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American Morning

"Top Kill" Fails: Oil May Flow Until August; Gaza Aid Flotilla Attacked; Gulf Region in Crisis

Aired May 31, 2010 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, and happy Memorial Day, this Monday, May 31st. I'm Jim Acosta in for John Roberts.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Christine Romans in for Kiran Chetry.

ACOSTA: They are both off.

ROMANS: They are.

ACOSTA: When the cats are away, the mice will play.

ROMANS: They will.

All right, here's what we got for you this morning. Our top stories, BP moving on to plan "G." A new attempt to cap the oil eruption at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico after "top kill" failed miserably. But there are doubts the oil company has a clue what it's doing at this point and fears that this latest attempt could actually make things worse.

ACOSTA: Wow.

ROMANS: We're live along the Gulf Coast.

ACOSTA: Doesn't sound good. It is a Memorial Day, a day marked for somber reflection and appreciation and time for us to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the nation and those still on the field this morning. What the men and women of our Armed Forces face every day on the front lines.

ROMANS: A growing problem this morning for Apple and its squeaky clean reputation. The super secret maker of the iPhone under fire for its long hours, cramp working conditions, demanding supervisors and little pay has an atmosphere that's led to 10 suicides this year. So what's Apple and the China factory where some of its products are made doing about it? We'll tell you.

ACOSTA: Trouble story.

ROMANS: And the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation right now. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX. ACOSTA: But first, Christine, all of the latest on the largest oil spill in U.S. history and it's still growing. Forty-two days and counting, BP dishing out more apologies, damage control, excuses but still no results.

The oil company says it's preparing a new attempt to cap the leak after "top kill" did nothing to stop the relentless flow of oil into the gulf. The company is warning the oil may flow until August, if you can believe that. The company's CEO saying he is sorry to Gulf Coast residents and as far as he's concerned, a cup of oil on the beach is a failure. So by his math, there are about 304 million cups of oil threatening the Gulf Coast and already coating the wetlands of Louisiana. One congressman is now saying BP's actions may be criminal. Democrat Ed Markey claims BP knew how much oil was coming out at the start so they knew (ph) the line or incompetent.

Our David Mattingly is live for us this morning in New Orleans. And, David, BP is now considering another backup plan. It seems to be the backup plan to the backup plan to the backup plan and so on. Right, David?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have multiple plans going at the same time just in case "top kill" failed. That shows that they were looking forward and apparently seeing the possibility of failure there.

Now what that means right now that top kill has failed, that means that BP will not be able to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. They are now abandoning that idea, going with an idea of trying to contain most of this oil by putting a cap over the leak area and having that oil siphoned to the surface.

Work is already going underway. That video we keep watching of that kink in the pipe where all the oil has been leaking out into the gulf, they're going to be cutting that off and then putting a cap over it to take what they hope the vast majority of that oil. But they will not be able to catch all of it as had been hoped.

ACOSTA: David, BP seems to have a lot of confidence in containing the spill. They've made some adjustments on how they're going to clean it up. Is that right?

MATTINGLY: They've actually made some pretty strong statements saying they fell like they're winning that battle and they're saying that they're moving people around actually, establishing what they call floatels (ph), areas where they can have workers stay out on the water trying to create a rapid response to where this oil is pumping up. They acknowledge that there's been a lot of oil hitting the shores in Louisiana. They're concentrating a lot of their efforts here to be more -- to be quicker and to perhaps do more work of this offshore to keep more of this oil from coming ashore.

But right now, BP actually sounding very confident that they are keeping this monster out in the ocean and treating it and preparing it and skimming it out there where they feel like it's doing the least amount of damage as it would coming to shore. But again, they're acknowledging all that oil that is coating the Louisiana coastline in the form of a sheen or even in some of those pockets like in the marshlands we saw where that heavy crude was coming in.

ACOSTA: Yes, it's not a pretty picture. David Mattingly live in New Orleans for us this morning. Thanks, David.

ROMANS: Every day now, more animals falling victims to the gushing oil in the gulf. Birds, fish, dolphins, shrimp. At 10 minutes past the hour, we'll talk with presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. He got a firsthand look at the devastating effects this weekend on a tour with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. And at the bottom of the hour, we'll go live to New Orleans and our Reynolds Wolf with what's being done to try to protect the gulf's wildlife.

ACOSTA: And as America tries to figure out how to deal with this growing toxic crisis in the gulf, this week join our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He's been covering all the risks around us every day in a CNN special investigation, "Toxic America." That's Wednesday and Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

ROMANS: And now to a developing story. A Turkish Armada trying to take aid to blockade Gaza was attacked by the Israeli navy this morning. Commandos dropped from helicopters and fired on the lead ship in the flotilla. At least 10 people were killed and dozens more wounded between fighting -- during fighting, rather, between the activists and military forces. The ships were attempting to take building food and building supplies to the restricted Palestinian territory.

Ivan Watson is live in Istanbul, Turkey where protests of the operation have officials on high alert -- Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine. That's right. We've got thousands of people in angry protest here in downtown Istanbul. People denouncing Israel earlier in the morning, throwing stones and breaking windows near the Israeli consulate here in Istanbul.

Now, these are fringe people in average politics, Islamists. But this is having a much broader ripple effect not only in Turkish society but across Europe. The Turkish government has summoned the Israeli ambassador to criticize and condemn the Israeli raid on the aid convoy. The Swedish government has done that as well. The Greek government and the European Union have also criticized this action.

What we're hearing is around 5:00 this morning Israeli commandos on helicopters, they basically boarded the aid ships and clashes erupted. At least 10 people aboard these humanitarian aid convoys which were trying to run the blockade, run the blockade to the Gaza strip were killed. Many more considered wounded. The Turkish government, Israel's only Muslim ally in the Middle East is saying that this could have irreparable impact on the Turkish/Israeli relationship -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Ivan Watson in Istanbul. Thanks, Ivan.

ACOSTA: Also new this morning, a Mexico-bound jet denied entry in the U.S. airspace after officials discover a passenger on board is wanted. U.S. officials say an Aeromexico flight was diverted yesterday to Montreal where police arrested the man. All of the passengers had to be re-screened before they could board the plane.

The Indy 500 ending with this horrific crash. Check this out. Driver Mike Conway, lucky to be alive, he hooked wheels with another driver crashing into the (INAUDIBLE) bench and landing upside down between the third and fourth turns. Here's another look. Amazingly his worst injury, a broken leg. Meanwhile, it was Dario Franchitti -- my goodness -- in first when the checkered flag was waved. His second time winning at Indy. Unbelievable stuff, right?

ROMANS: It takes your breath away, doesn't it?

ACOSTA: Wow.

ROMANS: All right. The first named storm of the system turning deadly. Tropical storm Agatha has killed at leas 99 people across Central America. Just devastating there for Guatemala. Eighty-two of those deaths in Guatemala along from a string of devastating landslides that cut off entire communities.

ACOSTA: Yes, more than 100,000 people forced out of their homes and the storm is threatening to dump another 20 inches of rain in the region. Let's bring our Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center on this.

So, Rob, good morning. That is -- that's not a good start to the hurricane season, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, it's not, guys. But the Eastern Pacific season does start a couple of weeks earlier so this is not completely unusual. And now, as you mentioned, it has dissipated but hitting the rugged terrain of Central America. And as it does so, all that moisture being squeezed out. So the biggest threat continues to be the heavy, heavy rain.

Here's it is on the satellite picture right now. You know, part of that energy may drift eastward, but we'll monitor that right now. It's just raining to get out there in Central America.

All right. Memorial Day, so let's talk about services and about all the outdoor plans you may have today. I-95 corridor looking OK. Some rain across parts of the Tennessee Valley and down across the south there are pockets of some rain, and that all will kind of come together tomorrow. Fifties, 60s and 70s as you get down south of North Carolina and if you get into the Atlantic Coast.

Talk more about Agatha and the rest of the forecast in more detail in about 30 minutes. Back to you guys in New York.

ACOSTA: All right. Thank you, Rob. Appreciate it. ROMANS: All right. Still to come on the Most News in the Morning, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley got a firsthand look at the impact the spill is having on wildlife. He joins us live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: A good Memorial Day to you. It is 11 minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

Forty-two days into the gulf oil spill now and it's impossible to know just how devastating the effects will ultimately be on the wildlife, the seafood industry and tourism there.

ACOSTA: And it's also impossible to know when this crisis will finally end. For more, let's bring in presidential historian and our friend here at AMERICAN MORNING, Douglas Brinkley, who has seen it first hand. He joins us live now from our New Orleans bureau this morning.

Good morning, Douglas, how are you, sir?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT RICE UNIVERSITY: Good morning to you. I'm doing fine.

ACOSTA: This is our first chance to talk to you on this program since the president's press conference on Thursday and his tour of the Gulf Coast over the weekend. And you know, a lot has been said about how the president has managed this crisis. I'm just curious. What -- you're in the business of grading presidents. What grade would you give the president right now on how he's handled this crisis?

BRINKLEY: Well, it's been like a bit of a roller coaster. He seemed to have done everything to stabilize the situation at first but seemed also slow to get back down here to the gulf south. I thought when he came for just a few hours last week, it really should have been for part of this whole weekend.

The people right now, I think, the president most needs to do is go on television and address the American people in an evening broadcast and just answer some questions. Because I've kind of fanned out around the ragged boot hill of Louisiana and here in New Orleans and just talking to people being affected by this, there's a lot of confusion. People are asking what about worse case scenario, what does August (ph) mean for our lives? Should surgical masks be worn if we're going to do beach cleanup? I could go on and on.

There's a feeling that there's not kind of a command center. And I would urge the president to do an informing presidential address and tell the nation where we're at. Everybody is quite frightened. It's being called the worst environmental disaster in American history. So you almost want the president to sound like a commander-in-chief and tell us how we're going to attack the clean up.

ROMANS: But it's interesting because at the same time, you know, the president said he was sorry.

ACOSTA: Right.

ROMANS: But it's not the president's fault. And he has to be the leader now, except BP really is in the driver's seat and any of these petroleum engineers and robotics engineers were trying to fix this thing. So in a way, it's like, you know, the president can try to emote and try to show that he understands what's happening to the people in the Gulf Coast, but he can't press a button and fix it, can he?

BRINKLEY: No, there are two different things where one is the capping. And look, after "top kill" didn't work, people -- its momentum seems to just have hit a flat note. Nobody is really believing what BP says. So it's really about the relief wells which could be in August or September game (ph).

Now if something happens better and we get some good news in the coming weeks, fine. But the planning has to be that this well is going to be gushing oil probably until the early fall. We have hurricane season coming here. The wildlife is already being devastated. There's no question about it. Some beaches are closing. The contaminants have kept all of this kind towards Louisiana, but we're having some stormy weather today. And when the weather changes and you get a tropical storm or a hurricane, where is that all going to go?

ACOSTA: Right.

BRINKLEY: Where people, biologists are saying in the middle of the ocean where these dispersants have been dumped it's an absolute dead zone. All animals from turtles to dolphins, on and on, the whole ocean floor just corrosive and dead. And we may be only about a third or fourth into this crisis.

ACOSTA: Right.

BRINKLEY: So these are beginning days really.

ACOSTA: Yes. And you had a chance to go on tour of some of the devastated areas with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. And you know, Doug, it reminds me a little bit of the book that you wrote about "Hurricane Katrina: The Great Deluge."

You could almost write "The Great Deluge Part 2" in terms of the oil that is impacting this coast, and I'm just curious what you think in terms of what the impact, the lasting impact will be on the Gulf Coast, on New Orleans after everything that happened with hurricane Katrina. I mean, this is almost like a second blow for this region.

BRINKLEY: Well, I thought about writing the sequel to "The Great Deluge" on the big spill.

ACOSTA: Yes.

BRINKLEY: I'm trying to talk to everybody, find out exactly what happened. But, for this region, both stories represent the wetlands. One of the problems that we had during Hurricane Katrina is that we've been losing in Louisiana about two football fields of land a day. The Gulf of Mexico gets closer to the levees that surround New Orleans, and without barrier islands, without wetlands to soak up the water, the -- when the big storm comes, it will pound on these levees, and now it's going to bring oil from the wetlands closer to New Orleans and perhaps create new toxic difficulties and problems for this area.

So it's a continuing saga of Louisiana at war basically against some of the forces coming from the Gulf of Mexico, whether they're man made like the levee's engineering failure , or the --

ACOSTA: Right.

BRINKLEY: -- failures on the Deepwater Horizon or on the fact that we're getting -- seeming to be having a lot of tropical storms and hurricanes due to warmer weather on the -- in the gulf water surface. But it's made New Orleans a kind of strange, almost a combat zone community, and the same with all of those Mississippi Boot Hill, I mean, I remember Burris (ph) was the --

ACOSTA: Yes.

BRINKLEY: -- Louisiana was the touchdown for Katrina's and it got flattened in Venice where the president went on his first trip, it was almost flattened by Katrina. It's just coming back and now it's losing all its business because of the spill.

So it's a region that is just in incredible peril and all America needs to pull for it, because this isn't Louisiana wetlands --

ACOSTA: Are we seeing --

BRINKLEY: -- it's America's wetlands.

ACOSTA: Are we seeing the country respond in the way that they -- they did after Katrina or are volunteers showing up by the bus load down there? Do you need that?

BRINKLEY: They're going to and different -- you know, one of the things that Louisiana Fish and Wildlife were the heroes of Katrina. They had brought in their assets, their boats, put them outside the bowl of New Orleans and once the city flooded, Fish and Wildlife boats came in and saved everybody, pulled people out of the Katrina waters.

Fish and Wildlife now is having a horracious (ph) time just trying to save the bird life --

ACOSTA: Wow.

BRINKLEY: -- of this region.

You know, this is one of the great flyways, the Mississippi River flyway --

ACOSTA: Exactly.

BRINKLEY: -- anybody who is a bird lover knows that they come from all of the world. John James Audubon painted here, and now many of these birds are just struggling to stay alive and they're -- they're also going to be eating poisoned fish and shellfish --

ACOSTA: Wow.

BRINKLEY: -- in the coming months. So it's tragic.

ACOSTA: Yes. It really is. And we appreciate your perspective on this.

Douglas Brinkley, presidential historian down in New Orleans for us this morning. Your -- your insight is always appreciated. Thank you, Doug.

BRINKLEY: Thank you.

ROMANS: All right. Coming up next on the Most News in the Morning, new questions about working conditions at a factory that makes the iPhone and the iPad. We're "Minding Your Business" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: It's 21 minutes past the hour. That means it's time for "Minding Your Business."

Apple is a company with a squeaky-clean, hip image, but behind the scenes our demand for Apple products like the iPhone is seriously affecting lives in China where many of these are made. Hundreds of thousands of workers subjected to long hours, cramped conditions, churning out millions of these gadgets.

For example, in 2009, Apple sold 25 million iPhones. That means one phone sold every 1.26 seconds. It took the iPad just 28 days to sell a million, all of that helping Apple become the world's biggest technology company, worth about $234 billion. Microsoft, which has long been the king of tech, is now worth about $226 billion.

Now, we're able to get our hands on these relatively cheap products because they come from China, more specifically just north of Hong Kong where workers live, eat and sleep inside the factory compounds. The Foxconn complex, which makes the iPhone, occupies less than one square mile.

It's home to more than 400,000 workers. Employees live eight to a room and spend most of their time on the assembly line and they do it all for less than $300 a month, which is actually good pay, believe it or not, for some of these contract manufacturers. Tough conditions and pay that's led to a rash now of suicides, 10 in the last five months and another two attempts.

The company says it treats its employees well, adding there were personal reasons for these suicides. But it also recently announced a 20 percent pay raise. Foxconn also installed nets to catch anyone who might leap out of a window of one of these dormitories or work buildings.

Apple, known for being socially conscious, has launched its own investigation. The company says it is working with Foxconn's senior management and is convinced the company is taking the matter seriously, Jim. But something to think about when you buy one of these tech gadgets --

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

ROMANS: -- there's a reason why we can all afford something with so much technology.

ACOSTA: Incredible.

ROMANS: It's because it's made somewhere far, far away.

ACOSTA: Yes, and you want to know what Apple is doing about it. I mean, that's just one of those questions that I think is -- is still out there. Christine, absolutely.

Here's another story that people want to be talking about. You could soon learn who's really on the other end of the line the next time you call a customer service representative. That's right. Yes. Senator Chuck Schumer says he plans to introduce legislation to make it less attractive for companies to send calls overseas.

The new law would require customer service reps to identify where they're located, as in not in the United States. Hello? Companies would also be hit with a tax for any call transferred to a foreign location. So I think we'd all like to get to the bottom of that one. And -- and if only we get a human being to answer.

ROMANS: But this has gone on for, like, 10 years.

ACOSTA: Exactly.

ROMANS: I mean, this is the other thing. It's like we're -- this is -- we're just now talking about this now? I mean -- I mean, this has been going on for a very long time.

ACOSTA: That's right. That's right. And when you want to reach through the phone and strangle the guy, it doesn't help when he's overseas. That's the thing that I --

ROMANS: Jim.

ACOSTA: -- that I -- I tend to think about.

But anyway, coming up next on the Most News in the Morning, not all illegal immigrants sneak across the border. Casey Wian with an "A.M. Original." That is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

You know, tens of thousands of protesters stood both for and against Arizona's new immigration law over the weekend. The demonstrations come as up to 1,200 National Guard troops prepare to join in the Arizona border patrol.

In this "A.M. Original", something you'll only see right here in AMERICAN MORNING, Casey Wian explains why a seldom talked about but enormous group of border crossers could be a much bigger threat to national security.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not all illegal immigrants sneak across the border. About 40 percent of the nearly 11 million people living illegally in the United States came here legally and simply overstayed their visas.

Before they're fingerprinted and removed, they must be found. In Los Angeles, that's the job of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents such as Dan Showalter.

DAN SHOWALTER, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT AGENT: We're off to the apartment of a former J-1 visa holder. This is a gentleman from Kazakhstan. He has overstayed his visa by two years.

WIAN: ICE Compliance Enforcement teams start before dawn to catch visa violators before they've left for work. This time, no luck.

SHOWALTER: His wife that he lives in the apartment with is there, but I guess he's in Chicago, visiting some friends.

WIAN: Onto the next location, across town in search of a Tunisian man whose tourist visa expired last year.

There are only about 300 ICE agents nationwide for more than 4 million non-criminal visa violators. Their priorities include people from countries with links to terrorism.

Another apartment building, another miss.

SHOWALTER: Most likely he's not there. But sometimes, you know, we get it whether they wouldn't come to the door. So we'll come back to this one another day.

WIAN: Agents tracking visa violators operate under different rules because overstaying a visa is an administrative violation, not a crime like sneaking across the border. They're also hampered by limited manpower. The border patrol has more than 20,000 agents, ICE has only half that, and it's also responsible for enforcing customs as well as immigration law.

Julie Myers Wood led ICE during the Bush administration.

JULIE MYERS WOOD, FORMER ICE ASSISTANT SECRETARY: Congress needs to think about the other border, not just the individuals that cross over illegally but the individuals that overstay their visas and then go often -- often go out and do -- do things that cause harm to our country.

WIAN: Nearly all of the immigrants who've either plotted or carried out attacks against the United States first entered the country legally.

MICHAEL CUTLER, FORMER INS AGENT: It seems as though the government for decades has been utterly unwilling to do anything about the issue with interior enforcement. To not have enough agents working with the interior is kind of like playing baseball and having the outfield to sit out the game.

WIAN: Back on the streets, agents arrive at a house seeking two Nigerian men with expired tourist visas. They're not home but another man with an expired visa is. He's taken downtown and processed for possible deportation.

Later, agents find a Mexican national who crossed the border illegally in the 1980s and served time for a sex crime in 2000. Last year, ICE arrested 1,800 visa violators, yet our morning ends with another miss. A Turkish man with an expired work visa left this building owing rent six months ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They never showed up with the job or stopped going to work. Five years, he's been out of status.

WIAN: It's yet another challenge -- agents often have only a visa violator's name and date of birth and old or even phony address.

(on camera): ICE is considering proposing new regulations that would require more information from visitors to the United States. That way they would be easier to track down if they overstay their visas.

Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: All right. It's 6:31. And that means it's time for this morning's top stories.

An attack on a Turkish flotilla carrying humanitarian to Gaza, fighting broke out this morning and Israeli military forces storm the main ship. More than 10 people were killed and dozens of passengers and four Israeli soldiers were hurt. And massive protests are right now underway in Turkey.

ROMANS: Today, Memorial Day, the nation honors our servicemen and women who gave their lives for America. Today, President Obama will take part in a wreath-laying ceremony in Illinois. Vice President Joe Biden will also participate in the annual ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

ACOSTA: The oil may flow until August -- that is what B.P. is warning this morning, as it sets up yet another attempt to cap the largest oil leak in U.S. history. One congressman is now saying the company's action maybe criminal, accusing it of low-balling the amount of oil leaking coming out from the very beginning.

ROMANS: Louisiana is also responsible for 40 percent of America. At least a quarter of the Gulf's waters are already close to fishing. Coastal birds and animals are also under a growing threat. So, what's being done to try to protect the Gulf's fragile ecosystems?

Reynolds Wolf has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELE KELLY, AUDUBON NATURE INSTITUTE: We bring it in, and immediately, we take oil samples. And this guy was really gunked up with oil pretty bad.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): This rescued turtle is a Kemp's ridley, one of the smallest sea turtles in the world. It's also on the endangered species list.

KELLY: This guy had some oil in his mouth. So, it's actually swabbed out, we were getting the oil, (INAUDIBLE) stuff, removing the oil from his mouth.

WOLF: This turtle and two others were rescued and brought to the Audubon Nature Institute here in New Orleans for rehabilitation and long-term monitoring.

KELLY: Once exposed to the oil, it starts to compromise their important systems -- respiratory, digestive, kidneys. So, it can set them up for a secondary infection such as pneumonia.

WOLF: And it's not just reptiles that are threatened by the oil. State biologist Michael Brainerd worries about marine mammals he sees just off the Mississippi coast.

(on camera): Now, where exactly are we headed specifically?

MICHAEL BRAINERD, MISSISSIPPI DEPT. OF MARINE: We're going to check -- our Station 3, which is in the Biloxi Channel.

WOLF (voice-over): Dolphins often follow Brainerd's shrimp troller as we saw firsthand.

BRAINERD: In the other day, we had dolphins following our troller and it's like four of them. One of them is a little baby. (INAUDIBLE) like, man, I hope that oil doesn't get here.

WOLF: The oil has not yet drifted into the Mississippi waters, but 25 mammals have been found in the Gulf. The exact cause of death has yet to be determined.

Over 220 turtles have been found dead, making this one one of the fortunate survivors.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF: Now, that one turtle you saw in the piece is a Kemp's ridley sea turtle. They are endangered, relatively small, dark green in color with a little bit of white. That's one of two Kemp's ridley we have here in New Orleans. The other is a longer head turtle.

Longer term plans for them, well, it kind of varies. Some of them may actually spend the rest of their lives in the aquarium or when we have a better handle on the oil, they may be re-released back into the wild, perhaps a little bit farther to the east or west of the oil slick.

Back to you in New York.

ROMANS: Right, Reynolds. That's the issue with the re- release, if we're talking about oil flowing in at least through August, you know.

WOLF: Absolutely.

ROMANS: It can be problematic where you actually re-release.

OK. Thanks so much, Reynolds Wolf.

ACOSTA: Not good.

Well, coming up next on the Most News in the Morning: remembering the fallen on Memorial Day. One World War II vet's mission is to make sure his comrades are not forgotten. It's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. On this Memorial Day, we have a look at one World War II veteran's lifelong mission.

ROMANS: Leon Cooper -- Leon Cooper says that mission is to pay tribute to Americans who gave their lives and service to their country. John Roberts sat down with Leon Cooper to discuss his war time experience and his project, a Return to Tarawa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is one of World War II's deadliest battles and still lives on to this day for the victims' families. It happened on November 20th, 1943. U.S. troops arrived on Red Beach on Tarawa Island, the Japanese stronghold in the Pacific. And after three days of fighting, more than 1,000 Marines fell under enemy fire.

It was recently documented in a film, in large part due to one Navy officer who fought in that battle.

NARRATOR: Onboard a Higgins landing craft, Ensign Leon Cooper was responsible for the lives of hundreds of men. For thousands of marines riding to the shores that morning, no one could imagine the ferocity of the battle to come, or the death and destruction they would soon face.

ROBERTS: The film follows Leon Cooper who returned to Tarawa 65 years later in February of 2008. His mission was to recover and repatriate the remains of the American Marines who were still unaccounted for. And since the film was first released, there has been a lot of progress on that front.

Leon Cooper joins me now with an update.

Leon, great to talk to you. Thanks so much for joining. Why did you want to go back to Tarawa in 2008?

LEON COOPER, WORLD WAR II COMBAT VETERAN: Where I landed, the Marines of the 2nd Division, Red Beach, where I saw scores of my countrymen fall under heavy Japanese gunfire, when I stumbled across an "Associated Press" dispatch many years later that said where hundreds of marines died, there are now millions of plastic bags and other garbage. My shock turned to anger because I tried to reach usual suspects in Washington over a period of a couple of years, nobody paid any attention to me.

So, my friend Steve Barber (ph) finally argued me into returning to Tarawa, 65 years later with a camera crew to film the outrage of Red Beach.

ROBERTS: Was the goal to just show these marines who gave their lives in defense of this country the respect that you thought they deserved?

COOPER: I thought it was a disgrace to their memory of so many guys who died, that the garbage littered Red Beach. My shock actually was really more overwhelming because I learned when I got there that there were perhaps hundreds of marines who still lay where they fell in unmarked graves.

ROBERTS: So, the documentary came out, but your work has continued unabated. What has happened since then?

COOPER: Well, the film has had the effect finally that we had hoped for, the Department of Defense is sending a team later this year with expressed orders to identify, recover and repatriate the remains of hundreds of maybe 100 of marines who are still there.

ROBERTS: You talked to a lot of families, I assume, of these brave marines. What have they been telling you?

COOPER: I've had hundreds of e-mails, letters, phone calls from the relatives wanting to know where their remains are, the circumstances of death, or anything that I can do to help recover and return the remains of these guys to their homes. It's heart-wrenching for me because I saw it firsthand, so many of my countrymen within inches, on occasions, during many my landings, and now I'm dealing with the relatives of these guys who died.

ROBERTS: This is a bigger project, though, isn't it, than just Tarawa. There are tens of thousands of marines who are reported missing in the Pacific campaign. What are you hoping to do with those tens of thousands of marines?

COOPER: I'm setting up a non-profit organization which will receive charitable contributions that enable me to film the battle sites of a number places where the majority of American casualties took place. My objective here is to have this as a wakeup call to America, to make everyone possible in this country become aware of a scandal associated with the fact that these guys are still there, 65, 70 years after the battle.

ROBERTS: Thanks so much for joining us and good luck with your project, the noble one that it is.

COOPER: Many thanks again, John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: What an incredible story.

ACOSTA: Wow. Absolutely.

ROMANS: All right. It's 42 minutes past the hour. Rob is going to have the morning's travel forecast for you on this Memorial Day right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: OK. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. You're looking live at a picture of the tomb of the unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery on this Memorial Day. Glad you're with us. It is about 45 minutes after the hour right now. That means it's time for the "AM House Call," stories about your health.

And new evidence shows a breast cancer vaccine could be in the works. Researchers say mice engineer to be prone to breast cancer never developed the disease after they were vaccinated. Human tests may start next year.

And health officials are putting women smokers in the spotlight today. The World Health Organization no tobacco day focuses on marketing to women. Group says it's an important part of controlling the epidemic of tobacco among gender.

And some interesting new findings for the future of overweight college-aged people, new study found 25 to 39-year-olds classified as obese showed they are no more likely to have health issues later than those with a normal weight. Researchers say the stress of dieting is probably more harmful to your health than an extra 15 pounds, if you can believe that and --

ROMANS: I don't know.

ACOSTA: What do you think about that, Christine?

ROMANS: I think in two weeks there'll be another survey that will have some other results that will find out that you don't want to be overweight young because it leads -- all of these health surveys, I always tell Sanjay, drives me nuts. Wait long and red wine will be good for you, again. Oh, no, now, it's bad for you. No, no, it's good for you.

ACOSTA: But we hear so much about obese kids in public schools, but to hear about folks in that age group, it is alarming and definitely --

ROMANS: I do get the stress of dieting, though.

ACOSTA: Right.

ROMANS: When you know somebody who's really on the diet, in the yo-yo diet, I can tell you that could be stressful on your body though, too.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. Absolutely.

ROMANS: It's 46-minutes past the hour. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano is in the Extreme Weather Center for that. Good morning, Rob. Happy Memorial Day to you.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Happy Memorial Day to you. You know, the freshman 15 is what they call it when you got to school, right?

ACOSTA: That's it.

MARCIANO: There's not a whole lot of stress to being a freshman, maybe the first day then after that --

ACOSTA: Not sure that 15 is all from food, Rob.

ROMANS: No, it's at least with 15 that's for sure.

MARCIANO: Excellent point. Hey, good morning, guys. Listen, you know, Memorial Day weekend, of course, is the day to remember those who served, and it's also a day to gather friends and family and enjoy the outdoors in some cases. 50s and 60s down across parts of the northern shorelines. That's water temperatures, so if you're brave enough to dip into it across parts of Long Island, I'm not sure how long you'll last, but given the 70s and 80s down across parts of the Gulf and eastern parts of Florida that's what the temperature a little bit more potable (ph). Warm air definitely surging to the north while we had the record-breaking stretch for the past few days, and now, we're looking at some cooler air trying to get in but not a whole lot.

Atlanta, Charlotte, and Orlando, if you're traveling today, 30 to 60-minute delays expected because of thunderstorms have been to fire up again in the afternoon. And then Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago will also see a little bit in the way of delays and Los Angeles maybe as well. Nashville east where we're seeing some rain. This was some heavy rain across parts of Northern Georgia yesterday and also parts of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City seeing some thunderstorms. Those will be rolling down across parts of the Red River throughout today.

And some showers and thunderstorms beginning to fill in across parts of the Ohio River Valley and that all will move a little bit more toward the north and east as we get to tomorrow, but I think most of the northeast today will be dry. 85 degrees in New York City, not bad at all and 91, a little bit steamy in D.C., 77 degrees expected in Atlanta, 83 degrees in Denver, and 80 degrees expected in Salt Lake City.

Here's what's left of Agatha, Guatemala to Honduras and parts of Central America still getting some heavy rains. Some of this energy may slide east into the Caribbean, but until it does, we're not worried too much about it. But, fist day of hurricane season for the Atlantic, Jim and Christine, is tomorrow, and as we've been talking about for the past couple of weeks, it is forecast to be a busy one. We'll talk more about that of course later today.

ACOSTA: Yes.

ROMANS: With a bunch of oil in the Gulf.

ACOSTA: That's right. But we've heard those forecasts in the last several years that we had a busy hurricane season and then they didn't materialize, right?

MARCIANO: I'll tell you this, I've met the National Hurricane Center and their forecast and NOAA's forecast, they're fairly conservative. I've never seen this high of a forecast for them. So, that says something.

ACOSTA: All right. Something to watch. Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: OK, guys.

ACOSTA: I think you're right. I'll get my gear out.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much. He was the military's highest ranking officer when the don't ask, don't tell policy went into effect back in 1993. Now, General Colin Powell is saying it's time for a change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm personally of the view now that attitudes have changed, and I think it is perfectly acceptable to get rid of the law and the policy, but, I think before we actually do it, we have to hear clearly from the officers and men and women who are in charge executing that policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The Pentagon's review of its ban on gays serving openly is due in December, but the House already voted to end it on Friday.

ACOSTA: And this morning's top stories just minutes away including on the heels of yet another failure, BP promising to try again soon, but the new plan may risk making the oil spill, get this, an even bigger catastrophe. We are live along the Gulf.

ROMANS: On this Memorial Day, we talk to chairman of the joint chief, Admiral Mike Mullen, close to a decade in Afghanistan on the brink of another intense battle and changes coming to don't ask, don't tell.

ACOSTA: And working their fingers to the bone so you can use yours on a fancy little touch screen inside an iPad factory in China. Why do workers there keep killing themselves? Those stories and more at the top of the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Now, to a new initiative from CNN.com. It's called home and away, and it honors U.S. and coalition troops who died in Iraq and Afghanistan by tracking the lives of this gallant warrior up to their and timely death. This is how the website works. Today, we're remembering Private First Class David John Benz. D.J., as he was known, killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad three years ago. His mother chooses to remember him through the game he loved the most.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY GEONNOTTI, MOTHER, PFC. DAVID JOHN BENTZ III: My name is Kimberly Geonnotti, mom of Private First Class David John Benz III, killed in action in Iraq, June 28, 2007, and this is his story.

Anybody knew D.J. knew he loved soccer. This is D.J.'s soccer jersey from Clayton High School. Eleven was his favorite number. He was going out for himself. He really played with the team. He believed in the team. He didn't care who got the goal or whatever. Even if they lost, he says that's all right, next time. I looked forward to going to his games. I loved watching him.

We are here at the D.J. Bentz Memorial Soccer Complex that was dedicated and built in honor of my son who loved soccer. His first phone call when he got to Iraq, he called, when I asked, do you want anything? And he said no, all I need is my soccer ball. He said they're losers over here. He said they don't know anything about soccer. Everything is football. That's all they want to talk about. I've got to show these guys. He said send me my ball.

He could play by himself hours at a time, just in about yard (ph), by himself, kicking against the wall, kicking against the shed, you know until you're yelling stop keep kicking the shed, you know, busted windows, had them. The soccer field really just is home for me. This is where I know he is, and I know he's playing it because I know he's sure is playing somewhere in a good place.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Thank you, D.J. CNN.com has put together an extraordinary presentation honoring our heroes of war like D.J. You can check it out by visiting CNN.com/homeandaway. You can pay tribute to those who gave their lives for your freedom.

Top stories right after the break.

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