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American Morning
Gates to Appoint Ft. Hood Lead Investigator; Obama Wraps Up Asia Trip; Holder Under Fire for Jurisdictional Decision About 9/11 Trial;
Aired November 19, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING on this Thursday, November 19th. Glad you're with us this morning. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks for being with us.
Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
New developments in the Fort Hood shooting investigation: The secretary of defense is putting an ex-Pentagon official in charge of a review as a new memo surfaces about the accused shooter, a potentially damaging one. Were the warning signs ignored?
CHETRY: Also, President Obama is flying home after a busy Asia trip. Before leaving South Korea, the president unveiled plans to send an envoy to North Korea for talks on its nuclear weapons program. We're going to be speaking about that with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, the diplomatic mission to Pyongyang. He's been there, done that. What advice can he offer?
ROBERTS: Attorney General Eric Holder under fire for deciding to try five suspected 9/11 terrorists in a civilian court. Republican senators confronting Holder on Capitol Hill yesterday, wondering why Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators are not being tried in a military court where outcomes tend to be more predictable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: But I'm telling you right now, we're making history, we're making bad history. And let me tell you why. If Bin Laden were caught tomorrow, would it be the position of this administration that he would be brought to justice?
ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: He would certainly be brought to justice, absolutely.
GRAHAM: Where would you try him?
HOLDER: Well, we'd go through our protocol and we'd make the determination about where he should appropriately be tried.
GRAHAM: Would you try him -- why would you take him someplace different than KSM? HOLDER: Well, that might be the case. I don't know. I'm not...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Holder says he is confident that justice will be served in a federal court in New York, just a few blocks from the site of the attack on the World Trade Center.
But first, there are major new developments this morning in the Fort Hood shooting investigation. Later on today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to put a former Pentagon official in charge of a sweeping review of the shooting. And the Army will have a new glaring piece of evidence to look at.
National Public Radio obtaining a document from 2007 that raised serious concerns about the alleged shooter, Army Doctor Nidal Hasan, pointing to a pattern of poor judgment and saying he inappropriately discussed his religion with patients. The memo, the first evaluation from Hasan's record to surface, was obtained by NPR correspondent, Daniel Zwerdling. He joined me last evening on "CNN TONIGHT."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL ZWERDLING, NPR CORRESPONDENT: Hasan's supervisors felt he was a terrible and reckless psychiatrist. 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 must handle 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.
ROBERTS: So, here's the question so many people may 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 early this year and 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 that 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 -- 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. 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: NPR's Daniel Zwerdling.
Our Barbara Starr is following all of this from the Pentagon this morning.
Barbara, what are your sources telling you about these new developments? What's this review going to focus on?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected later today to come out and announce this review. They're not saying who the Pentagon official will be. You know, officials are saying to us, it's going to be -- pardon me -- very tough to conduct any kind of study. How do you predict when somebody's going to do something like this?
But they are going to look at practices, see what they can learn about how they can avoid something like this, what else they can possibly do. Remember, President Obama has a study due to him by the end of the month about intelligence and military information, who knew what, when, and did anything fall between the cracks and should anybody be held accountable -- John.
ROBERTS: All right. Barbara, we'll be hearing more about that review later on today.
And coming up at 8:40 Eastern, we're going to talk with Congressman Peter Hoekstra. He's the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. Why he thinks this was an act of terrorism and what he thinks about the memo that was discovered. Stay with us.
CHETRY: And a developing story right now. Air travelers across the country are dealing with delays this morning because of a computer glitch. The problem is in Atlanta. A computer program used by pilots to file their flight plans is malfunctioning. There's a live look right now at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport where planes are idled right now.
Rob Marciano is monitoring this developing story for us. So, Rob, what is the latest?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Really, no improvement. And just -- this computer called NADIN has had a history of doing this. Last time it did it, it took a good six hours before they got it fixed. So, this is going to be a problem all day long, especially in the morning, especially on the east coast, because, obviously, that's where the flight first take off.
So, they are getting some planes in the air, but flight dispatchers and pilots have to basically file these -- their flight plans by hand, by fax. And instead of going through Atlanta, most of those have to go through Salt Lake. So, it's a long and laborious process. Our flight controller system is not showing a whole lot of planes in the air, but there are some. And if you are on the tarmac, just be patient.
Here's a live shot of LaGuardia Airport, where it's a little bit hazy, but certainly not enough low visibility to slow down air travel. So, really, weather is not the issue here. It is certainly this computer, which the latest we got from the FAA is they're not -- now they're kind of backpedaling and saying, oh, it's not really all NADIN, but I've talked to some pilots, and it is.
Live shot from Atlanta and a lot more flights at the gates than there are on the runways. But again, we're looking for some of these planes to begin to take off.
Weather across the east coast, we're looking at rainfall across Chicago, back through Pittsburgh and through the New York area. This rainfall is really not going to be that big of an issue as far as the flights are concerned. It's this computer, John and Kiran.
And again, last time this happened, it took a good five, six hours before they got it back up and running. And then, obviously, there's going to be residual delays throughout the day.
CHETRY: Yes.
MARCIANO: So, if you are at the airport, I know we force feed people CNN at the airport, we feel for you, just be patient.
CHETRY: Right.
MARCIANO: Computers obviously aren't perfect.
CHETRY: Well, apparently Rick Sanchez is trying to get from Atlanta to New York right now. He sent an e-mail a couple of minutes ago saying that it's crazy and that they told him not to be annoyed when you taxi for a long, long time. And then he just sent us a new e-mail saying, "seeing movement, flights starting to roll."
So, sort of jives with what you said...
MARCIANO: Yes.
CHETRY: ... that slowly, you know, they're getting out there, but probably not as quickly as a normal day. And as you said, you know, how quickly that files up.
MARCIANO: And everything that was in the pipeline earlier got off OK, but it's now the new flight plans that are being ingested is taking some time, and good to hear from Rick that things are moving, albeit slowly.
CHETRY: He's our first iReporter. But keep 'em coming. All right. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right. You bet. ROBERTS: And just a note a moment ago when we're saying that Congressman Peter Hoekstra was going to join us. We showed a photograph that was not the congressman, our apologies.
Turning now to health care reform and the showdown facing Senate Democrats: now that their long-awaited plan is finally on the table, it includes a government insurance option that states can choose to reject. If it gets to the Senate floor and passes, the plan will cost you, the taxpayer, $849 billion. Democrats claim that it will cover 94 percent of Americans.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the man who has to now sell the bill to moderate Democrats, wasted no time in making his pitch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), 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: The bill raises the Medicare payroll tax by a half a percent for high-income earners, individuals earning $200,000 or more a year, couples earning $250,000 and up. A vote to send the measure to the full Senate could take place by Saturday. Not clear at this point if Senator Reid has the 60 votes he needs.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, a federal judge ruling that the Army Corps of Engineers is liable for some of the worst flooding that took place during Hurricane Katrina. The ruling says that the Army Corps of Engineers displayed, quote, "gross negligence, when it did not maintain a navigation channel."
Earlier this morning, I spoke with the president of one of hardest areas of New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish. I asked him, what does it mean for the people there?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG TAFFARO, JR., ST. BERNARD PARISH PRESIDENT: What this says is that the people of St. Bernard Parish -- St. Bernard Parish as a community -- is vindicated in the sense that what we have feared all long and who is responsible all long has now become a reality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The ruling also could open up Uncle Sam to billions of dollars in claims. The government, meantime, says it plans to appeal this ruling, taking it all the way up to the Supreme Court, if it has to.
ROBERTS: President Obama announced that he is sending an envoy to North Korea next month to try to bring the North Koreans back to the table on nuclear negotiations. Will it work? We'll check in with a fellow who knows an awful lot about North Korea, has been there a few times, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico will be with us -- coming up next. There he is.
It's 10 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
President Obama is homeward bound after a busy week in Asia. His final stop was South Korea, where he announced plans to send an envoy to North Korea for direct talks on its nuclear weapons program.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has had plenty of experience negotiating with North Korea, making numerous trips to the communist country. And he joins us now from Santa Fe, New Mexico, this morning.
Governor, it's great to see you, again.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: Steven Bosworth is going to be -- Steven Bosworth is going to be the high-level envoy going to North Korea on the 8th. His goal is to have bilateral talks with North Korea, to try to bring them back to the six-party talks. Do you think he'll be able to bring them back?
RICHARDSON: Yes, I think he will. What Bosworth is going to try to do is get the North Koreans to agree to come back to the six-party talks, and that's the objective of the six-party countries, to get North Korea to get rid of their nuclear weapons, to stop exporting nuclear materials. North Korea has refused to go back to those six- party talks, saying they want to talk directly to the United States, face-to-face.
What Bosworth will do is basically say, "You have to return to the talks for serious negotiations. The negotiations with me are only going to be about you returning to the talks."
But what's interesting, John, is that the president has signaled a new policy that he's not going to be negotiating with North Korean perpetuity, where they agree to take certain baby steps on disarmament, and then they behave, misbehave, and leave the talks and come back for concessions -- he said he's ready to have a massive agreement with North Korea, but only after six-party negotiations, and one where there's verification if they are going to get rid of their nuclear weapons, which is our objective in the region.
ROBERTS: Well, Governor, if the objective is to get rid of nuclear weapons, what would be the problem with having direct talks with North Korea, just the United States and Pyongyang, as opposed to having it in the context of the six-party talks?
RICHARDSON: Well, the problem, John, is that every country in Asia that is part of the six-party talks, South Korea, Japan, China, have enormous stakes with security in North Korea. They're not going to want to be left out. For instance, if there's going to be an agreement with North Korea eventually, South Korea has been providing a lot of the food aid that is necessary in North Korea -- which, by the way, there's some analysts saying that in March or April, North Korea is going to face another food crisis.
But one of the things you learn about dealing with North Korea, which I have over the years, is you never know what they're going to do next.
They've negotiate in their own time zone, in their own frameworks. But I think this is a good step forward, to send ambassador Bosworth, who's a very experienced diplomat in Asia, to basically persuade them to get back to the six-party talks. I believe, probably, an informal understanding was reached that if Bosworth went and had bilateral talks that the North Koreans eventually would return to the six-party talks.
ROBERTS: In their joint appearance yesterday, President Obama and South Korea's President Lee said that North Korea could win massive aid and better global understanding if it scrapped its nuclear plans. Is that an argument that Kim Jong-Il is likely to buy? You know, if he gets rid of his nuclear program, what else does he have to bargain with?
RICHARDSON: Well, again with the North Koreans having their own unique negotiating style, the big card for Kim Jong-Il and the North Koreans is their nuclear weapons. The fact that they're exporting nuclear materials. They want to leave that card to the very end. If they're going to give it up, they're going to want a lot of food assistance, energy assistance. They're going to want to end sanctions from the United States. They're going to want a new treaty with the United States, getting rid of, basically, the disarmament agreement from the Korean War.
So what I think we need now is to try the North Koreans, negotiate with them, in a different context. I think that's what President Obama is doing in saying, look, we're not going to just sit with you and you're going to leave the talks, get concessions, come back. We're going to look maybe at a grand bargain.
But, again, I'm not privy to that internal discussion. But it seems that he's forged a new path. And I think it's got a good chance of succeeding.
ROBERTS: Want to ask you about something else, governor while we got you here. There's a big hearing in the House foreign relations committee today, to talk about whether or not the embargo against Cuba should be lifted. You told us on this program not too long ago that you think it's time to lift the embargo. But opponents of that idea say, listen, Raul Castro, Fidel Castro, they haven't changed at all, they're the same bad guys they always were, why reward them by even talking about lifting the embargo?
RICHARDSON: Well, I do what's best for U.S. foreign policy, and I believe the embargo needs to be lifted. It's not working, it's counterproductive, and it hurts us in Latin America. But you know when you negotiate with the Cubans; you want to get something in return. What I think a first step should be is - is get rid of the travel ban.
Let Americans travel in Cuba, but at the same time, push the Cubans to take some human rights and Democracy steps. But, look, I think we should always do west best for us. I think that President Obama is taking some initial steps to reduce the tension. But, look, I think this embargo isn't working. And let's do what's best for America and get rid of it. But at the same time, get something in return from the Cubans.
ROBERTS: All right. Governor Bill Richardson, good to see you. Thanks for coming in this morning. We appreciate it. By the way, we just want to say again, we were talking about Peter Hoekstra coming up, we accidental put up a picture of Raul Castro, no conspiracy there, and we had a computer glitch here so. Our apologies again. Kiran.
CHERTY: We have a computer glitch; the airports have a computer glitch. What is it? Is it a full moon today?
ROBERTS: Maybe somebody's hacking the system. What do you think?
CHETRY: I hope not. Well still ahead, we're going to be speaking what could have been -- this gentleman could have been the fourth hiker now detained in Iran. He explains to us in his first in his first television interview why he stayed behind that fateful day. Its 19 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning you know charges have been dropped against the manager of the Black-Eyed Peas. He's accused of punching celebrity blogger Perez Hilton in the eye back in June. The manager was ordered to write Hilton an apology, make a $500 donation to charity and can't get within the length of a football field of Perez Hilton.
ROBERTS: Also new this morning, new 3 1/2 hour limit on tailgating by the NFL is causing uproar. The league told USA Today its part of a crackdown on drunk and obnoxious fans, but plenty of fans are saying it's a money grab that forces them to buy food inside the stadium.
CHETRY: All right better stock up on Eggos while they last. Remember Eggos, the frozen waffles. Well apparently they're disappearing from store shelves fast. Kellogg says that two of the three plants that make Eggos need repairs and production has been interrupted and a nationwide shortage will happen until summer. One woman in Colorado has two boxes of frozen Eggos for sale on EBay. Come on! Asking 50 bucks for them.
ROBERTS: Can you imagine the great Eggo famine of 2009. Christine Romans "Minding Your Business This Morning" and she join us now with the changing face of the American consumer.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You're going to be hearing a lot about all of these retailers trying to get you for Black Friday, trying to get you for Cyber-Monday. Trying to get you for the holidays, (INAUDIBLE) season. And I'm here to tell you there's this new research that shows that the retailers sort of have it wrong. There's a whole new spectrum of American consumer, and Americans have internalized the great recession and the affects are so profound that our assumptions about consumers have changed forever.
Here are the four consumers. And I would like to know where you guys fit in this. First, the instead fast frugalist, also known as a tightwad. They're committed to self-restraint; they were tightwads even before the recession. This is 20 percent of consumers, mostly women, and this is a bigger group than we're used to. Then there are the involuntary penny pinchers, these are people who are forced to embrace thrift, but they don't like it. This is the pay check to pay check crowd. They behave like the tightwads but that's because they're forced to. This is almost a third of consumers, 29 percent. And these are people who make less than $50,000 a year.
And you know what, interestingly, only half of these people have saved any money at all. Then the pragmatic spenders. These are the people who the retailers want. These are the most capable and willing to go back and spend money. They are cautious, they are thrifty, but they are less troubled by the recession. And then there is the apathetic materialist. They get the least satisfaction from being frugal. There is only 6 percent of this group actually shop around. Overrepresented by generation Y, 22 percent of consumers, just slightly more men than women.
CHETRY: Just keep shopping anyway.
ROMANS: They're going to keep shopping anyway. So those last two groups are the groups that the retailers really want. But more of us are in the tightwads, or people who are tightwads but don't want to be tightwads. And basically this research says, look, the whole idea of opening your doors for 24 hours and trying to get people in, and blah blah blah -- that's so pre-recession. Maybe you're going to see these pictures, but the media and the retailers are all thinking like before, but...
CHETRY: Maybe I have reverse logic. But what I see is because there are more people who are forced to budget, whether we want to or not, or that people that were budgeting before, they're going to be the ones that would normally say, you know what, there's no way I'm going to venture out on Black Friday. You've got to be insane to get up at five o'clock in the morning and run out there. These are the people that are going to do it this year. Because they still have to buy presents for people, buy presents for their family and kids, just need to spend less to do it.
ROMANS: One in six American families can't put food on the table. Who's going to buy a $589 TV that's 50 inches big?
CHETRY: I bet you there'll be people who do it.
ROMANS: You shouldn't.
ROBERTS: We'll give her a remote camera once you go.
ROMANS: I don't want people's pictures...
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Wal-Mart's giving out a 50-inch HDTV, plasma TV.
ROMANS: How much is it?
CHETRY: $598. If you go in that morning, mark my words it'll be out of them.
ROMANS: I mean, we have millions of people getting unemployment checks. And a million of checks are going to run out? I mean, seriously, I mean, I don't know.
CHETRY: Betcha.
ROMANS: I betcha, too. But we're going to see the pictures.
CHETRY: We're both tightwads, so I bet you a dollar.
ROMANS: I bet you too, and I'll write it on an IOU.
CHETRY: Still ahead, we're going to be talking to the fourth hiker in Iran. He explains why he was hiking with his friends, yet that day that they were taken into custody in Iran, he had to stay behind. He speaks to us for the first in a TV interview coming.
ROBERTS: OK but we're also going to be talking with Congressman Peter Hoekstra; he's the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee. We'll be talking to him about Major Hasan and the new revelations given the performance review that came to light yesterday. Stay with us, 26 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News In The Morning.
Attorney General Eric Holder is taking a lot of heat for his decision to try self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court in New York. But he says about it, failure is not an option.
ROBERTS: But Republicans are quick to point out that failure is a distinct possibility. Juries, as we know, can be unpredictable. Our Carol Costello joins us now live from Washington. Carol, some people are saying that this is just a risk that's simply not worth taking when it comes to this guy.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So much controversy swirling around this decision. Will this decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court make the United States look weak on terror? Or is America's strength in its justice system? The argument was played out for hours on the floor of the U.S. Senate. What do you think this morning?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Khalid Sheikh 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 Mohammad in civilian court instead of a military tribunal. Question 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 most wonder what is going on in our heads. Are we, they must ask themselves, still serious about this effort?
ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: 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 saying, it is weak to try terrorists in civilian court?
KAREN GREENBERG, NYU CENTER ON LAW AND SECURITY: What would they prefer we do? Execute these people without a trial? Sure.
COSTELLO: Karen Greenberg from NYU's Center on Law and Security asks, is that how the rest of the world ought to view America? And she says it's not like military tribunals are broadcasting "America is tough on terrorists."
GREENBERG: They've had a terrible, terrible record. They've tried three people, you know, since the beginning of the war on terror.
COSTELLO: Still, even Republican Tom Kaine, the former governor who served on the 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 Sheikh Mohammed from using it for his own good.
TOM KEAN (R), FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: I think he wants to be Che Guevara or something like that. He's going to try to be a hero to the Muslim world, and I worry a little bit that we're giving h him that kind of forum.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Earlier we asked viewers for their comments on this, and you wrote on my blog. I want to read you a couple. This is from Ken. He says, "No, it's not weakness to try terrorists in a civilian court. What is weak is all the public whining and the terror phobia."
And this from Casey, he says, "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is no peer of mine, and I were a member of that jury, I would have a difficult time seeing him innocent until proven guilty. He isn't an American citizen, he isn't a peer. He deserves a military trial."
COSTELLO: Our iReporters also weighing on this this morning. Here are a couple of examples for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
W. J. O'REILLY, IREPORTER: This is intended as a public beheading of the man most associated with the 9/11 attacks.
CHRIS GOWER, IREPORTER: It's kind of like a serial killer going on a rampage and then somebody else getting the idea, oh, well, I'll do that and I'll get in the paper too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Just one more bit of information for you, John and Kiran. Cameras are not allowed in federal court, so it's not like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will, you know, if he stands up in court and says something, it certainly wouldn't be broadcast by video to the world. But, of course, reporters will be covering the trial and all of those things will be reported in newspapers and on television stations around the world.
ROBERTS: Absolutely. Carol Costello for us this morning.
So, do you think it's a sign of weakness to try terrorists in civilian courts? We would love to hear from you. Comment on Carol's story at CNN.com/amfix.
CHETRY: Right now it's 33 minutes past the hour. We check our top stories.
The CIA is looking to recruit more Arab and Iranian Americans with new TV ad campaign. It shows an average Arab family having a dinner party while a narrator in a Middle Eastern accent says "Your nation, your world." The agency says it's part of a new outrage to communities that are critical to reducing the threat of terrorism in the United States.
The Philadelphia area pool that was accused of racism over the summer has now gone bankrupt. A court clerk says the Valley Swim Club filed for chapter 11 on Tuesday. It made headlines over the summer when it kicked out a group of 65 day campers, most of them minority kids. One of those kids told CNN that they heard a club member ask, "What are all those black kids doing here?" The club denied that race had anything to do with its decision.
CHETRY: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius suggests women should ignore a federal panel's new guidelines for mammograms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: They do not make policy decisions, they don't make coverage decisions. And that's really the critical piece. Those recommendations are take in. In this case, I think, what we know is that mammograms definitely save lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: She told women, also, keep doing what you're doing. Don't change anything based on these recommendations.
Coming up in about 20 minutes, Dr. Gupta will be here to answer more questions about these new guidelines.
ROBERTS: It has been three months since three Americans, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal were arrested in Iran. They reportedly crossed an unmarked border while hiking in Kurdistan in northern Iraq and are being held in Tehran, the notorious Eban prison, where government officials say that they now face charges of espionage.
CHETRY: The family says it was an innocent mistake. And in his first television interview, the fourth hiker who was not arrested told me what they were doing there in the first place.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHON MECKFESSEL, FOURTH AMERICAN HIKER: Well, it seems, I'm sure, crazy to a lot of the American audience that we might be in Iraqi Kurdistan in the first place. But, as you probably know, Kiran, Kurdistan is a very safe area. It's had no incidents for 20 years.
The recent Iraq war has been occurring in the central and southern Iraq. Nothing has happened in the north.
A friend of ours told us it was the most beautiful area in the world that he'd ever seen, so we were really looking forward to seeing it.
CHETRY: Just explain how it is that you got separated from them, meaning that you guys were all hiking and taking in the area, and then you decided to stay behind. That one fateful decision certainly changed the course of your future and theirs, as we take a look at what's happened to them now.
MECKFESSEL: So, we went to the area. They were really looking forward to being in the outdoors. We'd been kind of cooped up in these big, smoggy cities for a while.
I decided to stay behind in the hotel because I was feeling a little under the weather and I just didn't feel like sleeping outside. I was actually on the way to meet them the next morning. I spoke with Shane and he said the weather was totally beautiful, I should come meet them. They sounded completely content and relaxed. And I was really looking forward to see it. So I was actually on the bus to join them when I got the call from Shane.
CHETRY: And you said you got the cell phone call, you had just spoken to him hours before that, and what did he tell you in that call?
MECKFESSEL: He said that they were in trouble. He said that they'd been taken into custody in Iran. And when he said Iran, it was like, he said they'd been like they'd ported to Tuvalu or something. It was a complete shock, because we had no idea we were anywhere near the border.
No one had told us. They were dropped off at this strip of restaurants that is very popular with tourists, and they hiked up to a waterfall. There was one trail from the strip of restaurants they were dropped off at to this waterfall where many people go to, and that trail just continued. There were no warning signs, nothing like this.
And I think they just continued on to that trial, into Iran.
CHETRY: So if you continued on to that trail, you too would have been taken hostage, or taken captive into Iran today.
MECKFESSEL: Yes. If I'd continued onto that trail, I would also be with them in prison.
And there's a lot of ifs in the situation. I almost didn't have a sim card, and at the last minute, I decided to have a sim card. If I didn't have that sim card, Shane would not have been able to call me, and we probably still wouldn't know what had happened to them.
CHETRY: And you wrote a letter, as I understand it, to the Iranian authorities. If you could talk to them directly right now, what would you say to them?
MECKFESSEL: I would say, I think by now you know what kind of people my friends are, and I don't understand what advantage there is to continue to hold them. And I would just ask that they be released as soon as possible.
CHETRY: Well, we're all certainly hoping for that outcome as well.
Shon Meckfessel, thanks so much for joining us to talk more about it.
MECKFESSEL: Thank you so much, Kiran, for having me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Understandably, Shon, as well as the family members of all of them, are really starting to get worried at this point. It's been more than 100 days and counting. As we know, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also appealed to Iran to release these three Americans, saying there was no evidence to charge them.
ROBERTS: And after Ahmadinejad, the president said he asked for maximum leniency. The judge says no, espionage charges.
CHETRY: And then Shon said some of the information they're receiving from the Swiss, because that's the only way they're actually getting to find out what Iranians are thinking, perhaps, if not espionage, then illegal entry. But again, a lot of unanswered questions about exactly why they're still being held.
ROBERTS: And we'll keep following this story for you, you can bet on that.
Coming up next, Congressman Peter Hoekstra on the House Intelligence Committee. What does he think of this new memo that's come to light about Major Nidal Hasan? And what about this coming Pentagon review of all of the services to make sure something like this if not doesn't ever happen again, at least minimizes the chance. Does he have faith that it will be thorough enough.
It's 39 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: It's 41 minutes after the hour.
Developing story this morning, the Pentagon expected to announce a sweeping review of military procedures today all aimed at finding out how so many red flags were missed leading up to the shootings at Fort Hood. This morning, we're learning a detail about some of those red flags. A two-year-old memo has surfaced flagging the accused killer Army Dr. Nidal Hasan as "having demonstrated a pattern of poor judgment and a lack of professionalism."
Here to talk about the memo and the upcoming Pentagon review is Congressman Peter Hoekstra from Michigan. He's the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee. He's on Capitol Hill this morning.
Congressman, you're very familiar with this memo that was written by Major Scott Moran, who was Nidal Hasan's supervisor. And as we said, he was cited for serious concerns about his professionalism and work ethic, demonstrating a pattern of poor judgment, lack of professionalism. Let me get your reactions, sir, first of all, to this memo.
REP. PETER HOEKSTRA (R-MI), RANKING MEMBER, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: The first thing I would like to say is I would like to applaud the media for the work they've done, because I'm familiar with this memo not because it's been presented to the committee or to us in Congress by the Pentagon, but because it appears that the media has been able to get this information.
Just like a lot of other things, John, we're finding out more about this intelligence failure in some of these issues through the media rather than what would be official sources. The memo's very, very troubling. It raises another red flag, and I think that's one of the things that we're going to have to do. Why were these red flags missed? I think the other thing you're going to see here is there is a continuation of the problem that there is not good information sharing. We've been talking about that for the last eight years. That problem has still not been fixed.
ROBERTS: And giving credit where credit is due, it was Daniel Zwerdling of National Public Radio who uncovered this radio. He's been doing a lot of good old fashioned shoe leather work on this story and managed to come up with this.
But let me to drill down a little bit more on what you said, that this came to light because of the media, not because of disclosure by the Pentagon. Are you not getting the information there in your committee that you think you should be getting?
HOEKSTRA: No, I don't think we are. We've got another hearing again this morning in about 15 minutes. I hope that this provides us with the opportunity for us to drill down with the media and for them to start answering -- not with the media, with the Pentagon and with the intelligence community to start getting the kinds of answers that we need so that we can make our own independent assessment.
I would say that for the last two weeks, ever since the decision as to who was going to have access to this information was moved from the intelligence community, was moved to the White House, it has been very difficult if not impossible for us to get the kinds of information that I would have hoped would have been made available to Congress.
ROBERTS: There's at least, congressman, a couple of issues at work here. There's the nondisclosure that you site, the difficulty getting information.
There's also the issue that here was a guy who had a terrible performance review, still graduated from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the program there, and was put in charge of caring for returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan who were urgently in need of good care.
And when you read this memo, it sounds like there might have been a real disconnect there.
HOEKSTRA: Oh yes. It's frightening. He was put in charge of providing these individuals with the help that they need. And then, at the same time, you know, the decision was made, let's send this guy to Afghanistan.
These are all the kinds of things that you have to peel back. And this is why I think it is important for Congress to immediately begin an investigation, you know, with the ultimate goal of identifying the failure points and trying to put in place policies so these types of things don't happen again.
We can't wait -- we can't wait for the Pentagon and for the executive branch to do their analysis. There's plenty of room for parallel investigations, both in Congress and in the executive branch. That's what needs to happen.
ROBERTS: And Congressman, when we first talked to you about the tragic shootings at Fort Hood, you were quite clear that you believe it was an act of terrorism.
Sarah Palin, the former vice presidential candidate for the Republicans, agrees with you and went further in an interview about this. Let's listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that there were massive warning flags that were missed all over the place and I think it was quite unfortunate that to me, it was a fear of being politically incorrect to not -- I'm going to use the word - "profile" this guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: What do you think about what she said, Congressman? Was the Military being too politically correct here? Should they have, as the former governor says, profiled him?
HOEKSTRA: Well, John, this is one of the things that we've got to take a closer look at. I do agree with Miss Palin, that this was most likely a terrorist act.
But before we start assigning what exactly the problems were in my job, I've got to get the right kind of information. I have to have access to the information before I can reach that type of conclusion.
It's one of the things that we will explore, but I'm not ready to say right now that that definitively was the reason. I think you'll find multiple breakdowns in the system, not just one.
ROBERTS: Are you concerned, Congressman, and Daniel Zwerdling (ph) from NPR raised this point when I spoke with him last evening, that if Major Hasan with this record could get through the system and end up at Fort Hood, do you have any concerns that there may be others with similar records out there?
HOEKSTRA: Well, I think there might be. That is one of the things that we have to take a look at. But the other thing that I'm concerned about, John, is something that people have really not latched on to yet. And that is this whole phenomenon of home-grown terrorism; people who have been radicalized through the Internet.
So I'm not only worried about these types of people potentially being in the Military, I'm concerned about these folks being everyday Americans around America, living among us, who may have become or are in the process of becoming radicalized. And some time in the future, may carry out similar types of attacks.
ROBERTS: All right, Congressman Peter Hoekstra, we'll be watching that hearing very closely this morning. Thanks for taking the time before you go in. And I really appreciate it.
HOEKSTRA: Hey great, good, thank you, John.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, we're tracking a developing story that we were hearing about firsthand, actually, from some of our own here at CNN -- airport delays caused by a computer glitch.
Rob Marciano has been keeping track and our Rick Sanchez is actually living through it as he's attempting to get from Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport here to New York City. We're going to bring you the latest on what is going on with these flights.
Forty-seven minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: And back to our developing story this morning: air travelers across the country dealing with delays this morning, all because of a computer glitch.
Our Rob Marciano is monitoring the situation right now for us. We understand that this computer that was glitch is back up and running. The planes, though, in some cases, still not moving.
MARCIANO: Yes. There's some encouragement this hour. This is our computer that monitors flights -- flights around the country. And we showed this to you about an hour ago and it was bare, because the data had been locked up as of about 5:10 a.m.
Just recently, that data is now beginning to flow and we've got about 3,500 or so flights in the air and that has increased by 500 in just in the last half hour or so.
So that's encouraging. But the domino effect is in place. Still ground stops at a number of big airports, including Atlanta and Houston. So just be patient out there. The good news is that flights now are beginning to move.
And weather is not going to be that big of an issue. A pretty big area of low pressure just kind of lumbering eastward; it's starting to get a little bit weaker, but it's bringing some rain towards the northeast. The Washington D.C., Philly to New York slowly throughout the day today as some flights get rolling, the rain will get rolling. And I think by the time tonight rolls around, things will be a little bit more wet across the northeast and the northwest.
All right, a little bit of encouraging news. Like bringing a comfortable blanket on a long flight that may be delayed, a new panda at the San Diego zoo, always makes everybody happy. This particular panda, born recently; just named Yun Zi, which means "From the Clouds," I believe, or something weather related, so I had to show that.
Anyway, if you are traveling at an airport, just look at the panda and feel better about life in general because it's pretty cute -- Kiran, John.
CHETRY: It's so cute. Look at that little guy.
ROBERTS: Every time you see a panda, you can't help but feel good about life.
CHETRY: That's right, they should actually start showing those pandas on all the screens if you're stuck on the tarmac there and from seat 1a, all the way back to like 34d -- oops, 34d. Anyway.
MARCIANO: Spreading the happiness.
CHETRY: That's right.
MARCIANO: Bye guys.
CHETRY: Spreading the love.
MARCIANO: Ciao.
ROBERTS: I've never sat in that seat.
CHETRY: Me either.
ROBERTS: Ok, should we just go to break or -- ok let's do the tease.
All right, confusion over the mammogram guidelines; our Dr. Gupta has got a lot -- you know, you just can't make this stuff up. Dr. Gupta makes sense of the new advice coming right up.
Fifty-two minutes after the hour. I'm as red as your dress.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
We have new guidelines on the breast cancer screenings that have left a lot of women very upset and confused and a lot of people are asking this morning, "What do they really mean to me?"
ROBERTS: Well, we're paging our Dr. Sanjay Gupta again this hour to answer some of the questions that you have. And Sanjay, first question comes from Twitter. And here's the question -- "Are the new mammography guidelines a cost-cutting measure?"
GUPTA: Well, a lot of people have brought this particular issue up, no question about it. And when we ask people on the task force, when we ask the Department of Health and Human Services, they say, no, this wasn't about cost. This was more about looking at the evidence and trying to come up with the best guidelines.
But here's one way to sort of think about it. On average, a mammogram costs somewhere between $100 and $150 and what they say is for women between the ages of 40 and 49, you would have to do 1,900 mammograms to save one life. So if you do the math, quickly which we did, it's around $190,000 spent to save one life.
Now, you know, people will analyze that sort of data and interpret that in all sorts of different ways, but that's sort of what it comes down to.
With regard to insurance coverage, which comes up a lot, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, came out yesterday and said she does not think that this is going to influence policy or insurance coverage for these mammograms in the first place.
CHETRY: Also, Kim writes on our blog, "Does this also mean screening for prostate cancer is not recommended?"
GUPTA: Oh, that's a great question. And you know, for most organizations, including the task force, as well as a lot of other cancer organizations, they do not routinely recommend prostate cancer screening.
Here's the difference between the two things, though. With regard to prostate cancer screening, it has not definitively been shown to save lives. With breast cancer screening, it has been shown to save lives. But as far as the task force recommendations go, not enough lives for women between the ages of 40 and 49.
These are sort of apples and oranges as far as what's being recommended. The task force, incidentally, doesn't just do cancer screening recommendations. They also look at things like heart disease, so should people taken aspirin at a certain age. They have all sorts of different recommendations.
ROBERTS: And Sanjay also from the blog, Linda asks today, "I would like to know how many women served on this government panel that came up with the mammogram decision?"
GUPTA: That's a good question, a fair question. It was half. Half the people on the panel were women. Again, a wide sort of breadth of experiences and expertise; no member of the panel, though, was an oncologist, with is another issue that a lot of people brought up.
ROBERTS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning, trying to straighten things out. We really appreciate it, doc. Thanks.
Fifty-seven minutes now after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Finally, this morning, this one sounds like it's science fiction, but IBM says it has replicated a feline cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that thinks using the super computer. Even with all their processing power, even the world's most powerful machines have never been able to think for themselves.
The researchers say a thinking computer could give us insights on everything from medicine to economics. They have replicated a cat brain in the computer. And ever since, the computer's been ignoring them.
CHETRY: Right. Ignoring them, licking its paws, and chasing after birds. But hey, it's a start.
ROBERTS: One of the big stories we'll be following, at least for the morning until they get it fixed, is a massive computer glitch with the nation's air traffic control system. It's got flights sitting on the ground, literally, across the country.
CHETRY: Yes. We'll be tracking that for you.
Meanwhile, we'd like you to continue the conversation on today's stories. Go to our blog at cnn.com/amfix.
That's going to do it for us today. Hope to see you back here tomorrow.
