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Tuesday Night is Ladies Night; Oil Drilling in Limbo; U.S. Border Agent Kill Mexican Teen; Van Der Sloot Reconstructs Crime; Stocks Set to Rise; Suicides at a Chinese Manufacturing Factory; U.N. Vote Set on Iran Sanctions; Primary Victories; Survivor Stories from Rig; Military Slaps Vet with $3K Bill

Aired June 09, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everybody. I'm Kyra Phillips.

It's going to be a heck of a November. We now know most of the candidates. And the good old boy political network isn't what it used to be.

They stopped bleeding on the operating table all the time. Save lives. So why couldn't surgeons do the same on an oil well and save the Gulf?

He took a bullet for his country, gets a purple heart, and another more dubious award -- a bill for more than $3,000.

We begin with the ladies that have landed. More pieces of that glass ceiling crashed to the ground. Let's start with the battle of the big box in California's GOP primary for governor. Meg Whitman, former head of eBay, dug deeper into her own pockets, outspent her opponent by some $45 million and it paid off. Whitman wins and takes on Jerry Brown this fall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEG WHITMAN (R), CALIFORNIA GOV. CANDIDATE: You now face your worst nightmare. Two businesswomen from the real world.

(CHEERS)

WHITMAN: Who know how to create jobs, balance budgets, and get things done.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, as you know, the other businesswoman that Whitman is talking about is Carly Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard. She won the California Republican Senate primary and faces incumbent Barbara Boxer.

Of course the incumbent might be a dirty word this fall. Polls suggest that Boxer could find herself on the ropes.

Same for Harry Reid in Nevada. The Senate majority leader will face Sharron Angle. Her conservative Tea Party cred helped her fend off a dozen other Republicans in the primary.

And there's unfinished business in South Carolina's GOP's primary for governor. There will be a runoff between Nikki Haley and Gresham Barrett. Haley didn't quite get the 50 percent that she needed.

Haley is the Sarah Palin-approved candidate, told "GMA" today that support has been key.

And remember I said incumbent could be a dirty word? Ask Nevada's sitting governor about that, soon-to-be ex-governor, Jim Gibbons, not even getting the chance to run for re-election. Voters dumped him in the primary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JIM GIBBONS (R), NEVADA: I stand here humbled and grateful for the four years that the people of Nevada gave me to be the governor of this great state. And I want to also say that I'm very proud -- very proud of the work we all did, the team and everyone else, over the last 3 1/2 years, and it will continue for the next six months.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: One incumbent who managed to hang on, Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. November won't be a picnic for her, though. She's going to face Congressman John Boozman.

CNN's senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash has been in Little Rock covering that race.

And, Dana, can't help but notice that Tuesday night was definitely a ladies' night across America, seeing women taking the lead in politics, you know, thinking of Rosie the Riveter, right, with a look at what we can do? They've got their sleeves pushed up and they're ready to go.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. And here in particular the incumbent female senator, Blanche Lincoln, she certainly did beat back a lot of expectations that she was done for.

And even frankly from some of her own supporters here in Arkansas and back up in Washington. But she was able to turn the tide, the anti-incumbent tide, frankly because she said maybe about four weeks ago when this runoff started that she got it.

She understood. And so her whole runoff campaign has about -- has been about explaining that, look, I understand you're angry at Washington. She cut an ad straight to camera, just walking through the farm, looking like the daughter of the Delta that she says she is, and not the senator from Washington.

And that was her message. She was helped in a big, big way by a favorite son -- not daughter, but son of Arkansas, and that is the former President Bill Clinton who did an event for her and her supporters think that that really helped in really shocking to the system the people out there who were Blanche Lincoln voters but really weren't sure if they were going to go to the polls.

Turnout really matters in every election, but especially in a runoff, and that helped her big time last night.

PHILLIPS: And, Dana, let's go back to this overall ladies' night aspect of what we've seen here. If we go back to the election and the talk that happened when Hillary Clinton -- it was obvious she was not gaining the ground that she needed to win the presidency.

There was so much talk about, hey, the real racism in this country is against women. That is still the major problem when it comes to -- it's still the issue of breaking the glass ceiling for women.

Now you see this. What kind of -- you talk about messages being laid out. What's the message here?

BASH: It really is fascinating, Kyra, because not only are -- was it women across the board as you have said. Women across the board not running as women. It was almost besides the point that they happened to be female.

I mean you have, of course, these two titans of business in California winning and making clear that that was their -- that that was their campaign focus, which is that they understood how to run things, and, you know, you have even a small business woman in South Carolina in Nikki Haley, who was running.

Here in Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln, it's fun fact for you, she actually was the first -- excuse me, the youngest female ever elected to the Senate at age 38 about 12 years ago, and she, again, was actually besides the point that she happened to be female.

But I can tell you that in her case she used the fact that she's a mom, that she's a daughter to make her point that she's not one of them in Washington. She's not a typical senator.

One other very interesting note, and that is that where I am in Little Rock, this particular district, the 2nd District of Arkansas, it -- the Democrats here elected the first female African-American, and her name is Joyce Elliott.

If she were -- if she goes on to win against a Republican, she will be the first African-American ever elected to Congress from the state of Arkansas. So that's another interesting layer in this power of the woman that we saw last night on many, many levels, including that one.

PHILLIPS: I like that you say power of the woman. We've been hearing everything from girl power to chicks rule to -- you hear all kinds of conversation going on in the newsroom.

Dana Bash, thank you so much.

BASH: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Now on to the Gulf oil crisis. It's day 51, and the disaster goes under the microscope on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers holding no fewer than five separate hearings today. They're looking at a range of issues from cleanup to liability to safety.

And you're seeing high-resolution video of the underwater geyser right now. Lawmakers demanded that BP publicly share it. They want independent experts to study the sharper images and better determine just how much oil is gushing out.

BP says that in the past or in the first four days, rather, since it put the new containment cap over the ruptured well, about 1.8 million gallons of oil has been captured now.

But the toll on the wildlife grows more dire. At last report nearly 600 birds have been found dead along with some 250 sea turtles. That's far more than the number of birds and turtles who have been saved, by the way.

And survivors of the oil rig explosion tell CNN's Anderson Cooper that BP routinely cut corners and ignored the workers' safety concerns. And they say that led to an angry argument the day of that fatal explosion.

With the horrific images of environmental damage, many people outside the region may be surprised by one of the greatest concerns around the Gulf. It's the White House moratorium on oil drilling and the thousands of additional jobs that have now been put at risk.

CNN's John Roberts in New Orleans. He visited a nerve center of an industry that's in limbo.

Right, John?

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Good morning to you, Kiran. You know, the majority of the story that we've heard so far is that the damage to the environment, the damage to the fishing industry, tourism, and what's happening from that side of thing, and certainly that's an incredibly important part of this story.

But down here in Louisiana, the interplay is much more complicated between oil and the ecology. And that is because there are tens of thousands of people in this area whose livelihoods depend on the oil industry.

The president declared a six-month moratorium on new offshore deep-water exploration, and as well things have been moving very slowly in shallow water, that's below -- shallower than 500 feet for the last little while. That apparently is supposed to open up in the next few days to weeks.

But it's had a real impact south of here right along the Gulf Coast, a place called Port Fourchon, which really is the nerve center, if you will, of offshore oil exploration. Went down there yesterday to talk to some of the folks who work supporting the rigs. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS (voice-over): It's the heartbeat of the oil and gas industry in Louisiana, Port Fourchon, where thousands of workers service the big offshore rigs. More victims of the BP oil spill after President Obama declared a moratorium on deep-water drilling.

SHANE GUIDRY, CEO, HARVEY GULF MARINE: So we're going to avoid the Harvey Provider to 240-foot OSV. Services the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

ROBERTS: Shane Guidry is the CEO of Harvey Gulf Marine. Louisiana born and bred, he runs the company his grandfather, a one- time oyster man, started in the 1950s.

GUIDRY: The fishing industry was killed by the oil and gas industry. Then the government shut down the oil and gas industry. It's just -- when does it stop? What do we shut down next?

ROBERTS: Guidry will soon have a decision to make -- keep his idle supply ships in port and potentially lose millions or send them overseas to other oil fields and hire local crews.

Either way, it could spell bad news for lifetime mariners like First Mate Tom Levins.

(On camera): Are you worried, Tom, about getting laid off?

TOM LEVINS, FIRST MATE, HARVEY PROVIDER: Well, sure. Everybody is. You know? I mean, you do something for 28 years, you put your life into it --

ROBERTS: It's tough when it all comes crashing down.

LEVINS: Sure, it is. Sure.

ROBERTS (voice-over): And the ripple effects could spread far and deep, well beyond the crews of these boats.

Before the moratorium, Guidry was about to expand his fleet.

GUIDRY: We had three we were going to build in New Orleans, Trinity, but as of yesterday, those were completely canceled. They're on hold.

ROBERTS: Canceled. And what was that contract worth to Trinity?

GUIDRY: $140 million.

ROBERTS: There are two themes that you hear repeated so much regardless of who you talk to. The people who work in oil and gas, know somebody in fishing or vice versa, or many times the same person has got a foot in both worlds, doing one thing part of the year, the other, the other part of the year.

The other thing you hear so much from so many people is that this is all they know how to do, so if you've got fishing shut down, if you've got oil and gas shut down for a period of time, the economic blow to this area is just going to be devastating.

JAYME SONGY, CAPTAIN, HARVEY PROVIDER: You put the router. It makes it real nice and neat.

ROBERTS (voice-over): Captain Jamie Songy personifies the complex relationship between oil and environment on the Gulf Coast.

SONGY: My wife's entire family does commercial fishing. I'm the oil field side of the family.

ROBERTS: At the moment, it's an uneasy marriage but one for the sake of the local economy and livelihoods that Songy says needs to be worked out.

SONGY: We've been through problems before in south Louisiana, and we're going to pull through it. We're going to clean it up, fix what we got to fix, and keep going. That's how we do it.

ROBERTS: As the crews of these boats await their fate, it's clear there is little love lost for BP. They, too, say the company needs to be held accountable for the accident and do whatever is necessary to put things right.

The blowout they believe was human error, easily avoidable, and something they say in true Louisiana fashion you can protect against.

SONGY: I tell you how you protect against it. You get the guy that caused the human error, you get the guy who didn't follow procedure and policy, and you indict him for 11 murders, for the 11 guys that die. Then the next guy is going to do his job right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And that's the way they would like to take care of it down here.

Kyra, there are according to the offshore industry about 12,000 people who work on those supply boats, but there are about six or seven to one people working on the ground on dry land supporting those boats.

So in total, taken all together, the number of people affected by this moratorium could be up about 100,000. And if they can't get out to work on those oil rigs, that's potentially 100,000 people who will be without paychecks, which as you can see, would greatly complicate the impact of this oil spill here.

PHILLIPS: Well, and not only that, just the lives of so many families as we saw right there with Tom Levins, working that job almost 30 year, doesn't know what else he'd be able to do.

We'll talk more coming up in the next hour. John Roberts, thanks so much. Well, the government's point man on the crisis is asking BP to open up its claims process to state and federal oversight. Admiral Thad Allen says that the transparency will help ensure that coastal residents are properly paid for their losses.

There's no word of a response from BP. Maybe we'll get that next hour when Admiral Allen holds a news briefing. That's scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Eastern, 7:00 a.m. Pacific. We'll carry it live right here.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. We've got flooding rains coming down right now across parts of Texas and storms starting to invade parts of the east. Find out how it will impact your travel. And some big changes in the forecast. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Strong reaction out of Mexico after another death involving U.S. Border Patrol agents. It's the second incident within two weeks.

It happened Monday when an agent shot and killed a teenaged boy along the border with Texas after coming under attack from rock- throwing migrants. Those border -- the border actually patrol says that it comes under hundreds of rocks -- rock attacks and takes them very seriously.

According to "The New York Times," there were almost 540 rock- throwing incidents involving agents between October 2007 to the end of May 2008. Now that number dropped to 460 last year, but it climbed to more than 600 by the end of May of this year.

So was the shooting an act of self-defense? That's what U.S. officials are calling it. But the Mexican government disagrees and considers it a disproportionate use of force by American agents. And they want an investigation.

More now from CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A 14-year-old Mexican boy lies dead on the Mexican side of the border, shot in the head by a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

The FBI says two Border Patrol agents on bike patrol Monday night were detaining two suspected illegal aliens when others began pelting them with rocks. According to the FBI, one of the agents ordered the rock throwers to stop. They did not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the Custom Border Patrol, while he was restraining the guy with his knee in his back, started firing.

MESERVE: This eyewitness, who doesn't want to be identified, said she saw only one boy throw one rock and it didn't hit anyone. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't believe the kid that was killed this evening was the -- was the kid that threw the rock. It was a different one.

I thought the reaction of the Border Patrol was overreaching. It was the use of deadly force when I didn't feel that his life was -- was in jeopardy.

MESERVE: The Mexican Foreign Ministry is calling it a disproportionate use of force, particularly coming from authorities who receive specialized training on the matter.

It's unclear whether the young man was on the U.S. or Mexican side of the border when he was shot. It's an area the FBI describes as a known high-risk crime area, where rocks are regularly thrown at Border Patrol agents and where other assaults have been reported.

(On camera): Customs and Border Protection says the agent who fired the shots is on administrative leave while a thorough multiagency investigation is conducted. The State Department says the U.S. regrets the loss of life.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Joining Jacqui Jeras now. We're talking that heat is kicking up in New Orleans. It was a lot cooler last week when I was there. Now from what I understand it is -- it's pretty brutal.

JERAS: Yes, John was talking about how it was 80 degrees this morning when he started his live shot at 6:00 this morning. So we've got heat advisories in effect.

You know the temperatures on the thermometer here, not so bad. Means only 92 in New Orleans today, but when you add in the high humidity, we're talking about indices (ph) between 105 to 110 at times, so all of those workers out there working on the oil spill in the relief efforts really under some unbearable conditions.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: OK. We'll talk more. Thanks, Jacqui.

JERAS: Sure.

PHILLIPS: OK. He's confessed to the killing, and now he's actually returning to the scene of the crime. Joran Van Der Sloot takes police to the hotel room where a young Peruvian woman was killed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now. It's day 51 of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. The crisis gets focused in five Capitol Hill hearings today. Safety, cleanup and liability issues all will be addressed.

Women won big in Tuesday's primary elections. Nikki Haley forced a runoff in South Carolina's gubernatorial GOP primary. Senator Blanche Lincoln took a Democratic runoff in Arkansas, and then Sharron Angle won the Republican Senate primary in Nevada. In California, Meg Whitman won the GOP contest for governor.

And the Mexican government wants an investigation into the killing of a Mexican teen by a U.S. Border Patrol agent. The teen was shot after suspected illegal immigrants threw rocks at agents.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway could be formally charged today in the death of a Peruvian woman. Joran Van Der Sloot took police on a tour of the crime scene this morning after confessing to the murder.

CNN's Rafael Romo outside that crime scene in Lima, Peru.

Rafael, can you walk us through what happened today?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Well, Kyra, there's been delay after delay after delay. He was expected to be here this morning, and authorities at the last minute decided not to bring him, at least not up until this point.

He was supposed to be here yesterday. It didn't happen. Now today we're waiting for that moment to happen.

What authorities are telling us is that he is going to return here to the Hotel Tac. This is where the homicide happened in room 309 on May 30th, and Joran Van Der Sloot is supposed to tell authorities -- give them a step-by-step account of how he killed 21- year-old Stephany Flores.

Now let me show you what the local press are saying about Joran Van Der Sloot today. This is a local newspaper here in Lima. It says in (speaking in foreign language). That's Peruvian/Spanish slang for a term that encompasses a series of negative things about somebody's personality.

It can mean a liar, a cynic, a junkie, somebody addicted to drugs, and pretty much this word encompasses how Peruvian people feel about Joran Van Der Sloot.

Now we have learned a few details about how the murder happened based on the confession and based on police sources. They told us how it went. They tell us that he has admitted that he had -- he was under the influence of marijuana when the murder happened, that also there was no sexual intercourse and that when he realized that Stephany Flores saw on his computer that he was involved in the Natalee Holloway case, that's when he became very upset and reacted angry and ended up killing her -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Rafael Romo live in Lima, Peru. Well, if you own a General Motors car, SUV or pickup, more than a million of them are being recalled. We're going to tell you which ones. Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, in about a half hour, Fed chief Ben Bernanke set to testify on the economy and what he says could definitely move the markets.

Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.

So what do you think, Alison? What are we expecting to hear from Bernanke?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kyra, Bernanke really made an interesting speech earlier this week, and we're expecting him to give a similar message to Congress today. Basically he'll dish out cautious optimism.

Yesterday he said the economy is improving but it's not going to be feeling terrific mostly because of the continued troubles in the job market. So for now, we are expecting a higher open. We are just seconds before the opening bell.

All right. I've got some good news for thousands of General Motors dealerships. The automakers plan to keep open 900 dealers that it had planned to close because of the restructuring. This could save thousands of jobs.

Meantime, GM also recalling almost 1.5 million vehicles. There seems to be a problem with the windshield washer fluid system that can lead to fire. This involves cars, trucks, and SUVs with 2006 to 2009 model years. Some were recalled previously, but the fix did not work. All right. Let's see if things are working for us on Wall Street. They seem to be doing pretty well. The Dow up 17 points, the Nasdaq higher by 14, and the S&P 500 up about two points.

And finally, Kyra, the late Princess Diana, she was a fashion icon, right? And one of her most talked-about looks has sold at an auction. Take a look at this black taffeta dress. It went for $276,000. She wore it when she was just at the ripe age of 19 right after she became engaged to Prince Charles. At the time, the dress was considered pretty racy because of that dangerously low neckline, and the color, it seems Kyra that royals were only supposed to wear black at funerals. But, you know, she was that fashion forward kind of princess, right?

PHILLIPS: Yes. Even though she was young, she had so much class and so much style, that's for sure.

KOSIK: She did.

PHILLIPS: Alison, thanks.

KOSIK: You got it. PHILLIPS: Let's get a quick update about that huge factory in China where workers make your iPhones, iPads, and then they've been taking their own lives. CNN's John Voss took us inside Foxconn. Ten employees have died by suicide this year. The pressure, the long hours, and abusive managers all blamed. The company now says it will give workers another pay raise. About 67 percent. Last week, Foxconn gave out 30 percent raises. Workers will make about $293 a month.

U.N. Security Council set to vote today on a resolution that will slap Iran with a fourth round of sanctions. It's all designed to keep Iran from developing nukes, among other things. It would prohibit Iran from buying several categories of weapons, including attack helicopters and missiles. It would bar Iran from pursuing any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and freeze the assets of 40 Iranian companies owned, controlled, or acting on behalf of the Islamic revolutionary guard.

Let's get right to our CNN's Richard Roth and senior United Nations correspondent, of course. Richard, what do you think?

Will these new sanctions make a difference or is it just more of the same, same things that we've talked about for years?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Few diplomats believe that these new sanctions, the fourth round since 2006, will force Iran to change its nuclear behavior. Iran insists its nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes.

These sanctions will bite certainly the dozens of people named in the sanctions resolution, and it will also put a little bit more of a noose around some members of the regime and its ability to purchase large weapons systems and it gives some states -- well, they can now board ships on the high seas that they believe have reasonable cause to be shipping technology apart for Iran's nuclear ballistic missile program.

But there are also critics of the resolution, like with many U.N. resolutions, you can interpret them many different ways. The U.S. had to water down some aspects of what it really wanted in order to get China on board, and it will not be a unanimous vote. Either Brazil, Turkey, or Lebanon, or all three will need to vote no or abstain. Still, for the U.S., it's a diplomatic victory, but as you mentioned, Kyra, really what doesn't achieve in the short or long run? Some say Iran has been given more time to build up its uranium enrichment program.

PHILLIPS: Richard Roth from the U.N., thanks.

All right. We know there's a lot of Americans out there that are big time into soccer. And you know what, a lot of you are snapping up those world cup tickets. We're going to break down how much they cost, where you get them, and if you've even got a chance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Top stories now. It's day 51 of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. The crisis gets focused in five Capitol Hill hearings today. Safety, cleanup, and liability issues will all be addressed.

Women won big in Tuesday's primary elections. Nikki Haley forced a runoff in South Carolina's gubernatorial GOP primary. Senator Blanche Lincoln took a democratic runoff in Arkansas. Sharron Angle won the Republican Senate primary in Nevada, and in California, Meg Whitman won the GOP contest for governor.

The Mexican government is demanding an investigation into the killing of a 14-year-old boy from Mexico by a U.S. border patrol agent. The teen was shot during a rock-throwing incident. Agents were in the area responding to reports of immigrants being smuggled into the U.S.

Oil continuously gushing in the Gulf for more than 50 days. BP hasn't capped that leak yet. So, are their engineers overlooking ideas that could work? New Orleans' surgeon says, he came up with a unique solution based on his medical experience. He's going to show us why he says it will work.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It is day 51 of the Gulf oil crisis and the disaster goes on under the microscope on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers are holding no pure than five separate hearings today. They're looking at a range of issues from cleanup to liability to safety. You're seeing high resolution video of the underwater guys who are here. Lawmakers demanded that BP publicly share it. They want independent experts to study the sharper images and better determine just how much oil is gushing out.

BP says that in the first 4 days since equipped the new containment cap over the ruptured well about 1.8 millions of oil has been captured. But the toll on the wildlife grows more dire. At last report, nearly 600 birds have been found dead along with some 250 sea turtles. That's far more than the number of birds and turtles who have been saved.

Well, this week, CNN is taking a closer look at your ideas to help purge oil from the Gulf. We're demonstrating five ideas a day from scientists, inventors, and even viewers. BP's ideas from top hat to top kill to junk shots, thousands of gallons of oil still gushing into the Gulf each day, but a New Orleans doctor says he has an idea that he believes could stop the oil gusher. Putting it in doctor terms, his idea is based on the concept of stopping bleeding during surgery.

Dr. Kamran Khoobehi is a surgeon at LSU Health Sciences Center. And good morning, doctor. I understand you actually have a model with you. Why don't you take us through the process and explain your idea to us.

DR. KAMRAN KHOOBEHI, SURGEON, LSU HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER: Good morning, Kyra. And thank you for the opportunity to present ideas, and I hope anything that can help to stop the leak and the devastation in the Gulf has been official. The idea is that when you have a bleeding, you have high pressure, and one way to stop the bleeding is one way you put the pressure under hand, and the other one is that also you can put a small probe and then you put a larger probe and you can put a balloon or some other device that can stop the bleeding. The concept is that right now in the bottom of the ocean, the BP has this BOP that has not to have a cap on it. But the problem is that this cap has a leakage from that one.

My idea is that you start with this platform, and BP already has this. They built this dome earlier that was about 120 tons. And then what they do, you put this device into the dome. The tip of it has about one-inch diameter, and this is made of a stem steel. This is a very solid material. And the base of it has a diameter equal to the diameter of the oil rig which one estimate from BP's side was 6 1/2 inches, but yesterday, I was hearing about 20 inches but doesn't matter. Whatever the diameter is, the base of this probe is going to be equal to the base of the oil rig.

So, when you start engaging it, when the pressure comes from over here, because it is small -- and it's also aerodynamic to when you have a missile, that the tip is so narrow so it can cut through the high pressure and high speed. So, what's going to happen when you engage it slowly, it's going to go through. And at this time, it's going to have a low resistance, so going to be able to go through the oil well. As it advances and engages more, then the pressure is going to build up, but the weight of this dome, which is going to be about 140, 150 tons, is going to be able to counteract the pressure that coming from the oil well.

As it engages more, the pressure is building up, but the weight of this dome is going to be able to stop that one. When it gets to the base of it, I'm going to have an opening over here that the rovers can see through, and when it gets to the base, then the diameter of the base is equal to the diameter of the oil well, and it's going to engage it. And by that time, it's going to have enough resistance built up to be able to hold it in position. Then, this cap will stay permanently over the oil well.

The BP can later on, if they want, they can send a rover, and then use the welding machines to weld these two metal pipes together to permanently cap it.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let me ask you a question, doctor, because, I mean, what is happening right now is they are slowly lowering that top hat. But there's obviously, as you know, a lot of chemistry involved in this, as well. They're also pushing down nitrogen slowly along with this top hat to hopefully prevent the pressure from building up in that well, and they're injecting methanol because they don't want hydrate crystals to form. So, I understand the physics of this, but, I mean, it sounds similar to what they're doing right now, but you do have that issue of natural gas and oil and you don't want to create more pressure in the well.

So, how is yours different with regard to not wanting to build on that pressure and also a possible, you know, another possible catastrophic experience with regard to the nitrogen and methanol that they're dealing with already? KHOOBEHI: So far, the BP's goal has been to be able to retrieve the oil from the well. They never tried to completely shut it down. When they tried to shut it down with top kill, they used the high pressure to inject the mud into this BOP. But their pressure was lower than the pressure from the oil well. That's why it didn't go down the well. It just came out from that. But this concept, really, you're not trying to achieve any oil. You're not trying to kind of prevent from slop formation.

The concept of this one is that this probe, it is going to go into the oil well and plug it. And this is used, any mechanic if you talk about it, if you're going to try to plug something with high pressure, you can't actually just cap on it because it's going to blow up, but usually, the probe, the tip is narrower and the base is larger.

PHILLIPS: Final question. Did you reach out to BP? Did you hear from BP? Did you reach out to the companies?

KHOOBEHI: I didn't want to go publicity with this thing, so first thing I did, I reached to BP. I submitted to the DeepHorizonResponse.com. Then I tried the local officials, I tried to contact BP by phone. And really I don't know what kind of persons is answering them or engineers.

And they said, well, go to the Web site. And then I got frustrated with that process, and I said, ok, I'm going to go to the public and I'm going to go to the officials. Maybe somebody hear from that. This may not be the solution, but this is another angle looking at it.

And so somebody from the NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, they can look at this and they are saying that maybe that approach is completely different. Forget about retrieving the oil. Forget about prevent from the slush formation. Let's just try to cap it completely.

And my concern is that what is going to happen in the month from now as a hurricane comes to the Gulf and the ship has abandoned the oil and they're going to let this oil gush out into the Gulf. Can we afford to have this kind of response?

The other thing is that my idea can be helpful is that if this one works and BP can do it very easily, try the model and try it in a smaller scale, and if it works, then we can tell to President Obama, that please, hold off on this moratorium about the oil exploration. We have a way to cap the oil well and let's continue with work because now we're getting two disasters. We're getting disaster one is that loss of work for fishermen, for oyster men, and the other one is --

PHILLIPS: Sure.

KUBAHEY: -- now a loss of work for the oil people.

PHILLIPS: It's -- it's unprecedented what's happening. Well Dr. Cameron Kubahey, we appreciate your time, taking a break from surgery and working on something totally different. It's the true mind of a doctor, that's for sure, always looking for ways to help. Doctor thank you so much.

And all this week CNN is trying to take a closer look at so many ideas that are out there to help purge oil from the Gulf. And we're demonstrating or at least we're going to try and demonstrate five ideas a day. It's kind of hard to sift through and vet all these various ideas from scientists, inventors, even viewers.

So be patient with us. And if you have an idea that just might work, we do want you to share it. Log on to DeepWaterHorizonResponse.com. BP says its experts are constantly looking for any new solution. And that's your best bet is to submit them online right there to that site.

Now, a CNN exclusive: last night Anderson Cooper interviewed five survivors of the oil rig explosion. Their account paints a very detailed picture of what happened on the DeepWater rig.

They say that a BP official routinely cut corners, including switching heavy mud used to keep the well's pressure down with lighter seawater to save money. They told CNN they heard an argument between BP representatives and TransOcean officials about how to even proceed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUG BROWN, BP EXPLOSION SURVIVOR: Basically they ended up saying, well, this is how it's going to be. And they started reluctantly agreeing. And --

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": So you're saying the guy from BP won the argument, basically. He basically said well, this is how we're going to do it.

BROWN: Yes. That's what I remember. Yes, he basically said, well, this is how it's going to be.

COOPER: Dan, do you think that too. This was about saving time and saving money for BP?

DANIEL BARRON III, BP EXPLOSION SURVIVOR: Yes. Yes. And in -- and it just bothered me that TransOcean would let them, you know, as much as TransOcean preaches safety, you know. It doesn't make sense that TransOcean would just fold like that if it wasn't over money.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: BP spokesperson Robert Wine would not comment on specific allegations made by the workers. He did say the company has to wait for the investigations to be completed.

He took a bullet for his country, gets a Purple Heart, and then another more dubious award. A bill for more than $3,000 no one seems to have a solid explanation for it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Four U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan today when their helicopter was hit by hostile fire. Americans killed in action in the Afghanistan war has now gone past 1,000. With that in mind, we wanted to take a closer look at IED attacks.

The Pentagon reports that troops are finding and clearing more of those roadside bombs, but the casualty count is not going down. In the latest figures the Pentagon gives us 250 coalition forces were wounded in May, that's more than either March or April. And as for those killed in action by any means in Afghanistan, the 34 deaths in May topped March and April.

Happening this hour in Washington, the Pat Tillman Legacy Summit; you may remember Pat Tillman, he's the former NFL star killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. The foundation is in his name and has given scholarships to 30 veterans so far.

They're meeting today with Members of Congress to push for more funding for vets attending workshops and visiting patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Now tell me if this seems right to you. A National Guardsman serving in Iraq; a sniper gets him in the leg and disables him. He gets a Purple Heart. Two years later, he gets a bill. Yes, a bill, for more than $3,000.

At first he thinks it's for the equipment that he left on the battlefield. It's kind of hard to collect your stuff when a bullet's just ripped your leg apart, but now he thinks it's because he was overpaid during his last few months in the military.

Watch this story of Lauren Rios (ph) of KVAL in Eugene, Oregon and then let's discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAUREN RIOS, KVAL, EUGENE, OREGON: Gary Pfleider II tells KVAL, he's confused.

GARY PFLEIDER, DISABLED VETERAN: Obviously, they're thinking that they overpaid me somewhere, but what I can't figure out is why separate a soldier from the military, give him an honorable discharge, clear him from a post and you didn't have him cleared through finance where all those records are kept and then come after him almost two years later? I mean, to me, it just doesn't make sense.

RIOS: According to Pfleider, a Defense Finance and Accounting Services spokesman told him he was overpaid from July 2008 through September 2008. Pfleider does say his pay was docked his final months in the guard as disciplinary action, but he doesn't know if this could be related. He was also told three notices of overpayment were sent in spring 2009 before this $3,000 bill arrived, but Pfleider says he did not get them.

PFLEIDER: It's not something I would have overlooked if they would have been sent. RIOS: So why did Pfleider think the bill was for missing equipment. He received this list of missing gear from the Oregon National Guard about one month before he got that bill. And Pfleider also says two sergeants at his former guard unit told him the charges were for missing gear. I called the National Guard to ask about that.

So you don't know who told him that it was for missing equipment?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we do not, but his former commander is going to touch base with him to ensure that he is aware of what the charges are.

RIOS: The military says they cleared him of that missing equipment, but Pfleider says he had no idea so he's spent the past year trying to get himself cleared even filing this sworn statement in February and going to the media last week.

PFLEIDER: I mean I wouldn't have worked so hard to present the documentations, to go the distance that I've gone to try to get to the bottom of it if I was trying to come out and lie and say that it's about the gear.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now KVAL tried to get more information about how the military deals with the overpayment process. A spokesman for the base where Pfleider recovered wouldn't talk. It seems like the military can't get its story straight; overpayment, lost equipment, whatever. He's getting the shaft either way.

This guy who took a bullet for his country and faces surgery number nine on his leg doesn't deserve this extra headache. I think it's wrong.

What do you think? Light up that blog; cnn.com/kyra. Tell me what you think. We're going to share your comments next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)