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Leaked Afghan War Documents; "New York Times" Suspects Pakistan's Military Spy Service is Helping Taliban; Will Tony Hayward Resign?; Duck Boat and Barge Collide Near Penn's Landing; Good Samaritan Saves Blind Woman From Atlanta Commuter Train; Stocks Off to Slow Start After Action-Packed Week; Nevada: Tea Party Testing Ground; Wheels Come Off Gravy Train in Bell; Immigration Battle in Nebraska Town
Aired July 26, 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, everyone.
Wikileaks strikes again -- classified documents about the Afghan war. Don't think of this as a leak, think of this as a dam bursting online.
If the weather is great where you are, don't take it for granted. It is brutal across much of the country. If the heavy rain or strong winds don't find you, the unbearable heat just might.
If you're looking to hire an experienced CEO with some baggage, this guy might be on the market today.
We begin with tens of thousands of secret Afghan war documents posted online by a whistleblower Web site. WikiLeaks raising blood pressure once again. This is information leaked at the gush of battle details from the frontlines from a reported assassination attempt on Hamid Karzai to raids gone wrong.
We're talking six years, 92,000 documents of blow-by-blow pictures of what our troops are up against on the ground in Afghanistan.
And here's more. "The New York Times" reports suspicions that Pakistan's military spy service is helping the Taliban. The Taliban is using portable heat-seeking missiles against U.S. aircraft.
Secret commando units are working off a capture kill list of about 70 insurgent commanders.
WikiLeaks' editor Julian Assange is defending the move.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS EDITOR: This material doesn't just reveal occasional abuses by the U.S. military. Of course, as U.S. military reporting on all sorts of abuses by the Taliban, suicide bombers and IEDs going off and so on, so it does describe the abuses by both sides in this war.
And that's how people can really understand what is actually going on and whether they choose to support it or not.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Joining me now from London, senior national correspondent Nic Robertson, and from Islamabad, Reza Sayah.
Nic, let's go ahead and start with you. Number one, does this compromise our security and the security of our allies as members of the White House have clearly said?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's certainly going to have some sources looking at what they're saying, who they're saying it to, and what are the consequences if they get caught as a result of these types of leaks in the future.
If you're compromising your sources, then you're compromising your security. Is anyone going to die as a result of this? Well, the site that has leaked it said this never happened before. This brought about changes in government, changes in leadership and policy, but never the death of anyone.
But as far as a read -- an initial read goes so far, it doesn't appear to sort of put anyone's life in immediate danger, but it's going to cause some compromises, that is for sure.
PHILLIPS: OK. So, Nic, you and I well know there are levels of classification, so how classified were these documents?
ROBERTSON: Secret, not top secret, and they go out of their way to say that. There's a lot about the Special Forces that only comes sort of into these reports because there were other army units on the ground with the Special Forces when they're doing the operations.
There are documents there that are not for foreign eyes. That is not to be shared with. It would seem coalition partners in the field despite the fact that we're told that there is good intelligent sharing cooperation in Afghanistan and in Pakistan by the United States and all of -- all the allied nations fighting there.
So it doesn't seem to go right to the top, but what it does is these huge broad strata of understanding in the tiny bits of detail that it gives you across this whole spectrum, so it may not go to the most secret stuff, but you get a really detailed insight into what's going on there.
PHILLIPS: And, Reza, let me ask you. Obviously, there are all times of journalists and newspapers pouring over these documents. "The New York Times" reports that with a hidden hand, Pakistan's military spy service guided Afghan insurgency, but then "The Guardian" reports there's no smoking gun.
So what's your take? You're there in Islamabad.
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, well, no one has yet to independently verify these reports so you can easily argue that there is no smoking gun, but it's the sheer volume of these reports that make them compelling.
It's important to remember Pakistan has heard these allegations before, allegations that its spy agency is playing a double game. On one hand, seemingly helping U.S. and NATO efforts against militants across the border in Afghanistan. And on the other hand, secretly working with the Afghan Taliban to fuel the insurgency.
Now some of our viewers may be asking why, why in the world would Pakistan help the Afghan Taliban? It is important to know here in Pakistan, their state policy, their foreign policy is all based on India. They are obsessed with India.
They fear that India may be trying to surround them with their growing influence across the border in Afghanistan. And some officials in Washington and many analysts are worried that Pakistan is maintaining relations with the Afghan Taliban to counter that growing Indian influence in Afghanistan and to secure ultimately an ally in Kabul once U.S. forces pull out.
And when you read these WikiLeaks reports, some are going to say, yes, those links are still there. But Pakistani officials all day aggressively rejecting them, but certainly these reports are going to add a lot of suspicion to the spy agency here at the ISI -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And, Reza, you know, we give Pakistan $1 billion a year in aid. How is this going to affect U.S./Pakistan relations already tense?
SAYAH: It certainly doesn't bode well for already fragile relations, but in talking to analysts, they don't think in the immediate run it's going to impact them significantly. And they point to recent events and they include a lot of praise from Washington going to the Pakistani military.
Just last week the U.S. endorsed Pakistan giving extensions to the Pakistani army chief's tenure. And analysts say, if these suspicions about the ISI were deal breakers, you wouldn't hear that praise coming from Washington.
Are they concerned about these suspected links with the ISI and the Afghan Taliban? Certainly. Are they a deal breaker? No. Is this relationship going to be continuing to be a fragile one, an uncertain one, definitely -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Reza Sayah, Nic Robertson, guys, thanks so much.
Well, the White House says that these leaks compromise our security. National Security advisor Jim Jones says that, "The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security."
He continues, "These irresponsible leaks will not impact our ongoing commitment to deepen our partnerships with Afghanistan and Pakistan."
This certainly isn't the first time WikiLeaks has raised eyebrows. This latest leak seals the Web site's reputation as a clearing house for secret materials, alleging government and corporate misconduct.
You remember this video. It was taken in 2007 of a U.S. helicopter attack in Iraq that killed a dozen civilians, including two unarmed Reuters' journalists. That was one of the biggest controversies for the nonprofit site run by a loose band of tech-savvy volunteers.
WikiLeaks operates in several countries, by the way, including Sweden and Iceland, specifically because those nations offer legal protection to the disclosures made on that site.
One of two U.S. sailors missing in Afghanistan has reportedly died. Local Afghan officials say that he was killed in a firefight with Taliban insurgents at Logar Province. It's believed that the other sailor is being held captive.
The U.S. military is offering a reward now. $20,000 for any information.
It's day 98 of the Gulf oil disaster, and it looks like BP CEO Tony Hayward is on his way out. There are reports that the company has decided to replace him possibly sometime today.
Hayward has been under fire over his handling of the crisis and the self-pitying comment that he wanted his life back. Well, he may soon get it. BP says no final decision has been made yet.
Crews and vessels have returned to the site of the spill after Tropical Storm Bonnie chased them away. That storm fizzled but evacuating the manpower and machinery cost valuable time.
BP says it will take several times before drilling can resumes on the relief well. The only method to permanently shut down the leak.
So how are you doing, D.C.? We know it's been a rough 24 hours, that's for sure. Brutal thunderstorms killed at least two people in the area on Sunday and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
The race is on to get everyone back on the grid. It's supposed to be over 90 degrees in D.C. today. Getting to work this morning won't be a picnic, either. Lots of traffic and a lot of lights not working.
Metro D.C. is just part of the big severe weather picture this morning. Heavy rains in the Midwest, flooded roads in Chicago, punched a big hole in a dam in Iowa.
Let's go ahead and send you over to meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. What a busy morning.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh my goodness.
(LAUGHTER)
JERAS: What a weekend, you know? I was trying to think of what's the one weather phenomenon that didn't occur this weekend, and the only thing I could come up with was blizzard. (LAUGHTER)
JERAS: So pretty extreme, but some very serious moments happening. I want to talk a little bit more about the dam failure that happened in northeast Iowa. And we'll show you those pictures. We'll go ahead and take them -- so you can get a better look at them.
This was in northeastern Iowa. What happened was we had incredible amounts of rainfall which caused record flooding on the Maquoketa River. Catastrophic failure then occurred along this dam. It's a nine-mile long lake called Lake Delhi. And it really emptied in just a matter of hours. It flooded homes, hundreds of homes and cabins.
It's primarily a recreational lake. And so people like to use this for boating and fishing. Amazingly, nobody was injured when this happened. And the sirens did go off to warn people that they needed to get out of their homes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
JERAS: And so the weather is looking so much better across the Midwest and the northeast with cooler conditions, but one part of the country, Kyra, still looking terrible and that's the southeast.
We will have some more details on what you can expect there coming up in just another few minutes.
PHILLIPS: OK. Thanks, Jacqui.
Here are the eyewitnesses to a disaster as the tug bar slams a boatload of tourists with deadly results.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey. It's ferry, ferry, ferry. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa!
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The Coast Guard released this chilling audio tape right before and after the deadly duck boat coalition in Philly just a few weeks ago. We'll have more on this in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: We are going cross country now. Getting a better idea of the moments just before and after that deadly collision between a tug barge and a tourist duck boat earlier this month in Philly.
Saturday the U.S. Coast Guard released dramatic audiotapes from that cash that hurled 37 people into the water and killed two passengers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey. It's ferry, ferry, ferry. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa! UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Freedom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. One of the duck boats off Penn's Landing looks like they got run over by a barge. I'm going in to pick them up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. This is Freedom. We got people in the water on Penn's Landing. Hey, it's looks like they got ran over by a barge -- one of the duck boats. I'm going in to pick them up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger, Captain. How many persons are in the water? Over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No idea. I don't have time to talk to you right now. I'm going to get the people.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The bodies of two Hungarian tourists were found days later. Federal investigators are reviewing that accident.
In suburban Atlanta, pretty compelling surveillance video from a commuter train platform. Fifty-seven-year-old Addie Norfleet who's visually impaired didn't see the edge of the platform.
She walked off it and onto the tracks as Marta train rolled into the station. A Good Samaritan leapt into action, got her off the tracks and out of danger just in the nick of time.
Norfleet and her family are appreciative to all who lent a helping hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADDIE NORFLEET, FELL ON MARTA TRACKS: I think I wasn't really concentrating on where I was walking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: Had it not been for God's grace and mercy and that young man, we would be doing a whole different story.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: I really just want to meet him and show appreciation. Because that -- for him to get down on the tracks like that --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The Samaritan that came to her aid has yet to be identified.
Closing arguments are set for later this morning in the federal corruption trial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Testimony in the seven-week-long trial came to an unexpected halt last week when Blagojevich didn't take the stand as he had promised. Blagojevich says that he made the decision on advice of his attorneys. He was impeached earlier last year amid accusations that he tried raffling the US Senate seat previously held by President Obama. Major clean up in Chicago today after a weekend of serious flash flooding, that's for sure. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras has more on this in the CNN Weather Center. Jacqui?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: What a mess, Kyra. The Midwest has been hit so hard with flooding, and not just in the last weekend, but this the last month or so.
Check out these pictures that we have out of Chicago for you. What happened is we had an incredible amount of rain Friday night and into Saturday morning. There you can see many small rivers and creeks rose. A lot of flash flooding. People were forced from their homes. Lots of basements were flooded.
We also had flooding not just here in the suburbs, but also downtown Chicago. And several of the interstates, at least parts of them, had to shut down as a result of that. A huge mess in the Chicagoland area. Still many warnings in effect across the area, but many of the rivers are receding at this hour.
Now, that storm system is finally on the move. Our weather pattern has finally changed just a little bit, and that's going to allow Chicago, Milwaukee, Iowa to begin to dry out now. We don't think we'll see much for rain in the area. Probably not at least until Wednesday, so that gives you a good three days here to dry out.
That frontal system dropped southward now, so the big focus will be into the Tennessee River valley as well as into the Deep South. Now, the good news is we are not really expecting any severe weather with this. Just pop-up showers and thunderstorms. But we could see some flash flooding and mostly urban flooding as we get some heavy downpours, maybe as much as an inch or two per hour with the thunderstorms.
High pressure then building in across the upper Midwest. And the high pressure is bringing in breezy conditions into the northeast and really providing so much relief from all the heat. But south of the front, that heat is going to continue.
Take a look at what the heat index is already across the southeast. It already feels like 92 degrees there in Little Rock, Arkansas We had a plethora of record highs in the southeast and east yesterday. Look at that, Charlotte, 101. We had 98 degrees at Washington Dulles. And heat advisories are in effect today across parts of the Carolinas and the Deep South.
The worst of it in this warning area, which includes Charleston. It's going to feel like 115. Maybe a smidge more than that this afternoon. Still really, really dangerous, Kyra. We think the southeast is still going to be gripped in that heat throughout much of the week ahead.
PHILLIPS: Wow. All right, Jacqui, thanks.
An explosive leak of secret war documents from the battlefields of Afghanistan More than 90,000 reports now posted online. Coming up, we are talking to one of the first reporters to get his hands on them for a closer look at what's inside.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories. Six years, 92,000 classified military documents leaked. The whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks does it again much to the chagrin of the US Defense Department and White House, who say the disclosure puts the lives of Americans and allies at risk and jeopardizes national security.
Day 98 of the oil Gulf disaster, and BP CEO Tony Hayward may soon be out of a job. Meanwhile, oil skimming ships and containment crews are on their way back to the spill area after Tropical Storm Bonnie chased them away.
The search intensifies in Afghanistan for two US sailors believed to have been abducted by Taliban militants. One of the sailors reportedly killed in a firefight with the kidnappers. The second sailor, possibly wounded and being held prisoner. We'll be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Tens of thousands of secret Afghan war documents posted online by a whistle-blower website. WikiLeaks raising blood pressure once again. This isn't an information leak, folks. It's a gush of battle details from the front lines. From a reported assassination attempt on Hamid Karzai to raids gone wrong. We're talking six years, 92,000 documents of blow-by-blow pictures of what our troops are up against on the ground in Afghanistan.
And here's more. "The New York Times" reports suspicions that the Pakistan military spy service is helping the Taliban. The Taliban is using heat-seeking missiles against US aircraft. Secret commando units are working off a capture kill list of about 70 insurgent commanders.
WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange is defending the move.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS EDITOR: This material doesn't just reveal occasional abuses by the US military. Of course, it has the US military reporting on all sorts of abuses by the Taliban. Suicide bombers and IEDs going off and so on. So it does describe the abuses by both sides in this war. And that's how people can really understand what is actually going on and whether they choose to support it or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, that's one view, but Senator John Kerry says that is the documents came to light illegally. The White House says a disclosure of classified information threatens our national security.
Eric Schmidt is a terrorism correspondent with "the New York Times," one of the first organizations to get their hands on the leak material. He is joining us from DC. Eric, did you and editors ever consider not publishing these documents, and why did you feel comfortable running with it?
ERIC SCHMIDT, TERRORISM CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: No, Kyra, we always felt we could publish the documents if they went through the careful process we normally do. We sifted through the thousands of documents, and in many cases we have redacted the names of informants on the ground, Afghans on the ground who were cooperating with the United States as well as certain sources and methods and other sensitive information that might jeopardize ongoing operations in Afghanistan
So we took great care to ensure there would not be, at least through "The New York Times," any kind of disclosure of sensitive information. In fact, the White House has praised our efforts for doing so.
PHILLIPS: So, Eric, what we know about the war publicly, and now seeing these documents -- And let me ask you as a correspondent that covers issues of terrorism and national security, has your perception of the war changed? Do you think it's worse than what we thought now that you've seen these documents?
SCHMIDT: I think what you come to the conclusion of after looking at these voluminous documents is that a war that's always been known to be a difficult struggle, both for the soldiers on the ground as well as for Afghan civilians is even more difficult. When you get into the fine-grain detailed stories of individual missions, individual confrontations on the ground, you get a sense of just how challenging it really is. And it is a grimmer picture.
I think what we also have seen as you referred to in your lead- in, is the reports of complicity by Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI, are even more voluminous than we thought. The degree of detail where we see reports of meetings between the ISI and various militant groups that are conducting attacks in Afghanistan as well as other details suggest that this involvement continues to this day. And the administration is aware of that.
PHILLIPS: That's an interesting point, Eric, because we give millions and millions of dollars to Pakistan in aid. We support its military. So with that information -- and many critics have come forward saying, "Where does that money go? What exactly are they doing to fight terrorism?" Now these documents are revealed. What's your take?
SCHMIDT: This is going to provide policymakers and, obviously, members of Congress with a tough decision. The United States reimburses Pakistan over a billion dollars a year for Pakistan's efforts along the border, supplying some 150,000 troops there for counter terrorism efforts, but here these new documents, which support the reporting that we and other organizations have done over the last couple of years, show that the very country we are helping to pay reimburse those operations for, their spy services is actually supporting the militants we are fighting in Afghanistan.
PHILLIPS: I look forward to more reports. Eric Schmidt, "The New York Times." Eric, thanks.
SCHMIDT: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: BP's oil disaster and the PR catastrophe of its boss Tony Hayward. This could be his last day at the helm. Former oil company executive takes us behind closed doors as Hayward's fate is decided.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Let's head out to Wall Street, shall we? Dow Industrials gaining almost 330 points last week, but can the positive momentum continue after the weekend? Let's ask Carter Evans, standing by live from the New York Stock Exchange. Hey, Carter.
CARTER EVANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra. It was a pretty good week last week. And the market is likely to get off to a slow start this morning. You hear the opening bell behind me right now. It's going to be a small break in what's been an action-packed few days.
The blue chips jumped triple digits three sessions in a row. Now, two of them were to the up side. After last week's rally, though, the Dow is basically unchanged from where it started the year.
Now this morning, FedEx is boosting its forecast for the full year. FedEx is one of those bell weather companies. So it's pretty good news for the economy, but the focus this week remains on corporate earnings. More than 150 companies are slated to post their results over the next couple of days. That includes industry leaders like ExxonMobil, Boeing, Dupont, and Merck.
And according to Thompson Reuters, overall, profits right now are currently on track to show a 34 percent jump from just a year ago. And the market could get more direction at the top of the hour. That's when we get the latest trading (ph) on new home sales, forecasts are calling for a modest increase in June after the figure plunged a whopping 33 percent in May. That's after the expiration of that home buyer tax credit. So let's go ahead and take a look at the early numbers right now.
The Dow is currently with a gain up about 12.5 points, the Nasdaq up about three points right now. And BP shares today ahead of that announcement that we're expecting from BP later tonight. BP shares are up about 1 percent. Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Carter, thanks.
It's day 98 of the Gulf oil disaster, and it looks like BP CEO, Tony Hayward, is on his way out. There are reports now that the company has decided to replace him possibly sometime today. Hayward has been under fire over his handling of the crisis and his self-pitying comment that he wanted his life back. Well, he may soon get it. BP says no final decision has been made.
You know, Gulf residents who have been calling for Hayward's dismissal can take comfort in one fact. He probably won't leave without a big payout. Those golden parachutes of bonus money and stock awards are not at all uncommon at U.S. companies. Here are the bosses who actually watched their company's tank and their personal fortunes soar. Remember bank of America's CEO? He fared much better than his stockholders. Ken Louis walked away with an estimated $53 million in pension benefits.
And Carly Fiorina oversaw the lay-offs of more than 20,000 employees before she, too, was shown the door, but she didn't have to join them in the unemployment line. Her separate and pension benefits are estimated at more than$40 million dollars. And here's the shout out for Richard Monistat. He actually took over insurance giant, AIG, as it was in a death spiral. After just three months at the helm, he was offered a $22 million severance package, and that's not the extraordinary part of the story.
He actually turned the money down. So, what will BP do? And what will happen today at the meeting of its board as they talk about Tony Hayward and the money he'll get? John Roberts spoke to the former president of Shell oil for his take. John joins us for "American Morning's extra." It should be interest to see how this all goes down, John.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It will be as we watch that board meeting that's going on there in London today and whether or not Tony Hayward will be ousted, but the parachute that Tony Hayward will get if, indeed, the board decides to take command and say, we want to turn the company in a direction. We're going to exercise our authority as the board, and we're going to change leaders is what that parachute will be lined with. Will it be gold? Will it be silver? Will it be something less than that.
JOHN You know, the massive payout that we see here in the United States, according to John Hofmeister, who knows this industry very well because he worked in the U.K. as well, are very, very different in the U.K. than they are here in the United States. Where someone who led a company, even if the company was being led to failure may get away with tens of millions of dollars in payouts here. It's likely to be a very different situation for Tony Hayward. Here's what Hofmeister told me this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN HOFMEISTER, FORMER SHELL PRESIDENT: These packages are really carefully scrutinized in the U.K. You know, I worked there for about eight years as part of Shell's organization, and the British people, the British press, they really carefully scrutinized, and I think boards in the U.K. as well as the rest of Europe are pretty straight forward on the separation packages. These are not as generous as what some people might see in the U.S. The numbers are large, but remember, Tony's running one of the major companies in the whole world.
And so, there is a recognition of his contributions of many, many decades. And I think, you know, because of the balance which boards take these things, the numbers I've seen and read about don't surprise me at all. They're kind of in the ballpark of what's happened in other British companies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So, what might those numbers be? Well, we do know that in 2009, Tony Hayward's total compensation including salary, bonuses, et cetera was about $4.8 million. Compare that to salaries of CEO's here of American companies, and it's about a fraction of what they might get. In terms of a payout, we're hearing and this will be on the low end, Kyra, maybe he got $1.5 million as a lump sum payment.
He gets a guarantee of a pension when he returns age 60 of about $900,000 a year, but we also know that he's probably coming away with an awful lot of BP stock because he's been there for 28 years. His stock by some estimates may be worth more than $325 million.
PHILLIPS: Can you just imagine having a pension of $900,000 a year? That just seems --
ROBERTS: Wouldn't that be nice?
PHILLIPS: Yes, that would be --
ROBERTS: Wouldn't you look forward to retirement if you have something like that?
PHILLIPS: Yes. I just want to retire tomorrow. All right. What did Hofmeister say about Hayward's gaps, and did BP have to get rid of him because of that?
ROBERTS: BP may have to make a decision one way or another. Even if he wasn't to say some of the things he did. But remember when he came out and he said, this is not our fault, and we were contracting with (ph) somebody else's fault. Then he came out and said the environment impact is likely to be very small. And then the one that really got him in a lot of trouble was when after 11 people died in the deepwater horizon and so many people's lives across the Gulf of Mexico were affected, he said, I want my life back.
That is according to Hofmeister a very common phrase in the U.K. people say, oh, God, I want my life back. But in this particular case, it was just deemed to be so insensitive and just an indication that maybe this guy is really out of touch. And it did a lot of harm to the company. But Hofmeister said, well, it's likely Hayward that will go and will probably have to go after being seen to be so insensitive as to what was going on here. This is the sort of disaster that could take down any CEO depending on how the response was.
I mean, if the person came out, was absolutely still in their response, maybe they could stay there, but it's a sort of thing that would really would chip away at any CEO's credibility. And he says that Bob Dudley, because he's an American, really can put a difference face on BP because 40 percent of their asset base is here. You got an American running the company for the very first time. It might be able to recover from this terrible tragedy in the Gulf, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We'll see what happens to Tony Hayward today. Most likely we'll get an announcement. John Roberts, Thanks.
There's plenty of bart (ph) bluster, but as of now, no bite from North Korea which is threatening a nuclear response to joint military drills between the U.S. and South Korea. Top stories next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories, six years, 92,000 classified military documents are leaked. That whistle blowing website, Wikileaks, does it again. Much of the (INAUDIBLE) of U.S. Defense agreement in White House who say the disclosure puts the lives of American allies at risk and jeopardizes national security. The verdict? Guilty. The war crime trial sentenced the man who run a notorious Cambodian (ph) torture prison for 35 years. His time served reduces that to just 19. Critics call this sentence a sham and an insult to the 14,000 Cambodians who died in that prison.
So far, North Korea hasn't backed its tough talk with any action objected (ph) to join U.S. and South Korea military exercises off its coast even threatening military action. The show of force follows last year's sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on the north.
Anti-incumbent fever, how hot is it? That he might tell us. Senator Harry Reid is not the most popular incumbent up for re- election. He has an explanation for his low approval ratings, and he talks about his controversial challenger for the very first time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Tea Party Express is down a driver. Spokesman and former chairman, Mark Williams, quit Friday. This comes after the National Tea Party Federation says it kicked out his group. This is pretty much what led to it. A fake letter Williams wrote to President Lincoln from NAACP president Ben Jealous.
Here's part of it, quote," we Colored people have take a vote and decided that we don't cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us colored people and we demand that it stop. CNN's Don Lemon actually talked to Williams last night about why he left his own group.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK WILLIAMS, FMR. TEA PARTY EXPRESS SPOKESMAN: To take the spotlight off of me. It's a movement. It's not about me, it is not about my ego, or it's not about my fat head. I did succeed in getting the NAACP to the table. By the way, this tea party federation represents exactly 40 groups out of 5,000. I was never a member of -- I have no idea who they are, but they threw me out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Williams said that he's sorry for some of the language that he was used in that post, but that he stands by the overall message.
One of the tea party's biggest test this November is in Nevada. Sharron Angle, tea approved, taking on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The recent poll suggests that Reid's looking at Angle in the rearview mirror. David Brody of the "Brody File" has been in the bad (ph) at interviewing Reid. He's been racking up the miles just a couple of weeks ago. He was there interviewing Angle. Hey, David, now time to talk Reid.
DAVID BRODY, CBN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Frequent flyer miles are good, by the way, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: It does add up, doesn't it? Now, Harry Reid is not exactly popular in Nevada, David, below 50 percent approval. He tried to explain that to you, right?
BRODY: Yes, he did. And it was interesting, Kyra, because he had kind of a new tact here. You know, one of the things you would think is that he would talk about the economy, which he did. You know, the economy is bad, and he kind of went and started to blame the Bush administration for the policies of the past. And that was somewhat to be expected, but then he talked more in depth about a lot of these new voters that are coming to Nevada. In the last 10 to 12 years, he has to re-introduce himself. It was quite interesting.
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BRODY: What about a numbers? I'm curious about this because the media, especially inside the beltway, you see it all the time, they love to talk about your low approval numbers and that you got the ceiling and for an incumbent they're low. When you hear all of that talk, what goes through your mind, A, and B, do you chalk it up totally to the economy or are there other factors involved?
SEN HARRY REID, (D) MAJORITY LEADER: I understand how people feel. As I've said, it doesn't give them comfort to tell them things would be worse but for me. They're here and now, and I understand how they feel. Unemployment numbers are significant. In the construction industry, 50 percent of the construction workers don't have jobs. So, we have entities that are laying people off. We have teachers, and we're struggling to get a lot of that done. But I also say this, I don't grin, but I do smile just a little bit because you can't go any place in America today that people's approval rating is very high. We have an economic situation that's not only in Nevada it's all over the country.
And also, we have a unique situation in Nevada. I haven't had a difficult election for 12 years. During that 12-year period of time, we've had 600,000 new people move to the state of Nevada. They don't know me, but they've seen me doing a lot of this last number of years is me trying to fight with George Bush because he's trying to privatize social security or argue about the war in Iraq and other policies of his I thought that all the ready was bad.
I complained about that, so people are going to have to get to know me, the 600,000 people who are not here, who I am a moderate kind of guy. That's how I got elected, so I feel comfortable where I am. I have a campaign that's moving along just fine. I feel comfortable where we are today.
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PHILLIPS: Now, David, he mentioned jobs right there, and Nevada's jobless rate is 14 percent, above the national average. But he's -- I guess, it seems like he's taking this personally, he's taking a personal responsibility to deal with that.
DAVID BRODY, CBN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I -- I think he feels it personally, Kyra. There -- there is no doubt about that and it troubles him where his state, the state he's been in his whole life is at. The problem for Reid here is that those numbers aren't going away any time soon.
And the question then becomes, that and he's making the case that health care reform and Wall Street reform and all of this is going to create in the case of health care reform, thousands of jobs and the like, but the problem is, are those jobs, if they even come to too fruition, going to be coming by November of 2010.
And he knows the answer, the answer is no. And so he's got to deal with these numbers and that's why the re-campaign clearly wants to start deflecting and talking more about Sharron Angle as well. About the fact that if you think the economy is bad now, wait until you a get a load of some of her economic policies because they are going to try to lump her back in with President Bush.
PHILLIPS: David Brody -- Brody rather good talking to you this morning.
BRODY: All the best. Thanks Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. People in Bell, California are furious that their public servants were making oh, some ten to 20 times as much as they are making and they want some more resignations.
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PHILLIPS: Well, it looks like the wheels are coming off the gravy train in Bell, California; more now on the jaw-dropper of a government abuse story that we first exposed and it just keeps on giving.
Let me set the outrageous scene once again. Bell, one of Los Angeles County's poorest places, median income, about $40,000 -- a place where the city manager was making nearly $800,000 a year; yes, that's more than President Obama. Keep in mind, we're talking about a state where the pink slip has become the state flower, where they are laying off teachers and cops, raising tuition and charging people for some emergency calls.
But it was good to be Robert Rizzo. He doesn't even live in Bell, he doesn't even live in L.A. County and he's got a sweet $900,000 place in Huntington Beach. Look at that could be a candidate for cribs (ph).
This picture, by the way, a mug shot from his arrest last spring. Police said he was legally drunk times three. Then there's Rizzo's assistant who was making nearly $400,000 and the police chief who was making more than $450,000.
They've all resigned but the people of Bell who've been fired up since this story first broke want more resignations. They want the mayor and three city council members to quit, too. It seems some of those council members are making about $100,000 grand for their part- time jobs. It should be one hell of a city council meeting tonight. But even if they all quit and Bell starts over this story is far from over.
In the next hour we're going to tell you about some big new developments in this story. California's attorney general is involved now and that can't be good news for those fat cats.
A busy morning in the newsroom; let's see what our reporters are working on for next hour. Let's start with Rob Marciano in Gulfport, Mississippi -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kyra. Bonnie, what's left of her has come and gone and churning up the waters that help or hurt the situation down here. And most of the vessels are back on site. We'll give you an update of the time line, the new time line, for plugging that well in the next hour.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: And more than 1,000 devout Christians ripped off in a more than $190 million Ponzi scheme. We've been looking into it for months. We'll tell you all about it in the next hour.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And what an extreme weekend it was. We had nearly every type of weather from tornados to flooding to record heat. What does the forecast hold for today? We'll let you know where the worst of the weather is, coming up.
PHILLIPS: Thanks guys.
It's been 20 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed. Coming up in our next hour, we're going to look at what's changed and what still needs to change through the eyes of someone who truly knows what some of those every day challenges can be.
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PHILLIPS: Arizona might be the focal point of the big immigration debate. The state's controversial and contested SP 1070 law is set to take effect Thursday. But there's a smaller, lesser known battleground -- Fremont, Nebraska. Tomorrow the city council will consider a resolution to delay its voter approval immigration law that bans hiring or renting property to illegal immigrants.
Here's CNN's Dan Simon.
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DAN SIMON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surrounded by cattle and cornfields, Fremont, Nebraska is the kind of place that feels insulated from the nation's big problems, especially illegal immigration.
Just look on a map. Mexico is a long ways away from Nebraska, about a thousand miles but the immigration battle has reached the heartland and this town outside of Omaha of only 25,000 people.
JERRY HART, LED PETITION DRIVE: You look at the flooding situation. Are you going to wait for FEMA to come take care of you ore are you going to start sandbagging your own house so you don't get floodwaters in? That's what we're trying to do.
SIMON: Jerry Hart, a retired IRS agent and John Wiegert, an elementary school teacher led an effort to put on a measure on the town's ballot that bans hiring or renting property to illegal immigrants. It passed last month by a decisive 57 percent of the vote.
(on camera): Why does a city like Fremont, smack in the middle of the country, need an anti-immigration law?
JOHN WIEGERT, LED PETITION DRIVE: We're for immigration. We're just against illegal aliens coming in bringing drugs, gangs, crime and economic burden that's going to grow exponentially for years if we don't do something in our town.
SIMON (voice-over): Yes. It's the identical argument used by anti-illegal immigration hawks around the country even though police dispute that crime here is on the rise. But like many American cities, Fremont's Hispanic population has risen from an estimated 200 in 1990 to about 2,000 now.
(on camera): Freemont's Hispanic population has surged in recent years with the promise of a steady job at the area's meat packing plants. The city has a low unemployment rate but according to supporters, one of the primary arguments for the measure is that illegal immigrants are taking away jobs from American citizens.
(voice-over): Nothing makes this woman's blood boil more.
MIRIAM BERGANZA, FREMONT RESIDENT: You're not going to see any Anglo-Americans working the lines. You're not.
SIMON (on camera): What you're saying is they don't want those jobs to be --
BERGANZA: They don't want the jobs. We want them because we have to support our kids.
SIMON (voice-over): Miriam Berganza, an American citizen has worked in those plants which she says are filled mainly by Hispanics. She cannot understand why Fremont has become an immigration battle front. BERGANZA: Fremont has grown because of the illegal immigrants. We spend our money here. We don't go nowhere else. We spend it here. I don't see the problem with that.
SIMON: Miriam says the byproduct of all this is growing racial tension and a feeling of being unwanted.
Kristen Ostrom fought unsuccessfully to defeat the measure in part because she thought it encouraged racial profiling.
KRISTEN OSTROM, OPPOSITION LEADER: The Hispanic community feels like the people voted for them to leave, and we have people telling us day after day that they are just waiting for the police to come and escort them out of Fremont.
SIMON (on camera): That's not going to happen.
OSTROM: That's absolutely not going to happen but the Hispanic community feels like they are not welcome.
SIMON (voice-over): Ordinance supporters, deny race played a role.
It's not clear how many illegal immigrants live in Fremont, what is clear, the battle is headed to the courts with opponents like those critical of Arizona's controversial bill claiming immigration enforcement is strictly a federal matter.
Dan Simon, CNN, Fremont, Nebraska.
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