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American Morning
Stabbing Suspect's "Priors"; Pressure Building; New Orleans: Law And Order; Pop Culture Sending A Bad Message; Prop 8 Stay Lifted; WikiLeaks to Release More Afghanistan War Documents; Walking the Amazon; 859 Days; 50,000 Mosquito Bites; CNN Hero of the Week
Aired August 13, 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. It's Friday. It's the 13th day of August. Are you a Paraskavedekatriaphobiac (ph) or a -- ?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I try not to be.
ROBERTS: Paraskavedeka (ph) or whatever it is.
COSTELLO: I take antibiotics and they cured me.
ROBERTS: You took the what?
COSTELLO: Antibiotics. They cured me. We're talking about it's Friday the 13th and I guess that --
ROBERTS: A lot of people are fearful. But if you treat Friday the 13th as a lucky day, it just might be.
COSTELLO: Well, I'm going do that, John.
ROBERTS: There you go. I'm John Roberts. Good morning. Thanks for being with us.
COSTELLO: I'm Carol Costello in for Kiran today. A lot to talk about this morning so let's get to it, shall we?
Brand new details of the serial stabbing suspect caught at the airport, trying to flee to Israel. We now have a name and a face and it turns out caught apparently twice before he almost slipped out of the country.
ROBERTS: The founder of WikiLeaks says his website has about 15,000 more documents on the Afghan war and his people are getting ready to post them online. But the Pentagon says that would only put more American troops on the ground in danger. A live report from the Pentagon is coming up.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And is the pressure starting to get to the president's top people? There have been several significant defections and the White House's spokesman seemed to lose his cool this week. Could cable TV and Web sites like Twitter be taking a toll? We'll ask our chief political correspondent, Candy Crowley, to weigh in.
ROBERTS: And, of course, the amFIX blog is running. Join the live conversation going on right now. Just got to CNN.com/amFIX.
COSTELLO: Up first this morning, the manhunt is over, but the questions are just beginning. There is brand-new information this morning about the serial stabbing suspect and his prior brushes with the law.
ROBERTS: We were the first to break the news of his arrest yesterday morning. Police say Elias Abuelazam went on a violent rampage across three states and came very close to slipping out of the country.
Jeanne Meserve is live for us in Washington this morning.
And, Jeanne, it turns out that the police had this guy on their radar a couple of times but he still got through.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. But he wasn't a suspect at that time. Now he is.
The suspect is an Israeli citizen. He was arrested, as you say, just as he was about to board a flight to his home country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): Authorities believe this man is responsible for stabbings in Michigan, Ohio, and Virginia -- five of them fatal. Elias Abuelazam, a 33-year-old Israeli citizen living legally in the U.S., was arrested Wednesday night as he was about to board a Delta flight to Tel Aviv.
DAVID LEYTON, GENESSEE CO., MICHIGAN PROSECUTOR: The suspect was loaded -- located rather, at the boarding gate of Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport and was called to the front of the boarding area where he surrendered without incident to customs agents.
MESERVE: The stabbings began in May. The last one was just last weekend. They attracted national publicity because there were so many and so many of the victims were African-American -- 17-year-old Etwan Wilson was one.
ETWAN WILSON, SURVIVED ASSAULT: I pushed off of him and ran. I ran to the first house I seen with a light on.
MESERVE: During the investigation, police released a composite drawing and surveillance tape of a green SUV. A tip eventually connected Abuelazam with a car and the crimes, and when authorities realized he was en route to Israel, they moved in. Though Abuelazam recently worked in Michigan, he lived for a time in this house in Leesburg, Virginia.
A man who lived just steps away was stabbed and bludgeoned to death last year. The murder is still unsolved. The victim's daughter remembers Abuelazam.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He seemed to be pretty nice, his whole family did.
MESERVE: Officials in Virginia and Michigan had different responses. When asked if the stabbings were race related.
CHIEF JOSEPH PRICE, LEESBURG, VA POLICE: My belief is he selected the victims in Leesburg based upon the color of their skin.
LEYTON: We don't have any other evidence that suggests it is racially motivated. I'm not saying it's not. But what I'm saying is, is that without more evidence, I'm not going to make that statement.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: On August 5th, a week ago, Abuelazam was arrested in Arlington, Virginia, on an outstanding misdemeanor assault warrant. He was driving a green SUV. Inside, officials say, police found a knife and a hammer. A hammer was used along with a knife in one of the stabbings.
But at that time, the authorities had not connected Abuelazam or the car with the crimes and he was released. And just hours later, there was another stabbing in Virginia.
John, Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: Jeanne Meserve live in Washington this morning -- thank you.
Well, she's in Washington. Maybe we will stay there right now and turn our attention to politics. And, you know, the pressure that seems to be building right now inside of the White House, the economy is not looking too good -- and, frankly, neither are the poll numbers.
ROBERTS: Some high ranking members of the inner circle are leaving, while others, like the White House spokesman, appear to be losing their cool from time to time.
Joining us now is Candy Crowley, chief political correspondent and host of "STATE OF THE UNION."
Candy, great to see you this morning.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.
ROBERTS: So, earlier this week, Robert Gibbs really got -- ignited a firestorm when he took on what he called the "professional left," saying that they were attacking the Obama administration, saying that if he's like George Bush, these people should be, you know, given a drug test. Of course, the liberal left fired back -- he got slammed in the blogs, which prompted this exchange during one of the briefings.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: You put your foot in your mouth or did you say something that you meant?
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't --
(LAUGHTER)
GIBBS: I think I have both my feet planted firmly on the floor. And I don't plan on leaving. So, there's no truth to the rumor that I've added an inflatable exit to my office. So --
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So, Candy, what's going on there at the White House? You got people leaving after being there for a couple of years. You got Gibbs taking on, quote, "the professional left." Is the pressure cooking just, you know, getting to the point where it's going to blow?
CROWLEY: No. I don't think it will blow. But they certainly are letting off some steam. And I think that Gibbs reflected some real frustration inside the White House. They think, as Gibbs explained and others have explained, that they've done a lot for the liberal base of the Democratic Party. They don't think they're getting credit for it.
So, they're getting hit from the right and left and the economy is terrible. And midterm is coming up. And I think Gibbs said precisely what he wanted to say.
But, more importantly, John, you know that Gibbs is fairly close to the president. And a lot of people -- I think the reason that this had such resonance on the left and why the blogs went crazy, is that they know it's not just Gibbs sort of saying what he thinks. They can be pretty assured that it's what the president thinks.
COSTELLO: You know, something else Gibbs said that caused some controversy, and along those same lines. And he was talking about the frustration, of course, of cable TV and pundits and the rest. And before you comment, let's listen to what he said exactly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIBBS: I will say, you know, I watch a lot of cable TV, and you don't have to watch long to get frustrated by some of what's said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: You know, my first reaction is someone that works in cable television: that's so lame. You should be able to handle it.
But with everything out there, does he have a point? I mean -- and didn't he expect that coming in, that that kind of would happen?
CROWLEY: Sure. Sure, he did. But, listen, it never hurts to kind of -- I mean, yes, I'm with you. Cry me a river. It comes with -- it comes with the job.
But I think that there's also some political resonance and political plus to be pushing back against cable TV or against the blogs or whatever the incoming is that they are taking. They -- you know, look at people and say, well, you know, it's sort of a counter to some of the criticism that is coming out of cable TV. And they are pushing back. And that's what White Houses do.
And -- you know, yes, I think they are frustrated but on the other hand, I know everyone is as always -- you know, there's two wars, and the economy is terrible, and the health care plan and all that. Well, we've had presidents in wars before, and Great Depressions and people jumping out of buildings when the stock market crashed. Every presidency is different.
And we have increasingly seen the number of people covering the presidency, number of people commenting on the presidency, and getting their comments read, obviously, has increased exponentially when you look at what's out there on the Internet.
But look, CNN has been around since 1980. FOX and MSNBC, they've been around more than a decade. So, this isn't a new phenomenon. The Internet certainly is raising the level of the conversation. I'm just not sure that we can say, boy, this is like the -- you know, president is facing the worst problems ever. Presidents all have their problem.
ROBERTS: Sure.
COSTELLO: Yes. But wasn't this president supposed to be the first technically savvy president we've had? Can't they figure out how to fight back via the Internet or blogs themselves?
CROWLEY: Well, they have. I mean, yes, they -- I mean, be very clear, they are using the Internet. And they do have very good people who understand how to get the president's message out.
And it's a double -- it's like almost anything else in politics. There's a "on the one hand, on the other hand." So, on the one hand, they're getting hammered. On the other hand, they can use the Internet to get around all of the more traditional forums of news gathering. So -- you know, they use it and they use it well. So, you know --
ROBERTS: So, Candy, we are getting to the point in this White House that all administrations come to. And that's where a lot of the true believers begin to leave and they are replaced by the professional administration employees.
So, how do you think that's going to change the tone of this White House in the next couple of years?
CROWLEY: I think that will -- personnel -- the president is still the president. And I -- you know, it tends to reflect who's in the Oval Office, people around him. I think probably what will change the president more is that the second half of an administration is very different. And it will be different still if he has to deal with far more Republicans after the midterm than he did in the first two years. I think that's much more likely to change him than coming and going of the staff.
I think that one thing that happens to a president personally -- and I think we saw it with President Bush and we've seen it with many others, is they are close to some of these staff members. And so, when the people who are close to them leave, their comfort zone is gone. When the president saw Karen Hughes leave, President Bush saw Karen Hughes leave, that was a blow because that was a friend.
I think if you look at Hughes or you look at -- I'm sorry, if you look at Gibbs or you look at Axelrod, you look at some of these people who have been around the president, I think that would be a blow to him. But it's certainly, you know, personal but they -- they march on. They manage to do it.
ROBERTS: All right. Candy, it's great to see you this morning.
Real quick, who are your guests this Sunday?
CROWLEY: Well, we are going to actually have -- we are going to discuss politics, a little bit about the midterm. But, also, we're going to have something I'm really looking forward to, which is a discussion on why the weather is doing what it's doing and whether we're now looking forward to 100-degree temperatures or massive flooding in Pakistan. Trying to figure out what's going on.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it. Thanks.
CROWLEY: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Be sure to catch Candy on "STATE OF THE UNION" Sunday morning, 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
COSTELLO: The first man to hike the Amazon River -- he's first man to hike the Amazon River. It's 4,000 miles long. It took him two years. Ed Stafford is going to join us live to tell us why in the world he would do such a thing.
ROBERTS: And a CNN special investigation. How New Orleans' mayor is trying to rebuild the city he loves as the cycle of violence continues. All that ahead.
Ten-and-a-half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
COSTELLO: New Orleans, it's a hot bed for violent crimes. And police have been playing catch-up ever since Hurricane Katrina. Residents say they had enough with the justice system they claim simply isn't doing the job.
ROBERTS: Special Investigations Unit correspondent Drew Griffin has been looking into the situation. He joins us now live.
And, Drew, the city's new mayor, Mitch Landrieu, really trying hard to turn things around there.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, turn around that awful crime rate, John and Carol.
But -- get this -- the first thing you have to do is turn around the police department. Sixteen New Orleans police officers are, right now, either under indictment or have pleaded guilty in post-Katrina related shootings. Two more are likely to be indicted. The revelation just now coming out five years later show cover-ups, planted guns by police, witnesses that the cops simply made up. And in one terrible case, mentally disabled man gunned down literally, John and Carol, like a wild dog on the New Orleans' Danziger Bridge.
Five years after Katrina, this new mayor says he's trying to change what he calls one of the worst police departments in the country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN (voice-over): On this summer evening, not yet three months in office as New Orleans's new mayor, Mitch Landrieu is getting to know the city's poor neighborhoods.
MAYOR MITCH LANDRIEU, NEW ORLEANS: He tackled me! He tackled me. Did you see that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He almost tackled the mayor.
LANDRIEU: Why are you tackling for, you think you are a funny, huh? You think you're funny, don't you?
GRIFFIN: Landrieu and his new police chief, Ronal Serpas, are leading a walk in a show of police presence and support on this crime- riddled street.
This woman appeals for help to stop gunfire in a nearby park so children can play in safety.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) going boom, boom, boom. I went down there one day last week with my granddaughter. I had to lay on top of her. She's 5 years old.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): On this street, guard dogs are no protection against gunshots in the middle of the night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Saturday night between 11:00 and 11:30, my mother-in-law got shot, bullet hole there. A drive-by. Come on. The bullet that went through that window went to my mother's house. Come on in. Bullet went through here.
GRIFFIN: The new mayor concedes people are reluctant to trust police. With 16 officers now under indictment or pleading guilty in shooting deaths in the week after hurricane Katrina. Two of the victims killed on this bridge.
(on camera): When you read the revelations in the Dansa Bridge case, not just the crime itself but the cover-up, can people in this city right now have faith in their police department?
LANDRIEU: No I don't think so. The department is supposed to protect and serve. And right now it has not done either of those things well. My top priorities is to make this city safe. It can't be safe without a police department that people trust.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Civil rights attorney Mary Howell says police failures have not only fed mistrust but have encouraged crime.
MARY HOWELL, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: At the same time that we are having these terrible problems with corruption brutality in the department, we also lead the nation in crime. And in homicides and violent crime.
GRIFFIN: In this first year in office, for mayor Landrieu, New Orleans has been averaging a murder every other day. Landrieu asked the justice department to come in and help reform the police force.
LANDRIEU: As a kid that grew up in the city of New Orleans, you know you get very, very frustrated things were allowed to get this bad. But you have to acknowledge that. And then you have to ride the ship and then you have to turn it around and force it to go in the right direction. That's what we intend on doing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: John and Carol to do that, right the ship, so to speak the mayor has overhauled the management now of the department. He has added civilian oversight and as we have pointed out he has actually brought the justice department in to partner with the NOPD to try to show the police who are left that their motto really is to protect and serve and that's what they should be doing.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And what about the new police chief that he brought in, Sirfest (ph), is he with the program?
GRIFFIN: He is with the program. The families go back. They are old friends. And, you know, this is what, one, two, the third police chief since Katrina. So hopefully this one will work and that they can break this not only cycle of corruption but actually the institution of corruption that has been involved with the New Orleans Police Department. John it has been going back for decades.
ROBERTS: Yes, they are fighting a rich history. No question about that.
COSTELLO: Thanks, Drew.
ROBERTS: This weekend, by the way, CNN investigates the actions of the New Orleans police and the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Did some overstressed officers take shoot-to-kill orders too far? SHOOT TO KILL airs Saturday and Sunday night 8:00 p.m. eastern. COSTELLO: And our JetBlue renegade Steven Slater, you know, the flight attendant who said take this job and shove it, well he didn't really mean it. He wants his job back. Is it possible? It is 15 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBRETS: Twenty one minutes after the hour. If you woke up with a bad vibe this morning, there is a reason for that. Friday the 13th. And if you are one of the many people freaked out by the number 13, you suffer from something called -
COSTELLO: I ain't saying that word -
ROBERTS: Triskaidekaphobia. But now if it is the convergence of the 13th day in Friday that has you scared senseless, you suffer from --
COSTELLO: I'm not saying that word, either.
ROBERTS: Parakavedekatriaphobia. There you go, there's today's two huge words for to you remember.
COSTELLO: Were you scared? Write or e-mail us, were you scared by that? Because we really tried hard. Moving on now.
ROBERTS: Are you afraid of Friday the 13th?
COSTELLO: No, I'm really not. I am afraid of walking under ladders, however.
ROBERTS: I'm kind of suspicious, but for some people 13 is often a lucky number. And I remember staying on room 1313 on 13th street after flying to the city in row 13th of the aircraft.
COSTELLO: No ways, I thought hotels didn't have 13th floors.
ROBERTS: This one did.
COSTELLO: And you stayed there and survived. So Friday the 13th should be a synch for you.
ROBERTS: It's not that bad, as a matter of fact the story went very well. So I've decided since then 13 is a lucky number. Don't let me stay on the seventh floor.
COSTELLO: I'm so glad you are over that, John.
ROBERST: So remember, parakavedekatriaphobia.
COSTELLO: I'll try to remember that. OK. Once you finish updating your status and checking your friends pictures on Facebook, we are talking about Facebook now by the way. You can actually use Facebook now to purchase airline tickets. Delta has unveiled a new ticket window that allows customers to book their flights on the networking website. ROBERTS: JetBlue flight attendant turned internet folk hero, Steven Slater says -- I would like - can I -- I would really like my job back, please. That's according to his attorney who added it's his life. But a JetBlue company memo obtained by CNN makes that sound unlikely. The memo states that using the safety slide, like Slater did, quote, "will not be and cannot be tolerated." Of course, Slater faces some charges, including two felonies, reckless endangerment, and criminal mischief.
COSTELLO: Well and there is also the fact that he might have been lying about the unruly rude passengers.
ROBERTS: There are passengers coming forward to say this didn't happen at the end of the flight, that he had been surly all during the flight. One woman said that he came along with some cans of soda and sort of indicated do you want a soda, she said can I have water? And he sort of shot her a look that she didn't really like.
COSTELLO: Well yes. Some woman requested a napkin to wipe up spilled coffee and says I have to take care of myself first supposedly. So put all of that together. Oh Steve, I don't know if it will work out for you.
ROBERTS: There are two sides to every story. We are going to hear the other side, too. So the 15 minutes are not yet up, if you are wondering.
Wiki leaks preparing to release more secret files. The Pentagon slams the plan already. Chris Lawrence is coming up live with that story.
COSTELLO: And Eminem, Megan Fox, Rihanna, and the guy from LOST, they made this video about domestic violence that some domestic violence counselors say glamorizes domestic violence. So what's happening here? Write to us on our blog about this cnn.com/amfix.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just going to stand there watch me burn that's all right because I like the way it hurts
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: One of the hottest songs out right now. An amazing video. It is a scary premise some people say. Domestic violence being portrayed as acceptable. Some people who work with victims of abuse, the way domestic violence is portrayed in pop culture these days is at best confusing and at worst downright dangerous.
COSTELLO: I know, we decided we should do a gut check on this topic because there's so much concern out there. Not only about this video but about other celebrities who are going through cases of domestic violence. So we have a gut check this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stand there watch me burn that's all right because I like the way it hurts --
(voice-over): It is a video sensation some 30 million YouTube hits in just over a week. It stars Rihanna, whose battered face shocked the public just a year ago. And Eminem who is known for his turbulent relationship with his ex-wife. Together along with two beautiful beautiful popular actors, they tell the story of a violent relationship.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tired of the games tie her to the bed and set the house on fire
COSTELLO: The video ends with fire then cuddling. Rihanna told access Hollywood --
RIHANNA: It was really a deep song and the lyrics were so deep, so beautiful and intense. It is something I understood. Something that I connected with which made me think it was a hit. And I want to be part of a hit. Of course I couldn't say no to Eminem.
COSTELLO: And some domestic violence experts say that whatever Rihanna's intentions, she dangerously missed the mark.
AYONNA JOHNSON, WOMEN'S RESOURCE CTR. TO END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: It illustrated a sense of normalcy to a very abnormal dysfunction. It also tried to portray domestic violence as this reciprocal relationship. You are loving me, you are hating me, you are using me as well as I'm abusing you.
COSTELLO: Johnson says that's blaming the victim. It's become a common theme. Take Mel Gibson. He denies abusing his ex-girlfriend despite his alleged enraged rants.
JOHNSON: I have heard numerous feedback about Mel Gibson's former partner, Oksana, and the negative person that she is and she is a gold digger as if we are still not quite ready as a society to place responsibility and accountability where it lies which is on the abuser.
COSTELLO: And she says nothing illustrates that better than the case against Charlie Sheen. This is a 911 call from his wife.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband had me -- with a knife. I fear for my life and he threatened me.
COSTELLO: Sheen did pled guilty to misdemeanor assault. His punishment -- rehab, counseling, and community service. And ample time to star on his hit TV show.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just going to stand there and watch me burn
COSTELLO: Maybe the best thing about all of this is that we are talking about domestic violence. Although advocates say not seriously enough.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: Not seriously enough because the message from all of these things, there should be zero tolerance for domestic violence. That's what these things should be imparting. And that's why they are so concerned about the video because it sets out this confusing message.
We have been asking you what you think this morning and the comments are flying in.
ROBERTS: Yes, they kind of run the gamut here. They all have a pretty good perspective on things from their own personal point of view. Mike writes in to say "This isn't new. You ever watch "The Honeymooners"? One of the main jokes was "To the moon, Alice."
COSTELLO: He went like this when he said it.
ROBERTS: Yes, leaned over her like this. But back in the early '60s, that was taken as funny.
COSTELLO: Supposedly we have come a long way since then, right? Shouldn't things have changed?
ROBERTS: OK, so Suzanne writes in to say one angle I haven't heard is that this song by Rihanna and Eminem gave my husband and I have an opportunity to have a frank discussion with our 12 year old daughter and our 15-year-old son about domestic violence. We talk about what they thought about the song and then we discussed the impact of violence on a relationship.
It was a great conversation opener because they liked the song and were open to discussing it. I did like the idea that some of the proceeds go to domestic violence programs. We should mention --
COSTELLO: That -- the actress, Megan Fox, is donating her fee to a domestic violence shelter. We don't know about the others, but we know Megan Fox is doing that.
And that's really interesting because when you talk to young people about the song, they just say they like it. They haven't really listened to the lyrics. But when they watch the video, some young people told me, what is that about, because they don't really get that from the song because, frankly, Eminem is hard to understand.
ROBERTS: Some people treat it as a popular song or in some cases just as a good beat because they are playing this in my spin classes. You do a slow grind while Eminem is wrapping and when Rihanna comes in that's when you start to burn.
COSTELLO: Keep the comments coming in. Thanks, as always, for your feedback.
ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour now. One of our top stories this morning, the mug shot of the accused serial stabber. His name is Elias Abuelazam, a 33-year-old Israeli citizen. He was picked up Wednesday trying to slip out of the country on a flight from Atlanta to Tel Aviv. This morning, we are learning that he had at least a couple of brushes with the law in states he has been linked to the attacks but never considered a suspect.
COSTELLO: New reports this morning that the search for the deadly plane crash in Alaska could have been affected because the plane's emergency beacon did not work. The National Transportation Safety Board also says there was an emergency breakdown on the ground. Two survivors are said to be doing better this morning. But former NASA boss Sean O'Keefe is still in critical condition.
ROBERTS: And same-sex couples in California could be five days away now from being free to marry again. A federal judge ruling that Proposition 8 can no longer be enforced starting Wednesday of next week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUKE OTTERSTADT, SUPPORTS PROP 8: It undermines the definition of marriage, the institution of marriage, in the same way that a counterfeit dollar bill affects the real dollar bill in my pocket.
PHILLIP ALVARADO, OPPOSE PROP 8: It's life and it will happen for us.
MATTHEW HAWK, OPPOSE PROP 8: It's like one step forward --
ALVARADO: And one step back.
HAWK: Yes. But you know it's life and you got to take it through its courses. We're not going to give up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Opponents of same-sex marriage can still appeal the federal judge's ruling in the next five weeks.
COSTELLO: The founder of WikiLeaks says his website has another 15,000 documents about the Afghan War and it wants critical information redacted. They will put them online.
ROBERTS: The Pentagon already is firing back saying that would only put more American lives in danger. Our Chris Lawrence is tracking the story and joins us live from the Pentagon with this morning's security watch.
Certainly the Pentagon firing on all barrels here against WikiLeaks, but it's not likely that WikiLeaks is going to pay attention.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right on both counts, John. Yes, the Pentagon just yesterday warned WikiLeaks not to release these 15,000 documents saying basically after we already warned them about the 76,000 and damage that can do to national security it would then be the height of irresponsibility to then put out another 15,000. And the interesting thing is the Pentagon actual sly getting a lot of support from human rights organizations who are also very concerned about the names of some of the civilians of who were mentioned in that initial leak.
They also are warning WikiLeaks and asking WikiLeaks to not include some of these names. WikiLeaks says they will push forward and they are not going to be deterred, but they are in the process of redacting some information. The founder says they are about halfway through. Once they get through all 15,000 they will put them out.
In the meantime, the Pentagon really dash dealing with the 76,000 already released. A team of nearly 100 intelligence analysts are working around the clock. With so much information, what they do is look for about 400 key words and when those pop up, isolate those documents and then do a further review on them.
And, you know, in the backdrop to all of this is this insurance file, a file that's mysteriously labeled "insurance" that's been posted on WikiLeaks' website. If you look at the size of the file, it is about 20 times bigger than anything that's been released. It is mysteriously labeled "insurance."
It is an encrypted file and not open. Nobody has been able to crack it or open it. But there are a lot of reports going around that say that this is sort of an insurance just in case something happens to the founder or WikiLeaks is prosecuted, that this is sort of a -- you know, blackmail file so to speak that they would then release to the public.
COSTELLO: Chris Lawrence reporting from Washington. Thank you.
Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING -- that was an awkward pause.
ROBERTS: I thought you were considering it.
COSTELLO: I was. I was listening intently.
ROBERTS: I'm surprised, actually, that -- you know, we have very astute people when it comes to computer hacking that work clandestinely, and I'm surprised they haven't been able to crack it.
COSTELLO: It is curious, isn't it?
ROBERTS: It is.
COSTELLO: Maybe they have, and we just don't know.
COSTELLO: Maybe. Thank you very much, Chris Lawrence, we appreciate it.
Coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING," he's the first man to hike the Amazon River, a 4,000-mile trek. He was accosted by drug dealers.
ROBERTS: And anacondas and piranhas and man-eating mosquitoes. CHETRY: That's scarier than the drug dealers, actually. It took him two years. Ed Stafford will be live with us next. It's 36 minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: It's 40 minutes after the hour. It has been a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long journey for Ed Stafford. On Monday he became the first person in history to navigate the entire Amazon River basin by foot. The two and a half year, 4,000-mile adventure started at the source in the mountain of Peru and ended 859 days later when he finally reached the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil.
COSTELLO: What an incredible journey. Along the way he encountered pit vipers, electric eels, anacondas, scorpions. At the worst, he suffered an estimated 50,000 mosquito bites. And we want to welcome him home this morning because he deserve as big warm welcome, doesn't he? Ed Stafford joins us live from London. Welcome home.
ED STAFFORD, BRITISH EXPLORER: Thank you very much indeed.
COSTELLO: We have a video of part of your journey. We would like to show people how you fell at the end of that 4,000-mile journey. So let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: You are actually running into the Atlantic Ocean. Just tell us why you felt the need to do that.
STAFFORD: To run? We were so excited to get to the end really. It was -- it has been such a buildup over the 24 hours. We had an enormous mileage to do in the last 24 hours, over 50 miles. And I collapsed beside the road. And we were just so excited to get to the end we ran. And we were sharing a couple of bottles of champagne, too.
COSTELLO: To make everything feel even better.
ROBERTS: It is amazing after all this time, you collapsed just before the end of it because along the way, you dealt with a host of medical issues. You had painful skin diseases, swelling in your knees, elbows, which you can understand from trekking through the jungle. You had a fly larvae bury itself underneath the skin. There is a lovely picture of it being taken out.
I'm wondering, how did you get up every day and say, I'm going to press on?
STAFFORD: I don't know. I think at the end of the day, if you do something like this and you shout loudly about doing it, because obviously we have the aims of the expedition of the Amazon, if you set yourself up and do a big expedition like this and say that you are going to walk the length of the Amazon, it is not a chance you are actually going to go home in the middle of it and give up, because that would just be embarrassing, wouldn't it?
(LAUGHTER)
So there was no -- there was never a case of going home. Never, ever thought we were going home.
COSTELLO: But you almost died a few times along your journey. Some people might say you are a crazy guy.
STAFFORD: Well, I say -- I mean, there were a couple of life threatening instances, certainly. We had a run-in with Amerindians in Peru who took us hostage at gunpoint. The women had machetes. They were pretty angry, too.
COSTELLO: There's nothing like an angry woman with a machete.
STAFFORD: There's nothing like an angry woman with a machete.
ROBERTS: Just ask Carol's husband about that.
(LAUGHTER)
STAFFORD: At the end of the day -- we were very confident in the fact that we were very nonaggressive and very nonthreatening. We just went through -- I mean, everyone we spoke to in the country said we were amazed you are walking unarmed without weapons through the Amazon and thought that was extremely dangerous.
For me we couldn't do that. To walk into a community as a white man with a weapon would be unacceptable. We were just as passive as possible. And it worked. We got through fine.
ROBERTS: Yes. Some people in the past who walked in with weapons ended up skewered and barbecued.
You said a moment ago you undertook incredible adventure to highlight the situation going on with the Amazon River and the rain forest that surrounds it. What did you find over the course of your 859 days there walking from stem to stern in the Amazon really is the shape of things?
STAFFORD: Sadly, I have to admit -- certainly in the last four months or so as I was going into the east of Brazil, the Amazon rain forest is very large jungle. All of the hardwoods have been taken out. The remaining are being logged at the moment. The rain forest deforestation seems to be going on completely unchecked.
I put that down to the fact the old school, the fat cats who are empowered in power are in power in Brazil are still benefiting from the extraction from the rain forest. And when they are in power then you are going to get deforestation going on unchecked.
The positive, optimistic side of it, all of the young people we spoke to, the new generation coming through are so proud of the rain forest. And Brazilians in general are very, very proud of the resources and got -- I'm not worried about it long term. It's just slightly unfortunate that the rain forest deforestation is going on at the moment.
COSTELLO: You know, what -- you know the journey is finished now and you've been through all that hardship. You saw what the state of the Amazon is. I mean, is there one lesson that -- that you've taken away from this adventure?
STAFFORD: I spoke on a personal level -- I'm learned not to listen to people's negativity. It's incredible how people who -- who really don't know about a subject are quite happy to be negative and tell you it's impossible or laugh in your face or tell you you're going to die.
So at a personal level it's been quite a lesson on myself just to take confidence in what you know and if you think you can achieve something and then quite probably you can.
ROBERTS: And most people would think after two and a half years trekking through the Amazon rain forest, 859 days, you'd want to hang up your slippers and just never do it again. But you've got another trek planned?
STAFFORD: Well, it's not necessarily a trek. I certainly have an expedition planned for September 2011. And -- annoyingly for you, I suppose, I'm keeping those times fairly close to my chest because there are a lot of young explorers out there and, I don't want my idea stolen.
But yes, I can't wait to get back out. We had so much positivity surrounding the end of this expedition but I think it would be foolish not to try and ride that wave and -- and continue doing expeditions in the name of conservation really.
ROBERTS: Well, we'll catch up with you after your next expedition.
Ed Stafford great to talk to you this morning.
STAFFORD: Thank you very much.
ROBERTS: Congratulations. What a feat.
STAFFORD: Cheers, bye-bye.
COSTELLO: Amazing.
ROBERTS: Isn't he incredible?
COSTELLO: I didn't know it was so competitive.
ROBERTS: Yes.
COSTELLO: While trekking and you have to keep it secret. ROBERTS: I mean, who else would want to do that?
COSTELLO: Apparently there are lots of people out there. And I admire them because I think that would be awesome.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Ed.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Ed.
ROBERTS: It's great to catch up with you.
Well, storms capable of producing tornadoes and more hot weather today. When are the cooler temperatures coming? Rob Marciano is coming up next with the details.
Forty-seven minutes after the hour.
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COSTELLO: Ok. Now it's time.
ROBERTS: Friday we're in love. Friday, the 13th.
COSTELLO: Friday the 13th, don't fall in love today people. Just wait a day. And you can take a look at, of course, in Washington, D.C., 73 degrees; showers expected and a high of 81 degrees. The weather has not been pretty there of late.
ROBERTS: What have you got against romance?
COSTELLO: I'm cynical on this Friday the 13th. I mean maybe that's how it affects me.
ROBERTS: You certainly are.
Now, we'll see if Rob Marciano is cynical about love on this Friday, the 13th. He joins us from the Weather Center. And she didn't like the guy who attached the wedding ring to the sand dollar this morning. Now she is saying don't fall in love today. Gosh.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, as you know, it's -- some people are superstitious about the 13th, Friday. So, you know, I can -- I can deal with that.
As far as putting a ring on a star fish, if you missed that earlier story, a guy put a ring on the starfish -- or a sand dollar -- to propose to his wife and it -- and it fell through the cracks of the jetty. All -- all horrible story.
New York, Philly, D.C. -- some rain today but not as bad as yesterday. Check out some of the rainfall that -- what it did to the D.C. area yesterday. In some cases two and a half inches of rain in about 30 minutes. That's enough for a flash flood and to take cars down the road unsuspected -- unexpectedly. Today just some little weak showers for you and definitely cooler which is the good news there.
Thunderstorms of a more severe variety across the upper Midwest; here's Wisconsin, severe thunderstorm watch, in effect some of these clusters are moving easterly at about 50 miles an hour. So, some of the winds could be damaging as this thing heads towards, well, northeastern Michigan or Wisconsin and then Lake Michigan later today.
103 yesterday in Huntsville, Alabama -- can you believe that -- the heat continues. Birmingham got to 102 and in Wilmington, North Carolina got the 98 degrees. We'll see some of these temperatures moderate just a little bit.
But -- this Deep South will I think stay steamy right on through next week.
All right, it's Friday, it's all right to fall in love. It's ok to fall on Friday according to "The Cure".
COSTELLO: Oh that's so nice.
ROBERTS: That's right.
COSTELLO: Yes. According to "The Cure;" that's not according to Rob Marciano.
ROBERTS: Yes, absolutely.
MARCIANO: Got to go, guys. Have a good weekend.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob. Rob is saying get me out of this. I'm not having a part of this discussion.
Eight minutes to the top of the hour. We'll be back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. This week's CNN hero was enjoying a pint at his local public in the Scottish Highlands when he got an idea that would change his life and the lives of thousands of others. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAGNUS MACFARLANE-BARROW, CHAMPIONING CHILDREN: I never expected my life to change in this way. My father and I were having a pint in our local public with a CNN news report about a refugee camp in Bosnia.
And we began saying wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just do one small thing to help. We got food and blankets and clothing and drove them out there.
I'm Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow. I gave up my job and I sold my house to try to help the people in Bosnia. Out of that has grown the organization which today feeds around 412,000 children every day in 15 different countries.
We buy food locally and then we ask the local community take responsibility the daily cooking and serving of the food.
By far, our biggest project is here in Malawi where we are feeding about 350,000 children every day. (INAUDIBLE) so as young people can realize how (INAUDIBLE) through feeding them, through keeping them alive and through getting them into the classroom.
We began working in Haiti in 2006. In addition to feeding children, we've been feeding the elderly. Since the earthquake, we've been involved in providing health care. We've been helping with the rebuilding of the schools.
When I think of (INAUDIBLE), I think of it as a series of lots and lots of local acts of love. I've learned that every small act of kindness must make a difference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Paraskavedekatriaphobiacs, this is your day -- Friday, the 13th. Hope you have a good one and lucky one.
Continue the conversation on today's stories. Go to our blog at CNN.com/amfix. That will wrap it up for us. Carol, great to see you today, Carol.
COSTELLO: I had a good time. I did. CNN.com/amfix, write a comment on my blog.
ROBERTS: Thanks so much for joining us. You have yourself a great weekend. We will be back again on Monday morning.
COSTELLO: Hey, Kyra Phillips, take it away.
