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Day 52: Oil Disaster; BP Buys into Company's Oil Cleanup Strategy; Rachael Ray Serving Up Nutritious Bill; Rescuing Oil-Covered Birds; Preview: Atlanta Child Murders; World Prepares for Work Cup

Aired June 10, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you very much, sir.

Here's what I've got on the "Rundown," Mr. Tony Harris.

Fifty-two days into the oil Gulf disaster. Is the real story being allowed to be told? There are disturbing reports out today that the media is not being given access to the worth of it. We're going investigate it for you this hour.

And a big Hollywood star and his company come to the rescue offering a solution to this oil disaster. What will they have to say? BP has brought into their plan. We'll talk to them live this hour.

Plus, Rachael Ray, you know she's the famous chef that cooks all that stuff, 20 seconds, 20 minutes or whatever. She wants to take charge of what your kids eat and she is asking the government to help her do it. She's going to join me live this hour as well.

In the meantime, we want to tell you what's going on with this disaster as we walk over to the big wall to show you. You know, it has been 52 days as we have said since this all took place, since that explosion on the Deepwater Horizon.

Just a short time ago, the man in charge of this, Thad Allen, gave a press conference talking about what has taken place over the past couple of days saying they have been able to get lots of oil out of the Gulf of Mexico. I want to show you how much oil they say as we look at the oil gushing and gushing there. That is a live picture.

Since day one when they got that top hat installed on June 4th, 6,000 barrels of oil, about 6,077 barrels of oil. Up until yesterday, June 9th, 15,800 barrels of oil all in total, 73,320 that they captured and they brought in a second tanker, they said, to off-load oil from that rig, from that first one. So they say they are making progress. We're going to check in on that.

This hour, though, the president is remembering the victims of that Deepwater Horizon explosion, the 11 victims, the men who lost their lives when that deep water horizon exploded. He's going to meet with the families at the White House today and we're going to take you there as well.

Also, our John Roberts has been working on this story. He has been down in the Gulf of Mexico. He has been talking to sources. He has been traveling out to the rig where these 11 men died. He spoke with the COO of BP, Doug Suttles, about what exactly is going on here trying to dig for answers. Here's John Roberts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG SUTTLES, BP CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: You know there's a lot of very proud people in this industry. You've met some of them here on this rig. And a lot of them don't believe the whole story is coming out about the level of commitment, the focus on professionalism that's done here.

So that's tough. You know, I'm a third generation of this business. I do this because I love it and a lot of these guys out here are the same way. This is more than a job. It's a way of life. It's what people do.

But at the same time, we get that horrible thing happening and I appreciate that and I think we just have to be patient. We just have to, you know, we've got to get this job done. We've got to get this oil killed. We've got to get that flow stopped. And with time, I think the rest of the story will come out.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But you know the president said he doesn't fully trust BP. There are a lot of other politicians for whatever reason saying they don't trust BP. A lot of people across the United States who probably think that you're changing your tune to some degree to minimize your liability to try to make things look as good as possible. What do you tell them?

SUTTLES: Well, John, if you look at what we've done since the beginning, I mean, today we were over $1.3 billion on any given day we spend $30 million, $40 million a day on this activity.

I believe that shows our commitment to do the right thing. We didn't hide behind some cap in the law. We've been out here doing everything we can, not only to stop this thing but to clean it up and try to do right. It's very difficult for people to believe that right now. I know that. But I would just ask just give us a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: They say they're making progress, but the oil as we know still flows and we're being told now it has reached a critical main inland waterway in Alabama. Our Josh Levs is on top of that. Josh, this is not good news.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not good news. This is called Perdido Pass and this is an area that fishermen have used it for such a long time. It's actually the main waterway access point right here.

But to give you a better sense, I want to take this Google earth video. I like to start farther out and kind of shoot in so we can take a look at this entire area. I will tell you it's not shocking that oil is moving in that direction. That general direction we knew. But what we been doing for a long time now, we have some video of what's been going on at Perdido Pass. They've been trying to save it off. They've using thousands of feet of boom. Keep in mind as it is, a lot of fishermen are unable to do their work and we've been talking almost daily now about the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars that it's costing that industry every week.

So what they were trying to do, hoping to do with this boom was prevent it from entering this area, unfortunately it got as far as Perdido Pass and now Admiral Thad Allen is weighing in on that specifically. Here's what he said earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: Perdido Pass has very strong currents at the ebb and the flow. Our plan right now is to allow vessels to leave on the ebb when there's less chance of oil coming in and try to seal that off during flood. There's no 100 percent guarantee that oil won't get through, but one of the more robust booming strategies we have in and around that area is in Perdido Pass.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: I want to remind everyone that at cnn.com, we've been talking a look at where it is every day. It's a tracker that's updated each day. You can watch from the beginning of the crisis up through now, where the oil is spotted. The effort right now obviously is protect that area.

LEMON: That's where it's spotted and how it's growing, Josh. You know, we've been talking about those booms mentioned by Admiral Thad Allen. There's been some criticism, a whole lot of criticism about these booms that they are not being kept in place, using little sticks and twigs, and they're washing up onshore as well, not keeping the oil out.

LEVS: Officials are saying they're doing all they can. There's two kinds of boom. You have boom that's designed to block it from moving and then you have the sorbent boom. They've used millions of feet that they've put in. They have millions more of feet of it coming, but you're right. They're also experts taking a look at it and saying it's not even beginning to do what's need to be done. They say they're working around the clock, but is everything that needs to be done really being done?

LEMON: And we have been talking solutions here and trying to help people get solutions and there are some people, one of them is a big Hollywood star trying to help with some solutions, as well, Josh. So stand by.

The question remains here, how do we get all of that oil out of the water? In just a minute, I'll talk with two guys who have more than just ideas. They have a company and a deal with BP. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's talk now about possible solutions to this Gulf oil catastrophe. Joining me now is the CEO and COO of Ocean Therapy Solutions, developer of centrifuges that separate oil from water.

Thank you guys for joining us. It's John Houghtaling II and also Patrick Smith. You guys work together with the Hollywood star Kevin Costner on this. Tell me, Mr. Houghtaling, how did you get you and Mr. Costner get in touch to do this project, and then I'm going to ask you what it does?

JOHN HOUGHTALING II, CEO, OCEAN THERAPY SOLUTIONS: Well, Kevin has been involved with this for a long time. You know, Kevin started this process about 15 years ago. And he developed this technology, put about $24 million of his own money into it. And he brought it to the industry, brought it to the industry ten years ago with this technology that works. It's technology that's not adapted, it's technology that was actually designed for a major oil spill.

LEMON: I see, Patrick Smith wants to get in on this. Tell me about how this works, this centrifuge, you have fashioned it so that it can supposedly suck oil out of water, saltwater?

PATRICK SMITH, COO, OCEAN THERAPY SOLUTIONS: That's correct.

LEMON: OK, go ahead, Mr. Smith.

SMITH: It's so efficient, it's amazing. The technology has been around. It was developed by the Department of Energy 15 years ago. And it is so efficient that it can do -- it can pull 99.9 percent of the oil out of water. So we're putting water back into the ocean effectively very clean.

LEMON: So far they have bought -- BP has signed on to this. I think you suggested, Mr. Houghtaling, that they buy 50 of them but they bought 32. Do you know if they're in action or when they're going to get to them and when they might be using them?

HOUGHTALING: Well, we currently have 10 on the ground now. They're being deployed on vessels as we speak. We had ramped the factory up. The factory has been dormant for about a decade because there hasn't been an interest in it up until now.

We've ramped the factory up. We're also in discussions with the largest offshore supply company in the Gulf. They're going to help us deploy these machines out as soon as we can. We're going to ramp up as quickly as we can.

LEMON: OK, Mr. Smith, what I was trying to get from you, if I was, let's just say a 10th grader, because sometimes I think like that, explain to me how this progress works. People at home go, what is the centrifuge, how does it suck oil out of the ocean? Explain to me how that happens.

SMITH: Well, basically what happens is right now the old pitchfork and shovel are kind of being use with booms and skimmers and those types of technology. The oil is actually being pushed and put into barges and inside the barge one of the arms of the centrifuge goes in this -- basically like a straw, like a big suction tube.

And it will bring out a combination of water and oil. The oil will go back into the barge clean and the water can actually be deployed overboard back into the ocean so we don't have a huge ship load of mixture of oil and water. So it actually brings the oil to a point where it could be commercially reusable and doesn't need to load up the cargo going back to shore, half oil, half water, or 90 percent water, 10 percent oil.

LEMON: You are a big real estate guy. You're a big attorney. But you know, Kevin Costner is a big Hollywood star and cares about this. I want you to listen to him, while you're out talking about this he's testifying in front of Congress. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN COSTNER, CO-FOUNDER, OCEAN THERAPY SOLUTIONS: My enthusiasm for what the machine could do was met with apathy, a refusal to move off the status quo. The list of government agencies, oil companies, and foreign companies we contacted reads like a who's who of those who need it, those who should have been looking for it, and probably more to the point, those who should have been developing it themselves. I was told that it was too expensive, that there was no need, that the spills were becoming less frequent, at least the one we could see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So he is passionate about this. And we're being told that these machines can collect about 210,000 gallons of oil a day from the ocean and have been used after "Exxon Valdez" could have been cleaned up a whole lot faster.

HOUGHTALING: That's correct. Actually Kevin made the statement that had he been on-site with 20 of these v-20 machines he probably could have cleaned up Valdez in a week.

LEMON: Great, Mr. Houghtaling and Mr. Smith, thank you very much. We will be watching your progress because we have crews, as you know, stationed down the Gulf and CNN has been on top of this. We want to get to the bottom of this. Of course, everyone wants the oil to stop. We hope your project helps.

HOUGHTALING: Thank you. It's important for our state.

LEMON: Thank you.

SMITH: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Listen, we're bringing you five ideas a day to help the Gulf. So make sure you stay tuned to CNN. Five ideas a day to help the Gulf of Mexico.

Also, the e-mail address of more than 100,000 iPad users exposed. What happened and has the problem been fixed? We'll have details straight ahead right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, let's talk your money. You see this thing? I use it every day. This is how I get my scripts now on this iPad. Let's turn right away to our Christine Romans.

Christine, there is an issue with this. In order to get one of these you have to sign up with AT&T, right? Especially the 3G users, you have to sign up with AT&T and a lot of people's e-mail addresses, big names, I heard this morning. I was in New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rahm Emanuel.

Maybe e-mail addresses given out. There's a glitch with this. What's going on?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Maybe Don Lemon, the TV anchor, maybe his e-mail address was exposed to hackers. I did not see the list. But we're told that there are about 114,000 e-mail addresses and identities that internet security hacking group was able to see because of exploiting a hole in the software of AT&T for this iPad 3G.

And you're right, when you look at some of the names, it's a who's who of the early movers on the iPad, the people who jumped right in and tried to get one of these, Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff, Mayor Bloomberg, Harvey Weinstein, Diane Sawyer, a whole bunch of people on this list.

Now, there's no indication or suggestion that any of their personal data was exposed. Just their identities and their e-mail addresses. This is what AT&T has to say about it. They say the issue was escalated to the highest levels of the company and was corrected by Tuesday.

But clearly this is a case where there was some sort of gap, some sort of hole in the software and just two months after the iPad was available, someone found that hole exploited it via the website gawker, had all of this in all of its gory detail, quite frankly, with a little bit of glee that something so -- something so kind of powerful and important as the iPad with all of these powerful and important people using it had this little weakness. Don?

LEMON: Do I detect cynicism in your little smirk there because I have it and you're going, Don, you're on that list, I know you're there. But here's the series question --

ROMANS: I'm not cynical.

LEMON: Apple is saying this was the only glitch. I mean, a lot of people have our e-mail addresses and probably the mayor would have you. If that's the only glitch, probably inconvenient but not so bad, but if it isn't, big trouble because you have to use your credit card and other information to sign up for these accounts.

ROMANS: Well, that's the other thing. When you look at how you (inaudible) all of this technology is, right and you see just how many places your information is and where you are using your information, also it's not clear if these are business addresses or the personal addresses.

A lot of people got these iPads in the beginning to play around with them, right, to see what they're like, if they were going to use them, maybe not necessarily for work. So that makes it -- you like it though, right?

LEMON: I do like it. It's really simple. Can we come in on this? Christine, you know, this is -- we're going to be talking to Rachael Ray a little bit later on, but this is what it slows. You can see exactly what I'm seeing here.

Coming up, "healthier food for your kids." I can be green. I don't have to use paper. I can see what's on the run down, get my e- mail, the wires, I can just carry this around and I'm constantly connected and it's big enough to read.

If you have a little iPhone, wait a minute, what's that say, and type. I just hope my e-mail information is not out there. By the way, here's Christine's e-mail -- kidding. I'll see you this weekend. You can see Christine and our Ali Velshi on "Your Money" at Saturday 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sunday 3:00 p.m. Eastern. Right here on CNN.

It is time now for your top stories. It is day 52 of the Gulf oil disaster for the first time thick waves of oil advanced into inland waterway along the coast of Alabama. In response, the coast guard closed Perdido Pass, the main water access route to the Gulf for fishermen and boaters to the resort town of orange beach.

In Washington, President Barack Obama is meeting with the families of 11 workers killed when the BP oil rig exploded in April. White House spokesman says he will offer condolences and ask for suggestions on how deepwater oil drilling can be made safer. The bodies of 11 men have not been recovered.

News on the job front to tell you about. The Labor Department says continuing unemployment claims filed by laid off workers fell by 255,000 last week to the lowest level since late 2008. Analysts say it could be due to more people finding work or that they've run through their initial state benefits.

Now it's time for what's coming up. Healthier food for kids. Chef in Washington helping lawmakers to serve up a new bill that puts children on a path to healthy living. There she is. Big smile and wave for me. Rachael Ray joins us live after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Remember the saying you are what you eat? We've heard that. For some school kids they are lucky if they get a decent meal let alone access to healthy food.

The new bill introduced today hopes to change all that. Chef and talk show host Rachael Ray was there as house democrats unveiled the improving nutrition for American's Children's Act. She joins us from Washington.

Rachael, first of all, it's so good to see you.

RACHAEL RAY, CELEBRITY CHEF AND CHILD NUTRITION ADVOCATE: Thank you.

LEMON: This is near and dear to your heart. How did you get involved in this venture?

RAY: You know, food is the way I make a living certainly but the healthy relationship I have with food and the way I was brought up and my connection to food and community, it changed the whole quality of my life.

So I feel that because food is the way I choose to make a living, it should be the route I take to give back to my community and to my country. I've been an advocate now for over three years. We started our own little initiative called the (inaudible) organization.

And we've been working on eradicating child hunger in this country and lowering the obesity rates for several years now. It's so fantastic to see bipartisan support and the support, the passionate support of our first lady with her let's move initiative and because I just know so completely what a great relationship with food can mean to your quality of life.

You know, to know that you can take a couple of bucks and provide for yourself and your family and your loved ones gives you a great sense of security, the whole of your life.

LEMON: Rachael, you know, I'm going to talk more about this, why this is so heartfelt for you, including your grandfather and other reasons. But I want to tell people what's in this bill first and then we're going to talk more. So you said in 2008 more than 16 million children lived in homes without access to enough nutritious food, right?

RAY: Correct. You know, we're not just trying to improve the nutrition and lower the obesity rates and the type ii diabetes rates among all American children, we're also trying to battle hunger at the same time.

The only level playing field you have to battle the poor nutrition that's so associated with low-income families and struggling families and to end hunger, the very closely related things, the only level playing field we have is the food we offer our kids through our school programs. Those need to run 12 months a year.

Hunger doesn't stop when school stops in the summer. So this set of initiatives, not just the child nutrition reauthorization act, but the whole set of programs that's out there now for our national discussion and for our representatives and our senators to act on, will provide for the first time that level playing field.

We will give guidelines for all of our cafeterias across the country. We'll help schools provide great nutritious options for kids for breakfast and lunch and allow them to do it 12 months a year and inspire schools to start gardening programs. It's exciting.

LEMON: You're talking about putting it into action. Improve access to school meal programs, improve access to out of school meal programs, help schools and child care improve the quality of meals, you want to encourage a public partnership in communities, improve food safety requirements for school meals programs, streamline programs administration and support program integrity. All of those things, but I think the two most important things to you I think are access because you say sometimes the meal at school is the only meal some kids get.

RAY: I have literally talked to teachers and people that work in school cafeteria programs and school nurses.

LEMON: It's got to be a healthy one.

RAY: You hear horror story after horror story of kids who will cry on a snow day or in the December because they're hungry and the only access they have to good nutritious food is through these programs.

So something as simple as a cut apple or a good nutritious school lunch is really the only -- the only chance we've got in helping all of these kids. And it's not just about making a healthier generation, it's about controlling our health care costs for the future.

That's the thing. That's what's inspiring all of our representatives and our senators to pull together on this is because we can either pay now or we can pay a lot more later.

LEMON: You're saying this because of your grandfather who had type I diabetes, right?

RAY: My grandfather lived with us when I was small and he had a nutritious diet, lots of leafy greens, fish and lean proteins because he suffered from type I diabetes. To see so many of our young people suffering from adult onset disease and type II difficult beats it crushes me. It breaks my heart because I just know what a difference good nutrition can make.

LEMON: OK, you know, we talked a little bit during the break. I think it's great when celebrities and people who make money give back, right, because it can become intoxicating to have more celebrity and more money. And you're doing it but you -- I'm sure you're probably getting more out of it than when you see these kids who maybe only get one meal a day.

RAY: Yes, I mean, my work with children and then with our public school program, it's the most rewarding part of my life. And I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to, you know, use my voice as an advocate for this. I make my living with food. And that's why I feel like it's my duty as a citizen to give back to my community and use food as a vehicle and a means to do it.

You know, and I -- I'm just so grateful for the opportunity. It started with President Clinton when he helped us launched our organization. It continuous now with Secretary Vilsack and the first lady, with Sharon Miller's office, with Senator Jilibran (ph).

There's been so many great partners to make my job easier and discussion and harder and more work to do, can which is terrific. Hard work is another thing I learned to love because I love food.

LEMON: You said hard work?

RAY: Yes, I learned to appreciate a good hard day's work in a lot of professional kitchens I've worked in over the years. I'm thankful for the initiative and all the work it's providing me.

LEMON: Sometimes when you do this on the other side of the camera that's the only exercise we get. We appreciate hard work and guess what, you make this interview easy because, girl, you can talk.

RAY: I'm sorry. I have a big mouth.

LEMON: That's OK. We love it. We love it.

Rachael Ray, continued success and good luck with what you're doing and congratulations.

RAY: Thank you.

LEMON: Come back and see us, will you?

RAY: I will. Any time you ask. Thank you for making time for us.

LEMON: All right, Rachel, thank you.

You know what, looking for the people in charge. As we cover every angle of the disaster in the Gulf, we're running into some manmade roadblocks. We'll show you straight ahead here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Birds covered in oil are some of the most disturbing images we have seen from the Gulf oil disaster. Rescuing the birds has become a top priority, but new rules are blocking what we can cover and what you can see. Our Jim Acosta got an up close look or at least as close as he could get.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Recovering contaminated birds from the BP oil spill is no easy task. As we found out following this crew with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service off the Louisiana coast, the birds don't want to be rescued.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never giving up, could be just hiding in a rock or something.

ACOSTA: We watched this crew try time and again to net two oil- covered pelicans. (on camera): You see this pelican right here, he's got oil on him, on his head and along his back, but he's strong enough where he can hop around from rock to rock and dock to dock.

(voice-over): Birds too oily to survive on their own, but determined to escape.

TODD BAKER, LOUISIANA FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE: There're still quite a few out there. There are still quite a few that have varying degrees of oil and the problem is most of them are not to the point where they can't fly. So they're still flying, which makes them very difficult to catch.

ACOSTA: Earlier in the day, we saw other crews bring in crate after crate of polluted wildlife to this triage center on Grand Isle. That's where we found the rules for capturing images of these birds had changed.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Ma'am?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: I'm going to have to ask you to stop taking pictures in here.

ACOSTA: We were asked to turn our cameras off and this official with the Louisiana State Animal Response Team or LSART, a contractor hired by BP, told us we could not enter the bird triage center, even though we received permission to do just that from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Commission.

(on camera): LSART makes the last call on this? LSART makes the final call?

CHRIS BUCO, LOUISIANA STATE ANIMAL RESPONSE TEAM: I make the final conditions -- I mean, the final call, based on the condition of the birds coming in.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Todd Baker with the Louisiana Fish and Wildlife Service says it's out of an abundance of caution.

BAKER: It's more important for the animal -- for the animals to have a quiet, calm, controlled area at this point.

ACOSTA: Talking to the rescuers was another problem. One volunteer told us off camera he had signed a document stating he would not talk to the media. Another rescue worker told us he would be fired if he spoke up instead gave us these images. The pictures show birds being scooped up out of the water and loaded into crates -- their first encounters in human hands.

The wife of the rescuer who snapped the photos says her husband is having a hard time coping with the job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty rough (INAUDIBLE). He don't like doing it. You know, it's -- but it's his job. I mean, he don't -- he's an animal fan, you know?

ACOSTA: But why the silence? This BP contract that was initially used to hire rescue and cleanup workers appears to ban any comments to the media. It states, quote, "Vessel owners and employees will not make news releases, marketing presentations or any public statements..."

Now, BP insists it's not ordering workers to keep quiet. Asked about that contract, a BP spokesman tells CNN, "BP has not enforced this provision in the Master Vessel Charter Agreement."

If that's the case, the rescue workers we found have yet to receive that message.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: We were disturbed by some of the reports we're hearing about the media not getting access to the full story, not being told. So we got our Jim Acosta on the phone, he's in Port Sulphur, Louisiana.

And, Jim, we heard about public beaches, not being allowed access to that, restricted airspace and people being told they can't get in only because they're media. What's going on here?

ACOSTA (via telephone): Well, you know, Don, it's an outrage from our point of view, right? Because we want to be able to get in there and tell this story about what's happening not only to the people down here but the wildlife.

And you know, you ask any clean-up workers, any rescue worker and they will tell you that there are these fears out there. That if they talk to the press, they may be retaliated against, they may lose their job.

And with so many people down here losing their jobs down here, Don, because of the restrictions on the fishing and so forth, people will just about do anything for pony at this point, including working for BP and cleaning beaches and so forth. So it is a big problem.

BP claims that that's not going on, they're not threatening workers if they talk. But ask a guy on the street what's happening and he'll tell you it's happening.

LEMON: Yes, and you know I've heard Admiral Thad Allen on several news programs being asked that question, and he says that the media is supposed to have full access, within the rules of law. But when you hear about the media being -- not being allowed in public places like a beach, the media is allowed on the sidewalk, we're allowed in public places, especially a beach. BP doesn't own the beach, so what's their response to it, if at all?

ACOSTA: Keep in mind, as you know, Don, this is a foreign company that we're dealing with. And I had just a surreal moment yesterday when we were doing this story where a soldier with the U.S. military was providing security for this bird triage yesterday. And he was coming up to us and telling us to turn off our cameras and we were in a public area. We were actually in an area that the Louisiana Fish and Wildlife authorities had told us we could be in and do some recording of video outside of that bird triage area. And yet, this soldier from the military was telling us, you know, you can't shoot here.

And you know, hey, he's -- he's under whose orders? BP's orders? That's a foreign company, that's not even an American company. So we were pretty shocked in terms of what we found.

LEMON: That is disturbing. And having done this for a while, you and I know, there are certain rules we have to follow if you're on private property, if it says no taping or video recording. But in circumstances like this, you would certainly think they would want the word to get out for the American people to know.

ACOSTA: Right. Yes, and to see -- you know, some of the good things they're doing.

I have to take my hat off to the folks with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Louisiana Fish and Wildlife Service, they're spending long hours out on those marshes, Don, trying to recover the birds and that is not easy work.

And so to have, you know, a private company, a contractor for a private company try to complicate the task of just showing the work that's being done out there I thought was kind of a shame.

LEMON: Jim Acosta, stay on top of this because this is an outrage if it is indeed happening. The American people deserve to know, especially for the people in the Gulf. Their livelihoods are in jeopardy. Jim Acosta, thank you.

ACOSTA: You bet.

LEMON: In Afghanistan, a 7-year-old boy allegedly executed by the Taliban. His alleged crime and reaction just ahead when we go "Globe Trekking."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So time now for "Globe Trekking" and we're going to go to Afghanistan today where we're hearing about a disturbing story in Afghanistan. We're checking out reports that the Taliban executed a 7-year-old boy, Afghan boy on charges of spying for the government.

CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now from the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Nic, what are your sources telling you about this execution?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, a spokesman for the governor in Helmand Province -- and this happened in a small village, a place U.S. troops are familiar with -- where according to the government spokesman, the Taliban came to this village took away this 7-year-old boy from his family and then hung him from a tree until he was dead because they said he was a spy.

Now, President Karzai was asked about that today and he said, look, a 7-year-old boy is a 7-year-old boy. He cannot be a spy. This, if it's true, he said, is an absolute heinous crime, as bad as it gets.

And while President Karzai was saying this, a British prime minister was with him and chipped in as well and said, look, I have a 6-year-old daughter. How can anyone believe that a 7-year-old child could be a spy?

We don't know 100 percent if this is really true. There are rumors of these sorts of reports. It's certainly very disturbing when you hear about it and there certainly are a lot more cases occurring where the Taliban are going in and murdering low-level officials who are trying to work with the U.S. government, work with the Afghan government to intimidate them and stop them from doing that sort of thing.

So these rumors are not uncommon and the killings are happening, Don.

LEMON: And we can bet Nic Robertson will be checking into it for you here on CNN. Nic, thank you very much. We appreciate your reporting on this story.

In the meantime, labeled a serial killer and locked up for life in the days before DNA testing. Wayne Williams and the Atlanta child murders are the focus of a new CNN special report by Soledad O'Brien. She'll tell us about her sit-down with the notorious convicted killer, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It started more than 30 years ago. African-American boys and young men disappears from the home they lived in, the streets they walked reappearing days, weeks, months later dead. They're known as the "Atlanta Child Murders," and a man named Wayne Williams is locked up for life in connection with them. Convicted of two murders, accused in two dozen more he's always maintained his innocence and a lot of people believe him.

CNN's Soledad O'Brien took a hard look at a whole thing for a special documentary that debuts tonight. Here's a preview with Williams on trial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATION CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This witness, Robert Henry, did place Wayne Williams with the very last victim. Henry worked with Carter; he said he saw him leaving this theater with Williams on the night of the bridge incident. Henry has no doubt even today about what he saw.

ROBERT HENRY, WITNESS: They were holding hands, you know, like male and female. If you were holding hands with one of my coworkers and both of you was males, what am I supposed to do? Turn my head?

O'BRIEN: When Wayne Williams took the stand, he swore he never met Nathaniel Cater. On the evening Henry said he saw them, Wayne testified he was home, sick and asleep in bed. His mother and father, now deceased, backed him up. Homer Williams said he had the white station wagon until almost midnight.

Under cross-examination, in his third day on the stand, Wayne Williams blew up at prosecutor Jack Mallard.

JACK MALLARD, PROSECUTOR: That morning he was complete different person. Immediately he started attacking, he came out of the shoot like a bull. When he said, you want the real Wayne Williams? You've got him. I think all of us, the jury, understood that, yes.

WAYNE WILLIAMS, SERVING TWO LIFE TERMS: I was probably my own worst enemy. I was an arrogant buzz-headed idiot at the time. And I played right into these people's hands. I could see almost the shock in the juror's faces as if they said, my god, is this the same Wayne that was up here yesterday? I could see that.

O'BRIEN (on camera): When you got angry with the prosecutor, you said you're a drop shot.

WILLIAMS: I called him a drop shot.

O'BRIEN: What's a drop shot? What's that mean?

WILLIAMS: Quite simply, in our vernacular a drop shot is the guy who is not worth much of anything, you know? Just drop him and shoot him and get him out of the way. In other words, you're useless.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): We reminded Wayne that he also called poor black children on the streets the same thing, drop shots.

WILLIAMS: That does not make me a murderer simply because I said somebody is a drop shot or because I called him a drop shot. That does not make Wayne Williams a murderer because I said somebody is a street urchin. You know, come on, we're talking about murder. The fact is I didn't kill anybody.

O'BRIEN: Patrick Baltazar stepmother was watching in court that day.

SHEILA BALTAZAR, VICTIM'S STEPMOTHER: I'm like, this man got to be crazy. This man -- I mean, he is -- it's like he's saying, you know, yes, I killed them, but you better prove it. You know, can you prove it? He was doing everything he can to outsmart everybody. And it was like, I did it but can you prove I did it.

O'BRIEN: The jury didn't come back until late the second evening. The verdict, guilty on both counts of murder. Wayne Williams was sentenced to serve two life terms.

WILLIAMS: People only wanted to look at the negative side because they wanted, in their heart, for this case to be over and for Wayne to be the Atlanta monster. They wanted closure at any cost.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And Soledad joins me now.

Soledad, you said guilty on two counts of murder. But what about all the children?

O'BRIEN: Yes, that's an interesting point, isn't it? Many people forget that Wayne Williams was convicted and got two life terms for killing two adults, Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne (ph) both men in their 20s, and after that they were able to close the books on two dozen of the children's murders. So I think for a lot of the parents of the victims of the children feel that justice was really never done in their particular child's case.

LEMON: Cause they would have liked to have heard, maybe had their child's case taken to a jury at least have someone hear it to have some sort of, as we say, closure.

Here's what I found interesting. Number one, both you and I remember this and were terrified during that time. But number two, he looks quite differently. He seems to be thinner now. What was it like to meet him? What did he look like? What was his attitude like?

O'BRIEN: Yes, you could see he's personable. He's charming. Here's a guy who has been and will continue to serve -- 51 years old now, will continue to serve two life terms, and he's a charming guy.

What was interesting to me, to go in and meet him, was to kind of get a sense of what he was like, but also sizewise. He's small. He's lost a lot of weight since he was on trial 30 years ago. Probably about 5'7", maybe a little bit shorter than that, 150-some-odd pounds.

That's relevant because he was accused of dropping bodies over bridges into the water and he was accused of applying a chokehold to kill people. So sizing him up was very interesting to, you know, the question could he have done it.

LEMON: And I mention that because you and I have talked about this. There was an interesting point in your interview where you talked about size and you did a bit of a test, am I correct, with him?

O'BRIEN: Yes. You know, we -- he had written -- he's written this work that's sort of an autobiography. And we went back and forth because he kept saying to me, because I said, could you kill someone with a chokehold or have you been trained in a chokehold. That's a relevant question for a guy whose -- when murders are connected to victims that died via chokehold according to the medical examiner.

And he said to me, well, you know, you could. And I said, no, no, I could not. I'm well aware I could not kill somebody with a chokehold, but could you? You know, that's the kind of conversation you have with a Wayne Williams. On one hand he sort of implicates himself further, he doesn't say, no, of course, I couldn't. And yet, at the same time he continues to insist that he's innocent. But we're leaving it up to folks that are watching. We're going to let folks vote online at CNN.com. You can decide for yourself after hearing the evidence, do you think Wayne Williams is guilty, do you think he's innocent or do you think the case is just not proven against him. It was a case where really fiber evidence and to some degree Wayne's attitude that he talked about was what the jurors, was what people were looking at. Do you think that he did it is the real question.

LEMON: Yes, and as you said, we're going to let our viewers decide if they want. They can go online CNN.com/atlantachildmurders and they can vote on what they think the verdict should be or should have been.

Soledad, I'm looking forward to it. Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

LEMON: And Soledad's special report premieres tonight on CNN at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And again, in-depth coverage at CNN.com/atlantachildmurders. They've got an interactive map with details on the victims and where they were found and a feature on the Williams' prosecutor, a manic named "Blood" and much, much more. Tonight 8:00 p.m. Eastern, make sure you tune in.

You know, it's not the Super Bowl, NBA Finals or even the World Series, but it is the biggest sporting event of them all and people all around the world are getting ready to begin it tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It is the world's biggest sporting event and it kicks off tomorrow in South Africa. What am I talking about? The home team will square off against Mexico in the first match of the 2010 World Cup. As Errol Barnett reports to us, fans from both countries are growing more enthusiastic by the day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, welcome to South Africa, Johannesburg, wherever you might find yourself in the world, do take care of yourself and those around you this World Cup.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): iReporter Trevor Dohete (ph) found nothing but excitement when speaking to South Africans in Johannesburg about hosting the World Cup.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most amazing thing ever in Africa, and as an African, I feel very proud because I can actually wear my national colors right now with pride.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The feeling of camaraderie over this period, long may it last because we've had our problems and we don't expect that to continue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a look at all the flags from the different countries. Not long now before the World Cup kicks off.

BARNETT: iReporters in Mexico also sharing their enthusiasm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: South Africa, 2010! Yes!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The team that I wish could win is Mexico. It's my country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm Juan Carlos. I want Mexico to win. I am very passionate about soccer. The Mexican soccer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): How can you show your support in the Netherlands not being in Mexico?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Being out of Mexico, cheers, plenty of cheers. I will run all over Amsterdam wearing the flag of my back so everyone will know that here we have Mexicans, too.

BARNETT: Even the hairless cat, Lucy in Mexico, is wrapped up in the excitement.

Errol Barnett, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: How much would you love to go? How much would you love to go? Yes, I would love to go. Everybody would love to go. Let's all go to South Africa. Well, we are going to do that in a way cause when we return we'll take you on a 3D tour of the South African stadium where the first match will be played. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)