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American Morning
A Look at the Times Square Bomber's Pakistan Connection; Developments in the Oil Spill Disaster; On the Hunt for Oil: Spill Spells Trouble for Wildlife; Did Feds Miss Oil Spill Warning?; Times Square Bombing Suspect Talking; Google to Sell Digital Books; Corey Haim Autopsy
Aired May 05, 2010 - 06:00 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. It's a Wednesday, it's the 5th of May. Thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We have a lot of big stories we're following for you in the next 15 minutes.
First, new details this morning. The suspected car bomber confesses. Prosecutors say Faisal Shahzad is providing them with valuable information, admitting that he was trained to build bombs in a terror camp in Pakistan. We're also finding out more about his life in Connecticut before he allegedly made that trip to Times Square.
ROBERTS: The need to contain and clean up the oil disaster in the gulf is growing more urgent by the minute. Ribbons of oil now gracing the beaches of Louisiana's Barrier Islands. They're home to hundreds of species of wildlife. We're going to take you live to the gulf to show you firsthand what cleanup crews are up against.
CHETRY: Also, a city under water facing a long painful recovery. Floodwaters receding now across Nashville and other parts of central Tennessee and rescue officials are worried. That means they could find more victims. President Obama has given the OK to pour federal disaster money into the area. We'll have in Nashville with the latest on how folks are trying to recover there, just ahead.
Also, the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation. Head to CNN.com/amFIX and we'll be reading your comments throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: Let's get you started this Wednesday morning with the confessions of a suspected terrorist, Faisal Shahzad. The Pakistani man charged with trying to detonate a car bomb in the heart of Times Square is cooperating with investigators. He has admitted to receiving explosives training at a terrorist camp in his native country. And there is new information this morning about just how close he came to escaping.
When agents approached him on his plane, he reportedly looked up and said, "I was expecting you." This morning we're also getting a clearer profile of Shahzad and the financial problems that he was facing when he allegedly turned on a country that had just honored him with citizenship.
Our Deb Feyerick live in Shelton, Connecticut, this morning where police have been collecting a good deal of evidence from the suspect's foreclosed home. Deb, what's the latest that we have this Wednesday morning?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, first, we'll start with the investigation. What we can tell you is that after all that planning to build a bomb and try to create chaos in Times Square, Faisal Shahzad is talking. He did waive his Miranda rights. He was interviewed at JFK Airport when he was first arrested, but he's also been spending much of the day yesterday talking to investigators so much so that, in fact, they waived his hearing. He was supposed to appear in federal court. He did not, in fact, so that investigators could take the time to find out a lot of good information from him.
For example, they want to know how did he get to the region? Who did he meet? Not only the leaders, John, but also, for example, who may have been training along with him and likely plots. And that's key because, again, this is the first time we've seen this in the United States, this car bomb. And so investigators want to know things like that because that will help in their planning in the future.
Now, everything, of course, does have to be verified. What we're hearing, John, and a source I spoke to yesterday told me that really in the upper circles, they're calling this a close call. There was a moment during Sunday night where, in fact, Faisal Shahzad did fall off the radar. He simply disappeared. And he was on his way to the airport, there was a phone interception of a call he was making to try to book a flight on that Emirates Airlines plane.
But according to the source that I spoke to, at the same time that he was heading to the airport, multiple JTTF, Joint Terrorism Task Force teams were actually being assembled in order to execute a search warrant on his house. When they got the call that, in fact, he had been found and arrested at JFK Airport by Customs and Border Patrol agents, in the words of my source, everyone was shocked. So they didn't know exactly where he was.
So, again, you've got a lot of layers. We have to take it from that perspective. He did buy his ticket in cash. There was that phone intercept, but also his name was put on a no-fly list but late in the game. Because he went up to that counter and bought the ticket at the last minute, other airlines check who's on the plane. They weren't able to check his name until after he had actually purchased the ticket. So, again, it really was quick thinking, not only by the airline but by those border patrol agents.
We do want to give you a timeline. Why are we standing here in Shelton, Connecticut? Well, because this is the house where he lived. There were a number of boxes of documents that seemed to be just tossed in the backyard yesterday that gave some details of who he is. We do know that he worked as a financial analyst, an in-house financial analyst at a global company. And really, last year seems to be the turning point for this young man.
In June of 2009, he left his job. It was an amicable departure. At the same time, his house was in foreclosure. So his family was preparing to move away, to make alternate plans. That's his wife and his two young kids. At the same time that his wife was moving to the Midwest, he left for Dubai. He spent eight months overseas.
It is believed that it is during that time that he came under the influences of whoever may have talked him into doing this attack on Times Square when he returned back to the United States. This house was no longer his. He moved into a small apartment and a month later, he bought a gun and that's when authorities believe he began gathering the materials to put together this bomb in that car -- John.
ROBERTS: Deb Feyerick for us this morning in Shelton, Connecticut. Deb, thanks.
CHETRY: So the arrest of the accused Times Square bomber has apparently blown up the case of his native Pakistan where his family still lives. Pakistani officials say that they've made a number of arrests connected to the plot there even though Shahzad is claiming he acted alone.
Nic Robertson is on the phone now from Karachi. What can you tell us about this latest raid, Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Kiran, we're hearing from law enforcement officials here in Karachi of more arrests today. We don't have numbers. We don't know who they are, but we do know that there are more arrests today. That follows from the two arrests yesterday. They're two arrests coming very quickly after communication was established between U.S. authorities and Pakistani officials.
So it does appear that the investigation continues here. We don't know how many people have been arrested today. But it does seem that the Pakistani authorities are still very active in and around this area of Karachi where we do know that he attended the university at one point. This is not the area where his family most recently lived. That is close to the town of Peshawar, close to the northwest frontier province, close to the lowest Afghan border region, Kiran.
CHETRY: And we're also hearing from Shahzad's family in Pakistan. What are they saying about the news of this arrest and the fact that he's claiming that he, indeed, was behind this plot?
ROBERTSON: Well, from the village (ph), his family's village close to Peshawar, we heard from a cousin. The cousin has defended him saying that this village, the family that's been clammed there, there's been nobody linked with jihadism before.
So the family are putting up a strong defense, saying it doesn't make sense. The father had a very respectable (INAUDIBLE) there, added by his marshal before becoming direct -- deputy director general of the civil (INAUDIBLE) authorities in Pakistan. So it's a shock for them, the family and close neighbors. But also they're putting up a very, very strong defense of this man himself and the rest of his extended family, Kiran.
CHETRY: I got you. And, Nic, interestingly, just crossing right now, there's an interesting report out of "The Associated Press" claiming that Pakistan's army is also saying that it doubts that the Pakistani Taliban was behind this Times Square bombing. They said that the claim should be taken with a pinch of salt. Any other comments or reactions from the Pakistani government on whether or not they buy this?
ROBERTSON: Well, it certainly is something that they would want to distance themselves from. Because, you know, when you talk to people on the streets, they are concerned about this because there's another, for them, representation is just -- (INAUDIBLE) Pakistanis around doing bad things. Pakistan already has a bad reputation --
CHETRY: Looks like we lost our connection with Nic, again, on the phone from Karachi, Pakistan. We'll be checking in with him throughout the morning, though.
Also coming up at 6:40 Eastern Time, we're going to speak to former CIA officer Jack Rice and former U.S. Attorney David Kelley about these charges that Shahzad is now facing, what he's saying and how much of it is to be believed by law enforcement.
ROBERTS: We're also following developments this morning in the Gulf of Mexico as a massive oil slick slowly but surely is making its way toward the shore. Our Rob Marciano live in Gulfport, Mississippi, this morning, looking at where the oil is heading and how weather is affecting its spread.
And so far, Rob, folks down there have gotten pretty lucky. Will their luck hold out?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Very, very lucky indeed. And they know that. That's the big question. Will their luck hold out? It's a race against the clock.
Right now, conditions are very favorable as far as the weather is concerned. We had those strong south winds over the weekend, seemingly pushing all that oil directly to the shoreline. And now the winds have turned lighter and will be that way for the next several days.
And also seems like some of those dispersants that they're putting on the oil is helping at least show the spread. But nonetheless, still about 2,000 square miles of this thing, going at about 150 miles into the Gulf of Mexico. It is huge and at the fringes, it's kind of spotty and difficult to see where it was.
We went up in the air a couple of days ago and saw it did get in this Chandeleur Islands. And so the wetlands of Louisiana certainly on to the guck.
There is where it is right now. And the forecast over the next couple of days, maybe a slow progression a little bit to the west. Notice no progression expected to the north. That's good news for folks in Mississippi, Alabama and the coastline of Florida at least for now.
What they're doing to prep here in the northern gulf coast, believe it or not, they're actually getting out there and cleaning the beaches before the oil even gets close. The theory here is if the less debris there is on the beach and if the oil does come, well, it's easier to clean that oil off the beach. So these are BP's contracted workers. They're scrambling to get that beach clean. And ironically enough, that's about as -- it may be as clean as they've seen it here in quite some time.
Guys, we'll see. Fair weather conditions here over the next several days. But no promises as far as next week goes so they've got to cap that thing and figure out a solution before the weather turns worse and then inevitably it probably will. Back to you.
ROBERTS: All right, thanks. We'll be talking with one of your operations people in the next hours here on AMERICAN MORNING, by the way, too, Rob. Thanks so much.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, a scathing FDA inspection report shows more than 20 problems at a plant that manufactures several varieties of children's cold medicines, including Tylenol and Benadryl. The drugs produced at a Pennsylvania plant were recalled over the weekend. Inspectors say the company used raw materials contaminated with bacteria and failed to follow up on customer complaints about black particles in the drugs. The FDA is considering possible criminal penalties. In the next hour, we're going to break down just how concerned parents should be. And we'll talk to Carl Neilsen (ph), a retired FDA consumer safety officer.
ROBERTS: The Philadelphia Phillies baseball team trying to determine whether it is an appropriate use of force to taser fans who run out in the field. This incident that happened on Monday night is sparking a lot of debate.
A Philadelphia cop used a stun gun to drop a 17-year-old fan in his tracks. Police are backing the officer's actions. Another fan jumped out of the field during last night's game but police didn't use a taser to apprehend him.
CHETRY: Yes. Also, apparently, he called his dad and said, dad, I'm thinking about running out on the field, what do you think? And he goes, I don't think that's a very good idea. And he said, yes, it would be a once in a lifetime chance. And then he hung up. And apparently he did it.
ROBERTS: Yes. It's never a good idea to run in the field.
CHETRY: No. I was pointing it out because some of the other teams --
ROBERTS: Something bad is going to happen.
CHETRY: Yes. A couple of the other teams, the Yankees said, well, we don't have Tasers because we don't allow them in New York. And that's it. No, we don't tase fans, either. But the Philadelphia police said, look, we didn't know what this guy was up to. We have no idea at the time. We're just trying to take him down.
ROBERTS: Don't run out in the field. What good is that?
CHETRY: Well, still to come on the Most News in the Morning, we're going to the Gulf of Mexico, where we're getting a first-hand look at the impact the oil slick is having on marine life.
Eleven minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fourteen minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
For crews that are now trying to clean up the oil slick in the gulf, the time to act, of course, is now. It's because the calm winds and the waves are actually giving a bit of break and preventing the worst of the oil from drifting ashore.
ROBERTS: And while the fishes say that the slick should remain at sea for at least the next couple of days, already marine life is paying the price.
Our David Mattingly is live in Venice, Louisiana, down the Mississippi Delta this morning. And, David, you saw firsthand the impact that this oil is having on the wildlife. What have you seen so far?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we went out into the Gulf of Mexico yesterday looking for oil. We found it. But what we found in that oil made it even more disturbing. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Boat captains in port told us where to find it, an ugly reddish-brown wave of oil. A bumpy two-hour ride later, it was impossible to miss.
MATTINGLY (on camera): Finally, here we are, 15 miles out. We've slowed down. The seas are still pretty rough, as you can see, but I don't know if you can see it or not, but just right here in front of us -- which looks almost like a red, muddy line through the water. That is the oil.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): National Wildlife Federation president Larry Schweiger believes the impact on wildlife is inevitable.
MATTINGLY (on camera): You can see it's been treated, so it's breaking up and it's dispersing into the water column.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): It looks like tea-sized blobs in the water, millions of them, all the way down.
MATTINGLY (on camera): OK. I'm going to grab a towel here. This stuff is rubbing up against the side of the boat. There it is. That's what's in the water. That's sticking to the side of the boat right there.
If this is doing this to the boat, what is it going to do to anything that lives in this water?
LARRY SCHWEIGER, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: It's going to be very, very hard on the fish and shellfish.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): And the oil seems to go on forever.
MATTINGLY (on camera): Over here, as far as the eye can see, there is like a red line of that oil going right across the Gulf of Mexico. It is endless.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): And as bad as it looked, it was about to get worse.
MATTINGLY (on camera): This is something we didn't expect to see. This is a sea turtle. It's right here in the water. It's right near the top. It's swimming right in the middle of all that oily mess out there.
We're going to try and get as close as --
SCHWEIGER: And he's -- he's having trouble, that's why he's doing that. He should not be doing that.
MATTINGLY: Clearly in stress.
The turtle has to come up for air?
SCHWEIGER: The turtle's coming up for air, and when it does it's gulping the surface, so it's picking up that oil that's floating on the surface.
MATTINGLY: So it's taking it into its body?
SCHWEIGER: So it's taking it into its body. And, of course, if you're -- if you're drinking oil, it's not -- not good for the digestive system. So he's -- he's in distress.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): It seemed to be having breathing problems. After a few moments, it disappeared into the reddish, oily muck.
MATTINGLY (on camera): OK, we're about to take off. Didn't want to leave without getting a souvenir. There it is, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
That's just one leading band of it, and see how it's floating to the top and how nasty it is. And all of this is going that way, back towards shore.
(END VIDEOTAPE) MATTINGLY: And this is what it looks like almost 12 hours later. You see how this is all separated after this oil has come in contact with the dispersant. It's coming down to the bottom of the -- of the bottle here.
The rest of it's still kind of cloudy, and up here that nasty oil film, almost a very small microcosm of what we saw going on out there in the Gulf of Mexico -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: You know, David, eventually the oil does break up and -- and microbes eat it. So, how long does that process take? Do you have any idea?
MATTINGLY: We keep hearing different things. There are people who say it's going to sink to the bottom and stay in the environment, possibly for years before it disappears.
Now, the concern is right now, what the marine wildlife that is out there that -- particularly the turtles and the mammals that have to come up for air, they encounter that slick, that -- that sheen that's on the top. And then they also have to encounter this material that's floating in the water column. And there we'd see these tiny little pellets, and when -- when you look down in the water, they -- they go down just as far as you could possibly see.
And that turtle that we saw, he was coming up multiple times, a clear sign that it was in distress. It was almost like it was gasping for breath as it would come up and swimming very erratically. So you could tell it was very distressed at the time.
No telling what might be happening to it today.
CHETRY: It's just -- it's heartbreaking to watch all of that happen and know that there's nothing they can do at this point to even plug the -- the gushing leak from the well.
David Mattingly for us. Thanks so much.
It's 19 minutes past the hour. Coming up next on the Most News in the Morning, we're talking more about the oil slick in the gulf. It's expected to also have a huge financial impact, but it could also impact your wallet.
Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business" next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, ABC TALK SHOW HOST: Meanwhile, oil is still leaking off the coast of Louisiana, lots of oil. British Petroleum, the company responsible for it, has a very good plan. BP is hoping to create a giant vinegar spill to turn the Gulf of Mexico into a delicious salad dressing.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHETRY: If only it was that easy.
ROBERTS: Yes. Hardly, though.
Twenty-two and a half minutes after the hour.
That oil spill hurting more than just marine life, from coffee to tires to a lot of the other goods that you count on every day could see an impact.
Our Christine Romans at the Magic Wall this morning, "Minding Your Business". Good morning, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. You know, a lot of stuff comes down the Mississippi River and a lot of things are imported up into the country through that port of New -- of New Orleans. And so, there could be some disruptions to -- to the shipping lanes, and that's what companies arte doing.
I'm calling it a logistics tango right now, trying to make sure that they have the raw materials they need to make sure that you don't see disruptions. But this will be critical over the next 60 to 90 days.
Coffee, for example, you've got a lot of coffee beans coming up here. Several weeks of beans have been stockpiled ahead of time by Folger's to make sure that their manufacturing facilities don't run out of green supplies, green beans, so that you have -- wake up with Folger's in your cup, I think, as that little jingle. But they have learned big lessons from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and made sure that they have supplies ahead of time.
A ten-day fishing shutdown is going to probably mean that shrimp prices are will go up. We haven't quite seen it yet, but we do think that shrimp prices are going to go up and maybe other seafood as well. And don't forget sport fishing, basically shut down down there, and tourism. Those are things that could have a real effect for small business owners there.
Did you know that rubber, the biggest import lane for rubber is right up there through the Gulf of Mexico where this all sheen is? This is the number one rubber import route, so it could -- it could have an impact on what you're going to pay eventually for tires.
Now why does it matter if -- if the traffic is still coming through the Gulf of Mexico, why does it matter if that oil slick is there, if they can move through it?
These big ships have to be power washed before they can go up to the offloading facilities in the -- in the port of New Orleans, so think of the time and the backup, for example of grain barges coming down the Mississippi. You got to power wash these big ships before the grain can be offloaded and moved into those, and so that can be a difficulty. Sixty percent of our exports come down through there.
We've also bring in a huge number of bananas and fruit and a lot of raw materials come up through there. Again, all of those big ships will have to be power washed, depending on where this thing comes.
And we've got higher prices already, six cents higher for gasoline prices. Now, John and Kiran, the amount of oil that we're talking about is, as one analyst told me yesterday, a thimbleful in a sea of marketable supplies. It's really not a lot of -- of oil that can be refined and the gasoline that has leaked in there, but it's the psychological impacts of all this.
Whenever there's a supply disruption, you always have the gas prices moving higher. So we'll watch for higher gas prices as well.
ROBERTS: All right. Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business" this morning.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: Christine, thanks so much.
Coming up next in the Most News in the Morning, the water finally beginning to go down in Nashville, but that's just revealing the extent of the real damage left over by that catastrophic flooding over the weekend. We'll have the very latest from Tennessee coming right up.
Twenty-five minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-eight minutes past the hour right now.
President Obama giving the green light to spend federal disaster money to help in the relief efforts for Nashville and the surrounding counties in Tennessee. The Cumberland River, which cuts through the downtown, is still receding.
Officials, though, are worried that as the water recedes they'll find more victims. They're also trying to pump water out of some of the city's biggest landmarks, but the flooding downtown has shut down electricity and that is complicating things even more.
Our Martin Savidge is live in downtown Nashville this morning with a look for us at how things stand this morning. Good morning, Martin.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.
And it is looking a little bit better. We have to point that out. The daylight is starting to appear here. You might see it reflecting up the Cumberland River. It's going by at about freight train speed here.
But for most of the tourist areas, the water has receded from there, except for the basements of a lot of the buildings and hotels. And, as you point out, the effort to try to get the water out of those places hampered by the lack of electricity. The reason for that is the water got into the wiring under the street, and that never goes over too well.
As the water recedes, though, the concern is that death toll may go up as searchers get in to the areas that they've not been able to get into for days. We went with two teams, actually, in Cheatham County, in a small town that was hard hit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE (voice-over): We meet Captain Tony Clark, who's only had about eight hours of sleep since Saturday, as he leads his team into another neighborhood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's the lady who lived here by herself. We'll see (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We still need to go in and do our search, understand that. But just in case, we need to try (ph) to see if we can get into the house.
SAVIDGE: These specially trained firefighters were here over the weekend, helping people to evacuate.
Now, they're back, making sure everyone made it out alive.
CAPTAIN TONY CLARK, ASHLAND CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT: This will keep us from -- from having to search these houses again. We'll mark them. We'll know they're clear and we wouldn't have to come back and waste resources searching again.
SAVIDGE: Located down the stream from Nashville, Ashland City is still battling the water. It's down some. It still has a long way to go, and so does Captain Clark.
CLARK: Everything is clear here. So we're going on to our next area from here.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): A half mile from city hall, on a road that is now a boat ramp, we hit a ride with different firefighters searching where only boats can go. For Deputy Chief Derek Noe, these are familiar waters. His son usually plays soccer on the field 15 feet beneath us.
The floodwaters have brought new dangers, of which propane tanks are just one.
Here's the latest hazard these day of navigating the Cumberland, you've got to avoid the traffic lights.
Out here the water plays tricks on you, some houses don't look so bad until you realize you're looking at the third floor.
(on camera): Sunday when these crews first came out it was to warn the residents that the floodwaters were coming. Two-thirds decided to stay. Ever since then, the teams have been out pulling in all of the people who stayed behind.
DEPUTY CHIEF DEREK NOE, ASHLAND CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT: We had some that it even got ugly and said they'd sleep on their roof or whatever, if they had to, that they weren't going to leave. They're going to ride it out. We picked them up the following day off their roof, though. They got their wish.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Just trying to get close to a home for a look isn't easy. First, you have to clear the trees.
(on camera): You don't know what's underneath you, trampolines or swimming pools.
(voice-over): In the end, we, fortunately, don't find anyone and head back.
You wonder how long it will before Ashland City gets back to normal. From the looks of things, it's going to take some time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: And those search teams are going to be out again today, searching once more to see if they find anyone. The death toll officially right now in the state of Tennessee stands at 19 -- Kiran, John.
CHETRY: All right. Martin Savidge for us this morning -- thanks so much.
Meanwhile, we're crossing the half hour, time for a look at the top stories. Prosecutors say the suspected Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad is talking and providing them valuable information, admitting that he got bomb-making training in his native Pakistan. There's also new information this morning about his life in Connecticut, the financial troubles that drove his family out of their home.
ROBERTS: There it blows again, the Iceland volcano. What was the name again? Everybody remember, yes? OK.
The Iceland volcano is causing more trouble for flyers over Europe. A new ash cloud is forcing British officials to close down air space over Northern Ireland and Scotland this morning. Ouch!
CHETRY: And the leading edges of the 16-mile-wide oil spill is now grazing Louisiana's barrier islands, though calm winds are still keeping most of the oil at sea. In the meantime, B.P. says it expects to lower a metal container over the biggest leak later this week. The goal is then to suck the oil to a drill ship at the surface where it can be collected.
ROBERTS: The oil spill cleanup effort in the Gulf Coast should get a big boost from better weather today. But as the spill spreads, B.P. officials met with Washington lawmakers yesterday over how much money the oil company will pay for the cleanup and its intended economic impact. And there were charges that federal regulators were asleep at the switch before the disaster occurred.
Our Brian Todd is "Digging Deeper" for us this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New concerns about the government agency that oversees the oil business. The Minerals Management Service understated the amount of previous oil spills in the Gulf and the potential impact from a spill, that's according to a warning sent last year from another government agency, NOAA. It says when the Obama team asked for a risk assessment, MMS used outdated information on the frequency of oil spills and failed to include more recent information from many sources, including a big increase in spills from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The head of one watchdog group says this --
DANIELLE BRIAN, PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT: What you're seeing here is one of the agencies really doing their job and raising concerns and saying, you know, as we're looking at offshore drilling, shouldn't you be a little more concerned about the implications here if something went wrong? And MMS essentially ignoring them.
TODD: The document was posted by a Web site for government official called PEER.
(on camera): We asked MMS for a response. A spokeswoman there told us those were not official comments from NOAA and were only meant to start a dialogue.
(voice-over): But MMS won't say whether they changed their plan after the criticism.
BRIAN: We've really had problems with MMS for over a decade. Recognizing that this is an agency that really thinks that the oil and gas industry as their partner or client rather than an industry that they should be regulating.
TODD: Despite several calls and e-mails, MMS did not respond to that.
Records also show that before this accident, B.P. was confident it could handle this kind of spill. In one document, the company said it has the capability to respond to a worst-case discharge, which it estimated then at 300,000 gallons a day. This well is leaking less than that amount. B.P. is struggling to contain it and has been criticized by the federal government.
I asked a B.P. spokesman if they'd overestimated their ability to respond.
MARTI POWERS, B.P. SPOKESMAN: What you're seeing from our response capability, this is huge. This is not just B.P. There are federal agencies, state agencies that are here with us. I think it speaks that -- well that we were able to manage, to get resources so quickly in these areas and really start a proactive response effort.
TODD: Robert Thomas is a professor who teaches journalism students how to cover the oil industry.
(on camera): Has B.P. done a good enough job in conveying to the public how difficult it is to cleanup this spill?
ROBERT THOMAS, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY: An awful lot of people feel like they are doing nothing. But to me, you know, it's one of those priority things. I want them down there at 5,000 feet. I want them to stop that flow.
TODD: And B.P. officials keep telling us they're doing everything they can 24/7 to do just that. The latest effort, that dome they're building to clamp onto the well and funnel the oil to tanker ships. B.P. now says it will have that dome in place before the end of this week.
Brian Todd, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: All right. Every second counts, but, you know, they're actually -- you know, building it from scratch. So, it's going to take some time.
ROBERTS: Yes. They did use this to some extent after Hurricane Katrina, but they don't have a supply of them on shore. So, these things have to be made by hand. And they don't even know if it's going to work.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: That's the real question.
CHETRY: They say that it's going to be much harder and much more difficult in those deep, deep ocean waters and the currents to try to make that work. So, fingers crossed there.
Meanwhile, on the Most News in the Morning: Our coverage of the Times Square bombing continues. We're going to be speaking with former U.S. attorney, David Kelley, and also, former CIA officer, Jack Rice, more about the suspect and how in the future you would catch somebody like him.
Thirty-six minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: Thirty-nine minutes after the hour.
The American citizen accused of planning a car bomb in a packed Times Square is talking and apparently talking more to the point that authorities want to be careful that he's not bragging. The feds say that Faisal Shahzad was questioned before and after he was read his Miranda rights and admitted his role in the attempted bombing and that he received bomb-making training in Pakistan.
Joining us is former U.S. attorney, David Kelley. He prosecuted Ramzi Yousef for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
And in Washington, former CIA officer, Jack Rice.
Great to see you both, gentlemen, this morning. Thanks so much for coming in.
Jack, let's start with you. A couple of things have come to light in recent hours, and that is the fact that while this guy was put on the no-fly list, Emirates Airlines hadn't updated their list and didn't know that he was there. And it wasn't until Customs and Border Patrol went through the flight manifest 30 minutes before it took that it was discovered that he was there. Are these lapses in security?
JACK RICE, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Absolutely, they are. I mean, there's no question about this. You know, we were talking about you this, you and I, with Abdulmutallab. It was one of the problems back then. And we assumed that this was going to be fixed. It's one of a whole list of problems.
I mean, everybody is pleased, obviously, that they were able to catch him before he left the country, no question about that. But the fact that this happened after he actually boarded the airline, this could have been problematic. I'm saying that nicely. So, I guess we're thankful that it worked on the second try. But it should have worked on the first.
ROBERTS: Yes. David Kelley, we also learned that the FBI lost track of this fellow at least for a time. It kind of reminds me of those episodes of "24" where they got the perimeter, the accused terrorist always gets out.
DAVID KELLEY, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Yes. But, you know, I don't think people recognize how challenging it is for the FBI to covertly conduct surveillance without losing somebody. It often happens.
So, I think -- look, this is a success story all the way around. Obviously, as Jack points out, there's things that have to be evaluated. What went right, what went wrong? Lots of things went right here. A couple of things went wrong.
The system was tested on a lot of fronts, and we need to go back and examine and evaluate what happened, why it happened, how we can prevent it from happening again.
ROBERTS: What we're hearing so far, David, is that this guy is singing like a jay bird. Would you be trusting everything that comes out of his mouth at this point?
KELLEY: What I think people don't appreciate is a fact that lots of folks in this position do sing like a jay bird. And he's doing it and it's much better to have him singing like this than to say nothing. And let the agents and the officers evaluate that information, corroborate it against other information that they know to be true and sort through that.
It sounds as though there are a lot of things he's saying that matches up against what we do now about him, in terms of his travel and some of his activities and contacts overseas.
ROBERTS: Jack, from what we've heard so far about his confession to investigators that he was trained in explosives at some training camp, in Taliban training camp in Waziristan, initially, it was initially thought that, well, maybe he didn't have the same connections as, say, Najibullah Zazi, who was the alleged subway bomber from last September, around the 9/11 anniversary.
But does this sort of cement a greater connection between what's going on in those tribal areas in Pakistan and new threats against the United States?
RICE: Well, it seems to. But again, I agree with David on this. We never really know exactly what it is we have.
Look, as an interrogator, if you're going to interrogate somebody and you're trying to understand what it is that they are doing, you have to have skepticism with everything that they say. I mean, they can say all sorts of things. As we have heard from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the past about things that they know, things that they were responsible. So, you have to be careful.
However, at the same time, earlier on, we didn't know if there was any international connection whatsoever. The fact that he did spend five months in Pakistan, the fact that he may have -- may well have been up in Waziristan, all of those are issues that are relevant.
And, obviously, with what we're hearing from the Pakistanis, there are two people that have been detained and are being questioned as we speak on that side of this issue.
ROBERTS: Right.
RICE: So, if you can match these together independently, then you can verify a lot more. And that's critical here because -- just because somebody says something doesn't necessarily make it so.
ROBERTS: David, let's take all of this together. So, you had the Najibullah Zazi case, you had the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Christmas Day bomber saying there are many more like me who are getting ready to this, you have what happened in Times Square over the weekend, you have Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban saying we are about to launch attacks against America.
Would you take that all together as greater threats against the U.S. homeland? Or are these desperate things that may seem to be connected?
KELLEY: I think more of the former than the latter. It's really hard to evaluate. I think what al Qaeda has done, or whatever terrorist group may be behind it, is taking people like the person we arrested in Times Square.
And, yes, if they are willing to go -- we're willing to send them and let's keep throwing them out there and see what kind of sticks up against the wall. And I think that may be what we're seeing. And, obviously, we need to have that tremendous vigilance to prevent anything, anybody else like-minded, to make any sort of efforts like that.
ROBERTS: And just from a prosecutorial standpoint, he has admitted that he was involved in this, but he can always plead not guilty in a court of law.
Given the preponderance of evidence, do you think they've got a really solid case against them?
KELLEY: It sounds like they do it. It doesn't sound like he's pleaded guilty, but it sounds like he's cooperating. It sounds like he's made a lot of admissions. And besides the admissions, it sounds as though they have a pretty solid case having read the complaint.
ROBERTS: All right. David Kelley, Jack Rice, thanks so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.
KELLEY: Thank you.
CHETRY: Forty-five minutes past the hour. Jacqui Jeras is going to be along with the morning's travel forecast to look at how things are now that many parts of the country have calmed down after a week of extreme weather. We'll be right back.
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CHETRY: Forty-seven minutes past the hour right now and here's a beautiful look at Atlanta this morning where it is almost 60 degrees and sunny. Little bit later going up to 84 degrees and sunny as well for Atlanta.
ROBERTS: It's beautiful there yesterday. Just incredible.
Google is getting into the digital book business just in time for the summer reading season. The company says its new service will launch sometime in June or July and let readers buy digital copies through, books they discovered, through Google's book search system. No word yet on how much users will be charged. Google now joins Amazon.com and Apple in a three-way digital battle for the books.
CHETRY: There you go. Some dramatic video to show you this morning. Fire department hurling a lifeline to three people. Can you imagine being on the edge of that 30-foot waterfall? This was in Roswell, Georgia. Literally at the last second, they managed to throw them a lifeline. The dam was overflowing after all that heavy rain and flooding across the south this weekend. Luckily, no one was hurt, but, man, unbelievable.
ROBERTS: Yes, wow. This guy decides to just sort of gingerly walk back to shore as opposed to diving in and grabbing the rope because you could wash right over (ph) if you did that. My goodness. CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. Jacqui Jeras in the Extreme Weather Center in Atlanta for us. Quite a rescue there, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh my God. What were they doing out there in the first place? That's like --
CHETRY: I always wonder that myself. You know, you're really taking a chance especially when you know how quickly things can change.
JERAS: Absolutely. And you know, looks like that water was maybe knee-deep and that's certainly enough to knock you off your feet, in what, a 30-foot waterfall, so certainly a dangerous situation. And you know, we still have a lot of floodwaters out there across the mid south and the southeast. So, if you are out there traveling, don't play in this dirty nasty water. Sewage is in there. Oil is in there. All kinds of bad stuff.
The big weather system today is across the upper Midwest, and here you can see the showers and thunder showers making their way across Wisconsin moving towards Milwaukee, Chicago. You're going to see this later on this morning, and behind that front, we're going to have some real strong gusty winds pushing 35 miles per hour, so travel delays expected for you. Some slight risks of thunderstorms that are severe here from Indianapolis up towards Cleveland, even into Detroit and that will likely kick in this afternoon.
Damaging winds and large hail will be the primary threats, though, we can't rule out an isolated tornado. Ahead of this system, man! Is it gorgeous here? Let me tell you, nothing but sunshine up and down the eastern seaboard. We've got a little fog to start you out with into southeast across the Carolinas and to Southern Georgia, but we'll burn that off by 9:00, 10:00, and we'll see high temperatures well into the 80s.
Some scattered showers and thunderstorms expected across Central Florida, but that's about it. Overall temps about 15 degrees above normal. Behind that front I was telling you about, though, we're way below average, 10 to 25 degrees, only 55 today in Minneapolis, 70 degrees in Chicago. That's before the front moves on through and getting toasty across the south. We'll get that 90 in Dallas today, 92 degrees in the Houston area. It's getting like summer down there. John and Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: And Jacqui, what's so amazing, the Grand Ole Opry House was flooded because of all the stuff (ph) in national. The show went on, anyway. They just moved in, I think, to the War Auditorium, right? Right down the street, yes, and to the War Memorial, I heard, and the show went on.
JERAS: You can't stop the music.
CHETRY: You cannot, very true. Thanks, Jacqui. This morning's top stories just minutes away including from his home in Connecticut to his home country of Pakistan, the investigation into the suspected Times Square bomber blown wide open this morning. Was al Qaeda or the Taliban involved?
ROBERTS: And 20 minutes after, the black tide getting ever closer shutting down fishing, threatening wildlife. Will a 100-ton dome be able to bottle up all that oil? We'll ask a BP rep about the very bowled plan that they have.
CHETRY: And also at 50 minutes after, right smack in the middle of allergy season, warnings about some of the children's cold medicine that you probably give your kids a lot, Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl. Just how safe are the over-the-counter medicines for kids? Those stories and more at the top of the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Fifty- five minutes past the hour. There are new details now on what caused the death of 38-year-old actor, Corey Haim. After a lot of investigation, the coroner in L.A. ruling that it was natural causes, not a drug overdose. The L.A. County coroner saying that his death was caused by complications from pneumonia, lung damage and a bad heart; however, the autopsy also showed that Haim had eight drugs in his system including the anti-depressant Prozac, Valium, muscle relaxers, and cold medicine. Haim struggled with drug and alcohol addiction most of his life.
ROBERTS: It was a remarkable recovery for 1980s rocker and reality TV show star, Bret Michaels, the former lead singer of Poison. Out of the hospital just 12 days after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage. Doctors do expect him to make a full recovery, but the former lead singer of Poison will not be able to resume his concert tour for at least another four to six weeks.
CHETRY: And we all love sliders in a little mini-hamburgers, the white castle, but do you really want your kitchen to smell like beef and onions? White Castle has covered if you do, for $10, you can buy the burger chain's glider scented candle, but you better run to a restaurant because, apparently, they're sold out already on the online at houseofcrave.com. The promotion is available through May for National Burger month and the proceeds benefits the charity autism speaks, which is a great charity. But who the heck wants their house to smell like White Castle?
ROBERTS: But you could have your White Castle and the can feed the charity, too. So, it's a great thing. Now, if only somebody would make a candle that smells like Julia Child's --
CHETRY: There you go.
ROBERTS: Everybody agrees on that one. It's 57 minutes after the hour. Top stories coming your way right after the break.
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