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Al Qaeda Leader Killed in Yemen; Reaction to Al-Awlaki's Death; Blaming the Party for Money Woes; Dr. Conrad Murray on Trial; Did Boomers Break the Government?

Aired September 30, 2011 - 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: All right, ladies. Thank you so much.

Well, this morning we do begin with the biggest blow to al Qaeda since the killing of Osama bin Laden. And it may be just as devastating to the terror group. Yemen says that American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki is dead.

In recent months he had been dubbed the new bin Laden and the bin Laden of the Internet. Well, the U.S. says he was a master of online recruiting, finding and motivating new radicals to kill Americans around the world.

Al-Awlaki is linked to a number of attacks. U.S. officials say he was a spiritual adviser to three of the 9/11 hijackers and had communicated frequently with the American accused of a deadly shooting spree at Ft. Hood. He's also linked to the so-called underwear bomber in 2009 and the attempted car bomber of Times Square last year.

Well, it's an extraordinary development and we've mobilized CNN correspondents around the world to cover this breaking news story for us from the Pentagon to Istanbul. We're digging up all the details. It's hard to overstate just how important al-Awlaki was to the al Qaeda organization, but here's a pretty frightening reality.

He may be even more dangerous dead. That's exactly what our Nic Robertson has been covering to this point.

Nic, let's go straight to you. What exactly do you know with regard to how he was targeted and is it possible to give credit to an agency at this point?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think what we just heard from Fran Townsend and perhaps nails it down very well. That is that it can't be nailed down because nobody wants to go on the record.

The past track record, however, of a near miss against al-Awlaki in May this year was credited to the United States, to a drone strike. The missile bumped off -- bounced off the fender of his car as he made his getaway.

It's politically sensitive. Right now President Saleh does not need the United States to announce it manned and mounted an attack on his territory. The country is teetering on the verge of civil war. That would aid his enemies. And right now Saleh, although he wants the support of the United States, certainly doesn't want this sort of information out there.

So as far as we know at the moment, it was a strike. Most likely, however, the United States has the technology, most likely a drone strike that could have tracked and monitored al-Awlaki for some time. But that's as much as we have on the record at the moment -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, if you say that this could actually aid Saleh's enemies, then should we prepare ourselves for much more -- for much more violence in his country? I mean what are you predicting here? Could this start to become even worse than what we've seen thus far?

ROBERTSON: When we were in Yemen just a few months ago, the vice president told us in an interview, an exclusive interview that al Qaeda already has control of three provinces in Yemen. They're taking advantage of the security situation there. The government has pulled a lot of its troops, better troops, not all of them, but a lot of them back to the capital to try and secure its grip on the capital of the country.

And that leaves them weak in other areas. The country is absolutely poised for a much wider scale launch. The president refuses to step down. You have armed tribesmen in the capital, you significant factions that have been loyal to the president in terms of military and political, have broken away from him, and you have large street demonstrations calling for his overthrow.

So it is a very precarious situation. One that al Qaeda is exploiting and not just al-Awlaki was a danger to the United States there, but Ibrahim Al Asiri, the bomb maker who made the underpants bomb, who made the printer bomb, both efforts to bring down airliners over the United States last year and the year before, is still on the loose in Yemen, is still making bombs there.

So there are many threats that al Qaeda is trying to exploit that Saleh is trying to keep -- the president is trying to keep a lid on all of this and at the same time the United States really looking after its own interests here, which is making sure that al-Awlaki and others like him cannot pose a threat.

PHILLIPS: Nic Robertson, we'll be talking a lot more throughout the morning. Nic, thanks.

And at the bottom of the hour, we're going to continue to look at al-Awlaki's new role, a martyr for the cause. Our Drew Griffin joining us at 9:30 Eastern Time on that angle.

Now the killing of this American cleric has received a swift praise from the Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security. Peter King says in a statement, quote, "For the past several years, al-Awlaki has been more dangerous even than Osama bin Laden had been." King goes on to say that, "The killing of al-Awlaki is a tremendous tribute to President Obama and the men and women of our intelligence community."

Well, one of the first questions asked when news of al-Awlaki's death crossed our wires was what, if any involvement, might the United States have had in this operation.

CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr working the angle to that story.

Barbara, you and I remember covering David Petraeus when he was active in the military, talking about Yemen, the threat of Yemen, how he was upping the drone strikes in that country. Now we're seeing the fact that al-Awlaki has been taken out. He's also now the director of the CIA. You wonder about the timing and the correlation here.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, David Petraeus as director of CIA isn't talking, that's for sure. You know right now, Kyra, it is only anonymous administration officials who decline to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation who are saying since very early this morning that, yes, Awlaki was killed.

It raises some fascinating questions on how the U.S. might have known so early on with such certainty that this man has been killed if the U.S. wasn't involved in it. Well, now, a Yemeni official, also declining to be identified, is telling CNN, quote, "that it was a successful joint intelligence sharing operation between Yemen and the United States that resulted in this."

So this is now additional word we are getting that U.S. intelligence, possibly some U.S. military involvement in this. We know that U.S. troops have been in and out of Yemen conducting training with Yemeni forces. We know that the CIA and the U.S. military have had very active involvement in trying to track down Anwar al-Awlaki over the years.

Why might it be so sensitive, of course, to come out in public and just say that U.S. -- that U.S. operatives did this? Well, Awlaki, of course, is an American citizen. The U.S. finds itself in somewhat of a delicate international position of explaining why it killed an American citizen abroad.

But it has long been said that there was a, you know, killer/capture order on Awlaki and it looks now like the U.S. was very involved, according to administration officials in getting him at the end -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Barbara Starr from the Pentagon, thanks so much.

Well, let's talk more about this with CNN national security contributor Fran Townsend. She was a homeland security adviser to former President George W. Bush. She's live in New York.

And, Fran, you know, just going back, I wanted to double check on what has been said over the past, say, year or two. And this talk about who is involved and how exactly al-Awlaki was killed.

The National Security Council, according to reports that came out more than a year ago, did say to the CIA, you can target this American. Go after him. Let's -- you know, the threats are clear and we are giving you approval. So what is your take? How involved do you think the CIA was in this operation?

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think the Yemen officials had the capability to do this on their own. So I had thought since early this morning that it had to have had some support from American officials and I think what you just heard from Barbara is an acknowledgment, that it was at least a joint intelligence sharing operation.

No way that Yemen intelligence had the capability to actually develop the information necessary to target in a physical way for a kill operation as we see happen. The next question becomes if they were sharing intelligence, what role did Americans play in the actual operation itself? We know that the U.S. government attempted a drone strike on Awlaki in the last year.

And you know going back to the Bush administration, there was a drone strike against another al Qaeda operative in Yemen going several years back. And so we know the U.S. has operated drones in Yemen, presumably with the permission of the Yemeni government, but it is politically sensitive and you could understand if the U.S. was looking to sort of hide their role and give credit to the Yemenis at this point.

PHILLIPS: Now, Fran, you actually met with Saleh, right? And I'm trying to remember when exactly that was. And you talked to him specifically about al-Awlaki?

TOWNSEND: That's exactly right, Kyra. I met with Saleh several times. I used to meet with him -- I was in the White House from 2003 until January of '08, and would go to the region three, four times a year, and almost each time that I was in the region I would stop and see Saleh.

One of the things that I discussed with him was our desire to either capture or interrogate al-Awlaki. Now remember, al-Awlaki is a dual U.S./Yemeni citizen and so Saleh's answer to me at the time was even if we captured him for you, we could not extradite him under our constitution.

But he wouldn't even give us access to al-Awlaki. Al-Awlaki was a teacher in a university in Sana'a at the time. And we knew and when we shared with Saleh that he was radicalizing people, that we were afraid would ultimately be deployed to attack the United States.

PHILLIPS: Well, that's a tremendous coup this morning. That's for sure.

Fran, we'll be talking a lot more throughout the morning, as well. And you know, the death of this terror leader is making headlines worldwide. Our Zain Verjee is following that for us in London.

What exactly is the international reaction as you start to comb through it all this morning, Zain?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hi, Kyra. Good morning.

Let's take a look at what "The Guardian" here in the UK is saying. This is the headline it has. "Anwar al-Awlaki's death is a blow to al Qaeda, but his message is still alive." It says, "Though his own importance within al Qaeda can be exaggerated, the demise of the American-Yemeni will nonetheless have significant consequences."

Take a look at the "Globe and the Mail", which is the paper in Canada. "Assassinated cleric Awlaki a charismatic figure in al Qaeda's shadowy leadership." This piece say, "Extremist al Qaeda imam Anwar al-Awlaki could spread a call to arms both in elegant Arabic and flawless and colloquial English, standing in sharp contrast to the rural, remote and technologically challenged notables among global jihadists."

This was a guy who was very Internet savvy. He could get his message across. Many people thought that he was a very inspirational figure among his own crowds and people would really flock to buy his message that were on boxes of DVDs. Even here in London people would line up just to listen to his message -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Zain Verjee out of London -- Zain.

And stay with CNN this morning and throughout the day as we push forward on this story bringing you the latest details in the death of this radical Muslim cleric. We'll have a live report just minutes away, so stay tuned.

Well, our new poll shows that most Americans are blaming the former president, not the current one, for the nation's economic troubles.

CNN senior political editor Mark Preston has the numbers.

Good morning, Mark.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, good morning, Kyra. Yes, let's just look at the top line number and to say that Americans have a bleak outlook on what the economy is would be -- would be kind. In fact let's take a look at it right now. It's really devastating numbers right now.

Ninety percent of Americans, Kyra, think that the economy is in poor shape. Now we shouldn't be too surprised by this given the economic downturn and the housing crisis. But to look through a political lens, this could be terribly devastating for President Obama as he heads into you know, his reelection campaign, heading into 2012. But the little silver lining in this is what you said right at the top, is that he's not getting blamed for it right now. Let's take a quick look at these numbers right here. The blame still rests with Republicans and former President George W. Bush. In fact, if you see that, more than 50 percent are blaming President Bush and the congressional Republicans, while only 32 percent are blaming President Obama and the Democrats.

So terrible news about the economy, not great news for President Obama, but could be worse -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, now before we head to Arizona, CNN has a GOP presidential debate on the Las Vegas Strip. This could get a little crazy, to say the least.

PRESTON: It could get a little crazy.

(LAUGHTER)

PRESTON: Absolutely. Look, we're heading out west, we're heading out to Arizona on December 1st for a -- for a big debate. Was just announced late yesterday with the Arizona Republican Party. But before we get out there, we're going to be heading to Las Vegas. We're going to have a presidential debate on the Las Vegas Strip. Whoever thought that would happen. That's going to be with the Western Republican Leadership Conference.

Look, the west is very important in this presidential election, that's why CNN has decided to go out there and hold debates out there and talk about issues that really are affecting people all across the country. And of course that comes down to the economy and the housing market -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Mark Preston, thanks so much.

We'll have your next political update in just about an hour. And a reminder for all the latest political news go to our Web site, CNNPolitics.com.

Straight ahead, more on the killing of terrorist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. The feds never did convince his family that he was a bad guy. More on their views, next.

Also ahead. For the second time this month Good Samaritans caught on tape lifting a car off of someone trapped. This time the victim, a little boy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's check stories "Cross Country" now.

Take a look at the billboard and signs that are garnering a lot of controversy in New Orleans right now. They portray President Obama in very unflattering terms, and they have drawn dozens of protesters who want the signs taken down. The property owner who put the signs up -- well, guess what? Not talking.

Police in Boca Raton, Florida, released this dash cam video showing the rescue of a 6-year-old boy. He got pinned under this car Wednesday morning after he tripped and fell right into the path of the car. Officers and bystanders literally lifted the car and pulled him to safety. The boy is expected to make a full recovery.

And Albany, Georgia's ban on saggy pants beginning to add up for the city coffers. In the nine months since the saggy ban was instituted, the city has collected almost 4,000 bucks in fines. Please tell me what's attractive about that?

All right. Let's get back to our breaking news. The killing of the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, one of the world's most wanted man. But all along his family insisted that he was wrongly accused of terrorism. In fact, in an interview with Paula Newton, Awlaki's dad called his son an all-American boy.

Paula, give us some more insight into this family.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this family was like many others that had come to the United States, hoping for a new life. You know, Anwar al-Awlaki was educated in the United States. He was born there. As I have been saying, Kyra, his family showed me pictures of the family at Disney World.

And, you know, Anwar had the twinkle in his eye as his father told me all the time. He was always a happy, easy going young man. It's interesting though when you try and get to what actually turned his son towards being radical and a radical preacher, and that his father did not deny. What he denied is that he would actually insist that killing innocent Americans was justified.

Now, any time that Anwar al-Awlaki did this following, I would present the evidence to his father. His father was like any other anguished father. He said he did not understand what turned his son in this direction. He said that after 9/11, he was appalled. He wanted to do something to try and bring the two communities together, but something about prosecuting the war on terror did turn him into more radical thinking.

What this father, though, Dr. Nasser, what he had said to me over and over was that he did not believe that it was right that the United States actually go after his son, an American. He said he thought that was wrong. To capture him, try him, talk to him about his beliefs was a different story, but he always thought it was wrong that he actually assassinated by the U.S. government.

PHILLIPS: Now, Paula, you had a chance to talk to the family, what was it, back in January, the beginning of the year. Have you been able to reconnect with them since this news has broken?

NEWTON: The last contact I had with them was about eight or nine months ago. I've been trying to reconnect again with them today, e-mailing the sister and calling the father. For obvious reason, they're not really responding to this right now. We're still trying to get in touch with them.

Their campaign, though, in the last few months always involved trying to get the U.S. government to stop these drone attacks on their son.

I have to tell you, too. I mean, this is a grandfather who was taken care of Anwar's children at home and his wife was there. And he always said it was his own wife, Anwar al Awlaki's mother, who really wanted this to end. He didn't want anyone talking to the media and really wanted to be -- not have anyone to know what was going on with their son.

And remember, Kyra, as you know, quite the amount of chaos in Yemen right now today. And that family has been going through that, as well.

PHILLIPS: Paula Newton, appreciate you.

After the break, the latest on the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor. A key witness testified Conrad Murray told him to pack up drug vials before calling 911. We're going live to L.A.

Also ahead, bank fees becoming the norm these days, but even this one will shock you -- a $5 fee just to use your debit card. We're going to go to the New York Stock Exchange for more details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, we got more damning testimony against Michael Jackson's Dr. Conrad Murray. A bodyguard says that as Jackson was dying, Dr. Murray directed him to pack up drugs before calling 911. Prosecutors claim it's evidence that Murray was trying to cover up his actions.

CNN's Don Lemon is covering the trial. He's just live outside the courthouse there in L.A.

Don, tell us more about the testimony.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Listen, so much time is lost. That's what we learned during the testimony yesterday. So much time was lost, Kyra, and it was so sad.

We have been hearing about Michael Jackson's kids being in the room. Well, that head logistics and security said when he finally, after he finally got up to the room, Paris, the daughter of Michael Jackson, followed him in and he tried to get her away because he didn't want her to see it.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERTO ALVAREZ, JACKSON'S DIRECTOR OF LOGISTICS: Paris screamed out, daddy!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you heard Paris scream out, daddy, was she crying?

ALVAREZ: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was Michael laying on the bed palms up looking slightly to the left at that time?

ALVAREZ: Yes, he was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would he have been looking slightly towards Paris' location?

ALVAREZ: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So after that, after that, this is a while after that, he said he got into the room and he saw Conrad Murray with one hand doing chest compressions on Michael Jackson and he said, instead of calling 911, he feels now he didn't know it then, that Dr. Conrad Murray was trying to get him to clean up the evidence.

Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: I was standing at the foot of the bed. He reached over and grabbed a handful of vials and then he reached out to me and said, here, put these in a bag.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: He just didn't say put these in a bag, they said Dr. Conrad Murray grabbed the vials and said, give me that plastic bag. And then when he put the vials in that plastic bag, he said, now, take that plastic bag and put it in a brown grocery bag and now, take the brown grocery bag and put it in a blue bag.

And all the while, Kyra, all the while, critical moments are being lost that could have been -- the paramedics could have been there helping Michael Jackson, helping to revive Michael Jackson. And as I'm sitting in the courtroom, I'm looking over at the Jackson family who is sitting just to my right and they are stunned by all the time that was lost and stunned by what the prosecution is really inferring here that Dr. Conrad Murray was trying to cover his tracks, Kyra.

Today, we're going to hear from two paramedics that were there at the scene, more dramatic testimony and more heart-wrenching, heart- wrenching moments, I'm sure, for the Jackson family to have to endure.

PHILLIPS: Well, I think all of us are going to be stunned as we learn more about Michael Jackson's personal life throughout this trial. Don Lemon live out of L.A. -- Don, thanks.

Well, get ready for a new round of bank fees. Alison Kosik at New York Stock Exchange.

Oh, boy, they just don't stop, do they?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They just don't get it, do they? Yes. So, if you want it use your Bank of America debit card to buy something, guess what, you're going to be charged $5 a month. It doesn't matter if you select that credit at the check out instead of choosing debit. There's no way to get around it.

So, keep in mind, though, even though this is a debit card that you'll be charged on, if you just use it as an ATM card, it will be free.

Now, several other banks -- They're testing it out. But the difference here is that Bank of America is the first major bank to actually do it because these new regulations kick in this weekend where banks can't charge retailers as much in fees. So, they have to make it up somehow. They're going to stick it to the consumer beginning next year -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, now, I hear there are some pretty notable folks ringing the opening bell today -- what's the deal?

KOSIK: You got it. Legendary investor Warren Buffett is ringing the opening bell. He's celebrating the 50th anniversary of "Business Wire," that's a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.

I'm going to be talking with him on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. We'll talk about taxes, we'll talk about the economy. Let's see what he has to say on those subjects.

As for the market today, we are looking for a lower open in about three minutes when the opening bell rings. This is going to follow what the global markets did. What you're seeing is markets just continue to be plagued with insecurity about Europe's debt crisis.

The big question that everybody wants answered is: will Europe's bailout fund be enough? And no one can really answer that at this point, that uncertainty pointing to red arrows today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK, Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange -- thanks. Opening bell in just about two and half minutes.

And still ahead, the killing of al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki. He was invaluable as a leader, but he is now even more dangerous as a martyr? Drew Griffin joins us with what could be the pretty frightening consequences of his killing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now:

Italian prosecutors in the Amanda Knox murder appeal are making their rebuttals today. The jury is expected to get the case after Knox and her co-defendant give their final statements Monday.

Joint Chiefs chair, Admiral Mike Mullen, steps down this morning. Army General Martin Dempsey will take over the position after a ceremony in Ft. Myer, Virginia.

Work is going on at the Washington Monument to repair damage from the August earthquake. Engineers have been rappelling down the monument for days now, looking for any exterior damage.

More on the death of the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki -- it may be the biggest blow to the terrorist group since the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Yemen says American-born Muslim cleric was taken out in Yemen. And in recent months, he'd been dubbed "the new bin Laden" and the "bin Laden of the Internet."

The U.S. says he was a master of online recruiting, finding and motivating new radicals to kill Americans around the world. Awlaki is linked to a number of attacks. U.S. officials say he was a spiritual adviser to three of the 9/11 hijackers and had communicated frequently with the American accused of the deadly shooting spree at Fort Hood.

He's also linked to the so-called underwear bomber in 2009 and the attempted car bombing of Times Square last year.

The U.S. government wanted al-Awlaki and they wanted him badly. He'd been targeted in several airstrikes over the past several years, but there was some concern among analysts that he could be more dangerous dead than alive.

It's a view that Drew Griffin has reported on extensively. Drew joins us on the phone to talk more about that belief.

Drew, what's the take this morning from your sources?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): I think, overall, that the U.S. government felt it had no choice, Kyra. And that is because in the last two years since the middle of 2010, this guy has gone from being the spiritual or religious kind of radical cleric who recruits people online to becoming much more operational, deeply involved in planning attacks, specific attacks on Americans in the free world, most recently, I think, was the attempt to put a cargo bomb on some planes heading for the U.S.

But like you said, there was for a long time this concern that if the U.S. attacked and killed a religious figure, especially one so popular as Awlaki, that he could become somewhat of a spiritual martyr in that absurd world of terrorism.

And so, I know that the administration had to come to grips with that. They finally made the decision, you know, it's not worth it, we need to just take this guy out because he is such a growing operational danger.

PHILLIPS: And it's interesting, so many analysts have said, look, this was not the fierce fighter that carried the AK-47, but this was the one that did such a good job with propaganda, with bending the minds of young Americans, young Canadians, and recruiting them to kill Americans.

You know, what was it about him, Drew?

GRIFFIN: Well, he was American. He was the American in al Qaeda. He spoke the language. Not only was he born in the United States, he was raised here. He was an American kid.

So, he really was able to reach out, you know, almost be the cool kid from America amongst the al Qaeda people and was able to reach those home-grown terrorists that we have seen, especially this Nidal Hasan in Fort Hood, Texas, on their level -- on their American level.

And he was quite cheeky about it. You know, in the early goings, just so your viewers know, he wouldn't necessarily say Nidal Hasan, go take a gun and go kill people at Fort Hood, or here's the gun, or I'm going to pack your underwear Mutallab and you do this.

No, they would come to him and say, what is the right thing to do and then he'd cherry pick something from the Koran and say, you know, you have to follow your heart. You know, the whole thing would be like a spiritual brainwashing.

But what happened in 2010 changed. He became less spiritual, more operational. And the intelligence, I think, that we will see coming out and some of it has already come out, he is directly involved in plotting and carrying out attacks, e-mailing members who work for airlines. What do you do? What kind of access do you have?

So, he was becoming much more dangerous in an operational sense and I think that's why the Obama administration basically put him on the hit list.

PHILLIPS: Drew -- thanks for calling in, Drew. Appreciate it.

GRIFFIN: Yes.

PHILLIPS: It's been more than a year and a half since President Obama authorized the CIA to capture or kill Awlaki. It was a remarkable, unprecedented order: take out a U.S. citizen on foreign soil.

Dan Lothian at the White House.

So, Dan, what are you hearing this morning?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, the White House is being very tight lipped about any involvement from the U.S., either directly or indirectly in the operation that killed al- Awlaki other than a senior official confirming that, in fact, he was dead.

But as you point out, you know, this is -- this is a target that the U.S. has been going after now for quite some time. It's very politically sensitive for this administration to sort of talk about this in a public way before they kind of figure out all the details behind the scenes.

I can tell you that the president will be making some remarks today. At 11:30, we are told, at this event which is for the chief -- his chiefs -- sorry -- change of officer for his Joint Chiefs. We don't know if the president will specifically address this issue. That's what we're trying to figure out.

The president, though, will be making remarks on an unrelated matter, but we're trying to find out, again, if the president will talk about this. Once again, also, trying to confirm if, in fact, the U.S. played any kind of role in Awlaki's death, whether directly or indirectly, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You mention politically sensitive, but we saw what happened when Osama bin Laden was captured and how the numbers bumped tremendously for the president. This is another coup for the administration if, indeed, they come forward and say, look, we had our hands all over this.

LOTHIAN: That's right. I mean, this is, obviously, would be a very big deal for this administration. I mean, time and time again, officials here at the White House have talked about the ongoing threat from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. They've been going after these targets for the last few years with even drone attacks.

So, yes, this would be a big deal for this administration and we heard a short time ago from Senator Susan Collins of Maine, the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and she said in a statement, in part, that al-Awlaki, quote, "fueled hate against America and we're safer because al-Awlaki is dead." She went on to say, "We must nevertheless continue our efforts to combat and discredit the violent ideology he espouse and disseminated.

If and the president does specifically address this, we expect that he will make similar remarks where he talks bout the ongoing effort to stamp out terrorism, where something like this is not the end, but part of a continuing effort.

PHILLIPS: Dan Lothian at the White House -- Dan, thanks so much.

Let's head over to our Washington bureau. Peter Bergen, our national security expert, is there. Resident expert on all things al Qaeda, that's for sure.

You know, Peter, what is next? I mean, what kind of impact do you think this will have as we talked about this YouTube jihadist, this incredible recruiter via the Internet? What kind of impact will this make pulling in young Americans, young Canadians like he did so well?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERT: Well, the reason we're talking about Awlaki at all is he's an America citizenship. Obviously, there's an old experiment where he didn't speak English, he wouldn't be that significant a figure in al Qaeda or even al Qaeda and Arabian Peninsula, that group that he's part.

He's not the leader of that group. He's not the bomb maker who got the underwear bomb on the Northwest flight 253. He's not the maker who put the two bombs on the cargo planes on October of 2010. But Drew Griffin mentions so.

The bomb maker is still out there in AQAP, which is sort of government shorthand for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The leaders of this group are still out there and the fact that he's no longer with us certainly makes everybody safer. But, it doesn't

PHILLIPS: Does it weaken the recruiting? How much of an impact, Peter?

(CROSSTALK)

BERGEN: -- think the problem because he's had a long record of almost near misses and eventually he'll get some very hard to detect bomb on to an American plane or Western plane somewhere.

PHILLIPS: So, Peter, you're making the point that he wasn't the bomb maker and we were talking about how, yes, this isn't the guy you see holding the AK-47 in all the videos. He was the supreme recruiter, as he's been referred to.

So, how much of an impact does taking al Awlaki out, the fact that he's gone now, how much of an impact will that have on recruiting young radicals?

BERGEN: Well, I think it's going to be -- you know, he was the principal recruiter in the English-speaking world. Whether it's United States or Canada or Britain, certainly he was able to speak to people who are motivated by this ideology. Having him gone, that's a good thing.

I mean, just one more part of, you know, al Qaeda, the secretary of defense, before he became secretary of defense said al Qaeda was closer strategic defeat and I think this is one more piece of that fact that al Qaeda and its affiliates are under enormous pressure right now.

And, Kyra, one quick thing about this operation in Yemen, it defies logic that it would be the Yemeni military that was responsible for this. They have quite a lot of other things going on -- two civil wars and internal insurrection against the government.

All these operations are conducted, in my view, by Joint Special Operations and U.S. Navy SEALs to some degree, some help from the CIA.

As this story kind of goes forward, we'll find out the fact that the Yemeni government took credit for it. You know, it's not the whole story.

PHILLIPS: Yes, I agree. We are going to see a lot more, I think, come out in the days. Maybe today.

Peter Bergen, thank so much.

Stay with CNN this morning and throughout the day as we push forward bringing you the latest details in the death of radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

Well, up next, did baby boomers break our government? We're going to go in-depth with CNN.com's contributor Ruben Navarrette.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, all week, we have gone "In Depth" on our broken government. What's gone wrong and why? Well, a new op-ed on CNN.com ask whether baby boomers are to blame.

Contributor Ruben Navarrette talked to some of his friends to get their thoughts. A lot of them are political insiders. They've worked as staffers in the White House, run campaigns, even then elected to office themselves. They know what works in government and what doesn't.

Ruben joins us live from San Diego. We probably should start, Reuben, with boomers versus generation X and that leads us into the point of your column.

RUBEN NAVARRETTE, CNN.COM CONTRIBUTOR: Right. Absolutely, Kyra. Great to be with you again.

Here's what happened. I normally send in my week column to CNN on Wednesday at about noon. I had have scheduled for this Wednesday this week a meeting with a couple of authors on unrelated subject and the authors are Morely Winegard -- Winegrad and -- and Michael Hayes and they've written a book called "Millennial Momentum."

And so it's all about sort of the generational change of younger voters. So -- and I sat down with them after I send the column and I said what are you working on for CNN? I said Broken Government. They said, oh, we'll tell you why the government is broken, it's our fault. The baby boomers have broken the government.

I said, explain that. And they said, well, basically where it comes from, is you have this idea that baby boomers have throughout their life argued over values and they always think that sort of -- it's not enough for you and I to disagree, it's somehow, I'm a better person than you are.

And so you know have in Congress these two forces that don't want to negotiate their values and so on every issue whether it's deficit reduction or fixing Social Security or immigration reform, it's always a question of, you know, I -- I'm better off than you are, I'm a better person than you are.

As exhibit A of this Kyra, do you remember the debate with Rick Perry where he gets into it on immigration and he says to his opponent, you don't have a heart. That's very much sort of in the boomer mindset "I'm a better person than you are."

So that was out there and then I started talking and I've talked before to younger people and they came up with a whole different set of reasons --

PHILLIPS: Ok.

NAVARRETTE: -- theories as to why government is broken.

PHILLIPS: And -- and then, it's the Xers that -- that you talk to that that triggered what you laid out in the column. And I picked a couple of them.

NAVARRETTE: Right.

PHILLIPS: Number one, constant need to fund-raise. You're saying that they -- they told you, look dialling for dollars means more to them than solving the nation's problems.

NAVARRETTE: Right. They don't have time -- members of Congress don't have time to do anything else. We force them to run for office every two years. So every two years you need about $2 million to $3 million in most of these districts, some districts are higher, you can get to $5 million and a good congressional race in some cases. Down to $1 million in some other markets and they raise all this money and they give 80 percent of it off to media to buy television and radio time and the like, and mailers and the like to get their -- their message out.

And so, all this time is spent raising money. They constantly need money and they don't have time to legislate.

PHILLIPS: All right, which leads me to another point that you make in there; Xers say powerful special interests are to blame.

NAVARRETTE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: That those who run for Congress think --

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRETTE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: -- oh, they'll have all this power and then they win the seat and realize oh, oh.

NAVARRETTE: Right. that's one of my favorites, you know, there's this movie I love Kyra, called the -- "The Distinguished Gentleman" it's with Eddie Murphy.

PHILLIPS: Great.

NAVARRETTE: And he gets elected to Congress. And when he gets there, there are all these special interests who say, "If you vote for our bill this way, you can get money from this group. If you vote that way, you can get money from that group."

And so all politicians have pressure points and these special interests know how to push the points. They know where the points are. And so -- if no matter what the issue is, if it's the health care reform or whatever, they can be guaranteed to get money from one group or another.

So it's really not our congressmen who have any kind of power at all, it's the people who fill their pockets that have the power and know where to push.

PHILLIPS: Well, I definitely encourage everyone to read your op-ed as you lay out a number of points.

NAVARRETTE: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: I wish we could go more in depth, Ruben, but you've -- you've hit it on the head for us as we continue to talk about this -- for the -- well, as we wrap up the week talking about our broken government. Ruben thanks so much.

You can read his op-ed at CNN.com/opinion.

NAVARRETTE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And if you like you can also join the conversation and leave a comment for Ruben. He's always ready to have the conversation. You can imagine all the people that have already weighed in.

All right, up next, this billboard is not on fire. We probably need to tell you that to several people in Georgia who called 911, don't do it. We'll explain exactly what it means as we go across country.

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PHILLIPS: Stories "Cross Country" now.

A billboard north of Atlanta is catching a lot of people's eyes, maybe for the wrong reason though. Several people called 911 to report a fire but they spotted smoke coming from this Outback Steakhouse ad. Well, the ad agency installed smoke machines to actually simulate the look of a wood-burning grill.

And in Tennessee, members of an Islamic center have broken ground for a new mosque that's been the controversy or had been the center of controversy, rather. The congregation has endured acts of vandalism and arson. Construction is expected to take about a year.

In Florida, 20 high school football players were suspended for this brawl that broke out during the handshakes after a game last weekend, usually a time to show good sportsmanship. Witnesses said an argument between two players actually escalated into a brawl that lasted about 15 minutes. So it's already been up and down all morning, we're going to a quick check of the markets next. Dow industrials down 125 points right now.

Plus, baseball's playoffs start today, but the buzz is about a team that didn't get in. Boston manager, well, he may be out of a job. Sports in six minutes.

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PHILLIPS: Stories making news later today.

11 a.m. Eastern in Fort Meyer, Virginia, the retirement ceremony for Admiral Mike Mullen gets underway as he officially steps away as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Then, later in the hour, in Little Rock, Arkansas, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton takes part in a dedication ceremony at the Clinton Presidential Center.

And tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern in Providence, Rhode Island, First Lady Michelle Obama speaks at a Democratic National Committee reception.

All right. Let's check in with Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange with the numbers this morning. How are we doing? Are we still in negative territory?

KOSIK: And Kyra, we are.

And have you noticed we've kind of gotten back onto that roller coaster ride lately? In just the past week, the DOW have made triple-digit moves in either direction every day this week, including today.

We watched the Dow fall 100 points in the first few minutes of trading. What you're seeing is the U.S. markets follow what happened overseas. Overseas, we saw a selloff. And what is this all about? It's more fears about Europe and we're seeing just a market that's really being driven by the headlines.

And the big question this week is on the European bailout fund; 17 European countries are voting to overhaul the fund, so this is taking a while. The action to get control of the debt crisis is taking a while but so far so good. Still, the worry is will the fund be enough to prevent the European debt problems from -- from spreading and that uncertainty is the reason why you're seeing another selloff today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ok, Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

And coming up next hour, Herman Cain, the latest GOP presidential candidate to meet with Donald Trump. What the heck is he telling these candidates?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Baseball's playoffs start today but there's still a lot of buzz over that one team.

JEFF FISCHEL, ANCHOR, HLN SPORTS: Oh, man, when you have one of the biggest collapses ever in playoffs --

PHILLIPS: Historic -- historic collapse.

FISCHEL: Yes, it was the biggest ever in September.

So you know there are some things going on in Red Sox nation right now. Big pitching matchup though, tonight in New York. The Yankees' CC Sabathia against Detroit's Justin Verlander, between them, 43 wins this season. The late afternoon playoff game today, Tampa Bay and Texas. The Rays of course beat Boston for the wildcard and there may be fallout for the Red Sox epic collapse.

There are reports Manager Terry Francona may be on his way out, he's got a meeting with management today. Apparently, there were problems in the clubhouse even when the Sox were winning. And Francona may have had enough. He says that even in the best of times, managing the Red Sox is a trying job. He really did handle it well though over the last seven years 00 two titles.

Somebody else who may be moving, Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant has agreed to play for a team in Italy. Bloomberg.com says Kobe may make $3 million to play in about ten games. That's nice.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

FISCHEL: Bryant grew up in Italy because his dad played pro ball there, of course. This deal is contingent though on NBA lockout continuing. Players and owners begin a weekend of talks today. It could be a make or break session as far as playing this season.

Look at how San Diego Chargers defensive lineman Antonio Garay pimped his ride. It's not enough that a 340-pound man is squeezing into a smart car, it is a Hello Kitty drop top car. That is what he drives around town.

(CROSSTALK)

FISCHEL: I wish I had four hands to gift hello kitty drop top smart car four thumbs up two will do.

PHILLIPS: Why Hello Kitty?

FISCHEL: He's actually a really funny guy. And that's just his way -- he's having a laugh.

PHILLIPS: And I thought the lunch box was cool.