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American Morning
Volcanic Ash Grounds Flights; Jobless Get Help; The Party Power; Picture of War; Volcano Cloud Grows; Pilots on Prozak
Aired April 16, 2010 - 6:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Mars and to the moon, but have to potentially plan on going to the asteroids. Can you imagine that?
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. At least six countries have entirely closed their air space because of this volcanic ash cloud in Iceland. We've been waiting for Gary Tuchman to get on the ground there and he is there now. He joins us by phone.
Gary, what are you seeing and what is the latest from there?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on the phone): The volcano was so disruptive, there's so much of Western Europe have actually causing very little disruption here in Iceland. There is one major international airport in this nation of 315,000 people and three smaller ones and they are all open, operating normally because they are not to the east of the volcano, which is the direction the wind is blowing.
We're driving to the volcano right now. We're just to the west of it and while the sky is dark it's because of rain clouds not ash. East of volcano though, Alina, the town of Vick, which is under ash because the volcano was under a glacier, flood waters up ravaged nearby land, but nobody, and this is very important, nobody has been killed. Nobody has been hurt.
The volcano is a sixteen-letter Iceland word. It's like pronounced like this, (inaudible), in English that means, Island mountain glacier. The last time it erupted in 1821, almost 190 years ago. The eruptions went on for two years. In more recent times Iceland had eruptions that have lasted only weeks.
There's no way to figure out how long this will last, but the winds is supposed to shift tomorrow. They will be from the north, which is good because that means the ash will go into the North Atlantic Ocean. And one more thing, Alina, there's a dark joke making the rounds here in Iceland, Iceland owes a lot of money to the United Kingdom because of its monetary crisis here, and the joke is that instead of giving the U.K. cash, they are giving the U.K. ash -- Alina.
CHO: Yes, you know, there's obviously the question of air travel and all of those flights canceled around the world on at least two continents, Asia as well. You know, there's that problem, but there's also the problem on the ground in Iceland where they've had at least 700 people perhaps more evacuated. What exactly are you seeing there on the ground and how concerned are people there?
TUCHMAN: Well, right now as we're driving towards the volcano to the west, it's completely normal. As normal as it is right now in New York City where you are. That's what is so amazing about it even though we can see in the distance the mountain that's make up the volcano. To the east of it, these little towns, there is a lot of ash. There are flood waters. There were evacuations. There are still some people who are left there. But the fact is no one has been killed or no one has been hurt. There's agricultural damage. There's land damage. There's damage to some of the bridges, but nothing major. Nothing catastrophic here in the nation of Iceland.
ROBERTS: Hey, Gary. It's John here. You went there on a very adventurous limb and actually pronounced the name of the volcano. What was it again just folks at home. I was told by -- I contacted the Icelandic embassy yesterday, they tried to give the pronunciation, I think they said (inaudible). What did you hear?
TUCHMAN: I'm really impressed, John, on the great pressure you could say it so well. We're with a very nice Icelandic man right now who's our guide, and he has given me pronunciation lessons before I dare go on the air with you. But yes, (inaudible) that's about the closest as I get to it. Sixteen letters longs, but that what it means, it means Island mountain glacier. Literally means that in Icelandic.
ROBERTS: So, Gary Tuchman for us. It's amazing that Gary was actually able to fly there. You can approach Iceland from the west, but everything east and southeast is all tied up.
CHO: He'll be in front of the camera at 7:00 a.m. So we look forward to talking to him.
We're going to go now to Rob Marciano in the Weather Center in Atlanta to take a look at this. Have we ever seen anything like this before? This seems like a bizarre act of nature?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, to have it stream into the populated areas that it's in right now, that's certainly bizarre. Last year, we had Mt. Redoubt, which caused similar problems for aviation, in and out of Anchorage, Alaska. But Anchorage isn't Heathrow that's for sure and all the other airports in Western Europe that are affected.
So, certainly extraordinary and what we need is one of two things. We need this volcano to either simmer down and stop erupting or stop at least spewing so much ash or two, we need the winds to change direction. We're starting to see number two just a little bit.
Let's take a look at the satellite picture. This is infrared imagery. You can see the southern on the upper left corner of your screen, there's Iceland, extreme southern part of that island, you'll see a little black stream goes to red as temperatures warm up throughout the day.
You can see that red stream kind of -- that is the ash cloud heading down towards the south and east. It hasn't stopped erupting and continues to spew ash, but the winds have changed just a little bit today. Yesterday, we had everything making a right turn and going right over the U.K. to parts of Spain and France.
Today the wind pattern has changed a little bit into -- it's more of a westerly direction. It's getting a little bit more back to normal. It's not making that extreme right head turn to the south and that means that conditions should be improving if not today, if not tomorrow certainly the day after.
Today is going to be a dicey situation, I'm guessing they won't take much chance as far as opening up air space and airports too quickly. As you know, ash in an aircraft, anywhere near an aircraft is devastating. They don't mess with that stuff at all. Talk more about this throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: Rob, they don't have any idea of knowing how long this volcano is going to keep erupting for. I would imagine even if the winds shift and they could get those planes back up in the air, there's going to be a lingering threat of this happening again and again.
MARCIANO: Yes, you know, it does help to get a storm, something to kind of wash the air -- rinse the air most like we've had the pollen issues to get in the midst of a storm and rain out. That would help too. We're not seeing much of that either. It doesn't look like it's going to stop erupting. It's been very active now for a month and it shows no signs of letting up.
ROBERTS: All right, Rob Marciano for us in Atlanta. Rob, thanks.
The big question is, how many flyers are stranded right now and how long are they going to be stuck? Many of Europe's busiest airports have been closed, including London's Heathrow. Nine are close in Germany. At Heathrow Airport that's where Ayesha Durgahee is live for us this morning and Ayesha, there's got to be an awful lot of frustrated people there waiting to get out and waiting for the winds to shift.
AYESHA DURGAHEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, as you can see behind me, it's Heathrow's northern runway, where you normally you would see aircraft after aircraft taking off every minute or so. Instead the runway is deserted and passengers have been told to go home and make alternative arrangements.
But passengers are still in and around the airports and they've been coming up to rebook their flights with the airlines to see if they can get to their destinations on time. But then everyone is really just waiting for the all clear from the Civil Aviation Authorities that the volcanic ash thinned out and it's safe to fly again.
ROBERTS: All right, Ayesha Durgahee for us this morning. Ayesha, thanks so much. Watching the situation in the ground there at Heathrow Airport. Volcanic ash is apparently no match for Apple's new iPod. Take a look at Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg stranded in a New York Airport after attending President Obama's nuclear summit. He cannot fly home to Oslo because of the ash that's blanketing Europe so he's using his brand-new iPod to keep the entire government of Norway running and we're told that at the moment, everything is operating smoothly. That will be the new Apple commercial right there.
CHO: That's right. That's great news. Depending on how long this lasts, the funeral for the president of Poland is on Sunday. President Obama is hoping to travel there in addition to all of those tourists going back and forth and business travelers. We got that to worry about as well.
ROBERTS: Yes, a little later on this morning. We'll show you exactly why they can't fly and what happens to a jet engine if it counters volcanic ash. A deadly bomb blast in a hospital in Pakistan. Eight people killed earlier this morning in the western city of Quetta among them a journalist and a police officer. Hospital officials say at least 10 others were injured in the attack.
CHO: Newly released documents show that the Bush administration was deeply divided over a decision to destroy dozens of videotapes. Those tapes showed terror suspects being water boarded. Former CIA Director Porter Goss apparently agreed with the top aide's decision.
The document showed that nobody told White House Counsel Harriet Miers and she was said to be livid about it. The tapes were destroyed in 2005. The Justice Department launched the criminal investigation about two years ago and it continues today.
ROBERTS: A pilot's debut in an Australian air race -- look at this. Didn't go quite as planned. The plane's wings clipped the water during a turn and lost altitude. Look at it go down there. Rescuers raised the pilot in just minutes. Amazingly he suffered a little more than whiplash. The rookie competitor said it happened so fast, he'll have to watch the video to see exactly what went wrong.
CHO: It's like Sully (ph) part 2 in a smaller plane.
ROBERTS: It came down a lot faster than Sully, like in a sharp bank and all of a sudden, next thing you know boom, he's wet.
CHO: Lucky he's okay.
ROBERTS: Lucky fellow.
CHO: Still to come on the Most News in the Morning, the feds call it the largest human smuggling ring they've ever seen. We'll tell you what happened next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: I didn't know until this morning. You told me a couple of minutes ago green day goes by a different name as well sometimes? ROBERTS: Actually, they've been in New York for quite a while because they have this American idiot play on Broadway. It opens on the 20th. It's really a great show. But they also play because they don't want to -- they have another little band called the Foxboro Hot Tubs and they actually played last night in New York. It was a fused, right? Our lighting director did the lighting for them last night.
CHO: (INAUDIBLE) Thirteen minutes after the hour on this Friday morning. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. We have a new development this morning. Charges have now been dropped against nine American missionaries arrested in Haiti. A story we've been following very closely.
Important to note though that a Tenth Missionary group leader, Laura Silsby still in Haitian jail. Many of those arrested belong to a Baptist church in Idaho. They were accused of trying to kidnap 33 Haitian children after January's devastating earthquake. All nine were released and sent home.
ROBERTS: California (inaudible) to turn in their stun guns. The Bay Area Rapid Transit district says they need more training. A federal court judge recently tightened laws on when police can use Tasers. The move comes two weeks a BART officer fired his stun gun at a 13-year-old boy although he wasn't hit.
CHO: A federal immigration agents are calling it the single largest case of human smuggling they've ever seen.
ROBERTS: Dozens of suspects in Arizona were rounded up yesterday for allegedly using shuttle van services as fronts to transport illegal immigrants from Mexico. Our Casey Wian has more on what the feds are calling operation plain sight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Alina, this business behind me was offering $25 shuttle bus trips between the border town in Douglas and here in Tucson, Arizona and also between Tucson and Phoenix, but it has been shut down by federal authorities. They alleged it was part of a massive illegal immigrant smuggling ring.
(voice-over): They appear to be mom and pop businesses operating shuttle vans between bordertowns and major cities in Arizona. But they are allegedly part of a con federation of illegal immigrant smuggling rings, according to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the largest human smuggling operation ICE's ever conducted, and I'm quite confident, at the end of the day, we will have dealt a very strong and severe blow to the human (ph) smuggling industry here in Arizona and along the southwest border.
WIAN: Hundreds of agents from nine federal and local law enforcement agencies fanned out across the state Thursday, arresting more than 40 criminal suspects and shutting down several businesses. Here's how investigators say the human trafficking rings operated. Smugglers would help illegal immigrants enter the United States near a border city, such as Nogales. They would then be transferred to Tucson but one of these shuttle vans would take them to Phoenix.
Once there, they would rendezvous with another vehicle and be taken to a drop house. They would then be moved to cities all over the United States.
ICE says its year long investigation, dubbed "Operation Plain Sight," found that businesses were operated by U.S. citizens and legal residents. Illegal immigrants were allegedly issued phony tickets for shuttle trips, that way, investigators said, drivers could claim they were operating legitimate businesses if they were stopped by law enforcement.
Immigrant rights groups criticized the timing of the raids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we're getting absolutely mixed messages. I -- I saw that just yesterday that -- that First Lady Michelle Obama, she wants to see immigration reform happen, and then we wake up this morning and we have ICE raids intensively throughout the State of Arizona.
WIAN: ICE officials say politics played no role in the operation, which they say represents a shift in enforcement strategy. For years, they have concentrated on busting illegal immigrant drop houses, now they're after the transportation networks that supply the smugglers' human cargo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: ICE says it has received unprecedented cooperation from the Mexican government, which also arrested some suspects on the other side of the border. Agents could not say how many illegal immigrants were actually moved as part of this smuggling ring, but they say the number was significant -- John, Alina.
ROBERTS: Casey Wian for us this morning. Casey, thanks so much.
Coming up next on the Most News in the Morning, jobless benefits finally restored for some Americans. Christine Romans is here with that preview. Good morning, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
For about 212,000 people they'll be able to file for that extension of unemployment benefits. Hundreds of thousands more will be able to file this month as well.
We will tell you who, what, where, when and how about your jobless check right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-and-a-half minutes past the hour. Christine Romans is here, "Minding Your Business" this morning. Good morning.
ROMANS: Good morning. The jobless check can keep coming for those people who are trying to file for an extension. You know, this was a little bit of political wrangling before. Congress went home for the Easter recess, now the Senate has come back, and after a week of work has extended jobless benefits through June 2nd.
COBRA has been extended until May 31st. This is a subsidy to help people pay their COBRA premiums. That's when you lose your job and you need to get health insurance benefits. That's what COBRA is. That was extended until May 31st.
There's also a measure in here that -- it's called the Doc Fix. It allows doctors to still be paid at their -- at their prior levels for Medicare. They were going to see a 21 percent decline in what their payments were, so that fixes all of this.
Again, pushing the ball forward. The president has signed this into law, but it still pushes the ball forward so that there will be another discussion at the beginning of the summer about what we're going to do about jobless benefits. Are we going to continue extending them?
You can get up to now 99 weeks of unemployment checks. The average check is somewhere between $335 a week to $400 a week. There are some concerns that -- from the Republicans in particular, that -- how are we going to pay for this?
This is emergency spending. The emergency keeps going on and on.
CHO: We're borrowing (ph) money.
ROMANS: Right. Where are we going to get the money? This is about an $18 billion measure that goes on our tab.
ROBERTS: So every time -- every time they do this, it's another $18 billion?
ROMANS: It's -- it's about -- it's $9 to $10 billion a month, basically.
Yes, and I've talked to economists who've said, look, you've got such a big problem with the long-term unemployed, you don't really have jobs out there for them to -- to fill. What -- what are you going to do longer term? Will you spend $100 -- $100 billion a year as a country to try to figure out how to take care of the long-term unemployed workers?
So, it's really still a big problem. I think you're going to see, and I've been saying this for a few weeks, you're going to start to see, as the year wears on and we start to see some job creation, you're going to see a big, philosophical debate about are we hurting people by giving too much -- by giving jobless benefits for so long. Is that preventing them from going into the labor market?
Others say there are no jobs to go to -- CHO: Right.
ROMANS: -- so what are you going to do?
CHO: Your Numeral this morning?
ROMANS: Four percent. This is something -- another reason why employers may not have to be out there hiring aggressively, all these people who are 4 percent. This is -- this is how much more we're working year-over-year. If you have a job, your productivity is up 4 percent.
Four percent. So you're working four percent more, so your companies are getting more from the workers that they have, maybe because we're all afraid -- we're afraid we're going to have to be out there getting an unemployment check, so we're working --
ROBERTS: Doing whatever you can to save the job.
ROMANS: Working our tails off. Right.
So another reason why hiring could -- could be cautious because we're -- you know, companies are getting a lot --
CHO: We're doing more.
ROMANS: Yes.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business" this morning.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: Thanks so much.
Coming up next on the Most News in the Morning, he is the darling of the Tea Party Movement, but after a couple of controversial votes, is Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts beginning to fall out of favor? Are they going to throw him overboard into Boston Harbor?
Carol Costello with an "A.M. Original," coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-six minutes after the hour.
The main event was in Washington, but Tea Party protesters rallied from sea to shining sea on Tax Day.
One of the flagship candidates, Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown, doesn't appear to totally share the enthusiasm of the Tea Party. He may be saying thanks but no thanks to the people who helped get him elected. The question is why?
Time for a "Gut Check". Every Friday, Carol Costello goes behind the headlines for a little bit of perspective. She's live in Washington for us. So Carol, one person was notably absent from the Tea Party rally yesterday, and that was Senator Brown. What's going on?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He certainly was.
Tea Party leaders are not shy when it comes to bragging they have real political clout. Proof positive? Republican Scott Brown, who won in blue Massachusetts, thanks in part to Tea Party support.
So why didn't Senator Brown show up at the Tea Party rallies this week? We figure it's time for a "Gut Check".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) for every one of you.
COSTELLO (voice-over): The Tea Party Express blew into Washington brash as ever.
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: We're onto this gangster government, and I say it's time for these little piggies to go home.
COSTELLO: That's Conservative favorite, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.
Sarah Palin gave a shout-out too in Boston, but Senator Scott Brown, who some say owes his Senate seat to the Tea Party Movement, was a no show.
He was busy.
SEN. SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS: We have votes that we're working on, obviously, and, you know, that's my job, and I'm here doing exactly what members of the Tea Party and others sent me here to do.
COSTELLO: Some political observers say, really? Brown couldn't spare five minutes for the Tea Partiers? Where's the love?
LARRY SABATO, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: I think that the Tea Party may be more in love with Scott Brown than Scott Brown is in love with it anymore.
COSTELLO: Larry Sabato and others say Brown is tip toeing away from the Tea Party because it may cost him reelection in 2012.
Tea Party favorites Palin and Bachmann are beloved by the far right, but not so much in Brown's district, and some of those signs do not play well in a district once represented by liberal lion Ted Kennedy.
PROF. JEFFREY BERRY, TUFTS UNIVERSITY: They want us to be just Conservative enough to attract Tea Party voters and not so Conservative as to drive away Moderates.
That's a subtle dance. It's difficult to do. You open yourself up to criticism.
COSTELLO: And Brown has done that. He broke with most Republicans and voted for the February jobs bill, and he refused to go along with a Republican filibuster over extended unemployment benefits.
Fans on his Facebook page went ballistic, calling Brown a hypocrite, a sellout and a fiscal Conservative my (BLEEP).
Oddly, though, Tea Party reaction to Brown's no show at this week's rallies in Massachusetts was muted.
MARK WILLIAMS, CHAIRMAN, TEA PARTY EXPRESS 3: I'm not going to ask him to postpone hearings on nuclear bombs to come talk to folks in, you know, in his own district. It's hardly a snub.
COSTELLO: Sabato says that's smart. Tea Party leaders know Brown is widely considered a Republican hero. He's a face the Tea Party needs as an example of its political might.
SABATO: The Tea Party will never do better, you know? He's -- he's so good looking. He's a centerfold. They'll never do better.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Well, Scott Brown voted for some things the Tea Party Movement objected to. It says (ph) he also voted no on health care reform.
Williams says he's he'll take that. Voting the way of the Tea Party Movement 75 percent of the time is better than zero percent of the time.
The funny thing is, John, some Democrats would agree.
ROBERTS: Yes.
And a little later on this morning, we're going to talking with a Democratic member of Congress who votes 70 percent of the time with Democrats, but he's also been endorsed by the Tea Party. So a lot of interesting politics going on in Washington.
COSTELLO: Definitely so.
ROBERTS: All right. Carol Costello this morning. Carol, thanks so much.
Coming up to the top hour and our top stories this Friday morning -- one of biggest travel nightmares ever this morning, ash from a spectacular eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull Volcano in Iceland is spreading over Europe and closing more airports. Airlines literally around the world have canceled flights to the continent, including hundreds of flights from the United States.
CHO: Immigration agents are calling it the largest human smuggling ring they've ever seen. Dozens of people in Arizona arrested yesterday in what the feds are calling Operation in Plain Sight. They're charged with using small shuttle van businesses to transport illegal immigrants across the border from Mexico.
ROBERTS: And West Virginia governor, Joe Manchin, is ordering coal minors across the state to halt production today, for one day, to review safety procedures and to honor the 29 miners who are killed earlier this month. The governor wants inspections to reexamine mines with the greatest risk of an explosion similar to the ones that killed all those miners at the Upper Big Branch mine.
CHO: How's life for troops fighting in Afghanistan -- we've been giving you an intimate look at the stresses of war, the battle to regain control in some of the deadliest regions of Afghanistan. Some the lighter moments, too.
ROBERTS: There are no -- there are so many things that we were able to see firsthand for the very first time.
Here to talk about it, our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence, back after spending more than a month embedded with the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan.
Good morning, good to see you back.
LAWRENCE: Yes, me too. It's good to be back. Yes.
CHO: I bet it is.
ROBERTS: I'm sure it is.
So, you spent an awful lot of time in Helmand Province which is where the big offensive is going on now, and they're going to be moving into Kandahar in the summertime. What struck you the most about your time there?
LAWRENCE: I think, you know, to me, it was just sort of dedication of some of these marines, just the way in that they have really adopted the counterinsurgency strategy. And, although, there's all of these problems at the big level, you know, with the Karzai government, with corruption, with everything else, but they are very, very dedicated to what they are doing day to day.
There was -- there was one point normally disputes in this area -- it's very remote area -- normally, disputes between tribes gets settled one of two ways: either somebody gets killed or a daughter, a young girl is given over from one tribe to the other. But recently, the tribes had a dispute and they actually came to the local government to settle it.
And that's not something that's going to make front page of CNN.com or "The New York Times" or anything like that, but it's a very small victory that these Marines in Now Zad have really wanted.
ROBERTS: It means a lot locally.
LAWRENCE: Yes.
CHO: And how's morale among the troops? How do you find that?
LAWRENCE: At times, it can be frustrating. I think, you know, we saw this one area outside Now Zad, Sofla, where the Marines are really going at the Taliban hard and they can look out their base and see the poppy growing. And every few days, the marines would say, yes, the Taliban coming hack off a few and they take the poppy and they know that that money is going to fuel the weapons and bombs that are used against them which can be frustrating.
CHO: But they can't wipe it out entirely.
LAWRENCE: No.
CHO: And the U.S. government has sort of --
LAWRENCE: Because the farmers are so dependent on it.
CHO: Right.
LAWRENCE: You know, it does -- it's going to take a lot of time to try to wean them off that to another crop. And they're looking at some pretty tough conditions. I mean, you know, where we were, no showers, no hot meals, no running water. You know, it's a Spartan existence.
ROBERTS: So, what's your sense of the surge and the way that the operation is going? Is it going to work?
LAWRENCE: It's hard to say because every area of Afghanistan is so different. You know, if you talk to these marines in Now Zad, what they're dealing with, tons of mines, trying to demine the area so the population can move back in. They're going -- they're holding these to local shuras. You know, we would see these captains Wilkinson and Bressler -- we would see Captain Bressler -- one day, he's in his Marine fatigues and then the next, his total local dress.
So, they are getting out there and sort of really engaging the population --
CHO: Could you even sense that there was a surge in the number of troops? I mean, could you sense a greater American presence?
LAWRENCE: I could from, you know, looking back from a year ago and even from October, November. I definitely see -- starting to see it more. I think sometimes at the big bases, you still see a lot of marines just sitting there at these big bases. So, perhaps there's not the infrastructure to really push them out yet into all of areas where they need to go.
ROBERTS: What about the Taliban? Of course, the surge is supposed to not jut push the Taliban back but get -- uproot the Taliban from that area, maybe bring some of those economic Taliban, the ones who are fighting for $20 a day or whatever it is, over to the American side. Is that program working at all? Or have they sort of faded into the distance to come back again if and when the Marines leave? How is that whole thing?
LAWRENCE: Yes, I don't know about the whole winning over great numbers of the Taliban. I don't know if I saw that. But I did see where the Marines in that area have pushed the Taliban out of Now Zad. But, obviously, the concern is that there are still intimidation of the people. Some of the villagers would say at night, the Taliban would come and intimidate them at night.
ROBERTS: But where the Taliban? Did they -- did they leave permanently or they just retreat into the hills and would come back?
LAWRENCE: It's not like an army. The Taliban could be you in a suit. When you take your suit off, who are you? You're John Roberts, you blend into the population. You know what I mean?
CHO: Very quick question. You said there were no showers, no running water there. So, where did you bathe?
LAWRENCE: Bottled water showers.
CHO: Really?
LAWRENCE: Yes.
ROBERTS: Bottled water of baby wipes.
LAWRENCE: Yes. I started out using nine bottles and I got that down to seven to conserve. And we would figure out little things, like, well, if you leave the bottles of water out all night, they get cold as heck and you're taking a cold water shower. So, you bundle them up at night to keep them warm, so in the morning, you can take your warm bottled water shower.
CHO: Good tip.
LAWRENCE: Yes. The things you learn from the Marines. I'll tell you.
CHO: Yes. It makes you appreciate a hot shower back in the United States, right?
LAWRENCE: Yes.
CHO: Chris Lawrence, thank you. Great to see you.
ROBERTS: Great to see you back, Chris.
LAWRENCE: Thanks.
ROBERTS: It's great work over there, by the way.
LAWRENCE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Coming up next in the Most News in the Morning: President Obama ordering changes to hospital rules when it comes to same sex partners. We'll break that story down for you.
It's 36 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
ROBERTS: We're coming about 21 minutes to the top of the hour.
President Obama moving to end discrimination against same sex couples at hospitals. He is ordering a new rule to give patients the authority to decide who should be on a list of approved visitors. The president says gays and lesbians are uniquely affected by relatives- only policy at hospitals. The rule would cover any hospital receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding.
CHO: Listen to this one -- Apple's new iPad has been banned in Israel. Government officials there say that they are concerned that the iPad's wireless frequencies could disrupt other devices.
Now, the ban prohibits everyone. We're talking about tourists too, from using computers until officials there can certify that they comply with national transmission standards. Nearly a dozen iPads have been confiscated so far.
ROBERTS: It sounds like there's something else behind that.
A diet rich in B vitamins and folates could reduce your risk of death from a stroke or cardiovascular disease. Chinese researchers studied nearly 60,000 men and women and found that both sexes can benefit. Good sources of folates include vegetables, fruit, whole or enriched grains, beans and legumes. B6 can also be found in fish, vegetables, meats and whole grains.
CHO: All the stuff we also hear that we're supposed to be eating, right?
ROBERTS: I'll tell you, those high energy B vitamins that, you know, they're selling at all health food stores, you take a couple of those, and something -- you get a big lift.
CHO: I'll take a multi. I'll take a multi, if I'm good.
ROBERTS: It's always good.
Hey, by the way, there's other interesting research out today regarding severe caloric restricted diets.
CHO: I know, I know. You're going to be talking to an author of study, author of a book coming up from -- he's from Sweden, right?
ROBERTS: Yes. Well, he's a guy, about 13 years ago, when I first did the story, he's since written a book. He's the head of the Caloric Restriction Society. And there's all sorts of evidence that this could extend your life and not only make you live longer but make you much healthier during the time that you live.
CHO: Yes.
ROBERTS: We'll talk about all that in the next hour.
CHO: Looking forward to it.
Forty-one minutes after the hour.
Rob is going to have this morning's travel forecast after the break.
ROBERTS: And in 10 minutes time, I sit down with Carol Burnett to talk about her landmark show, tragedy in her life, and her new book "This Time Together."
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ROBERTS: New York, good morning. And, unfortunately, the only summer you're going to get today is from Rascal Flatts, because right now, 49 degrees and cloudy. Later on today, 59 degrees and mostly cloudy. After a couple of fabulous days of weather, it's not going to be so nice today.
CHO: Yes. That's OK.
Forty-four minutes after the hour. We're going to get a quick check on the morning's weather headlines with Rob Marciano.
Hey, Rob. Good morning.
ROBERTS: That's a summer tie he's got there.
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CHO: Yes.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, it's just -- you've got a pink shirt, yellow tie. It's spring time, baby. Come on! Let's get into it. You better believe.
High temperatures in the mid-80s across parts of the Mid- Atlantic and some changes on the way though. It's been an extraordinary spring for a lot of folks but this cold front is going to try to sneak over to the east and that's going to change things up quiet a bit. As John mentioned, the northeast is seeing some drastic changes as well.
We had some flooding issues yesterday between I-10 and I-20 across parts of West Texas. We'll see similar action today, although, most of the action has moved more towards the Texas panhandle with this rainfall around that protective ridge, and on the top side of it, everything is just kind of sneaking over the top high that's been dominating our weather.
Over towards the northeast, we're looking at rain, even a little bit of snow mixing in in parts of Maine, at least at the higher elevations, and it certainly is cool from Boston all the way down to Philly. A huge difference today in your weather if you're going from New York to say D.C. Eighty-five degrees the expected high temperature in Washington, D.C. I think it will be dry. Fifty-eight degrees, the expected high temperature in New York City, and you will be wet at times.
All right. Let's talk about pollen, still a stream across the southeast also across the southwest where it is moderate. That's the best we can do except for the pacific northwest where it's moderate. That's where you've been seeing the cooler temperatures and so the rainfall. New York metro has little bit of wind today, D.C. and Philly as well and maybe showers. And of course the flights to and from the Europe, you're going to want to check ahead. Check out this air traffic yesterday. Pretty much nil across the U.K. and the yellow icon you see there, those are planes that are trying to travel across the rest of Europe.
Here is that ash cloud. You see Iceland, the volcano on the southern tip of that. In the last couple of frames of this thing, you really start to see the black smoke turn to red. This is in for red image (ph), but you get the idea, and it kind of makes that right turn. We are seeing a bit of a change in the wind pattern today. I don't think we'll see a huge improvement today but maybe tomorrow or the next day as things begin to take a more normal track which would be more of a westerly cloud (ph) as opposed to that right turn or south turn that we saw yesterday. Extraordinary things happening over there in Europe and in Iceland. And we'll continue to report on it throughout the day.
ROBERTS: All right. Looking forward, too. Rob, thanks so much. We'll see you again soon.
MARCIANO: OK.
This morning's top stories are just minutes away now, including an eruption in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that's grounding flights across Europe this morning, and the ripple effect is being felt around the world. The dark cloud that is causing so many delays today.
CHO: At 20 minutes past, a diploma and another resume on the pile. College grads leaving with loans but will they have a job this year?
ROBERTS: And at 25 minutes after, pilots on Prozac? The FAA reversing a ban on anti-depressants in the cockpit allowing a man who brought so much attention to the subject on the web to show his face again, and he will in our next hour. Those stories and more starting in just 30 minutes. Stay with us.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the way, woman. This is between us, men!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, perhaps, I have to get out of the way, then.
(LAUGHING)
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ROBERTS: Simply put, Carol Burnett is a television legend, one of the original queens of comedy. Her classic variety show was loved by a generation of parents and their children. She is sharing her memories in a new book titled "This Time Together." A couple of days ago, I sat down with Carol Burnett and began by asking her about her trademark audience question and answer session that open each and every show.
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CAROL BURNETT, AUTHOR, "THIS TIME TOGETHER": When we were going to first starting to do the show, our executive producer, Bob Banner (ph), came to me and said, Carol, you should do the warm-up and we should take it. Because then, you're going to be jumping out of windows and going to have teeth blacked out. You're going to be wearing a fat suit. You're going to be in a sprite wig. Let people get to know you first and then we go and do all of these characters. And it was a good idea, but I was terrified. I said I don't think I could do that, but it soon became one of my favorite parts of the show because it was totally improvised.
ROBERTS: The thing I always looked forward to when I was watching your show was to see the cast of characters, maybe you and Tim and Harvey and maybe Vickie, too, in the context of a skit and all of a sudden you going -- because you couldn't stop laughing.
BURNETT: That's Tim Conway's fault. This one time, we were doing a takeoff on Columbo, and Steve Lawrence was playing the Peter Folcro (ph) and I was the murderess and Harvey was my husband and Tim was the butler. And so, we were waiting for Mr. Columbo to arrive, you know, and question us. And the doorbell rang and we said, get that genius (ph), and Tim went over to the door, can I get up? Is it okay?
ROBERTS: Yes, go ahead. We can handle it.
BURNETT: He went over there and had this huge doorknob, right? And he had gloves on, so he couldn't open the door. It was too -- just waxed it, sir. And the other one said, get open the door. It's Mr. Columbo. So, then he took out a rope and he tied it around, you know, like a boat. That didn't work. Hurry, yes, sir and then he got his hands on the door panel there and got up on top of the doorknob and started doing this, like he was going to open the door that way. Well, I'm telling you, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. He'd never done that in rehearsal.
ROBERTS: How did you keep going when you were, actually, laughing inside? BURNETT: You just had to. You know, when we did the "Gone with the Wind" and coming down with the curtain rod., you know, that I started to laugh because the audience was so tickled and the crew was laughing because they hadn't seen the outfit. I did show it to Harvey before because I didn't want him to lose it. I almost lost it. So, if you ever see it again, I'm coming downstairs and come --
ROBERTS: You're biting your cheek.
BURNETT: We keep from laughing and --
ROBERTS: I love it when you come down the stairs and you say, I saw it in the window and I just couldn't resist.
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BURNETT: That's right. That's a great line. Great punch line for that.
ROBERTS: So many bright spots in your life, but of course, very dark moment in your life was your daughter Carrie and her death. I lost a brother to cancer, so --
BURNETT: Oh, I'm sorry.
ROBERTS: I know how difficult that can be. She battled addiction as well.
BURNETT: She won that. She got clean and sober before her 18th birthday. So, but then she got cancer and it was -- she was 38.
ROBERTS: You have wonderful memories.
BURNETT: She was great. When she was in the hospital and, you know, bald from the chemo and everything, and one of nurses stopped me in the hall and she loved taking care of Carrie. She said she is such an upper. She cheers me up when I might be down about something, and she like gives her a little psychiatric treatment in the hospital room. And I asked Carrie, how come she's just so up and cheerful with all of this going on? And Carrie replied, each day I wake up and I decide today I'm going to love my life. That was my daughter.
ROBERTS: She kept that brightness with her --
BURNETT: She was.
ROBERTS: Through all of that.
BURNETT: Even when she was checked back into the hospital where she had been in a little remission. And I remember, she was sleeping and she woke up and I made this lame joke. I said, so you had to come back to the hospital again, huh. She said, I missed the food, still, laughing.
ROBERTS: So difficult to lose a child --
BURNETT: That's not the order of things.
ROBERTS: Like I talked to people at that mine disaster last week.
BURNETT: Oh, I can't imagine that.
ROBERTS: Trying to come to grips to that.
BURNETT: Maybe you come to grips eventually and you learn to cope, but you never really -- it's always there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: You can tell to this day, it's still there.
CHO: Never goes away.
ROBERTS: With her. And she has a quote from her daughter that begins the book talking about the importance of smiling. And Carol Burnett gave all other, she smiled herself and she gives all he so many smiles.
CHO: I grew up watching "The Carol Burnett Show." And if you think about it, you know, that kind of show doesn't really exist any more.
ROBERTS: No, it doesn't. We talked about that, too. And we put this all in the web for you to take a look at, too. She talks about reality TV. I just don't get it. I don't understand with the allure. But she says it's all about money because you couldn't do a variety show now. You just couldn't afford it.
CHO: Too expensive, right?
ROBERTS: Yes. So funny, she talks about the times -- and that was the best part of the show when everybody was cracking up at their own jokes, and she talked about coming down the staircase with her biting her cheek. She would also dig her fingernails into her hands to give her a little pain so she wouldn't laugh.
CHO: I loved how Tim Conway would shuffle across the room. I mean, you think you bore on something. They were all so great, you know and just --
ROBERTS: The classic cornball humor that actually is, even to this day, so incredibly funny.
CHO: She looks incredible, too, I must say.
ROBERTS: She's a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful lady.
Top stories coming your way right after the break. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
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