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American Morning
The Unseen Oil in the Gulf: Contamination in Sand Undetected by Day; Airbus Plane Crashes in Islamabad; Army Impersonator Scam Women; Spanish Region Bans Bullfighting; Robots Inspired by the Gecko; Is Arizona's Border Fence Working?
Aired July 28, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. It's Wednesday. It's the 28th of July. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. There's a lot to tell you about this morning, so let's get right to it.
A turning point in the struggle to take back the gulf. The oil slick is breaking up. In fact, the Coast Guard coordinator at the scene is saying that they're not collecting that much oil anymore, in fact, but, unfortunately, what lies beneath may still be the problem. Rob Marciano live from the Florida coast in just a moment.
ROBERTS: Arizona officials may find out today whether a federal judge will block their controversial new immigration law. Police are getting ready to start enforcing it tomorrow. Today, we're also taking a look at both sides of the state's $2.5 billion taxpayer- funded border fence. Why sheriffs say the new law combined with the new fence will make a difference.
CHETRY: And many are disgusted over this one, a conviction overturned. A stunning legal victory for polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, now in a Utah prison on charges of being an accomplice to rape. Is there freedom in his future? CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin will break it down for us.
ROBERTS: And it's the middle of the week. You probably got a lot to talk about. The amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation going on right now. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.
CHETRY: It may be a watershed moment now in the struggle to save the Gulf of Mexico.
ROBERTS: Yes. We're 100 days now into this epic oil spill and that monster oil spill that has caused so much misery may be drawing its final breath now.
CHETRY: With BP's ruptured well capped for 12 days now, clean-up crews say they can't even find enough crude to skim off of the surface. The animation there shows how the slicks are breaking up. At its height, the size of the spill was the size of Maryland. Now it's smaller than Delaware. ROBERTS: But the devastation is enormous. Six hundred miles of Gulf Coast shoreline have been stained. $22 billion in potential revenue lost. Over 2,600 helpless animals rescued in the face of an oily death. But according to a top Coast Guard official, the worst may now be behind us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REAR ADM. PAUL ZUKUNFT, FEDERAL ON-SCENE COORDINATOR: I had over 800 skimmers out yesterday and across the entire region. They've only recovered one barrel of recoverable oil. So the oil really is in its final life cycle, if you will. It is starting to break down quite rapidly where it will pose each day less and less of a threat to the environment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, because of what we can't see, it could be months, even years before we know the full extent of the damage that's been done to the Gulf of Mexico.
ROBERTS: Rob Marciano is live for us this morning. He's in Fort Pickens, Florida. And, Rob, even though there may not be oil on the surface of the water in such quantities as we saw in the past, we're finding out today that the oil does not always leave an obvious stain.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is certainly true. Good morning, guys.
You know, we're in the height of the tourist season. Folks coming to the beach. Beachgoers getting in the water. The water is regularly tested for oil particulates. But what about the sand that people are laying on, that kids are digging holes in and building sandcastles in?
You know, for the most part the oil has come and gone, and for the most part the beach appears to be clean. But there's more to see here than just what the naked eye can see.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you can see the sand looks pretty clean to the naked eye.
MARCIANO: Yes.
(voice-over): But after sunset, things look different.
(on camera): It lights up pretty good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does. And as you see, it's pretty much anywhere and everywhere.
MARCIANO (voice-over): Coastal geologist Rip Kirby can see the oil at night using an ultraviolet flashlight. Oil particles glow on the sand and in the water. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It leaves a little line of oily sand right there at the end into the wave run-up. And when this dries, in the morning, the wind will pick it up and it will move it.
MARCIANO: Across the beach and everything that lives there.
(on camera): So this is a ghost trap hole, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ghost trap hole. Right.
MARCIANO: And particles of orange oil has ended up all the way down this crab's hole just because he was digging his home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
MARCIANO: So now his home has oil.
(voice-over): Even at over 100 feet from the water, Rip thinks there might be a lower layer of oil. So we dig a little deeper.
(on camera): This is amazing. It's just like you said, like stratified layers in the Grand Canyon. It is so distinct. Can you see that on camera? I hope you can because in the naked eye it is unbelievable. Truly remarkable. That right there is oil underneath the surface of the sand.
(voice-over): It glows in the dark but just how toxic is this sand?
JAMES "RIP" KIRBY, COASTAL GEOLOGIST: Is it a problem for us to be in contact with this petroleum product that's now mixed in with the sand? And the answer to that question is -- I don't know.
MARCIANO (on camera): Why hasn't somebody tested that?
KIRBY: Same question I've been asking for about six weeks.
MARCIANO: So we decided to get it tested with the help of the scientists from the University of West Florida.
(voice-over): Getting a good average requires taking samples in different spots, at different depths.
(on camera): All right. Let's take it back to the lab.
(voice-over): There, Dr. Fred Hileman uses a solution to extract the sand, concentrated and analyze it as a liquid.
FRED HILEMAN, UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA: You can just take a look at these samples and you can begin to see the difference in them as far as the oil content.
MARCIANO (on camera): It's plain as day.
HILEMAN: Yes.
MARCIANO: Clear water, clear sand. Dirty water, dirty sand.
HILEMAN: Yes. Or contaminated.
MARCIANO (voice-over): Further analysis puts an exact number on that contamination.
HILEMAN: 2.6 parts per million of oil in that sand sample that was given to us.
MARCIANO (on camera): 2.6 parts per million. That number, what does it mean to people watching at home?
HILEMAN: A, it says the oil is there. B, the oil is there at low levels.
MARCIANO: Possibly healthy or safe levels?
HILEMAN: Not necessarily hazardous levels.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: Those scientists, you know, it's not their job to tell you to come to the beach or not come to the beach, but they felt comfortable in saying at least in the sample that we've taken, relatively low levels as far as it being dangerous to be out.
Now there are spots, John and Kiran, where the concentration is higher. And you can actually see the stained sand. But we took numerous samples to make up that entire jar and the overall average is fairly low. But again, you'll make your decision whether or not you want to come to the beach. Obviously if you see some sand is stained, you certainly want to stay away from that. But the overall condition of the beach here, at least in Florida, looks to be OK --- John and Kiran.
CHETRY: You know, Rob, a lot of people just marvel at that and say, wait a minute, we had the worst oil spill, you know, in the history of the United States. The well has only been capped for 12 days and oil seems to have dispersed. How is it possible?
MARCIANO: Well, I give credit to the cap. I mean, we're almost two weeks into the well being capped and, you know, you have what? Over 50,000 barrels of oil going into the gulf every day. You stop that and you stop a whole lot of oil from entering the gulf and you've got an army of people out there battling the spill and they were able to get their hands around it.
And then Bonnie, I think, did more than we gave her credit for. I think it banged around the water pretty good and maybe dispersed it further. But you know, dispersed oil doesn't mean it's gone. It's still in the water. It's just floating around. But the natural biodegradation process is going to take hold as well and just because we can see it doesn't mean it's not there. It's still going to take years before the gulf is back to where it should be -- Kiran, John.
CHETRY: All right. Rob Marciano for us this morning, thanks so much.
Unfortunately, another problem though off the coast of Louisiana this morning. Another well leaking oil. A barge crashed into an abandoned well. It happened yesterday in an inlet just north of Barataria Bay. Oil, natural gas and water now spraying 100 feet into the air. There you see it.
Crews are on the scene. They've laid thousands of miles of boom around it. The area is already been badly contaminated -- sorry, thousands of feet of boom -- contaminated by crude from the BP spill. It's just not clear how much oil is leaking right now or how long it's going to take to cap that abandoned well.
Well, keep it right here on CNN this morning because at 7:10 Eastern, we'll be joined by the newly named CEO of BP, Bob Dudley.
ROBERTS: And for some great insights into the oil spill looking back and looking ahead, check out CNN.com/oildisaster. If you haven't visited yet, it's an exceptional interactive experience.
CHETRY: We have a developing story now out of Pakistan. An airbus plane carrying 152 people crashed outside of the capital of Islamabad just a short time ago. Officials are telling CNN that they pulled 45 bodies from the wreckage so far but they do say, amazingly, at least eight people survived that crash. Using the global resources of CNN, our Reza Sayah has been tracking it all from our Islamabad bureau. He joins us live with the very latest.
Reza, as they look to a cause right now, is weather possibly a factor?
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's possible. Weather was very poor at the time of the crash, Kiran. It's very poor now. We've had steady rains for the past 24 hours, heavy at times. But officials are warning us that just because the weather was poor doesn't mean the weather caused this crash. Remember, these planes are designed to go through weather much worse than we're seeing in the federal capital of Islamabad today. But certainly that's something that they're going to look at.
The crash took place 10:00 a.m. local time about five hours ago. This was an Airblue Airbus A321. One hundred fifty-two people on- board, according to officials. Six crew members, 146 passengers. The plane originated from Karachi, the southern port city in Pakistan. It was coming to the federal capital of Islamabad where it passed over the airport, headed north towards the Margalla Hills, a range of hills where it crashed again 10:00 a.m. this morning.
There have been survivors according to senior government officials. One government official saying six people survived. Another saying eight people survived, 152 people on-board. Again, the toughest challenge, rescue efforts getting to the Margalla Hills. Very rough terrain. Some wooded areas. Rescue efforts moving forward as we speak.
CHETRY: Reza Sayah for us with the latest on that crash. Thanks so much. This Pakistan plane, we'll continue to follow the latest on that. Amazingly, as he said, six to eight people pulled alive from the rubble.
ROBERTS: Yes. And quite a miracle considering how it came down.
Also new this morning, a critical situation unfolding right now in the mountains of southern California. Firefighters are racing to Firefighters are racing to contain two wildfires that are burning in Kern County. Twenty-three hundred people have been told to get out and already at least 40 homes have gone up in flames. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency for the area.
Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. Jacqui Jeras is monitoring things across the country for us this morning in Atlanta.
Good morning, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, guys. Yes, we've got some very hot and dry conditions across parts of the west and a fueling of flames of those fires. The word is that potentially it could have been human caused. The danger of fires due to natural causes like dry lightning is much higher further to the north and in northern California as well as in Oregon and Idaho. And there you can see we've got red flag warnings which are in effect there.
We're also dealing with thunderstorms this morning across the upper Midwest marching across parts of Iowa and into Wisconsin. Already very soaked and lots of flooding problems the last two weeks from Madison to Milwaukee and, unfortunately, you're getting more storms today. That will move toward Chicago, into Detroit, as well as Cleveland and Pittsburgh later on today. And hot and hazy and humid with pop-up thunderstorms across parts of the south. More details in the weather forecast coming up when I see you guys again.
CHETRY: Sounds good. Jacqui Jeras, thanks.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to that. Thanks, Jacqui.
CHETRY: Well, it's the question that the fashion world can't wait to have answered. Who will Chelsea Clinton wear when she walks down the aisle? Will it be Vera Wang? Will it be Oscar de la Renta? The Clinton camp is, of course, being tight-lipped about all and any wedding details. But we do know this. "Women's World Daily" is reporting that Chelsea visited Vera Wang's Manhattan shop yesterday afternoon. This is one of the pictures posted showing the bride-to-be apparently attempting to go incognito.
ROBERTS: The hat goes shopping.
Coming up, Utah Supreme Court orders a new trial for convicted polygamist leader Warren Jeffs. Our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin has got some strong opinions about the court's opinion. We'll talk with him just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Fifteen minutes after the hour. He's currently in prison but supporters of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs have something big to celebrate this morning. The Utah Supreme Court has overturned Jeffs' conviction as an accomplice to rape for allegedly forcing a 14- year-old girl to marry her cousin.
CHETRY: The court ordered a new trial for the self-proclaimed prophet saying that instructions given to the jury that convicted Jeffs in 2007 were flawed. Senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us now to talk about this stunning reversal that has outraged many, including yourself, as I understand it. But, first of all, let's get to the technicality. What instructions to the jurors were incorrect in this case?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the law under which Jeffs was prosecuted said he had to abuse a position of trust. What the jury instructions did not make clear, according to the Utah Supreme Court, was that Steve, the 19-year-old so-called husband, also had to abuse a position of trust because it was essentially an aiding and abetting case.
So there was a lack of clarity about who had to abuse a position of trust. To me, that is a highly technical reason to take the extremely important step of overturning this conviction. But that's the reasoning of the case.
ROBERTS: So -- so you've got some pretty strong opinions about this opinion. You're pretty steamed about it.
TOOBIN: I am. I mean, I really think it's outrageous. I think most judges do a great job. I don't come here to trash judges. But when you consider the -- the magnitude of what this court has done, to make what was a 14-year-old victim relive this experience, it's hard enough, particularly in these cases, to get victims to come forward and testify.
Now, if this retrial goes forward, to make her testify again and given the seriousness of this crime, I just think it's appalling that on these very slender grounds that they'd order a new trial.
CHETRY: And who was fighting it? I mean, who was -- who was saying that the -- that the jury received improper instruction? His defense team?
TOOBIN: Well, his -- his defense team asked for a different jury instruction during the trial. The judge, as judges often do, has to decide at which -- which instructions to give. He gave the prosecution version and now the -- the defense lawyers have argued on appeal that was a mistake justifying reversal and they won.
ROBERTS: All right. I get that you're on "360" last night with Caroline Jessop, who's a former FLDS wife. And she was saying that she thought that Elissa Wall, also goes by the name of Lacy, who's the young woman in this case, the 14-year-old, would probably stand up to a retrial. She'd probably come out for it. But she -- she also had a word of caution last night. Let's listen to what she said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROLYN JESSOP, DESERTED FLDS SECT: The type of support that's been there for the victims is appalling and I just can see that other victims in the future will not want to go through what Lacy went through here and I can't blame them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: It's not just the fact Elissa Wall has got to come forward and do this retrial. People might look at that and say, wow, if I testify I might have to do it again, but just -- they're just not being given any support according to Carolyn.
TOOBIN: It's really -- it's a shocking story because there really is this tremendous institutional infrastructure in this corner of Utah for the Jeffs folks, the FLDS. They control a lot of that community.
So it's not like the cops can swoop in, protect someone. You know, the law enforcement has a very difficult -- you know, there's not just one law enforcement. There are a lot of law enforcement people who are trying very hard to enforce the law here, but there's some people who are -- who are not.
CHETRY: Right.
TOOBIN: Now, fortunately, there's -- there are other possibilities in this case, because Jeffs is under indictment in Texas for an actual rape. This is a case about aiding and abetting someone else's rape. He's charged in an actual rape. What's going to happen now is that Texas and Utah will have to have a conversation about which is the next case to go forward and, given the difficulty of asking Elissa to testify again, and given the fact that the Texas charges are actually more serious and potentially carry a longer prison term, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the -- the whole Jeffs case move to Texas at this point.
CHETRY: But in the meantime he could get out. I mean, his -- his conviction was overturned here and his defense attorneys could argue for bail on the Texas case.
TOOBIN: Certainly his attorneys, the -- the only smart thing for them to do right now is to ask for bail given that --
ROBERTS: Is he a flight risk?
TOOBIN: Well, that -- they can ask. It doesn't mean they're going to get it, especially given the fact that he is under indictment in Texas. I'd be surprised whether he'd be -- he would be released on bail. But, you never know. He's innocent until proven guilty now in Utah again.
So, you know, he's got -- he's got a new legal life that he certainly didn't have 24 hours ago.
ROBERTS: Jeff, great to see you this morning.
TOOBIN: It's also great (ph), John, Kiran.
CHETRY: Coming up on the Most News in the Morning, first, the space shuttle fleet is retired. Well now the other shoe is dropped for workers at NASA's prime contractor for shuttle flights for shuttle flights. We're going to take a look of that story.
Twenty minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-three minutes past the hour right now. Time for "Minding Your Business."
With the space shuttle program ending, more than 1,300 shuttle workers in three states got layoff notices this week. The employees of United Space Alliance, NASA's prime shuttle contractor, were told they're being laid off at the end of the month.
The company has cut about 15 percent of its workforce ahead of the shuttle fleet's retirement next year. Two final shuttle missions are currently scheduled for November and February.
ROBERTS: Air travelers who liked to take their four-legged friends along on their adventure, listen up. Petfinder.com is releasing its annual list of the most pet-friendly airlines.
JetBlue ranked number one when it came to the best amenities for your pet and health and safety. AirTran took the top spot for the budget conscious consumer, charging just $69 for small dogs, cats and birds. And Frontier Airlines was named the best for transporting a wide variety of pets. The airline not only allows dogs and cats in the cabin, but rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and small household birds, which, as you know, is just one step away from snakes on the plane.
CHETRY: Birds are one step away from snakes on a plane?
ROBERTS: Yes, you allow all those animals, what's next? Somebody's going to bring their anaconda.
CHETRY: That's right. Or their bald python.
ROBERTS: Send them around (ph). Snakes on a plane.
CHETRY: Yes. Put it in a cage. Put them under your seat. It's fine.
ROBERTS: Snakes on a plane.
CHETRY: Well, next on the Most News in the Morning, a twist in the financial dangers of online dating. Scammers pretending to be U.S. servicemen deployed overseas looking for love and money. So what's the military doing about it? Well, it's a CNN special investigation that you have to see. Twenty-four minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty- seven minutes after the hour now.
They used photos of stolen soldiers -- of soldiers stolen off of the web to create fake profiles of eligible bachelors on a host of different dating Web sites. The scammers' goal, lure women into falling in love and then dupe them out of their money.
CHETRY: Yes. It's just amazing how low people will stoop. CNN has confirmed that it is happening to everyone from foot soldiers, all the way up to generals at the Pentagon.
Our special investigations unit correspondent Abbie Boudreau is live in Atlanta this morning. It's horrible to think this is happening. I mean obviously in many cases the soldiers have no idea that their pictures and -- and profiles are going up. What are -- what are they saying about this?
ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN INVESTIGATIVE UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Well, most of them, Kiran, have no idea. Some of them are stationed overseas in Iraq or Afghanistan and they have no clue that their images are being used by impostors.
Now, the military does know about the scam but, so far, nothing has been done to stop it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOUDREAU (voice-over): These are the faces of soldiers whose military photos have been stolen and posted on internet dating sites. This is Specialist Brian Browning. His picture was also stolen and his profile completely made up.
BOUDREAU (on camera): We came to Astoria, Oregon to talk to his family because they had no idea that Brian's photograph was being used by some impostor.
PERRY BROWNING, FATHER OF BRIAN BROWNING: Some scumbag is using my son's good name and honor to pillage women.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): What's worse, the Browning's son is not even around to defend himself. Brian Browning was killed in Iraq three years ago.
BROWNING: He was up in a guard tower. He just took a round and it killed him instantly. And -- can we stop for a minute?
BOUDREAU (on camera): Sure. Yes.
STACEY CHAPMAN, SCAM VICTIM: Just seeing the photo of a man in uniform, I really think that was the only thing that kind of grabbed me. BOUDREAU (voice-over): In a small town in Indiana, Stacey Chapman lives as a single mom. She says she was lonely and looking for love when she was approached online by a man who called himself Christian Browning. He used Brian Browning's military photo as his profile picture.
CHAPMAN: Soldiers have that ethic about them. They're all- American, they have passion, and I thought, wow. I've got everything wrapped up in one package.
BOUDREAU: Instantly, she fell for him. They talked on the phone, chatted online, and e-mailed constantly.
CHAPMAN: I want to see you walk down that aisle and I want to take your hand for the rest of my life.
I found someone that wanted me and my children.
BOUDREAU (on camera): She sent him more than $1,000 to try to give him enough money to come home to the states for Christmas. Of course, she had no idea at the time that that's not how the military works.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): He never came home. It was all a fraud.
In fact, in the past year, the Army Criminal Investigation Command has received hundreds of complaints of such scams, but since U.S. soldiers are not the perpetrators, there's not much the army can do.
BOUDREAU (on camera): We had to come to this tiny town in Central Texas to actually find somebody who's trying to do something to stop this scam. The military hasn't been able to do much to try to stop it and neither has the FBI.
So, we're about to meet C.J. Grisham.
These are the soldiers whose pictures have essentially been stolen.
C.J. GRISHAM, U.S. ARMY: Right. Yes. And there's hundreds of them all over the place.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): Grisham is a military blogger, a master sergeant in the Army who tracks these elusive impostors.
GRISHAM: They'll send these beautiful missives to the women.
BOUDREAU (on camera): Make them feel special.
GRISHAM: Make them feel special. There are even instances where the scammers will send flowers and chocolates to their house shortly after they start bringing up the fact that they need money for -- you know, to be able to call them or to use the Internet, or, you know, "I just got shot, I need this or that."
There's no such person as Irwin Kelly (ph) in the military.
BOUDREAU (voice-over): Grisham says there may be thousands of victims and the impostors likely live in West Africa, based on some of the e-mails he's tracked.
Stacy Chapman (ph) was never able to fine her online impostor, and likely never will.
CHAPMAN: I really sunk a lot into this man. I let my kids get sucked in by him. I put everything I had into him.
BOUDREAU (on camera): What do you think about the woman who fell in love with your son's picture and profile? She wanted to marry him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, she fell in love with a nice picture of a young man. He was worth falling in love with.
BOUDREAU: Who is the real Brian?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A loving son, caring, funny character. This is a room for Brian.
BOUDREAU: This is the photo. See how it has the last name right there? Browning?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BOUDREAU: And then that's how they stole his identity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the name tag. That is the name tag right there. So just now, scumbag out there, the Brownings are looking for you hard.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Abbie, there's no question they are really scumbags to do something like that. But whatever happened to Brian Browning's photo? Was it ever removed from those Web sites?
BOUDREAU: Well, we do believe that it's been taken off certain dating Web sites, but unfortunately, we've just learned his military photo has popped up on Facebook, using a completely fake profile. Needless to say, his family is completely saddened and outraged by all of this.
CHETRY: Understandably. Is there any way to know if you do online date and you're looking through these profiles if this is really, you know, an authentic person or not?
BOUDREAU: Right. Well, there are some warning signs you can look for, some pretty obvious ones. A lot of these scammers have poor grammar and misspellings, some of them even have British accents.
And one other thing, if they're asking you to send money to come back home or because they've been injured and they need to go to a better hospital or for Internet service or phone service, simply do not believe them. We have a ton of information on CNN.com about this and more information you can check out there -- Kiran.
ROBERTS: Abbie Boudreau for us this morning -- great story this morning, Abbie. Thanks so much.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, we're crossing the half-hour -- time for a look at our top stories.
The disaster in the Gulf in its final life cycle. Those words from a top Coast Guard official who says that there's hardly enough oil left on the surface at least to skim. But it will be weeks before we know if BP can successfully kill its ruptured well once and for all.
ROBERTS: A long debate is over. House lawmakers have given final congressional approval to an emergency funding bill that directs another $33 billion for the war in Afghanistan. The president had to rely on Republicans to get it passed. More than 100 Democrats voted against the bill. It only funds the war for another couple of months, so another fight is probably just around the corner.
CHETRY: And with Arizona's new strict and controversial immigration law taking effect tomorrow, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll says that most Americans support it. Fifty-five percent are in favor of the law, 40 percent against it. But most Americans also say they think the law will increase discrimination against Hispanics and not really make a dent in the problem of illegal immigration.
ROBERTS: Most Americans also tell us that keeping new illegal immigrants out of the country should be the federal government's priority. We've been told for years that building a border fence would help fix the problem.
CHETRY: We've sunk billions of dollars into the construction of the fence as well. So, is it working?
Gary Tuchman went down to the border to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The border fence from the Mexican side. Here in Nogales, Mexico, this Spanish graffiti says, "The fence, a scar on the land."
This Arizona sheriff who strongly supports hits state's new immigration law disagrees with that.
SHERIFF PAUL BABEU, PINAL COUNTY, ARIZONA: It's proven to work but it has to be combined with constant surveillance in those areas and it does shut down the border.
TUCHMAN: So why does Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County, Arizona, and members of the SWAT team say human smugglers and drug smugglers parade through this desert 80 miles from the Mexican border every single night, leaving piles of clothes, backpacks, and water bottles behind as they plan their escape onto American highways?
Because, the sheriff says, the fence needs to be stronger and longer. He also says the deputies have been handicapped by not being able to ask about people's citizenship. That will change Thursday.
BABEU: So, now, all across Arizona, where police chiefs have forbid officers from going there, now, we have lawful authority that says we shall go there.
TUCHMAN: But people are still going to get past the fence in large numbers, despite the fact U.S. taxpayers have spent $2.5 billion on construction of the new fence, which taken more than four years to build. So, what's the problem? Well, the fence is probably not what you think. It turns out it only covers about a third of the U.S./Mexican border and there are only plans to build about six miles more.
So, while it keeps most illegal immigrants out of some areas, particularly urban areas, the rural areas are still very vulnerable.
(on camera): People use ladders, hacksaws, blowtorches to get over, through and under the fence, but there's a lot easier way. Just find a portion of the land where the fence comes to an end, go under the bar right here and you have easily, successfully and illegally left Mexico.
(voice-over): But most illegal crossings happen nowhere near the new barriers.
(on camera): Despite what you hear about the border fence, this is mostly what you see along the 1,951 miles between the United States and Mexico. These little chain link fences like this. I'm sitting in Mexico right now. It takes very little ingenuity, just go under the barbed wire and I'm in the United States. Free to go.
(voice-over): The new border fences are a white elephant according to this Arizona congressman who says if you have a 20-foot fence, people will just get a 21-foot ladder.
REP. PAUL GRIJALVA (D), ARIZONA: I think the wall took $2.5 billion that could have been used technologically, that could have been used for higher security at ports of entry. It could have been used for personnel and diverted it.
TUCHMAN: So, why isn't there more wall? You might be surprised to learn there was never supposed to be more wall under this $2.5 billion plan. The border patrol, the topography, sensors and virtual fences were supposed to provide additional protection. In some cases, it works; in many others, it doesn't.
Another Arizona sheriff says drug traffickers have abundant incentive to beat the system.
SHERIFF TONY ESTRADA, SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, ARIZONA: You've got a demand, they've got a product, and they're going to get that product to the market.
BABEU: So, this area --
TUCHMAN: This past May, one of the Sheriff Babeu's deputies was shot and wounded in this very same part of the desert 80 miles north of the border. The gunman never captured.
BABEU: This has basically been literally unfettered access by smugglers and illegals.
TUCHMAN: So, the sheriff hopes the new law, combined with the new fence, makes his county safer, while others remain angry at the law and regard the fence as a scar on the land.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Nogales, Arizona.
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CHETRY: Gary, thanks.
And, of course, we're following the controversy over Arizona's new illegal immigration crackdown. Our John King is on the road in Arizona. "JOHN KING, USA" tonight at 7:00, right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: Struggling to survive now 100 days into BP's oil crisis. How are businesses in the Gulf region dealing with the crippling blow from this spill? We'll talk to the head of a company that's a critical part of offshore drilling operations in the Gulf coming up in just a couple of minutes.
It's 38 minutes now after the hour.
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ROBERTS: It's forty-one-and-a-half minutes after the hour.
One hundred days ago, the Gulf oil crisis began. And since then, people who rely on the Gulf waters to make a living have worried about their jobs, their families and their futures. Back on June 8th, 50 days into this disaster, I toured the Harvey Gulf International Marine, a company specializing in towing drilling rigs and as well supplying the rigs. The boss, Shane Guidry, was already facing tough choices to keep the company afloat and his employees were worried.
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ROBERTS: Are you worried, Tom, about getting laid off?
TOM LEVINS, FIRST MATE, HARVEY PROVIDER: Well, sure. Everybody is, you know? I mean, you do something for 28 years, you put your life into it.
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ROBERTS: For an update, Shane Guidry, is good enough to join us again. He's in New Orleans this morning.
Shane, good to see you again. It's been 50 days since we caught up with you.
You know, we saw Tom Levins there? What's happened to Tom in the last 50 days and the other employees that you had there at Port Fourchon?
SHANE GUIDRY, HARVEY GULF INTERNATIONAL MARINE: You know, unfortunately for Tom, he did take a pay cut, like most of the guys did. His boat has not been working. So, he's been a team player with the understanding that we will be back to work one day and we all got to cut where we can.
So, the boats that aren't working are taking a 10 percent pay cut while they're docking. The guys that are not having to sit in the dock are getting paid a little more because they're actually out there working every day.
ROBERTS: Right. So, a lot of people have to tighten their belts over this. But the last time we talked, you were worried that, you know, these boats are very expensive, costs a lot of money just to keep in the water every day. You thought that you might have to take them from southern Louisiana and send them overseas to other countries, maybe to Africa or Southeast Asia or maybe even down to South America to keep them working.
What have you had to do on that front since then?
GUIDRY: Yes. Sunday, August 8th, we'll be leaving to Nigeria with our first vessel. And then, August 1st, we have two going down to Mexico for about 45 days.
ROBERTS: Wow.
GUIDRY: So, we're looking to other places because the work is not here.
ROBERTS: Yes. Well, the boat that's going over to Africa, how long is it going to be there?
GUIDRY: It will be there I think about 75 days to get to the rig. They'll service for probably additional 45 days and then head back.
ROBERTS: So, it's probably gone for four months or so?
GUIDRY: It's probably gone five to six months, depending on the hurricane season. We got to cross the Atlantic in August. So, that will be a challenge.
ROBERTS: So, this is a situation that people are warned about in the Gulf, that if these supply ships and at these drilling rigs leave the Gulf of Mexico to find work in places like Nigeria, off the coast to Brazil or whatever, they're not just gone for a short period of time, not just gone for the period of the moratorium, they're going to be gone for quite a while.
GUIDRY: You know, we're hoping to find jobs for two, three and four-year contracts for bidding. We just haven't been that successful yet. But other competitors of mine here in the Gulf have been.
ROBERTS: All right. So, meantime, what's happening with your guys? You said that some people, like Tom Levins, had to take a pay cut. Have you had to lay anybody off at this point?
GUIDRY: You know, we haven't done that. We decided as a company that when we do get back to work, hopefully, later on this year, we're going to need our good people, and people will still be hard to find, retrain people, operate safely again. So, we're just going to go ahead and absorb the loss as much as we possibly can and just keep the guys.
ROBERTS: Yes. I mean, how much is that going to end up costing you?
GUIDRY: You know, it's costing us around $55,000 a day for all the crews here in the Gulf.
ROBERTS: Wow. So, you times that by another four months into the moratorium is over, that's adds up to a big chunk of change.
GUIDRY: Yes, it adds up pretty quick. But, you know, like I said, in four, five months if we're fortunate enough to get back to work, we're going to need the people. So, we don't want to be scrambling and trying to start it again. And we don't want to lose our efficiency that we built up for so many years.
ROBERTS: Yes. Are you confident that you are going to get back to the work in the Gulf in four or five months?
GUIDRY: You know, I think it will be a really slow process with all the rig upgrades as well as rigs that have left. So, we have to try and find new rigs to come here to work in the Gulf. The oil companies will need to let out new contracts. Then we have the concern where the smaller independents to large independents may not be able to afford to drill wells in deepwater Gulf, so we may be limited to just working for the majors. So, it will be very challenging. It will be change forever with this moratorium and the new rules, but somehow, another will have to find a way to make it work.
ROBERTS: You said that you're keeping people on the payroll there. Are you going to file any kind of an economic claim with BP to recoup some of your losses?
GUIDRY: You know, my lawyers have been paying attention to that and looking at it quite well. And if they see where the writing through the BP fund that they set aside, which I think is around $4 billion a year for five years and allows us to make a claim, then yes, we'll make the claim.
ROBERTS: All right.
GUIDRY: We definitely have the losses. We can prove it.
ROBERTS: Yes. All right. Shane Guidry for us this morning. Good on you for keeping those guys in the payroll, too. Good Louisiana thing to do.
GUIDRY: We try to do all we can. Thanks for having us, John, and all the help CNN does.
ROBERTS: You bet. Good to catch up with you again. Thanks, Shane.
GUIDRY: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: It's 46 minutes past the hour. Jacqui Jeras is in for Rob this morning. She's going to give us a look at the travel forecast right after the break.
Plus, a ban on bullfighting in Spain. We'll have more on the decision that's dividing one part of the country.
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CHETRY: Forty-nine minutes past the hour. The controversial tradition of bullfighting is now illegal in one region of Spain, the Catalonia Region which includes Barcelona. In there, members of parliament passed the measure 68-55. The age-old tradition has been outlawed on animal cruelty ground, and it's dividing animal rights activities and those who are bullfighting (ph) is a central part of Spanish culture.
ROBERTS: The times they are a changing, though, there was (INAUDIBLE) at least temporarily. Sometimes the bulls do get the upper hand but in the end, of course, it always ends the same.
Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. Jacqui Jeras is in the Extreme Weather Center in Atlanta for us. What are we looking at today, Jacqui? Yesterday was pretty exciting.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it was, really, a lot of extreme weather and a lot of things happening out west, guys. If you remember this time yesterday morning, we told you about a tornado that had touched down in Montana. We now have video of that and some more information. It was an EF-3 tornado that touched down near Madison Lake, Montana, a very remote area, killing two people. The National Weather Service estimates the winds were about 150 miles per hour. And, you know, we knew this was a rare thing. It turns out that this was the deadliest tornado now since 1923 and one of only 3 EF tornadoes ever recorded in history.
Now, the storm system that caused that tornado continues to be on the move this morning, and it's bringing some nasty weather across parts of the Midwest. It has been weakening a little bit as it's been moving across parts of Iowa and Wisconsin, but we could see more severe thunderstorms from this line later on today. Chicago, you're doing OK right now, but maybe about an hour and a half from now, it's going to clip you on your commute. And the storms could be severe up towards Detroit into Cleveland as well as maybe even to Pittsburgh.
South side of the system, we're dealing with that heat, and we will see some hazy conditions. We do expect delays at the airports today. New York metros, because of winds, and we could see delays over an hour there. Atlanta, 30 to 60, Chicago, Cinci, and Detroit because of those storms, as well as Houston. Salt Lake City and then San Francisco over an hour. You had over hour delays the last two days. Expect the same thing today. And that fire danger remains high across parts of the west. A couple little bit more about that in the next hour in AMERICAN MORNING. John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it. Thanks, Jacqui. Good to have you with us this morning.
This morning's top stories just minutes away now, including on this day 100 of the Gulf oil disaster, the new man in charge of BP is going to join us live. Bob Dudley on the cleanup and compensation effort for the victims.
CHETRY: And an "A.M. Original," the emotional story of a young man who came to this country when he was too young to know what illegal immigration even meant. He tried to do the right thing and now he's stuck. A border dividing him and his family. John Zarrella with part one of "Oscar's story."
ROBERTS: And coming up after the break, researchers move one step closer to nature creating a robot that can scale walls like gecko. We'll show you how they do it coming up next.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Robots that can scale walls like super heroes. Researchers at Stanford University inspired by the gecko's quick feet say these robots can actually be the first ones to explore unstable, dangerous places and can potentially save lives. Here's Gary Tuchman with this morning's "Edge of Discovery."
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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These little lizards are some of nature's greatest climbers. The tiny hairs on gecko's feet help them stick to nearly any surface. Now, meet sticky-bot. Researchers at Stanford University combine Mother Nature and a mother board to build this climbing machine.
SALOMON TRUJILLO, PH.D. STUDENT, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: We draw a lot of the inspiration of the robot and adhesive directly from how geckos climb.
TUCHMAN: The feet are equipped with rubber pads made up of microscopic hairs, much like a gecko. Each leg is powered by four mini-motors. And even the tail serves a purpose. It acts as an anchor and helps balance the bot, but this research funded partially by the Department of Defense isn't just to create a cool new toy.
TRUJILLO: Adhesives have been looked at everything from space exploration to military uses to manufacturing uses. The robotic research is very important because we want to be able to send robots into challenging environments. It's really about making robots go anywhere we want them to go.
TUCHMAN: And beyond the robots, researchers say there's interest in gecko-inspired boots and gloves. One day, we might even see military troops or firefighters scaling walls just like the super hero from the movie "Spider Man."
Gary Tuchman, CNN.
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ROBERTS: Yes, but can they sell you insurance? Top stories coming your way right after the break. Stay with us.
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