Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Government's Criminal Investigation Into the Spill; Turkey Backs Out of Trilateral Military Exercises With U.S., Israel; Gulf Shrimpers Reporting Illness Due to Spill
Aired June 02, 2010 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
QUESTION: Admiral Allen, (INAUDIBLE) CBS News Radio. You had a meeting that may have been sometime yesterday with local officials who are lobbying hard and fast to get some movement on the sand berms in barrier isles. You've given them, I understand, a time of I guess 4:00 this afternoon when you will have it on your recommendation to the White House. I'm just wondering what have you learned in the last 24 hours or 48 hours, if you will, that you didn't know already? What are you taking into account that maybe you hadn't taken into account before to reach that decision?
ALLEN: That's a great question.
First of all, the meeting we held in New Orleans yesterday which included members of academia, federal trustees, Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA and so forth, was convened to answer a couple of specific questions that the president had for me following the meeting at Grand Isle last Friday, both the governor and parish presidents and some of the local mayors.
Specifically, he wanted to understand what is the feasibility of constructing the proposed barriers and berms and number two, are they effective as far as this oil spill response? And most of the discussion yesterday focused on the fact that barrier islands and berms have the potential to protect a far greater area of marshland behind them. So there's a multiplier effect for each mile of berm or barrier that you would construct.
On the other hand, as Dr. Lubchenco (ph) has noted a couple of times and other (inaudible) we need to make sure that in constructing those barriers and berms that we're not doing harm to the environment by changing the water curtain, the direction of the tide and the ocean currents and other environmental impacts.
All of that was brought forward. Everybody made recommendations to find their positions. I briefed cabinet officials this morning and we're looking to try to get a decision later on today. So far we're on the timeline, we just haven't made the decision yet.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You have been listening for the past few minutes to really the government's point man on sort of commandeering this oil spill cleanup effort and that is the Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen and there was also an administrator with NOAA there and really just a break through everything. They were talking about the news that was made that first cut was made on that riser. That has officially happened.
Let me look down at my notes. They're in the midst of doing that second cut now and it's that second cut that we're all watching and waiting for because that is when we should be seeing potentially this 20 percent increase in the gush in the oil, but they might have hit a snag in that second cut.
We turned around some sound for you. Listen to Admiral Thad Allen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Over the night we were successfully able to do a sheer cut of the marine riser pipe. That is at 5,000 feet of pipe that's crumpled on the ocean floor used to connect the wellhead to the mobile drilling unit. We are in the process right now of trying to do the second fine cut with the diamond wire saw. That saw blade has become stuck inside the riser pipe. They're working to move the riser pipe to set it free. Everyone who uses a saw knows once in a while it will bind up. That's kind of what's happening there.
(END VIDEO CLIP
BALDWIN: All right. Let's continue talking about this and let's dissect this process. Let's walk through this and talk about really all these efforts to contain this gushing oil. Now it's been compared to performing heart surgery from about a mile under water and CNN's John Zarrella, he has been on Alabama's Dauphin Island because of all these tar balls that have now appeared on the shore.
But John, let's just talk about what we just heard in that news conference and I think the most significant part is the fact that we know that second cut is under way. They've hit the snag with the saw, but they didn't seem to be too worried about it. If they have to, they'll bring the second saw down and then the cap. Is that what you got out of that?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that seems to be the gist of it, Brooke, and he did make a good point. It's like anybody who's used a saw they get stuck sometimes and certainly working at 5,000 feet. If you can kind of move that pipe a little bit and maybe get that pipe to just bow a little open and then they can get the saw to start cutting again. If not, they can't bring the other diamond saw down there and they can maybe hopefully finish that cut and as you were pointing out that's when it is very likely that we would really see the oil gushing out.
And we've heard estimates of what 20 percent increase in the amount of oil coming out until they can get the lower marine riser packaged cap and picked up, which is sitting on the ocean floor, lifted up and then laid over the top of the blowout preventer. That's the plan of how they would do it. Get that on the top of the blowout preventer and then they would be able to contain what they believe is a significant amount of the oil. All of the oil? Probably not. As you know, Brooke, what we've been right along is it's very likely that until they get that relief well drilled which is going to still to take at least a couple of more months, they're really not going to be in a position where they can cap that well and completely shut it off. Brooke.
BALDWIN: Right. That's exactly right. And I think they were saying four to seven days maybe when they get that cap on top of that leak location once that riser is cut. So, John, now that that's out of the way, the admiral also then moved on to tactics and he talked about - and this is precisely why we want to talk to you because you're in Dauphin island.
He talked about the tar balls and the emulsified oil is now being found in both Mississippi and Alabama. Tell me about you what you're seeing there.
ZARRELLA: Yes, there's no question about it. You know, our video journalist, all-platform journalist Patrick Oppmann was out here yesterday and got some of the first pictures of these and they're not even tar balls. This is just globs of oil. Some of it, you know, a couple of inches by a couple of inches, some of it a little bigger than that.
And you know, as I walked along at first light this morning and the beach is extremely white, it's beautiful white sand beach, Brooke, and it's a couple of football fields or more from where we are all the way down to the water's edge and you walk along there and it is literally here, here, here, here, one chunk of this oil after another, and it's very brown and someone - one of the officials with the health department here in Alabama said it clearly looks like it's very weathered oil, that it's been in the Gulf of Mexico for a considerable amount of time.
Now, all morning this morning we've seen crews of cleanup workers being staged in various areas, but we've had some tremendous lightning and thunderstorms rolling over us in the last couple of hours. So they haven't gotten those containment crews, cleanup crews out on the beach yet.
Another thing I just saw driving down the road here, two big, big flatbed trucks, loaded, loaded with orange boom. So, clearly, the plan is that wherever they can at some point they're going to start to get that boom out and around some of these areas to protect the beaches.
And what's interesting, Brooke, is you know, where I'm standing, if you can look to the left of me, to the left side here, you don't see any of the tar - any of the oil, but if you look to the right side of a fishing pier which juts out over here, that's where all the oil is that we've seen today along the beach and there is a considerable amount of these - these globs of brown, dirty oil sitting all along the beach area over to my right. Brooke?
BALDWIN: Yes. And John, other than the two people that just kind of walked behind you, I mean, what else we're not seeing in your picture is people and I was glued to my blackberry and I was looking at those pictures that Patrick Oppmann was sending in, and there seemed to be people sitting on the beach, kind of taking in the sun, and then speed away, you see the globs of oil.
I mean, are there people out there taking advantage of the beach or are they scared away?
ZARRELLA: Yes, they certainly were yesterday, today not so much because of the weather conditions, but yesterday not only sitting in the sand there were people out in the water and you know, Patrick Oppmann asked a couple of the folks "what are you doing out in the water?" and one of them, you know, the boy came up and he had oil covering his hands and Patrick asked the mother, "why is he in the water?" and her response was, "well, she told him to keep his mouth closed." I mean, there are still plenty of people out and around on Dauphin Island.
BALDWIN: Wow!
ZARRELLA: Yes. The hotels are packed here and it's - it's a shame, again, but it's like dominoes. It appears one chain of islands from Mississippi to Alabama. Florida may very well be next, is going to be facing some contamination on the beaches from this oil which just keeps coming ashore.
BALDWIN: It is unreal, isn't it? John Zarrella for us in beautiful Dauphin Island in Alabama. John, thank you.
And you know, for millions and millions of people along the Gulf, BP can't quite get anything right. That's what they're saying. Not even an apology. I want to show you the latest PR misstep to ignite really this public outrage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY HAYWARD, CEO, BP: I'm sorry. We're sorry for the massive disruption it's caused their lives. We're - there's no one that wants this thing over more than I do. I'd love my life back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: "I'd like my life back." That is BP CEO Tony Hayward, right? And that's not winning much sympathy from people down along the Gulf. Last night, our own Anderson Cooper talked to a Louisiana politician who has become really the voice here of the region's frustrations.
Here's his response to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILLY NUNGESSER, PLAQUEMINES PARISH PRESIDENT: It makes me sick to my stomach. Everything this guy says from that to there's no plumes out there, I stated today I'd like to take him offshore and stick him 10 feet under the water and pull him up with that black all over his face and ask him what that is. It's just ridiculous statements one after another.
It's no wonder if he's leading this company, it's no wonder they can't stop the leak or do anything right because his ridiculous comments only insults the people of south Louisiana, and it's a good thing I wasn't in Venice when he made those comments.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So BP has clearly been criticized by this, right? But so has President Obama. He has been criticized, not only by Republicans, but by Democrats for how he's handled this Gulf oil crisis and he has since appointed this independent commission to investigate the spill while the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder launched this criminal probe.
CNN's Jim Acosta has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First the comparison between the oil disaster and Hurricane Katrina. Now a new analogy that's no more flattering.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The danger is this isn't his Katrina, it's his Iranian hostage crisis and that happened to Carter in his first and it turned out the only term.
CLARENCE PAGE, COLUMNIST: In fact, there was an ABC program that rose up - what was it called? Hostage -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "America held hostage."
PAGE: "America held hostage," right. A nightly program that became "Nightline," you know, and all of that held the presidency captive.
ANNOUNCER: The Iran crisis. American Held Hostage.
ACOSTA: The fact that a TV show was created to track the Iran hostage crisis after militants took control of the U.S. embassy in Tehran is a sign of how a painful, ongoing political drama can slowly eat away at a presidency. As that crisis dragged on 444 days, far longer than the oil disaster now at day 44, over time historians note it wasn't just 52 Americans being held hostage, but President Jimmy Carter, too. The hostages were freed the day Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president.
LARRY SABATO, UNIV. OF VIRGINIA CTR. FOR POLITICS: The longer the crisis goes on without a solution, the more likely the people are to blame the president and his administration rather than just BP.
GOV. ED RENDELL (D), PENNSYLVANIA: The president is a funny guy and he's doesn't like to be grandstanding. So the optics aren't quite as good as it could have been.
ACOSTA: While Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell doesn't buy the comparison with the hostage crisis, he does think it would do the president some good to spend more time on the Gulf coast.
RENDELL: So the president I think hasn't done as good a job as he could have in explaining to the American people in doing those sort of visual events that get across what he's done, but the response here has been, I think, very, very good, and it's something that I think the American people will weigh, but sure, as time goes on, as it become more of a problem? Sure, it does.
ACOSTA: Which may explain why the White House is distancing itself from BP and no longer holding joint press conferences with the company.
ALLEN: We need to communicate with the American people through my voice as incident commander and I think that's how we ought to be communicating.
ACOSTA: And why Attorney General Eric Holder is opening a criminal probe in the disaster.
ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, anyone who has violated the law.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: And Jim Acosta now joining me live from Washington. Jim, what can the president do in terms of being held captive to this crisis on the Gulf?
ACOSTA: Right. Well, Brooke, he can change the agenda. Today he's going to Pittsburgh to talk about the economy. Tomorrow he's meeting with the governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, about the immigration laws there.
So that can change the headlines a bit, but he's still going to be captive to what is happening on the Gulf, and if this lasts until August, the way some experts predict, that means that this crisis would have gone on for 100 days, more than 100 days and that just adds up to a summer of pure presidential hell.
And just to talk a little bit about how the White House is trying to separate itself from BP, I don't know if you noticed this, Brooke, but as you were teasing that press conference with Thad Allen about 30 minutes ago and showing that empty lectern down in the Gulf coast, there was - at one point, this morning, I saw a BP logo on that lectern and then as the press conference was getting started that BP logo was gone.
Not sure whether or not it has anything to do with the White House's new approach to handling this crisis, but it is very interesting to see that.
BALDWIN: Jim Acosta, I'm glad you brought that up. I was getting little back stories scuttlebutt in my e-mail about that and you're precisely right. They removed this prominent BP logo on the front of that podium, leaving behind some awkward adhesive tape, I'm reading. ACOSTA: Yes.
BALDWIN: So who knows? A lot of people that will be reading into that. Jim Acosta for us in D.C.. Thank you, sir.
ACOSTA: You're welcome.
BALDWIN: And in terms of what's going on down in the Gulf, Oscar award-winning film director James Cameron hopes to help stop the oil gusher. Have you heard about this? He's among the group of top 20 scientists, engineers and technical experts who have met with federal officials to discuss how to plug this thing.
Cameron, you remember, in the movies designed cameras and robots for underwater scenes in both "The Abyss" and "Titanic."
And it started out as a humanitarian voyage to Gaza. It ended in a bloody raid and now jail time, but hundreds of activists are heading home freed finally from Israeli prisons. Developments though are coming in fast and furious. And you know CNN, we're on top of them all. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Fourteen Americans who were still held in Israel following Monday's bloody flotilla fight should be heading home by the end of the day today. That is according to Israeli officials. Our embassy in Tel Aviv says a total of 16 Americans were onboard those six ships raided by Israeli commandos during that humanitarian mission to deliver all those supplies to that blockade at the Gaza Strip.
We are also told that two of the U.S. citizens have already left. Now, Israeli officials say they have no emptied their prison cells of all foreign flotilla activist. It is now simply, they say, a matter of clearing them out of the country, but Israeli sources also tell us that four of the passengers will not be released until next week. All of them just so happened to be Israeli-Arabs and it's not yet clear if any of the activists will face criminal charges.
Still here, you've seen the pictures. The ripple effect from Monday's deadly raid, that pre-dawn raid is being felt all around the world. Protesters storming city streets as more aid ships prepare to take on that blockade. In fact, one of them expects to reach Gaza by this weekend.
And just last hour here at CNN we got word from a U.S. military official that Turkey is now informally backing out of these trilateral military exercises set for August with not just the U.S., but with Israel and this is simply one sign that the two - the U.S., rather, is caught between two key allies, but the White House here, the White House is echoing a U.N. resolution for this impartial investigation.
And foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty is tracking all those developments in Washington, D.C..
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anger over Israel's deadly clash aboard a civilian ship ricochets around the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Justice now! Justice now!
DOUGHERTY: Even to the gates of the White House, a noisy reminder of the Obama administration's diplomatic dilemma. Turkey's foreign minister arrives at the State Department for a meeting with Hillary Clinton. Originally focused on Iran, the talks now shift to the attack at sea. Just before that meeting he tells CNN the U.S. should condemn the Israeli attack.
AHMET DAVUTOGLU, TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER: Turkish, Italian, Greek, many countries were attacked by a state, not by a terrorist group, by a state, by intentional attacking. This is unacceptable.
DOUGHERTY: Israel says it regrets the loss of life, but it has nothing to apologize for.
YULI EDELSTEIN, ISRAELI MINISTER OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS: I don't think that this kind of provocation has any potential of changing anything in the U.S.-Israel relations.
DOUGHERTY: But the showdown leaves the U.S. in a tough spot, plowing forward at the U.N. with a draft resolution on Iran sanctions, it wants Turkey's support, but Turkey wants U.S. support for an international, not just Israeli investigation of the flotilla raid the cautious secretary won't go that far.
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We support in the strongest terms, the security council's call for a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation. We support an Israeli investigation that meets those criteria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Now, Jill Dougherty joining me now from the State Department to look ahead here.
And, Jill, we just reported about these flotilla organizers whose activists there are very determined. They say they're not going to stop despite this blockade. They are still sending in more ships with supplies headed to Gaza. What are you hearing here? I mean, is the U.S. trying to stop that? Do anything about that?
DOUGHERTY: Well, they're worried about it and the State Department says that Secretary Clinton did speak with Ehud Barack, who is defense minister for Israel and you know, cautioning that all sides should be very, very careful. It's a tense situation and you certainly don't want to have a repeat of what happened.
And you know, Brooke, there are ramifications from this because one of the top priorities for the administration and the other one, besides Iran is Mideast peace and indirect talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis were just starting up again and that could threaten to be derailed so you have the top person, the point man on Mideast peace, George Mitchell going back to the region.
BALDWIN: Right. We know Israeli P.M., Benjamin Netanyahu was supposed to be in Washington this week. That trip was canceled. We'll be watching this process go forward just as I know you will. Jill Dougherty for us at the State Department, thank you.
And back to the story along the Gulf here. The Gulf coast fishermen, they're cleaning up oily waters and some of them, getting sick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This one's hanging over the boat throwing up. This one says he's dizzy and he's feeling faint.
That's abnormal for our guys. This is a bunch of tough, hard core fishermen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Fishermen scared to talk about the health risks here, but one of their wives, she is opening up to our own Elizabeth Cohen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right. Just a couple of minutes ago we had a live picture out of Schreiber, Louisiana, that's where we heard from Coast Guard, federal government's lead man here, Admiral Thad Allen, talking about the latest efforts under water to cap or really contain this leak. And he talked about how they have officially made that first cut of the riser and now they're on their way making that second cut before placing that custom fit cap but they hit a snag and for more on that let's go to David Mattingly.
He's been covering this thing for us for days and days on end. David, you were so good and you got that first question in again on that news conference. And let me just first ask, I hear you're getting more information about that snag, about that saw issue.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it seems like all of the questions we have with this operation is about timing. Why is it taking so long to get answers? Why is it taking so long to actually make something happen down there underneath the water.
Well, today we're finding that that diamond saw that is supposed to be cutting across the top of that leaking riser pipe is stuck right now. It's stuck sort of like a saw blade would get stuck if you were sawing on a tree limb and the tree limb just kind of pinched the blade. Well, what they're doing now is they're looking of bringing another saw down there to continue that cut.
Admiral Thad Allen telling us this isn't going to be a big problem. They know they can cut the pipe. The question is how clean will that cut be and that's very important right now because the cleaner the cut, that means - the cleaner the cut, the better they'll be able to establish a seal around that pipe when they put the cap on it possibly later today.
So the better the seal, the more oil they'll be able to trap and collect and siphon up to the surface. So that cut right now how clean it is. It's going to be very important, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Right. We know the seal won't be perfect. It won't be able to trap all of the oil but gain they're saying most - David Mattingly for us in Schreiber, Louisiana with that update. David, thank you.
And there's this whole other part of the story that CNN is looking closely at. This big hush over the Gulf Coast. Nine fishermen have been hospitalized and others say they have become sick after working on these oily waters but up to this point, no one is talking about this, at least publicly.
CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen found one wife who is breaking her silence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Late one night, at the end of April, Kindra Arnesen's husband David was out shrimping on his boat. Seven other shrimping boats around him.
KINDRA ARNESEN, SICK FISHERMAN'S WIFE: I received several phone calls from him, this one's hanging over the boat throwing up. This one says he's dizzy and he's feeling faints. That's abnormal for our guys. This is a bunch of tough, hard core fishermen.
COHEN (on camera): How did he say he was feeling?
ARNESEN: Nauseous and a really bad headache.
COHEN (voice-over): Men sick on eight boats. She says, not a coincidence.
(on camera): He told you he could smell the oil.
ARNESEN: It was really strong. He said that it was so strong that they could almost taste it.
COHEN: But BP and EPA have been monitoring the air and they say it's safe. Don't worry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If the air is just fine and all of a sudden everybody is sick. Come on.
COHEN: You don't believe it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't believe them.
COHEN (voice-over): She says until this day her husband was completely healthy but he's been sick ever since.
ARNESEN: It's a nasty cough. I literally woke him up over and over again.
COHEN (on camera): Have you ever seen him like that?
ARNESEN: Never.
COHEN: Short of breath?
ARNESEN: Never.
COHEN: He doesn't have asthma or anything like that in.
ARNESEN: Nothing. NO breathing problems, ever. Nothing.
COHEN (voice-over): BP's top executives had suggested spoiled food could have made the fishermen ill, but a public health official contacted by CNN considered that highly unlikely in light of their symptoms.
(on camera): Now, Kindra, I've got to tell you, you're talking about this. You're the only one I found who is. People are mighty quiet around here.
ARNESEN: They're terrified.
COHEN: Why are they terrified?
ARNESEN: It's BP. You're messing with the king. That's what I've been told. Kindra, you're not scared? You're messing with the king.
COHEN: So why aren't you scared?
ARNESEN: I am.
COHEN (voice-over): The shrimping waters have since been closed down because of the oil and Kindra's husband has signed a contract to work with BP. It includes a provision that prohibits him from talking publicly about his work.
(on camera): So your husband signed a gag order back in April and then -
ARNESEN: May 24th.
COHEN: May 24th. Right, they revoked the gag order. So why won't he talk?
ARNESEN: Still scared.
COHEN: What's he scared of?
ARNESEN: Losing his job.
COHEN: Are you scared of BP?
ARNESEN: Am I scared of BP. Our financial situation lays in the palm of their hands.
COHEN: So why is she talking when so many others have been silent.
ARNESEN: It starts with one. Anything. Anything that ever starts with one, and if I have to be the one, then I have to be the one.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Amazing. She says BP is the king. Elizabeth Cohen, you were down there. You're back. Amazing job getting her to speak to you. How is her -- how is the fisherman doing?
COHEN: She says that her husband still is not back to his usual healthy state. He said he has this terrible cough. He is still taking medicine that his doctor prescribed, and she said he's not back anywhere near back to his energy level. She said this is a man who used to come back for shrimping for 12 hours or whatever and go outside and play with his kids. And she said now he is just, you know, just goes on sleep. Just doesn't have the energy he used to have.
And she's worried. She's wondering when she'll get her husband back.
BALDWIN: And again, to be fair, BP was saying hey, it could be food poisoning.
COHEN: Right. BP says this could be food poisoning.
BALDWIN: OK. Elizabeth Cohen. Nice job.
COHEN: Thanks.
BALDWIN: An Air Force member honored for her heroism. A hotel, totally collapsed during Haiti's devastating earthquake back in January. We'll introduce you to the woman who went through extreme lengths just to get to the scene, and we'll talk to the man she helped pull from the rubble.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Former president Bill Clinton returned to Haiti to keep the spotlight on that ongoing earthquake recovery effort. Remember, he is the co-chairman of the committee overseeing international construction aid. Shelter is the biggest need in Haiti right now, especially with the hurricane season beginning here.
And to help with that, one firm building 125,000 house-shaped shelters. As for the pace of the recovery, though, the former president was hopeful that would and should speed up.
And if you remember the pictures, one of the areas hardest hit, in fact, the building hardest hit in that area during the earthquake was a hotel housing hundreds of people. And in an instant the five- story Hotel Montana just completely reduced to rubble. Now, an Air Force major being honored for her actions moments after that building fell. She is Major Betsy Ross. She received an Airman's Medal for rescuing a fellow Air Force member trapped in that rubble. And it's given to members, this award, given to members of the Air Force who risk their lives performing a heroic act that doesn't actually involve actual combat.
And she is good enough to join me live this morning along with the airman she rescued, Tech Sergeant Fernando Magri (ph).
Both of you, good morning. Whew! What a story. Good morning to both of you.
First, Major Ross, I want to begin with you. Let's set the scene. We all remember the day, it was January 12th when that earthquake struck. Where were you, and what in the world was that like?
MAJOR BETSY ROSS, U.S. AIR FORCE: I was with my boss, Lieutenant General Ken Keen. We were at the U.S. ambassador's residence, Ambassador mutton. And we were at his residence awaiting a reception that was going to be held with some military officials as well as some government of Haiti officials and leadership.
So, we were in the residence when the earthquake struck. And it sounded like a loud boom, and I first thought it was a bomb. And so I didn't know if I should stay inside or go outside. So I said well, I better stay in if it's a bomb. And then a few seconds later when the shaking continued, I realized quickly that it wasn't a bomb and it was an earthquake. But by then, the shaking was so strong they couldn't move. So, I just sat down on the floor and hoped for the best.
BALDWIN: Well, you did move, Major Ross. I don't know how long you were sitting on that floor, but you did move. And at that point when the earth is shaking, you can't exactly hop in the car and you immediately thought of your -- I'm sure, your colleagues. A bunch of them were at this hotel. Talk me through the decision of walking how many miles?
ROSS: Well, it was about four miles.
BALDWIN: Wow!
ROSS: It took us a while. My BlackBerry worked, and so I was texting and e-mailing sergeant Fernando Magri. Of course, I didn't get a response from him. But we were up there for a while trying to come to terms with how bad the earthquake and was what the effects were when one of our other teammates, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Thomas made his way from the hotel. He survived the hotel and made his way out and came up to the residence. And that's when we had our first indication of just how bad the earthquake was, but also the hotel where our folks were staying.
BALDWIN: So as you're headed to the hotel, Tech Sergeant Magri, I see you nodding along and smiling a little bit. I'm sure grateful to be sitting in that seat now, right? TECH SGT. FERNANDO MAGRI, U.S. AIR FORCE: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: At that moment, January 12th, you are in this hotel. Rubble's coming all down and you get trapped, do you not?
MAGRI: Yes, absolutely. I fell a few stories since the building completely collapsed. I was in the fifth floor, the last floor of the building. And everything came down. I don't know how I fit in that one little crevice, God's hand or something, but I'm just lucky to be here.
BALDWIN: And you're in this crevice and correct me if I'm wrong, but you were a bit sick, you had a cough, right?
MAGRI: Yes.
BALDWIN: Let's talk about the cough, guys. I'm sure people at home are thinking, what does the cough have to do with this? But it's the cough, sir, that got Major Ross to you.
MAGRI: Exactly. Absolutely.
Well, I had been irritating Major Ross a few weeks before, for a few weeks with that cough, and I had to go to Haiti with them. It was starting to subside, but it kind of kicked up with all of the dust when I went under. But I was able to get to a certain point where I could be heard and made my way through tripping through rocks and moving things. And then I was in there for about five hours.
And then, I'm sitting there just kind of waiting for help, waving anything down that I can when I hear Major Ross' voice. Some people saying hello? Hello? Sergeant Magri, and I say, ma'am? But the thing is that -- I coughed before that, and then she called out, Sergeant Magri?
BALDWIN: And you said ma'am? You were even polite in rubble.
(LAUGHTER)
ROSS: He was.
MAGRI: I said that, and I was, like -- you know, it was a great thing --
BALDWIN: It's a great thing.
MAGRI: -- hearing that voice.
BALDWIN: It's wonderful to see you both in front of me.
And Major Ross, you got this amazing award. I believe it was only nine people in the last two years have gotten this. How does it feel? How is it sitting next to your colleague here?
ROSS: Well, it's a very humbling experience, of course. You know, it's a great honor, and I think what I did was what every airman, soldier, sailor, Coast Guardsman would do. You know, one of our creeds that we live by in the military is never leave one of our own behind. And I think what I did was what we would all do and go find our folks.
So, I'm thrilled that I was able to find Sergeant Magri. I do want to just mention that we had another teammate, Lieutenant Colonel Ken Borland, that did not survive the earthquake. He was killed in the Hotel Montana there. So, our heartfelt sympathies still go out to his family that he is not forgotten.
BALDWIN: Absolutely.
Major Ross, Sergeant Magri, wonderful of both of you to share your story with us, amazing heroic effort. Thank you both.
ROSS: Thank you.
MAGRI: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Well, Haiti. You've seen the pictures, they are still very much rebuilding from that devastating earthquake. And you can go to CNN.com/impact, that is Impact Your World. That's that Web site, and you can actually see how you can still help.
And a lot of help is needed along the Gulf Coast. Day 44 of that oil spill; still no end in sight, and so much damage already done. Just ask the workers who have to clean up the Gulf one blade of grass at a time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": Now, they've tried a couple of different ways to fix this damn thing. There was a top hat idea, where they were going to put a dome over the whole thing. And that didn't work.
And there was the junk shot, where they tried to fill the pipe with mud and golf balls and trash, and that didn't work. Although on the plus side, we did fill the Gulf of Mexico with mud, golf balls and trash.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: After that, they tried something even more unorthodox. Something called the "Gloop shot." They clogged the pipe with a morbidly obsese German child -
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: -- that held it for a while, and then -- noooooo! (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Ah, Jon Stewart. A little Willy Wonka reference in there.
All right. So, yes, he can laugh about it, but I tell you, this damage down there is certainly no laughing matter. In fact, so much damage has been done to the Gulf Coast region that so many millions of gallons of oil has already spilled. And our own Gary Tuchman, he is down there. And he's tracking down some of the workers tasked with cleaning up all that oil and he found it is a day-by-day, inch-by-inch process. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We travel via airboat, through the swampy, grassy waters just off the coast of Louisiana to see some of the 20,000-plus people BP has hired to protect and clean up the oily coastlines.
And we run into these three men doing what appears to be an incredibly thankless task. This Coast Guard petty officer describes it well.
PETTY OFFICER NYXOLYNO CANGEMI, U.S. COAST GUARD: We have cleanup that are actually wiping down the grass with absorbent pads.
TUCHMAN: That's right. People being hired by BP are wiping down blades of grass. They're also replacing oil-sake and, therefore, ineffective booms. But given the number of workers we see in a handful of boats vs. the overwhelming amount of oil coming ashore, it all looks like an impossible task.
(on camera): I mean, it's really making a difference with these guys. They're working hard. But it's such a small area, and there's not that many of these guys doing this.
CANGEMI: Well, we try and bring out as much people as we can. And we -- working as hard as they can to -- to do as much as they can.
TUCHMAN: Yes, I don't doubt their industriousness. But it seems like you need hundreds of people here, and not 40 people in this area, or whatever we're seeing.
CANGEMI: Right. It's -- it's bit of challenge to -- to get as many people you can. And you have to balance it out with the needs of other areas.
TUCHMAN: This work is back-breaking. It's also heartbreaking, because most of the men and women hired by BP to do this work have spent their lives on this water. They rely on it for their recreation. They rely on it for their to make a living.
(voice-over): We wanted to ask them about their work, but were told, to get these jobs from BP, they have to agree not to talk to reporters.
Terry Lapeyrouse isn't working to BP. He talked us to at his general store in town.
TERRY LAPEYROUSE, LONGTIME RESIDENT OF LOUISIANA: I will be 76 in September.
TUCHMAN (on camera): And how many years have you lived here?
LAPEYROUSE: All my life.
TUCHMAN: He knows many of the workers. And he knows the water.
(on camera): They lay on their stomachs. They pick up the dirty boom. They put it in bags. Then they bring out the clean boom. They scrub the grasses with the booms to get the oil off. Do you think that's accomplishing anything?
LAPEYROUSE: A little bit. But there's so much of it out there, that it's just come -- next night, it will be back, you know, on the grass, like it is right now.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): The workers' intentions are noble. But, as long as the leak continues, the teams we saw will be outmanned by the oil that relentlessly washes ashore.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Copetry (ph), Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Now, what about all of those booms and all that oil that the cleanup crews are scooping up? Where does all that stuff go? The answer to that question might surprise you. My colleague T.J. Holmes taking a look at that in the next couple of hours. That is here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: And as we get a quick check of top stories, we want to go straight underwater. There are live pictures of this effort under way and underwater. Folks, this is day 44 of the Gulf oil spill cleanup, and right now BP is cutting the riser pipe on the underwater well, but it hit a snag. The operation has stalled after the saw got stuck. Of course, the goal? Free the saw, finish that cut today.
And more aid convoys are planned for Gaza. More ships. Word from a U.S. military official from Turkey is that Turkey is canceling its exercise with not only Israel, but also with the United States. All foreign flotilla detainees, we're hearing, should be leaving Israel by the end of today.
And President Obama not just talking oil, talking about the state of the economy this afternoon. Later on, he'll be speaking at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University, and the president will be talking about job creation.
And some people could say they haven't seen neighbors feud like this since Dennis the Menace. Remember Mr. Wilson? The guy next door to Sarah Palin creeps her out so much she is putting up this huge fence and she's Facebooking all about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Every day here on the show, we're making the commitment really to honor those service members, those men and women who gave their lives in both Iraq and Afghanistan. We're calling it "Home and Away." It's this project that we're working on with CNN.com. And in just a minute, I'll walk you through it, show you how you can be a part of this.
But right now, I want to share with you this story. This is Petty Officer First Class Jeffrey Lucas Cheney from Omaha, Nebraska, and he was part -- here he is. He was part of an explosive ordinance disposal unit. He was killed in Iraq in July of 007, and we have -- I have some words I want to share with you from a close friend of the family.
They write, "Jeff was a great young man. Everybody loved him. He was taken too soon. Jeff had the amazing ability to make friends, and he was a friend to all who came into contact with him." We thank you for sharing your words.
Folks, if you would like to send in your own tribute we invite you to do so. It's really easy, just go to CNN.com/homeandaway. You'll find a map of the United States.
So what do you do? You click on your hometown and it brings up the names of the service members who were killed in Iraq or even Afghanistan. You can follow the directions, you can send in your memories, you can actually post pictures and send us videos. And we will post them to that site.
Stay here. CNN NEWSROOM will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BALDWIN: Where is Mr. Rogers when you need him? Have you seen this feud between Sarah Palin and the biographer next door? Forget the Bridge to Nowhere. Everybody is talking about the great Wall of Wasilla, custom built by the former first dude. Here now, Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It may not be as great as the Great Wall or as infamous as the Berlin Wall, but Palin's fence isn't leaving anyone on the fence when it comes to its purpose: to block out the best-selling author writing a book about Palin who's rented the house next door.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's kind of stalkerish.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Voyeuristic.
MOOS: And they're not even fans of Sarah Palin. But now author Joe McGinniss is firing back in a "Today Show" interview.
JOE MCGINNISS, AUTHOR: Sarah hysterically puts up this Facebook page with all sorts of ugly innuendo which, frankly, is revolting.
MOOS: Palin made McGinniss sound creepy writing, "Wonder what kind of material he'll gather while overlooking piper's bedroom, my little garden and the family's swimming hole?". But McGinniss told the today show she posted his picture.
MCGINNISS: Surreptitiously, they photographed me standing on my own porch.
MOOS: Conservatives like Glenn Beck call McGinniss --
GLENN BECK, FOX HOST: A Peeping Tom.
MOOS: Greta Van Susteren posted Palin's fence with the caption, "to protect against the Wasilla stalker."
SARAH PALIN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: You know, I think census makes for good neighbors, and Todd and his buddies started the fence yesterday and it's looking good. It's about 14 feet high.
MOOS: Palin's now-famous fence started to sound like a knock- knock joke when "Good Morning America" came to call.
MCGINNISS: Are you Joe?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here to ask a question.
MCGINNISS: I don't want to have to call the Wasilla police
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I just ask --
MCGINNISS: Get off my property now.
MOOS: McGinniss has even gotten threats. Palin counterattacked on Twitter after McGinniss accused her of inciting hatred and acting like a Nazi.
MCGINNISS: She has pushed a button and unleashed the hounds of hell.
PALIN: You know they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.
MOOS (on camera): What of the Palin brouhaha? Good fences don't just make good neighbors, they make good marketing ploys.
(voice-over): An Ohio company is now selling the Palin Fence, pressure treated as Sarah Palin herself has been. Palin captioned her photo of Joe McGinniss, "hi, neighbor. May I call you Joe?" Remember the last time she said that? To a guy named Biden.
PALIN: Hey, can I call you Joe?
MOOS: A McCain aide later said she wanted to call him Joe to enjoy a habit she had of adding an 'o.' PALIN: And Senator O'Biden (sic) --
MOOS: At least with a fence between them, she won't be tempted to call this Joe, O' McGinniss.
Jeanne Moos, CNN --
PALIN: A real pain in the butt.
MOOS: -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: T.J. Holmes, I get it. The guy's got a right to write. But come on now.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that's a little weird.
BALDWIN: You know, I mean, I'd put up a 14-foot fence, too. Right?
HOLMES: Yes. It might even need to be taller. But they say fences make good neighbors.
BALDWIN: Hey, there you go.
HOLMES: All right. No fences up between us.
BALDWIN: No, not at all.
HOLMES: I'll take it here, Brooke. Thank you very much.
BALDWIN: Thanks.
