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Former President Carter Hospitalized, Resting Comfortably; Afghanistan Forms "Peace Council"; Home Prices Rising More Slowly; Mudslide in Mexico, Thousands Trapped; RogueApron Super Club & Speakeasy; Obama's iPod List
Aired September 28, 2010 - 12:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Extremely busy indeed, Drew. We have several pieces of breaking news. I'm going to pick up with the one that you were just covering.
Former President Jimmy Carter has been rushed to a Cleveland hospital after getting sick on a flight to Cleveland. CNN senior correspondent Allan Chernoff with me now. He's been following this news. He's got the latest -- Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
The president was supposed to actually be in Cleveland for a book signing. He was supposed to be at Joseph Beth Bookseller right now promoting his new book out. But apparently he was feeling ill on the plane. The emergency medical technicians in Cleveland to the airport got the call from Delta that apparently there was a person sick onboard. That turned out to be the president. They did treat him right at the airport and then rushed him over to Metro Health Hospital, which is just a few minutes away from the Cleveland Airport. We don't know exactly yet what the illness is, but, Ali, he is there at the hospital right now.
VELSHI: All right. He's days away from his 86th birthday, I believe?
CHERNOFF: On Friday. Correct, on Friday. Yes, he's 85 right now. The 39th president, as you know. He served from 1977 through 1981.
VELSHI: All right. Let's just talk about Jimmy Carter. He's generally thought to be in very good health. He has been traveling around the world. He was in North Korea -- or South Korea rescuing somebody who had been in North Korea recently. He keeps a very, very busy schedule.
CHERNOFF: Yes. Actually, very active. He is very engaged on the diplomatic front.
VELSHI: Right.
CHERNOFF: Whether or not the White House likes it, and sometimes they have not. He also, of course, has been very, very involved in writing. And this latest book, "White House Diaries," based upon some of the diaries that he actually took while he was in the White House. So, he's put out many books. This is the latest, and, yes, a very rigorous schedule for somebody who is 85 years old, just about to turn 86.
VELSHI: All right. He's at this Metro Health Center. It's a major regional trauma hospital?
CHERNOFF: Yes. I mean, obviously, not the hospital that we've all heard of. There are so many very famous hospitals in Cleveland. The Cleveland Clinic, for example. But this is the one right near the airport. They wanted to get him to the hospital as quickly as possible. So, obviously, it must be something fairly -- fairly serious.
VELSHI: All right. So, what do we know so far? Because what we don't know just yet is his condition. Why he's there, and in what shape he's in at the moment. So, we do know that he was flying in -- he was flying in commercially?
CHERNOFF: Yes, on a commercial flight. Absolutely, did have Secret Service with him, as former presidents always do have when they do leave their homes.
VELSHI: Right.
CHERNOFF: Other than that, we just know that he is in the hospital right now, and hopefully, before long, we'll know exactly what the problem is.
VELSHI: All right. And -- we are trying to determine what President Carter is suffering from. We just know that he became ill on the flight. Any details about what?
CHERNOFF: No, we don't. We don't have any detail as to that yet.
VELSHI: OK.
All right. We're going to continue to follow this story, and I'm going to take a break, or we're going to go on to the next story. Sir, just let me know what that -- which we're doing at the moment.
All right. We are also -- all right. We are going to take a break for a second. I will -- I will bring you back with more information on President Carter. Stay with us. CNN is going to continue in a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: OK. I want to bring you up to speed with the number of stories that we're following right now, breaking news.
First of all, you're looking at tape of former President Jimmy Carter arriving at the Metro Health Center in Cleveland, Ohio, after taking a plane there for a book signing. Apparently, he was on a commercial flight and he was reported to be ill on that flight. We are unclear as to what he was suffering from or what his condition is. He was taken to Metro Health, which is a major trauma center in Cleveland, but we do not know what his condition was. You can see, those are the vehicles and the ambulance that carried him to the hospital. He is there at the moment. We are waiting for an update. We're working with our teams to find out exactly what President Carter is suffering from. He's a few days shy of his 86th birthday.
He has kept up a fairly rigorous public and travel schedule recently. As I say, he was here for a book signing. Recently, he's come back from North Korea, as you know, to bring an American back who was there. A very, very active schedule.
We do not have information as to why he was there, but he was reported to be ill from this flight, this incoming flight to Cleveland, and then transported immediately to a hospital. We are staying on top of that story, and we will bring you the latest as we have it.
Now, in other breaking news story that we've been following all day: an investigation is under way right now at the University of Texas in Austin after a gunman opened fire with an AK-47 this morning. No reports of anybody hit or wounded. The unidentified shooter was found dead inside a library building. He apparently took his own life.
Now, police had been searching for a possible second suspect. Now, they have given the all-clear at the University of Texas, Austin. There will be a press conference on the shooting in about 10 minutes. We'll bring it to you live as well.
That's not it. We are very near the ninth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan -- a war aimed at toppling the Taliban regime, which it did, and preventing the Taliban from posing a future threat which it has clearly not done. At the moment, almost 120,000 highly-trained troops from 47 nations are fighting and dying to keep the Taliban at bay with no end in sight -- only goals for future draw-downs of those troops.
Now, take a look at this map. Afghanistan, you may know as a country -- but it is a patchwork of areas controlled, at least on paper, by troops from various countries. Now, we get word from Kabul of a high peace council -- their words -- assembled by the Afghan government, apparently with the blessing of the United States. Village elders, former warlords, 70 Afghans in all, including 10 women, called to begin, and I quote, "serious substantive dialogue with the armed opposition." The armed opposition is the Taliban.
No less than the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, is on the record saying high-level contacts are already well underway. But Afghan leaders insist that the process is at best in its infancy.
So, so that you understand, this means that the Afghan government, with the support of the United States, is admitting that they are negotiating with the Taliban for some kind of peace. What will this mean for the future of Afghanistan? What will this mean for the future of human rights in Afghanistan and the future of women in Afghanistan? There are 10 women on this peace council. What do they have to trade away to the Taliban for peace after this long, long war?
Let's go to Ivan Watson. He's in the Afghan capital of Kabul.
Ivan, what do you know about this council, this high peace council, the state of the negotiations, and the -- and the remarkable idea that the Taliban, which has really got to be one of the worst regimes this world has ever seen, one of the worst practitioners of human rights violations, could be actually negotiating for some role in the future, some legitimate role in the future of Afghanistan, Ivan?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's important to note, Ali, that, yes, this war is now approaching its 10th year, but the Afghan government here, which is backed by western governments and western military, has had a, quote, "reconciliation department" since 2005, aimed at trying to woo Taliban commanders and fighters over to the side of the government, try to convince them to put down arms. This high peace council, as it has been called, is almost a revamping of that process which had really been stuttering and sputtering and failing to try to convince Taliban leaders to try to leave the movement.
Now, this attracted a lot of attention when as you said, General David Petraeus, the leader of the U.S. military commander here, said that there were high-level contacts that the Taliban was reaching out to the Afghan government. I've spoken -- we've spoken with Afghan government representatives and they're trying to downplay that, saying that negotiations, formal negotiations, have not yet started.
Take a listen to what the presidential spokesman had to say, Ali.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WAHEED OMAR, AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN: There is no substantive negotiations or substantive discussions or dialogue with the armed opposition, and we hope that by -- after the establishment of the peace council, which was established today, we will enter into a serious, substantive dialogue with the armed opposition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: And, Ali, I think, if you ask most Afghans, they concede that some kind of settlement will need to be reached. Just this morning, another suicide car bombing to the south the Afghan capital killed a deputy governor and five our people, wounded at least six. People here are exhausted from this conflict, and recognize that the military option is not the final solution -- Ali.
VELSHI: Let me ask you think, though, Ivan. You know the situation better that most. This has been a situation that has been going on. Afghans have not lived for peace -- with peace in a very, very long time.
And as frustrating as it must be to have parts of the country controlled by Taliban and parts control by various other countries or the Afghan government, the reality is, even without the Taliban running the show, there are remarkable human rights violations in Afghanistan. There are still -- there's still a great deal of suffering. There's still a great deal of lack of education. There's still a great deal of lack of advancement for women.
What -- does this -- does this not frighten Afghans that the Taliban could come back in and have that sort of sway over their lives?
WATSON: I think there's a lot of fear and unease that I sense here in the Afghan capital, Ali. When there are kind of mixed messages coming out of Washington as to how long the U.S. military's going to maintain its current troop presence here about the future, when there is talk of possible negotiations down the road with the Taliban, some people very nervous which side should they line up with in the future.
Now, the interesting thing is, the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, he's been coming out for years in trying to woo Taliban commanders over, calling them his brothers, saying, "Put down your arms if you are Afghans, if you are Muslims, stop shooting at your fellow people."
And very interesting scene here today, Ali, he was speaking in what was supposed to be a celebration of educational achievement here in Afghanistan, International Literacy Day, and instead, he broke into tears onstage. Take a look at this performance by the Afghan president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANISTAN (through translator): I have pain in my heart. Please understand me.
(APPLAUSE)
KARZAI: I'm afraid, my countrymen. Please understand me. I'm afraid my son, my own son, would become a refugee one day. Please, I don't want my son and your son to be a foreign citizen. I want him to grow up here, and I want him to go to school here. I want him to be taught by an Afghan teacher.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: The interesting thing, Ali, is, Hamid Karzai's credibility, his government's credibility, is at an all-time low here and yet, informally, chatting with Afghans just at dinner just now, educated Afghans saying, I'm not a Hamid Karzai supporter but I was profoundly touched by his expression of exhaustion and fear of where this country is headed right now -- Ali.
VELSHI: Ivan, let me ask you one thing. The two frustrations the average Afghan is dealing with is the fear of Islamic fundamentalism and the effect on their lives, and what corruption is doing to their lives. Give me some sense of how these two things weigh on Afghans. WATSON: It's a difficult question. The insecurity, it's all over the place, as I mentioned, this suicide bombing this morning in a province not very far from the Afghan capital, the daily corruption that Afghans see, the biggest bank, private bank in the country, last month, a run on the bank. And I'm hearing from ordinary Afghans in town that they're having to move their savings or try to get them out, and Hamid Karzai's brother is a major shareholder in that bank. It seems it's gotten unsavory loans and deals due to his connections in the past. He's even being investigated right now, according to "The New York Times," by federal prosecutors in New York.
So, Afghans face a government that's propped up by the West that has very little legitimacy. They don't necessarily like the Taliban. They feel very much caught in the middle between Taliban militants, a corrupt western-backed government, and more than 100,000 foreign troops that, more often than not, Afghans get caught in the middle of these battles which are escalating across this country. The violence is spiraling, apparently, out of control here -- Ali.
VELSHI: It's a complex and ongoing problem. Ivan, thanks very much for being with us. It's always a pleasure to see you -- Ivan Watson in Kabul.
All right. We're covering a few pieces of breaking news.
First of all, President Jimmy Carter in a hospital in Cleveland. He was rushed there after a flight to Cleveland. He's at a trauma center. We don't know what he's suffering from. We are looking for an update and we will bring it to you the minute we get it.
Also, at the University of Texas, Austin, a shooting this morning. A gunman entered a library, apparently no one was hit, but he was found dead in the library. Police were looking for a second gunman. They've now issued an all-clear. Apparently, no second gunman -- all-clear at the UT Austin.
We'll bring you an update on that in a few minutes. There will be a press conference there.
Again, an interesting story that caught our attention. Many Americans, if not most, view themselves as religious. But if they're faith is so strong, where do they stand when it comes to the knowledge of their religion, and by the way, their knowledge of other people's religions? Results of a new poll may surprise you in a very big way. I'm going to bring you the numbers, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Remember that great Sam Cooke song "Wonderful World" that begun with the line, "Don't know much about history"? Well, with all due respect to Mr. Cooke today, you and I could add line, "Don't know much about religion either." That at least is the bottom line of a new Pew Forum poll on religion and public life.
Many if not most Americans profess to be religious. But when it comes to facts about religion, they come up short. Of the more than 3,400 people questioned by phone this summer, the average number of correct answers out of 32 questions was 16 -- and therein lies one of the most interesting if not surprising findings of the poll.
Atheists and agnostics scored highest on religious knowledge. It makes some sense. People have chosen not to believe. And maybe that comes from an experience of, at one point, being a believer. Mormons and evangelical Protestants know the most about Christianity. Atheists and agnostics did the best on world religions, and so did Jews.
Now, this next graphic shows how the various groups did in the survey. That's the average number of correct answers out of 32 questions. You can see there, atheists and agnostics, 20.9. Jews, 20.5. And rounding out the bottom of the list, as you can see, Hispanic Catholics, black Protestants, and then people who said they follow no religion in particular.
Another aspect of this poll is that researchers emphasize a number of factors contribute to a person's religious knowledge. Here are some of them: education -- the higher the level of education, the more one was likely to know on this question -- on these questions.
Also, those who attended private schools tended to answer at least a couple of questions more correctly than those who attended public schools. However, attending a private religious school didn't give you any edge over attending a private secular school.
And those who read Scripture once a week and talk about it with others tend to obviously have more religious knowledge -- the same for those who attend a religious service at least one a week and those who took part in a youth program or something like a Sunday school.
I want to discuss more about these details in my "XYZ" in the next hour. I'll leave you with this food for thought -- it may be a sign of a good pluralistic diverse society that we don't all know as much about each other's religions as we should. But it doesn't mean we can't change.
OK. The good news is that home prices have been going up for five months straight. The bad news? They aren't going up as fast as some of us would like them to be. I'm going to talk to my friend Christine when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. We've just got a statement from the Carter Center about President Carter's condition. Let me read it to you.
Statement from the Carter Center: "While on a flight to Cleveland, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter developed an upset stomach, and, upon arrival, was taken to Metro Health Hospital for observation. He is resting comfortably and is expected to resume this book tour this week."
So, according to that, he is in no great danger. Good news. President Carter -- not good news that he got an upset stomach, but doesn't look, for the moment, like anything life-threatening. And they say he is expected to resume his book tour this week.
He is a remarkably robust man. He's just short of his 86th birthday but remains very active, travel as great deal and makes public appearances. So, that's good. We'll keep you posted as we -- if we get any further detail on exactly what President Carter was suffering from that took him to the hospital in the first place.
OK. Looked like a glimmer of hope. Average home prices have been rising a bit for the last five months. But that growth has now slowed, not to mention that new home sales are still near historic lows.
Christine Romans joins me now.
Great to see you, as always, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ali.
VELSHI: First of all, new home sales are and have always been a very small portion of home sales. It's probably 15 percent before the recession.
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: Now, it's about 8 percent or 9 percent. So, that's OK. While we're still recovering, it's not great for the economy, but that's to be expected. But home prices have been edging up a little.
ROMANS: They have been edging up. But they've been edging up at very depressed levels. And when you look at the headline, from the Case-Shiller -- the S&P Case-Shiller Home price report today it says, Ali, home prices remain stable around recent lows. Whew!
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: You know, stable around recent lows is something that a lot of people have been hoping for after the past couple of years. And economists tell us they don't expect to go back to those 2005 lofty levels again. But stability is something that they can hope for and they hope it continues here for the foreseeable future.
VELSHI: And that's fine. If you've decided that your house isn't your piggy bank, it's a place to live and it could be a good investment over time, that's OK. We don't need them to do what they were doing in the early 2000.
ROMANS: We don't want them to do with (INAUDIBLE), because it was fake.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: It was a mirage. One thing --
VELSHI: And there are still some people who think prices are not where they should be.
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: Some people think they're too high and they're being held up by very low interest rates.
ROMANS: You're right. But I argue stability is good for the housing market because you want people to be stable in their home prices so if they get a job offer halfway across the country, they feel comfortable enough to take it.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: So that they don't have the crushing burden of being stuck in a house they can't afford.
VELSHI: The beauty of American mobility which you and I talk about so much, and is one of greatest things of this capitalist system --
ROMANS: Oh, yes.
VELSHI: -- is stymied by your ability to sell your house because you owe more that it's worth.
ROMANS: So, jobs and houses, we want both of those things to start to recover. Housing can't recover until people get jobs. The jobs market won't recover until the housing market. It's still weak.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE) everyone feeling more confident.
VELSHI: And all of it depends on consumers feeling good and buying stuff because that's what gives people job.
ROMANS: That's right.
VELSHI: And now, we just had a new consumer confidence number which shows consumers are less confident than we thought they were?
ROMANS: A lot less confident. In fact, it's 50, it's the number 50 for this consumer confidence report. Think of the number 50, it means that you're actually expanding in the economy, and 90 would be a gangbusters, good, solid economy that's creating jobs. We're way down in the 40s.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: And less than many economists have thought. So, consumer confidence was a problem today. The question is: do people say in surveys, I'm not feeling very confident, will they turn around and buy when they get little money in their pocket?
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: It's unclear. It's been a little -- it's been a little -- VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: There are a lot of reasons for people to say they don't feel good.
VELSHI: The folks are saving money. There are some positive things going on in the environment. But we're waiting for it to kick in and the consumer to feel a little bit more safe. You said yesterday you cannot pass a bill that buys consumer confidence.
ROMANS: No. And you cannot -- you cannot just flip a switch and have consumer confidence or confidence come back in the economy.
And that's all these things that you see your policymakers are trying to do -- that's what they're trying to do. They're trying to pass, you know, small business tax cuts. They're trying to do all of these things, the extension of jobless benefits. A lot of different things to try to make people and businesses feel more confident.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: But we don't know what the magic bullet is.
I will say one thing, though -- there are four cities on this list. And if you live there, the city, the home prices, you have seen a one-year gain in home prices -- 11.2 percent gain in San Francisco. San Diego, you've seen your home prices up 9 percent over the past year, from July 2009.
Now, granted, July 2009 was a pretty dark day, wasn't it?
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: But L.A., Washington --
VELSHI: Washington?
ROMANS: Washington.
And, you know, Census numbers came out and show that Washington people, people who work in Washington, they make more money than anybody else in the country, $85,000 a year. Would you say that the center of gravity in the American economy --
VELSHI: It's moving -- it's not in New York.
ROMANS: -- is Washington? It has moved away from Main Street and New York City and Wall Street to Washington? I would say so.
VELSHI: Lots to talk about every day this week and on weekends. If you want to hear more from Christine and me -- watch "YOUR $$$$$," Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN, Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.
Coming up: we are following a rapidly growing disaster in southern Mexico, up to 1,000 people could be trapped under a muddy landslide. We're going to scope out the terrain straight ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: An urgent rescue effort is going on right now in southern Mexico after a massive overnight landslide buried hundreds of homes in Oaxaca State. Authorities fear up to 1,000 people may be trapped. Rescuers and heavy machinery are on way. But flooding and previous landslides in the area may be blocking many roads.
Let's bring in Chad Myers to scope out the terrain for us. Chad, what's it look like.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oaxaca, really the southernmost state in Mexico. Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec,, a very rugged area from the way to, let's say, Oaxaca to even down to Porto Escondido. The ruggedness of the mountain chain and also just the dirt here. This is not a very solid piece of land mass. So when it rains like it has rained, because of what was Matthew, there you go, tropical depression Matthew. Right there is what we're talking about. That's where the rain has been so very heavy. And it's still raining at least today, maybe another inch or two. They can't get to some of the spots because of the mud spots. Along the roads, smaller slides that didn't bury anyone. But they are fearing now that in this landslide, this mudslide, right there is Oaxaca, there could be 1,000 people still to be found here before it's all done.
One more thing I want to get you before we get to the next hour, clearly we'll get to this in the 2:00 hour. A new tropical storm warning has been issued for south Florida. That's West Palm, that's Ft. Lauderdale, there's Miami, and all the Keys, for a storm that doesn't even have a name yet. But it will be Nicole tonight. It will be gone tomorrow night. A quick mover. Those are dangerous. They can gather strength rather quickly. We'll keep watching.
VELSHI: Hey, what's going on up in my neck ever the woods? I'm here in Atlanta. We had hurricane -- tornado watches for Philadelphia, for New York, places like that.
MYERS: Still there. I don't see anything that's rotating. There are no severe thunderstorms. But I know you know, you get skittish when you get a storm like you had a couple weeks ago with those two tornadoes and that large swath of wind damage. We don't see it on the map yet, but there is a tornado watch. It goes from Albany, New York City, Philadelphia, all the way up to almost Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and that's where the storms could be this afternoon. That expires until 6:00.
When something pops I'll be jumping up and down and getting on TV. Don't worry.
VELSHI: Not to ask you a self-interested question, but when you happen to be in a high-rise building in a big urban center and a tornado is coming your way, where's the safest place to be?
MYERS: Safest place to be is in the sublevel. I live on the 10th floor. The first thing I would do would be get in the elevator, which is the wrong thing because you should go down to the stairs, all the way down to the basement where there aren't any windows. Don't be standing there on the 15th floor looking out going, hey. Because that's where the winds -- higher you go, the stronger the winds. The lower you go, the lower the winds are because the tornado isn't as big down there, right? You don't want to be in this part of tornado, you want to be in this part of the tornado. That's why you need to get down. Find some neighbors on the first floor.
VELSHI: Very good. Chad, thanks very much. We'll check in with you on all of these stories as the hour progresses.
The details are gruesome, the charges are deadly serious. When we come back, the latest on the investigation into U.S. soldiers allegedly killing innocent Afghan civilians for fun.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: We told you a little about this shocking story yesterday. Americans accused of killing for sport on the front lines in Afghanistan. Not soldiers, civilians.
Let's go to Drew Griffin of our special investigations unit for the latest -- Drew.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Ali, more gruesome evidence of thrill killings in Afghanistan, as you said, not by Taliban terrorists, but by U.S. troops. I brought you some of the Army interrogation tapes yesterday. American soldiers detailing in their own words cold-blooded killings. The soldiers high on opium-laced hashish and prescription drugs. U.S. soldiers.
I now have details in my investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN (voice-over): In the tapes obtained by CNN, the soldiers accused in their own words are not denying anything. But trying to explain how highly trained soldiers could become a band of killers.
MORLOCK: And so we identified a guy, and, you know, Gibbs, Gibbs makes a comment like, hey, do you guys want to wax this guy or what? And, you know, he'd set it up. He grabbed the dude.
GRIFFIN: Corporal Jeremy Morlock, accused of killing three Afghan civilian men, two by shooting, the third which is described to a military investigator, was literally a set-up, he says, by his platoon leader, Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what did he do? Explain everything.
MORLOCK: We had this guy by the compound. And so Gibbs, you know, walked him out and set him in place, like, hey, stand here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was he fully cooperating?
MORLOCK: I mean, yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was he armed?
MORLOCK: No. Not that we were aware of.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where did he stand him? Next to a wall?
MORLOCK: Yes, it was kind of next to a wall. It was where Gibbs could get, like, behind cover after the grenade went off and then he kind of placed me and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off over here and clean line of sight for this guy.
And, you know -- he pulled out one of his grenades, American grenades. You know, popped it. Throws the grenade and then, you know, tells me (EXPLETIVE DELETED), all right, dude. You know, wax this guy. You know, kill this guy, kill this guy.
GRIFFIN: Morlock goes on to describe two more killings, unarmed Afghan civilians picked out, stood up, shot and then blown up with a grenade.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see him present any weapons or did he -- was he aggressive to you at all? Did he --
MORLOCK: No. Not at all. Nothing. He wasn't a threat.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Michael Waddington is Corporal Jeremy Morlock's civilian attorney.
GRIFFIN (on camera): I want you to tell me that this didn't happen. That this isn't true. Can you?
MICHAEL WADDINGTON, ATTORNEY FOR CORPORAL JEREMY MORLOCK: That three people were not killed?
GRIFFIN: That members of the US military didn't go out, and three Afghan civilians were killed for sport.
(LONG PAUSE)
WADDINGTON: You have the -- you have the -- from what I understand, the case file. You know what the witnesses of that file say. And what they say in their videos. But I -- that's what it sounds like.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): To defend the client, Mike Waddington will try to prove Corporal Morlock, already injured in two separate IED attacks, was suffering from brain damage. And instead of treating him, Waddington says the army drugged him.
GRIFFIN (on camera): So your defense is that your client was mentally incapacitated, that the army either knew it or should have known it --
WADDINGTON: Well, the army --
GRIFFIN: Should not have been put in that position. WADDINGTON: The army knew it, because they were prescribing drugs to him to try to treat his symptoms. His symptoms involved nausea, vomiting, inability to sleep. These are injuries that are common in traumatic brain injury. The army knew that he had been blown up in two IED attacks. The army then chose, rather than to treat him, to take his weapon, give it back to him, because -- for whatever reason, and then load him up on drugs.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): The drugs, shown here distributed in plastic baggies, included Ambien and Amitriptyline, both of which carry FDA warnings about producing suicidal thoughts. The trouble began, Morlock says, in November of 2009, when the Stryker Brigade got a new squad leader, Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs.
WADDINGTON: When Gibbs showed up at this unit, he bragged to the young soldiers underneath him, including my client, about killing innocent people in Iraq.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Staff Sergeant Gibbs is charged in all three killings. And witnesses stated it was this new commander who orchestrated, coerced, and threatened the Stryker Brigade to both kill Afghan civilians and cover up their murders. And there is something else. The U.S. Army accuses Staff Sergeant Gibbs of collecting teeth, leg bones, and fingers as souvenirs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: Ali, CNN reached out to an attorney for Staff Sergeant Gibbs, the calls have not been returned. We also did called the Pentagon extensively on this story. The Pentagon would not offer us an interview, instead questioned our use of these videotapes which they think is evidence. Well, it is evidence in this case and said it would be hard to get a fair trial if we aired these tapes -- Ali.
VELSHI: Drew, sorry about that. I'm just getting some new information on President Carter.
This story continues to amaze, that not only do you have the detail you have, but that the attorney is not able to categorically say, this didn't happen, but is offering as explanation both the influence of the super -- the superior officer and the combination ever these drugs being used.
Is that likely to hold up?
GRIFFIN: Well, we'll see. Right now Jeremy Morlock, the person who was featured in that story, the corporal from Alaska, is going through a Article 32 hearing trying to determine by the military if there's evidence to hold him over for a court martial, which would be a trial, that's likely to take place.
But you're right, the defense is going to be some kind of a defense that says, look, my client was incapacitated, the military knew he had brain damage, they were feeding him prescription drugs.
And also, they're going to bring in this oversight angle, this is the defense now. How could this group, if it's all true, Ali, how could this group of soldiers be smoking hash openly at a base in Afghanistan and committing these killings without even higher ups knowing? Without even supervisors of the supervisor knowing?
These are all likely to come out in the defense of this trial, but there doesn't seem to be any dispute about what happened, three Afghan civilian men killed, unarmed and not a threat.
VELSHI: Drew, thanks very much. Good to see you, as always. You have a good afternoon.
Drew Griffin in New York.
I want to bring you up to speed on the latest with Jimmy Carter. As you know, he was on a plane from -- to Cleveland, Ohio. He complained of being sick and was taken to Metro Health Hospital. That's the arrival at the hospital you see there, the ambulance under guard.
We have this statement from the Carter Center, "While on a flight to Cleveland, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter developed an upset stomach, and, upon arrival, was taken to Metro Health Hospital for observation. He is resting comfortably and is expected to resume his book tour this week."
Now, Allan Chernoff has been talking to somebody at Joseph Beth Booksellers at the Legacy Village Shopping Center in Lindhurst, Ohio, which is a suburb just east of Cleveland where the book signing was supposed to take place from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. What Allan has is that there are about 400 people still waiting for President Carter at the store. Some have been waiting since 9:15 a.m.
President Carter was scheduled to appear from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., then his staff changed it to noon. He's scheduled to be at the store to promote and sign and promote his book "White House Diary."
Also says that there's lots of Secret Service there. No official announcement President Carter is not coming. I think we can be fairly certain President Carter is not coming to the book signing. He does, according to the reports, seem to be OK, nothing life threatening, but I don't think he's doing a book signing today.
However, that said, he is robust. He's a few days short of his 86th birthday and is a remarkably energetic man. And somebody else who we know who is very energetic just spoke to him a few days ago. On September 20th, our own Larry King interviewed President Jimmy Carter.
Larry's on the phone with me right now. Larry, you've interviewed Jimmy Carter many times. He keeps a very vigorous schedule.
LARRY KING, HOST, CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE" (via telephone): Yes, he does. For a man 86 years old, it's a rather incredible schedule. But he keeps in good shape, he walks every day. Apparently, an upset stomach. You know, I never heard of someone going to the hospital with an upset stomach. But I guess if you're a former president, they take doubly care, as they should.
My guess is if they're announcing he'll resume his book tour, this is probably just -- hopefully, just a passing incident.
When I was with him last week, he looked super. He looked, as you see there right on the screen, that was -- this was probably some time ago, look how robust he is. I mean, he's -- he's a special guy. Whatever you think of his politics, he's a special guy.
VELSHI: He's busy. I mean, he just came back from North Korea. I mean, what were you talking to him about in terms of what he's been up to? He keeps quite a schedule. He was out in North Korea. He keeps very fit. He's, like you, he's very trim. He seemed very energetic when you talked to him.
KING: Yes, he sure did. And his peace center is involved with something all the time. He's going to elections whenever there's an election. Whenever called upon to help free a prisoner, he goes to do that.
So I hope that this is nothing more than what my 11-year-old had yesterday, an upset stomach. Have you ever had one of those?
VELSHI: Absolutely. And I guess you're right, he's a president and they take it all very seriously. I hope that's all it is.
KING: I hope it's a Pepto Bismol incident.
VELSHI: Very good. Well we hope so, too.
But, Larry, thanks for calling in. I know you've been the most recent of us, of the team at CNN to have talked to him. Always good to talk to you as well, Larry. Thanks very much.
All right. We will keep you posted, by the way, on anything that we hear about Jimmy Carter.
I'm going to take a break. I'll be back with lots more news when we come back.
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VELSHI: This week on CNN, we're talking food with the series "Eatocracy: Mind, Body and Wallet."
For years, we've all worried about fat free this, low calorie that. Food, I say, should be fun and this group called RogueApron is proving that you can eat good food, healthy food and still have a great experience. RogueApron coins itself an underground supper club -- haven't quite figured out what's underground about it, but I'm going to find out in a minute. It also calls itself a speakeasy that's committed to using local, sustainable food. We have the founder of the group with us from Atlanta. She goes by the name Lady Rogue, and I want to -- I just want to talk to somebody named Lady Rogue.
Ms. Rogue, first of all, what do you mean by an underground -- what do you call it? -- underground supper club and speakeasy?
LADY ROGUE, FOUNDER, ROGUE APRON: Underground super club. Well, basically, we don't follow a lot of rules. So we don't have restaurant inspection certificates and we kind of do things on the D.L. So that's what makes sense underground.
VELSHI: All right, so not illegal or anything like that.
Tell me about this whole move toward local food? I'm yet to understand. I get it, sort of. But it's not necessarily cheaper and while we have all sorts of instances of buying food that has got E Coli or salmonella, actually most of the food that gets to us doesn't tend to make us sick.
So what's the difference? Why did I need to worry about buying local food?
LADY ROGUE: I don't know if you need to worry about it, I think you should enjoy it. So I brought here some eggs from a generic grocery store. And these are the eggs we've been reading about, they may have salmonella in them, they're all genetically identical and similar and that's kind of frightening.
I don't like to worry about that. I like to worry about what I do know which is these eggs that my friend Rebecca grew in her backyard, they are all awesome and genetically different and they're very delicious, they cook up better for you and they --
VELSHI: Those come from different chickens?
LADY ROGUE: Yes.
VELSHI: Cause -- one chick en making eggs that all look different.
LADY ROGUE: Nope, they're different breeds of chickens, that's why they're different sizes and colors.
VELSHI: I see, OK.
Honestly, what do you know more about the eggs that come from your friend than the ones that come from the store?
LADY ROGUE: Because I know what she feeds them, I know how she raises them. I know how those chickens react. I know that they get sunshine in there, that they're happy and they actually get hugs.
VELSHI: They get hugs.
(LAUGHTER) LADY ROGUE: Yes.
VELSHI: And do we -- how does it compare generally speaking in terms of price when you buy locally and you buy from somebody who's a smaller farmer who treats their chickens well and hugs them versus buying them from the store?
LADY ROGUE: That's a really good question. I mean, it is inevitably going to be cheaper to get something that's industrial produced, but you're getting what you pay for. And these eggs over here have four times the amount of vitamin D that an industrial- produced eggs have. So for someone with a vitamin-D deficiency, like myself, that's worth of price.
VELSHI: Now what is it that RogueApron does that someone might want to emulate? What is it you guys do?
LADY ROGUE: OK, so we do monthly dinners and we do them in secret rotating locations and they're all based around a theme. One of my favorite ones to talk about is the Soup Line Dinner. When the Dow crashed, everyone had to get in line with an empty bowl and stand in line to get some soup and get it full.
So this is the sort of dinners we do. We work with local producers, we work with home brewers and we create dinner experiences.
VELSHI: And you have fun doing it.
LADY ROGUE: I do, yes.
VELSHI: Because that's what you and I share. I'm not the world's healthiest eater and I don't know the difference between buying local or not, but you and I both like food.
LADY ROGUE: Yes. I do for sure.
VELSHI: Lady Rogue, good to meet you. Thank you for being with us.
LADY ROGUE: Thanks.
VELSHI: Our special series all this week, "Eatocracy: Mind, Body and Wallet" continues online, just go to CNN.com/eatocracy. Click on, by the way, the five at 5:00 podcast that I did on it. You can find out exactly what I like to eat, a little different than what Lady Rogue likes to eat, but we both share our interest in our food being fun.
What does President Obama think about Bob Dylan? What's on his iPod? All of that is coming up in our "CNN Equals Politics" update next.
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VELSHI: Time for our "CNN Equals Politics" update. CNN senior political editor Mark Preston at the CNNPolitics.com desk in Washington.
What a treat? Mark, what is crossing the Ticker right now?
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, Ali, as you can see I'm surrounded by Jill, Allen, Molly, Jeff, Alex, all following the hot political stories of the day, including this one.
Just an hour ago, President Obama addressed the issue of why is he a Christian. Of course, this is a storyline that keeps coming up over and over again, including a poll, a recently released poll that said that one in five Americans thinks that he was a Muslim. But he was asked this at an event in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He said he was a Christian by choice, was his response. He went on to say that, I came to my Christian faith later in life because of the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead, such as being my brothers and sisters keeper, treating others as they would treat me. He went on to explain that a little bit more. You can see that video shortly on CNN.com as well as see the story. Some very interesting things being said out there in Albuquerque.
You can file this one away, Ali, in interesting but not really useful information category. President Obama did an interview with "Rolling Stone." They asked him what do you have on your iPod? He said he has about 2,000 songs. He listens to the likes of Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Nas, Litlle Wayne -- I don't know the last two -- and of course, Bob Dylan. So he says that his musical influences is his two daughters and Reggie Love, who is his top travel aide, so to speak.
And then just put this in the category of just simply very cool. In the "Rolling Stone" interview, Ali, he was asked about Bob Dylan. Well Bob Dylan performed at the White House earlier this year. He said that Bob Dylan didn't even show up to rehearse. Bob Dylan didn't even want to get his picture taken with the president.
When the time came for him to perform, Bob Dylan went on stage, performed the song "The Times Are a Changing" finished, walked offstage, went up, shook the president's hand, tipped his hat and walked out of the White House. That was it. No conversation, no small talk.
And when asked what did you think about that? He said, how else would you want Bob Dylan. So I tell you what, a very, very cool moment I think for the president.
VELSHI: I think that song list sounds like it was designed for -- it sounds like a cool song list that you tell somebody you have and they think, wow, that's pretty varied and eclectic.
PRESTON: Yes, so like, hey, I listen to everything. I listen to music now and music from the '60s. Of course, I'm stuck in the '60s, Ali, I don't know where you are.
VELSHI: All right. And by the way, why is he a Christian is a very different question than the is he a Christian that continues to be an issue. I feel sorry for you having to cover that ongoing, ridiculous discussion, but it's remarkable that it continues to exist out there.
PRESTON: And it will continue to exist, no doubt.
VELSHI: I will.
Mark, good to see you. We'll see you a little later on.
Mark Preston and your next "CNN Equals Politics" update is just an hour away.
We're going to take a quick break. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.
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