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President Obama to Receive Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway; Pakistani Authorities Arrests American Students; NASA's Latest Mission Shows Earth is Warming; Wall Street and Obama: Face to Face; Not Safe to Drink; Pakistan Arrests U.S. Students

Aired December 10, 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: Good morning to you. It's Thursday, December 10th. Thank for being with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. It's good to have you with us today. Here are the top stories we'll be covering for you, coming up in the next 15 minutes or so.

President Obama about to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The ceremony set to begin in Oslo just about an hour from now. The president's supporters hailing the event as a defining moment. His critics claim it defies logic. Reaction from around the world, plus live coverage from Norway of all the day's events just ahead.

CHETRY: And the feds are looking into another potential case of homegrown extremism. Five American Muslims arrested in Pakistan. They vanished from the D.C. area last month. An Islamic group in Washington said they left behind a farewell video. We're live in Washington as the feds look into their possible links to a terror group.

ROBERTS: And NASA facing its own "climate-gate" as the debate over climate change continues in Copenhagen. The space agency getting heat for its data on global warming. Why? Our Jim Acosta is live with the answers this morning.

CHETRY: We begin, though, with a very big moment for President Barack Obama. He's about to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The ceremony begins in just an hour. The president arriving in Oslo, Norway, less than four hours ago.

Now this prestigious prize has been presented for more than a century, and this president is arguably the most controversial choice ever. The world is watching this morning, and we've got the story covered from every angle throughout the morning. We'll be joined by CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, as well as senior political analyst David Gergen, and senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.

We start, though, with our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux who is live in Oslo this morning. And, Suzanne, already quite a busy morning for the president. Give us the low-down on what's been going on. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, they arrived just after 2:00 or so Eastern Time this morning. And since then, the president as well as First Lady Michelle Obama have been making their way through the city.

I want to show here are some of the headlines in the local papers here. This one say, "Expecting Humble Obama." This one here, "Bittersweet Visit from Obama," as well as this one which actually says, "Barack Obama Hope." All three of these papers expressing quite a bit of the sentiment that we've been seeing on the streets. Norwegians very excited anticipating his visit but also it is controversial as well.

Kiran, we saw earlier this morning a signing ceremony where he actually -- he and the first lady signed the same book of the previous winners, Nobel Prize winners, Nelson Mandela, as well as Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King. And the president was asked, what did he write in that book? What did he put in that book? And instead of congratulating himself, he had actually said that he was congratulating the Nobel Committee saying that this is a cause of history of peace. It gives voice to the voiceless, oppressed around the world, congratulating the committee.

And then he also said when he looked at the wall, he and Michelle Obama looking at the wall and seeing the previous winners, that of Martin Luther King, he said when he won his prize, it galvanized -- had a galvanizing effect around the world but also lifted his stature in the United States that allowed him to be more effective. And that that is the history of the Nobel Prize and it certainly is something that he hopes will help him as well accomplish what he wants to get done, Kiran.

CHETRY: Yes, and as we mentioned, there's still plenty of controversy surrounding the decision to give President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. What is the atmosphere around that controversy there?

MALVEAUX: Well, we've seen protesters. There are anti-war protesters, thousands that are gathering for today to express their dismay at the decision to send 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan. There are signs from protesters that say congratulations Obama, you won it. Now go earn it. That seems to be the sentiment among a lot of people here.

One of the things, Kiran, that I should note that the president has addressed already. He was with the prime minister. He took a question from the foreign press. They said, how do you explain, how do you respond to the fact that many people believe this is premature? And he said, look, you know, this is not a popularity contest. He acknowledges that there are other people that perhaps are more deserving of this award.

But he says, you know what? If I'm successful, hopefully that will cut down some of the criticism, but that's not my concern. My concern is to do what's best in the U.S. interest and also to be a leader of the cause of good for the rest of the world -- Kiran. CHETRY: All right. Well, just about an hour and a half from now, we'll be hearing more from the president as he delivers his speech to receive this prize. Suzanne Malveaux following the president in Oslo, Norway, this morning. Thanks so much.

And keep it on CNN for the most comprehensive coverage of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. We're going to be bringing you the presentation live in the next hour and also an exclusive interview with former Nobel Peace Prize winner and our former vice president, Al Gore.

ROBERTS: Also new this morning, this is not an invitation, it's an order. The House Homeland Security Committee voted 26 to three to subpoena the accused White House party crashers to testify on the 20th of January. We told you yesterday that the Salahis plan to plead the fifth in front of Congress.

CHETRY: Also fallout from that major security breach that we told you about yesterday at the Transportation Security Administration. The TSA has now put five employees on leave after it came out that the airport screening manual was posted on the Internet for all to see. Some analysts called it a virtual playbook for terrorists trying to slip past security. It has since been pulled down.

ROBERTS: Also developing this morning, five Americans arrested in Pakistan, all young men, students who vanished from the United States who apparently left behind a farewell video. They're being investigated for ties to a terror group.

Our Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is live for us in Washington this morning. And, Jeanne, how did authorities learn about these young men?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, they learned about them from their parents apparently. These five men are described by many people here in the Washington area as being attentive young men. One of them identified as Ramy Zamzan (ph). He's a student at Howard University. One person familiar with these students said there was no indication they were radicalized.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IMAM JOHARI ABDUL-MALIK: The young men that we're talking about, if they are who I think they are, then they have been active in campus life, active with their interfaith work, doing community service. There was no indication on our part that these individuals could ever have done something against America or violent in any way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Now Pakistani authorities are confident that the five young arrested in Pakistan are the same young Muslim men who are missing from Northern Virginia. But U.S. officials say although best their working assumption they are still working to confirm that. According to preliminary investigations by Pakistani officials, it appears that the men tried to link up with two terrorist groups in Pakistan but were unsuccessful. The investigation, of course, is still continuing exactly into why they were there and what they were doing.

But again, it was the parents who became concerned that these young men weren't around. They went to religious authorities. The authorities then went to the FBI and told them the men were missing, were then told by a senior State Department official that the U.S. gave their five names to Pakistan saying they were persons of interest and then, of course, they were picked up overseas -- John.

ROBERTS: Jeanne, what about this video that they reportedly left behind? What do we know about that?

MESERVE: Well, that was one of the clues we're told that led the parents to believe that they may have gone to Pakistan. Only one of the students made the video. It's described as being quite disturbing, about 11 minutes long. It has a lot of imagery of conflict around the world. And also I'm told pictures of Abu Ghraib. And it did say that young Muslims had an obligation to do something about these situations. Apparently when the families and others saw these, they put two and two together. That's why they went to the authorities.

ROBERTS: Jeanne Meserve for us this morning. Jeanne, thanks.

And there's fear out there that these arrests are part of a growing trend of homegrown extremism. We've seen close calls in cases like this all year long. We're going to talk about it with two experts who are identifying threats like this, former Homeland Security inspector general Clark Kent Ervin, and former head of the CIA station in Islamabad, Robert Grenier.

CHETRY: We're also taking a look at other top stories this morning at seven minutes past the hour.

A group linked to Al Qaeda is claiming responsibility for the coordinated suicide attacks that killed 127 people in Baghdad earlier this week. The Islamic State of Iraq posting a statement on its Web site used by militants. CNN is working to confirm the authenticity of the statement. This is, though, the third major attack in government targets in Iraq that the group claims to have carried out since August.

ROBERTS: It's payback time. Bank of America says it has paid the entire $45 billion it owed taxpayers, cutting a check to the federal government for the full amount. As a result, the country's largest lender can now ditch caps on executive pay, one of its biggest obstacles to finding a new CEO.

CHETRY: Students at the University of Wisconsin mass and organizing a giant snowball fight after classes were canceled for the first time there in 19 years. The area getting hit with a record 18 1/2 inches of snow this week. About 3,500 students showed up. They were trying to break the Guinness world record for the largest snowball fight.

They fell short, though. All they needed were 200 more of their friends to leave the burrows and head over there outside. But it looks like they had fun anyway. Nineteen years since they canceled classes.

ROBERTS: I love the fact that they canceled classes. They couldn't go to class, but they could all get together for a snowball fight.

CHETRY: Of course. They somehow managed to travel distance in the treacherous weather to get there.

ROBERTS: There you are.

Could NASA's latest mission spark another climate-gate? Our Jim Acosta is looking into that. We're also going to show you this incredible new satellite imagery that's available online.

CHETRY: And also, a history-making day for our president. He's in Oslo, Norway, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The ceremony set to begin in less than an hour. We'll bring it all to you live.

It's nine minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Haven't heard that song in a while. It's one of our favorites here in AMERICAN MORNING.

Eleven and a half minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning as we keep an eye on the debate going on over climate change in Copenhagen today. Above the earth, a dozen NASA satellites are tracking global warming as we speak. It's fascinating to see this information because these satellites have collected basically a huge amount of data, but it's landing NASA in something of a "climate-gate of its own.

Our Jim Acosta has an "A.M. Original" for us this morning. Hey, Jim, we're talking about what? Fifteen different satellites rotating around the earth?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's pretty amazing to look at. And we should point out those British scientists whose e-mails were hacked are not the only climate experts studying global warming. Take NASA. Over at the guttered space flights center, science is reflecting data from satellites and orbit right now. These satellites to be specific and a data shows the earth is getting hotter and changing fast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lift off.

ACOSTA (voice-over): NASA, the same agency that put the shuttle in space and man on the moon... NEIL ARMSTRONG, APOLLO 11 ASTRONAUT: That's one small step for man --

ACOSTA: Also has roughly a dozen satellites in orbit, all on a mission to show how the earth is warming.

THORSTEN MARKUS, NASA SCIENTIST: The arctic is not a frozen lake. It's very dynamic.

ACOSTA: Thorsten Markus, the head of NASA's cryosphere sciences branch uses those satellites to keep a close eye on the stunning loss of ice in the arctic. He's traveled to Greenland to confirm his findings on the ground.

MARKUS: If current trends continue within the next 10 to 20 years, we're going to see what in the arctic? We may very well see the summer -- an ice-free summer in the arctic.

ACOSTA: This animation demonstrates why it's happening so fast. As the ice melts, all that's left to soak up the sun's rays is the ocean.

MARKUS: The solar radiation is mostly reflective from the ice where it's absorbed by the ocean.

ACOSTA (on camera): And this accelerates the melting of the ice.

MARKUS: Exactly.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Markus, like many scientists at NASA, blames the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

MARKUS: There's no doubt this is global warming.

ACOSTA: But that doesn't convince skeptics who have seized on the global warming e-mail controversy known as "climate-gate" and have now taken aim at NASA. An attorney with the Competitive Enterprise Institute which receives funding from Exxon Mobil is threatening to sue NASA if it doesn't turn over its e-mails on global temperature readings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I'm asking for is what the taxpayer owns. And, frankly, the law doesn't require me to have a reason for it. We want transparency. We want to see how they did what. We want to see why.

ACOSTA: NASA is no stranger to climate controversy. James Hansen, one of NASA's top scientists and a fixture at global warming protests accused the Bush administration of suppressing climate data. That accusation led to this inspector general report, which found NASA PR officials had marginalized and mischaracterized climate change information.

NASA SCIENTIST, FROM MARCH 2007: If we push the climate system hard enough, it can obtain a momentum. It can pass tipping points such that climate change continues out of our control. ACOSTA: For Thorsten Markus, climate measurements are the earth's vital signs much like our own.

MARKUS: If you go to a doctor, the doctor says, cholesterol is high, your blood pressure is high, and you may have a stroke. And the doctor suggests, well, you know, maybe you should be more careful with what you're eating. Do you change your diet?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: A carbon diet in his view, and NASA has never had as many satellites measuring the earth's climate data as it does right now. But some of these Eyes on the Earth are reaching their life span. Without new funding, NASA scientists worry those satellites wouldn't be replaced.

And, Kiran, if you want to take a look at this yourself, you can do this. Just Google NASA climate change and you'll find this program here, Eyes on the Earth, where you can track these satellites in orbit as we speak. You can even pinpoint each satellite to see exactly what that satellite is doing at this very moment. It's pretty fascinating stuff.

CHETRY: Yes, it is interesting, actually and we're going to be showing it to our viewers using our magic wall, some of the data that they gathered from it as well.

Jim Acosta for us this morning. Thanks.

ACOSTA: You bet.

ROBERTS: So there's been a summons. Top bankers to the White House to talk about the situation. Our Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business." She joins us in just a couple of minutes.

Stay with us. It's now 16 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

The presentation of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize is getting underway in just a little less than 45 minutes, President Obama arriving in Oslo, Norway with the First Lady four hours ago. We're going to have live coverage of the ceremony and the president's acceptance speech beginning at the top of the hour.

Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning. Hi.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And when the president gets back to the United States he will have a big meeting with Wall Street's big bankers on Monday. He has summoned them for a talking to, maybe to try to influence them on -- on lending and on some small business initiatives and trying to get this economy moving again. He met with them, as you might recall, earlier in the year but he's going to have them there on Monday, summoned to Washington, DC, the big bankers. He want to talk about how to get the money flowing for small business and for consumers.

You've heard this again and again -- lend, lend, lend. It's been a real bone of contention in Washington. They want these banks to be lending more. He's also expected to talk to them about financial regulatory reform. He wants big, sweeping changes. He and his Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner want big, sweeping changes to how Wall Street is regulated and there has been a -- quite a bit of pushback from the financial services industry.

So who could be there? Who's going to get this golden ticket to the White House on Monday?

The usual suspects. We don't know for sure, but -- in fact they have not had a detailed list that they've released yet. But it's likely Citi Group, Goldman, JP Morgan, Bank of America -- by the way, Bank of America who delivered $45 billion of your money and my money back to the Treasury Department last night -- Wells Fargo, Capital One and many, many others.

Here is an issue about the lending. I've been talking to regional bankers, I've been talking to other bankers who say we get it that the public and Washington want us to lend more money, but, in many cases, we're not finding qualified applicants to lend that money to. In other cases there's this idea that we need to be lending more but the demand from some small businesses actually down for more lending.

I mean, think about it. You're not going to have somebody try to expand to five more restaurants right now if he doesn't have the demand there for the five new restaurants. So there's this -- there's this idea that the president is going to say we need you to lend more money and the banks are going to -- I'm telling you, they're going to be resistant. They're going to say, lending money -- too much money is what got us into trouble in the first place.

CHETRY: Right, but the other question seem to be so you're going to call all the guys in who don't want to be regulated to talk to them about what regulation should happen?

ROMANS: Yes. No -- I mean, I think he's going to try to tell them what he wants. I mean, I think this is going to be the president trying to let them know, this is where we stand here. The populace outrage is still there. And, look, we're in bonus season, folks. I mean, we're going to be talking -- the headline in the next few weeks and months about how much money these people are going to be giving to their bankers. These are the very people who had to take bailout money over the past year and survive.

CHETRY: Do you have (ph) a Numeral today?

ROMANS: It's two-thirds. My Numeral is a fraction, ladies and gentlemen. It's two-thirds. ROBERTS: Hardly a numeral.

ROMANS: I know. It's a great -- it's a great number from a Bloomberg National Poll, and it is -- it's how many people have unfavorable views of Wall Street bankers. Wall Street bankers now rank below...

ROBERTS: Couldn't you just say 66 percent?

ROMANS: We could. Yes, maybe. I wanted to try a fraction, John. Come on.

Below Congress, they rank below lawyers, they rank below insurance companies. Let's just say Wall Street, you've got a real image problem. No surprise there, but the president, you know, the president is pretty much inviting public enemy number one, in the eyes of the public, to Washington on Monday.

CHETRY: Hopefully those millions in bonus money will make up for the fact that they're enemy number one.

ROMANS: Well, you know some -- some of the people are making that money -- they -- there's a little bit of an arrogance here and there that people don't...

ROBERTS: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

ROMANS: Yes. Exactly.

ROBERTS: Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning. Thanks.

CHETRY: Well, there was a study that was out yesterday that had a lot of people concerned about the safety of our drinking water. We're exploring that a little bit more today.

Twenty-two minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-five minutes past hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

EPA officials are now in the hot seat over their plans to make sure our drinking water is safe. A "New York Times" report says millions of Americans have been exposed to polluted water over the last five years.

Our Mary Snow is digging deeper into what's being done to make sure that the water coming out of your tap is safe to drink.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, whether or not you need to be concerned about your drinking water may depend on where you live. The EPA admits it has challenges with smaller communities where it says it's detected the most health violations, something it's trying to fix. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): Dishes, yes. But Gina Barbara says she will not use tap water from her faucet for drinking.

GINA BARBARA, RAMSEY, NEW JERSEY RESIDENT: I have four children and I have to worry about them. My -- my -- me and my husband and I don't want to drink it.

SNOW: Barbara lives in Ramsey, New Jersey, a town that had to install this filter system to remove arsenic from the town's water supply after levels exceeded state standards. Arsenic is a natural compound that can enter water supplies through natural deposits as well as agricultural and industrial practices. It's been linked to cancer.

The town's mayor, Christopher Botta, says since the filter system was put in place arsenic levels now comply with state and federal guidelines.

MAYOR CHRISTOPHER BOTTA, RAMSEY, NEW JERSEY: Certainly as a father, as a resident of the community, I'm concerned about our water and I did everything and I'm doing everything we can to make sure that our residents have safe water.

SNOW: But Richard Wiles of the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group that educates the public about health risks, says arsenic should be avoided at any level.

RICHARD WILES, ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP: The problem is that it costs a -- a lot of money to clean arsenic out of tap water, and, consequently, federal standards allow what we feel and -- and most experts, I think, would feel is -- is not a safe amount of arsenic. It's -- it's an amount of arsenic that is a balance between the cost of cleaning it up and the health risks to people who drink the water.

SNOW: But Ramsey's problems are just part of a much bigger issue. The "New York Times" report its nationwide analysis of federal data shows that since 2004 the water supply provided to 49 million people has contained illegal amounts of substances, including arsenic, chemicals such as uranium, and bacteria.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee question EPA officials about a lack of enforcement.

CYNTHIA GILES, EPA ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR ENFORCEMENT: The vast majority of American public receives clean and safe drinking water from our public water systems. However, we do have challenging, noncompliance problems that require attention, particularly in small systems and with new regulations.

SNOW: EPA officials told lawmakers they have a plan to toughen enforcement in January aimed at improving drinking water in schools and in small communities where they say 96 percent of violations occur. But Senator Barbara Boxer, who cited inaction during the years of the Bush administration, voiced frustration about the agency's plans to go forward.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: I need a lot more specificity from you. I don't -- I'm not confident that we are now ready to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: After that exchange, we did follow up with the EPA and a spokeswoman says the agency has provided Senator Boxer's staff with specifics on its policy and how it will be implemented.

As for knowing what's in your town's water supply, one thing you can do is contact your local water authority and get a copy of a report that has to be filed with the EPA each year -- John and Kiran.

CHETRY: Mary Snow for us. Thanks.

ROBERTS: Coming up now at 29 minutes after the hour, here are the top stories this morning.

President Obama about to become the third sitting US president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The presentation ceremony is scheduled to begin within the next half hour and the world will be watching, waiting to hear how the president reconciles winning the honor with his decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

CNN's live coverage from Oslo is straight ahead.

CHETRY: Also, just in to CNN minutes ago, Defense Secretary Robert Gates arriving in Baghdad for an unannounced trip. He's meeting with US forces as well as Iraqi leaders.

He just wrapped up a two-day trip to Afghanistan where he told Afghan generals the relationship between both countries is, quote, "forged in blood" because of the casualties suffered fighting the Taliban. Gates also said that the US will maintain a presence there despite plans to begin a troop pullout in 2012 -- 2011.

ROBERTS: The US envoy to North Korea says it remains unclear when the communist country will return to international nuclear disarmament talks. Ambassador Steven Bosworth telling reporters in Seoul, South Korea he relayed (ph) President Obama's call for complete denuclearization.

Bosworth called the talks very useful and he says he did not meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during his three-day visit.

Back to a developing story this morning, the arrest of five young Muslim Americans in Pakistan. Police say they're the same students who vanished from the United States last month and there is fear that they are part of a growing trend of homegrown extremism.

Joining us to talk about this rising threat, Clark Kent Ervin. He's a former Homeland Security Inspector General, now with the Aspen Institute. And Robert Grenier, a former CIA Station Chief in Islamabad. He's now the chairman of ERG, a financial consulting company.

Good to see you both.

And, Bob, let's start with you. I know that we do not know a whole lot about this case. Details are still pretty sketchy. But on the surface how serious does it look to be?

ROBERT GRENIER, CHAIRMAN, ERG PARTNERS: Well, it seems as though that these young men may have had a very serious intent. And as you say, they do seem to be part of a rising tide in the United States. What they might have done once they actually got to Pakistan and made links with some of the extremist groups there is, of course, very difficult for us to say at this point.

ROBERTS: Let's talk about the rising tide, Clark, if we could. Islamic radicalism has been a problem in Europe. The U.S. has been somewhat immune to it. But Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in a speech the other day said, quote, "Home-based terrorism is here. And like violent extremism abroad, it will be part of the threat picture that we must now confront."

Have we lost our immunity?

CLARK KENT ERVIN, DIRECTOR, ASPEN INSTITUTE'S HOMELAND SECURITY PROGRAM: Well, you know, John, I have always questioned that conventional wisdom. It is certainly true that our Muslim community is better integrated, more affluent, better educated than the population as a whole here in the United States, and certainly more so than their counterparts in Europe.

But it does not follow from that necessarily that we have less of a problem. It's harder for foreign terrorists to slip into the United States post-9/11. It's not impossible but it's harder. Therefore, al Qaeda has placed a premium on recruiting people who are already here in the United States.

And, by the way, Bin Laden was the son of a billionaire. Zawahiri, the number two in al Qaeda, is an Egyptian surgeon. Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of 9/11, came from an affluent background.

So, we do have, as these cases show time and again, a home-grown terrorism problem here in the United States.

ROBERTS: Yes. You know, according to the "New York Times" today in an article that they've written about this, one of the men, Ramy Zamzam, he's 22 years old. He's a dental student at Howard University. He received an undergraduate degree this year, major in biology and chemistry. That's according to the "New York Times." Again, information on his Facebook page.

I mean, this is -- this is not the profile of your -- of your typical extremist, Bob. GRENIER: Well, it actually, as Mr. Ervin has pointed out, it is the profile of a typical extremist that they do tend to be educated individuals. They don't tend to come from the poorer, unemployed, uneducated classes.

ROBERTS: But, Bob, what is it we hear though that, you know, people turn to extremism because they don't have the same economic opportunity as others. So, I mean, does it -- does it basically cross the spectrum now?

GRENIER: Well, often, the turn to radicalism really isn't tied so much to economic circumstances. It may very well be tied to alienation. It is typically tied to a sense of Muslims under attack in a very strong personal Muslim identity. And then very importantly, the individuals who make this turn typically have very strong ties with other like-minded people who give them a sense of community, a sense of belonging and a sense of mission.

ROBERTS: So, Clark, how do you attack this, then? You know, President Bush, in the war on terror, talked about draining the swamp of extremism. It is not exactly a swamp here in the United States.

ERVIN: Well, I'm glad you asked that, John, because that gives us an opportunity to focus on the positive here. The positive is that we found out about this. The law enforcement authorities found out about it because the parents, the families, of these young men reported their disappearance to the local mosque and to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

And they, in turn, those organizations, the mosques and CAIR, reported it to the authorities and then they worked very closely with Pakistani authorities.

That's exactly what should happen. You know, we American citizens and particularly those in the Muslim community need to be the eyes and ears of law enforcement authorities and intelligence personnel, because they can't do it by themselves.

ROBERTS: Right. And, Bob, in terms of the extremism itself, the radicalization itself, does it -- does it occur here? Is it homegrown? Is it outside influences? You know, Clark mentioned al Qaeda trying to recruit people.

In fact, Michael Chertoff, the former DHS secretary said, quote, "You're beginning to see the fruits of the pipeline that al Qaeda built to train Westerners and send them back to their homelands."

GRENIER: Well, I think the original radicalization does take place here in the United States. It is encouraged by the sort of propaganda that young people hear as young people elsewhere have available to them on Internet. But usually it arises as a result of close personal relationships that grow up here in the country of origin.

What we then see is that they go back, in this case to a country of ethnic origin, say, Pakistan. We've seen the same with Somali- Americans going back to Somalia. And it's often there that they receive the assistance and the training that they require. And then the threat, as Mr. Chertoff has pointed out, is that they would then be sent back to the United States to actually engage in terrorist acts here.

ROBERTS: But, Bob, we don't know what the inevitable or the ultimate intent of these five was. We don't know if they had gone over there to get involved in a holy war in Pakistan or Afghanistan, maybe neighboring Kashmir or come back to the United States, right?

GRENIER: Well, I think that's exactly right. And one of the concerns that we have to have with regard to this sort of a pattern is that young people like this may very well go with the original intent of, for instance, participating in the jihad so-called in Afghanistan, but who could then be influenced and turned around and induced to come back to engage in extremist activities here at home.

ROBERTS: All right. Robert Grenier, Clark Kent Ervin, as always, gentlemen, great to see you this morning. Thanks for joining us.

Now, we want to bring in CNN's Arwa Damon. She is in the Pakistani town of Sargodha. This is where the arrests took place. And she has just completed an exclusive interview with the mother of one of the suspects under arrest.

Hi, Arwa. What's the situation on the ground there? What have you been learning?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi, John. As you mentioned, we just spoke with Zubira Fado (ph). She is the mother of Omar, who is one of the young men who has been detained by the Pakistani authorities.

And the story is actually quite complicated. But what she was telling us was that she came to Pakistan with her husband a few months ago looking for a wife for her son. And then in late November, while she was still in Pakistan, Omar went missing. He told her that he was going to a conference with a number of his friends.

When he didn't return, when she didn't hear from him, she grew concerned and then phoned up the parents of the friends he was supposed to be with. That is when all the families had realized that their sons were missing and they alerted the authorities.

His mother saying -- Zubira Fado (ph) -- that she believed that her son had been kidnapped. That's when the family was advised by authorities in the United States she stay in Pakistan, that perhaps her son would somehow turn up here.

She said that she doesn't know why they would have believed that, but then maybe he'd be coming back, the motherland. Then, she calls us. She received a phone call from one of her relatives, who said that Omar and his friends had showed up at their house. And the family united. She brought them here to this house in Sargodha, where we are right now, where that raid took place on Wednesday. She is adamant that her son is innocent, that he had nothing to do with the planning of any sort of terrorist attack, and that his friends were innocent as well, except for one of them, she says, of Egyptian descent, who she did not know before, but she believes that he may have perhaps capitalized on Omar's visit to Pakistan.

Remember, she thinks that her son came to Pakistan to surprise her, because he was coming to Pakistan to get married -- John.

ROBERTS: All right. Arwa Damon for us in Sargodha this morning. Obviously, the details of this still beginning to unravel and we'll have more information on it throughout the morning.

Right now, here's Kiran.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. We wanted to show you quickly what we're going to be talking about on the backside of this break.

This is NASA satellite. Fifteen of them rotating around the earth right now, giving real time data on climate vital statistics, and it's a really cool application that we're going to be showing you a little bit more about as we explore where we're facing some of the biggest problems when it comes to climate change.

We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back

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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. That was in fact King Harald V with President Obama. He is now wearing his royal vestment clothes.

CHETRY: He did not look as kingly just in a suit.

ROBERTS: He is in a business suit.

President Obama will be the third sitting U.S. president to receive the Nobel peace prize. Some had questioned his acceptance of the award less than a year to his presidency and more than a week after announcing plans to deploy an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan.

CHETRY: Yes, so in AMERICAN MORNING exclusive, we sat down with former Vice President Al Gore, a Nobel peace prize winner himself and asked him for his take on all of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: You won in 2007 Nobel peace prize for your work on climate change, and as we know, President Obama will be accepting his peace prize, and there are some critics who say, show us what he's done to deserve it. What's your take on that?

AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: I think he is imminently deserving of the prize. I think in a short period of time, he's brought about a dramatic transformation in the ability of the United States to once again provide moral leadership in the world. He has addressed the longstanding conflicts between the United States and some parts of the world that kind of closed their minds to us.

He has been very proactive in trying to bring about the stop of - the spreading of nuclear weapons. He's addressed these areas of conflict around the world, so I thought it was a well-deserved recognition.

ROBERTS: Even supporters of the President have said that this is an award given not so much for things he has done as opposed to potential things that he might do. Do you see it that way?

GORE: No, I don't.

ROBERTS: What does he have to do to live up to that award going forward?

GORE: Well, I think that it strengthens his hand in the years ahead, but the Nobel committee made it clear that, in their view, his actions already, just in his first year as president, merit the award, and I think sometimes here at home, we may not fully appreciate always how the rest of the world has seen the dramatic change that he has already brought in the United States.

So an old cliche that you have to wait for history to judge how these things are really seen. They try to take that kind of point of view, and I think that their judgment is going to be affirmed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: There you go. So, we heard from Vice President Al Gore, former Peace Prize winner himself. He thinks he's very deserving of it, and he said that perhaps we don't know how big of an impact here in the states that overseas the President has made.

ROBERTS: Yes, and certainly after being over there myself in recent days, he does make a big impact, and a lot of people looking for a lot of big things from him, so it also increases the pressure.

CHETRY: Yes, that's right. As Suzanne showed when she held up that paper from Norway this morning and just had his face and in huge letters "hope", so there certainly is a lot of hope with this, but it's not without critics, and so we're going to be talking about that as well today as the President just a short time away from receiving the Nobel peace prize.

We're going to be joined by our Christiane Amanpour and Candy Crowley for some insight. It's 51 minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning right now. It's 53 minutes past the hour, and we're seeing live pictures from Oslo, Norway. You see the President Barack Obama there along with the First Lady Michelle Obama greeting and shaking hands. We're just about ten minutes away from this actual, official start of the 2009 Nobel peace prize ceremony.

ROBERTS: Yes. It's Thorbjorn Jagland there on the left. He is the chairman of the Nobel prize committee, and you saw King Harald on the right there.

The President expected to address critics who question how he can accept the prize after ordering a massive troop surge for the war in Afghanistan. Joining us to break it all down our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour and senior political analyst, David Gergen and senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley. Good morning to you all. So, Christiane, take us on the international scene here, your thoughts.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On the international scene right now, everybody is delighted that he's in Oslo, but there's a lot of disgruntlement as well, because it seems for whatever reason, that the President and his advisers have come up with this sort of doing the minimum. It's usually a three-day event, the dinners, the press conferences; there's a whole hour-long interview which CNN usually conducts.

In fact, I was meant to conduct it, but they're not doing that, and it looks like that pushing back a huge amount because they feel that he may feel defensive about winning this, but of course, the people in Norway and people around the world are delighted that he's won it, so it seems that this has a little bit of a missed opportunity in grabbing some of that good feeling, and he's not going to have his special meeting with the king and queen, although we've seen that he's met them already, but there's usually a special lunch.

ROBERTS: Always a missed opportunity when you don't get a chance to sit down with you, too.

(LAUGHING)

CHETRY: That's right.

AMANPOUR: I don't think that's the most serious thing, but it is tradition in the 15 years of the CNN coverage. The winner has done a CNN interview and a BBC interview. There's been press conferences and all the rest.

CHETRY: And so what are the political indication of why we're seeing some of the downplaying by the President and his staffers about receiving this prize, and how he should react to it?

CANDY CROWLEY, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's too bad we're not going into a break because I could do it quickly; jobs, jobs, jobs. You know, he is leaving a country that's in turmoil, and I think one economic, and I think one of the things that you saw before the President went off to Asia, what did he do right before he left?

He had a little statement where he talked about jobs, and I won't be satisfied until everyone has a job. Did the exact same thing yesterday, called in the Republicans, called in the Democrats, came out, said, we're going to work together; we've got to work on this deficit; we have to work on jobs, so we're beginning to see, as his poll numbers fall, people saying, well, what about here? and even though you say, look, it's 24 hours like what is the big deal? He's got a phone on Air Force One. It's not as though he can't, you know, let loose some TARP money.

ROBERTS: Ironically enough, we are going to a break.

CROWLEY: There you go. I should have stopped the jobs, jobs, jobs.

ROBERTS: There you are when you can stop there. The president just moments away from receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. We'll be back with full coverage in 90 seconds. Stay with us.

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