inequality. But you're cherry-picking on the clip you played there. Mr. Obama spent quite a bit of time detailing the structural inequality that has prevented the flourishing of African-American and poor and vulnerable people here. Then he applied equally engaging talk about personal responsibility.
So, it was a balance between social structure and personal responsibility as it should be, and then he talked about the nation coming to grips with the legacy of Jim Crow and the inequality that prevails even in the city of New York, where it's much more difficult for a black person to get a job than a white person. And he talked about the disparities in education. So, he was a very insightful and powerful orator who talked about the balance between big stuff and individual personal stuff.
ROBERTS: And certainly not our intention to cherry pick, Michael. In fact, I have further statements from the president coming up on just those points in just a second here.
But just to this issue, Tara, of there being less discrimination in America now than at any point in our history, do you agree with that statement?
TARA WALL, POLITICAL ANALYST, "THE WASHINGTON TIMES": Well, you know, it's hard to measure. You know, I'm not an expert in, you know, as far as measuring numbers.
Obviously, I think we all know absolutely discrimination still exists today. And I think, obviously, you know, you can't ignore the significance of having the first black president appear before the NAACP, this historic civil-rights organization.
I think the challenge going forward, what many will ask is, what is the role, the proper role of government in addressing many of the disparities that President Obama points out, President Bush pointed out in many of his speeches and many of his policies, the disparities that do exist between whites and blacks as it relates to education, health care, economics and how we move forward in addressing those very real issues and making sure that the NAACP and others are inclusive to all ideas that come about to address these issues, these very real issues.
Obviously, they're going to be some disagreements on how to address it, but I think you have to put it on the table.
ROBERTS: All right. Now to the issue of lingering discrimination in America. And, Suzanne, we'll get you to ring in on this after we play this a little bit from the president.
He said that definitely there is still a lot that exists in this country and a lot of work to do to end it. Here's what the president said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The pain of discrimination is still felt in America by African-American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and a different gender, by Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country, by Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion simply because they kneeled down to pray to their God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And Jesse Jackson went on to say, "I'm anxious about a shouting before the game is over. We won the freedom struggle, but what about the equality struggle?"
Suzanne, obviously, still a lot of work to do and, you know, any woman who's been in corporate America will tell you that, you know, white, black, Latino or whatever, there is still inequality in the workplace.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sure. And one of the things that the president highlighted was the role of education and closing the education gap. He said that the state of our schools is not an African-American problem, but an American problem. And there are two things. Again, he was trying to strike that balance between reform, calling for reform and also personal responsibility.
This is a president who has kept the No Child Left Behind from the Bush administration to give that a little bit more muscle and a bit more weight in providing for schools and accountability and those standards, but he also did similarly what President Bush did when Bush talked about the soft bigotry of low expectations.
President Obama called for children, for parents, for educators to all rise to have higher expectations about what they want for their families and for the community.
ROBERTS: Now, the president certainly suggested there are a lot of things that government can do, such as early childhood education, health care coverage, community college funding.
Michael Eric Dyson, how much responsibility should the government take here, and how much should the private sector pick up?
DYSON: Well, I think, you know, obviously, historically, the legacy of discrimination and racial inequality is directly related to the government's enterprise, the support legally for slavery, Jim Crow law, the radical inequality that prevailed in this country until the '50s and '60s. So, I think the government bears responsibility.
But, obviously, the government must inspire the private sector to take up the call to arms to be able to employ the people that the government demands be employed and also to figure out ways in which private enterprise can join with government and local citizens to forge a connection between those vulnerable people who are looking for opportunities and for the provision of those opportunities by those who have their resources to do so.
ROBERTS: Tara, how do you see the balance between private enterprise and government taking a role in those particular issues?
WALL: Well, I think one of the keys there that President Obama pointed out was personal responsibility, and I think the first step is that we all have to look at the state that we take or the place that we have as citizens, as individuals and what role we play.
The second part, of course, is what the constitution allows and that suggests is a limited government and just what that means, what that limited government means. It was Martin Luther King Jr. who did not say, you know, he wanted a government handout. He said we want to be at the table. It was James Brown who said, you know, just open the door and I'll walk in and get up and dance. So that was his take.
And my mother's old saying, you know, if God only requires 10 percent, why should I give the government any more? So I think that there is a balance in there someway and there is a role that government does have to play. But at the same time, NAACP, others or membership are going to have to ask and include those very real discussions about how much the government when it does intrude and how much we want them to expand is going to actually impact, does impact our pocketbooks, impact our taxes, and impact -- right now, many small businesses are really expressing some concern over how it's going to impact them. And as you know, small businesses really are the crux and the heart of the black community.
ROBERTS: And a really intriguing part of the president's speech last night is was his message to young people saying that not everyone can aspire to be a LeBron or a Lil Wayne. Let's hear what the president said about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be the president of the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Michael Eric Dyson, is that message getting through?
DYSON: Absolutely. First of all, he's the product of that message. He's not giving that message alone. He is the product of somebody working for the opportunity to provide for a Barack Obama to become president.
Without the structural barriers to racial inequality falling, Barack Obama would not have the opportunity now to get up there. And, by the way, even though he's casting some aspersion, and rightfully so, at the preoccupation with the flow, he got a mean flow himself. His cadence was nice, dipped into the African-American rhetorical tradition and the oratory of the Baptist church, and so, even as he's denying Lil Wayne, he might have to go on record and break some songs off himself because Obama is flowing in a mad way.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: You agree with that, Suzanne? He was pretty passionate last night.
MALVEAUX: You know, I'm telling you we saw a Barack Obama that we hadn't seen in a while, the last six months or so. We saw the cadence, the rhythm, the energy from President Obama -- yes, before that audience. Very familiar.
ROBERTS: And, Tara, he did almost appear to be a preacher at one point in his speech last night.
WALL: Well, he did. But I have to say to Michael Eric Dyson, I don't know how much Lil Wayne he's letting his kids listen to, but I get his point.
(LAUGHTER)
DYSON: Yes. Well, certainly when he's talking about Hurricane Katrina, they'll listen to that song. Maybe some of the others they shouldn't listen to.
WALL: I think it's an important point to make. I think it's an important case for him to raise. You know, movements and all, I think as president he certainly does have a responsibility. And, again, this is certainly a role model family for many young blacks coming up and I think, you know, to address that issue is a very real issue.
And I want to applaud him for continuing that effort that, again, President Bush also talked about, as well. So that's something that we definitely need to talk about and to address.
ROBERTS: Suzanne, put a button on it then we've got to go.
MALVEAUX: And it's something that the White House doesn't necessarily advertise. But, yes, they are not just bringing in athletes and rappers, they are bringing in business people. They're bringing in very accomplished people from the black community. It is really about inclusion. It's not something that they advertised. They're just a part of the discussion.
ROBERTS: We'll see where we go from here. Suzanne Malveaux, Tara Wall, Michael Eric Dyson, great to talk to you this morning. Thanks so much.
DYSON: Thanks for having me.
ROBERTS: We're just days away now from CNN's examination of what it really means to be black in America. Stories of people stepping up, taking charge and creating solutions. "BLACK IN AMERICA 2" premieres next Wednesday and Thursday only on CNN.
It's 19 1/2 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. There's been some criticism about the speed of the stimulus package, you know, in creating jobs around the country. A lot of people say, where are those jobs anyway?
Here at CNN, we've been taking a hard look at that. Where is that stimulus money going? Is it really reaching the streets? Christine Romans is with us to answer that question.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is reaching the streets. And I decided to give up on all the Washington/Wall Street argument about the stimulus money and is it working. And we wanted to find people who will actually touch your stimulus money.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): Walking down this hallway, four people whose jobs have been saved. When these classrooms fill up again this fall, these educators will be among 2,000 Miami teachers whose salaries will be paid with stimulus money.
Anjelica Yanez trains middle school counselors.
ANJELICA YANEZ, MIDDLE SCHOOL COUNSELOR: If we have to depend on the saving of 2,000 jobs or stimulus money, then so be it. We'll take it. It's better than nothing.
ROMANS: Florida is using $125 million of federal stimulus money to keep 697 guidance counselors, 343 librarians, and more than 900 special ed instructors in the classroom. And in the library, where Showanda Richardson has worked for 20 years teaching children to read, to use a computer, to research.
SHOWANDA RICHARDSON, MEDIA SPECIALIST: By saving us, saving our jobs, helping the economy, we're helping the children and really should be about the children at this point when we're talking about education.
ROMANS: Not a surprising viewpoint from a group with a collective 88 years of classroom experience.
HARRY NERENBERG, GUIDANCE COUNSELOR: I don't look at it as my job is saved, but that the people are being helped, that they're being serviced. And I think that's the key to this. I think that, you know, we are an important, integral part of the school system.
DWIGHT BAILEY, MEDIA SPECIALIST: The kids are a long-term investment, and there's no way of attaching a dollar value to that.
ROMANS: The Government Accountability Office reports that instead of spending on new programs and new jobs, some states are using stimulus money to plug gaping holes in their budgets.
(on camera): Is plugging a hole with $125 million, but is it plugging a hole when 2,000 people's, you know, lives depend on it?
ALBERTO CARVALHO, MIAMI-DADE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: Look, there is no workforce without education. I think we know that now.
Underfunding education, creating a position in our country where teachers lose their jobs, where counselors lose their jobs cannot be defined simply as plugging a hole. A teacher does not constitute a hole in a kids' life nor does a counselor.
ROMANS (voice-over): But there is no doubt a hole in funding and the stimulus is only a temporary fix.
CARVALHO: My concern has shifted to the possibility of a fiscal abyss two years from now when these funds sunset.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Miami-Dade has a lot of reliance on real estate and tourism revenue to help, you know, their budgets. Obviously, those things cratered. It's a real problem.
And so two years down the road, they're going to be looking at now what do we do? Now what do we do with this money?
But for those of you who are wondering, where is my money going and is it actually out there? Those teachers will be paid for by our stimulus dollars. And interesting some of them didn't know it until we started talking about it.
COSTELLO: Really?
ROMANS: They were surprised. They're so concerned about getting kids to graduate and getting them prepared for college, that there's this other storm above them of how they'll be paid that they were unaware of, which I found really interesting.
COSTELLO: That's kind of nice though.
ROMANS: Right.
COSTELLO: They're thinking about the right thing.
ROMANS: Right. And one of the teachers said, she said -- I said, our stimulus dollars are paying your salary. She said, my stimulus dollars are paying my salary.
COSTELLO: So, she's paying herself.
ROMANS: Right.
ROBERTS: It's kind of -- kind of I don't want to say frightening or troubling, but it's interesting that the stimulus money is now being used to save jobs as opposed to create new ones. ROMANS: That's exactly right.
ROBERTS: So, what happens with all these people who are already out of work?
ROMANS: That's absolutely right. And what happens in two years when they're going to have to find another way to save those jobs that have already been saved now?
So we're playing defense here with this money in many cases. This is playing offense. This isn't playing offense going out and creating new jobs. It's definitely saving jobs.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks, Christine, "Minding Your Business" this morning.
ROMANS: Sure.
COSTELLO: And be sure to catch "YOUR $$$$$" with Christine Romans and Ali Velshi tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. They'll explore whether taxing the rich is the best way to fund health care reform and break down all the proposals to see how your paycheck and health coverage will be affected.
ROBERTS: Got the latest on the bombings of the hotels in Jakarta coming up with Tom Fuentes, former assistant director of the FBI, and our terrorism expert Peter Bergen.
Stay with us. Twenty-five and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Doesn't look beautiful yet, but it will. I promise you, New York City. Partly cloudy and 72 degrees right now. But later, mostly cloudy and 87. But think of it this way, that will keep the heat factor down a little bit.
ROBERTS: Oh, it's a steam bath here yesterday.
COSTELLO: It was.
On to the news now. A hepatitis C scare in Colorado is triggering health investigations here in New York and in Texas this morning.
ROBERTS: Yes, thousands of patients may have been exposed to tainted needles by an infected surgical technician. This is really a bizarre story.
Mary Snow joins us with details now. Has anyone been infected so far? Where are we with this?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far, officials in Colorado say there have been 10 confirmed cases of hepatitis C and tests are now being done to determine whether they are linked to a 26- year-old woman now in federal custody. The investigation has expanded to places where she worked in the past, and that includes a hospital in a New York City suburb.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): Sixty-four-year-old Madeleine Pettit shows us where she was tested for hepatitis C. She is one of roughly 2,700 former surgery patients at New York's Northern Westchester Hospital who are now being urged to get tested for the virus. That's because a former hospital employee, now under arrest in Colorado, may have put patients at risk. It's made people like Pettit anxious.
MADELEINE PETTIT, TESTED FOR HEPATITIS C: I mean there's so many diseases out there and, naturally, you put your trust. And I love this hospital.
SNOW: This New York hospital is just the latest to investigate a hepatitis C scare linked to 26-year-old Kristen Parker, seen here in a police videotape.
Parker also worked as a surgical technician at Rose Medical Center in Denver. She caused outrage there after investigators say she admitted to injecting herself with syringes of a powerful painkiller called Fentanyl and refilling those used syringes with saline. Those same syringes were then allegedly put back into stock intended for patients.
KRISTEN PARKER, FORMER SURGICAL TECH: I can't take back what I did. If I would have known, it would have been different. But now I got to live with what I did for the rest of my life, and so does everybody else.
SNOW: Rose Medical Center has notified 4,700 patients to get tested. An affidavit states that Parker told an investigator she believed she got hepatitis C by using heroin. The hepatitis C virus is usually spread by sharing needles and can cause an infection of the liver. In worst cases, it can lead to liver cancer.
PARKER: I mean to the extent that people would be sick for the rest of their lives because of me, and that's something I can't take back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: And we reached out to Parker's attorney Thursday, but he couldn't be contacted. Parker faces three drug-related charges and the U.S. attorney's office in Denver says additional charges could be possible.
ROBERTS: So, she seems pretty remorseful now about what she did, and many people may be thinking, well, why didn't she think of that before?
COSTELLO: Wow. Many people might be thinking big deal.
SNOW: Absolutely. I mean, and this has spread to New York. Texas is also now starting to investigate. She worked at a hospital there. It's unclear whether she had been infected at that time.
But, you know, I talked to a lawyer in Denver yesterday and he said he's been getting calls from people who don't know whether or not they're infected. But they included a pregnant woman. People are very scared.
ROBERTS: And don't forget that infected people can infect other people.
SNOW: Exactly.
ROBERTS: It's a trickle down effect as well.
Mary, thanks for that. Terrible story.
Thirty-one minutes after the hour. Checking our top stories now.
Pope Benedict XVI has been taken to a hospital in northern Italy. He slipped and fell during a vacation in the Alps. A Vatican spokesman says it's nothing serious. The pope suffered a fracture to his right wrist.
COSTELLO: A second person has died, building a stage for a Madonna concert in France. A crane collapsed yesterday injuring eight others. The concert has now been cancelled. Madonna issued a statement saying she's devastated.
ROBERTS: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is kicking off a weeklong trip to India and Thailand this morning. Today, she is scheduled to pay respects to the victims of November's attacks in Mumbai. She will also be meeting industry leaders in India to strengthen business partnerships between the two countries.
Well, updating you now of the breaking news out of Jakarta, Indonesia. The president of that nation promising to hunt down those responsible for the deadly bombings at the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels. At least nine people were killed, more than 50 others were injured, including as far as we know, three Americans.
Jakarta's police chief believes that the suspected bombers were guests at the Marriott, which was also bombed back in 2003. That incident killed 12 people. Police suspect the terror group, Jemaah Islamiyah. They were responsible for the deadly Marriott bombing almost six years ago, also responsible - believed to be responsible for the 2002 bombing at the nightclub in Bali, which is also part of Indonesia.
Joining me now is Tom Fuentes. He is a CNN contributor and former FBI assistant director. And Peter Bergen, CNN terrorism expert. They're both in Washington for us this morning. Peter, does this seem to bear all of the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiyah.
PETER BERGEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely. There are no other candidates, really. I mean, not only the attacks that you've mentioned, John, that they conducted also on the Australian embassy in Jakarta, a second wave of Bali attacks in 2005. I mean, they've had a long history of these kinds of multiple attacks on western targets, attacks designed, mass casualty attacks. So, you know, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it very likely is a duck.
ROBERTS: Tom Fuentes, you have been to Jakarta several times and there is a small FBI office there. The fact that three Americans were injured in this, would that mean that the FBI will get involved at least to some degree in this investigation?
TOM FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the FBI, John, is already working closely with the Indonesians in a number of criminal areas and the areas of terrorism. So, there's been a close working relationship going on since actually the Marriott's first bombing back in 2003. So, my sources are telling me that there's actually seven U.S. citizens that were injured, but that all of the injuries were minor and non-life threatening.
ROBERTS: So, that does increase the number that we had by four, but it is good news to hear that none of those injuries were serious. You know, Peter, I guess, one of the huge challenges is trying to defend yourself against terrorism and in the wake of that 2003 bombing security precautions at the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton across the street were enhanced substantially. It was a car bomb that was responsible for that explosion back in 2003.
Vehicles can now no longer get close to the hotel without going through security checkpoints, and people can't get inside the hotel without having their baggage screened, their purses screened whatever. The fact that these bombers were able to get their explosives inside and actually register in the hotel as guests, obviously, would seem to indicate that there is a big hole in their security precautions there and how do you address something like that?
BERGEN: Well, I think that's very tough. I mean, hotels are in the hospitality business, they can't turn themselves into fortresses. They can't, you know, frisk every guest at every moment. But so, what this seems to suggest is either an inside job with help from the staff or, indeed, the guests bringing in some of the explosives and assembling them in the room. We've seen these kinds of attacks before, not in hotels. John, you may recall (INAUDIBLE), the first trade center blew up a plane. A bomb in the plane which he assembled in the bathroom of the plane in '94, a plane that was leaving Manila. So you know, bombers obviously with the right kinds of materials can assemble these bombs in locations like a hotel or bathroom. This might be the M.O. that was used in this attack.
ROBERTS: So they bring in components and assemble them over a period of time. Tom, do you think that the bombers here in Jakarta took any kind of influence, any kind of notes from the attackers in Mumbai who had actually plotted for quite a number of days by staying in those hotels. It was an inside operation from that standpoint. Could that be the future M.O. for terrorists who are looking to bomb hotels rather than just running up with the suicide bomber trying to drive through security with a car bomb. They actually get inside and work it from there. FUENTES: Well, that's true from having staff inside that they work with but this is different than the Mumbai attack. It's different than the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan also a couple of months ago. In that they didn't enter the building or go through security with guns blazing to take over the building.
In this case, this was a secretive operation on their part. The police have determined that two people were in that 18th floor room of the Marriott that they have checked in two days earlier. They believed that's where they assembled the suicide bomb backpacks and they left one bomb behind. So those two individuals, they believed left the Marriott. One went downstairs to the cafe area in the lobby and the other one went across the street to the Ritz Carlton and detonated their bombs.
So as of this time, they believed that they have two suicide bombers. They're trying to determine if there were additional people involved. But this was a much more secretive attack and using explosives in a secret manner as opposed to guns blazing like the other attacks.
ROBERTS: All right. Tom Fuentes and Peter Bergen this morning from our Washington bureau. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
FUENTES: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: I want to show you a picture.
ROBERTS: Aha.
COSTELLO: Let's put up the picture. There it is. Would you buy a car from that man? Maybe you would if you got a free AK-47 with the purchase of a pickup. This is a true story.
ROBERTS: Wow.
COSTELLO:. We're going to talk to that man when we come back.
ROBERTS: Door crasher special.
COSTELLO: I know. Thirty-seven minutes past.
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COSTELLO: The perfect song for this next story. The rough economy has been particularly tough on car dealers. So many of them have come up with innovative promotions to get vehicles off the lot and then there's this. Starting in August, Max Mueller, president of Max Motors in Butler, Missouri near Kansas City, will be giving away free AK-47 assault weapons with the purchase of any truck. You heard right. AK-47s.
Joining me now from his car lot near Kansas City, Max Mueller. Max, good morning. MARK MUELLER, OWNER, MAX MOTORS COMPANY: Good morning, Carol. It's Mark Mueller, but that's OK.
COSTELLO: Oh, I so apologize. Now I feel bad from the get go.
MUELLER: That's all right.
COSTELLO: But, tell me about this promotion and why you decided to do this.
MUELLER: Well, last year we gave away a free handgun with the purchase of any vehicle. and it went over very well. It spiked our Web traffic, and we sold, we estimate 35 extra cars during the promotion than we normally would have. And this year we're trying to sell an extra 100 cars more than we normally would. We're just trying to generate some traffic, generate some interests and enthusiasm and excitement. And it seems to work real well.
You know, we're not just going to give people an AK-47 gun. You know, felons buy cars, too. What we are going to do is we're going to give them a voucher where they can go to their local gun dealer and/or we have local gun dealers we would strongly recommend where they can go buy a gun and go through the proper background checks and so that, you know, the guns end up in the right hands.
COSTELLO: So, how much money, how much does an AK-47 cost, I'm just curious?
MUELLER: It depends. You can get a good AK-47 for $450, maybe $500.
COSTELLO: You know, some people watching this might think, you know, owning a handgun is one thing, but owning an AK-47 is something else, and maybe this is just a tad irresponsible.
MUELLER: It's a little grandstanding, but how about that guy that just had him and his wife killed that had the 12 children. With the seven guys coming through the door. I guarantee you, he wishes he had an AK-47 as those maggots busted through his door and slaughtered him and his wife in front of his children.
COSTELLO: Well, but others...
MUELLER: The purpose of guns like an AK-47 is home defense.
COSTELLO: Well, but police officers are shot in the line of duty all the time, and they carry guns every day, so maybe some might not think that is a great argument.
MUELLER: Well, I'd personally like to have a sporting chance instead of just becoming a victim. I guarantee you those guys that broke through that door that used guns to kill those people did not have legal guns and did not go through the proper steps to get them. Those are all illegal guns, and I would bet my bottom dollar on it. I haven't seen the facts, but, look, there is a bunch of evil in the world and people need to protect themselves. We're real firm believers. We're country folks down here. We live down here, and we're real firm believers in the Second Amendment, and we don't want to become victims. I live out in the country, 15 miles from the dealership here on 1,200 acres, the response time to my home is about 15 minutes. And if I'm counting on the police, we have a great police force in Bates County, great sheriff, great police in Butler where we live. Response time is still 15 minutes no matter how great the people are and how great their intentions are. And I would rather defend myself. The only 911 call I need is chambering a round, and I think that's the case with most people down here.
COSTELLO: You know what, I grew up in rural America, too. We had guns in our home, but they weren't AK-47s. I mean, but...
MUELLER: How long ago was that?
COSTELLO: When I was a teenager, 20 years ago, 30 years ago.
MUELLER: Things have changed dramatically. I don't know if you know anything about Missouri, where I live. In this county, there is a tremendous crime problem with people doing meth, and these people, they've lost their souls. They don't care about you, they don't care about me. They care about one thing, getting more dope.
COSTELLO: I understand evil in the world, but I'm just questioning the - like, a semi-assault weapon to protect yourself. That's all I'm saying. Your motto is God, guns, guts and American. Why did you come up with that particular motto?
MUELLER: Actually it's God, guns, guts and American pickup trucks, because we sell cars.
COSTELLO: Right, but you include God in that and, you know, some might wonder why God is included in a motto that it also includes guns.
MUELLER: You don't have a problem with God, do you?
COSTELLO: No, I don't. But the combination some people might between God and guns, some people might have a problem with that.
MUELLER: We're a Christian nation. We're Christian people. I believe that 70 percent, 80 percent of this nation would classify themselves as Christians. I'd say 90 percent of the people in this country believe in God, whoever their God is. And to try to remove God from everything. I think is (INAUDIBLE).
COSTELLO: That's not what I'm saying.
MUELLER: I think -- I don't think we need AK-47s if more people...
COSTELLO: I'm saying putting God in a motto that also includes guns might be a little upsetting to some people.
MUELLER: You don't think God wants us to defend ourselves? I'm confused. You know.
COSTELLO: I don't know. I mean, I could ask you the question, you know, we could do the what would Jesus do, would he carry a gun?
MUELLER: No, they didn't have guns back then, but I do believe he would carry a sword if he needed it. But he was so powerful, he didn't need any weapon.
COSTELLO: That is true. Thanks so much for joining us, Mr. Mueller. We appreciate it.
MUELLER: Thank you. I appreciate it.
COSTELLO: All right. Bye.
ROBERTS: Interesting debate this morning.
COSTELLO: I have been having some interesting debates all week.
ROBERTS: You have. Come up here for a couple days and -
COSTELLO: Well, I like the (inaudible)
Forty-five minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. There's a place to be. Miami, Florida. Where it's now fair and 88 degrees. Later on today, isolated thunderstorms and a high of 92. We're in that time period in Miami where the temperature range between night and day is about four or five degrees, but it's always 95 percent humidity and it feels like you're walking around wearing a warm, wet blanket all day.
COSTELLO: It's good for your skin though.
ROBERTS: It is. Yeah. Hydrated except you got to stay out of the sun because then you'll get that leathered look.
COSTELLO: I'm trying to be positive here.
ROBERTS: Well, having lived there for a while, you got to take some precautions particularly this time of year.
Well, you know, if you think the weather has been weird this year and wild in some occasions, well, you isn't seen nothing yet. Remember that weather phenomenon known as El Nino. It's back and so is Reynolds Wolf in the CNN Weather Center this morning. Hey, Reynolds, we haven't heard of El Nino for a while, but it looks like it's coming back.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It does look like it's coming back. Let me tell you though, when it comes to El Nino. It's actually part of the normal ebb and flow that we see on the earth. Now let me show you something. We're going to first explain what El Nino is.
Let's go to Google earth and we're showing you, of course, the Pacific Ocean and you see a little bit of the Atlantic, next stop. When it comes to El Nino, basically it's a gradual warming that you'll see in the waters which is just off parts of say, South America in this situation. And in this area two areas where things have been warming. And when we say warming, we're talking just a few degrees Celsius. Also in parts of the central Pacific. Now with these two bodies, these two areas of warm water, it gets picked up by the jet stream and then carried across parts of the southern U.S..
Now what that can mean to us is as we get to winter time, it can often bring flooding and a possibility of mud slides to places like Southern California. So you're not going to have the issue of wildfires, but you have that potential of mud slides and flooding certainly now, what you want to deal with. Cooler and wet conditions for parts of the southeast, but then when you get to the northern tier states from Washington clear over to the Great Lakes, usually warmer and drier conditions.
Now to tell if we're really in a true El Nino episode, what we have to do is we have to watch this. This really demands a lot of observation, and what we do is we look at it for a period of several months. Now, as we get into next year, we're going to know if we're truly into an El Nino episode. And if you happen to look at these weird lines, these lines are just computer models, and if you look at just the extremes, if it were to get warmer say two degrees above Celsius, you look at the high side and you'll get the lower side. It looks like we may be headed for sort of a moderate episode.
One good benefit if I can mention very quickly is a lot of times, John, with these El Nino episodes, a lot of people often take a look at that gesture and that storm track and if it truly is a bit stronger, a lot of times, that can introduce a bit of sheer into parts of the Atlantic and into the Caribbean, which might mean, might been fewer hurricanes. Let's send it back to you.
ROBERTS: Do we know if it's strong enough this year to say that subtropical jet will have that sheering effect on the hurricane development this year?
WOLF: It is way too early to say, but I will tell you that one time that we did have an El Nino event or an El Nino episode was back in 2004, and you'll remember, that was a very busy hurricane season.
ROBERTS: Yes. And we all too remember 1992, when there was only one hurricane, Andrew.
WOLF: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Absolutely. Reynolds, thanks very much.
By the way, Monday morning, the meteorologist who developed the weather monitoring technology for NASA's Johnson Center is going to be with us live. See what Gene Norman has to say about what El Nino has in store for us. That's Monday here on AMERICAN MORNING. COSTELLO: And coming up, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to talk about obesity and race.
ROBERTS: Do we get to renew the bro-mance again this morning?
COSTELLO: Yes.
ROBERTS: I'm looking forward to that.
COSTELLO: Bet, it was a beautiful thing yesterday. They have a little thing going, John and Sanjay. And I won't say anymore. But anyway, Dr. Gupta is going to be talking about obesity and how race effects obesity.
It's 52 minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: At least nine people are dead, and more than 50 injured in two hotel bombings in Indonesia. And authorities report finding an unexploded bomb in a room at the 18th floor. The Marriott Hotel in Jakarta. That bomb had to be diffused. Two explosions ripped through the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta early this morning.
An al Qaeda-linked terror group is suspected and may have been guests in the hotel. So it was somewhat of an inside job, as opposed to other bombings we see where somebody just runs up to the hotel or drives up to the hotel and explodes their device. They had actually worked on this for a couple of days from inside the hotel.
COSTELLO: Really frightening.
On to health news now. The high rate of obesity in this country plays a big role in the rising cost of health care. But now this startling new information about race and weight. One ethnic group has by far the most alarming obesity numbers. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" to find out who and why. So who and why?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's African-Americans, and it's staggeringly higher than whites and Hispanics. And what's interesting, Carol, when I first started working for this network, we talked about the rates of people being overweight all the time, and now we talk about obesity almost in a way that we talk about overweight. It's gotten that much worse in the past several years for us. But there are some concerning numbers specifically about African-Americans and the rates of obesity. What they really try to do is break down obesity rates by race and also by state.
When you take a look at the numbers there. I mean, it's pretty staggering. Thirty-six percent of blacks, more than one in three, are obese.
COSTELLO: Wow.
GUPTA: Twenty-nine percent of Hispanics, 24 percent of whites, 40 percent of black women overall, Carol, as well. This is what has gained a lot of attention. We talk about health care, as well. Because obesity is related to just about every chronic disease as you can imagine. Heart disease, stroke, many types of cancer as well. Uniformly across the country the rates have been going up, but there are a couple of areas that are particularly hard hit, the South and the Midwest, you can take a look at the numbers overall.
Certain states more so, Mississippi, Alabama, Maine, Ohio, and Oregon, 40 percent or more of the people there and those states are obese. And again, with it, more diabetes cases, more heart cases, this is part of the problem with fixing the health care is you have so many preventable diseases occurring that you have to target those when you're trying to lower costs.
COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about 40 percent of African-American women being obese. I mean, is it a cultural issue? Because, you know, African-American women are more accepting of their body type.
GUPTA: That's right.
COSTELLO: They're not as like overly concerned, perhaps, as other cultural groups.
GUPTA: That's a very good point. You know, it's interesting as we did some interviews just yesterday. It was something that emerged a few times, which surprised me a little bit about how we sort of view body type as a whole and whether or not there was a way we measure obesity is even accurate. We use body mass index and a lot of people take issue with that. But there are other things as well. There are socioeconomic concerns, access overall to simply good foods. I did this documentary called "Killer Diet" last year when we looked this thing, urban gardens, how easy is it to get good foods in certain urban centers? Here's what Ladonna Redmond told me.
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GUPTA (on camera): Green leafy vegetables.
LADONNA REDMOND, URBAN FARMING: Absolutely.
GUPTA: Something that's hard to get around here otherwise.
REDMOND: You will not be able to find these around here.
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GUPTA: If you got to stores around that particular area, and all you'd find is beef jerky, Twinkies, soda pop, no vegetables or otherwise good food.
ROBERTS: Greens are a big part of the Southern diet, but fried foods are also a big part of it, too.
GUPTA: That's right. And just simply - she'd have to get on two trains and a bus ride to simply go buy vegetables and fruit. And you know, it's hard to have a healthy diet that way. ROBERTS: It's crazy.
GUPTA: Yes. These urban deserts.
COSTELLO: I know, I wish there was one great big answer to solve these problems, but there's not.
GUPTA: I'm always amazed at how much more expensive it is to buy an apple, for example, than a heavily processed piece of food. I mean, something that's been through chemical factories and everything else. It's often cheaper. We need to change that around a bit, as well.
COSTELLO: That would be great, wouldn't it?
GUPTA: Yes.
COSTELLO: Yes.
GUPTA: Lots to do.
COSTELLO: Yes. Sanjay, thanks.
We're just days away from CNN's examination of what it really means to be black in America. I just wanted to remind you, watch stories of people stepping up, taking charge and creating solutions. The documentary "BLACK IN AMERICA 2" premieres next Wednesday and Thursday, only on CNN. It's 58 minutes past the hour.
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