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No Firm Idea of Total Oil Leakage in the Gulf; Crowded Gulf; From Inmate to CNN Hero

Aired June 11, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: A brand-new hour right now, a brand-new "Rundown." Let me show you where we are.

Isha, did we -- Isha, you're still there?

Good to see you, Isha.

ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ali.

VELSHI: We're going to talk to you more. I've got more questions. You're so -- it's so familiar to have you around, that I didn't even think to say good-bye to you and thank you properly. So good to see you.

SESAY: Don't worry, Ali. I'm here for you.

VELSHI: Very good.

Isha will be with us through the whole World Cup.

All right. I want to bring you up to speed with what we're doing right now.

The Gulf of Mexico, 53 days into the oil disaster, the scope of it continues to grow. You might not believe the latest numbers. If you thought they were staggering before, just wait. We've got new numbers of just how much oil is in the Gulf of Mexico.

Western Arkansas, very sad story there. A deadly flash flood swamps a campground. Now the search is on for stranded survivors, but at least 12 are dead.

And we were just there with Isha, Johannesburg, South Africa, and the rest of the world, for that matter. It is game on.

The World Cup kicked off this morning. Former U.S. goalkeeper Tony Meola is going to be my co-anchor for this hour. I've got special messages about this year's tournament, by the way, in my "XYZ."

But, first, let me bring you the latest on the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Let me tell you about the flow of oil.

We've been using those cameras -- scientists have been using the cameras, those underwater cameras, to get some sense of how much oil is flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. It's been hard to do that, but they've now increased the estimate of the number of barrels a day.

Before BP cut the top of that riser and put that containment cap on, it was believed that, you know, maybe 20,000 at the high end, 20,000 barrels a day, was flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Now it is believed that 20,000 is on the low end, 40,000 might be the high end. We don't know how that's changed since the cap has gone on, but let me just tell you, there's a lot of oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

When they first put that cap on, the first day, they got 6,000 barrels. After that, it's ramped up. But you can see, yesterday, we came down a little bit from 15,800 to 15,400. BP is moving another ship, another rig, into the Gulf of Mexico this weekend to experiment with another plan. They continue to do so.

We're also checking the outflow of money. BP says that it has spent $1.4 billion so far. The U.S. government said it spent $140 million, although the U.S. government that its billing BP on an ongoing basis.

Let's talk about the relief wells. This is going to be the thing that most engineers and scientists say is actually going to stop the oil from flowing out of that well. You have to build relief wells.

Let me show you a picture of this.

So, there's the main well. That's the one that's broken. And then there are two relief wells being dug at angles.

It doesn't show it as well there, but they're being dug at angles. The one on the right, relief well number one, is down about 14,000 feet. Relief well number two is about 8,500 feet. The best estimate right now are that this isn't going to be done until the beginning of August, so they've got to try to cap or contain as much of that oil as they can until they cap it.

What those relief wells will do is take the pressure that is pushing that oil up through that one well. It will spread it around, and that will allow them to push something into that first well and try and cap it.

Let's go to Josh Levs. He has been covering this new development, the increase in the estimate of the amount of oil that has been flowing out of the Gulf of Mexico.

And just for context, Josh, since day one, you know, the estimates were very low, and they would increase and increase. And there were people saying, no, it's got to be more than that. Well, now this team of scientists from the private sector, from the public sector, from the government, they've all come together and they said, yes, it's a lot more oil than we first thought.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And they think it might have been this way for weeks, exactly. And that's the first thing to make clear to all of you, is not that they're saying that suddenly, the amount has increased over the last several days, it's that the amount that's been coming out might be a lot, lot more than we ever knew. Let's go to the live pictures under water. And I want to help everyone understand, because you might think if you're seeing this stuff come out, why can't they just tell how much it is? Well, it's because you see a black cloud. You can't know how much of that is actually oil.

As the oil is escaping, it mixes with water and chemicals, creates a cloud. They've been trying to figure out how much of it actually is oil. And the latest numbers that we have, as Ali says, about twice as high as a previous estimate. They're now saying 40,000 barrels a day, or 1.7 million gallons a day, ,might be escaping and might have been escaping for weeks.

Let's go now to the high-res video.

You know, the other day, I'm sure you heard us talk about it, we got this high-resolution video from under water. And that is actually helpful to the scientists, because there it's a little easier for them to tell how many particles are oil.

Well, the new numbers we have are not even from this yet. That's what's next. So, the new numbers we have are from more intense studies of other imagery. What we're waiting on now is scientists taking a good, hard look around the clock at this high resolution to see if maybe it's even higher than they're saying right now.

There's another problem that comes from this. It's not just more oil in the Gulf. It's also that the system that's set up right now to deal with all this oil can only process a certain amount each day to try to guide a lot of the oil up to that drill ship on the surface. Right?

Well, it only can handle a certain amount each day. This is something Admiral Thad Allen talked about earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: First of all, I think we're still dealing with the flow estimate and we're still trying to refine those numbers. One portion of the work, as we've just indicated, came up with a higher flow rate. As it stands right now, the actual production capable at optimum for the Discovery Enterprise and the Q4000, if they're operating at maximum efficiency, is 18,000 and 10,000, respectfully, so that's 28,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: OK. You heard some numbers fly by, but the basic idea there is that if the current system is what they think it is, it's handling up to about 28,000, and could actually be a lot more than that every day that's coming out, which means they would need a more robust system to handle the amount of oil that they're trying to get their hands on.

Anyway, there's a lot of variables right now, a lot of big questions. And, Ali, before I toss it back to you, I just want to read you one thing from our coverage here.

VELSHI: Yes.

LEVS: If this latest estimate is correct, it would mean 90.1 million gallons have spewed in the 53 days since the rig exploded. That's more than eight times the amount spilled in the Exxon Valdez scandal.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: I heard it another way. It's like an Exxon Valdez every week.

LEVS: Right, exactly, because we're in our eighth week. It's about eight times that. So, there you go. Yes, it's a massive, massive amount.

VELSHI: It's such a devastating, devastating thing. I mean, in the news business, we try and keep objective, and we try and -- you know, try and keep as much of the emotion out of it sometimes as we can. How can you just not be devastated by the effect this has had on the people in the Gulf of Mexico?

You know, Josh, next week I'm going to be down there with the bus, with the CNN Express, just talking to people who are a little bit removed maybe from it, and finding out the effect it's had on them. When people are losing their jobs and they're not getting their checks, they're not spending at the local pizza parlor and the bowling alley and places like that. This has just had such a devastating effect on people, it makes me sad.

LEVS: Sure. And the numbers we're talking about right now continue that economic effect, because the more oil that's in the Gulf, the more costs to deal with it. All of it, the longer it's going to take to clean it up, the longer the fishermen can go back to work. We've talked about that.

It's an ecosystem that is a huge part of the way the entire region operates, and it affects the ripple effects very quickly, the whole country, including in the pocketbook, absolutely.

VELSHI: Yes. All right, Josh. Thanks for staying on top of it for us and continuing to just break this stuff down for us.

All right. Josh Levs in Atlanta.

When you hear the words "oil rig" and "Gulf of Mexico" these days, you probably think of BP. But the Gulf is a very, very busy place. Lots of companies, lots of workers out there.

I'm going to show you the picture after the break.

Hey, by the way, here's the part you also want to stick around for, Tony Meola. Look at him. This is a three-time World Cup goalkeeper.

He's here with me. He's shepherding us through our understanding of the World Cup, which began today.

Stay with us to hear what he's got to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Hey, I was telling you before the break, you know, we've come to associate BP with the Gulf Coast and oil drilling. But the reality is that the Gulf of Mexico is a very, very, very busy place with lots of companies, tens of thousands of workers and rigs working in the Gulf.

Let's talk to Poppy Harlow. She's here with me in New York with a breakdown of the folks who are doing work in the Gulf of Mexico -- Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes.

So many jobs supported in the Gulf. The reason is the Gulf of Mexico, Ali, it's the third biggest deepwater region for that oil drilling outside of Africa and Latin America.

What we do know is that BP is the biggest player. You've got a whole new CNNMoney.com story on that, BP being the biggest player in the Gulf. But it goes way, way, way beyond that. All right?

This is a graphic that just came up on CNNMoney.com. It's exclusive on the site.

All of these dots, Ali, these are all the 70 rigs in the Gulf of Mexico right now. And I want you to look at this. This is all of the companies.

You know some of them well -- BP, Shell, Chevron, all the way down here to Exxon -- operating these rigs in the Gulf. But here's the difference, Ali. All these gray dots, these are rigs that are pumping out oil right now in the Gulf of Mexico.

But the blue ones -- and as you see they're deeper down -- these are all of those 33 rigs that were drilling and now they can't. They're idled because of the president's moratorium. So, what we wanted to do was show you specifically some of those deepest rigs, and also talk about BP, because it is BP that is the biggest player in all this.

All 13 of these rigs are BP rigs. Let's talk about the two deepest ones.

They're at 10,000 feet. You've got the West Sirius rig, Ali, right here at 10,000 feet. Also at 10,000 feet, you have the Deep Ocean Ascension.

Then you have Anadarko. And, Ali, we talked about Anadarko earlier this week. It's this company -- you've probably never heard of it, but guess what? It was a 25 percent partner in BP in that Macondo oil well in that Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded. They also have two rigs at 10,000 feet, the Discover Spirit, and also the Ocean Monarch. And, again, all these rigs are idled now.

But I want to take you to the deepest rig. This is Shell's rig, Ali. I was actually going to fly out and be on this rig about a week after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon. They obviously had to cancel that trip. That's at 12,000 right now, Ali.

But none of these --

VELSHI: Wow.

HARLOW: -- are producing oil. I know. Twelve thousand feet; they're in the final testing on this rig right now.

But this one right here, this gray little dot you see at 8,202 feet, that is Anadarko's Atwater Valley Hub. That is the only rig in the Gulf right now that is pumping out oil as we speak at that level.

Ali, 8,000 feet, that's 3,000 feet deeper than the Deepwater Horizon. That rig exploded, Ali. So, it's a big picture but you see -- go ahead.

VELSHI: You're talking about the point at which the sea meets the bed of the ocean. Because they then go deeper than that to the actual reservoir.

HARLOW: Exactly.

VELSHI: But it's that much water depth that they're in.

HARLOW: Exactly.

VELSHI: And that -- you're on the -- go ahead, sorry.

HARLOW: No, no, that's exactly right. And this, 12,000 feet, that would be 7,000 feet deeper than the 5,000-foot Deepwater Horizon that we talk so much about, Ali. And it's just amazing when you look at the cost and the hundreds of billions and billions of dollars that have gone into all of these rigs -- Ali.

VELSHI: Fascinating, if you do get on the rig. We were on a noble (ph) rig some years ago, and there could be more than 100 people working on that thing. It's a 24-hour operation, it's three shifts. You're entirely self-contained.

HARLOW: Yes.

VELSHI: A lot of people working out there, too.

Poppy Harlow, good to see you. Thank you so much.

HARLOW: A lot. Thank you. VELSHI: Poppy Harlow.

All of this stuff is on CNNMoney.com, and her video of all of these things, so you should check that out.

All right. From crack addict, to prison inmate, to drug counselor, to CNN Hero. We're going to check in with Susan Burton on her work to help women offenders who are transitioning to life on the outside.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: We introduce to you new CNN Heroes throughout the year. We also like to follow up with past heroes, kind of check in on how their programs or their initiatives or just plain good deeds are going.

So, today, we revisit Susan Burton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN BURTON, CNN HERO: We all leave prison saying, "I'm going to get my life on track." And you end up getting off a bus, downtown Los Angeles, Skid Row. Many times you don't even make it out of the Skid Row area before you're caught up into that cycle again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Now, that cycle is a cycle our hero knows all too well. For over a decade now, she's been helping other women break that cycle.

Susan Burton is a CNN Hero and the founder of a New Way to Life Reentry Project. She joins my now from Los Angeles.

For people who don't know -- first of all, welcome, and thank you for being here, Susan. We really appreciate it.

BURTON: Thank you. And I appreciate being here.

VELSHI: For people who don't know your story, Susan, you were in jail. You served six terms for drug offenses in the '80s and '90s.

What got you there?

BURTON: I had a 5-year-old son who was accidentally killed by a car. I began to drink. Then I began to use street drugs.

The street drugs were illegal, so I was sentenced to prison. So, substance abuse, alcoholism addiction is what sent me back and forth to prison for over 10 years.

VELSHI: And then in 1998, you formed New Way of Life, two years after you left prison for the last time. According to the Department of Corrections in California, where you are, 60 percent of ex- offenders return to prison after offending. Now, for people who aren't -- have not committed felony crimes, they sort of sit there and say, why wouldn't you just not commit the crime? Isn't jail enough to sort of teach you not to do the thing that gets you back in there?

But it's really a struggle. You've met people and dealt with people for whom that is really a struggle, staying out of jail once you've been in jail.

BURTON: Yes. You literally leave prison, and they give you $200 to make a new life with. You have no support, no I.D., nowhere to go, and you end up back in the same environment. At least I ended up back in the same environment, and many people do end up back in the same environment.

What I found is that --

VELSHI: And I suppose that not everybody is all that anxious to employ somebody who has just come out of prison.

BURTON: Exactly. Employment is a big problem if you don't have an I.D. and you don't have a Social Security card. Plus, having a criminal history, it's next to impossible to find employment. So, all of these factors go in to people returning.

What I found at a New Way of Life, over 70 percent of the people that come there, they make it. They don't go back to prison. They do find employment eventually. And they find a place where they fit in the community.

VELSHI: What happens? So, somebody comes out of prison. How do they find out about you? What happens when they walk into your operation? And what is it you can do that can help them stay out of prison?

BURTON: Well, first of all, I welcome them home and welcome them back and tell them that there's a place there for them. I show them around the house. I introduce them to the other residents, and I let them become comfortable in our environment. I take an assessment of what their needs are and begin to see how we can meet those needs.

VELSHI: Let me ask you this, what's the biggest challenge? You said 70 percent of them do well.

For the 30 percent who don't, what's the thing that gets them back into trouble, or the thing that doesn't allow them to succeed? What's the thing that you wish if you had a magic wand you could fix?

BURTON: Personal commitment and perseverance in the face of the doors being slammed, in the face of discouragement. If I had a magic wand, I would erase discouragement.

VELSHI: Well, if you get that, let me know, because that would help us all out.

(LAUGHTER) BURTON: All right.

VELSHI: Susan, great to talk to you. Really great, the work that you're doing. We appreciate it.

It's good for those women who come out, and it's good for society that you're doing it. So, thanks very much. And for that, you are our CNN Hero of the week.

BURTON: Thank you so much for recognizing my efforts.

VELSHI: My pleasure.

All right. Let's take a look at the top stories today.

It's day 53 in the Gulf oil catastrophe. We're now finding out that researchers have doubled their estimates of how much the gusher has been leaking. We're also seeing damaged in oil-soaked birds, and, of course, economies struggling to survive.

We're now learning a 16-year-old who was attempting to sail around the world solo is OK. Earlier, she had triggered a distress signal before losing contact with the outside world. The California girl won't be finishing her journey. She'll be picked up from the Indian Ocean within the next day.

We'll keep you posted.

A sad story, western Arkansas. Flash floods have swept through campgrounds. We've now confirmed at least 14 people are dead. Others are unaccounted for. Volunteers and helicopters are searching for them right now.

Coming up, Chad Myers is tracking developments of that deadly flash flood. He's going to tell you what happened. And, by the way, he's going to tell you very specifically what you can do to avoid being a victim of a flash flood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: The World Cup is under way. The first game started this morning, the second game is under way now.

Right?

TONY MEOLA, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM GOALKEEPER: Just started.

VELSHI: All right.

Tony Meola is with me right now. He's going to tell you what you need to look for, what are the most memorable upsets in soccer history. This is a three-time World Cup goalkeeper.

We're going "Globe Trekking" with him when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK time for "Globe Trekking". Where else would you go today, but South Africa, 32 teams from all over the world are in South Africa for the worlds' greatest sporting event, The World Cup. I know some people will take issue to that-with that but I'm a numbers guy. I'm a I'm a finance guy, I can back it up.

Over the next months of play you can be sure that there will be some see stunning upsets. Upsets are the way it goes. That's' what makes it exciting. Here to talk World Cup we have got a pro, this is a former member of three U.S. world cup teams, goal keeper Tony Meola. This is a great athlete and a great supporter of soccer.

Tony, this morning, Mexico, South Africa, South Africa many people thought would be the first country not to make it out of their first round. They've still got to win another game to do that, but that was not going to be.

South Africa's the host country, when I say first country, I mean the first host country. Not a highly ranked team in the grand scheme of things.

When you look at the game like that today, ended up in a draw, one goal each. It doesn't seem exciting to American sports watchers.

MEOLA: Well when you say the game was 1-1 and you didn't see the game, maybe it doesn't sound exciting.

But if you watch the game, you had Mexico the first 20 minutes of the game who really poured it on South Africa. You never thought South Africa was going to be in the game. And then all of a sudden they come out in the break, they get an outstanding goal.

Might end up being one of the goals of the tournament, the first goal we score in the tournament and Mexico is on their heels and battling and battling. South Africa has a chance to make it 2-0 on the breakaway goalkeeper makes a save two minutes later Mexico scores, 1-1 now.

Now the drama is -- you could feel the stadium, of course, the host country. And now South Africa goes down in the 93rd minute of the game and hits the post.

And here's a country that, as he going in on a breakaway the country's going like this, and as he hits the post it's like one of these.

And that's really the beauty of The World Cup. So, yes, when you just tell me the score you call me up and say the game was 1-1, that was one thing. But when you sit and watch the game, I was walking out of an appointment we had today to do another interview and all of a sudden it was 1-0, when we left South Africa, I heard yelling. Well I was with three other guys we heard yelling, we ran into a coffee shop, and there's 200 Mexican fans going absolutely crazy.

VELSHI: So you figured out what happened, Mexico got a goal. All right, so tomorrow you're going to hear a lot of yelling in America, because tomorrow is that -- that game between England and the USA. Tell me what the storied history is here that this is such a big deal. Why is an England/USA match up such a big deal.

MEOLA: Well You mentioned history and you mentioned upsets, right, earlier?

VELSHI: Yes.

MEOLA: And in 1950 the U.S. pulled off what they thought was the biggest upset in World Cup History, and everybody thought so --

VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE) the last time the two teams played have each other?

MEOLA: In the World Cup.

VELSHI: In the World Cup.

MEOLA: They've played since times since. But the U.S. won 1-0 and really shattered the English hopes of really advancing their game.

VELSHI: The Brits were a little annoyed that the Americans beat them at their game.

MEOLA: They were. And I still read reports and there are still people stinging from 1950. And that's how that game resonated. Then you go to the U.S.--was also involved in a game that I played in, in another big upset which kind of reminds me of this game a little bit, the U.S./England game, but only because Colombia in 1994 was picked by some to win the World Cup.

VELSHI: Right.

MEOLA: And then we were able knock off Carlos Valderrama with the hair and the whole nine yards in Pasadena, 2-1, we win that game and advance to the next round. Colombia gets knocked out of the tournament.

VELSHI: Which is interesting, about this, this is the one thing. It's kind of like March Madness and somebody could get knocked out inadvertently early. So it could be a favorite could be the one you think is going to win the whole thing.

If they get knocked out in an earlier round.

MEOLA: The good teams will tell you the hardest part of this tournament is the first round.

VELSHI: That's right.

MEOLA: Once you get into the elimination round, you know your teams' are clicking and the teams are playing good and the cream rises to the top. Now there always-- seems to always be a surprise in the tournament, but for sure the tough teams -- because, let's face it, who's the U.S. geared up for?

If England is the No. 1 team in the group, OK, we'll concede that and let them have the title,.

VELSHI: Right

MEOLA: But you're gearing up for this game. Right so the Argentina's the Brazil's when you are drawn into the group with the Brazil's, who you looking at?

In that group you're not looking at anybody else in that group. Your looking Brazil and you're looking Italy. You are looking this afternoon we'll see the second half of the group in France, Uruguay, France is a team that two world cups ago wins the World Cup and some of those players still on that team, so we are those are the games you're looking at.

VELSHI: How much has the game changed since you were actively playing it?

MEOLA: Well I don't know that the physical part has changed all that much. I mean you're-every four years these guys are in the best shape they've ever been in their entire life. I think what's changed is everything around it, you know? Especially here in the United States, just given what I --

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

VELSHI: That's you, by the way.

MEOLA: Is that me?

VELSHI: That's you with the hair. The ponytail.

MEOLA: With the long hair.

The uniform has changed and the hair's changed. But I think everything that surrounds it for sure has changed. There's a lot more media coverage now there's a lot more interest in the game, and every four years guys like myself have to go around and help promote the game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MEOLA: And we understood that when you play soccer, we understood 15, 20 years ago, you had two jobs. You had to play the game and you had to promote the game.

VELSHI: Right.

MEOLA: And that's really what it was and that's something that every player that I ever played with accepted. VELSHI: Stick around with me, Tony Meola a former member of three world U.S. cup teams, a former major league soccer player goaltender. You saw the pictures of him. I'll going to come back to him in just a little while, to guide you through this World Cup.

But first, top stories when we return. Including a oil Gulf alert, I'll tell you why scientists are in an even darker mood today about that oil leak when we get back.

VELSHI: All right. Let me you give you a check on the top stories we're following here at CNN. Let's start with the latest in Gulf oil disaster. Even as BP prepares to test a new collection method that could help siphon up more oil, scientists have doubled their estimate of how much water is escaping that deep-water wellhead. The new number? 40,000 barrels leaking every day for weeks now.

Also, in Arkansas, a flash flood has swept through a campground killing now at least 16 people. The search is on for stranded survivors. Helicopters and local volunteers are helping out. We're going to keep a close eye on this story and bring you any new developments.

In Peru, Joran van der Sloot has been charged with the slaying of a 21-year-old woman. A Lima court says van der Sloot he acted with ferocity and great cruelty in the death of Stephany Flores in a hotel room in Lima. Van der Sloot has been also considered the main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway in Aruba.

OK. When we come back, we've been waiting for this for days. Ed Henry was in a steerman plane, an antique plane. He was subbing in for me, and as you saw a couple days ago, the plane in front of him tipped over.

He wasn't in that one, but now we're going get the story that we were supposed to get a couple days ago. Stay with us, Ed's coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: I want to recap a story we're following very closely for you. This is the flash flood that hit a campground in west Arkansas. Killing 16 people. They're still looking for more people right now.

These are some photos that we're getting in. This was a very sudden raise. It was 7 inches of rain Chad tells us within 48 hours. But the reality is that this river where people were camping sort of acted like a funnel, so that river gained a lot more height, too fast for the campers to get out, unfortunately.

So, authorities are still going through there. These are pictures that are still coming in, what we're looking at a computer, but this is some of the area that has flooded. The area that was flooded was by a river, as I say. Police say that they are still looking up and down that river, about ten miles south and ten miles north. One fire department respondent told a reporter it looked like the river at this point is going 100 miles an hour. We don't know that to be accurate, but it's moving very, very quickly.

They're still trying to see who is in there. It was a remote area and it wasn't a camp ground that you check in and out of, and there wasn't a ranger on site, so authorities just don't know how many people were there. But they say 16 are dead, including some children.

We'll stay on top of that very, very closely for you.

All right. Time now for something we do every day at this time, our Ed Henry, White House Senior Correspondent, and his stakeout, he has had a heck of a week. Ed, I'm going talk about your week in a second. But, first, let's talk about the guy you follow every day. The president. He's got some people across the pond in great Britain a little mad about all of this BP bashing.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He does. It's very interesting. There's going to be a big phone call this weekend, that's already been scheduled, very rare for it to be scheduled in advance like this, but President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron, the new prime minister in Britain.

And they're going to talk some things out. And it's interesting because I was talking to my colleague Dan Lothian about this earlier that. To hear Robert Gibbs tell it yesterday at the briefing, he was kind of so downplaying the BP angle, saying they were going to talk about Afghanistan, an important subject.

They may even talk about the World Cup. It's almost like he was saying you know they'll talk about the weather, they're going to talk about anything but BP.

But The fact is this going to be in at least good part about BP. Because you're right. In Britain there's a lot of anger, there's feeling that some of president's rhetoric about kicking ass and basically taking names figuring who he needs to whip into shape down there in the Gulf has frustrated a lot of people on the other side.

No. 1. And, No. 2, BP has lost about 40 percent of its value and a lot of the pension funds there have BP in the funds.

VELSHI: And that that's--we're talking about little old ladies sometimes who are invested in conservative mutual funds or pension funds that pay a dividend because BP is that important in Great Britain. All right, I want to talk about something else. The other day I asked you to sub in for me on an assignment to fly a plane. An antique plane.

I'm sorry I missed it. You had a little more excitement than I expected because as you landed, the plane in front of you tipped over, and you were telling us about that the other day.

HENRY: You said you were a little sick, so you wanted me to fill in. VELSHI: I've had this cough.

HENRY: Yes, you had a cough. It was a nagging cough, I felt really bad for you. Except this turned in to be a much bigger thing. And I felt a little under the weather after all of this, so I thought I would sot of put together -- you know a little under the weather myself. I put together exactly what happened, Ali, take a look.

(BEGIN VIEDOTAPE)

HENRY(voice-over): Normally I get to fly around the world on the big bird, Air Force one.

So, you're probably wondering why on earth I agreed to hop into this open cockpit and fly in a WWII era steerman. It literally was a pile of parts before retired US Airways pilot Ron Gorr bought it and had it rebuilt.

RON GORR, RETIRED US AIRWAYS PILOT : We threw everything away except the hardware.

HENRY(on camera): But the wings are all screwed in now, right? so, we're good right?

GORR: We're good. Just as good as Air Force one.

HENRY(voice-over): Well, not exactly. Before we took off at Manassas regional airport in Virginia, I realized this plane was a bit smaller and had a little more trouble starting up.

HENRY (on camera): What's our escape plan?

GORR: What's our escape plan?

HENRY: yes. All right. I don't know if I like that. Just a laugh?

GORR: We have no escape plan.

HENRY: Is there a parachute?

GORR: No, there's no parachute or anything.

HENRY: So that's what you would do if you had an engine failure, you go somewhere where you find a field.

GORR: Hopefully.

HENRY: I just want to have a plan b, that's all.

(voice over): But I flew anyway, because Ali Velshi asked me to do it. That's right, our daily bromance has grown to the point I actually believed Ali when he told me it would be no big deal if I filled in for him. And it started out fantastic. Up in the sky, just 1,000 feet above the ground. It literally feels like you're aboard a flying Harley. The biplanes were used to train Army cadets in WWII are featured in a new IMAX film "Legends Of Flight".

The first 20 minutes were exhilarating. But by the time we reached the Potomac river, I was feeling a bit sick.

(on camera): We came over the river, and -- but it was -- it was incredible, but after a while, I was kind of like, , I want to land now. I think I'm good.

We should land.

(voice over) Little did I know the landing was going to be far worse for a plane just ahead of me, carrying a Washington post reporter and flipped over.

(on camera) All of the sudden the air traffic control, I could hear it on hear, just say, no, runway one is closed.

And he said, okay, and they said, land on runway three. And I thought, okay. That seems a little odd. It was -- it was sort of very abrupt.

(voice over) Fire trucks and ambulances raced to the scene, but in the end, everything was fine. Except, perhaps, my willingness to ever fill in again for a certain news anchor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Ah. Aside from that little mishap, it seemed like a lot of fun.

HENRY: It was a lot of fun. I guess I owe you that. I got a flight jacket out of it, but a little bit of a scare. My colleagues in D.C. Who were, you know, there, shooting the pictures of this plane arriving, they thought maybe that was my plane that flipped over, so there was sort of a momentary scare.

Gave everybody a little bit of heart palpitations, but we're all good and it was a great experience, but I will never fill in again for you, my friend.

VELSHI: It's always good to see you. You have a fantastic weekend. And we will see you again all next week. Ed Henry and the stakeout from the White House.

Playing around with World Cup words. Football versus soccer. There's actually a difference that I'll tell you about it when we come back

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: Time for "Wordplay" today. We've been talking World Cup here with Tony Meola. He's a three-time goal keeper from the World Cup on the U.S. team.

So here's the question, why do we call it soccer here in the U.S. while everyone else calls it football? Soccer's actually a slang term, comes from England. From the land of football. They needed to distinguish it from rugby, which is what they needed to distinguish it from.

You see, they had rugby football and association football. Association football is where one -- is where players use their feet.

Soccer became a way to -- shorten the word association. When the game-I don't know how you get soccer from association. When the game came over her, there was a game called football, you know the Packers the Bears the Giants those guys the helmets, soccer stuck. And that's why we have soccer.

Tony, tomorrow, England versus USA. You able to make a prediction on that?

MEOLA: I'm going to pick the United States 2-0. I've been picking them 2-0 for a long time. I'm not picking with my heart right now, I'm picking with my soccer brain. I think this team is good enough to defeat England.

VELSHI: Very good, all right. And then what do you think is going to happen through this World Cup who do you think we'll be looking at on July 11?

MEOLA: Well I think Brazil has to be one of the favorites, but, of course, when you pick Brazil, you're no rocket scientist. But I think Brazil, Spain, Argentina are the three teams to look out for.

VELSHI: What are we looking for. If I am looking at games, what do I look at other than the obvious? Are there moments are there plays?

MEOLA: The pace of the game. The teams that pick up the pace of the game and really put the other team under pressure is generally the team that comes out on top.

VELSHI: You think that -- are you going to see -- is this the kind of thing where we're going to see those -- those fantastic moves that we sometimes see when we see highlight reels?

MEOLA: Well you've got the two dribbles in the world, Lionel Messi from Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal. Those are going to be ,the two guys, that are going to be on the highlight reels for years to come.

VELSHI: It's an entertaining sport to watch.

MEOLA : Enjoy it. It's going to be a lot of fun. VELSHI: All right. Tony great to see you Thank you for being here. Will you come back? Are you going to be around for the World Cup

MEOLA: If you invite me, I'll be back.

VELSHI: We love talking to you. I mean it's a great thing and we're all enjoying the World Cup together. There's so much going on in the world not about celebrating, so we're taking this little piece of time to be able to do that. Tony Meola, former member of three U.S. World Cup teams, former goalkeeper major league soccer team player here in New York.

All right. When we come back, for my "XYZ", I have got a very special World Cup tournament edition for the host country. It's a bit special for me, too it's a little personal I'll tell you about it when I get back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Time now for the "XYZ "of it. The first game of the World Cup wrapped up hours ago between Mexico ranked 17th in the world and South Africa the host country ranked 83rd. It ended in a draw. Clearly Mexico was the statistical favorite although no host country in the history of the World Cup has ever failed to advance beyond the first round. The first round involves two more games for South Africa. So whether or not it advances or fails remains to be seen. But win, lose or draw or South Africa this World Cup really is about how you play the game literally and figuratively.

Full disclosure here my parents and my sister were all born I South Africa. I've lived and worked there. My family's experience in the struggle against apartheid which separated people on the basis of their color was a driving force of the way I see the world and my sense of social justice.

Because of apartheid, because of the fact that only a tiny minority of South Africa's population could get a proper public education, vote, move freely and enjoy basic civil liberties, South Africa was rightly shunned by the world until the mid-1990s.

At the height of the stupidity known as apartheid there were nine different classifications or groups.

Where you fell in that classification was based on ridiculous pseudo-scientific tests. In some cases blood-related members of the same household were classified as different races and had different rights.

Thousands fought and died fighting apartheid. From the late '60s many of what -- the faces of what is now called The Rainbow Nation blended into one.

The face of Nelson Mandela. He served 27 years in prison, much of it doing hard labor. He was released in 1990. He won election as the first Democratically elected president of South Africa.

Democratically elected by every citizen who wanted to vote. South Africa became a new vibrant Democratic country born in our time.

Today it has one of the most advanced constitutions in the world. A population of 48 million people, 11 official languages and a bright but still troubled future. We'll all get to share a piece of that future every day for the next month.

You may not care much about soccer or the World Cup, but when you watch a game, knowing that you are watching history being made, one of the finest competitions on earth, bringing a troubled world together in one of the most culturally enriched, most complex and exciting countries on the planet.

Whether or not South Africa scores another goal in this World Cup, it will end this month victorious.

That's my "XYZ". here's RICK'S LIST.