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American Morning
Killer Tornadoes Rock Oklahoma; BP Damage Control: Company Keeping Cap on Hours of Video; Republicans Scouring and Judging Solicitor General's Record; World Stocks Drop after Rally; "Fifteen Minutes Away from Death"; American's Path to Jihad
Aired May 11, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING on this Tuesday, it's May 11th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us. And here are the big stories we'll be telling you about coming up in the next 15 minutes.
Tornadoes tearing through the mid-section of Oklahoma killing at least five people overnight. One victim discovered beneath an RV. Extraordinary video of Mother Nature's might coming your way in just a moment.
CHETRY: An up close look at the underwater oil leak at the Gulf of Mexico. BP is releasing video three weeks after the explosion and ensuing catastrophe. We'll take a look at why this tape was not seen earlier.
ROBERTS: Plus, her battle with the dangerous cocktail of prescription drugs nearly ended her life. How one girl turned her life around before it was too hate and how this problem is affecting millions of families across the country. We'll also talk live with the White House drug czar on President Obama's new strategy to help America kick the prescription drug abuse habit.
And the amFIX blog is up and running, Join the live conversation right now. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.
CHETRY: And our top story this morning. Utter devastation across Oklahoma today. In just over an hour, the sun will begin to rise and we'll get a better look at the damage caused. It was a massive storm system that spawned multiple tornadoes, softball-sized hail across the state. At least five people were killed. And when you take a look at the incredible pictures, you'll see why.
This elephant trunk twister touched down around mid-dinner hour near Norman. We're getting reports of widespread damage this morning. At least 40 homes destroyed and more than 100 others damaged. And there's no power for thousands of families and businesses. Also in tiny Medford, Oklahoma, even seasoned storm chasers were stunned when the twisters began dropping from the sky right before their cameras.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There comes one right there. Look at them, they're all over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Pretty incredible storm system. Our Jacqui Jeras has been tracking the storm from our extreme weather center in Atlanta. And Oklahoma, Jacqui, could be in for another round of rough weather today. Good morning.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning, guys. Unfortunately, we do think that dry line is going to be setting up and might be more severe thunderstorms this afternoon and this evening, but we don't think it will be nearly on the scale of what we saw yesterday.
Check out some of these pictures that we have of what we call a multiple vortex tornado. And this happens sometimes. Look at that. We've got at least four different rotations or funnels within that main storm. And these are suction vortices, as we call them, and they happen within the main rotation and some of it has to do with friction. Some of it has to do with the incoming and rising air. But it's also a big reason why sometimes we'll see a lot of damage and then right next to it maybe we'll see a home that wasn't touched at all and they can be extremely strong and very, very violent.
Now today, we expect most of the severe weather to develop by this afternoon and continue into the evening. We've got that setup once again today and some of the same areas could get hit once again. But Western Oklahoma over towards the panhandle of Texas, then spreading on into the Mississippi River Valley as we have the greater threat. We do think we'll have hail makers again today in addition to tornadoes but again, the risk is slight. Yesterday was a high risk day. We only see a handful of days like yesterday in a calendar year.
John and Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: What a mess out there. All right, Jacqui, thanks so much.
Also new this morning, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico getting more serious by the hour. Now four million gallons of oil has leaked and, of course, it is still gushing.
ROBERTS: And before this was an environmental disaster, it was a human tragedy. Last night I spoke to one of the men who got off of that sinking rig alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CHOY, RIG EXPLOSION SURVIVOR: Absolutely. That was the main thing going through my head. It just hit me in my stomach. I just kept thinking there's no way we're getting off here. You know, we're all dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHETRY: Amazing. Did he explain a little bit more about how some of them survived it and others did not?
ROBERTS: Yes, he was trying to get to a crane operator who had been blown off of his crane and he and another firefighter. He was crawling across. He was severely injured. He was trying to crawl across the deck there and all of a sudden the massive fireball. He just couldn't get to him. He said leaving that fellow behind was one of the hardest things he's ever done.
CHETRY: It's unimaginable what they went through. And then now this still continues, as you said, human tragedy, and now the environmental impact still not known. But one thing that we do know more than three weeks after that explosion and fireball is that right here is the only look that we've gotten at the source of the leak, which is 5,000 feet under water.
Critics are blasting the company for being able to contain the flow of information better than they've been able to contain the flow of the oil. And our Ed Lavandera is live in New Orleans with a closer look this morning.
Hey, Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. We've been talking to environmentalists and scientists over the last couple of weeks. And they continue to tell us that what we're seeing on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico is just the tip of the iceberg. But the real damage of this oil spill is happening underneath, thousands of feet under the surface of the water. The problem is BP isn't allowing us to see what's going on.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): This is the most revealing image we've seen so far of the actual oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The short video shows robotic arms from an underwater vehicle capping one of the leaks. Look closely and briefly. In the background, you can see a dark cloud shoot into the water.
Three weeks after the explosion, this is the only glimpse of the leak BP has released. BP is in control of the video recorded by the underwater robotic vehicle. We're told by multiple government sources that these cameras have captured extensive video images coming from the site of the leak, 5,000 feet under water.
(on camera): CNN has asked BP repeatedly since the explosion for video of the leak. But company officials will only tell us that they'll look into it. But environmentalists and scientists say BP's unwillingness to share this video highlights a bigger problem with the company's response to the oil spill and critics say that's a lack of transparency about the extent of the disaster.
(voice-over): Aaron Viles is with an environmental advocacy group called the Gulf Restoration Network, a group that's been critical of BP's response to the oil spill. (on camera): And why do you think we haven't seen much of that video yet?
AARON VILES, GULF RESTORATION NETWORK: You know, if I had to guess, BP doesn't exactly want the public to see what's happening. They want to control the message. They want to control the information. But I think the public needs to see what's happening, both at the surface and at the sea floor.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): On Monday, we asked BP officials again about releasing the video. Once again, they said they'd look into it. But BP insists this isn't about controlling the message.
DOUG SUTTLES, BP, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: We're being extraordinarily open and transparent whether it's ourselves or the government agencies involved. We're sharing tremendous amounts of information.
LAVANDERA: A BP spokesman also told us it's a question of priorities. But when it comes to putting out videos, the BP public relations team is finding time to post videos on the company's Web site touting its disaster response.
TONY HAYWARD, CEO, BP: This is another report from the front lines.
LAVANDERA: That's BP's CEO, Tony Hayward. He shows us in at least four videos.
HAYWARD: I'm filming this in the Mobile Incident Command Center. I'm incredibly proud of the way in which I can see BP and the people of BP are responding to this terrible incident.
LAVANDERA: The BP videos do show the company's widespread response to the disaster, but these videos don't show you what it looks like when 5,000 barrels of oil a day spill into the Gulf of Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: BP officials have also told us over the last couple of days that one of the reasons they haven't really pushed from putting this video out there is that many of the people involved in capping this leak and getting the situation under control are obviously extremely busy in these days and weeks. And they don't want to bother them with that kind of (INAUDIBLE) at this point -- Kiran.
CHETRY: But it is interesting to get that look and to see just that cloud, as you describe it, of oil shooting out of there as the submersible robots try everything possible to stop it.
LAVANDERA: Right. And it was a really small glimpse. That was about -- I think a two minute and 15-second video that was released and that was about I think if I remember correctly, about a minute 45 into the video. And it really wasn't the focus of what that video was about. The reason they put out that video was to show how those robotic arms had capped that third leak, the third leak in the riser coming out of the gulf floor. So even though you could kind of see what was going on in the background, that wasn't the purpose of releasing that video.
CHETRY: Exactly. Very interesting look nonetheless. Thank you, Ed.
ROBERTS: Well, the confirmation battle has begun over President Obama's Supreme Court choice, Solicitor General Elena Kagan. In the Senate, Republicans are aggressively digging for ammunition against her. And they're zeroing in on a stand that Kagan took while dean of Harvard Law. She upheld Harvard's decision to block military recruiters from the university's Office of Career Services because of the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Our Suzanne Malveaux is live for us at the White House this morning. Suzanne, the criticism of Kagan already coming in. It's coming in surprisingly enough from both sides of the political spectrum.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, it certainly is, John. I guess it's not a surprise to White House officials, the aides who I've spoken with this morning, who are trying to shepherd her in through this process. And they do believe that ultimately she is going to get the nomination. But it's going to be a tough sell for a number of reasons.
The first one that they feel the biggest criticism is to try to get over the message here that because she never served as a judge that somehow she's unqualified for this position. White House aides say they're going to bring up two points, the fact that conservatives were not complaining when William Rehnquist was actually nominated with no judicial experience back in 1972, a conservative himself. And secondly, they're going to point to some of her own experience outside of being a judge. And that would be her serving as dean at Harvard Law School, her scholarships, solicitor general, those kinds of things.
The second obstacle that they're facing here is this utter lack of a paper trail, remarkably even when it comes to her scholarship. Not very much known about her position, social position on abortion or gun control, hot button issues. The White House says that they're going to focus on her ability to build consensus. And also, she's got a record with the Clinton administration.
And then, finally, what you brought up in the beginning here, and that is her own stand as dean on some of these issues that conservatives are quite upset about. And one of them is banning military recruiters from being on campus facilities at Harvard Law School because of the university's stand against "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." They believe that it's discrimination. The White House says she's going to have to answer to that. They believe that ultimately she's going to overcome that. She's going to be explain her position, the university's position, and that she will be confirmed -- John.
ROBERTS: They're poring through the archives at the Clinton library looking for some of the writings back when she was working for President Clinton at the White House in the late 1990s. So what's the next step for this administration?
MALVEAUX: Well, today, President Obama is going to be meeting with Senator Patrick Leahy, obviously a very important figure in the judicial committee. And then, also, Elena Kagan herself tomorrow. She's going to head out to the Senate. She's going to be making some courtesy calls. People are going to start to get to know her. So she is hoping that they're going to peel back those layers. Obviously, she's not going to be giving up too much information before this process. But they are going to try to get ahead of this messaging when it comes to all that criticism. But, John, as you know, they've been preparing for months. It's been pouring in.
ROBERTS: All right. Suzanne Malveaux for us live at the White House this morning. Suzanne, thanks.
CHETRY: Eleven minutes past the hour now. Also new this morning, Barbara Walters announcing that she'll undergo heart surgery later this week. The co-host and creator of ABC's "The View" told viewers yesterday that she needs to have a faulty valve replaced. Walters, who is 80, says she's known about the condition for some time and decided the summer would be the best time to recuperate. She says she plans to come, quote, "roaring back in September."
ROBERTS: Firing on all cylinders.
Still to come on the Most News in the Morning, a glitch on Twitter left users thinking that they had no friends. Oh, can you imagine? We'll tell you what happened next.
It's 11 1/2 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Fourteen and a half minutes after the hour and new this morning.
Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, sought out the Taliban to help him plot an attack. A senior administration official at the State Department tells CNN Shahzad already had a plan in mind when he traveled to Pakistan and was trained how to execute an attack. Attorney General Eric Holder says the Taliban coordinated and likely helped pay for the attempted bombing as well.
CHETRY: The Feds are investigating Toyota. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is trying to determine whether the automaker withheld information from investigators in 2005 about a defect with the steering rod on their compact trucks. Just last month, Toyota agreed to pay a $16.4 million fine for allegedly hiding other potentially dangerous defects from federal regulators.
ROBERTS: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announcing that he will be stepping down after his Labor Party's defeat in parliamentary elections last week, but the move could clear the way to keep Brown's party in power, because none of the three parties won a majority. Brown wants his party to form an alliance with the Liberal Democrats.
CHETRY: And if you logged on in Twitter yesterday and you thought all your tweets had disappeared, well it was Twitter just fixing a glitch that basically let users force anyone they wanted, celebrities and all, to follow their tweet.
The fix was underway - while it was underway, both the numbers of people you were following and also the number of users following you were set to zero. The problem seems to be fixed, but the folks at Twitter are keeping quiet about it, at least for now.
ROBERTS: Coming up on the Most News in the Morning, that huge rally on Wall Street yesterday, but, you know with anything, when you overindulge, you're left with a little bit of hangover, an upset tummy, whatever.
Christine Romans here with what - looks like it's going to be a down day on Wall Street. You got a preview?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: All of that raw enthusiasm for Europe's bailout yesterday caused the best day for stocks in 14 months. Today, well, they're rethinking maybe they were a little bit too enthusiastic. Dow futures down 93 points.
I'll tell you why. What you can expect with your money and your 401(k) right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, it's 19 minutes past the hour right now. That means it's time for "Minding Your Business".
Christine Romans is here following the wild rollercoaster up and down on Wall Street. So yesterday at this time we were seeing Dow future's up 400 percent, and then yesterday was a crazy day and then, today, hangover?
ROMANS: Let's talk about - let's talk about the day yesterday, just to relish it for a moment, shall we? I was the best day for stocks in 14 months. The Dow was up very nicely, back above 10,785.
It has been an unbelievable week. Last week was the worst week in 14 months. Yesterday was the best day in the year. So, I'm telling you that the volatility, as they call it, is back. That means wild rides, big swings and nerve racking kind of behavior for the stock market.
If you're watching with your 401(k), how you see it in the morning is maybe not necessarily how you're going to see it close in the evening.
So, look, yesterday everyone was excited about this European bailout. They thought this was going to be a silver bullet for Europe, and this morning they're saying, OK, wait a minute. The Europeans have to follow through.
CHETRY: Right.
ROMANS: Is it necessarily going to make sure it's going to fix all of their problems? Wait a second, are we fixing another debt problem in the world by issuing more debt?
CHETRY: Throwing money (ph).
Right, so you have a trillion dollars plus going towards it, but it certainly doesn't solve a lot of the reasons why they got into that situation in the first place.
ROMANS: That's right, and it doesn't prevent necessarily rioting in the streets in other countries, because for countries to have to take some of these bailout measures, they might have to really have those austerity programs, higher taxes, lower public spending. They might have to work longer. They might lose their job. So you still have that.
Then, this morning, you layer on here these concerns about Chinese inflation, property value spiked in China by the most ever. A lot of people are concerned about inflation in China, what that means that government has to do.
I mean, it seems far - I mean, Europe - first you're talking about Europe, now you're talking about China? All of these things are factored in here.
And then there's this whole idea of risk versus safety. Day to day, investors around the world with trillions of dollars - trillions of dollars at their fingertips, are trying to decide, hmm, do I want to (INAUDIBLE) the dollar today because it's safe or do I want to go into something that's going to get me some money?
So you're seeing a lot of money moving around around the globe, and that's making the volatility really, really wild.
ROBERTS: That - that home in the Chinese countryside that you've always wanted, a little more expensive today.
ROMANS: Yes, it is. I'm going to have to - I'm going to have to put that off for another year, I'm afraid.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning. Thanks.
Coming up on the Most News in the Morning, in our special series "Addicted", we've been following one teen named Melissa. Today, how she nearly died because of her addiction before turning her life around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twenty- five minutes past the hour right now.
Today, the White House will release a new strategy to battle America's drug problem, shifting the focus from law enforcement to prevention and treatment and a new focus on prescription drug abuse. Across the nation, more and more teenagers are abusing prescription pills.
In our ongoing series, "Addicted", we check back in with one teen named Melissa. After battling prescription drug addiction for years, she hit bottom and tried to take her own life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA, 18-YEAR-OLD FORMER DRUG ABUSER: I went over to a friend's house and I thought I was having a good time, and I ended up trying to commit suicide.
I felt really lonely, and, I guess, a lot of times when you're using drugs that's how you end up feeling. But I felt really alone and I felt worthless.
I don't remember calling an ambulance or how it got to me. I went to the hospital. I was in intensive care for four days. They told me I was 15 minutes away from death.
CHETRY: What did you take?
MELISSA: I took Benadryl, Tylenol, Aleve, Advil, basically - there were some prescription pills that were in there. I took some of those as well.
I'm not sure what they were. I just basically went for anything I could get my hands on.
CHETRY: After you came to in the hospital, what - what was the first thing that went through your mind?
MELISSA: The first thing that came through my mind was wanting to get high and thinking that I needed to be high. I've been in rehab, and it just - it wasn't enough for me. It didn't strike me as that serious.
But being 15 minutes away from death, that was my bottom. That's as low as I can get, and it made me realize what I needed to do.
CHETRY (voice-over): After being released from the hospital, Melissa was sent to a mental health facility, where after years of abusing prescription pills as well as alcohol and pot, she made the decision to get clean.
CHETRY (on camera): What was the withdrawal like when you were at the mental hospital?
MELISSA: It was terrible. It was absolutely terrible. I had really, really bad nightmares and I just felt at unease (ph) and uncomfortable all the time.
It's like you think you're going to stop doing the drugs and OK maybe things will start to get better, but it gets worse before it gets better.
CHETRY (voice-over): And that meant getting the proper diagnosis.
During her counseling sessions, Melissa learned she was bipolar and began receiving the right treatment. She also made the tough call to leave home temporarily, moving to North Carolina to stay with her sister and escape her daily temptation.
We gave Melissa a video camera and asked her to document her recovery.
MELISSA: I woke up today, so far feeling good, no temptations, no craving.
I got to say, this isn't easy. I don't know what went wrong, but, for some reason, I just wanted to get high.
I don't know. I just have to keep on the right track, and I feel really positive. Everything's been going good.
CHETRY: She'd been clean for three weeks. However -
MELISSA: I guess I'm just going to have to see what happens when I get home, and I'm scared. I'm definitely scared, getting sober and cutting [bleep] is really, really scary.
CHETRY (on camera): The real challenge for Melissa lies ahead. She's back here in her hometown. She's been here for just a day and she knows how easy it could be to slip back into the same habits.
And where are you? You're home? You're back living with your mom?
MELISSA: Yes.
CHETRY: You say that your mom does have prescription drugs. How is that working out?
MELISSA: It was a little scary at first. But, you know, she got a lock box and put them in a lock box. And more - so my concern was the coming home to my hometown where people are going to, you know, send me a text message, like, hey, I got my script, or something like that.
CHETRY (voice-over): Today, it's 46 days sober for Melissa, and she says she sees life differently now.
CHETRY (on camera): So what's your first thought, usually, when you wake up in the morning now?
MELISSA: Typically, I wake up and look outside and just kind of wonder what's going to come throughout the day, wonder what - what it'll bring.
CHETRY: And when you were using drugs, what was your first thought when you woke up?
MELISSA: Normally, I feel like crap. I'm tired and I need to go get high.
CHETRY: Do you ever sometimes look back and say, man, I got off lucky, compared to what could have happened?
MELISSA: I got off extremely lucky. I don't know how I haven't died, with certain amounts of drugs I put into my system.
CHETRY (voice-over): An addiction, she says, has left a scar that she hopes will fade with time.
MELISSA: I loved my life. I couldn't say that a while ago. I - I couldn't say that I loved myself. I couldn't say that I thought I was beautiful.
And now, you know, I think I'm an extremely beautiful person, more so on the inside. And that's all that matters, is that I'm happy with myself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: So 46 days and counting for Melissa.
ROBERTS: Good for her.
CHETRY: Yes. And she was a really changed - really a changed person when we saw her from the first time. You could always tell she was bright and she - and there was something better for her, but she was really mired in that addiction.
And it took, you know, as she said, hitting bottom, trying to commit suicide, and then finally getting the right treatment for what she was dealing with emotionally and mentally. And she's on the right road, so finger crossed that it will continue.
It's always important to get the right treatment. No question about it. But, you know, she talked about the fact that she's still tired, she's got lethargy, lassitude, as well as of result of, you know, after effects of the addiction. But are there any other lingering effects? How do you do that much drugs --
CHETRY: Right.
ROBERTS: -- and not have some sort of psychological problems or some sort of cognitive problem?
CHETRY: Well, the good news is that she's young and that does make a difference. She did liver damage and that was actually not from the prescription drugs from the overdose, the attempted, you know, the attempted suicide attempt. And she takes just one medication right now that's prescribed by her, you know, psychiatrist to help her. And she's doing great.
And so, all she really has to do is just stay away from drugs and alcohol and the people around her are doing everything they can to support her. As you heard, her mother does take prescription pills. Drew Pinsky said this, lock up your medications. Back in the olden days, people used to lock up their liquor cabinet and her mother is doing that.
ROBERTS: Good story so far. Let's hope it continues.
CHETRY: Absolutely.
Well, we're also going to be talking more about the problem with prescription drug addiction. Will the new White House policy really do more to help Americans struggling with prescription drugs?
We're going to be talking with that with Gil Kerlikowske. He is the president's drug czar and he's going to be joining us now in about 10 minutes right here on the Most News in the Morning.
ROBERTS: We're crossing the half hour, which means it's time for this morning's top stories.
Five people are dead and there is widespread damage in Oklahoma this morning. Tornadoes tearing up the central part of the state last night -- dozens of homes destroyed and thousands without power today.
CHETRY: Also, as oil executives get ready to face Congress today, we're getting an up close look at the underwater oil tank in the Gulf of Mexico -- BP releasing the video three weeks after the explosion and ensuing catastrophe.
ROBERTS: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in London today to get a look at the city's network of security cameras known as the "ring of steel." After that botched car bombing in Times Square, the mayor is questioning whether cameras actually discourage attacks or simply just record them.
Well, we know this morning that the Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, went looking for the Taliban's help in Pakistan and it's not the first time that someone has done that.
Bryant Neal Vinas who pled guilty to three charges, including conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals was raised Catholic in a middle- class neighborhood on Long Island. He converted to Islam in 2007 after a series of personal misfortunes and quickly fell into a radical group called the Islamic Thinkers Society known for cultivating a very anti-western and pro-al Qaeda message.
Our Nic Robertson explains what happened after Vinas handed a book on jihad to his childhood friend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The next day, Bryant was gone, on September 10th, 2007, Bryant Neal Vinas flew from here, New York, to Lahore, Pakistan. It had been five years since he had been a U.S. Army recruit, a little less since he converted from Catholic to Muslim. Now, he was on his way to Afghanistan to attack U.S. troops.
(voice-over): Bryant can't do it alone. He's never been there before. But one of his radical friends was returning to his home in Pakistan, which is where we tracked him down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had planned to come back like together, you know, but my flight, you know, was delayed for like a few days. And he arrived in Lahore before me.
ROBERTSON: Khayyam (ph) claims Bryant tells him only that he had come to Pakistan to attend a religious school, a madrassa.
(on camera): U.S. security officials tell us they believe not only did Khayyam know about Bryant's plan to fight U.S. troops, but also helps him hook up with contacts here in Pakistan who can introduce him to militants on the border with Afghanistan, the land of the Taliban and al Qaeda. Khayyam denies this.
MITCH SILBER, NYPD: It seems like he's involved with military action, guerilla action out there.
ROBERTSON: He actually joins militants on a mission targeting U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
SILBER: We almost called Vinas the Forest Gump of the jihad in the sense the he seems to find this way to get himself involved in operations or attacks that seem way beyond 20-some odd convert from Long Island should be involved in.
ROBERTSON (on camera): He was resourceful and persistent. Bryant made a number of zigs and zags between Taliban militants here in Pakistan. He even volunteered to become a suicide bomber. But what he really wanted to do was connect with al Qaeda. He was determined. He disguised himself as a woman dressed in a burqa and set off alone to find the al Qaeda camps.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: Well, one of those times, he almost got himself beaten up as he's trying to get to the al Qaeda camps in North Waziristan, on the border with Afghanistan, but he does make it. He gets training in explosives. He gets involved in an attack against U.S. troops across the border in Afghanistan. That is before he leaves the sanctuary of that al Qaeda camp. Of course, more to come on that later -- John.
ROBERTS: Nic, Bryant Neal Vinas and Faisal Shahzad seem to have a lot in common. Both of them middle-class, both of them well educated and both of them went to Pakistan for training. You know, it's an increasing profile among would-be terrorists, which opens up the question: what does it mean for safety in the United States?
ROBERTSON: Well, when you have people like Faisal Shahzad or Bryant Neal Vinas, they need something when they come to Pakistan to get to -- in Shahzad's case, the Pakistani Taliban or Vinas' case, al Qaeda. They need connections here. And the latest that we know about Shahzad is it seems he came back here to Pakistan with the intention of getting those connections to get to the Taliban. That's what he did. What if means is that you now have more places where more people intent on getting that training to come back and attack the United States can go to and you have a greater, bigger, more widespread network of people that they can tap into here in Pakistan. We saw that with Bryant Neal Vinas.
The intelligence officials we spoke to said, that guy you saw in the video clip there was the one who helped put Bryant Neal Vinas in touch with the militants, eventually getting into al Qaeda. So, they are coming here to make those connections but it seems that those connections can be made here in Karachi and Lahore and many, many places. That makes it a bigger problem to stop, John.
ROBERTS: Very difficult. You know, they only have to get lucky once, as many people say. Nic Robertson for us in Karachi this morning -- Nic, thanks so much.
And you can catch more of Nic's report in our in-depth investigation tonight on "AC360" "American al Qaeda," 10:00p.m. Eastern and 7:00 Pacific, only on CNN.
It's coming up now on 37 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Forty minutes past the hour now.
Before the break, in our special series, "Addicted," we brought you Melissa's story. And like many kids her age, she experimented with drugs, not what you typically think, street drugs, but rather prescription pills, right out of her family's medicine cabinet and that led to an addiction that almost took her life.
You know, stories just like hers happen every day. And the problem is growing. When you take a look at the numbers, the figures show that abuse of some of the strongest types of prescription painkillers is up 400 percent over the decade and deaths from these drugs up 160 percent over just five years.
Today, the White House is launching a new drug strategy focusing on prevention and treatment. And it also gives real attention to prescription drug abuse.
Joining me now is director of the White House Office of the National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske.
Thanks for being with us this morning.
GIL KERLIKOWSKE, OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY: Thank you. CHETRY: I've laid out some of the stats here. But in your estimation, how big a problem is prescription drug abuse in the grand scheme of fighting drugs?
KERLIKOWSKE: I'd say, right now, it's at the top of the list. When we see the deaths due to overdoses, they are driven largely by prescription drugs and as you've mentioned, young people actually don't recognize or realize the dangers that exist with these very powerful and addictive substances.
CHETRY: Yes. You know, when we've done several investigations where we saw just how easy it was to get prescribed this opiates, these narcotics.
Since the 1990s, the number of narcotics prescribed has increased. I believe it was 40 million in 1991. Now, it's 180 million in 2007. And a lot of the experts point to the marketing of narcotics, signaling a fundamental shift where Painkillers were once given only to people in extreme pain.
What are you doing and is the administration doing to try to address the issue of overprescribing?
KERLIKOWSKE: Well, there are several important steps. One is that we're seeing and working with medical schools. You know, quite frankly, doctors don't get the amount of training about either addiction and pain management in medical schools that they should. So, the more knowledgeable they can become, the better.
The other 40 states have prescription drug monitoring programs. And those are programs electronic databases that help public health officials and sometimes law enforcement look at doctors who may be overprescribing and certainly for patients who may be doctor shopping.
CHETRY: Right. And, you know, it's interesting you talk about the monitoring program. Some of the experts that we talk to in this field say that in many cases, it's voluntary, and some doctors actually choose not to do that. They are afraid that perhaps if their patients are suffering from real pain, that they are going to be hiding (ph) suspiciously. And so, because it's voluntary, many choose not to take part.
Is there a -- is there a call or a push perhaps for some tighter regulations on what doctors prescribe?
KERLIKOWSKE: There is a push. These are in their infancy in many ways. As states experiment and get better with these. And, really, the last thing anyone wants is someone who is truly in need of these powerful pain medications to not be able to have them. But that just really isn't the case.
Now, the other problem, of course, is these things are being taken out of medicine cabinets in a variety of ways. And we can help to prevent this by educating parents about the importance of what is in there medicine cabinet. CHETRY: You know, it's interesting that you went there because I was just about to ask you about that. We did a -- we had a CDC study that was really shocking to many of us, that said that a lot of parents, as well as teens, 40 percent believe that abusing painkillers that are prescribed, prescription drugs, is actually safer than using street drugs. There's another stat that shows that one out of five Americans admitted to using prescription drugs for non-medicinal purposes. That's some 50 million people who admitted to that.
There's this belief, I guess -- as wrongheaded as it may be -- that they are somehow safer if they're not getting them off the streets. How do you educate -- how do you combat that perception?
KERLIKOWSKE: I think the important part is exactly what you just mentioned, and that is education. Not just education for health care professionals but education for parents about what's in there, but also helping young people understand how powerful and addictive these substances can be. Now, we're also seeing another trend because they are fairly expensive if they are bought in the underground market. And when they are no longer able to get them, they move to heroin.
CHETRY: You know, one of other things, you have a little bit of a personal experience. You had a son who was arrested for drug abuse before, marijuana possession. What would you tell parents based on your experience? Are there signs to look for -- are there ways to know that you child maybe getting involved in drugs before it gets to that point?
KERLIKOWSKE: Well, we have advertisements, but we also have a great Web site, theantidrug.com. And that is very helpful. And we work to make sure that these media messages get out there.
We know that parents by far are the most powerful influencer of young people. And they can be quite helpful in letting kids know about the dangers. Also, teachers, the faith leaders and people in the community can all make a big difference in educating kids.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we know it's a growing problem and we hope that there's more attention put on it for sure.
Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy -- hanks for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
KERLIKOWSKE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: A deadly tornadoes tear through the plains and more severe weather is expected for today. Our Jacqui Jeras is tracking it all for you and she's up right after the break. Stay with us.
It's 45 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Good morning, Atlanta where it's 56 degrees right now and cloudy. Later on today, the clouds will clear up just a little bit, going to be a partly cloudy day with a high of 75 degrees. So, not too bad at all there in Atlanta but not exactly hot.
CHETRY: No, not for May, that's for sure. Let's get a check of this morning's weather headlines. Jacqui Jeras is in the Extreme Weather Center where, boy, yesterday, quite a mess in the plain states and hopefully things will looking up today.
JERAS: Yes, a little bit better today. You know, we had what we would call a tornado outbreak yesterday which means more than 20 tornadoes and those large violent ones. Today, we're looking at just a slight risk of scene type of severe weather, so a much fewer tornadoes, and we'll likely see a couple of super cells, though, develop along the dry line this afternoon. We'll be watching some of the same areas here, too. Look at this, from the panhandle of Texas, Oklahoma, on up into Kansas again, and then spreading over towards the St. Louis area, and this should be firing up, we think, late this afternoon and into the evening hours.
Now, I want to show you where the storm system is, the one that caused all of the damage yesterday. Today, it's already advanced all the way up here into the Great Lakes region, but it's not severe anymore. We're not expecting any severe weather here. Though, showers and airport delays in for you in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland. And yes, this is going to make its way into the northeastern quarter, but we don't think it'll hit you until the afternoon hours for today maybe even into this evening as you got a lot of dry air in place.
We'll watch out for those heavy downpours especially on some of the interstates. You guys mentioned there's cool temperature. Take a look at the highs today. Forty-six in Minneapolis, 60 degrees in Boston, 56 in Chicago. Temperatures here about 10 to 25 degrees below where you should be for this time of year. Little bit warmer across parts of the south, but overall, a rather coolish kind of May Day. Kiran and John, back to you.
CHETRY: We'll be happy for that come July. So, let's not complain.
JERAS: Yes, enjoy it while it's here, right?
CHETRY: Thanks a lot, Jacqui.
This morning's top stories just minutes away including at 13 minutes past the hour, check this out, imagine if this exploded in Times Square. The feds packing SUV and blow it up only in the middle with the desert far away from tourists, and of course, rescue workers waiting for it, but we will take a look at what could have happened if the Times Square bomber was successful.
ROBERTS: And at half past the hour, oil-covered birds, the growing threat to rare wildlife. Our Rob Marciano shows us why their very existence may be at stake. Those stories and more coming your way beginning at the top of the hour.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like the next Supreme Court justice could be a New Yorker. Her name is Elena Kagan, and she is --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Now, she has never -- here's the catch, she's never argued before a judge before. But living in New York City, I know she's argued in cabs. She's argued in subways. She's argued in delis. She's argued in her apartment. She's yelled at her super. She's argued in line.
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ROBERTS: Life in the big city.
CHETRY: Oh, yes.
ROBERTS: Time now for the Moos News in the Morning. Supreme Court nominations are some of the biggest decisions that a president ever makes.
CHETRY: Of course, things got a little awkward, though, yesterday after a kiss that missed. Jeanne moos breaks it down like only she can.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Elena Kagan may be a nominee for the Supreme Court, but the only courting she got was an awkward kiss one of those which cheek dilemmas, though, things could have been worse. At least, the president didn't accidentally plant one on her mouth or steal her from a spouse. Sometimes, public cheek kissing comes off looking like amateur wife swapping, but a spouse with no better than to divulge Kagan's nickname.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is confident. She is intelligent. She is short.
MOOS: So short at 5'3" that President Obama gallantly pulled out a pedestal for taking a step on to. Not that we in the press ever use anything to make us easier to see. Whether Kagan climbs to the highest judicial run may hinge on the argument that she's never even been a judge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She hasn't spent one day on a robe.
MOOS: Oh, yes? What do you think this is? There she is with a robe and gavel in her high school yearbook. Supporters say it's better to have a justice who hasn't been forever stock in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The judicial monastery.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The judicial monastery.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Quote/unquote "from the monastery."
MOOS: Vice President Biden wasn't talking like a monk. The last big ceremony in the east room. So this time, we waited with baited breath when he started whispering right next to the open mike.
Go get them kid. That's not a gaffe either. They love you. That's not a gaffe either. You want to gaffe, you should have been listening to the golf champ. When Tiger Woods withdrew suddenly from the Players Championship because of a possible bulging disk injury, the sportscaster, Win McMurry misspoke.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He says he's been playing with a bad neck for about a month and believes it could be a bulging (EXPLETIVE WORD) disk and upper back pain.
MOOS: Can you believe 15 years ago, another sportscaster on ESPN made the same sweep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First, he's been playing with a bulging (EXPLETIVE WORD) disk in his neck.
MOOS: He got the giggles over it. At least, Elena Kagan's awkward kiss didn't leave her neck with a bulging disk.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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ROBERTS: Got to watch how quickly you twist the neck there when going for the kiss.
CHETRY: Yes. You have to practice and take a step ahead of time. Every move, people watch by Jeanne Moos. Your top stories --
ROBERTS: Every word being listened to --
CHETRY: Yes, that's true.
All right. We're going to have your top stories coming up right after the break. We'll be right back.
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