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American Morning
Obama Goes on Media Blitz to Sound Off on Health Care, Afghanistan and Economy; U.S. General Warns Failure in Afghanistan Without New Troops; Three Terrorism Suspects Due in Court Today, Charged with Lying; Mentally Ill Killer Caught After Escaping During Hospital Field Trip; Cubans Pack "Peace Concert"
Aired September 21, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning to you. It is the 21st of September. I guess this officially means that fall is on the way, right? Or do we have it already? I never really keep track of this.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Certainly feels like it at least if you live along the East Coast of this country. And boy, it was a chilly weekend. But anyway, great to have you with us this morning. I'm Kiran Chetry and here are the big stories we're going to be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
President Obama may want some more time to decide on whether or not to send reinforcements to Afghanistan, but the top commander there says that time is not on their side. General Stanley McChrystal says that without more troops, the war against insurgents is likely to fail. We're live at the Pentagon with more on this developing story.
ROBERTS: Three men accused of lying to federal agents in a terrorism investigation could face more charges when they appear in court today in New York and Denver. They were arrested in connection with an alleged terror plot targeting a major transportation center in New York City. We're live in Denver with the unfolding probe.
CHETRY: Also, the New York Giants spoiled the opening night party at the so-called Jones Mahal, the Dallas Cowboys opulent new stadium. The game also marked the debut of a mammoth Jumbotron that hangs over the field. Some say it's actually too close to the action. It's already been hit by a punt in the preseason. We're going to show you what's causing all the commotion.
ROBERTS: We begin this morning, though, with President Obama's all-out media offensive, pushing health care reform and tackling hot- button issues from the economy to Afghanistan. The president heads to New York today where he will tape an appearance on the David Letterman show. We've got full court coverage of the president's Sunday sound- off and reaction to it.
Ed Henry is live at the White House for us this morning looking at whether the president gained any ground in the high-stakes debate. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon with a grim assessment from the commander of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan. And Christine Romans is here in New York City with the president's message on the economy and jobs. Let's begin, though, with Ed Henry. He is live at the White House. And good morning to you, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. What's clear is the president made a little history, hitting five Sunday talk shows in one fell swoop. What's unclear is whether he changed any minds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice-over): After uttering more than 10,000 words, one question remains. Did the president move the ball forward on health care?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the Baucus bill made it to your desk as is, would you sign it to meet your goals?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, that's such a hypothetical since it won't get there as is, that I'm not going to answer that question. But can I say that it does meet some broad goals that all the bills that have been introduced to me.
HENRY: Bottom line, the president still did not get very specific or break much new ground on health care. And he was confronted on a range of other tough issues, including the still- sluggish economy.
OBAMA: The jobs picture is not going to improve considerably and it could even get a little bit worse over the next couple of months, and we're probably not going to start seeing enough job creation to deal with a rising population until sometime next year.
HENRY: On Afghanistan, the public is getting anxious, but the president said he wants more time to sort out the strategy before deciding whether to send more troops.
OBAMA: There's a natural inclination to say, if I get more, then I can do more. But right now, the question is, the first question is, are we doing the right thing? Are we pursuing the right strategy?
HENRY: As for health care, the president acknowledged it has not gone as planned.
OBAMA: During this whole health care debate, there have been times where I've said,,,
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You lost control?
OBAMA: Well, not so much lost control, but where I've said to myself, somehow I'm not breaking through.
HENRY: Top Republicans insist he still has not broken through despite all the interviews and high-profile speeches.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: He can be on every news show until the end of time. If he doesn't get Republicans and Democrats in a room and get off TV, we're never going to solve this problem.
HENRY: But asked about another Republican claiming they're winning the health battle, the president expressed confidence about the final stretch.
OBAMA: Well, you know, they were saying they were winning during the election too.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: Now, top Republicans are already predicting that this will be a lot like the president's speech to a joint session of Congress, very little bounce. But White House aides insist that sort of misses the point. They think the president is looking for little bits of momentum here, and that essentially, in the long run, this is a marathon, not a sprint. And as you can see from the president's body language, he's still confident that in the long run, he's going to prevail, John.
ROBERTS: Ed Henry live at the White House this morning. Ed, thanks so much.
And later on this hour at 6:30 Eastern, we're going to put the president's claims to the truth-o-meter test with Bill Adair from PolitiFact.com.
CHETRY: Also developing this morning, the top military commander in Afghanistan is warning that the U.S. mission could fail without more troops. General Stanley McChrystal saying that success is not ensured by additional forces alone, but continued under-resourcing will likely cause failure. That assessment is part of a classified update on the war effort.
Barbara Starr is following a story and she's live for us at the Pentagon. So this classified information, this classified report coming at a time where we're still seeing public opinion not in favor of continuing this war in Afghanistan.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Kiran, and very interesting that that report leaked to "The Washington Post," which published portions of it this morning. They did take out some parts of it that the Pentagon said were so classified that it could risk the troops' security in the region.
But nonetheless, moving ahead, what General McChrystal is doing is sounding an alarm one more time. He says that he needs more troops for this counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan.
Let's look a little bit more at what General McChrystal had to say in this 60-plus page document. He says, "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term, the next 12 months, while Afghan security capacity matures risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible."
General McChrystal he needs more troops, he needs them soon. He figures he's got about 12 months to do it. But when you look at the calendar, Kiran, the reality is it's probably less than that.
If you started today, it would take months to get the 30,000 to 40,000 troops there that many people believe General McChrystal is fundamentally asking for. The general calls the situation serious and deteriorating in Afghanistan. The president and Defense Secretary Robert Gates say they want more time to think about it all -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Certainly shaping up to be quite a challenging decision for all of them. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon with us. Thank you so much.
Also, "Washington Post" reporter Bob Woodward got that exclusive look at General McChrystal's confidential assessment of the war. He's going to be joining us more to talk about what was in that assessment, 8:15 Eastern in a CNN exclusive.
ROBERTS: Coming up now at six minutes after the hour and new this morning. New York Governor David Paterson says he will run for office next year, despite a "New York Times" report that President Obama does not want him to run. Democrats in New York and Washington are concerned that Paterson's unpopularity will drag down other Democrats in the state. Jason Carroll is going to have more on that story, coming up later on this hour.
CHETRY: Also, Democrats in Congress taking aim at bank overdraft fees. They say banks are ripping off their customers, allowing them to overspend and then charging them without warning. The industry could make $33.5 billion from overdraft fees alone this year. Legislation in both Houses would require banks to get a customer's permission before offering overdraft loans.
ROBERTS: Pittsburgh getting ready to host the group of 20 economic world leaders summit this week. And the protests have already begun, with thousands more activists planning to head to the city later on this week. Most of the protests are expected to be peaceful, but the city is not taking any chances, adding 4,000 federal officers to assist local police.
CHETRY: Well, it was deja vu at last night's 61st Annual Emmy Awards. A lot of last year's winners returned to take statues at the podium again this year. "Mad Men" repeated in Best Drama category. It's a popular ABC show that still ranks as the only basic cable drama to win the award.
ROBERTS: NBC's "30 Rock" picked up the prize for Best Comedy series for a third year in a row. Alec Baldwin also won his second consecutive statue for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy. And lucky number seven for Jon Stewart. "The Daily Show" scored its seventh straight win for Best Variety Music or Comedy Series.
CHETRY: There you go. He's funny, sometimes at our expense, but he's funny.
Terror suspects in court. Our Jeanne Meserve has new details on what is going on with this probe that stretched all the way from Denver to New York City and beyond. It's seven and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, good morning, New York. It's ten minutes past the hour on this Monday morning, bright and early. It's only 6:10 here in the Big Apple today. It's going to be a cool one at first, but then warming up a little bit. Right now, it's clear and 58. Then the sunshine comes out, a high of 76.
Some other stories new this morning. Firefighters battling a wildfire north of Los Angeles are trying to put out some hot spots before the Santa Ana winds pick up. Right now, the arson which started August 26th is about 90 percent contained, but a forecast of hot, dry weather could spell some trouble. This fire has destroyed 89 homes, caused two firefighter deaths, and scorched so far more than 280 square miles.
ROBERTS: President Obama says the activist group ACORN should be investigated after undercover videos were released showing ACORN employees advising a fake pimp and prostitute on how to avoid paying taxes and how to set up a brothel that would employ underage prostitutes. The president told ABC's "This Week" that what he saw in the video was "inappropriate," but he also went on to say that he hasn't been following the issue very closely.
CHETRY: Three terrorism suspects arrested in Denver and New York Saturday are due in court today. All three are originally from Afghanistan. The Justice Department says that they were plotting to detonate bombs in the United States.
Our Jeanne Meserve is live in Denver following the latest developments this morning. What can we expect out of those court appearances, Jeanne?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we expect this one to be short and sweet. The three men who will appear in court today are all facing charges that are not based on terrorism- related evidence, but experts say it's likely only the first salvo in the government's case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): Najibullah Zazi, the Afghan national who's been the focal point of this terror probe, was arrested at his home outside Denver Saturday night, along with his father, Mohammed (ph) Zazi. The owner of this Muslim burial service in Queens, New York, Ahmad (ph) Afzali, was the third taken into custody. All are charged with making false statement to the FBI during the terror investigation.
Court documents reveal no details about the timing or targeting of the alleged explosives plot, but they alleged that Najibullah Zazi lied about nine pages of detailed bomb-making instructions found on his computer. RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: The FBI had taken his computer, had mirrored it, had copied it. In essence put it back in his car, Mr. Naji did not know that that happened apparently. So when he was questioned about whether or not he knew anything about these written notes and it was showed to him, he denied that knowledge.
MESERVE: The court documents also allege that Najibullah Zazi admitted getting explosives and weapons training at an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan, though Zazi and his lawyer claim Saturday he had not made such an admission. Experts say the charges were filed to pressure the man into cooperating with the ongoing investigation of Najibullah Zazi.
FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: What direction is he getting from Al Qaeda members and the federally administered tribal areas in addition to the training that he got? Secondly, who else has he communicated with here in the United States? Obviously, the government has some idea of who that is, based on their surveillance, both electronic and physical, but what they want to do is make sure they've identified the entire net, the whole range of conspirators.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: Legal experts say it's possible, even probable that additional charges will be filed. They also say it's likely that the government revealed as little as possible about its investigation in these first charges as it works to shore up its case and continue the investigation in the U.S., Pakistan, and elsewhere. Back to you.
CHETRY: It's always a double-edged sword about, you know, making sure you move fast enough to prevent something from actually happening, but then getting enough information. What are people saying about whether or not they have enough? Or what are you learning about how far along this plan was?
MESERVE: You know, we really don't have a lot of clarity on that. There's been a real silence that's fallen over many of the people investigating this case. We do know that they appear to have come up with a lot of things that certainly built up suspicion, but it's still unclear as to whether they have specifics. In fact, a Justice Department official said over the weekend, they still do not have specific information about the timing and location, and target of any planned attacks -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Jeanne Meserve for us this morning, thank you.
ROBERTS: So let's say that you're putting together a list of people you want to take on a field trip to a county fair. Who would be last on that list? Or probably not on the list at all? Somebody who is criminally insane perhaps? Criminally insane killer? Find out how the criminally insane killer got to the county fair in Washington, coming up.
It's 15 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: We're "Minding Your Business" this morning. President Obama says high unemployment, here to stay, at least for a while. In an interview with CNN's John King, the president said that despite signs of economic recovery, we will not see large-scale job growth for some time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I want to be clear that probably the jobs picture is not going to improve considerably and it could even get a little bit worse over the next couple of months, and we're probably not going to start seeing enough job creation to deal with the, you know, a rising population until some time next year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Good news or probably a realistic forecast. Our Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning, taking a closer look at what the president had to say. Good morning.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And so close to this victory lap from the White House and the people who are big supporters of the stimulus. Recently, remember where they were saying a million jobs have been saved or created.
Now, the president sounding quite realistic about just how -- just how rainy it's going to be in the forecast for your jobs in the very near-term. The president outlaying some very difficult math in labor economics. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I think we'll be adding jobs, but you need 150,000 additional jobs each month, just to keep pace with a growing population. So if we're only adding 50,000 jobs, that's a great reversal from losing 700,000 jobs early this year, but, you know, it means that we've still got a ways to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: And we do have a ways to go. Even if you start talking about job creation early next year, 50,000 jobs, even 100,000 jobs, even 200,000 jobs created in a month, that won't bring the unemployment rate down because you have so many people entering the workforce. You also have productivity gains for a couple of reasons, technology and because of innovation, and because, frankly, we're also afraid of losing our jobs, we're working harder.
Look at this, this is the job openings. When the recession began, there were 4.4 million job openings. When the stimulus bill passed, there were three million job openings, now there are 2.4 million job openings. That means there are about six qualified applicants for every single job opening out there. That means it's going to be tough for you if you don't have a job in the very near- term. And I think the president is smart to say, look, don't look for large-scale job growth in the near-term here, because even when you start to see job growth, you're going to have people like me, you're going to have economists, you're going to have reporters who are going to be saying, wait, jobs are growing, but that's not even beginning to eat into the jobs that had been lost and reversing that. So we have a lot of work to do here.
CHETRY: All right. Do you have a numeral for us this morning?
ROMANS: I do. OK. The numeral is going to require a little bit of math to explain. Here we go.
Good morning on Monday, everyone. It's time for your math lesson. Seventy months. If we started to grow 250,000 jobs every month starting next year, say we had some beautiful economy with 250,000 jobs created every month, it would take 70 months to recreate the jobs that we lost during this recession. That's five years and eight months -- almost six years.
ROBERTS: Incredible.
ROMANS: So if we had a strong, strong economy next year, it still would take almost six years to just to get back what we lost. It's something to remember politically, economically, for your own budget, you know people need to be prepared for that.
ROBERTS: Some sobering news this morning. Christine Romans "Minding Your Business." Christine, thanks.
CHETRY: Well, we've talked about the fact that President Obama was on, what, five shows just on Sunday alone.
ROBERTS: Almost the full Ginsburg.
CHETRY: Yes, he's really made the media blitz out there. Well, you know what we're doing? We are going to be fact-checking some of the biggest claims that he made with our own Bill Adair from PolitiFact.com. He's going to be joining us in just a moment.
It's 21 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, folks across Washington State are breathing a sigh of relief this morning after a clinically insane killer who spent three days on the run is back in custody. Phillip Paul escaped on Thursday during -- get this, listen to it, here it comes, you're ready? -- a field trip to a county fair. And many people are asking why he was let out in the first place. Alina Cho digging deeper on this story.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I was talking to people about this story last night and they were like, what, are you kidding me?
ROBERTS: Cotton candy and a corn dog? Come on?
CHO: Well, as you might imagine, there's a lot of finger- pointing going on this morning, guys.
ROBERTS: I assume.
CHO: You know the sheriff says the mental hospital where Phillip Paul was staying waited a full two hours before calling police. And it was actually recent policy changes at the hospital that made it possible for this convicted schizophrenic killer to go on this field trip in the first place.
Now police say Paul was getting ready to hitch a ride last night when officers found him on a country road not far from the Oregon border. The 47-year-old killer apparently did not put up a fight, he surrendered, was actually handcuffed by the very same detective who found him after another escape nearly two decades ago. That was 1991. Now both times Paul was on a field trip from the mental institution he was committed to back in 1987. That's when he was acquitted by reason of insanity in the brutal murder of an elderly woman.
He apparently soaked her body in gasoline to throw off search dogs, even buried her remains in the victim's flower garden. Paul claimed she was a witch and that voices in his head told him to kill her.
This morning, people are pointing to his shaky mental state and his past escape, asking why was he ever allowed to attend the Spokane County fair with 30 fellow patients last Thursday. Now they point out that the trip was advertised in advance giving Paul time to plan his escape, and there were actually indications that he did make that plan. Reports that he packed extra money and nearly all of his clothes into a backpack on the morning of the trip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. DAVE REAGAN, SPOKANE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: There was an extreme amount of anger throughout the law enforcement community that this event even took place. We have learned several things throughout this investigation. One of those, that Mr. Paul was noncompliant in taking his medications.
My question is, if somebody was noncompliant in taking their medications, what made anybody believe that he would be compliant on a field trip to the Spokane County fair on family day. This is a situation that, in my opinion, should not have happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Yes, family day. You heard it right, John. You know, the head of the union that represents workers at that mental hospital say rules about who can attend group outings were recently relaxed, as I alluded to a bit earlier. So no surprise that policy is now up for review.
CHETRY: It recently relaxed to include convicted insane killers who burn elderly women's bodies?
CHO: He was in that mental institution for more than two decades and, yes, that, indeed, happened.
ROBERTS: Does the fact that he took a backpack full of all the stuff and nobody checked -- why do you have to bring four pairs of clothes with you? We're going to the county fair for three hours, you know.
CHO: Policy is up for review.
ROBERTS: Unbelievable.
CHO: I'm guessing there might be some changes.
ROBERTS: Alina, thanks so much for that.
Twenty-seven minutes after the hour now, and here are this morning's top stories. A grim assessment of the top military commander in Afghanistan. Reports in "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" say General Stanley McChrystal is telling the White House he needs more troops within the next year or the mission will "likely result in failure." It's part of a classified report that General McChrystal sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, one that is now being reviewed by the president.
CHETRY: Well, coming home, the space shuttle Discovery expected to arrive today at Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a cross- country trip from California. Discovery is being ferried cross- country on top of a 747 aircraft. Bad weather forced the shuttle to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California ten days ago following a two-week mission at the International Space Station.
ROBERTS: And that right-sized Halloween pumpkin may be harder to find this year and you can expect to pay more for it. Heavy summer rains have damaged pumpkin crops across New England. The weather delayed harvest for as long as two weeks, which means pumpkins may not turn as orange or grow large enough to be shipped in time for Halloween. The harvest in Maine expected to be off by about 50 percent this year.
CHETRY: We sure made them look really bad and rotted out in that graphic. I've seen some nice pumpkins already. They're not all that bad.
Well, after his health care blitz on the Sunday talk shows, President Obama is going to be talking about it some more today. He actually appears on "The David Letterman Show" and the president had a lot to say about health care reform in five TV interviews Sunday.
And this morning, we're putting some of his words to the truth-o- meter test. For that we turn to Bill Adair, the founder and editor of PolitiFact.com. He joins us from D.C.
Hey, great to see you, Bill.
BILL ADAIR, EDITOR, POLITIFACT.COM: Good morning, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Let's get to one of the statements that really stood out for your team. And this is President Obama on ABC. Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You and I are both paying 900 bucks, on average, our families in higher premiums because of uncompensated care. Now, what I've said is that if you can't afford health insurance, you certainly shouldn't be punished for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right. So the president is saying that we pay 900 bucks more than we would to cover people who don't have insurance. You ran that through the truth-o-meter and what did you find?
ADAIR: Yes. We gave that one a half true on the truth-o-meter. This is a concept known as cost shifting. The idea is that people with insurance have to pay for those without, ultimately. And the president seems to be basing this on a study by the liberal advocacy group, Families USA, which came up with that $900 number about four years ago.
There's actually a more recent number from Families USA that puts it at about $1,100, but there's still some significant disagreement about what that figure should be. The Kaiser Family Foundation has estimated that the cost is actually much lower because the costs are absorbed in different ways by the government, various government programs. So, a fair amount of dispute about this one, so we gave it a half true on the Truth-O-Meter.
CHETRY: All right. Also, there's a new ad that's being put out there right now. It's by Health Care for America Now. This is a group supporting the president's health care reform bill. And one of the claims that they're making in the ad has to do with insurance company's CEO compensation.
Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR: How to get rich by America's health insurance companies?
Raise health insurance premiums four times faster than wages. Pay your CEO $24 million a year. Deny payment for one out of every five treatments doctors prescribe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right, so there's a few claims made in that one. Let's break down a couple of them.
First, as a statement, health insurance companies pay CEOs $24 million a year. What did you find in that statement to be on your Truth-O-Meter?
ADAIR: We gave that one a "barely true" on the Truth-O-Meter. And the reason is, this is a classic case of cherry picking. They have picked the most outrageous number to make it seem like all CEOs of insurance companies make that. They're referring to the number for Etna's CEO, although the latest figures actually show the Etna's CEO total compensation was about $38 million. So they could have even used a higher number.
The problem, though, is when you look at the next six insurance companies, as we did, and what their CEOs make. The number is considerably lower, down around $4 million. Still good money, but not the $24 million that they make it sound like. They make it sound like that's an average, which it isn't. So that one gets a "Barely True" on the Truth-O-Meter.
CHETRY: OK. And then this one probably riles people up even more, because we talk about denial of claims and worries about pre- existing conditions. A claim in that ad that health insurance companies deny one out of five treatments prescribed by doctors.
What did you find that to be on the Truth-O-Meter?
ADAIR: We gave that one a false. They're relying on just one study of some California data that they say is denials. But what they call a denial really isn't what is a denial in the California data. The California numbers include some things that you and I wouldn't consider to be denials. Things where things are double billed, and people never actually see any disruption in their care. The actual estimates from some other groups about the percentage of denials instead of the 20 percent that this group cites is more like two percent to seven percent. So we gave that one a false on the Truth-O- Meter.
CHETRY: All right. So we got a false here, we got a barely true as it relates to that ad.
A lot of people asking, how do you know what's true or not? I mean, how do you know what to believe with all of the stuff that's out there? This seemed like a credible ad.
ADAIR: Yes, and I think it just shows, you really do need to go to independent sources to check these things out. That's what we've been doing on PolitiFact since the summer. We're trying to fact check all the crazy claims in the health insurance debate. We have checked dozens and dozens and found just lots of exaggerations like this. Things that are taken out of context and things that are just flatly wrong. And it's happened on both sides. I think here we're talking about a group that supports the health care reform and they're making two pretty significant misstatements here. So you really do need to be skeptical of what you hear on both sides of the health care debate.
CHETRY: All right. Well, that's why we encourage people to check it out.
Bill Adair, thanks so much.
And for more on his Truth-O-Meter, you head to our blog, cnn.com/amfix. We'll have the ones from today, as well as past fact checks they've done.
Thanks, Bill.
ROBERTS: It was the biggest concert in 50 years in one country. We'll tell you where it was and who performed. Our Soledad O'Brien is there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Cuba's biggest open-air concert since the 1959 revolution and some of Latin America's best-known rock stars were there. Hundreds of thousands of people packed a main square in Havana to witness the rare and ambitious concert for peace. But some Cuban exiles in the United States were not too happy with the event.
Our Soledad O'Brien live in Havana this morning with a review of what happened.
Quite a weekend there, Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And you know, there were a number of road bumps on the road to the peace concert, because, of course, pulling off a huge event in Havana, Cuba has a number of challenges. Of course, you have the visa issues. They had to fly virtually all of the equipment in for the concert. And, of course, you have, as you mentioned, the underlying politics, anytime you're talking about Cuba. But at the end of the day, the singer, Juanes, managed to pull it off. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: The concert was called Peace without Borders, and came to a place that never sees concerts of this magnitude -- Havana, Cuba. With a lineup of 15 international rock stars, superstars of Latin music like Olga Tanon and Miguel Bose, and of course, Juanes.
The concert is the brain child of Juanes, a 37-year-old Colombian rock star whose fans stretch across the world. He's won 17 Latin Grammys, and today won the affection of the Cuban people. His aim as Juanes has said over two and a half months of planning this concert is peace. That in spite of numerous logistical obstacles and even death threats.
JUANES, LATIN ROCK STAR: I can't believe it. It's just amazing.
O'BRIEN: They have said...
JUANES: More than a million.
O'BRIEN: ... 1.2 million, that's what I've heard.
JUANES: And, just, you know, amazing.
O'BRIEN: Is that success for you?
JUANES: It's more than that. More than that. And when I saw all these beautiful faces, of all people, smiling and singing and -- that's it, you know, that's the only thing that matters.
O'BRIEN: Another goal, to help thaw U.S.-Cuba relations.
(on camera): What does that say to you then, about opportunities down the road?
JUANES: You know, I mean, at least culture and music-wise is changing. I mean, something is happening. And this is a message for them, you know? Like, hey, guys, we are here. I mean, we want to be together. Please, do something.
O'BRIEN: Juanes sang with Cuban performers barred from the U.S. like Silvio Rodriguez. But missing from this concert, well-known Cuban-American performers like Gloria Stefan and Willy Chirino, fierce critics of the Cuban government.
WILLY CHIRINO, CUBAN MUSICIAN: Revolution is going to win, in a system that's dying already, you know. And they're going to give oxygen.
JUANES: I hope in years to come, Willy or Gloria, or -- I mean, all of them can come to Cuba, their country, as they are Cubans. And they have to come, you know, sooner or later.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: This is Juanes' second concert for peace. The first was on the Colombian-Venezuelan border. And he paid for much of this concert himself, somewhere around $350,000 to bring all of that equipment and all of the performers in.
The crowd size, official estimates at one point, 2 million people. Let me give you a little perspective on that, John. When Pope John Paul II said mass in that exact same location and I covered that back in 1998, that square was filled with 850,000 people and that was considered to be a massive, massive crowd.
Juanes thanked President Obama, also Hillary Clinton and Cuba's Minister of Culture when I interviewed him. He said without the cooperation of all of the above, he would never have been able to pull off this concert - John.
ROBERTS: Pretty amazing event. And, you know, Soledad, when it comes to events like this or other ways to try to open up a country, there are two arguments.
One, of course, the opposition is that if you have an event like this, you're just rewarding communism. You're rewarding the leaders of the country for maintaining a closed society.
The other one is that the only way you can try to open up a country is to show people what's out there.
You talked to so many people there at the concert. Did you get a sense of how people were viewing this? O'BRIEN: You know what was interesting, every single person we spoke to who was there to watch the concert wanted to talk about the music, wanted to not discuss politics. Not exactly a surprise when you're standing out in the middle of the square, the revolution square.
But at the same time, they really just were there to see the performers. They were so grateful. Some of the young people said to me no one ever comes, no one comes to see us, no one comes to perform for us. They were so grateful that Juanes was there.
And to see people holding up big, giant signs saying, gracias, thank you, Juanes, was an amazing thing. It was a great concert. The temperature was in the 90s, but people there, the entire time, standing in the heat just to enjoy the music. Something that had not happened in their lifetime. So incredibly rare in Havana, Cuba.
ROBERTS: Maybe the start of change a little bit at a time. Soledad O'Brien for us this morning in Havana. Soledad, thanks so much for that.
By the way, coming this October, CNN's "LATINO IN AMERICA" will explore how Latinos are reshaping our communities and culture. It's reported by Soledad O'Brien.
Forty-two minutes now after the hour.
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ANNOUNCER: Again, the Giants with two time-outs. Manny over the middle, and that gets them clearly in range.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Forty- five minutes past the hour right now. And well, Dallas opened their spectacular new digs last night, but their archrival, the New York Giants, spoiled the party, kicking a game-winning field goal right as time expired -- 33-31 was the final.
The game drew the largest crowd in nfl history -- 105, 121 people in attendance at the new Cowboys stadium. And the crowd included some 30,000 people that had standing-room only tickets.
ROBERTS: That new Cowboys stadium, by the way, cost more than a billion dollars. That's right, billion dollars. Some might say just about the size of owner Jerry Jones's ego. Maybe a little bigger.
CHETRY: Well, it does feature a lot of cool things, including the world's largest jumbotron. So, a lot of people say this thing was going to be great, but now they say there's a very visible design flaw.
Ed Lavendera takes a look. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to what's been sarcastically dubbed "Jerry's World." Jerry, of course, is Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. It's a stadium that cost more than $1.2 billion. It's where hard-nosed football meets the swanky, plush high life. Even Randy Galloway, a crusty old-school newspaper columnist and sports talk show host, can't criticize the stadium.
RANDY GALLOWAY, COLUMNIST, "FORT WORTH STAR TELEGRAM": Jerry was building a monument to himself. You walk in and go, oh! I mean, it is amazing. And by the way, that Jerry jumbotron is really what touches it off.
LAVANDERA: Galloway is talking about the granddaddy of all scoreboards: Back-to-back screens in high definition, 72 feet tall, 160 feet wide. The video board uses 30 million light bulbs and stretches almost the length of the field. This scoreboard will be like an altar for couch potatoes to fall to their knees and worship on football Sundays.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't believe that. This is -- the screen is bigger than life.
LAVANDERA: But during one of the Cowboys preseason games, a punter for the Tennessee Titans kicked the ball into the bottom of the scoreboard. In the time it took for the ball to fall back to earth, the sports world erupted in laughter. How could you spend more than $1 billion on a stadium and not know the ball could hit the scoreboard?
GALLOWAY: It was radio gold. It was newspaper gold. I got about five newspaper columns out of it. And about, what, at least two or three days of radio shows out of it.
LAVANDERA: Turns out the Cowboys did nothing wrong. Nfl rules say the scoreboard must be 85 feet above the field. This screen is 90 feet high.
BRETT DANIELS, SPOKESMAN, DALLAS COWBOYS: We've been in close talks with the NFL throughout the process. In determining that height, a lot of study and research went into it.
LAVANDERA: Some coaches still want the scoreboard raised, but it stays put for now. If the ball hits the screen during the game, they'll just have a do-over.
(on camera): As you walk around this stadium, it is amazing to take in just how massive this scoreboard is, dangling in the middle of this stadium. And you know that somewhere in America, there are men sitting around and pLotting of ways to get something like this into their garage.
Ed Lavendera, CNN, Arlington, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTS: Forget the garage, put it in the living room. The home theater.
CHETRY: Yes. A lot of people would love to have that in the living room. But can you imagine if you had this incredible game- winning play?
ROBERTS: Yes. Super Bowl, right?
CHETRY: Oops, do-over.
ROBERTS: Oops, do-over. I don't know.
Rob Marciano checking the extreme weather across the country. What do you think of that screen, Rob? I meean, that is bigger than big.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, and when you have a coliseum that big, and you have a screen that amazing and you're spending that kind of money, you know, to have a do-over -- I mean, do-overs are like for the schoolyard, you know, for the backyard.
CHETRY: Right.
ROBERTS: Yes.
MARCIANO: But we'll see if that happens again. Anyway, it was definitely impressive, and congrats to the Giants.
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ROBERTS: New York's Governor David Paterson -- did the White House ask him not to run for re-election? And if the White House did, what did the governor tell them?
We'll find out, coming up next. Jason Carroll's on the case this morning.
It's 10 minutes now to the top of the hour.
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CHETRY: Fifty-two minutes after the hour. A shot of our control room this morning. And hey, check that out. That. There we go. Republica -- "Ready to Go." It's our A.M. play list.
And we play a lot of songs on the show, so we just wanted people (INAUDIBLE) what song was that? So, we're going to start showing it to you there on the bottom of the screen.
Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. You know, it's been anything but a smooth ride for New York Governor David Paterson. He took office 18 months ago after Eliot Spitzer was forced to resign in disgrace. And there are growing concerns that his low approval ratings could be beyond repair. The governor says that he is still running for re-election in 2010, at least for now. Jason Carroll is following this story, and he joins us live. And when there are reports that even the White House, the president's sending word, maybe you ought to think twice about running. Not a good sign.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you might want to think twice, but it seems like Governor Paterson, at least for now, is remaing defiant. You know, the governor definitely has an uphill battle. His poll numbers are terrible. He's unpopular with some members of his own party.
The White House is not convinced he can win, but the governor says he's running anyway. According to senior White House officials, presidential aides told the governor they were not confident about his chances to win the upcoming election. Political observers say the White House is concerned Paterson could bring down other Democrats in the state if he does not drop out of the race. This weekend at a parade, Paterson would not say what, if anything, the White House asked him to do.
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GOV. DAVID PATERSON (D), NEW YORK: I'm not talking about any specific conversations. As I said, I am running for office. I'm not going to discuss confidential conversations.
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CARROLL: Well, New York Congressman Charlie Rangel also attended the parade. Rangel said it would not be appropriate for the president to meddle in a governor's race. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Paterson should do what he wants.
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MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), MAYOR, NEW YORK: I'm going to do everything I can to help him. I don't know whether he wants to run for re-election, but if he does, I would urge him, go for it.
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CARROLL: Well, Governor Paterson may have the backing of a few of his peers, but he has a ways to go to win over the people of New York. One recent poll showing the governor with a dismal 20 percent approval rating. That is bad.
You know, some Democratic insiders say what would be ideal would be for Paterson to step aside. That way the attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, could step in and run. He's got much higher approval numbers. But for now, it looks like Paterson not backing down.
CHETRY: Twenty percent approval rating.
CARROLL: Twenty person.
CHETRY: That's tough. CARROLL: Yes.
CHETRY: Tough hurdle. Jason Carroll, thanks.
ROBERTS: Three men are under arrest on suspicion of pLotting terrorist attacks inside the United States. We'll tell you who they are and what authorities think they were up to, coming right up. It's 55 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. A father and son in Colorado and a Queens, New York, man are under arrest this morning and facing court appearances today. Federal investigators say they are involved in a terror plot. So far, though, they are only charged with lying to authorities.
Our Jeanne Meserve is live in Denver for us this morning to unravel the story. What do we know about this plot, Jeanne, this alleged plot?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, we aren't learning very much about the plot, but the court papers that have been filed give us a little bit of a glimmer into the investigation. The three men appearing in court today are not facing charges based on terror-related evidence, but people do say this is probably just the beginning of the government's case.
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MESERVE (voice-over): Najibullah Zazi, the Afghan national who's been the focal point of this terror probe, was arrested at his home outside Denver Saturday night, along with his father, Mohammed Zazi. The owner of this Muslim burial service in Queens, New York, Ahmad Afzali, was the third taken into custody. All are charged with making false statements to the FBI during a terror investigation. Court documents reveal no details about the timing or targeting of the alleged explosives plot, but they allege that Najibullah Zazi lied about nine pages of detailed bomb-making instructions found on his computer.
RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: The FBI had taken his computer, had mirrored it, had copied it. In essence, put it back in his car. Mr. Naji (ph) did not know that that happened, apparently. So, when he was questioned about whether or not he knew anything about these written notes and they were showed to him, he denied that knowledge.
MESERVE: The court documents also allege that Najibullah Zazi admitted getting explosives and weapons training at an al Qaeda camp in Pakistan, though Zazi and his lawyer claimed Saturday he had not made such an admission. Experts say the charges were filed to pressure the man into cooperating with the ongoing investigation of Najibullah Zazi.
FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: What direction is he getting from al Qaeda members in the federally administered tribal areas in addition to the training that he got? Secondly, who else has he communicated with here in the United States? Obviously, the government has some idea of who that is, based on their surveillance, both electronic and physical, but what they want to do is make sure they've identified the entire net, the whole range of conspirators.
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MESERVE: Legal experts say it's probable that there will be further charges filed. They also say it's likely that the government has revealed as little as it possibly can in these initial charges because it wants to protect this investigation, which is ongoing in the U.S., Pakistan and elsewhere -- John.
ROBERTS: Jeanne Meserve for us this morning in Denver. Jeanne, thanks so much.
Coming up, CNN national security contributor Fran Townsend and former CIA officer Peter Brooks with their expert take on the terror arrests and where the investigation could be headed next.
