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Pentagon Tells Wikileaks "Not Again"; Big Border Security Upgrade Approved; Gulf Cleanup Supervisor Charged with Rape; BRIC Investing; Making Disabled Vets Entrepreneurs

Aired August 13, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: As Tony said, I'm Ali Velshi. Here's what I've got on the rundown.

A convicted sex offender gets a job supervising Gulf oil cleanup workers and what he's accused of doing next is sparking all kinds of outrage, especially since a simple background check could have prevented it all. It's a CNN special investigation.

Also, a story that gives brotherly love a whole new meaning. A man gives his dying brother the gift of life, but it ends up costing him his own. We'll take you on their journey.

And you can do two simple things right now that could save your life. Here's a hint -- grab a nail file and head to the dairy counter. I'll tell you about that in a little while.

But when we last visited the Wikileaks story, well, it was a web site that had posted the largest stash of secret military documents since the Pentagon papers, 20,000-plus documents and memos were released.

They were grim and largely unverifiable accounts of battles and tactics, shocking in terms of magnitude, if not in terms of the actual substance. Still, the Pentagon was furious at the time and they are doubly angry now about what's happened.

Now all of this happens while U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning sits in a jail in Virginia. He is charged with leaking a 2007 video of a helicopter attack that killed civilians. He's the chief suspect in the leaking of about 90,000-plus field reports from the Afghan war.

Now, while that's happening, the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange is announcing the imminent posting of 15,000 more documents. And that brings me to our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence, for two at the top.

Chris, what is the newest story that you've got?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, I think here's the thing that really jumped out at me, was it's just talking with a Pentagon official just not more than an hour or two ago, and he says, despite the fact that this first leak was about 75,000 documents, this new alleged leak may be only 15,000. He says the Pentagon is even more concerned about this new leak, and that it may have the potential to cause even more damage to the war effort than the first one did. Even though that first one was five times as big.

So the Pentagon is saying right now, they're not sure exactly what is contained in these 15,000 documents, but based on who they believe leaked it and based on their ongoing assessment of what's already been pushed out there, they are very concerned about this new potential leak.

VELSHI: Chris, where are we on whether this is legal or not? I mean, is the Pentagon -- knowing that this guy says he's going to post more documents? The Pentagon says they think those will be more damaging. Can they go to court and get them to stop?

LAWRENCE: Well, here's the thing, Ali. Sitting out there on Wikileaks' web site is this mysterious file that's been labeled insurance. I don't know about you. When I hear somebody has an insurance file on me, you know, you think -- you know, incriminating pictures in somebody's desk.

And it's been widely assumed that that's the case, that if charges are brought or any if action is taken against Julian Assange, the founder of Wikeleaks, that this insurance file, which right now is encrypted. Nobody has gotten into it yet, but that file would be released.

Obviously, it's something here -- the people at the Pentagon here are concerned about. But they say they are on good legal standing in saying they want these documents back, and they don't want any more classified material output there.

VELSHI: And Julian Assange of Wikileaks continues to maintain that he's performing a public service?

LAWRENCE: That's right. He says these documents deserve to be out there, people need to see these documents. They are in the process with this new 15,000 documents, this new one, they're in the process of redacting a lot of the names.

They came under tremendous amount of pressure after releasing that first leak, where you had these names of people out there who had coalition forces. The Taliban was very public in coming out and saying we will punish some of these people.

We have been getting reports that some have already received some death threats and you even had human rights organizations coming out publicly and saying, please do not put these names out there. You're putting some lives potentially at risk.

So right now, Wikileaks, I'm told is about halfway through the new leak, and once all the names and everything has been redacted they say they're going to go ahead and they're going to put it out there publicly again.

VELSHI: All right. We'll stay on top of it. Good to see you, Chris. Thanks very much. Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon.

Border security is getting an upgrade today, a big one. A short time ago, President Obama signed a $600 million government check in the form of a new spending bill. But is it tough enough? Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio sure doesn't think so. He's part of our "Sound Effect."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA: This is a critical area, a 2,000-mile border for terrorism. We are fighting terrorism in the Middle East. Why don't we take care of our own border and help the Mexicans with every resource we have other than just money. Let's send some people over there to help them fight this problem together.

SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: Our entire immigration system is broken. It is a patient that needs quadruple bypass surgery. A single bypass surgery of border security alone is important, but not enough to cure the patient of its ailment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Let me show you what is in had this bill that the president has signed. It's $600 million. It means the hiring and training of 1,000 border patrol agents, 500 customs and immigrations officers, 250 of these officers specifically targeting drug smuggling.

Homeland Security Janet Napolitano says it takes eight months to get these border agents trained. So in about eight months, you should be seeing some of these 1,500 on the job.

It also buys two more unmanned drones to patrol the border, these planes that have been patrolling the border, there are 7 of them out there right now, and that's what they look like.

It's also going to create seven more project gun-runner teams, the teams that work with the ATF to stop weapons trafficking and five FBI hybrid squads, which are designed to combat violence along the border. That's what the $600 million is going to work.

OK, after the break, we're headed to the Gulf for a CNN special investigation. A tragic consequence of the BP oil spill that nobody foresaw, actually, somebody did foresee it. The right people didn't. I'll tell you about it when I come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Nobody says that mobilizing an army of clean-up workers on the Gulf Coast beaches was easy, but the story you're about to hear is shocking, nonetheless.

A supervisor on a clean-up crew in Mississippi is in jail today, charged with raping one of his workers. Now a CNN investigation uncovers the suspect's criminal history, and raises questions as to whether the alleged attack could have been prevented with a simple background check. Special Investigations Unit correspondent, Abbie Boudreau went looking for answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBIE BOUDREAU, SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): One of the thousands of cleanup workers who descended on the Gulf Coast was this man, Randy Charles Robertson.

He was in charge of numerous workers on this now deserted Mississippi beach. The problem was, all these people who were coming to town were strangers, and the residents here had no idea who they were or where they were coming from.

And apparently they had good reason to be concerned. Robertson was a convicted sex offender and he was breaking the law by not telling local law enforcement where he was living.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't understand how they could have a man like that as our supervisor.

BOUDREAU (on camera): Do you think what happened to you could have been prevented?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do. Yes, I do and that's where it makes me a lot of times so angry.

BOUDREAU (voice-over): Well, this woman came to this town, because she was looking for work. She wanted to help clean up the beaches, and she need a job.

She has four young children, and it was important for her to get hired right away, and that's exactly what happened. Randy Robertson was her supervisor.

And she told us time and time again, "I trusted him, because he was my boss. I respected him. He was the person who was put in charge of me."

BOUDREAU (on camera): You just weren't feeling well that day and he offered to drive you home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BOUDREAU: And you thought he was a nice enough person to make that offer, I guess.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. He was my boss so I thought it was all right.

BOUDREAU (voice-over): She says Robertson asked to use her bathroom and when he came out, she says he raped her. She is represented by Attorney Adam Miller.

ADAM MILLER, VICTIM'S ATTORNEY: I find it unbelievable, because BP and their subcontractors had relationships with all local law enforcement.

They had the opportunity and the ability to clearly check all of these people that they were hiring and bringing in to ensure the safety of the public.

BOUDREAU: If anyone had checked Robertson's background, they would have found a lengthy criminal history, and he was still on probation for a felony. Instead, he was made a supervisor.

(on camera): We are in Pascagoula, Mississippi, here to talk to the local sheriff.

(voice-over): Several weeks before this incident, Sheriff Mike Byrd says he met with BP's local head of security about why BP was not doing background checks on beach cleanup workers.

SHERIFF MIKE BYRD, JACKSON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI: I asked him directly. I said, are you all doing criminal histories and background checks on these people?

And his answer, reply was, "No, we're not." I said "You're kidding me." He said, "No, there were so many of them, we were told to do drug screens and that was it." And I said "Well that's not good at all."

BOUDREAU (on camera): But you actually recommended that they get criminal background checks on their employees.

BYRD: Yes we did, and I told them that we would do that for them, we would do the background checks for them, and they said no.

BOUDREAU (voice-over): Robertson worked for a company called "Aerotech" that hired workers to remove the oil from the beaches.

BOUDREAU (on camera): You won't talk to us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm come out and talk to you, but give me a couple more minutes.

BOUDREAU: So I'm not going to shut the door and never see you again?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I promise.

BOUDREAU: OK. He promises.

(voice-over): So we waited, but they only slipped us a note through the door referring us to corporate headquarters.

(on camera): Did you realize you were hiring people who were registered sex offenders?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Ma'am.

BOUDREAU (voice-over): This is when the blame game begins. First we spoke with the General Counsel for Aerotech by phone who says Aerotech wasn't the one who decided not to do background checks.

Quote, "We are not liable for anything that happens. Once we deliver the people to be supervised by our client, we don't have anything to do with them anymore.

Miller Environmental Group, which oversaw the cleanup and hired Aerotech, did not return our phone calls. Then BP, which was paying for the beach cleanups, told us in a statement, it normally checks its own employees.

But, quote, "This was not done for all contractors in this response. The responsibility lies with the employing company for their own staff. The requirement on subcontractors to BP's contractors is one further step beyond BP's scope of control."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The buck ultimately stops with BP. It was their site.

BOUDREAU (on camera): Robertson was arrested, and he was then charged with sexual battery and failure to register as a sex offender. He tells police that the sex was consensual. But now he is being held on more than a $500,000 bond and he's sitting in jail.

BYRD: Yes, he's in jail, but you have got a victim here. What is she going to live through the rest of her life? It's just going to be pure hell for her. That's what it's going to be.

BOUDREAU (on camera): And it could have been prevented.

BYRD: And it could have been prevented, in my professional opinion.

BOUDREAU: And you warned them.

BYRD: Yes, Ma'am.

BOUDREAU: How does something like this just change everything for you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have anxiety. You know, I'm angry, I feel dirty. Scared. I'm scared.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOUDREAU: The victim says she did not go to police right away, because she was afraid she would lose her job, and she couldn't afford to let that happen.

So she took a couple of days off of work and about a month later, after the incident, she says she was laid off. Aerotech says she was one of many workers who were no longer needed to clean up the beaches, and it had nothing to do with what happened to her. Ali, she tells me, why did I bother going?

VELSHI: This Aerotech, unfortunately, Rick's show has the list you don't want to be on. But I can't imagine that quote you got from them -- we're not liable for anything --

BOUDREAU: We're not responsible for anything that happens.

VELSHI: That's remarkable. You've talked to the sheriff in Pascagoula. Obviously, there are people working all across the coast. There still are others. Did anybody do these background checks? Were there any sheriffs who did succeed in saying, hey, let me offer these to you for free, I should point out?

BOUDREAU: Yes, exactly. Well, first of all, we did talk to police departments. We talked to a police department in Grand Isle, Louisiana, and they were performing these criminal background checks and they found three sex offenders, and they were supervising them though.

That's the point. This isn't about, he's a sex offender, he shouldn't get a job. That's not the point. In this case, it was a sex offender who was not registering with local law enforcement.

If they did a background check, according to this sheriff, he wouldn't have gotten the job. And you pointed out, the sheriff that we interviewed for this story would have done the background checks for free.

VELSHI: We've also got it in our heads that whatever the bill is for this cleanup, so even if it weren't free, they should have been doing it.

But this concept of pushing responsibility off on to other people while there are people at jeopardy, at risk, I think it's fascinating.

BOUDREAU: Yes, it was the ultimate blame game in this situation. No one seems to be taking responsibility.

VELSHI: Wow, what a remarkable story. OK, Abbie, good to see you, thanks very much. Abbie Boudreau, Special Investigations Unit.

All right, coming up in a minute, I'll spell this out for you, B- R-I-C. What it stands for and why it could be a key to your money as the U.S. economy continues to sputter. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: B-R-I-C. These four letters could be crucial to your money. BRIC stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China. What do these countries have in common?

They are all emerging economies. Why does it matter to you? Because you can easily invest in them. Should you? How do you do it? And how much should you invest in those countries?

Let's ask the expert, Steven Looeb is back with us. Also joining us from London is Richard Quest, host of CNNI's Quest Means Business. He spends a lot of time dealing with developments in these countries.

Richard, let's start with you. Is it an overused word, people talking about growth in the BRIC economies, given that we don't have growth in western economies, developed economies, as much? Is this, in your mind, the place where smart money invests?

RICHARD QUEST, HOST, CNNI QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Not only should the smart money invest, and a balanced portfolio, it must invest in pension funds, and any other form of retirement account is hoping to get some form of gains.

Look, this is the latest report that I got just a few weeks ago from HSBC. These show the numbers, Ali. You talk about growth rates in Brazil of 7 percent, Russia of 4 percent, India of 8.5 percent, China of 9 or 10 percent.

Those sorts of growing rates are essential if a portfolio is going to make serious gains when developed economists are producing a matter of a couple of cents and coppers.

VELSHI: That's just a bit of that conversation. The rest of it tells you more about where you should be investing and how you can invest in Brazil, Russia, India and China.

You can catch the rest of that conversation this weekend on "Your Money," Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

Let me give you a check of the top stories we're following right now. Canadian authorities are afraid terrorists may be among a group of refugees that arrived on a cargo ship in Vancouver.

There were around 500 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka on the ship, but officials are afraid there may be some Tammel rebels mixed in, as well. The Tammel Tigers are recognized as a terror group by both Canada and the United States.

The U.S. is responding to Russia's request for help in battling their deadly wildfires. Hundreds have been killed and the fires have destroyed at least a quarter of all Russian crops. The Department of Defense, U.S. Forestry Service and the state of California are offering technical assistance and firefighting equipment.

Today is the practical deadline to let your bank know if you want overdraft protection for your debit card. Earlier this year, banks were prohibited from adding on the fees without your consent. The consent clause actually goes into effect Monday, but since today is the last day of business for most banks, you would have to call and make that change today.

And veterans home from the war, but their biggest battle is still ahead of them. Getting a job. You'll meet the man who is making that mission possible. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Always a problem with war, especially if you have a war that sent people abroad for so long. They come back, and some of them don't -- maybe their time is up in the military or they want to move on to something else. What do they do? How do you -- what do you train them to do in a non-war environment? Poppy Harlow is in New York. She's got more on that story for us. Hi, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW: Hi, Ali. Well, you know, everyone is battling this incredibly high unemployment rate, but what we found out in this story is that the heroes, our men and women who fight for this country in war, when they come back from war, they have an incredibly hard time trying to find any job, needless to say, trying to find a solid employment situation.

So we met one of these vets who actually is being helped through an extraordinary program, helping put these vets back to work. And you know, just the statistic is amazing. Almost a 12 percent unemployment rate is what we have for vets that have returned from war since 2008.

A big problem in this country. We're going to tell you about a program that is doing a lot to change that. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It blew up. Felt like somebody hit me in the face with a 2 x 4.

HARLOW (voice-over): It was an IED explosion in Iraq that nearly killed (Brian Iglesias). In total, nearly 40,000 American men and women have been injured fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brian's story has been phenomenal.

HARLOW (voice-over): Mike (Haynie) and Brian (Iglesias) were brought together by war. Both veterans and now both entrepreneurs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is entrepreneurship? What are the fundamentals of entrepreneurship?

HARLOW: After serving 14 years in the Air Force, (Haynie) became a professor of entrepreneurship, but he saw his fellow veterans struggling to find work after returning from war.

MIKE HAYNIE, ENTREPRENEURSHIP BOOTCAMP FOR VETERANS WITH DISABILITY: Self employment, entrepreneurship, going out and starting a business has been a vocational past that the government has virtually ignored when it comes to the transition process for veterans.

HARLOW (on camera): So what was it like for you looking for work after serving for so long?

BRIAN IGLESIAS, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: It was probably one of the toughest things I had to go through, because then when you don't get a job, you take rejection after rejection after rejection, it gets tough.

HARLOW (voice-over): So Haynie set out to change that. Founding the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, or EBV. It's a free training program for vets who want to start their own businesses.

The competition is steep, but vets that make the cut take 40 days of online classes, and then a summer course at one of six universities that have signed on.

HAYNIE: The most American dream possible, I think, business ownership. That's -- that's the aim of this program. Passion is the number one criteria.

HARLOW: Brian's passion was film, and he set out to make movies. Starting his own production company.

IGLESIAS: It was that purpose. It was that mission, it was -- we will do it no matter how tired you are, no matter how hungry you are, you don't have an option to quit or stop. I don't want to owe anybody any money, right? So I found another veteran, got together, said let's do it.

HAYNIE: Brian had no resources. He boot strapped. That's what we call it in entrepreneurship. He boot strapped and found a way to get his movie made.

HARLOW: The result was a documentary about the brutal Korean war battle, and it's now being turned into a $100 million feature film, and Brian will be an executive producer.

IGLESIAS: So what the military -- what we're really, really good at is managing chaos and we thrive in chaos. So in small business, that's what it's all about. As hard and difficult as it was, it will never, ever be as hard and as difficult as combat. Like, that's the beauty of perspective.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Certainly perspective is everything in his story. You know that documentary, Ali, it's going to be in theatres in New York and L.A. in the fall. And that $100 million feature film they're making, that's going to be released in 2012.

Brian is pretty optimistic. He even hopes he'll be nominated maybe for an academy award. But when you talk about the program that helped him do this, it's almost all privately funded, Ali. They have not really gotten any government aid, Ali.

VELSHI: Yes, and you know, franchise places, for instance, restaurants and things like that, they love getting ex military people, because of what they were saying, that they thrive in chaos.

A lot of business owners get thrown by the idea that something went wrong. But when you come out of the military and now run a business, the chaos is normal for you. No government funding at all for this. There is no -- he just runs this himself with his partner.

HARLOW: No and that was really what we found out during the story. I said, why isn't the VA or the DOD funding this? And the founder, Mike Haynie said look, we've been trying. We really pressed the VA and it took me about a week to get a solid answer from them.

But what they said to me is look, we strongly support the mission of EBV, of this program, but unless they develop a per-person billing system, and get approved by the VA, we can't fund them.

Basically, Ali, it's a bunch of red tape. The good news is, they are now looking at EBV, and may fund this program. So at least, the word is out there. We'll see if they can get some government money out.

VELSHI: What a great answer. Poppy, thanks very much. Good to see you, as always. Have a great weekend. I'll be in New York next week. See you there.

HARLOW: See you then.

VELSHI: All right, you can find out more about Poppy's story by going to cnnmoney.com where by the way, you can find out all sorts of stuff, it is really your first stop for understanding anything to do with money.

Shooting stars lighting up the night skies much a dazzling show, courtesy of the he have heavens. Plus, more severe weather on the way. We have your weekend forecast. Bonnie Snyder is in the house.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: We've got severe weather, and we've got Bonnie Schneider. We don't often have the privilege, Bonnie. Good to see you.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Great to see you, Ali.

VELSHI: Just a moment ago we were looking at pictures of a meteor shower.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. Shooting stars.

VELSHI: I shouldn't say where was that -- it was in the sky.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, it was all over. Ooh, look at those pictures. Sounds good. Shooting starts light up the sky. This is from --

VELSHI: Are you sure that's not Photoshopped?

SCHNEIDER: No, it was actually cool. An iReporter had a camera attached to a pole, and he usually uses it to detect lightning. This is from Kevin Palivec in Holly, Texas.

So, what he did was he left it on for hours and hours and got some cool shots of the shooting stars. This was actually Wednesday into Thursday. I bet he's going to give us some even better pictures coming from last night, because that was the peak of the activity. You can catch it again tonight. You want to head to maybe a rural away, away from the city, where there's not too many trees and you have a nice, clear horizon. And if the skies are bright enough and you don't have cloud coverage, you may actually see the Perseid meteor showers. It happens every year this time of year, but this year is particularly bright and very nice.

VELSHI: Very nice. Excellent. What's that got to do with the severe weather we're having across this country?

SCHNEIDER: Unfortunately, Ali, we are definitely still seeing the threat for flooding across Iowa. We were talking a lot about that yesterday. Iowa state in Ames completely flooded out. Well, now, the threat continues, because as of this moment, some thunderstorms have started to build in the area. And these are heavy. The downpours are intense. Seeing rainfall rates of one to two inches per hour, and you can see the big, bright flashes of lightning south of Des Moines. This is moving to the northeast.

VELSHI: This is Ames, where we were talking about this with Jacqui Jeras the other day. It's where she went to school. And that was ompletely flooded.

SCHNEIDER: And more rain is coming through there, and a lot headed is headed further north toward Wisconsin and into Minneapolis, as well. That's why that yellow box is up for severe weather.

And down in the Gulf Coast - we always like to let people know what's going on down there. Strong storms are pounding New Orleans at this hour with heavy rain up into Mississippi and into Alabama, as well. Sometimes that helps with the heat, but not really. Because it's still scorching out there. Hot temperatures through much of the mid South once again. The heat does not want to seem to let up. And you can see --

VELSHI: I like the way everybody in Atlanta tells me it's unusually hot this year.

SCHNEIDER: It really is!

VELSHI: Yes. Whatever. Sure.

SCHNEIDER: And long-lasting, too. So, this is what it feels like right now, speaking of Atlanta, 101 degrees, same in Birmingham. It feels even worse, though, in areas a little further west. Memphis, and Little Rock. That's where it feels like 107.

VELSHI: Now, Chad usually gives me my weekend travel forecast. I'm going to New York this weekend. Anything I should worry about?

SCHNEIDER: Yes. You have to get ready for all that wet weather in the Midwest. It will be heading eastward. You should be okay for the weekend, but I would say grab the umbrella. Be ready because it's been hot there. So

(CROSSTALK) VELSHI: That is unusual. The heat in the northeast this year has been unusual. But apparently, it's kind of always hot in Atlanta.

SCHNEIDER: Yes. All right. I'll let you have that one.

VELSHI: Good to see you as always. Thanks for being with us.

All right. The U.S. is deploying a disaster response team to help with desperately needed flood relief in Pakistan. I'm talking to the man leading the effort up. He's joining me live from Islamabad; that's the capital. When we come back, we're going "Globe Trekking."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Time to go "Globe Trekking," as we do every day. New warnings already for the already ravaged region in Pakistan as the Indus River continues to crest. The death toll continues to climb; officials upped it to 1,384 people today. The U.S. government has dispatched a disaster assistance response team, referred to as D.A.R.T.

Bill Berger is leading the group, joining me from Islamabad, the capital. He's also led relief efforts during the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. Bill, you've got some particular experience with the difficulties in getting aid to regions in Pakistan, particularly remote or hard-to-reach regions.

Bill? All right. We seem to have an audio --

BILL BERGER, LEADER, DISASTER ASSISTANCE RESPONSE TEAM IN PAKISTAN: Hello?

VELSHI: Hello, Bill, are you there?

BERGER: I'm here. I can hear you now.

VELSHI: All right. Excellent. Tell me a bit about the U.S. efforts in Pakistan, how those relief efforts are going in light of the fact that this -- the cresting continues of the Indus river.

BERGER: You're right. This is a disaster that has continued to scale up by the day. And we started responding at the very onset by sending in critical supplies we knew would be needed. We sent in water treatment units to make sure that we could get people potable drinking water to keep them from getting sick. We sent in zodiac boats to do search and rescue efforts. We sent in a variety of commodities that were essential for the country.

And we immediately started working with partners that we already had on the ground in the area, providing them additional resources so that they could respond to the needs of the people.

VELSHI: Well, what are the -- is this -- is there enough support coming from the government of Pakistan? We have had a lot of criticism the government isn't doing enough, and the flip side of that is we have heard people reporting that perhaps groups that are sympathetic to the Taliban are managing to distribute aid, which might shift the balance of sentiment amongst the people who live in the areas toward the Taliban and against the U.S. Give me your perspective on that.

BERGER: Well, once again, you have to realize, this is a disaster, frankly, of almost unimaginable proportions. And in living memory, there hasn't been flooding in all three river systems at one time. So, this is a huge disaster.

Having said that, Pakistan has a great deal of capacity, because beginning back with the earthquake in 2005, in a series of smaller disasters since then, they have a lot of people with a lot of experience in. But you have to realize the magnitude and the scope of this, which stretches from the very northern part of the country all the way down to the south.

And also remember that the government hasn't been unaffected by this itself. Especially at the local level. The local authorities are flood-affected victims themselves. So, they've been doing -- working diligently around the clock to rescue people and to move people. And to get people out of harm's way.

You mentioned other groups that are providing assistance. I was here in the earthquake, and we heard the same kinds of stories. I don't remember then it coming to very much. I don't expect that it will be much now.

VELSHI: All right, Bill, let's -- we'll continue to keep track of what you're doing there, and thanks for the good work that you're doing over there. Bill Berger with U.S. AID in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Most court hearings, all you hear from the suspect are one or two word answers, yes, no, not guilty, guilty. So, what went down today between a judge and the suspect in a string of stabbings is pretty unusual. "Crime and Consequence" is coming up right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Okay, let me give you a check of the top stories we're working on here at CNN.

The Web site WikiLeaks about to release another 15,000 pages of classified U.S. military reports on the Afghan war. Today, the Pentagon says based on its investigations, this next document dump could be even more damaging than last month's.

We expect an update in just a few minutes on some important pressure tests at BP's Gulf well. They'll determine if a bottom kill needs to go ahead as planned. It was thought to be the only way to permanently seal the well. But BP says this month's static kill may have done the job.

And President Obama has just signed a bill releasing $600 million in emergency security funding for the U.S./Mexican border. It will pay for about 1,500 more law enforcement agents, plus new facilities and equipment.

All right. In today's "Crime and Consequence," the suspected serial stabber in an Atlanta court, 36 hours after his capture at Hartsfield Jackson airport. Elias Abuelazam is 33 years old, an Israeli Arab raised Greek Orthodox Christian. He is accused of a three-state crime spree, knifing at least 18 men, killing five many of them. The matter at hand at today's hearing: extradition to Michigan to face his first murder charge. He thought he had the option to be tried in Atlanta, though, which led to some interesting exchanges. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDNETIFIED MALE: What I want to ask you today is whether or not you want to require that warrant to be sent or whether you waive that right (INAUDIBLE) within 15 business days?

ELIAS ABUELAZAM, SUSPECTED SERIAL STABBER: Is it possible to think about it?

UNIDNETIFIED MALE: You can think about it. I can bring you back tomorrow if you want to. You're going to face the case in Michigan.

ABUELAZAM: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All we're doing is talking about extradition.

ABUELAZAM: What's the extradition means, exactly? I don't understand what --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An extradition means you can require that the governor of Michigan send an extradition warrant to you, down here to me, requiring your return to Michigan. That takes some time. That takes about three months.

ABUELAZAM Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll be sitting in the Fulton County Jail while that takes place.

ABUELAZAM And why should I wait 90 days, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that's something for you to decide.

ABUELAZAM: I mean, that's the most common sense. It sounds more logical to go right now than waiting three months, is that correct?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sounds that way to me.

ABUELAZAM: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. So, that's what you want to do. All right, sir. Good luck to you.

ABUELAZAM: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Okay, now. Minutes after that happened, minutes after he waived extradition, his lawyer arrived in Atlanta. And the lawyer disagreed with his client's decision and asked for another hearing this hour.

Amid all this legal wrangling, let's not forget the victims. Eighteen of them, all males, ranging in age from their teens to their 60s, mostly African-American. Two of them had disabilities or special needs.

All right. Want to talk about your health. Yogurt and clean nails. Two things that could save your life. We're going to tell you why when we come back.

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VELSHI: All right. Elizabeth is back, Elizabeth Cohen. Our "Big I" today. All week, it's been Elizabeth because she's got this brand-new book out called "The Empowered Patient." I never know where I'm supposed to aim these things at. There we go. Right in front of me.

"The Empowered Patient" is full of stuff that can make you a better patient, that can help you understand the health care system and prevent bad things from happening to you. And she is with me now to talk about something that I've been trying to figure out all week. Somehow yogurt and nail files are going to help you stay healthier.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Toe nail clippers.

VELSHI: Toe nail clippers.

COHEN: OK. And we will --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: And yogurt. You know, with me, a lot of this food involved -- I'm in.

COHEN: Yogurt and -- and toe nail clippers. These are going to save your life. This doctor, Alfonso Torre's book, is going to help us figure out exactly what that means, because 99,000 people die a year from hospital-acquired infections. They go in healthy and they get infections at the hospital.

And Dr. Torres-Cook, who works in a hospital in California, said no more. Forget it. This is not going to happen again in my hospitals. And so he starred some very started some very simple, very scaleable kinds of changes to make sure that this doesn't happen to more people. And so we have Dr. Torres Cook with us. Welcome to the show.

DR. ALFONSO TORRESS-COOK, DIRECTOR, INFECTION CONTROL, PACIFIC HOSPITAL: Thank you, Elizabeth. Thank you for having me.

COHEN: Now, before we talk about the changes you made, tell us what inspired you to make these changes at your hospital.

TORRESS-COOK: Elizabeth, we were seeing nothing changing through all these years. I've been doing this for 26 years. And our approach basically was the same approach. We isolate, we wash our hands. But we were not concentrating and focusing into what -- the hygiene of the patient, the hygiene of the environment.

And we established a process in place that we call it the Estero (ph) System at Pacific Hospital of Long Beach. And one of the things that we started doing was cleaning our patients on a daily basis, removing the dirt that they bring themselves, especially fingernails. And we were also looking into cutting antibiotics, because sometimes the antibiotic will produce and eliminate the resistant problem. One of those was how can we add the body to be more resilient providing with a yogurt who is a probiotic that will help the normal flora to remain in your system.

COHEN: So, Dr. Torress-Cook was telling me that when they put someone on Cipro or another strong anibiotic, it leaves them more vulnerable to other kinds of --

VELSHI: It kills a lot of your natural flora, your resistance.

COHEN: Exactly. So, he said, give them yogurt. He said, feed the patients yogurt if you're putting them on something like Cipro.

VELSHI: I've heard this. I didn't know this was as fully medically accepted as this. But it seems to have worked, Dr. Torress?

COHEN: Yes, you were telling us you said once you started using the yogurt, you had no more of these (INAUDIBLE) infections that you had had before?

TORRESS-COOK: Correct. Correct.

COHEN: That's amazing.

TORRESS-COOK: And once you curtail the antibiotics, you allow the body to heal by themselves. You will see the reduction of all of these.

But another thing that we did was we maintain a highly, highly environmental cleaning around the patient. And also we clean the patient on a daily basis in order to enhance and to eliminate that extra bacteria that they bring with them.

COHEN: Because Ali, this totally makes sense, right? If you're dirty, you're more likely to get an infection, and hospitals were not cleaning their patients. That's where this comes in is that they clip the patient's nails.

VELSHI: Which is a source of dirt and bacteria --

COHEN: Exactly. And it makes total sense.

VELSHI: Very simple.

COHEN: And hospitals weren't doing it.

VELSHI: What a great -- it's a simple thing, but you say -- how many people die? 99,000 people in a year get an infection in the hospital?

COHEN: Right, exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: They came in clean. They came in infection-free. And died of an infection they acquired in the hospital.

VELSHI: All right, a simple thing. Thank you very much, Doctor, for being with us and sharing some of those great, simple things that can help you.

And thanks for sharing a lot of this that's in your book. "The Empowered Patient" is Elizabeth Cohen's book. It's available now. I also think you should watch her special, CNN special on September 25th, 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. It will make us all a little better at understanding our health care system.

Great to have you here.

COHEN: Thanks.

VELSHI: All right. Monkey business in Colombia. Explorers trek deep into the jungle to find something new. It is a monkey. But get a good look. Do we have a picture of this?

All right. We're going to bring you a picture -- hold on, we've got it. Let's put that picture up. Because you want to look at that monkey. Wow! Look at that crazy monkey. A face only a mother could love. But listen, you're not going to see that face for too long. So, you're going to want to tune in and figure out what I'm talking about.

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VELSHI: All right. It is time for some monkey business, for real. An expedition to the jungles of Colombia has uncovered a new monkey. Here he is, ladies and gentlemen. A new species of the tee tee monkey. I didn't know there was such a thing.

He's already considered to be critically endangered. We just discovered him.

Persistence paid off, though. Three decades after a noted animal expert said he first saw the red-bearded monkey, he was actually finally found. Look at that face! And photographed. Welcome to the spotlight, little monkey. My producer, Sarah, loves this next story but she's probably loves it so much because she's 5'1. France is now waiving the minimum height requirement for police recruits. It is now set at 5'3. So, Sarah's still not going to make the cut. Now that the country - this is the country, of course, that brought us Napoleon. And president Nicolas Sarkozy says it's okay to be short as long as you can handle the bad guys. Height has been a sticking point for the 5'5 president. So to Sarah, your dream of being a French cop is a little bit closer.