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American Morning

Waiting for Proof of Death; New Information of bin Laden Operation; Congress Split Over Whether to Release Photo of bin Laden's Body; Levee Blast Spares Illinois Town; Think Gas is High? Try Europe; A Budget Cut Blueprint; Study: Educators Lack Online Training; After Bin Laden, A Test of Unity; Al Qaeda's Bank Roll

Aired May 04, 2011 - 07:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Waiting for proof of death. The White House struggling over the decision to show Osama Bin Laden's corps. Could it silence the doubters or inflame radicals on this AMERICAN MORNING?

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING on this Wednesday, May 4th. Glad you're with us today.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Starting up first, new information of the incredible operation that eliminated Osama Bin Laden and the big question that remains this morning, will we see the so-called kill shot? We do know there are photos, graphic ones, taken after a Navy SEAL shot Bin Laden in the head.

CIA director, Leon Panetta, thinks a photograph of Osama Bin Laden's body will be released at some point saying, I just think it's important. They know we have it to release it, but that decision is up to the White House. The members of Congress are split over it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN, CHAIRMAN, HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS CMTE: Unless al Qaeda acknowledged that Bin Laden was dead, it was important for the United States to release the picture of his body to confirm that he is dead.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, (D) CALIFORNIA: I just don't see a need to do it. The DNA has been dispositive. People may still doubt that. Therefore, there may be cause, I don't know, to release a photo, which I understand is very graphic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI (on-camera): CIA director, Leon Panetta, also gave us more amazing insight into what it was like in the situation room at the White House. He says once the teams went in, almost 20 or 25 minutes went by in which officials in Washington, quote, "really didn't know exactly what was going on," end quote.

Panetta also said that when the head of the joint special forces command reported that commandos had identified Bin Laden then, quote, "all the air we were holding came out.

ROMANS: Gosh, those pictures will be history books someday.

CHETRY: The U.S. is trying to get to the bottom of whether Pakistan officials knew bin Laden was there in a city where many high-ranking Pakistani military officers lived. Pakistan insists it had no idea of bin Laden's whereabouts, but some U.S. lawmakers are not so sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG, (D) NEW JERSEY: It had everything except a neon sign sticking out there.

REP. ALLEN WEST, (R) FLORIDA: There's no way that people in the ISI and in the military did not know that Osama bin Laden has been living there for quite some time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: We're covering every new angle of the story. Jill Dougherty is standing by at the White House. First we go to Brianna Keilar live at the White House. Good morning, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. The White House still trying to decide whether they're going to be releasing these photos, but sources telling us, indications are that they are leaning towards releasing the photos. You heard CIA Director Leon Panetta say he thinks it's important that they're put out there, he thinks ultimately they will be put out there.

But what you have is administration officials really weighing some competing interests here. On one hand, they think it's important that there's visual proof, evidence that Osama bin Laden is dead in addition to DNA evidence. On the other hand, they're concerned that it could be insightful. Specifically we've heard White House officials, administration officials say they would be concerned, perhaps, for the safety of Americans overseas.

Listen to what Jay Carney, the White House press secretary said about this at yesterday's briefing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUESTION: Explain sensitivity, because it's a gruesome photograph?

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's fair to say it's a gruesome photograph.

QUESTION: That could be inflammatory, that's the sensitivity you're --

CARNEY: It is certainly possible this is an issue that we are taking into consideration, is that it could be inflammatory.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: Now Carney also said isn't a roiling debate that's going on, you don't have intense opposition of opinions. But it also mirrors what we're seeing among the American people. We did a poll, CNN Opinion Research Corporation put out a poll and it shows 56 percent of those surveyed said they think that the U.S. should release the photo. That's more than a majority. But also there is a pretty strong minority, 39 percent, who said, guys, they don't think that this should be released.

ROMANS: I wonder, Brianna, if the White House is prepared for so much debate about it. They must have known going in there would be a question about it. It would depended on what pictures look like and what the response was around the world to the raid.

KEILAR: I think they knew there would be some debate over this and obviously, you know, the Bush White House dealt with the idea of releasing photos of Saddam Hussein's sons, you know, years ago when they were killed. So I think this isn't an issue that is completely unprecedented. But what they're really trying to do is show that they're deliberating about this and they're weighing these competing it interests.

VELSHI: And even all the commentary we've been getting doesn't indicate that people are disgusted or offended that the White House would be deliberating. In other words, people are hearing the conversation that there are nuances and it will take some time. At least, Brianna, it seems clear they got all the video and details and data and photographs they need. It's a discussion about when, how and if it comes out. Brianna, thanks so much for joining us.

We're learning more about what was going on inside the White House situation room. We saw those pictures a few minutes ago. So we're getting a little more detail about that.

CHETRY: The Obama national security team followed this mission to take out Osama bin Laden. CIA director Leon Panetta says they were monitoring a video feed of the assault but that the president didn't watch the actual shooting of bin Laden as it happened. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, CIA DIRECTOR: Once those teams went into the compound, I can tell you that there was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes where we, you know, we really didn't know just exactly what was going on and there was some very tense moments as we were waiting for information.

But finally Admiral McCraven came back and said that he had picked up the word "Geronimo," which was the code word that represented that they got bin Laden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Panetta says the Navy Seals taking part in the raid didn't have a chance to capture bin Laden.

CHETRY: That's new video inside the compound.

VELSHI: Meantime new questions about how bin Laden could have been living in that compound for so long without Pakistani intelligence, which is known to be fairly sophisticated, know anything about this.

CHETRY: According to two sources in the closed door briefing, CIA chief Panetta told lawmakers either they were involved or incompetent, and neither is a good place to be. CNN's Jill Dougherty is live at the State Department with more on that. Pakistan certainly feeling the heat right now as new details emerge about how long bin Laden may have been living there in Abbottabad.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Already, before this, the tensions were pretty high in the relationship between Pakistan and the United States, and now this. It all hinges on the fact that Osama bin Laden was in that compound.

So what the U.S. is doing right now, they are talking to Pakistan, asking questions and demanding quick answers and they are also pouring over the evidence that came out of that compound. As we know, there were computers, hard drives, and other information and the CIA is analyzing that and looking for any hints.

But, as we know, anyone from Leon Panetta to many other people, especially on Capitol Hill, are questioning this. And this is how Panetta put it to CBS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PANETTA: We don't really have any intelligence that indicates that Pakistan was aware that bin Laden was there or that this compound was a place where he was hiding.

But having said that, this was a location that was very close to a military academy, close to other sensitive military sites. It had been there since almost five years ago. It was very unusual, as a compound. I just think they need to respond to the questions about why they did not know that kind of compound existed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: And they do. The Pakistanis claim that they did not know that Osama bin Laden was there. So far, as we've heard, there's no compelling evidence.

But all of this raises questions about whether this relationship is going. After all, the U.S. and Pakistan are partners in the fight against terrorism, and the U.S. already has given $18 billion to Pakistan so far in this fight. And there's a groundswell on Capitol Hill saying that should stop or be frozen.

But I have to say, there are downsides. Those who say punish them, they aren't reliable, there's a lack of trust. But there are others who say that if Pakistan were to go down the tubes, it could be even worse. VELSHI: You know, Jill, we spoke to Donald Rumsfeld yesterday morning, we spoke to Brennan, a number of people who seemed to be implying that maybe it's a bit of each, maybe they're good allies and maybe they're not sometimes. In other words, there's a nuance here that sort of says the U.S. can't do without Pakistan in this fight.

ROMANS: They've lost a lot of their own soldiers, too, fighting terrorists within their own borders so they've had a loss of life as well. They are completely invested too, that's what the view is from those guests.

DOUGHERTY: Definitely. And the mere fact that because of the relationship that the military, the ISI, intelligence, has had with the Taliban, for instance, you could look at it negatively and say that's terrible, they should not be allied or even in the past should have, but it can yield some information.

So when you get into these terrorism issues, sometimes it cuts both ways. And the problem with this relationship is, it is always cutting two ways, and that's the complexity and the difficulty.

CHETRY: Add in that it's a nuclear armed nation and things get even more complicated. Jill Dougherty for us this morning, thanks so much.

ROMANS: New information about the uncertainty facing the Navy Seals when they entered Osama bin Laden's compound on Sunday. The special operations for force new every inch of the compound's exterior. They practiced gaining entry extensively.

Now the unknown came once they got inside. Deputy national security adviser John Brennan confirming that Seal team had no idea what the interior looked like, although they did have an idea of the area where the bin Laden family was living.

VELSHI: Now the death of Osama bin Laden has many Americans and congressional leaders questioning what the U.S.'s mission is in Afghanistan. Right now, the war is costing us about $2 billion a week. And the beginning of U.S. troop withdraw is scheduled for July. But with bin Laden out of the picture and the economy here in the United States in the tank, is it time to speed up that withdraw?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) MINORITY LEADER: We are on a track to come home from Afghanistan beginning July 2011, so the change is in the air there and now it is even more so in light of the death.

SEN. RICHARD LUGAR, (R) INDIANA: Afghanistan does not carry a strategic value that justifies 100,000 American troops and $100 billion per year cost, especially given current fiscal restraints in the United States.

DR. ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER, PROFESSOR OF POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Our focus still has to be a government in Afghanistan that does not host Al Qaeda and that is not defeated by the Taliban. We need to do it politically, diplomatically, keeping our forces there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: North Carolina Republican Walter Jones tells CNN President Obama should declare victory now after taking out Osama bin Laden. He'll announce new legislation tomorrow that would require the president to submit a specific timeline for handing over security and military operations to the Afghan government.

ROMANS: To date nearly 1,500 U.S. troops have been killed in the war in Afghanistan.

Still to come this morning, amazing pictures from the heartland of America this morning. A 93-year-old woman rescued before her car is swept away by raging floodwaters.

VELSHI: Plus, brand new images from a robot inside Japan's crippled nuclear reactor, engineers preparing to go inside the reactor building for the first time since the tsunami.

CHETRY: And how much money does Al Qaeda? How much money does Al Qaeda need? Inside a terrorist group financing Al Qaeda. Is it going broke and will it prevent them from planning future attacks? It's 11 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Dramatic video from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where levees began to crumble last week. The National Guard rescued a 93-year-old woman from a car submerged in muddy, raging floodwaters. Wow. Right now flooding is at or near record levels in parts of six states.

CHETRY: They're trying to take extreme measures to stop the extreme weather, the Army Corps of Engineers blasting out some 11,000 feet of levee, video of it happening again. They want to blast out the levees, allow some of the water pressure to dissipate, creating almost a relief valve near where some of these rivers like the Mississippi an Ohio meet. They want to ease the floodwaters that threaten towns upstream where the Ohio is said to be now 19 feet above flood stage.

VELSHI: To give you some perspective, those explosions shook the ground for miles, sent water pouring on to thousands of acres of Missouri farmland. Take a look at these pictures from Mississippi County, Missouri. An area that Missouri Governor Jay Nixon describes as literally the most productive part of our continent. That is where a great deal of farmland and, obviously, this is greater than the impact in the local area.

ROMANS: Yes.

VELSHI: These are farmers who can't till and can't plant.

CHETRY: That's right.

ROMANS: Tilling and planting time, you know.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: I mean, this is critical.

CHETRY: And that's where we find our Rob Marciano this morning. So we talk about the flooding being a very real threat, not only in Missouri but in parts of eight other states this morning, I guess they had to decide what was the lesser of two evils and they felt that flooding this farmland was it. What are the consequences, though, of this decision?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, these crops for this year are ruined. The Mississippi brings in silt and other things. That's not necessarily good for the soil. So these farmers understandably are not happy. But they do also understand the risk of living that close to the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and near those levees. And they also do understand that this has always been a last resort for the Army Corps of Engineers. This is what this area was designed for. That's why they call it a flood way. Different from in Louisiana where they actually have gates that they open up and let that dump out into the swamps. Here, it's a little bit more permanent situation so they have to use explosives. So that certainly is why it is so dramatic.

And that is what you see behind me. This is the flooded area that wasn't a flooded day and a half ago.

Now you mention it's not just this state. All this water has got to go down in Mississippi and we're going to look at problems I think as you get towards the boot hill of Missouri and down into Memphis.

Take a look at this map highlighting just the flood warnings along the Mississippi River. And, you know, you'll see these from spring to spring, but not to this extreme. We haven't seen this kind of levels since the 1930s. So we're going to have to take some action likely downstream as well.

Memphis is going to see some flooding certainly over the next week. Vicksburg, Mississippi, that's going to see historic flooding as well and then down into Louisiana, the Baton Rouge area. So those are the things we're going to have to deal with. And we saw yesterday an olive branch here, how the homes are flooded. And the rivers, guys, the river here is going to stay steady for the next few days because now they're releasing water upstream that they have been holding back, waiting for this operation to release, release some of the stress. So this ain't over, that's for sure. Back to you.

ROMANS: In all these levee towns up and down the Mississippi River, they have marks on the trees around the old historic buildings showing how high --

VELSHI: About how high it got. Yes.

ROMANS: They're going to have new marks. They're going to be new places to put the --

VELSHI: That's a good point that you made, Rob. The worst since the '30s. This is no small matter. And again, it does affect the food that we eat. There's going to be an effect of this beyond this flooding in the local area.

CHETRY: Right.

VELSHI: Thanks, Rob.

ROMANS: Thanks, Rob.

CHETRY: We're also getting an amazing look inside of reactor number one at the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima. These are new pictures that were taken by those remote controlled robots. Officials say that monitoring equipment inside of the reactor confirms that radiation levels are a lot higher than expected. They say they'll be installing fans with filters to try to bring down those levels and are also hoping to get the plant under control. A timeline for that now, by the end of the year.

ROMANS: The slow crisis that continues.

CHETRY: That's right.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: Halfway across the world. Still to come this morning, no deal at the dealerships. Car prices soaring. The days of amazing incentives are over. If you're car shopping, we want to tell you how much more you'll be paying.

VELSHI: And protecting your kids from on-line predators. A startling new report out this morning shedding light on how ill-prepared some of our nation's teachers are at teaching your kids about cyber security.

It is 19 minutes after the hour.

CHETRY: We also want to know what you think, by the way, on our question of the morning. Should U.S. authorities release photos of Osama bin Laden's dead body. E-mail us or tweet us or post a comment on our Facebook page. Your thoughts coming up in the next 20 minutes. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

VELSHI: Still 19 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: It's 22 minutes past the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.

If you're in the market for a new car, you're going to pay more. Researchers say almost every carmaker has raised sticker prices in the past few months to cover higher production costs.

American Airlines testing a new technology that would allow you to stream movies or TV shows onto your laptop, your tablet computer or your smartphone. The price per episode or movie is expected to be between one and five bucks. HBO on the go. The network which is owned by the same parent company as CNN, it's launched a new app that lets subscribers watch HBO programming on their iPhones, iPads and android devices.

Take a look at New York City's taxi of tomorrow. It's a Nissan and will become the official city taxi starting in 2013. It has more leg room, a transparent roof, and what officials call a low annoyance horn.

And the national average for a gallon of regular now up to $3.98 a gallon. Nothing low annoyance about that. That's just 13 cents from an all-time high. But it's still a lot less than what they're paying in other parts of the world. Cold comfort I know. We're going to talk about it next with our very own Richard Quest. We're back right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Just before the break, Christine mentioned gas prices jumped more than a penny from yesterday. The national average for a gallon of self-serve unleaded gasoline in the United States, $3.98 a gallon. But if you think gas prices here are high, try Europe. Richard Quest, host of CNN's "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS," my good friend joins me here live in studio.

Richard, great to see you as always.

RICHARD QUEST, HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Good morning to you.

VELSHI: Listen, we have this big warning out here that as gas prices go up, it slows our economy down and in fact could be very dangerous. It could be treacherous. In England, the national average for a gallon of self-serve unleaded once you do all the conversions from metric and the pound, $8.55 a gallon. Prices across Europe are like that. It's not the thing that undid Europe's economy.

QUEST: No, it is not. But the first thing is, most of that $8.50, good 60 to 70 percent of it, is taxes.

VELSHI: Right.

QUEST: Either Petrol, duty excise taxes, VAT. So the government takes a whopping, great, big chunk of all that money.

VELSHI: Right.

QUEST: Did it undo the economic recovery? There are real fears. It's price sensitive. It's just exactly the same here.

Here you talk about $4 a gallon as being price sensitive, above and beyond. There we talk a lot higher as being the price above and beyond a liter. It's the same argument.

VELSHI: Right.

QUEST: But we come at it from a much higher threshold. VELSHI: All right. You've got two issues, though, that are different in Europe. First of all, generally speaking, your cars are smaller and more fuel efficient. We're starting to pick up on that trend here. You also don't generally drive 30 or 40 miles to work.

QUEST: I think that is changing. People are driving further distances, but you're right. Yes, there is a difference on that. But it's not people driving to work that the economic issue necessarily.

VELSHI: Right.

QUEST: That has a certain amount of an effect. People driving to work. It's really the transportation of goods. It's the wholesale, diesel transportation on large-scale transport.

VELSHI: Right.

QUEST: That's where you're really concern comes when gas prices start to go. It's aviation fuel, and what that does to the price of a ticket --

VELSHI: Right.

QUEST: -- an airline ticket. The economic effect -- the economic effect of gas pricing is so thorough and so full and so all- encompassing that you watch gas prices like a hawk.

VELSHI: Well, you do this in the rest of the world. Is everybody else obsessed with a price of a liter at a gas station?

QUEST: Absolutely.

VELSHI: Or do we understand that it is those other effects, the cost of heating factories, the cost of transporting grain is where it hits us all?

QUEST: I think in the U.K. because we've had tax rises as a result of austerity measures, one of which had to be rolled back, people are now saying to the government there, enough already.

VELSHI: Right.

QUEST: Gas prices are too high. The price of petrol as we would call it is now out of control, and they're rebounding both on the government and on the oil companies.

VELSHI: Quick question for you. U.K. stopped the stimulus that we're used to here in the United States and they went for austerity, cutbacks in government, cutbacks in spending. It's had uncertain effects. It cut the economy at the end of last year. It grew it by very little at the beginning of this year.

QUEST: We haven't even started. We haven't even started.

VELSHI: Yes.

QUEST: The full effects of the U.K. government's austerity measures will be felt in summer into the fall and into next year.

VELSHI: But we're talking about that here in the United States. Should we be worried as we watch what is unfolding in the United Kingdom?

QUEST: You're going to have no choice. You're going to have no choice. You do it now, you do it later. You do it painfully, you do it when you're forced to do it. You really have no choice. And all that the British government did or said we are going to do it at the beginning of our electoral cycle for obvious electoral reasons. You get the pain out of the way. I guarantee you, Obama gets re-elected next year and the pain starts to get it out of the way as early as possible.

VELSHI: All right, well, you and I can continue to debate things like this every Thursday, don't miss Q and R, Richard and I, 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time. You choose the topic, the two of us battle it out to give you the best explanation and I usually win. Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. The topic is going to be best dressed at the country music awards, are you guys ready to tackle that?

VELSHI: We can do it.

CHETRY: All right, thanks so much. Well, half past the hour now. It's time to check our top stories.

It may be the biggest debate right now in Washington, should America and the world see these pictures of Osama Bin Laden dead? At least one of those shots is said to be quite gruesome. CIA Director Leon Panetta expects those pictures to be released, but he says it's up to the White House to make that final call.

Blasting a levee may have saved a small town in Illinois, but thousands of acres of Missouri farmland under water this morning as a result. It did little to ease the worst flooding downstream as well in Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. Flooding is now at or near record levels in eight states.

There's a new study saying that America's teachers are ill equipped to educate students about the basics of online safety. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, 36 percent of teachers received no training in the area of internet security over the past year. Fifty five percent of the teachers surveyed strongly agree that online safety security and ethics should be covered in the curriculum.

ROMANS: A test of unity coming after the nation's celebrated the death of Osama Bin Laden. Congress is back after a two-week recess and many lawmakers got an earful while they were home over plans to overhaul Medicare.

One of them was Republican Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania. He joins us now from Capitol Hill. Welcome to the program. First, I want to ask you about gas prices, Ali and Richard Quest just having a conversation about gas prices. We've gas prices nearing $4 a gallon and it's interesting because so many Americans swept up in get the government out of my life, are also saying, wait, what can we do about rising gas prices?

Is there much that Congress or that this president can really do about gas prices and how do you communicate that to your constituents?

REP. LOU BARLETTA (R), PENNSYLVANIA: Well, there is. You know, as we've been debating the CR and the budgets and the many things we talk about here in Washington, what we haven't been doing really is addressing the high price of gasoline and that's what we hear most and what's affecting the economy.

In my state in Pennsylvania, we have a golden opportunity. We have more natural gas under our feet in Pennsylvania than oil in Saudi Arabia. We need to send a message to the world that we're serious about becoming independent on our liquid fuels and that's what's affecting the economy the most right now.

ROMANS: Meanwhile, so much of the debate on Capitol Hill and then also in town halls is about how to get America's debt under control and America's spending under control.

And that's raising real concerns among seniors and constituents about changes potentially to Medicare, challenges to Social Security. You faced angry constituents at town halls during the break. I want to watch an exchange and talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seniors are going to have to fight insurance companies for the coverage they get right now for nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I could --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You did not run on any -- you said nothing in the campaign about I'm going to change Medicare. Now you're -- you voted for a plan that will destroy Medicare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Now, according to the congressional budget office, by 2030, Congressman Paul Ryan's Medicare plan will pay only 32 percent of health care costs, less than half of what it currently does.

How do you sell that to constituents? Do you focus on the fact any changes come for people who are 55 and older are not going to see any changes or how do you handle that?

BARLETTA: Well, that's absolutely correct. You know, anyone that's 55 years or older nothing will change. The fact is, is that in nine years, Medicare will be bankrupt for those who are younger than 55 and if we do nothing, there won't be any Medicare.

It's interesting the woman that we just saw was a Democratic operative by admission and, in fact, said she was there because she got an e- mail from moveon.org.

ROMANS: Yes, moveon.org says it did send e-mails to people on its list, you know, encouraging them to attend and to be civil at town halls, but you -- I mean do you think these questions you're getting are part of a movement or do you think this is grassroots concern among your constituents?

BARLETTA: No, it's absolutely a movement. Moveon.org has sent the e- mail out titled "It's Payback Time" with a list of questions to ask and signs to hold up and my sense has been the folks who have really been there to learn about what this new Medicare plan will be.

There's almost a sigh of relief when they realize that it will not affect them and also, we're doing something to make sure Medicare is there for their children and grandchildren.

ROMANS: I'll tell you though, people who are have paid into these systems. They get concerned about Washington keeping its promises and as to the politics of town halls, we've seen it before, saw Tea Party activists at town halls a couple years ago.

Now you're seeing the other side of the fence, trying to get their point of view across at these town halls. But what are you taking back to Washington? How does it change you think the partisanship. We've gone from patriotism over Bin Laden to partisanship. When did that come back into play?

BARLETTA: Well, I think there's a big difference between the Tea Party, which average Americans coming there because they were angry at government. They didn't get an e-mail to tell them what questions to ask and what to be angry about.

So I believe this is manufactured anger. We talk so much about civility and have so many serious issues to deal with here in Washington. And I think the people back home in our districts deserve the right to hear the truth about what we're doing to protect Medicare and save it for a younger Americans.

ROMANS: All right. Congressman Lou Barletta, thanks so much for joining us.

BARLETTA: Thank you.

CHETRY: We're going to talk more about al Qaeda now that Osama Bin Laden is dead. There are some saying al Qaeda is actually broke. But does it matter and can al Qaeda continue to fund attacks?

ROMANS: Also we want to know what you think. Our question of the morning, should U.S. authorities release photos of Osama Bin Laden's dead body? Tweet us, e-mail us or comment on our blog or Facebook, your thoughts coming up after the break. You're watching American Morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Let's talk about al Qaeda's bank roll. Will the terror network's fund-raising ability change with Bin Laden now out of the picture?

CHETRY: Also another concern that terror groups may be trying to raise money of their own and also trying to pursue an attack quickly to prove they're still relevant and can do it.

VELSHI: All of these are issues that have come up. Joining us now is CNN's terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank. "Time" magazine, Paul, is reporting this week that al Qaeda is broke, bankrupt.

I don't know what that means because they can't actually file for bankruptcy. You and I were chatting about this. You don't think it matters?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: That's right. Al Qaeda does have funding difficulties. There's been a really crackdown after 9/11 on its financing and that's been the case for the last several years. But does it matter?

Because they're increasingly using sort of self-financing these operatives who recruited by al Qaeda western operatives like (inaudible) who applied for a credit card here in the United States, $50,000 of credit cards debt and actually filed for bankruptcy.

That's how he likely financing that plot. We're seeing a patent where western recruits recruited by al Qaeda actually use the western banking system against them, applying for fraudulent loans and they're able to plot operations that way.

VELSHI: Give us some comparison about the cost of attacks. We keep talking about 9/11 because of Osama Bin Laden versus these other developed attacks.

CRUICKSHANK: So 9/11 was pretty expensive for al Qaeda about $500,000, but this package bomb we saw against the United States two cargo jets, just $4,200. They're much, much cheaper. The Najar plot maybe about $50,000, the Time Square plot last year maybe about $20,000.

These are not huge sums of money. Al Qaeda still does have some operating costs in the tribal areas of Pakistan, maybe several million dollars a year. So if the funding is being cut, that is quite a big deal for them.

Now you have Amman Al Zawahiri who doesn't have Bin Laden's charismatic appeal. He's also Egyptian and not Saudi, and a lot of the rich donors have been from the Gulf region. Now you have an Egyptian with less charismatic appeal, even less money could be going to al Qaeda.

CHETRY: You mentioned Zawahiri. Some people say intelligence agencies are believing that he, if he does step up, needs to accelerate an attack to prove that al Qaeda is still relevant regardless of whether Bin Laden is no longer alive. Do you think that we're in more danger right now?

CRUICKSHANK: I think there's a period of concern right now that al Qaeda or a group affiliated with al Qaeda could try to launch a plot in revenge to prove they're still relevant.

A couple days ago, the Pakistani Taliban, a group which attempted to bomb Times Square last May issued a threat. They said they were sending operatives to the United States and perhaps they also had operatives in this country already. I think that threat needs to be viewed as credible given what happened last night.

ROMANS: We've been talking about the number of factions, the moral authority is gone now, Osama Bin Laden, but a rift he sort of helped soothed between Gulf Arabs, Egyptians, Yemenis and Saudis, I mean, it goes on and on.

And some have made the comparison that it's like once the godfather dies in the mob all of the fighting families kind of disintegrate again. Is that a parallel? I mean, what happens with all of these different factions? Should they go their own way?

CRUICKSHANK: I think that's really possible. I mean, Bin Laden was so important for al Qaeda. He was a dominant figure. Zawahiri is a much more polarizing figure. Al Qaeda has lost the centrifugal forces.

There's lots of narcissism and minor difference going on, ideological differences going on, ideological differences, differences of a gender and nationality.

ROMANS: Not unlike every other criminal organization, you know, when you think of. I mean, that's - it's power of personality, power of violence, and then a lot of narcissism and their own goals underneath that.

CRUICKSHANK: Absolutely the case. We'll see what happens now with al Qaeda. There's no sort of leader at the top like Bin Laden that can unify the organization now as I was saying, Zawahiri much more polarizing figure.

CHETRY: We talked a lot about Zawahiri. We talked about Mullah Omar. Where do we think they are?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, that's a great question. Is Zawahiri in the tribal areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan or is he perhaps also like Bin Laden, in a settled area of Pakistan in another million dollar mansion?

I think that now is a real possibility, but the last few videotapes we've seen of Zawahiri, there have been nice curtains behind him, suggesting he's in a residence somewhere. I think that's a real possibility.

Also, western intelligence officials in recent years have believed that Zawahiri and Bin Laden have been, perhaps, in close geographic proximity.

So I think the fact right now they've now got Bin Laden, they've got all these hard drives in Bin Laden's compound, that may really help now in the hunt for al Qaeda's de facto number one. ROMANS: And if your Pakistan and the ISI, you know that the heat is on, though. That -- whatever is harboring or helping him, is got to be very nervous.

VELSHI: Those two guys get found in Pakistan, they're going to be answering. Thank you.

ROMANS: The head of the CIA expects the Bin Laden death photos to be made public, but the final decision, of course, as we've been reporting now -- it lies with the White House and at least one photo is said to be pretty gruesome.

There's concerns that could stir up anti-American feelings. Our question this morning, should photos be released? Here are some of your responses.

CHETRY: Let's take a look at some of them. We have Weary 12CYN, "Yes, I do think releasing some photos would be helpful, especially the ones showing respectful treatment over OBL burial at sea."

VELSHI: And on twitter - "Yes, to believe and don't create a myth."

ROMANS: "I would prefer tact. Justice does not have to equate to our indecency."

CHETRY: Coming from Facebook, "No, they shouldn't. I don't think some would believe he is dead unless they pulled the trigger themselves anyway. Evil as he was, we have no business publicizing his death photo."

VELSHI: Kaitlin writes on our blog "The majority of people have made up their minds whether they think Osama is dead or not. A photograph released by the government, anything released by the government, this late after the fact is already clouded with suspicion and highly unlikely to change any minds.

ROMANS: But this is what John says, "Release of pictures shows no other reason to pander to curiosity of people. Sometimes trusting the government that Osama is dead is the best option. This is one of them."

CHETRY: Conspiracy theorists right back.

Thanks for your feedback. A lot of different points of view on this. This question is still in the air, set to be up to the White House.

VELSHI: We'll read more of your responses about an hour from now. Let us know what you think, e-mail, give us a tweet, or tell us on Facebook.

ROMANS: Still to come this morning, President Obama asked President Bush if he wanted to be with him at ground zero tomorrow. President Bush said no thank you. We're going to tell you why after the break.

CHETRY: Also Sheryl Crowe, she's trading in the guitar for a cookbook. The rocker gets into the kitchen to make you healthy. She's going to be joining us coming up.

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CHETRY: Its' 48 minutes past the hour. A lot going on this morning. Top U.S. officials still debating whether to release pictures of Osama bin Laden's body. The head of the CIA Leon Panetta says he thinks the pictures will be released soon. The White House, though, will make the final call.

George W. Bush will not be joining President Obama for an observance tomorrow at ground zero. Obama extended the invitation, but a spokesman for the former president says that he wants to stay out of the public eye now that he's out of office.

ROMANS: Markets open in less than two hours. The Dow starting the day up a fraction at 12,808, NASDAQ down 22 points and the S&P off four.

CHETRY: The next James Bond film could be record breaking. Producers are trying to fetch $45 million in product placement. That's more than double the original record.

Scott Kelly will replace Katie Couric. Kelly, who has been with "60 Minutes" since 2004, starts his new gig June 6th.

ROMANS: Minnesota Twins Pitcher Francisco Lariano threw a no hitter last night. He threw 123 pitches leading the Twins to a 1-0 victory over the White Sox.

We are caught up on today's headlines. "American Morning" will be back in just 60 seconds.

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CHETRY: It's 51 minutes past the hour, time for an "AM House Call" right now. We first told you about this story back in February. Before he took his own life, former NFL star David Duerson left a note. He requested that his brain be studied for evidence of a dementia-like disease that is exposed to athletes that are exposed to repeated hits to the head.

ROMANS: Scientists now confirmed that Duerson's brain tissue did show evidence of this disease. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now from Atlanta. A really sad story, but in the end, what did this report find about Duersan's condition?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a remarkable story. He did leave this note. He was starting to suffer symptoms, young guy, only 50-years-old at the time. He was starting to become increasingly demented. He was worried that that was as a result of his career as a football player and from him having taken many blows to the head.

Exactly what you said, though, they found what is known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Let me show you these pictures. On the left, that's what a normal brain should look like. On the right, on the very far right, you see that area of brown, that's in a 73-year- old who had diagnosed dementia.

In the middle, that's Dave Duerson's brain looked at under the microscope. You see the brownish area, plaques and tangles so often associated with dementia in someone 50 years old. Out of NFL players, they have found this in 14 out of 15 brains they have studied. And overall they have looked at all kinds of people that are athletes and not athletes they have found a CTE in people as young as 18 years old.

So again, the concern is repeated blows to the head leading to a dementia-like illness way too young. I talked to his wife to get an idea of what symptoms he was having. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was saying as far as his memory and a lot of his vision was blurred. He had problems putting words together and some spelling problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Depression, rage and memory loss, that really seems to be the triad of the CTE. Again, he sort of knew in life that this probably happened and had his brain studied after he passed away.

VELSHI: The tragic, sad part of the story is that people have doubted that this actually happened. And Duerson for various reasons chose to take his life and in part to get his brain studied. Is there a better way to do this, to test for this condition in living players?

GUPTA: Not as of yet. They are hoping that through this research, the Boston University School of Medicine that they are going to come up with some better ways to test in life. Right now this is all clinical, putting people through questionnaires and doing the baseline could cognitive exams.

CHETRY: Do they need to start changing some of the ways that the game is played?

GUPTA: I think they do. I will tell you something else, Kiran, it sort of trickles down. What is happening at the NFL, we see that culture start to change in college, high school, and so forth.

The NFL is starting to make some changes. They changed from where it is kicked off. They moved it further forward so there are fewer kickbacks. People running that ball back, that is one of the most dangerous parts of the game as far as concussions go.

There are also mandated sideline exams. So if there is a concern, a player is pulled out. You are going to start seeing this, a player out actually getting a sideline exam. The mantra is, "if there is a doubt, sit them out." We will see how well it is enforced but that's -- you are starting to see those changes take place.

VELSHI: Sanjay, thanks very much for joining us. This is an important topic. Sanjay Gupta joining us from Atlanta.

GUPTA: Thanks.

ROMANS: That elite Navy Seal team, team six, a swift and lethal strike. What they knew about the compound before they went in and more importantly what they didn't know, and when they found out their target was bin Laden.

VELSHI: And the question that keeps coming up, should we show, or should the government show a photo shows Osama bin Laden dead? We have been asking you for your feedback all morning. Keep it coming on our blog on Facebook or twitter. We will have more of your feedback in the next hour.

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