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American Morning
Poisoning the Presidency?; Earthquakes Rock Indonesia; Hunting Down Bin Laden; White House Summons BP Chairman; Cutting Your Lung Cancer Risk; Project: Field of Dreams
Aired June 16, 2010 - 08:00 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. Thanks so much for joining us on the Most News of the Morning on this Wednesday, the 16th of June. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We have lots to talk about this morning, so let's get right to it.
It keeps going up, the size of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the numbers revised again. Government scientists now believe up to 60,000 barrels a day -- that's 2.5 million gallons of crude -- are spilling into the waters each and every day. That is up a troubling 50 percent from last week's revision.
ROBERTS: Plus, an American arrested in Pakistan, with a sword, a pistol, night vision equipment, and Christian books. His family says he told him that he was going there on a one-man mission to find Osama bin Laden. They say he's not crazy.
So, just who is Gary Faulkner? Find out from the people that know him -- just ahead.
CHETRY: Major developments in the Middle East right now. Israel's security cabinet is meeting to discuss a possible easing of the Gaza blockade. Israel has been under pressure since the bloody attack on a flotilla of aid ships. The man in the middle of the negotiations will be right here in the studio, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
ROBERTS: And, of course, the amFIX blog is up and running, as it is every day. Join the live conversation going on right now. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.
CHETRY: Well, when it comes to the size and scope of the oil spill in the Gulf, the estimates keep ticking up higher -- 50 percent higher from just last week's sometimes. Government scientists are now saying, up to 60,000 barrels of crude a day are spewing into the ocean. It's a staggering 2.5 million gallons every 24 hours.
ROBERTS: President Obama addressing the American people on national television last night, claims he has a battle plan to combat this environmental disaster, but he admits it could take months, even years, to make the Gulf Coast and people who live there whole again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But we have to recognize that despite our best efforts, oil has already caused damage to our coastline, and its wildlife. And, sadly, no matter how effective our response is, there will be more oil and more damage before this siege is done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And in the meantime, the president is promising the American people in his address last night that he will make BP pay for all of the pain the company has caused. He also said that 90 percent of the spewing oil will be contained within the next few weeks. He's also demanding that BP set aside a special escrow account that would cover all claims from the widening catastrophe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: But make no mistake: we will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long as it takes. We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused. We will do whatever is necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: This disaster in the Gulf not only damaging beaches and destroying livelihoods, it's also threatening to poison the presidency.
CHETRY: Candy Crowley is live in Washington this morning.
And, you know, you look at the polls out this morning and you just hear from people, especially locals who are listening in the Gulf Coast, seems to suggest the American people are losing confidence in this president when it comes to his handling of the oil spill crisis. Did he turn things around last night?
CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": One speech is -- after 60 days of this, almost 60 days, one speech is never going to do it. I suspect they know that even at the White House. Where -- they have been trying for the past couple of weeks to turn this around., to have -- from his news conference where he came you on and said this is my responsibility, to the multiple trips to the Gulf Coast, to having the families of those of who died on the first day of the rig explosion, and now, you know, going down again, walking the beaches, coming back up here. They are trying to repair this at this point -- but it's going to take a lot more.
And, you know, in the end, what it's going to take is getting the hole plugged and starting to clean up the beaches. It's just -- until there's some sort of action, people think, okay, this is working well. The president is going to continue to be hurt by this because what people see when they look at this, and I suspect it's not even the president himself. People just see an incompetent governor.
What do we hear down there other than we can't figure out who's in charge. There's 14 agencies down here -- you know, one can veto the other and we don't know who to go to. So, until that's settled, if it can get settled, I think both the concept of the federal government can fix things and the president's own approval rating is going to suffer.
ROBERTS: Candy, he's got two wars raging, an economic meltdown. Christine Romans was telling earlier today that more people are losing their homes than sending kids to college. What does it say that he used this situation to make his first speech from the Oval Office? Is it putting that much pressure on the presidency?
CROWLEY: Well, it is. It's certainly the first real crisis of his presidency. And they've been able to up to now when you look at the wars, when you look at the economy, they have said, look, we were handed this big mess and we're trying to climb out of it. And they've had success in showing some of numbers. Obviously, Christine has numbers for today.
But when you look at the overall picture, the administration can arguably say, we have made things better with the stimulus plan, with the going after Wall Street, that sort of thing. But this is the first and certainly not an emergency that was caused by the White House -- but this is his first own real crisis. And I think that they thought it was obviously big enough.
I thought -- what's interest sing what's the criticism here today? OK, what's the plan here? We still don't have a plan. I mean, they said those big -- use all those battle terms and it's a war and we get it's a big important thing. But what is the plan here?
And if he fell short last night, that's certainly is what a lot of the critics see is the soft point of that speech which is -- what do we now know we didn't know before in the speech?
CHETRY: Yes. And, you know, the president also spent about half of the speech pushing for clean energy, which drew the ire of the Republican Party leadership, Michael Steele, putting out a note about that last night. But also, some of the locals who say, I don't know if this is necessarily the right time to push a political agenda on the backs of this crisis. Was that a -- was that a miscalculation?
CROWLEY: Well, if the president be didn't want to have charges of this being political, he would know to leave that out. Obviously, he has been pushing for more clean energy, for new energy policy. The problem is that it's a little complicated because that energy policy also includes something called cap-and-trade, which is an effort to bring down emissions, and there are a number of Democratic senators who would stand in the way of that. We don't hear big mention of that anymore.
And I think the other problem he has is, you can say all you want -- this just proves that we need alternative energy, that this just proves that we've got to pour more money into green efforts to try to figure out how we can become less dependent on oil. Otherwise, we wouldn't have to be drilling in the Gulf. But the problem is: down in the Gulf, what they want is to start drilling again, because it's sort of going after their livelihood and we now have people saying, if you keep these rigs shut down, no matter where they are, this then is going to lead to an energy crisis. So, that's the argument now.
They are sticking with their six-month moratorium. You had David Axelrod on this morning where he said that. And they're saying they're trying to move forward.
But it's hard to argue for your energy plan when -- what you really need to do -- or what many people think he needs to do -- is hurry up on this moratorium, because the fact remains, that the U.S. is still dependent on fossil fuels until there's some gigantic plan put into place and for many years to come.
ROBERTS: And that will be for a while. Candy Crowley for us this morning -- Candy, thanks so much.
CROWLEY: Thanks.
ROBERTS: It didn't take long for BP to respond to the president's speech. The company firing off this statement saying, "We share the president's goal of shutting off the oil as quickly as possible, cleaning up the oil, and mitigating the impact on the people and environment of the Gulf Coast. We look forward to meeting with President Obama tomorrow -- that's today -- for a constructive discussion about how to best achieve these mutual goals."
And the President Obama does meet face-to-face with top executives from BP at 10:15 Eastern this morning. He will hold a news conference at 12:15, following that meeting. CNN, of course, will carry that live for you.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, police in Seattle are investigating a jaywalking arrest that took a very violent turn. Home video shows an officer struggling with two women he was trying to detain. They were yelling at him. And he claims resisting arrest. One of the suspects, 17 years old, then pushes the officers and he punches her in the face.
Police say they were verbally antagonistic and resisted arrest. Civil rights leaders claim that the officer used excessive force.
ROBERTS: It was supposed to be a free concert featuring Canadian rapper Drake and the pop group Hanson in New York City. But the show was over before it ever began. It had to be canceled when too many people showed up and the crowds started throwing bottles, chairs, flower pots, literally anything they could get their hands on.
Organizers were expecting 10,000 people, but 20,000 people showed up. Two people were arrested in the chaos. Six people suffered minor injuries.
CHETRY: Wow. That chair gets lobbed off (ph) the balcony there. Well, a virtual stampede on the first day of that -- you could pre-order Apple's new iPhone 4. The apple and AT&T Web sites couldn't handle the demand and they crashed. AT&T said that yesterday was the busiest online sales day for them ever. The new iPhone will be in stores June 24th.
ROBERTS: Jacqui Jeras is taking a look at the weather forecast for us this morning. She's in the weather center in Atlanta and we're going to have some travel problems in some cities today.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We really are. I think the northeast and Mid-Atlantic States are really going to get hammered later on today. There are spotty showers in the region already this morning. I don't think it's enough to cause too many problems. We do have some delays at BWI, Baltimore airport there as a result of that. But we are expecting it to be more of a problem, say, by mid- afternoon.
In the meantime, we are watching that storm system that could say across the Great Lakes and into the northeast. Most of the heavy showers and thundershowers have made their way on up into Canada. We're also looking at some heavier thunderstorms expected across parts of the southeast and later on today. Both areas could see severe thunderstorms in and this does include the risk of tornadoes. So, be aware of that especially late this afternoon into the early evening hours.
Hot temperatures -- that's our other big weather story today -- across the Gulf Coast states, including central Florida. You got heat advisories in effect in Orlando where it's going to feel like 105 to 110 at times, 98 in New Orleans.
And we will see slightly cooler temperatures. We're hopeful this cold front is going to make it near the Gulf Coast and cool off most of you. But otherwise, the humidity has just been incredible. It's thick out there.
You know, we're waking up to temperatures in the mid-70s. With the humidity so high, you almost get wet just walking out the door -- John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: Love that, to develop a flop sweat the second you walk out the door.
JERAS: Yes, whatever you can wear.
ROBERTS: Thanks so much. All right. Thanks, Jacqui.
CHETRY: Well, still ahead, a California man who is hunting Osama bin Laden on his own, intent on avenging 9/11. He's under arrest in Pakistan. His brother, though, is speaking out saying he's not crazy. He's just a man on a mission.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Thirteen and a half minutes after the hour. Breaking news just coming in, word of a series of deadly earthquakes in Indonesia this morning, landslides, more than 400 homes damaged, and two people killed.
Officials say that the quakes were all clustered within about 60 miles of each other, the largest, magnitude 7.0, followed a 6.4 just 10 minutes earlier. A police chief saying people ran out of their houses, headed for higher ground in fear of a tsunami.
We're watching for any tsunami warnings and reports of damage.
CHETRY: All right. Well, 14 minutes past the hour right now. He told his family that he was on a one-man mission to take down Osama bin Laden. Well, now, American Gary Faulkner is in custody in Pakistan.
So, how does a contractor from Colorado end up roaming the mountains of the faraway land looking for America's enemy number one?
Well, we had a chance to talk to his family and also his neighbors to find out more. Our Brian Todd breaks it down for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His brother says Gary Faulkner took the September 11th attacks very personally -- so personally, says the brother, that he's been to Pakistan six times trying to find Osama bin Laden. This time, Gary Faulkner's in Pakistani custody.
Pakistani officials tell CNN he was picked up in the area around Chitral, walking toward the border with Afghanistan, carrying a sword, a pistol, night vision equipment, and Christian religious books.
In Denver, Dr. Scott Faulkner told CNN's Jim Spellman his brother was like a bulldog in his quest to find bin Laden. But --
DR. SCOTT FAULKNER, BROTHER OF GARY FAULKNER: He's not psychotic. He's not schizophrenic. He doesn't hear voices.
He's a very passionate person. And most people go through their lives without passion. They don't have something that they truly believe in and would give up everything in their life for.
Is this my passion? Absolutely not. But is it my brother's? It is.
TODD: Scott Faulkner says his brother, the oldest of four children, is a divorced construction worker with a grown son. Dr. Faulkner says when he drove Gary to the Denver airport two weeks ago --
FAULKNER: I assumed that it might be the last time I saw my brother. We talked about his trip. I asked him specifically what he wanted me to do if he came back in a body bag. He gave me those instructions. But, he went with a confidence. And on every one of his trips he has been very confident. And having seen my brother, now five or six times, leave the country, I knew that he would be okay.
TODD: But Scott Faulkner says his brother has kidney problems and is in desperate need of dialysis. It is not clear whether Gary Faulkner was after the $25 million reward for information leading to Bin Laden's capture. I asked CNN terrorism analysis, Peter Bergen, about that.
TODD (on camera): Is that area kind of life with bounty hunters, American and otherwise?
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: No, I mean the area is not rife with bounty hunters partly because, you know, trying to find Bin Laden is not easy. Secondly, it is -- the whole region is quite dangerous. Thirdly, you know, as an outsider, I think if you are Western, an American, you are going to stick out like a sore thumb.
TODD (voice-over): Scott Faulkner was asked if he tried to talk his brother out of going.
FAULKNER: I know my brother. And he had a focus in mind, he had purpose in mind. And if he met his maker, then I know where I would see him again, in heaven. Do I want my brother to die this way? No. Would I like to see him get Osama, absolutely. So, would I -- no amount of talking to my brother, Gary, was going to stop him from going. So, I saved my breath.
TODD (on camera): Scott Faulkner told us his brother was working with others, people who he said, gave him information on Bin Laden's whereabouts. He wouldn't give any names but he said they were locals. But, so far CNN has gotten no indication from Pakistani police that there were any other people involved. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you are all too familiar with BP CEO Tony Hayward but who is Carl-Henric Svanberg? He has been keeping a lower profile than Hayward. Christine Romans with some details on Svanberg coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: There is a lot of anger aimed at BP these days. One Louisiana Congressman even suggesting the company Chairman Lamar McKay do the honorable thing and commit harakiri, what the Samurai used to.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: That's what he said. But Mckay and the other top bosses from big oil were dealing with a lot of heat yesterday. They all testified on Capitol Hill, BP's Chairman taking a pounding from two Republicans as John mentioned. Both of them called the Gulf Coast home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CLIFF STEARNS, REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN, FLORIDA: It is really outrageous that you sit here and tell us that you are going to pun to the unified command when we had 11 people killed, we have had a huge environmental damage, and you are still sitting here as a CEO of BP. Frankly, I would call for your resignation and I'm calling for it today. I'm not asking for an apology. I'm asking you to resign.
REP. JOSEPH CAO, REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN, LOUISIANA: Mr. Stearns asked Mr. Mckay to resign. Well, in the Asian culture we do things differently. During the samurai days we just give you a knife and ask you to commit harakiri.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Wow. That's what he would like BP's chairman to do, the U.S. Chairman. But what about the uber chairman for BP? Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business" now. She joins us and Carl- Henric Svanberg, not a name that we really know too much about. So, who is this Svanberg?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We have been hearing about Tony Hayward this whole time, and BP. These are the two names that people have been really talking about. So, who is the Chairman of this company? His name is Carl-Henric Svanberg.
And in just a few hours, he, along with Hayward will meet with President Obama at the White House. He is a Swede and a businessman before BP, he had virtually no oil experience. He's been with BP for less than a year. And he was named Chairman back in January.
Before landing at BP he was CEO and Chairman of Sony-Ericsson Mobile Communications, a company he ran for sic years. He turned it around after the dot-com bubble burst, you guys, and he earned the nickname Gentle Conqueror. He admits he thought BP would be a, quote, smooth ride. His job is to run the Board of Directors. He's paid $1.1 million for working just two, or three days a week. Until now, Hayward, is the geologist and BP veteran, has done all the talking and taken all the heat. The White House wanted Svanberg at the table, too. In fact, at first inviting him and not Hayward. Inviting Svanberg and saying bring your team.
You know, Hayward, though is the man actually running the show. British papers are full of reports of shareholders who would rather have the inexperienced Svanberg be the sacrificial lamb, and not Hayward. That is why the stakes could not be higher for today's meeting with the President, getting underway about 10:15 Eastern time. BP must prove it can stop the leak and Hayward must prove that he is still the man for the job.
ROBERTS: It is kind of interesting that the president has not had a one-on-one conversation with Hayward up until this point.
ROMANS: And people along the Gulf Coast have made this point on the air to the reporters, that he sat down so quickly with the -- with the Harvard professor. I mean, gates-gate had to happen so quickly. And that was such an important, you know, visual sit-down but he has not actually met face to face with Tony Hayward, someone who is --.
CHETRY: I think they need more than a beer to sum it, they have to work this one out.
ROMANS: I think they are too. But the question is, I mean, people are getting a look at how these big international companies work. Who is this chairman? What's his job? What's he doing? Is he the man that the White House should be looking to? Is he the guy who can fix it? He's relative newbie to the oil industry. He is a businessman.
ROBERTS: The board approves all the economics stuff. But Hayward is the guy on the ground that's --
ROMANS: That's right.
ROBERTS: Suttles, too.
ROMANS: White House is pushing to make sure this is a company that will meet the financial obligations then Svanberg is the one who goes to the board and says this is what we must do to appease the White House.
CHETRY: And does he have decision making over dividends and all of that as well because that is a huge uproar in Europe?
ROMANS: That's a board decision.
CHETRY: You know, the other thing that -- that was shocking to me yesterday when I was watching it just how all the other oil companies got -- lucky perhaps. Their disaster plans were very similar. They simply would have done things differently when it came to drilling at that rig site. But they had the same, you know, gulf walruses listed in their disaster plans.
ROMANS: One of the things that an oil industry told me yesterday, he said he has been disappointed with the response from the oil industry and that the oil industry should have come out with one voice and said we are immediately going to make sure this never happens again. We are immediately going to put our best refnecks (ph) and our best geologists and engineers from every company together to go to every deep water rig and make sure there is no problem today. We are going to - and instead they mostly sat back and let BP take the heat. He wishes there were an industry response here.
CHETRY: Very interesting. See what happens. Christine Romans, as always, great to see you. Thanks. So, did President Obama deliver? There are reactions from both sides. And it is all happening at an oyster bar down in New Orleans.
ROBERTS: And former British Prime Minister Tony Blair coming up. He has been negotiating a deal to get around the blockade of Gaza, very close to a deal. We will talk to him about that. And also, his reaction to what's going on in the Gulf of Mexico. It is twenty-five minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. President Obama declaring war on the Gulf oil spill and saying that the cozy relationships between the watchdog groups and big oil are over. He is putting a new man in charge of overhauling the agency, criticized for lax oversight of the oil industry. The president named former Justice Department Inspector General Michael Bromwich to head the troubled minerals management service.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: Over the last decade, this agency has become emblematic of a failed philosophy that views all regulation with hostility. Philosophy that says corporations should be allowed to play by their own rules. And police themselves. This agency industry insiders were put in charge of industry oversight. Oil companies showered regulators was gifts and favors and were essentially allowed to conduct their own safety inspections and write their own regulations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: President Obama says he has a battle plan for combating this disaster in the gulf. He spoke to the nation from the Oval Office last might, vowing to make BP pay for the damage that's been done until the Gulf Coast and the people who live there are made whole again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: But make no mistake. We will fight this spill with everything that we have for as long as it takes. We will make BP pay for the damage their company has cost. And we will do whatever is necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And right now in Louisiana, and all along the Gulf Coast, they are feeling a lot of pain. And they are also evaluating the president's promises.
ROBERTS: Chris Lawrence joining us now live from New Orleans. How the locals feel the president is handling this crisis? Did they hear what they needed to hear last night from him?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Some did. But a lot of people felt, John, that they heard some things they didn't want to hear. One thing in particular when the president spoke about his commission that will ultimately decide when it is safe enough to -- to drill offshore deep water again, the president said they are going to try to have the commission do its work quickly but also thoroughly. And I think a lot of people here took thoroughly to mean to take a very long time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: So we are sitting down to watch the president with Ken Wells who is with the Offshore Marine Services Association, representing some 100 firms that service all the oil rigs, things like that. KEN WELLS, PRESIDENT, OFFSHORE MARINE SERVICES ASSOCIATION: Boats that go out and run the supplies out, boats that carry the people out, the boat that saved the 115 people who survived that accident.
OBAMA: I talked to fishermen that don't know how they will support their families.
WELLS: What I'm not hearing is some understanding. Came down to Grand Isle and say we won't abandon you. We have 100,000 families relying on our industry alone, work boat sector. They are feeling abandoned tonight.
OBAMA: I issued a six-month moratorium on deep water drilling.
LAWRENCE: It doesn't sound like he will lift the moratorium.
WELLS: I don't hear any bending going on there. Nobody can disagree with what the president is saying about our need to clean up this spill, our need to drill safely, and our need to look to a future that's alternative energy and other renewable sources.
LAWRENCE: Maybe. But some watching the president say they are hearing too much about an energy bill.
KENT HAUGHTON, GULF COAST RESIDENT: It looks to me like they are wanting to push this legislation using this disaster.
OBAMA: The time to embrace and clean energy future is now. Now is the moment for this generation to --
HAUGHTON: That's exactly what I was talking about.
OBAMA: The same thing, science and technology to land a man safely on the surface of the moon.
HAUGHTON: He is hitting all subjects now. He took the issue a hand which is the disaster that we are experiencing and then he transitioned it over here to just what we spoke of earlier about our addiction to fossil fuels and how more government regulation is going to save us from that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: So some tough words from both men on the president's deep water drilling moratorium and also talking about the renewable energy bill.
But they also both had praise for him as well, specifically on his determination to make sure that the residents down here are repaid for what they have lost, and both men said he looked strong, and, quote, "presidential" last night.
ROBERTS: They will be watching closely for the results. Chris Lawrence in New Orleans this morning. Thanks, Chris. CHETRY: The president will meet face to face with BP's top executives at 10:15 eastern this morning. Then he will hold a news conference two hours later, 12:15 this afternoon. CNN will carry that live.
ROBERTS: Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been spending an awful lot of time talking with the prime minister of Israel about ways to end the Gaza blockade. We will ask him about that. They're very close to a deal.
Plus, is he worried that all of the pressure the government is bringing to BP it could tip it over the edge to bankruptcy? Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair coming up.
It's 33 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 36 minutes after the hour.
Major development this morning in the Middle East -- there are signs that Israel may be softening the blockade on Gaza. Changes come after that bloody confrontation at sea with the Turkish flotilla that tried to run it and nine people were killed.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is negotiating the easing of the embargo with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Prime Minister Blair joins us this morning.
Good to see you, Mr. Prime Minister.
TONY BLAIR, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Thank you.
ROBERTS: How close are you to a deal? And what does the deal entail?
BLAIR: I think we are pretty close. Basically what is going to happen is that Israel draws a very clear distinction between keeping weapons out of Gaza and letting stuff in for daily life.
So you move from the present situation where there is a permitted list of items allowed to go no to Gaza to a situation where stuff can go in as a matter of course unless it is on a prohibited list. So that is the key switch that we want to see. And that will allow us to get daily life for people in Gaza and get the projects for reconstruction.
ROBERTS: Who will administer that and check the goods going in?
BLAIR: Israel will check the goods going in and out because they have a right to protect their security and we should be very alive to that. But on the other hand what it will mean is you can get a lot more of the food stuffs, the house hold items.
And there will be a special procedure where the projects for reconstruction essentially are being handled by the United Nations in there and the cement and the material for that goes in a special way with U.N. authority so that the U.N. makes sure that that material then goes for purposes for which it's require.
ROBERTS: The list of things that were not on the permitted list, if you will, was notorious. Things like fresh meat, coffee, newspapers, musical instruments, shampoo, lot of construction supplies. Did things get out of hand?
BLAIR: Well, you have to see this from Israel's point of view, in a way. I mean, people often don't like to. They believe that they have a major security threat in Gaza. There are people that will launch attacks from Gaza on Israel, and they have their soldier --
ROBERTS: Not with a ukulele.
BLAIR: Of course, absolutely right. And, of course, they have their soldier still in captivity there.
The issue is very, very simple. What you want to do is allow all of that stuff, for ordinary living, but keep the weapons out, that's the distinction the Israeli prime minister --
ROBERTS: Is this agreement going to do that? Will it guarantee the weapons can't get in?
BLAIR: It will guarantee the blockade in respect remains, but with respect to daily living, that is eased.
And through the tunnels smuggled from Egypt comes this material anyway. That's why people like myself argued for two years this is counterproductive policy for Israel as well as harmful for people in Gaza.
ROBERTS: So you think there may be an agreement on this tomorrow?
BLAIR: I hope so, as soon as we possibly can. Then we can get the situation eased in Gaza and press ahead in the West Bank. And then Senator Mitchell will be in Israel shortly to get the indirect talks into direct negotiations.
ROBERTS: The great thing about the Middle East, no matter how much work do you, there's always much more work to go.
Let me ask you about BP and the situation going on in the gulf. There had been a lot of concerns raised in the U.K. this government is putting too much financial pressure on BP and potentially putting it in a precarious position in terms of solvency. Are you concerned about that?
BLAIR: No. Actually, I think it is important to state this clearly. For most people in Britain they totally understand why this is a catastrophe for the Gulf of Mexico, that is a huge issue for the president and the American people and has to be fixed.
And so, you know, of course, people will always worry, is this going to disrupt the relationship between the U.S. and the U.K., and concerns aired in Britain.
ROBERTS: So you're not worried this could tip BP into bankruptcy and the ramifications of that?
BLAIR: I hope very much that this is fixed as quickly as possible. And, of course, we want to see BP survive as a strong company. But the main thing is to get the present crisis solve.
ROBERTS: The big development, commission you struck in 1998 looking into the bloody Sunday massacre in 1972, came out with its report. Prime Minister David Cameron offered an apology saying that it was unjustified and unjustifiable.
There's some people that say that you should have apologized in 1998. That's what you were thinking about doing. When you look at what that report has come out with now and the fact that Cameron did apologize, do you wish you had apologized for it in 1998?
BLAIR: No. I think what was important was to have the inquiry. What people were demanding was not that I apologize, but that I held an inquiry that people had faith in. This inquiry took a long, long time.
ROBERTS: And the faith was a little shaken for a while there.
BLAIR: It was.
ROBERTS: It dragged on.
BLAIR: Absolutely. It cost an awful lot of money. On the other hand, I think that this inquiry report is such a thorough piece of work it lays it to rest. I think that the new prime minister is absolutely right to make the apology.
I should say that just in defense of British servicemen and women who served in Northern Ireland, I'm sure the vast majority did so with professionalism and dedication. But I think that given the findings of the inquiry, prime minister was absolutely right to issue the apology he did.
ROBERTS: Prime Minister Blair, great to see you this morning. Thanks for dropping by. Good luck with the negotiations on Gaza as well. Appreciate your coming in. Kiran?
CHETRY: Still ahead, 41 minutes after the hour. We will take a quick break. When we come back, we're talking about dangerous heat in the south, steamy hot yet again, the heat index very high in some parts of the country, triple digits. There are also some severe storms out east. Jacqui Jeras watching all of it for us. She'll join us in a moment.
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CHETRY: Pretty look this morning of the Hudson River. And there you see Lady Liberty there in Liberty Harbor this morning where it is right now 70 degrees. It's cloudy, and a little later we are expecting thundershowers. A high of 76 in the big apple.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta is coming up. Could a simple B vitamin, niacin, reduce the risk of lung cancer even if you smoke? You're going to want to hang around and see what Dr. Sanjay Gupta has to say about that.
Forty-seven minutes now after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Ten minutes now to the top of the hour.
It's time for your "AM House Call": stories about your health this morning. Lung cancer kills more people than any other type of cancer out there.
CHETRY: And it's deadly. But could a few changes to your diet cut your risk, even if you smoke?
Let's bring in our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. New data showing that the key could be in certain vitamins. This is fascinating.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It really is. And we're talking primarily about vitamin B-6 here and it's something known as Methionine which is an amino acid. You know, what's interesting when they did this study they were looking at hundreds of thousands of people trying to figure out is there something that's protective against developing lung cancer.
And they found that people with the highest levels of vitamin B-6 had the best protection against it. They were about half as likely to develop lung cancer no matter their smoking status. Whether they had smoked, they have stopped smoking, or they never smoked, and people that had the lowest levels of vitamin B-6 have the opposite result. They were more likely to develop lung cancer.
And, you know, hundreds of thousands of people fall within ten countries. So this is -- this is a big study. And again, zeroing in on specific things that they think seem to make a difference. And vitamin B-6 was one of those things.
They don't know exactly why. They speculate that, you know, when have you some sort of damage to your cells, your DNA gets disrupted, that there is a way to sort of fix that disruption quickly and you could prevent cancer from developing. Could vitamin B-6 be one of those things that fixes DNA at that cellular level? That's possible.
But you know, there is a little bit of caution here as well. First of all, people who are current smokers can't simply take lots of vitamin B-6 and hope that it's going to prevent them from ever developing lung cancer. And also you know, we have been down this road before. Even here on your program, talking about certain vitamins, talking about their promise, like vitamin E, vitamin C, selenium. We're talking about these things over the years. And ultimately they didn't pan out. So this needs to be duplicated and other studies as well.
ROBERTS: You know Sanjay you can take vitamin B-6 niacin in a pill form. But many people who have taken that know that you get that flushing sensation.
GUPTA: That's right.
ROBERTS: So what -- what kind of foods can you get B-6 from? And what about Methionine? Where does that come from?
GUPTA: Yes, there are all sorts of different foods specifically for vitamin B-6. And it's probably best for a few different reasons to get it in food. One is that the flushing that you mentioned in the supplement form. But also, you are getting all micro nutrients including Methionine often surrounding the vitamin B-6.
So you know certain foods, meats, poultry, fish, beans. The fruits and vegetables, avocados, broccolis and bananas seem to have the best sources of Vitamin B-6. And again, Methionine can be found in a lot of those foods as well.
If you do take the supplement, to John's point, you really don't want to overdo this. This isn't something where more is better. Take a look at some of the numbers here they differ from the time that you should take at certain ages. When you are younger, you know about 1.3 milligrams. As you get older, men, about 1.7 milligrams; women, about 1.5 milligrams.
A little bit of context one banana has about .7 milligrams. You get about a third of your -- your necessary Vitamin B-6 just by eating one banana.
CHETRY: Wow.
ROBERTS: I'm going to use it.
CHETRY: Yes, there you go. No excuses.
GUPTA: There you go.
CHETRY: Sanjay it's great to see you as always, thanks.
ROBERTS: Coming up now its six minutes to the top of the hour. Stay with us.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Five years after hurricane Katrina, New Orleans' Ninth Ward is still struggling to rebound. ROBERTS: But the efforts to do that may get a leg up here. Thanks to plans for a real-life "Field of Dreams". Tom Foreman has today's "Building up America" report for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Carver High Rams are training for their third year of football since the big storm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Set, hut.
FOREMAN: The team looks good. The coaches are hopeful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now we're just in the process of building. We're just trying to get better year by year.
FOREMAN: But the Rams are getting a big boost thanks to a wild idea from the school's 24-year-old athletic director, Brian Bordainick, brought in from New York by the "Teach for America" program.
(on camera): What is your vision for what you're going to put here?
BRIAN BORDAINICK, GW CARVER HIGH SCHOOL: We want to put a state- of-the-art community space, a synthetic turf football field, eight- lane Olympic track, with stadium seating and lighting.
FOREMAN: That's a reasonable dream.
BORDAINICK: More or less.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Always a troubled institution in the toughest part of the Ninth Ward, Carver was destroyed by Katrina. Students scattered. Even now they hold all their classes in trailers, waiting for their wrecked building to be replaced.
And yet since he launched his field of dreams project to serve not just Carver but every public school in the area, Bordainick has raised -- no kidding -- $1.3 million on a simple message.
(on camera): What you're talking about building here really isn't a facility as much as part of a community.
BORDAINICK: Exactly. We want some place where everybody can use, come down and feel safe. The end product is that our kids will be coming to school more often, they'll be getting better grades, they'll be getting suspended less and our community as a whole will be a lot more healthy.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Selling individuals, government leaders and companies like the architectural firm that has now designed the new field for free has not been easy. (on camera): Did you instantly see this when he showed up or did you think he was crazy?
MARK RIPPLE, ESKEW, DUMEZ AND RIPPLE ARCHITECTS: It was half and half.
FOREMAN: It was?
(voice-over): But gradually, Bordainick's relentless enthusiasm and conviction that a sport center can rally a whole town have won supporters.
RIPPLE: It's something that gives kids self-esteem and in areas of the city where they desperately need it.
PAUL VALLAS, SUPERINTENDENT: And I think in many respects his efforts helped tip support in the favor of building a new school there, because of the resources he was able to bring in, the contributions, the attention.
FOREMAN: This means a lot more to you than just football.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to shape young men into being successful men and being productive members of society.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Bordainick and the Rams still need a half million dollars to break ground. But they have faith it will come because just like football, they are working on it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go and work on my field. Let's go and work on my field. Let's go.
FOREMAN: Tom Foreman, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: For them, best of luck.
ROBERTS: Excellent.
CHETRY: Well, that's going to do it for us. Continue the conversations on today's stories by heading to our blog, CNN.com/amfix.
We will see you right back here bright and early tomorrow.
ROBERTS: The news continues on CNN with Fredricka Whitfield in the "CNN NEWSROOM".