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American Morning
Petraeus Visits Pakistan; Lieberman Stalls Health Care Vote; Bankers Promise to Increase Lending After Meeting with Obama; Bank of America to Step Up Small Business Lending; Teens Accused of Planning Own Version of 9/11; Why Do Teens Fight?; Teen Violence; Iran's "Smoking Gun"; Ground Zero for Bank Failures; Ground Zero for Bank Failures; Recall on Window Shades and Blinds; CT Scans Linked to Cancer
Aired December 15, 2009 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and thanks very much for joining us on this Tuesday, December 15th. We're just a couple of minutes before the top of the hour. Thanks for joining us to the Most News in the Morning. I'm John Roberts.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everybody. I'm Alina Cho. Kiran Chetry has the morning off. Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
CNN is learning the White House will announce that in Illinois prison will soon house detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. We're live at the White House for details.
ROBERTS: Calling all Democrats, President Obama meets with the 60 senators today, trying to iron out differences that could delay passage of a health care bill. Right now, Connecticut, Joe Lieberman may be the biggest obstacle to real reform. A live report from Washington just ahead.
CHO: Plus, teen violence on the rise. Listen to this, the CDC said 16 (ph) are murdered every day. What's behind this violence? In our a.m. original series "Walk In My Shoes", we're going talk to students on Chicago's south side to get some answers.
ROBERTS: A big issue that has dogged President Obama since day one. What to do with the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay? but how about moving them to Illinois? The state has the vacant maximum-security prison. Later on today, the White House will announce that as many as 100 inmates could soon be sent from Gitmo to the facility in Thomson, Illinois. Our Dan Lothian is live at the White House for us this morning with all the late-breaking details. Good morning, Dan.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Indeed, this is something that administration officials have been talking about now for quite some time, saying that this was a facility that was at the top of their list, that it was the ideal facility, and as you pointed out, the administration will be making that announcement, that the President will be directing the federal government to purchase that facility, and order to House not only federal inmates, but also up to 100 detainees from Guantanamo Bay. Governor Quinn of Illinois and Senator Durbin will be here at the White House to be briefed by administration officials on the details of this decision. Now, this is a decision that no doubt will be quite controversial there. Those who believe that bringing these Gitmo detainees, these terror suspects on to U.S. soil will only hurt National Security, but clearly from this administration, from state officials in Illinois and also local officials and just residents in that region, they really see this as an economic boom to an area that really has been struggling from this facility.
Once these inmates go there, they could receive up to 2,000 jobs. It could inject up to $1 billion into the economy there, so they really see this as really an economic boom for them once this thing is up and running, John. So this announcement, again, will be made later this morning here at the White House.
ROBERTS: And in terms, Dan, of when it might all be up and running, any idea what the timeframe is for transferring the first prisoners? Could it be weeks, months perhaps?
LOTHIAN: It's unclear at this point. Officials are confirming that the president will direct that this be purchased so these detainees can be transferred to the facility. But at this point, we don't have details on exactly when that will happen, although it does appear it will be soon.
ROBERTS: All right, Dan Lothian for us this morning at the White House. Dan, thanks.
CHO: Also new this morning, the top U.S. commander for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on a diplomatic this morning mission in Pakistan. General David Petraeus telling CNN's Arwa Damon President Obama's timeline for Afghanistan does not necessarily mean the U.S. will abandon the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How do you convince the other major players that the U.S. has staying power?
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I think at the end of the day we have to keeping coming back to why it is we are engaged in this region in the first place. Why are we in Afghanistan? And of course it is because that is the location in which the 9/11 attacks were planned. We have to ensure that can't happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: General Petraeus also telling CNN one way Washington hopes to build trust with Pakistan is though money, as in $1.5 billion in aid over the next five years.
ROBERTS: An airline blaming the pilot for a flight that literally fell from the sky back in February, killing off 49 people on board and one person on the ground. The crew of flight 3407 from Newark to Buffalo did not respond properly to stall warnings. The cockpit voice recorder transcript shows the captain and copilot shared their fear of flying in icy weather only minutes before the plane came down.
CHO: And blizzard-like conditions in Oregon may cripple the search for two hikers missing on Mt. Hood this morning. The body of a fellow climber was found the day after those hikers vanished on Friday. Now forecasters say a major storm could bring up to a foot of snow. And overnight temperatures have dipped into the teens.
ROBERTS: And tens of millions of missing Bush-era e-mails have been found by President Obama's computer technicians. The missing e- mails are from 2003 to 2005. It is the result of two private groups suing over the Bush White House's failure to follow federal law and install an electronic record-keeping system.
So how did it all happen? This morning we are digging deeper. About 22 million e-mails -- 22 million -- have now been found. A former spokesman for President Bush is calling their disappearance nothing more than a standard I.T. issue.
Some of the email involve the controversial firing of federal prosecutors in nine states that happened in 2006. And also of interest, Microsoft called to the White House to help find electronic messages from October of 2003. That is when the Justice Department began investigating the outing of former CIA officer Valerie Plame.
And finally the recovered emails are not expected to be made public until at least 2014. Folks at national archives are going through them right now, all 22 million of them.
CHO: That's going to take a while.
President Obama will meet with all Democratic senators today, hoping to resolve differences that could delay passage of a health care reform bill. The Senate wants to have a bill ready by Christmas. Could it happen? Democrats may give in to the demands of Connecticut's independent senator Joe Lieberman to get it done.
Brianna Keilar live in Washington for us. So Brianna, Lieberman seems to be against this Medicare buy-in for 55 to 64 year olds. What's going on?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And it seems that this idea does not have the votes because Senator Lieberman would have been the 60th, which is the crucial number in the Senate to pass anything, including health care reform. So it seems Senate Democrats just don't have the support they need to pass this.
And keep in mind, the idea of allowing people 55 to 64 to buy into Medicare was already a plan b. It's an alternative to that government-run insurance plan, the public option. So now Democrats are scrambling to find a plan c. We don't know what that will be. It could become clear as they go to the White House to meet today.
But what very clear is they are running out of time. Here in the Senate, they need days really to debate something before they can vote on it. So they really have this finite window of opportunity that will close here in a couple of days.
CHO: You mentioned plan "c," let's hope there isn't a plan "d," "e," f," "g."
Brianna, I think it's important to point out that Senator Lieberman talking has been for this expanded Medicare program in the past. Here is just three months ago Lieberman talking about why he supported it. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN, (I) CONNECTICUT: My proposals were basically to expand the existing, successful public health insurance programs, Medicare and Medicaid. When it came to Medicare, I was very focused on a group, post-60, more like post-55, people who have retired early or, unfortunately, been laid off early who lose their health insurance and they are too young to qualify for Medicare. And what I was proposing was that they have an option to buy into Medicare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: So Brianna, what is Lieberman's office saying about the flip-flop?
KEILAR: They are acknowledging that he has changed his mind. You heard him describing the way he felt about the Medicare buy-in, that it was a good idea back in 2006, as recently as 2006. When he was a vice presidential candidate in 2000 he was a vocal supporter of this idea.
And like I said, his office says, yes, he changed his mind, but it is because of changing circumstances in light of deficit spending and in light of the strains on Medicare, he feels what was a good idea back then is no longer a good idea.
But he is just getting skewered on liberal blogs of being in the pocket of insurance companies that are headquartered in his state of Connecticut.
And his office is very quick to defend him on this, saying he's promoting some things that insurance companies hate, for instance, taking away that antitrust exemption that insurance companies have right now.
CHO: Brianna Keilar live for us in Washington. Brianna, thank you.
ROBERTS: Also new this morning, Wall Street trying to wrap up with the year with a major rally. Stocks will open on '09 highs this morning on news that Citigroup is paying back its bailout and that Dubai is getting one. The Dow ended the day at 10,501 yesterday. That's it's highest close since October of 2003.
CHO: Home for Christmas? Maybe only in your dreams if you're flying British airways this holiday season. The union approved a 12- day strike over Christmas and New Year's starting on December 22nd.
This comes after British Airways cut the number of cabin crew workers when they couldn't cut a deal.
ROBERTS: I said October 2003 -- October, 2008. Sorry, it looked like a three.
Another sponsor may bail on Tiger Woods. Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer said it will spend the next few weeks assessing its relationship with the world's best golfer after he admitted his infidelity and took an indefinite leave from golf. Last night on "AC 360," a business expert talked about how the scandal could cost a lot of people a lot of money.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: This is absolutely the perfect storm, one of the most if not the most recognizable men in the history of the universe, combined with the blogosphere Internet access where accurate or inaccurate information is purveyed worldwide in a matter of seconds.
Corporate America spends about $12 billion on endorsements. Because of all this, the contracts in the future, I guarantee you, will be shorter, smaller, and easier to terminate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Consulting firm Accenture served ties with Tiger over the weekend.
From this distance, sometimes an eight looks and awful lot like a three.
CHO: You're having some problems with your contacts this morning. It's completely understandable.
ROBERTS: I'm telling you, this getting old thing, I hate it.
(LAUGHTER)
So cat stands, CT scans, they are one of the best diagnostic tools that we have, a very important medical device. But are people getting overexposed to radiation? And what might the consequences of that be? We're paging Dr. Gupta after this morning.
It's eight minutes, yes, that's an eight, not a three, after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Straight ahead on the Most News in the Morning, a home- grown terrorist plot in Toronto. It's a CNN special investigation. The crime -- a 9/11 anniversary attack. But what's more shocking, wait until you hear the punishments. Alina?
CHO: It's 11 minutes after the hour. Welcome back to Most News in the Morning.
An update on a big story we told you about yesterday. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will stay in the hospital until at least tomorrow.
Doctors are also urging him to cancel public appearances for the next two weeks. The 73-year-old was hit in the face with a statue at a rally in Milan on Sunday. He suffered a fractured nose, two broken teeth, and several cuts. Police do have a man in custody.
ROBERTS: Also new this morning, more teens smoking pot and abusing prescription painkillers after a decade of decline. A new federal study shows an uptick of nearly 1.5 percent among 8th, 10th, and 12th grader in the last two years.
And the numbers also show fewer teens think that pot is dangerous.
CHO: And the Supreme Court will take up a case that could decide whether your boss can look at the text messages you send from your work phone. The case centers around a California police officer who apparently sent sexually explicit text messages to his girlfriend from his government pager.
Federal appeals court in California ruled that when his boss reviewed those texts, that violated the Fourth Amendment, which protects from unreasonable searches.
ROBERTS: And a big warning for parents this morning, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalling an estimated 50 million roman window shades and rollup window blinds. There is a fear that babies and toddlers can strangle themselves in the cords.
They were sold all over the country from discount shops like Wal- Mart and big lots to high end stores like West Elm and Pottery Barn, even neighborhood hardware stores like Ace.
We'll be telling you more about this. You can see all of the products that are affected by the recall at our Web site, CNN.com/amfix. About 30 minutes from now we're going to be talking with the chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission about this recall. Again, 50 million rollup and roman blinds.
CHO: One year after taxpayers spent $45 billion to bail them out, Bank of America is now promising to increase lending to small and mid-sized businesses next year. The CEO says he owes it to the American people.
Christine Romans is "Minding your Business." Yes, it could be that, or it could be they met with President Obama yesterday and he urged them to do so.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It could be that. It could also be that bank CEO's are seeing next year as better days. And so it's not just charity. It's not charity. These are banks that see things will be getting better next year and they're willing to stop the big reverse of their small business lending.
Small business lending at B of A has been down pretty dramatically this year, and Bank of America says it's determined to make "Every good loan we can," $5 billion in 2010. It is the second largest small business lender after Wells Fargo.
It has loaned this year about $12 billion to small business so far in 2009. But that means its small business loans are down five percent, or $2.2 billion ,and the loans it backs through the Small Business Association, the SBA, those are down 90 percent, Or 103.8 million.
Another headline in the bailout barons saga is after Bank of America paid back its $45 billion last week, Wells Fargo and Citigroup are now in talks and are on deck to pay back theirs as well to get out from underneath the government's thumb.
But Bank of America coming out with the biggest dollar value initiative that we've seen yet. But we know from those bankers who talked yesterday with the president that several of them said we think next year will be a little better.
So after sort of the crisis of the last year, you could see lending start to pick up. Is it because of the president and the talking to that he had with them or gave to them, depending on how you look at it, or because business conditions are going to get a little bit better?
ROBERTS: Richard Davis from Bancorp said they were under a microscope.
ROMANS: Yes. But he said next --
ROBERTS: We're under a microscope.
ROMANS: But he said wait until next year. Next year is going to be better.
Now, under the microscope but also they're under the gun too, because Bank of America in particular has a 16 percent default rate this year. Sixteen percent of the loans that they write.
ROBERTS: Is it big?
ROMANS: So you can see there's all the screaming about why aren't you -- why aren't you giving money to good creditworthy borrowers? Well, yes, but over here, they've got all these people who they thought were creditworthy who are now defaulting.
CHO: That they have to deal with. Yes.
ROMANS: It's a lot of pressure, right, that could ease next year. That allows them to get out there and lend more. $5 billion they pledged.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning. Christine, thanks.
We're coming up on fifteen-and-a-half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. They are called the Toronto 18. A group of Canadian teens accused of planning their own version of 9/11. The plot? Frightening. The target date? September 11, 2006.
In their words, a five-year celebration of the attack of the Twin Towers. Only now are the details coming to light. Here's Drew Griffin of CNN special investigations unit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Investigators say this is the devastation their bomb would have caused. The aim? Kill as many Canadians as possible. The target? Downtown Toronto.
(on camera): Three buildings, three bombs, all right here in the heart of downtown Toronto, and all to go off almost simultaneously, using one cell phone.
MUBIN SHAIK, YOUTH DIRECTOR: It would have been that same phone, probably would have been three different numbers and so the -- I mean, the time it takes to dial three numbers.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Mubin Shaik was the mole on the inside, a paid informant of Canadian police. And this was the so-called ring leader of the conspiracy. His name is Zakaria Amara, seen here on police evidence tape testing a cell phone-triggered detonator.
SHAIK: He wanted to do it around 9/11. He wanted it to have the maximum effect on the Canadian psyche and the public psyche, and that is where the strength of terrorism lies.
GRIFFIN: Shaik, a Muslim youth director in Toronto, infiltrated the group that he calls high school friends who played soccer together and hung out at after-school Muslim youth groups. Shaik says they also began looking at perceived injustice towards Muslims around the world and literally self-radicalized.
SHAIK: And some have termed them jihadists because it becomes a -- it's a hobby. They're online. They're checking all this stuff out, and then it's, you know, a cause for celebration when one of them actually goes and does something.
GRIFFIN: The Toronto police chief Bill Blair. How this plot started and then became more serious is the new and growing threat of terror.
BILL BLAIR, TORONTO POLICE CHIEF: It's one thing to keep a threat outside your borders. It's another to realize that that threat can germinate and grow inside your borders and inside your own communities.
GRIFFIN: What prevented catastrophe three years ago was inside information, allowing Shaik to penetrate the group, actually going on these training missions. Some of the suspects were caught on tape buying what they thought was enough ammonium nitrate to make three one-ton bombs. This test explosion of a real bomb by police played in court showed a jury what the chief says was the real intent -- to kill Canadians.
And you don't say that lightly. They could have killed thousands.
BLAIR: The detonators that have been obtained worked. Had they been able to obtain the chemicals, all of the chemicals that they were trying to obtain, had they been able to detonate that in the city of Toronto, thousands of citizens would have been killed.
GRIFFIN (on camera): What may surprise you even more than the plot to kill thousands of Canadians is the punishment handed down for trying to pull it off.
(voice-over): Of the two conspirators seen loading and unloading what they thought was ammonium nitrate, one got a 14-year prison sentence, but can apply for parole in just 2 1/2 years. The other will be sentenced in January.
Zakaria Amara, the mastermind who was fine tuning his cell phone triggers has pled guilty and faces a sentence next month of up to life in prison. But in Canada, life means 25 years with a possibility for parole after serving just 15.
One of those convicted is already free and charges against seven others were either dropped or stayed. Toronto's police chief doesn't believe the punishments fit the crime.
BLAIR: You know, the police always wants, you know, greater sentence to reflect the accordance we have to such crime. I think this was a very real plot. Had they been successful, they could have killed thousands of citizens in the city.
GRIFFIN: Now many are back on the streets with no guarantees for the future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: And, Alina, here is what's really troubling. In certain circles in Toronto, many of these would-be terrorists are considered folk heroes who were just kind of caught in a sting by police. Meanwhile, that mole on the inside who prevented all this from happening, he says he's treated like a rat in his own Muslim community there.
CHO: It's startling to hear the details of that plot, Drew. You know, did anyone give you any explanation for why some of these sentences were so lenient? GRIFFIN: Well, you're looking at two different countries, number one. You know, we just had a guy sentenced here in Atlanta for potentially aiding terrorists. He was taking videos and trying to send them overseas to terrorists. He was sentenced to 17 years. And here's the main plotter in this plot, he's going to get 25 with a chance of parole for 15.
But the other thing that may have stopped the sentences from being stronger here is just the police did a really good job. They were inside on this from almost the beginning. And I think that there's a feeling in Toronto, that, well this never really would have been a real plot. They were just kidding around. But as we're seeing the details just now being released, these guys were far along in the development and the operational stages of what they really did think was going to be a massive explosion. Three of them in downtown Toronto -- Alina.
CHO: Incredible. Drew Griffin for us live in Atlanta. Drew, thank you.
ROBERTS: A new document emerges suggesting that Iran is developing nuclear triggers. Is it the smoking gun for an ongoing nuclear weapons program?
And what about those hikers? They're scheduled to go on trial, but we don't know what they're going to be charged with at trial just yet? How is all of this going to play out together. We're talking with Robin Wright, Middle East expert, as well as David Albright, former U.N. weapons inspector. Coming right up.
Twenty-four and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: How about that shot ten days before Christmas?
ROBERTS: Fair enough.
CHO: Christmas lights. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 27 minutes after the hour.
Across the country, teen violence is ripping apart families and entire communities.
ROBERTS: The Centers for Disease Control says 16 teens and young adults are murdered in America every single day, and many are killed by someone their own age. We want to understand why so many are turning to violence. Our T.J. Holmes talked with some high school students on Chicago's South Side to get inside their heads. He's here with day two of our original a.m. series "Walking My Shoes."
Good morning, T.J.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning to you guys. I learned a lot from these kids. You know, I guess we've all in all these high-profile cases of violence, including Derrion Albert, who got killed in Chicago, we all just feeling like sometimes what is wrong with these kids?
The short answer is nothing. Nothing is wrong with the kids per se. It's the environment. It's where they are that is shaping these kids.
It's not an excuse for the behavior, but still to understand what's going on with them, you have to go to them, where they are. You see politicians, you see law enforcement, you see school officials, all trying to determine what's wrong with these kids, why they do what they do.
Well, we went to the source, talked to the kids and exactly asked them what is it you're fighting for?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: How many in this group? Would you give me a show of hands, if you want to. How many of you all have been in the past year been in a fight, physical altercation of some kind?
All five of you in the past year have been in a fight of some kind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last September for me.
HOLMES (voice-over): For these Chicago teens, fighting is a way of life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like that every day in school. Not a day you don't see somebody bumping somebody, not getting in an argument over petty stuff.
HOLMES: Not an accidental bump but a move meant to intimidate.
(on camera): Why is it so important to be big man on campus?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like if you're a big guy or even try to keep their reputation, so if somebody bump you, you won't automatically just say something to him because you won't feel like and you will be like you just got treated like a punk.
HOLMES: Has anything gotten more serious?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once I got jumped, I was by myself, and I found myself fighting 15 girls. And then they were like, OK, we're going to spare your life today and that scared me.
HOLMES (voice-over): What these Chicago teens tell us is not unusual. In fact, nearly 40 percent of Chicago public school students were involved in a physical fight.
LILA LEFF, FOUNDER, UMOJA STUDENT DEVELOPMENT CORP.: High school is about young people scrambling for power and influence.
HOLMES: Lila Leff leads a program that in part tries to stem teen violence. She says kids are vying for power and prestige everywhere.
LEFF: In some high schools, the currency is how much money your parents make, or what car you're going to drive when you're 16, or what college, you know, you're going to get into because you're taking five AP (ph) classes. And in some places the currency is your reputation.
HOLMES: Because for many of these teens, a reputation is all they have. Eighty-five percent of Chicago public school students live below the poverty line. Gangs, guns and drugs are all too common in poor neighborhoods.
(on camera): Have you all witnessed some kind of violence, shooting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd say my brother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They happen everyday, and it'll be mostly over petty stuff.
HOLMES (voice-over): For these teens, the daily threat of violence is all too real.
(on camera): Wait a minute, you all kept -- you carry stuff around when you're outside?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you don't carry -- if you don't carry --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You might as well just lay down in your grave. You might as well dig it yourself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who don't carry mace?
HOLMES: Wait, what do you carry? What do you carry?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I carry (INAUDIBLE) and mace.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I carry a mace, box cutters and scissors.
HOLMES (voice-over): These teens have developed a tough exterior in order to survive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I told my mama if I got into an argument with a girl, and I didn't fight her, she would say get your scary face out of my face.
HOLMES: An attitude youth violent expert Dr. Carl Bell says is no surprise.
DR. CARL BELL, PSYCHIATRIST: A parent is scared something is going to happen to the kid and the fear turns into anger and the anger gets transmitted to the kid, and the kid is told, defend yourself, because if you are a punk, people going to try you.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) tries to change that thinking. Teaching students leadership skills to help resolve conflicts without fighting. These five teens say it's helping them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I learned how to control myself.
HOLMES: Amber was suspended 15 times for getting into fights in her freshman year. Now as a junior she's worked hard to keep trouble at bay.
I started looking at a lot of situations different, I started looking at a lot of fights different and when people come to me, I'm like thinking in my mind, is fighting her really worth it? You get 10 days out of school, and it's not even really worth it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: You will hear more from Amber in the series this week. But you have to give them something to hope for, to think that they are losing. Many of them don't think they don't have anything to lose anyway. So might as well fight. But if a kid thinks they are going to college or they're going to be thrown off course if they fight or get into trouble, then they'll have a better control over backing off.
It is alarming, some of that stuff you said. And like, wow, this kid is 16 talking about carrying mace, and tasers...
ROBERTS: Box cutters.
HOLMES: They picked up their purses right there and let me show you. Let me show you what I got. I mean, just to think 16, 15.
CHO: When you talk about hope, I mean, it starts with good teachers and it also starts with a home with good parents who are good role models, and unfortunately a lot of kids don't have that.
You know, T.J., yesterday you introduced us to a young man named Vishon Bullock. His brother is one of the suspects charged in the murder of Derrion Albert, that honor student who was killed in a brutal street fight in Chicago back in late September. Vishon was in that fight too. Now, the whole thing caught on cell phone video, you see there. T.J., as you know, your report is generating a ton of comments on our blog. We've just had a tremendous response to it.
HOLMES: Yes. I was interested to read a lot of these. Some people that wrote in were actually from Chicago and can relate to what's happening. We'll share a few that we have here. One from someone who calls themselves a former Chicago youth and says "When the fight happened, I cried. I am from that neighborhood. Though it has been almost 30 years, and it was getting rough back then. I live comfortably in the south and raised my children in a different environment it still deeply saddens me. The violence must stop."
Another from Ms. Johnson saying "This is a tragedy. I grew up in the inner city. Fighting was a way of life. I didn't like to fight. Never wanted to fight but sometimes had to fight. My parents taught us to walk away as much as possible but the reality was sometimes you can't. You have to fight to survive."
And one last here from Pam, saying "Every action in this life comes with a choice and choices come with consequences. I believe all involved should pay the heaviest price for their actions but I also believe that parents should realize that it's not up to the rest of the world to raise their children. That's always a point of debate there."
Parents, yes, that's the first responsibility. But some think as well, teachers, school districts, need to realize you're not just there to give a kid a test every day. You are part of raising that child (INAUDIBLE)
CHO: We all have a stake on it. Really.
HOLMES: Everybody does and a lot of people say we are failing the kids right now.
ROBERTS: Great report, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Thanks, guys. I'll be back tomorrow as well. Got a couple more reports to share with you. Looking forward to it.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it.
HOLMES: Thanks, guys.
CHO: Thanks, T.J.
A little past half -- 30 minutes after the hour.
Now, here are this morning's top stories. President Obama is inviting Senate Democrats to the White House today in the hopes of getting health care reform for Christmas. Sources say Democrats are now ready to drop a compromise that would have offered Medicare coverage to people starting at age 55 to keep Senator Joseph Lieberman in the fold. He is one of the key 60 votes they need.
ROBERTS: Blizzard-like conditions and the risk of avalanches may put the search for the two missing Mt. Hood hikers on hold this morning. Forecasters say a major storm could bring up to a foot of snow there today. And overnight temperatures dipped into the teens. The hikers vanished on Friday. The body of a fellow climber was found the day after at around the 9,000 foot mark. CHO: Waking up with your coffee this morning? More proof that a cup of Joe may be the ultimate health food. A study out of Australia says every cup of coffee you have may cut your risks of getting type II diabetes by seven percent. Decaf even helps too. This comes on the heels of other studies that say coffee may help prevent liver disease, Alzheimer's, stroke, and even Parkinson's disease.
ROBERTS: Wow. A developing story this morning. There could now be written proof that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb. Experts say a top secret document talks about a device that has no peaceful use at all. Is it the smoking gun that officials have been looking for?
Joining us now live from Washington, Robin Wright. She is the author of "Dreams And Shadows." She is testifying before a House subcommittee on national security today. And also with us, former U.N. weapons inspector David Albright. David, let's start with you. These Iranian documents, what specifically does it suggest they are working on?
DAVID ALBRIGHT, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Well, the document, the most important one suggests THAT they are working on a very complicated component of a nuclear weapon called a neutron initiator that uses uranium and deuterium. And it implies that they are working on a more sophisticated nuclear weapon if this document is true and it implies that they're doing it now.
At least the document is said to dated in 2007. It describes a four-year plan to master this component and so have you in a sense -- I wouldn't call it a smoking gun. But you have some very intriguing evidence that Iran's nuclear weapons program is ongoing and has not stopped as of 2003, as our national intelligence estimate has said.
ROBERTS: Yes, Robin, I do want you to weigh in on this that National Intelligence estimate that came out during the Bush administration say that Iran had stopped trying to make a nuclear weapon in 2003. The Bush administration spun that as concrete proof that they were in fact trying to develop nuclear weapons. This suggests that what that national intelligence estimate said, I think it was late 2007 and early 2008, was completely wrong.
ROBIN WRIGHT, AUTHOR, "DREAMS AND SHADOWS": Well, remember, the estimate said that they believed that it stopped in 2003, and they couldn't say with absolute certainty whether Iran had resumed that program. This latest finding, if true, indicates that Iran may well be lying.
And it comes particularly after the discovery of a facility outside of the holy city of Qom, which could not easily be used for just nuclear fuel for an energy program, but is much more compatible with a nuclear weapons program. So there's a growing body of evidence suggesting the Iranians are lying.
ROBERTS: And David, what do you think about this document? In all of these documents, do they seem authentic to you? Well, we -- we received it a little over two weeks ago from "The Times." They asked to us look at this. And we assembled a small team to try to assess it. And we understand that the source, although we're not free to talk about that, but the source would be risking a lot if it forged this document.
And the document is internally consistent, but at the same time, the document doesn't have a date on it. The source said it's 2007. And that does need to be looked at more carefully and confirmed. Plus, I think -- I'd feel more comfortable -- I know the International Atomic Energy has this document. I feel more comfortable if they release their results of their assessment of this document.
ROBERTS: Right. As we said, Robin, you're going to be testifying before the House subcommittee on national security today. David said he is not sure if this is a smoking gun. I want to get your sense of that and also obviously the issue of consequences will most likely come up at that hearing based on this latest evidence. What are you going to say to members of Congress about that?
WRIGHT: Well, I think the real challenge for the United States now is that its diplomatic initiative hasn't worked and it comes at a time that there is mounting evidence against Iran. And so the administration will be looking for alternatives, and the question is can sanctions work? That is the next step in dealing with Iran. The U.S. has been trying to get its allies on board. Other members of the U.N. security council.
And the question is how effective can sanctions be? Do they end up hurting people rather than the regime that you're trying to punish and squid into joining some kind of diplomatic effort?
ROBERTS: And then, Robin, do you think this is a smoking gun? Do you enough about it to make that judgment?
WRIGHT: I don't. I defer to David on this but it does -- as I say, if the timing is proven, if the document proves to be true, then this is very damning for Iran.
ROBERTS: And how worried should we be about this, David?
ALBRIGHT: I think we need to worry a lot about Iran. I mean, what this document does show is that we've been thinking about Iran's nuclear weapons program like an on/off switch. It stopped in '03. It hasn't restarted according to the NAE. We probably should think of it more like a dimmer switch, where nothing is -- no program -- the full circle is full program.
But we clearly appear to be somewhere in between and Iran is at the least developing a capability so that if it decides to make nuclear weapons it can produce a reliable war head for Saeb 3 (ph) missiles quickly and that part of the program will not be a bottle neck.
ROBERTS: And Robin, quickly, one other issue in all of this. The three American hikers, according to the Foreign Minister, they will be put on trial. We don't know what the charges are. How do they fit in between these escalating tensions between the United States and Iran?
WRIGHT: Well, unfortunately, the three hikers have become victims to the standoff between Iran and the United States. Iran doesn't have much leverage, but it does have control of these three hikers. You can hope that by putting them on trial, that will then lead Iran to eventually deport them. But they made the point that they had transgressed or done something wrong.
The danger is because this is not a -- this kind of case has not come up before, that they want to make an issue of this and they really do intend to keep them until as leverage over the United States.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll keep watching all of this very closely. All right. Robin Wright, David Albright, always great to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning. Really appreciate it.
WRIGHT: Thank you.
ALBRIGHT: Thank you.
ROBERTS: 20 minutes now to the top of the hour.
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CHO: Welcome to most news in the morning. When it comes to bank failures, the state of Georgia is ground zero. Dozens of banks there have gone belly up. And it's not just the little account holders getting burned. David Mattingly joins us now from Atlanta with an "A.M. Original." David, good morning to you. So it seems to be this sort of perfect storm and that's the reason why these banks failed, right?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Alina. Georgia used to be known as a place to start a bank, but not anymore.
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MATTINGLY (voice-over): As president and CEO of the Community Bank of West Georgia, Richard Hayden thought he had all the bases covered.
(on camera): And as long as they are building houses and as long as people were building houses and people were buying them, you were OK?
RICHARD HAYDEN, PRES./CEO COMMUNITY BANK OF WEST GEORGIA: Absolutely.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): He says making loans to developers in metro Atlanta's booming real estate market was a way to double your money in five to 10 years. But when the sub prime crisis hit, the real estate heavy formula for success turned into a recipe for disaster.
(on camera): What percentage of the bank's money was tied up in real estate development?
HAYDEN: In the neighborhood of 65 percent to 70 percent?
MATTINGLY: Isn't that a lot for one bank to invest in real estate that heavily? Weren't you leaving yourself open for a fall?
HAYDEN: Well, obviously, in hindsight with the collapse in the real estate market, it wasn't the right thing to do.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Georgia leads the nation in stories just like this. 24 banks have failed just this year, many of them small startups. The popular idea was to build up the bottom line quick then sell out at a profit to a bigger bank.
Construction and commercial real estate was a proven way to go until the bottom suddenly fell out.
(on camera): Were they JUST too busy making money to see the problem THAT WAS looming there?
BYRON RICHARDSON, BANKING CONSULTANT: Absolutely. They were all chasing this -- and drinking the same Kool-Aid, if you will.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Banking consultant Byron Richardson says many banks he works with ignored conventional wisdom to diversify and counted heavily on real estate developers moving their new properties quickly to pay them back.
MATTINGLY (on camera): And when they stop, the money stops coming back to the bank.
RICHARDSON: Stops coming back to the bank, the suppliers don't get paid and there's a ripple effect.
MATTINGLY: How could they not see this coming?
RICHARDSON: Because it absolutely stopped.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): It just took just a matter of months for that ripple effect to wipe out Hayden's bank. There was no government bailout and no time for a small startup bank to recover.
HAYDEN: It was like somebody turned the light switch off. I mean, it just happened almost immediately. So, it would have taken years for us to restructure and to do something different.
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MATTINGLY: More than just the president and CEO, Hayden was also the fifth largest shareholder in his bank. He helped start it, he invested a lot of his personal money into it, so when the bank failed, he lost his life savings.
CHO: Unbelievable. David Mattingly live for us in Atlanta. David, thank you.
ROBERTS: So we got some news to tell you about this morning that you'll want to hear if you have blinds, either those roman blinds or rollup blinds. The head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission will join us to talk about a huge recall and -- I mean, this is a -- it's 50 million blinds we're talking about here. It's not a small thing.
CHO: Yes. And -- and they're actually providing repair kits.
So we're going to tell you what you need to know about keeping your children safe, coming up.
It's 46 minutes after the hour.
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CHO: Forty-nine minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
And parents, you will want to hear about this. Up to 50 million window blinds and shades are being recalled because they could strangle babies and toddlers.
For more on this, we want to bring in Inez Tenenbaum. She's the chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission who issued the recall. Ms. Tenenbaum, good morning to you.
INEZ TENENBAUM, CHAIRMAN, U.S. CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION: Good morning.
CHO: We're talking about an industry-wide recall of all Roman shades and roll up blinds. Exactly what are we talking about and what are the risks?
TENENBAUM: Well, we are talking about children who have strangled in these Roman shades and roll up blinds. We've had eight strangulations and 16 near-strangulations because children have been entangled in the cords.
The Romans shades have the cords behind them, and we now have a kit that will make these Roman shades cordless. The roll up shades have a kit that we're -- that will be offered that will have a break away so the child cannot strangle on the roll up shade.
CHO: Ms. Tenenbaum -- I mean, that's great. You can order that repair kit, but it might get -- take a couple of days to get it to -- you know, it might not be able to get out to the store right away. What can you do immediately if you're concerned about your kids getting caught in this?
TENENBAUM: Well, first of all, you should call the Window Covering Safety Council and get these kits. Second of all, you should make sure that you do not use these shades or make sure children do not get around these shades if you have them in your windows. CHO: You know, a lot of well-known retailers carry these blinds. We're talking about 50 million units. What do consumers need to know about which blinds are affected by this recall?
TENENBAUM: Well, these are all Roman shades and all roll up blinds, and they have been sold in stores like Wal-Mart and JC Penny and Pottery Barn. So, these are Roman shades and roll up, and we're recalling the whole line of these across the country.
CHO: Inez Tenenbaum, head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. We thank you for joining us. It's a busy day for you.
And for more on this, you should head to our website, cnn.com, John, for the entire list. Obviously, a lot of brands affected. A lot of parents are going to be concerned about this.
ROBERTS: Yes. I guess everybody knows what a roll up blind is, you know. Just kind of rolls up like that. The Roman blinds are ones that kind of fold up in slats behind each other. There's a string in the back there and they're getting rid of that and they're just putting rings on with hooks.
So you have to do it manually, but at least it makes it much safer.
CHO: Basically if there's anything with a cord on it, you should be concerned and you should call, just to -- just to make sure.
This morning's top stories are just minutes away, including at 8:05 Eastern time, from Gitmo to Illinois, the White House is getting ready to announce that some terror detainees will be moved to a prison in America's heartland. We're live at the White House with details.
ROBERTS: And at the bottom of the hour, Tiger's sinking stock. A major sponsor bailing out. Will the fans follow? And how much will golf around the world suffer as a result of this?
Those stories and more coming up at the top of the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Serious concerns about the safety of CT or CAT scans, two new studies now suggest they deliver far more radiation than was previously reported and may actually cause thousands of cases of cancer in this country each year.
We're paging our Dr. Gupta this morning. CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta is here.
So, these CT scans are irreplaceable in terms of their diagnostic abilities -- capabilities. But now we got this health problem, potential health problem associated with them. (INAUDIBLE).
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot of risks and benefits, obviously, in life, but certainly in medicine in particular.
You know, we're talking about some -- some very specific things here with regard to CAT scans and the potential problems. But, you know, it's -- it's worth pointing out that the individual risk is still very small for people who are watching a story like this this morning and thinking they're going to get cancer.
Chances are small, but -- but keep in mind, we do a lot more CAT scans nowadays than we did 30 years ago. About 70 million scans overall annually. That's a lot of scans. And, again, 23 times more than back in 1980. And these scans do give off a lot of radiation. So that's really the issue here.
Everything I'm about to tell you in terms of these numbers are really based on estimates. They're based on modeling and predictions. So no one's saying for sure that they can actually link particular CAT scans to cancers.
But take a look at some of the -- the particular CAT scans, again, keeping in mind how much radiation they give off. Abdominal scans in particular, again, estimates of about 14,000 cancers they could potentially cause over -- over a lifetime. Head scans, about 4,000 cancers. Heart scans give off a lot of radiation as well, 2,700 cancers. They do a lot fewer heart scans, comparatively speaking.
One thing that's interesting as well to point out...
ROBERTS: So is it just because abdominal scans are more common that -- that has that elevated number?
GUPTA: That -- that's right. The more common -- and -- and they do give up a lot of -- you're scanning a lot of organs there as well.
And what's interesting to me is there's very little regulation overall within the CAT scans, and even within CAT scans in a particular hospitals. So, for example, you had a heart scan on one machine, you got a heart scan on another machine, same hospital, you can be getting up to 13 times the amount of radiation. Certain scans just give off more radiation. So therein lies part of the problem as well, overall.
CHO: Is there any way to regulate it, then?
GUPTA: Well, you know, I think a lot of it is going to be self -- self done. I think the industry is already saying we need to do two things -- come up with machines that give off lower less radiation overall and make sure it's more consistent so they can better sort of predict this sort of thing.
ROBERTS: Well, what about -- so how do you -- how do you balance off the benefits of this diagnostic tool with the risks? How do you minimize the risks?
GUPTA: Well, some of that, I think, is -- is going to be on the hospitals and the manufactures, like we're talking about. You know, the hospitals do have to decrease that variability. Hospitals -- the manufacturers have to count (ph) the machines that give off lower radiation.
But, I think for the individual as well, there are certain things they can do. I mean, when you -- when you think about it, obviously, you want to get the test only when it's absolutely needed. That may sound obvious to say, but a lot of people get tests. Some get it just preemptively, because they want to screen for things they're not even sure about. They also get a lot of repeat tests. They may not necessarily need it.
Opt for other screenings. There are a lot of other tests out there besides going to the big gun or big hammer of a CAT scan right away. The appropriate radiation dosage -- again, this is -- it may be a little out of the hands of the individual, but talking with their doctor about that specifically.
Also, reminding them. You go to a hospital in New York, you go to a hospital in Atlanta, I just had a CAT scan in New York. I don't need another one in Atlanta, and things like that. Doctors or hospitals can't always keep up with that.
CHO: Right. Sure.
That's Sanjay Gupta. Thank you.
GUPTA: Thanks guys. Good to see you
CHO: Good to see you, as always.
Our top stories are coming up in 90 seconds. Stay with us.
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