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American Morning
A Look at the Accomplishment of President Obama's Asia Trip; Senate Wants More Answers in Fort Hood Shootings; Secretary of State Clinton Puts Pressure on Karzai to Clean Up Government
Aired November 19, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to AMERICAN MORNING on this Thursday, November 19th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks for joining us this morning. And here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
Ready to engage. President Obama announcing that he will send an envoy to North Korea next month for direct talks aimed at shutting down Pyongyang's nuclear weapon's program and restarting Six-party negotiations. But the olive branch comes with a warning for the communist regime, stop stalling.
CHETRY: Also a new development in the Fort Hood shooting investigation. The secretary of defense, Robert Gates, reportedly putting a former Pentagon official in charge of a review as a new memo surfaces about the accused shooter, a potentially damning memo. Were warning signs ignored?
ROBERTS: And the mammogram mess. First, the government panel tells women to wait to get one until they're 50. Now the secretary of Health and Human Services says don't listen to that advice. Who to believe?
CHETRY: We begin though with President Obama reaching out to North Korea, trying to end a nuclear stand-off. The president is unveiling a plan to send a U.S. envoy to the country next month for direct talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear program. He made the announcement at a joint news conference with South Korea's president in Seoul. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has been pushing for face- to-face meetings with the United States. President Obama, though, says that there would be serious strings attached.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our message is clear. If North Korea is prepared to take concrete and irreversible steps to fulfill its obligations and eliminate its nuclear weapons program, the United States will support economic assistance and help promote its full integration into the community of nations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The president is now heading home to Washington after wrapping up his four-nation tour of Asia. Our Dan Lothian has more on the trip from Seoul.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, Kiran, the president didn't leave Asia with a lot of agreements but senior adviser David Axelrod says that they never expected a ticker tape parade that expectations were not set very high. But he believes that the president's visit was a success because they were able to move dialogue forward on a number of key issues.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN (voice-over): Feeling good about his extended trip to Asia...
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's great. I had a wonderful time.
LOTHIAN: President Obama saluted about 1,500 troops of the U.S. troops based in South Korea.
OBAMA: We thank you for your service. We honor you for your sacrifices and just as you have fulfilled your responsibilities to your nation, your nation will fulfill its responsibilities to you.
LOTHIAN: But his upbeat message doesn't change the tough reality of nagging global challenges like the nuclear ambitions of South Korea's neighbor to the north and Iran, which continues to resist international pressure.
OBAMA: They have been unable to get to yes. And so as a consequence, we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences.
LOTHIAN: The president gave no specifics on potential sanctions that he says will be developed over the next several weeks. And while he appeared frustrated by North Korea's cat and mouse game, there was a shade of optimism as Mr. Obama talked about Ambassador Stephen Bosworth's visit next month to hold direct talks with the North.
OBAMA: The door is open to resolving these issues peacefully.
LOTHIAN: The Asia tour also took the president to Japan, Singapore and China. A heavy schedule of bilateral meetings on climate change, the economy, trade, but there were also a few side trips to play tourist.
OBAMA: Oh, it's beautiful. What a magnificent place to visit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN: As President Obama returns to business in Washington, climate change agreement remains elusive and this new deeper friendship is still complicated. For example, China is emerging as a key partner but still has a ways to go on human rights. One good sign, say White House aides, President Hu has accepted an invitation to visit Washington sometime next year -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Dan Lothian for us this morning. Dan, thanks.
Now to health care reform. The Senate's long-awaited plan finally on the table complete with a government option that the states have a right to reject. If it gets to the Senate floor and passes, the plan would cost you $849 billion. Democrats claim it will cover 94 percent of Americans and provide insurance to 31 million people who currently do not have it. All that while trimming the deficit $130 billion over the next decade. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the man who has to now sell the plan to moderate Democrats wasted no time in making his pitch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID, SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: We all acknowledge this legislation is a tremendous step forward. Why? Because it saves lives, saves money, and protects Medicare. Makes Medicare stronger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Senator Reid needs 60 votes to get the bill before the full Senate for debate. That vote could take place by Saturday. The Republican reaction, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calls it, quote, "yet another trillion dollar experiment, not what Americans bargained for."
CHETRY: Well, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is suggesting that women ignore a federal panel's new guidelines on mammograms.
On Monday, the U.S. Preventative Task Force advised women to wait until 50 for their first breast cancer screening. Since then, a lot of outrage from oncologists and patients who were saved because of mammograms, routine screenings in their 40s, even their 30s.
Well, Secretary Sebelius rejected the panel's advice and said that they will not change federal medical policy which recommends routine mammograms for women starting at age 40. Sebelius called mammograms an important lifesaving tool. Her advice to women, quote, "keep doing what you've been doing for years."
ROBERTS: A federal judge says the Army's failure to maintain a critical navigation channel led to the catastrophic flooding in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled the Army Corps of Engineers displayed, quote, "gross negligence in the years before Katrina allowing the channel to deteriorate. The ruling leaves the government open to billions of dollars in claims.
What does it mean for the residents of New Orleans? In the next hour, we're going to talk to the president of St. Bernard's Parish, an area that was nearly wiped off the map by the flooding.
Well, there are major new developments this morning in the Fort Hood shooting investigation. "The Associated Press" reporting today that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will put a former Pentagon official in charge of a sweeping all-services review of the shooting. National Public Radio has also obtained a document from 2007 that raises red flags about the alleged shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, including claims that he pushed Islam on some of his highly vulnerable patients. And a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll says close to two-thirds of you believe that the massacre could have been prevented.
Now lawmakers in Washington are getting into the mix more than ever. Brian Todd has that part of the story.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran. We're getting a sense on Capitol Hill that there is real urgency at this stage.
Members of Congress want more answers on what Nidal Hasan did leading up to the Fort Hood shootings. What his motivations may have been and if there were any dots not connected. We're also getting strong signals that the pace of this investigation is not moving fast enough for some congressmen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): Two members of Congress present at a high- level close-door briefing from the lead agencies investigating the Fort Hood shootings tell CNN the information wasn't very specific. Impatience on Capitol Hill for more details on the probe is growing. Leaders of the Senate Homeland Security Committee say they've already started their own investigation. This comes days after the president said this.
OBAMA: That all of us should resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater that sometimes dominates the discussion here in Washington. The stakes are far too high.
TODD: Senate Homeland Security Chairman Joe Lieberman responded to that directly.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (I), HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIRMAN: We are not interested in political theater. We are interested in getting the facts and correcting the system.
TODD: Lieberman says he doesn't want to interfere with the criminal investigation into the shootings but says he needs to interview people in the government, including members of a joint terrorism task force that picked up communications between alleged shooter Nidal Hasan and a radical Muslim cleric. And Lieberman says he's working with the Obama administration to make that happen.
One question Lieberman's committee is looking into, whether Hasan was self-radicalized, a lone wolf influenced by militant Islam but not directed by anyone. I asked the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who was in those secret briefings if investigators are following that trail.
REP. SILVESTRE REYES (D), HOUSE INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN: We have to allow the agencies to do their work, come up with the facts, and then we can act accordingly.
TODD: But is that something you believe or you want to know whether this man acted kind of as a self-radicalized individual to commit these?
REYES: Well, of course. We want to know everything that occurred, how this evolved, what exactly happened.
TODD: Congress will also likely look into whether intelligence capabilities have been diminished, Republicans alleging there are tools the intelligence agencies had at their disposal months ago that are no longer available to them, and the Republicans are openly wondering if that may have contributed to some information on Hasan not being shared.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: We pressed the Republicans repeatedly over that and they're still not saying what those tools are. The Democratic House intelligence chairman told me he has no idea what they're talking about.
John and Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: Brian Todd this morning. Brian, thanks.
I spoke to the NPR correspondent who obtained that report in the alleged Fort Hood shooter that we mentioned at the top of Brian's piece. He says Nidal Hasan's supervisors actually talked about whether he fits the profile of someone who might kill his fellow soldiers. We'll have that interview with Daniel Zwerdling coming up at the bottom of the hour.
CHETRY: Nine minutes past the hour right now. Also new this morning, there's a problem with the bill that President Obama signed extending jobless benefits. It was built on programs that actually expire at the end of the year. A new report warns that if Congress doesn't renew those programs before the Christmas recess, about a million people will lose their benefits in January.
ROBERTS: Sarah Palin and her supporters outraged over "Newsweek's current cover featuring a photo of her in short black running shorts. The photo was originally taken for "Runner's World" magazine. Palin called the move irrelevant and sexist. "Newsweek"'s editor defends the cover saying, quote, "We chose the most interesting image available to us to illustrate the theme of the cover."
"Runner's World" magazine says it did not provide "Newsweek" with the image.
CHETRY: The theme of the cover, she's bad news for everyone. I mean, so they were clearly coming from a point of view with that one.
All right. Well, still movie popcorn. A nutritional horror show. A new study reveals little has changed in the past decade. A medium popcorn contains 20 cups, worth a whopping 1,200 calories, 60 grams of saturated fat and 980 milligrams of sodium. And that does not include the buttery topping which adds another 200 calories and three grams of saturated fat per 1 1/2 tablespoons.
ROBERTS: And how much butter do you put on the popcorn? Five, six.
CHETRY: You just keep pumping.
ROBERTS: Keep pumping.
Hamid Karzai sworn in for a second term in Afghanistan. A big problem of corruption in his government. The Secretary of State urges him to clean it up. Will he? Our Jill Dougherty is looking into all of this.
Ten minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It sure is. It sure is. Good old Bruce Springsteen.
It's 12 minutes after the hour now. Actually, 13 minutes past the hour now. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Talk about the Grinch who stole Christmas. This year, kids who write to Santa are not getting a response. It's because the post office is no longer shipping letters to the small town of North Pole, Alaska, where volunteers respond to thousands of letters each year.
Operation Santa program has been a Christmas tradition since 1954, but it's being dropped after a postal worker recognized a volunteer in the agency as a registered sex offender. Instead, Santa's letters will be, quote, "recycled."
Does that make sense?
ROBERTS: What a shame.
CHETRY: One bad apple, they're not going to send them.
ROBERTS: Wow. I guess they're trying to be as protective as possible, but that is a real shame.
More Americans will be on the go this Thanksgiving weekend. AAA predicting nearly 39 million people will travel over the holiday. That's up 1.4 percent from last year. A big turnaround from last year's 25 percent drop which was blamed on the faltering economy. But AAA estimates that air travel is going to dip nearly seven percent.
CHETRY: All right. A new three-and-a-half hour limit on tailgating by the NFL is causing quite an uproar this morning.
The league telling "USA Today" it's part of a crackdown on drunken, obnoxious fans. Plenty of fans, though, are firing back calling it a money grab because it says, you know, what they're trying to do is just force them to go inside earlier and buy food inside the stadium.
ROBERTS: Three and a half hour limit which means you just drink faster, right?
CHETRY: Well, I mean, the thing is it's such a tradition. You go there and get a prime spot.
ROBERTS: Exactly.
CHETRY: You know, even if the game is at 1:00 in the afternoon, you go there at 8:00 in the morning and set up your little Winnebago.
ROBERTS: It is an American tradition. They're placing limitations on tradition. Can you imagine?
CHETRY: So no Santa letters and now you can only tailgate for 3 1/2 hours.
ROBERTS: What's happening in this world?
Also new this morning, a new beginning in Afghanistan. Overnight, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Kabul for the ceremony and to push President Karzai to clean up all the corruption in his government. It's something that's become an increasing concern for the United States especially as President Obama prepares to send potentially thousands more U.S. troops into the country.
Jill Dougherty is working the story for us this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eight years after the US invaded Afghanistan, it's now the second most corrupt country in the world after Somalia. A cancer that's chipping away at any faith Afghans might have in the government of President Hamid Karzai.
"For the last five years, we haven't had security," the student says, "Now I want him to stand by his word and the oath he's taken. He must fire the corrupt government officials."
From the bribe-taking cop on the beat to top officials, experts say the Afghan government is a web of corruption.
MALOU INNOCENT, CATO INSTITUTE: The corruption that's so endemic and so pervasive within the society has actually pushed many Afghans to sort of side with insurgents that offer themselves as a righteous alternative to the corruption of the Karzai regime.
DOUGHERTY: Presiden Karzai himself was involved in an election campaign marred by massive vote fraud. Allegations abound that his half brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, is linked to Afghanistan's drug trade, something that brother repeatedly denied. Now, new allegations in a front-page "Washington Post" report that the Minister of Mines accepted a nearly $30 million bribe. The ministry denies it.
IAN KELLY, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We are concerned about corruption. As far as the actual allegations themselves, I -- I don't know if they're true or not.
DOUGHERTY: Karzai's government is creating a new major crimes task force with help from the FBI and a national anti-corruption tribunal. But US officials say the real test is whether they'll be implemented.
In Kabul, Afghanistan for President Karzai's inauguration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton officials tell CNN is driving home to Karzai that the US wants deeds, not words when it comes to fighting corruption.
HILLARY CLINTON, US SECRETARY OF STATE: There is now a clear window of opportunity for President Karzai and his government to make a new compact with the people of Afghanistan, to demonstrate clearly that we are going to have accountability and tangible results.
DOUGHERTY (on camera): But some experts doubt President Karzai really will crack down on corruption. They say that he owes his political success to warlords and others and cutting them off could be political suicide.
Jill Dougherty, CNN, the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Jill, thanks so much.
Still ahead, a new government report is raising some new questions this morning about the administration's claims about the number of jobs being created by the stimulus. In some cases, if you look on recovery.gov, you see jobs created in certain congressional districts that don't exist.
So what's going on? Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" for us.
It's 17 and a half minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Christine Romans here "Minding Your Business" this morning. So, riddle me this, Batman, how do you create stimulus jobs in congressional districts that don't exist?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Apparently you do. This is the United States of America and this is the biggest stimulus ever. This is the biggest expense of your taxpayer money, the biggest amount of your money ever in history going out the door in such a short amount of time and we're having trouble counting these jobs.
Now, the White House, as we told you many times, says we've created a million jobs. They can count specifically a little more than 640,000 jobs that were on track to save or create 3.5 million jobs. But a new report from the Government Accountability Office says, well, there are more questions than answers in counting these jobs -- surprise, surprise.
We've all been reporting to you all of these -- all of these reports that, for example, in some congressional districts that don't exist, they have the jobs created, in some projects that have been funded, there have been no jobs created, and in some projects that haven't been funded by stimulus, there are jobs. Ten percent of recipients simply didn't submit reports. Less than 1 percent reviewed their submissions, and recipients, frankly, counted the jobs differently. Some say that --
It's incredibly complicated. Basically it's a mess. It's just a mess and -- and the government trying to figure out how many jobs -- the government watchdogs trying to figure out how many jobs have actually been created -- there are going to be hearings today in the House. You're going to hear from the Transportation Secretary for example saying that they know that there are jobs being created, more than 45,000 highway jobs. Jobs are being created but counting them has just been a real pain.
It feeds into the Republicans who say this is all a waste of money. Look at the rise in unemployment rate. This is all just a colossal waste of money. But the supporters of the stimulus say no, no, no, no. It's just so much money going out, so many paperwork errors. We are creating jobs, it's just technically difficult to count them.
CHETRY: And what about the mix-up with some of the congressional districts that don't exist?
ROMANS: Well, apparently, some people, what they did is they didn't know what their congressional district was, so they just put a number in. So you got -- you got people filling out the paperwork -- all of this money is contingent on a lot of reporting, and so people are getting this money and they're filling out paperwork, they're doing all these reports and they're frankly making a lot of mistakes and it's making it very difficult to count -- count the jobs they have created.
We're talking about 640,000 jobs according to the White House -- 640,000 jobs. I mean, so 500,000 people a week are filing for first- time for unemployment benefits, you know? I mean, the -- the jobs situation here is just so dynamic and changing and ugly that we're all fighting over this. I think it's more political than economic, quite frankly.
This money is going out the door. Congress passed it. We don't -- we're -- it's going to be hard to track how it's all been spent. We want to -- we're focusing on each one of these one these little crazy, fake congressional districts and all that. You're going to see -- hear a lot of political fighting about it. We're going to hear a lot about it today on the House, several people testifying. (INAUDIBLE) for everyone.
But the bottom line is -- and you heard me say it before, we're never going to be able to count those jobs that have been created. We're never going to know how exactly how many jobs have been saved or created with our money.
ROBERTS: But we will hear them -- a lot of them (ph) and talk about them.
ROMANS: Oh, yes. We will. And we'll hear people say that there -- it's impossible and, you know, have fun (ph).
ROBERTS: Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning. Thanks so much.
Khalid Sheik Mohammed will be tried in the southern district of New York for crimes against the -- the country, the 9/11 attacks. And there is a -- a huge furor over the fact that he will be tried in a civilian court as opposed to a military tribunal, a really hot hearing yesterday on Capitol Hill. We'll tell you what happened coming up next.
Twenty-four minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
"We need not cower in the face of this enemy," bold words from Attorney General Eric Holder.
CHETRY: Yes, but words that critics believe could come back to haunt him. That's how Holder's defending his decision, though, to prosecute five 9/11 suspects, including the self-professed mastermind, in front of a jury in New York instead of a military commission.
Carol Costello joins us live from Washington, and, you know, there's a gamble here and many are saying that it could be a tough fight.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's what they were talking about for hours in the halls of Congress yesterday. I'm "Just Sayin'" morning, will the decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a civilian court make the United States look weak on terror or is America's strength in its justice system? The argument, as I said is playing out in the halls of Congress and maybe in your house.
"Just Sayin,'" what do you think?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Critics say it's not like he's some gang member. He's a terrorist captured in a war, allegedly linked to 9/11, to 1993's World Trade Center bombing, to a 1995 attempted assassination of Pope John Paul and the gruesome killing of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I think that is a perversion of the justice system.
COSTELLO: In a Senate hearing, lawmakers grilled Attorney General Eric Holder about his decision to try Mohammed in civilian court instead of a military tribunal, questioning whether America is growing weak in the war on terror.
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: I suspect our cold-blooded enemies and our clear-eyed friends both must wonder what is going on in our heads. Are we, they must ask themselves, still serious about this effort?
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: We are at war, and we will use every instrument of national power to win. We need not cower in the face of this enemy.
COSTELLO: A civilian trial means a jury of your peers, a right to confront your accuser, see the evidence against you, unlike military commissions where the rules are much more restrictive.
"Just Sayin'", is it weak to try terrorists in civilian court?
KAREN GREENBERG, NYU CENTER ON LAW AND SECURITY: What would they prefer that we do, you know, execute these people without a trial? Sure.
COSTELLO: Karen Greenberg from NYU Center on Law and Security asks is that how the rest of the word ought to view America? And she says it is not like military tribunals are broadcasting America as tough on terrorists.
GREENBERG: A kind of terrible, terrible record. They've tried three people, you know, since the beginning of the war on terror.
COSTELLO: Still, even Republican Tom Kean, the former governor who served on a 9/11 commission, has reservations. America may be doing the right thing in the eyes of the world but he says that may not prevent Khalid Sheik Mohammed from using it for his own good.
TOM KEAN, FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: I think he wants to be Che Guevara or something like. He's going to try to be a hero to the Muslim world and I worry a little bit that we're giving him that kind of forum.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: "Just Sayin'" will a decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a civilian court make us look weak on terror or is our strength in our justice system?
Want to know what you think this morning. Write to me on my blog, cnn.com/amfix. We'll read your -- some of your comments later on on AMERICAN MORNING. Cnn.com/amfix. CHETRY: All right. We'll be tackling the topic as well with Charles Swift who actually has -- had to defend some terrorist suspects the past about what he thinks this trial could turn out to be. So it will be very interesting and we look forward to your comments as well. Thanks, Carol.
Coming up on half past the hour right now, time to check our top stories.
On the final stop of his Asia trip in South Korea, President Obama now seeing a dramatic departure from past diplomacy. He's going to be sending high-level U.S. envoys to North Korea. One is going next month for direct talks on the stand-off over the country's nuclear weapons program. The president says, quote, "The door is open for North Korea to resolve the issue peacefully. He warned if the communist regime continues its nuclear cat and mouse game, there will be consequences."
ROBERTS: Intelligence officials say missiles fired from a suspected U.S. drone killed three members of the Taliban in Pakistan last night. The missiles reportedly hit a house that was filled with militants near the Afghan border. A witness says four other tribesmen were wounded in that attack.
Also in New York state, it is now a felony to drive drunk or under the influence of drugs with a child in the car. It is called "Leandra's Law." It was enacted Wednesday. It was named after Leandra Rosado. The 11-year-old was killed when her friend's mom drove drunk, and then crash on the way to a sleepover. Drivers convicted under the new law. One of the toughest in the country, are also reported to the statewide central register of child abuse and maltreatment.
A new development this morning in the investigation of Major Nidal Hasan; the accused gunman in the Fort Hood massacre. National Public Radio has obtained an Army document that raised serious concerns about his behavior two years before he allegedly murdered 13 people on the biggest Army post in the world. The memo, the first evaluation from Hasan's record to service, was obtained by NPR Correspondent Daniel Zwerdling. He joined me last evening on "CNN TONIGHT."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL ZWERDLING, NPR CORRESPONDENT: Here's two things about it that are especially striking. First of all, as you said, this is the first memo. The first thing we've had in writing that proves what reports have been saying based on anonymous sources over the past week. That Hasan's supervisors felt he was a terrible and reckless psychiatrist.
But number two, this shows that the military kept pushing him on, kept promoting him, and, in fact, you know, here are soldiers coming back from the wars to Fort Hood. These are among the most vulnerable and fragile people in the military. They desperately need psychiatric help. Yet the Army knowingly sends Hasan to Fort Hood to treat these soldiers when this memo was in his personnel file. In fact, I have been told by my sources that Walter Reed sent a copy of this exact memo to Fort Hood in July when Hasan was heading there so they would know what they were getting into.
ROBERTS: All right, so with that, let's take a look at the contents of this memo. It's written by his supervisors, Major Scott Moran, whom CNN after the shootings at Fort Hood. He refused to comment on Major Hasan...
(CROSSTALK)
ZWERDLING: ...done with me.
(CROSSTALK)
ZWERDLING: Everybody refuses to comment.
ROBERTS: He said that he had serious concerns, harshly criticized his professionalism and work ethic. Here's the quote. He said that quote, "Major Hasan demonstrates a pattern of poor judgment and a lack of professionalism." What led him to that conclusion?
ZWERDLING: Ever since Hasan showed up at Walter Reed for training, there was a series of incidents. And in this memo it lists maybe eight or nine of them. I'll just list a few. He would be the guy on call and so doctors would call him in an emergency and he wouldn't answer the telephone. He mishandled a homicidal patient in the emergency room and essentially allowed her to escape so nobody knew where she was.
He -- it turns out that Hasan actually was seeing fewer patients. He was doing less work than just about any psychiatrist in the Army. At a time when Walter Reed and every Army hospital was overwhelmed with people coming back from the war, Hasan was seeing about one patient per week. Now I don't know if you know any psychiatrists, but I don't know anybody who sees that little case load.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: And Daniel, here is the kicker in all of this, in the memo as well -- after going through a litany of things that Hasan is doing wrong, talking about his lack of professionalism, poor judgment, the few patients that he's seeing, the fact that he's not responding to emergency calls and mistreated a homicidal patient. Major Scott Moran concludes, quote, "In spite of all of this, I am not able to say he is not competent to graduate nor do I think a period of academic probation now at the end of his training will be beneficial. He would be able to contain his behavior enough to complete any period of probation successfully." What does that say?
ZWERDLING: Very interesting. I spent a lot of time talking to psychiatrists at Walter Reed and other military institutions about this language, and they say what's happening here is that in the military there's a phrase -- I don't even know if it's in the dictionary -- but there's a phrase, is the officer non-remediable? In other words, if you yell at the guy and say you better shape up or else, can he follow instructions and do a little better or is he hopeless? And psychiatrists at Walter Reed and at the medical fellowship where he went say that if they breathe down his neck, if they gave him super close supervision, if they really you know came down on him like a ton of bricks, he would get just enough better that they would have to say to their commanders, sir, he does seem capable of remediating.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: So here's the question so many people might have right now and I heard you talking about this last week on NPR, Daniel, and that is with this record, with this evaluation, how did he end up at Fort Hood?
ZWERDLING: It turns out that some of his supervisors and associates sat around actually earlier this year saying what can we do about Nidal Hasan? I mean one supervisor mused out loud to colleagues, "Do we think he's the kind of guy who could actually leak secrets to Islamic radicals?" And another supervisor mused to some of his colleagues, "Do you think he could actually commit fratricide, you know, that's killing fellow American soldiers?"
But just -- so they got together and they thought what can we do with him? And the solution was -- this was the Army solution -- let's send him to a medical center that has a pretty good mental health staff. Fort Hood actually has more mental health specialists than most Army bases. And the thinking was if he improves, then Hasan will be helpful, and if he doesn't improve, at least we have a bunch of therapists there who can monitor him and make sure he doesn't do too much damage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You know, the one thing that Zwerdling brought up at the end of that two was if Major Hasan got through the cracks, if he fell through the holes in the system, how many others are potentially out there like him?
CHETRY: And that's why they are conducting this review and possibly changing how they do things in the future.
All right. Well, still ahead, more than ever, Americans are being worried -- being forced to worry about how much they can afford to pay for food. Can they even provide for their families?
We are going to show you what life is really like for mothers who don't have the means to feed their own kids.
It's 36 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Forty minutes past the hour right now. More Americans than ever say that they are worried about going hungry. The Department of Agriculture is reporting a record number of families had trouble getting enough to eat last year. It has been putting a strain on food banks across the country. Our Ted Rowlands is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, the alarming number of Americans worried about food that were released by the federal government don't seem to be a big shock for people here at the Los Angeles area food bank. They say they are busier than ever. In fact, they say last month was their busiest in their 30-plus year history.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS (voice-over): It's two-year-old Nicole Flores' birthday and her mother Diana says there isn't enough money for a cake.
DIANA FLORES, MOTHER: I'm not working and I don't have enough money with me and I wanted to make her something, you know. That's what I wanted to make. I wanted to give her a little cake or all that stuff but like there's no money or nothing so I really don't have nothing to offer her, you know, just say happy birthday. That's about it.
ROWLANDS: Diana Flores and her boyfriend Pedro are struggling to take care of Nicole and her 5-month-old brother Anthony. Pedro is a construction worker but hasn't had a construction for three months. Diana says she worries about feeding her children.
FLORES: Sometimes there's no food. Sometimes we just eat in the morning and we don't have food for the afternoon so that's why we try to take care of the food like that, just like whatever, so we like try to just take care of it and eat what we have to eat so we can have it tomorrow or the next day.
ROWLANDS: For the past three months Diana says they have been coming to this Los Angeles area food bank called M.E.N.D. which stands for Meet Each Need with Dignity. Shelter organizers say they have seen a 50 percent increase in clients over the past year.
FLORES: Gracias.
MARIANNE HAVER HILL, PRES. & CEO, MEND: Often they are working part-time at McDonald's and part-time doing baby-sitting and part-time doing house cleaning or, you know, working in a car wash and if it rains they don't work, again, part-time labor, construction, if they are -- you know, if they are working or maybe they are not.
ROWLANDS: It's Jaquetta Cooper's first time at the food bank. She's an unemployed medical assistant with a 7-year-old daughter.
JAQUETTA COOPER, MOTHER: I put in resumes and I keep calling, and, you know, I'm like checking my voice mail have they called me yet or things like that. I'm always checking up on it but right now it's like there's nothing out.
ROWLANDS: Jaquetta says she and her husband who is also looking for work are staying with a relative rent-free for now.
(on camera): Are you worried?
COOPER: Yes, I am, very worried, especially for my daughter.
ROWLANDS: Diana says she, too, worries about her daughter and son. Her plan is to get a job and go to school. She hopes she can throw a birthday party for Nicole when she turns 3.
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ROWLANDS: Not everybody agrees with the government's numbers or at least the way they came up with them saying that people worried about food doesn't necessarily translate into people going hungry. Still, nobody seems to be disputing that places like this around the country are busier than ever -- John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: Ted Rowlands this morning. Ted, thanks so much.
The rain that was in the Midwest heading east could cause some problems with air travel up and down the coast. Our Rob Marciano tells you exactly where it's going. And we have a possibility of some white stuff for next week's holiday. We're going to press Rob further on that point.
Forty-three minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: We are saying good morning at 46 minutes past the hour to Topeka, Kansas. Thanks to our friends at WIVW. It's 32 degrees going up to 57, and it's going to be mostly sunny in Topeka today.
We fast-forward through the stories that we are tracking for you later on. The labor department releasing its weekly jobless claims report. This comes out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, and that number could set the tone for the day on Wall Street as well.
At 10:00 a.m. Eastern, the house foreign affairs committee is going to be discussing lifting a travel ban on Cuba. The committee's chair, Democrat Howard Berman as well as Republican Senator Dick Lugar have both called for the ban to be scrapped. Legislation has been introduced in both houses of Congress.
And astronauts from space shuttle Atlantis start their first space walk. It will take place at 9:18 this morning. You can actually see it live. The shuttle docked at the International Space Station yesterday. So far, the crew has successfully installed a giant spare parts carrier to keep the International Space Station stocked when the shuttle retires next year, so a lot going on. It was also cool. They were greeted with hugs, the six astronauts when they got off the shuttle, and you know, the two hatches opened and make their way on the International Space Station. It is still so cool to me that, you know, they live up there in space.
ROBERTS: So, they basically put a shed out back to shuttle. They keep everything in.
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Rob Marciano is tracking things flying a little closer to home today. Got some rain moving into the Northeast, and Rob, will it cause the attendant problems at the airports that we typically see when the slightest bit of moisture falls?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I think by the time it gets to the bigger cities, it won't be that big of a problem, but certainly D.C., Philly, and Chicago will see some issues as well. This guy has not really moved at all. We have been showing him all week long. Actually, it's retrograded just a little bit, so the circulation is spreading out, and we're still seeing some showers from Chicago back to detroit in through -- off the Carolina coastline.
And now the main rain shield is getting just north of Washington, D.C., but it is very, very light at this point. It will be marching up the I-95 Corridor throughout the day today and begin to feel like the bulk of the rain for the major metropolitan areas across the Northeast will be tonight. Also tonight, storm developing across parts of Texas. This is going to be a slow mover as well, and now will trek across the Gulf Coast over the next 36 to 48 hours.
That will dump some heavy rain, potentially some flooding, and another wind maker and snow maker across the Northwest, so Chicago, D.C., and Detroit, and Philly is where you are going to see your low clouds and rain; potentially up to 60-minute delays there; Charlotte, Seattle and Portland also. Seventy-two degrees for a high temperature in Dallas. It will 58 degrees in Boston, 59 degrees in New York before the rain set in.
All right. We go from New York to New Jersey. Turnpike. Check out Tammy the turkey. One of the busiest toll plazas on the Turnpike, itself, and this particular turkey -- I guess, guys, pushing her luck as we get closer to the big holiday. If I were a turkey in November, I wouldn't be prancing around the turnpike. I don't know about you guys.
CHETRY: What? No, that turkey escaped. That turkey got out of one of those, you know, trucks. That turkey has a better shot being on the highway than one of those trucks, if you know what I mean.
MARCIANO: You know, I didn't think about that. You know, I was listening to the scanners, and I didn't hear reports of a turkey on the loose escaping from one of the turkey delivery trucks. (INAUDIBLE)
ROBERTS: That looks remarkably like the turkey that terrorized Tenafly, New Jersey not so long ago, so perhaps, moving around a bit. Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: All right, John.
CHETRY: That's right. That turkey's escape route is the Turnpike.
ROBERTS: You know, our executive producer, Jamie Kraft, who lives in that area. This came in my ear and cautioned me now, now.
(LAUGHING)
CHETRY: All right. How about this one? You remember her ponytail pull and her punch in the back of another player? Oh, there you see it. Well, you know what, it has become a punch line everywhere. Now, a soccer player from college, Elizabeth Lambert, says she is not the monster, but this video makes her out to be.
ROBERTS: And the Katrina flooding, could the government be on the hook for billions of dollars? A new court ruling suggests it might. We will tell you what's going on, and we will also talk with the president of St. Bernard Parish coming right up. It's 50 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Seven minutes now to the top of the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. She admits that her actions were indefensible, pulling a player down by her ponytail. The University of New Mexico soccer player, Elizabeth Lambert, says that there's another side to the video that earned her national notoriety. Our Jeanne Moos now with the rest of the story.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the ponytail pull that floored everybody who saw it. Ponytail pull and punch that became a late-night punch line.
UNKNOWN MALE: Watch this.
UNKNOWN MALE: This display of rough action and hair pulling has caused sports fans across the nation to stand up and say -- hey, maybe I need to start watching women's soccer.
MOOS: Elizabeth Lambert was called nasty, dirtiest, most violent, cheap shot, and now she gets the bully pulpit to say...
JERE LONGMAN, NY TIMES SPORTS REPORTER (voice-over): She's just trying to say that she's not a monster that she's being portrayed to be.
MOOS: The University of New Mexico Junior gave her side of the story only to "The New York Times," no media circus.
LONGMAN (voice-over): She came across as very remorseful. I think stunned and not only that this happened that stunned that she was the one who did it.
MOOS: Speaking of the hair yanking, she told the "Times," "I look at it, and I'm like, that is not me." She is seeing a psychologist, suspended from soccer. Her roommates try not to let her get near a computer to avoid vicious comments or a reenactment or an impersonation of her making a dating video.
UNKNOWN MALE: We're thinking about putting the soccer ball in the shot.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: (EXPLETIVE WORD) What's this? You think all do I is play soccer?
MOOS: But, it has been far for funny for Lambert. She said she is stunned and scared by the VMNs who comments like this.
LONGMAN (voice-over): Yes, you should be taken to a state prison raped and left to die on the side of a ditch.
MOOS: She points out that except for the ponytail yank, the rest that was condensed into that video was normal jostling that takes place in women's soccer, but she was elbowed in the ribs before whacking back that her opponent tugged at her shorts.
MOOS (on-camera): Elizabeth Lambert said the whole incident got blown out of proportion because it was a woman doing it, but if it had been men's soccer, well, guys are expected to be rough.
MOOS (voice-over): Then there are all the cat fight comments like this one from Wiener_Guy She's appalled the incident has been portrayed in a sexy way.
Wiener_Guy: She has messages from guys saying hey, we have to meet up.
MOOS: She looks like a J Crew model in this picture. She is also the model of remorse that could take a lifetime to live down this tape out.
UNKNOWN MALE: What happened to Linda?
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.
UNKNOWN MALE: She was here a second ago.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: So, the hair pull was indefensible, but the -- punch in the back, I think, was like -- hey.
CHETRY: Yes. She got the elbow in the chest first.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: You're going to get a fist in the back.
CHETRY: Right, but the bottom line is they are right. If this was guys nobody would be making nearly as big of a deal about it.
ROBERTS: That's because most guys don't have ponytails. CHETRY: (LAUGHING) Except Jay. Thanks on Jeanne Moos.
All right. Still ahead, we are going to be talking much more about the Army now looking at whether or not obvious warning signs were ignored in the Fort Hood shooting. Our top story is coming up in 90 seconds.
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