Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Tornado Hits Illinois; Confusing Signals in Afghanistan; Rummy Put to Song
Aired April 21, 2004 - 13:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as Admiral Kubic gets ready to head to Fallujah, we bring you up close and dramatic images of the clashes that he and his troops will face. Insurgents continue to ignore that cease-fire agreement as U.S. Marines continue the battle for control of that city.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You and Vernon, up top, go outside, take a left, go straight up the stairs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, hang on, wait, wait, wait. All right, go ahead.
Do it again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take cover!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see the kitchen sleeping on the couch in the house?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I missed it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Security, go, hit it. Hit it. Go! Keep going!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't look up from the road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, keep moving!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Absolute reality check, out of Fallujah there. We want to take you now to the president of the United States. He's addressing newspaper editors in Washington, D.C., live pictures here. As soon as he takes Q&A, we'll dip in and take a listen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Rescue workers trying to find survivors from last night's deadly tornado in northern Illinois. That tornado killed at least four people. Authorities say that twister devastated downtown Utica, about 90 miles southwest of Chicago. CNN's Lisa Leiter now in Utica with the latest from there -- Lisa.
LISA LEITER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, the updated information at this hour is that four people are now confirmed dead. A short while ago, La Salle County coroner speaking to reporters, and saying that four have now been confirmed dead. All of those bodies have been pulled from the wreckage. It is still unknown, however, exactly how many people are still trapped underneath that collapsed restaurant. Officials estimate there are four to five people, but we still don't know exactly how many there are and whether they are alive. And officials estimate the recovery effort is still likely to take some time. They're moving very carefully. They don't want to have any more injuries. And it's taking them some time to comb through all of this debris.
Now right now, we are waiting for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to come and address the press, to tour the site and assess the damage. Earlier today, the state emergency management officials told me they have no estimate at this time about the extent of the damage and what the economic impact of that damage is.
Now, residents in the last couple of hours have been returning to their devastated town. Just in the last couple of hours you've seen people start the cleanup effort at their own homes. They've been picking up strewn debris across their front lawns, sweeping up shattered glass and cutting down splintered trees. And some of the residents we've spoken to, longtime residents, just broken-hearted about what happened to their town.
One gentleman, who lives across the street here, actually built part of his home, and he was just absolutely heartbroken about what happened. He was about 100 miles away when the tornado struck. His family was inside the house, but they are all safe.
To the left over here is a school that has also been severely damaged. School officials they don't expect to reopen for the rest of the week. And the question is where those students will attend school going forward and whether the school will even be able to reopen for rest of the year. So we're hoping to get an update from the Illinois governor momentarily and we'll bring you all of that information as soon as we have it.
Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, Lisa Leiter, thanks so much. We'll check in with you then.
Well, on your next shopping trip, big brother could be doing more than watching. Some people fear he could follow you home from the store. Technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg joins us to explain with his little high tech gadgets over there.
Hi, Daniel.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. We do have a demo here. In fact, this technology has been around since about World War II. But it's nearly ready to change the way we do business. It's called RFID, or radio frequency identification tags. And if you haven't heard of them, you're not alone. But fear not because you're going to be hearing a lot more about them in the future.
Now they start out as a very, very small chip, RFID tags. In fact, there are about 150 in this vial alone. Now once they've become a chip then they need to become an RFID tag. And you can see some of them on the table here. They add some technology to them, an antenna which is necessary to send out the signal or receive information. Some companies have even started to put their logo on their antenna.
Now what's the whole point of RFID tags? Well, they're meant to replace this. This is a UPC bar code, which you're familiar with on many different products. The problem with UPC bar codes compared to RFID tags is you need to scan it very close. You need to have a line of sight on this code. The difference with RFID tags is they work about 15 to 50 feet away. They have sort of a better range than the UPC code.
So how do they work? Ha ha, well, we have a demonstration here, sort of a virtual warehouse, if you will. These tags will not be on individual products initially. Companies are going to be using them sort of in the warehouse, in the back end. So we've got our virtual warehouse set up here. We have a pallet with a bunch of different products on it. And we're demonstrating some technology from a company called Alien.
And as I wield this pallet through our virtual warehouse, we have an antenna set up over here to read these products as they move towards our dock door. And then they show up on this screen. This antenna is reading these RFID tags on these products and registering them on the computer. This is a visual demonstration for the purposes of television. But this is the same idea as what would happen in a store.
Now as I wheel this away, you're going to see those products actually disappear from the screen. And if I take one individual product over, you can see it's actually going to read it here. The mug is on the antenna. So the whole point of this, it's to replace these UPC codes, make it easier, eliminate some human error.
Wal-Mart has asked its top 100 suppliers to incorporate these RFID tags in their crates and pallets by January of 2005. The military also very interested in RFID tags. Now there are some privacy concerns here, particularly if you're in the store, what information could be read about you while you're in the store. Again, they have this very limited range, about 15 to 50 feet.
There are other hurdles to overcome, very similar to the cell phone industry, the frequency of these tags, not quite lined up yet. They are still a little bit too expensive, about 30 cents per tag. They need to bring that down a little bit. It started out at several dollars per tag. So they're bringing that down.
Also, it's really -- there are also products that don't work well with RFID tags, such as water or metal products, if they were inside these cases, it wouldn't work as well to read them. So they're sort of working through the kinks, Kyra. It could be a couple -- few years before they're part of individual products. But for now, what Wal- Mart says, a lot of companies do, and so they'll be pushing that ahead.
Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: Daniel, is that a Ted Turner wobble-head (sic) doll there?
SIEBERG: That is a Ted Turner bobble-head doll. Yes, it is. Our producer here, Alex Walker (ph), actually won that. He's very proud of it. It sits on his desk most of the time. And in this case, it has an RFID tag. But in the future, we need to say it will not be in individual products right away. They need to work out some of the kinks first.
PHILLIPS: OK. I've been corrected. I said "wobble," it's "bobble." So OK, I get it. Thank you so much, Daniel Sieberg. I hope we didn't upset Ted.
SIEBERG: He's happy.
PHILLIPS: I figure that's worse than money. All right.
Other news across America now, finger-lickin' gone in Salt Lake City, the world's first Kentucky Fried Chicken has been demolished. Arman's (ph) KFC became the chain's first franchise in 1952. Colonel Sanders convinced the restaurant's owner to let him serve a chicken dinner. Well, a museum and a new restaurant will be built on that site.
And a case of mistaken identity in Kansas City, 19-year-old Ryan Allen (ph) was turned down for a car loan when a credit check said he was a wanted terrorist. It turns out his Social Security number came up as belonging to one of the men behind 9/11. Allen is working to clear his name.
Iraq may be grabbing all the headlines lately, but an urgent U.S. operation also moves through Afghanistan. It's the hunt for Osama bin Laden and his supporters. CNN's Nic Robertson is riding with U.S. forces along the Afghan/Pakistani border.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A few miles from the Pakistan border, a U.S. patrol spots a suspicious antenna. Lieutenant Joe Whitener (ph) stops to ask questions. And that's when his difficulties begin.
LT. JOE WHITENER, 501ST PARACHUTE INFANTRY: It's not Afghani living around here.
ROBERTSON: The response, no. Going in, they're shown a TV set hooked to the antenna. The questions continue.
WHITENER: Ask them if they've seen anyone that's not Afghani.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but I asked before.
ROBERTSON: Again, the answer, no.
WHITENER: Nobody?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody.
ROBERTSON: An invitation for tea. And so the questioning continues. Whitener departs with smiles, but little else.
(on camera): Did you get any useful information, anything that helps you build your picture?
WHITENER: No, sir. No. Their answers were pretty much all preprogrammed.
This is a very nice guest house.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): A well-appointed guest house and some prior intelligence arousing suspicion at yet another village.
WHITENER: Ask them if any foreigners have ever stayed here.
ROBETSON: When translated, the answer, a resounding no. Outside, the villagers ask for financial help building a mosque. Lieutenant Whitener makes it clear, only if they tell him the truth.
WHITENER: Tell him that if there's bad guys here, we can't come and help.
ROBERTSON: Again, the interpreter translates, an answer now all too familiar to the young officer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No bad guys here, responsible for this...
WHITENER: The intelligence we got was basically something was going on in that compound. And I mean, you know, somebody wasn't telling the truth.
ROBERTSON (on camera): There is no simple answer to the question of whether or not the troops are being told the truth, but with so many questions outstanding, there is little choice but to keep asking.
Nic Robertson, CNN, near the Afghan/Pakistan border.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And we are monitoring the president of the United States right now as he continue to address a number of newspaper editors in Washington, D.C. When he takes Q&A, we'll dip into it live.
Also straight ahead, maybe Donald Rumsfeld has a song in his heart, maestros turn the words of the secretary of defense into music. But can you dance to it? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: And later today on LIVE FROM..., NASCAR legend Richard Petty joins us to talk about a new project and his brother Kyle and Patty, of course: a racing camp for chronically ill children. That's coming up at 3 p.m. Eastern time, you won't want to miss it.
Well, it's back, what the...? It doesn't come close to describing how an Australian woman felt when she saw what was causing her chronic stomach pains. Told you so, is more like it given Pat Skinner's (ph) 18 months of agony before she was able to persuade her doctors to take another look. Skinner plans to sue the Sydney hospital where she underwent surgery in 2001 but she doesn't hold a grudge. Her husband Don (ph), seen here with exhibit A, is a patient there now with prostate cancer.
Well, the words of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are music to a pair of composer's ears, literally. They've turned some of his best known statements into songs. The story only as only Jeanne Moos can tell it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Donald Rumsfeld briefed reporters, little did he know he was writing songs.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (SINGING): We also know there are known unknowns That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know
RUMSFELD: But there are also unknown unknowns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SINGING): Unknown unknowns.
MOOS: Who knew, two composers, one on the West Coast, one on the East Coast, would separately put Secretary Rumsfeld's word to music?
: Rumsfeld is like a singer and dancer of language. He just spins stuff. He loves it, you can tell.
MOOS: Rumsfeld's words were first collected in a book of poetry. Now poetry has become song.
RUMSFELD: Everyone's so eager to get the story before, in fact, the story's there, that the world is constantly being fed things that haven't happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (SINGING): The world is constantly being fed things that haven't happened.
: I've become very good at keeping a straight face. MOOS: Soprano Ellender Wahl (ph) was asked by her composer friend, Bryant Kong, to perform the Rumsfeld songs. And no, they're not fans of the defense secretary's policies.
BRYANT KONG, COMPOSER: There is a gray area between satire and a good-natured roast.
MOOS: Phil Klein (ph) even made a song out of the defense secretary's reaction to TV replays of looting in Iraq.
RUMSFELD: And it's the same picture of some person walking out of some building with a vase.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SINGING): It's the same picture of some person walking out of some building with a vase
MOOS: Both composers have released CDs.
(on camera): You can't imagine a song like this ever being played on the radio and becoming like a hit song?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not?
MOOS (voice-over): Rummy, number one on the hit parade?
RUMSFELD: There are things we do not know we don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (SINGING): We don't know
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is wonderful. This is very strange.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They never did put Mr. Kissinger to music did they?
MOOS: The Pentagon released a statement saying: "No one is more surprised than Secretary Rumsfeld that people find his work poetic." We wanted to ask the secretary himself about this at a briefing but were afraid someone would turn it into a song.
RUMSFELD: The world thinks all these happened. They never happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (SINGING): They never happened, never happened.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(MARKET REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Coming up next in our second hour of LIVE FROM..., the latest on the killer storms in the Midwest, find out what's next for the area, and how the search efforts are going. More LIVE FROM... right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 21, 2004 - 13:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as Admiral Kubic gets ready to head to Fallujah, we bring you up close and dramatic images of the clashes that he and his troops will face. Insurgents continue to ignore that cease-fire agreement as U.S. Marines continue the battle for control of that city.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You and Vernon, up top, go outside, take a left, go straight up the stairs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, hang on, wait, wait, wait. All right, go ahead.
Do it again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take cover!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see the kitchen sleeping on the couch in the house?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I missed it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Security, go, hit it. Hit it. Go! Keep going!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't look up from the road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, keep moving!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Absolute reality check, out of Fallujah there. We want to take you now to the president of the United States. He's addressing newspaper editors in Washington, D.C., live pictures here. As soon as he takes Q&A, we'll dip in and take a listen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Rescue workers trying to find survivors from last night's deadly tornado in northern Illinois. That tornado killed at least four people. Authorities say that twister devastated downtown Utica, about 90 miles southwest of Chicago. CNN's Lisa Leiter now in Utica with the latest from there -- Lisa.
LISA LEITER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, the updated information at this hour is that four people are now confirmed dead. A short while ago, La Salle County coroner speaking to reporters, and saying that four have now been confirmed dead. All of those bodies have been pulled from the wreckage. It is still unknown, however, exactly how many people are still trapped underneath that collapsed restaurant. Officials estimate there are four to five people, but we still don't know exactly how many there are and whether they are alive. And officials estimate the recovery effort is still likely to take some time. They're moving very carefully. They don't want to have any more injuries. And it's taking them some time to comb through all of this debris.
Now right now, we are waiting for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to come and address the press, to tour the site and assess the damage. Earlier today, the state emergency management officials told me they have no estimate at this time about the extent of the damage and what the economic impact of that damage is.
Now, residents in the last couple of hours have been returning to their devastated town. Just in the last couple of hours you've seen people start the cleanup effort at their own homes. They've been picking up strewn debris across their front lawns, sweeping up shattered glass and cutting down splintered trees. And some of the residents we've spoken to, longtime residents, just broken-hearted about what happened to their town.
One gentleman, who lives across the street here, actually built part of his home, and he was just absolutely heartbroken about what happened. He was about 100 miles away when the tornado struck. His family was inside the house, but they are all safe.
To the left over here is a school that has also been severely damaged. School officials they don't expect to reopen for the rest of the week. And the question is where those students will attend school going forward and whether the school will even be able to reopen for rest of the year. So we're hoping to get an update from the Illinois governor momentarily and we'll bring you all of that information as soon as we have it.
Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, Lisa Leiter, thanks so much. We'll check in with you then.
Well, on your next shopping trip, big brother could be doing more than watching. Some people fear he could follow you home from the store. Technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg joins us to explain with his little high tech gadgets over there.
Hi, Daniel.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. We do have a demo here. In fact, this technology has been around since about World War II. But it's nearly ready to change the way we do business. It's called RFID, or radio frequency identification tags. And if you haven't heard of them, you're not alone. But fear not because you're going to be hearing a lot more about them in the future.
Now they start out as a very, very small chip, RFID tags. In fact, there are about 150 in this vial alone. Now once they've become a chip then they need to become an RFID tag. And you can see some of them on the table here. They add some technology to them, an antenna which is necessary to send out the signal or receive information. Some companies have even started to put their logo on their antenna.
Now what's the whole point of RFID tags? Well, they're meant to replace this. This is a UPC bar code, which you're familiar with on many different products. The problem with UPC bar codes compared to RFID tags is you need to scan it very close. You need to have a line of sight on this code. The difference with RFID tags is they work about 15 to 50 feet away. They have sort of a better range than the UPC code.
So how do they work? Ha ha, well, we have a demonstration here, sort of a virtual warehouse, if you will. These tags will not be on individual products initially. Companies are going to be using them sort of in the warehouse, in the back end. So we've got our virtual warehouse set up here. We have a pallet with a bunch of different products on it. And we're demonstrating some technology from a company called Alien.
And as I wield this pallet through our virtual warehouse, we have an antenna set up over here to read these products as they move towards our dock door. And then they show up on this screen. This antenna is reading these RFID tags on these products and registering them on the computer. This is a visual demonstration for the purposes of television. But this is the same idea as what would happen in a store.
Now as I wheel this away, you're going to see those products actually disappear from the screen. And if I take one individual product over, you can see it's actually going to read it here. The mug is on the antenna. So the whole point of this, it's to replace these UPC codes, make it easier, eliminate some human error.
Wal-Mart has asked its top 100 suppliers to incorporate these RFID tags in their crates and pallets by January of 2005. The military also very interested in RFID tags. Now there are some privacy concerns here, particularly if you're in the store, what information could be read about you while you're in the store. Again, they have this very limited range, about 15 to 50 feet.
There are other hurdles to overcome, very similar to the cell phone industry, the frequency of these tags, not quite lined up yet. They are still a little bit too expensive, about 30 cents per tag. They need to bring that down a little bit. It started out at several dollars per tag. So they're bringing that down.
Also, it's really -- there are also products that don't work well with RFID tags, such as water or metal products, if they were inside these cases, it wouldn't work as well to read them. So they're sort of working through the kinks, Kyra. It could be a couple -- few years before they're part of individual products. But for now, what Wal- Mart says, a lot of companies do, and so they'll be pushing that ahead.
Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: Daniel, is that a Ted Turner wobble-head (sic) doll there?
SIEBERG: That is a Ted Turner bobble-head doll. Yes, it is. Our producer here, Alex Walker (ph), actually won that. He's very proud of it. It sits on his desk most of the time. And in this case, it has an RFID tag. But in the future, we need to say it will not be in individual products right away. They need to work out some of the kinks first.
PHILLIPS: OK. I've been corrected. I said "wobble," it's "bobble." So OK, I get it. Thank you so much, Daniel Sieberg. I hope we didn't upset Ted.
SIEBERG: He's happy.
PHILLIPS: I figure that's worse than money. All right.
Other news across America now, finger-lickin' gone in Salt Lake City, the world's first Kentucky Fried Chicken has been demolished. Arman's (ph) KFC became the chain's first franchise in 1952. Colonel Sanders convinced the restaurant's owner to let him serve a chicken dinner. Well, a museum and a new restaurant will be built on that site.
And a case of mistaken identity in Kansas City, 19-year-old Ryan Allen (ph) was turned down for a car loan when a credit check said he was a wanted terrorist. It turns out his Social Security number came up as belonging to one of the men behind 9/11. Allen is working to clear his name.
Iraq may be grabbing all the headlines lately, but an urgent U.S. operation also moves through Afghanistan. It's the hunt for Osama bin Laden and his supporters. CNN's Nic Robertson is riding with U.S. forces along the Afghan/Pakistani border.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A few miles from the Pakistan border, a U.S. patrol spots a suspicious antenna. Lieutenant Joe Whitener (ph) stops to ask questions. And that's when his difficulties begin.
LT. JOE WHITENER, 501ST PARACHUTE INFANTRY: It's not Afghani living around here.
ROBERTSON: The response, no. Going in, they're shown a TV set hooked to the antenna. The questions continue.
WHITENER: Ask them if they've seen anyone that's not Afghani.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but I asked before.
ROBERTSON: Again, the answer, no.
WHITENER: Nobody?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody.
ROBERTSON: An invitation for tea. And so the questioning continues. Whitener departs with smiles, but little else.
(on camera): Did you get any useful information, anything that helps you build your picture?
WHITENER: No, sir. No. Their answers were pretty much all preprogrammed.
This is a very nice guest house.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): A well-appointed guest house and some prior intelligence arousing suspicion at yet another village.
WHITENER: Ask them if any foreigners have ever stayed here.
ROBETSON: When translated, the answer, a resounding no. Outside, the villagers ask for financial help building a mosque. Lieutenant Whitener makes it clear, only if they tell him the truth.
WHITENER: Tell him that if there's bad guys here, we can't come and help.
ROBERTSON: Again, the interpreter translates, an answer now all too familiar to the young officer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No bad guys here, responsible for this...
WHITENER: The intelligence we got was basically something was going on in that compound. And I mean, you know, somebody wasn't telling the truth.
ROBERTSON (on camera): There is no simple answer to the question of whether or not the troops are being told the truth, but with so many questions outstanding, there is little choice but to keep asking.
Nic Robertson, CNN, near the Afghan/Pakistan border.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And we are monitoring the president of the United States right now as he continue to address a number of newspaper editors in Washington, D.C. When he takes Q&A, we'll dip into it live.
Also straight ahead, maybe Donald Rumsfeld has a song in his heart, maestros turn the words of the secretary of defense into music. But can you dance to it? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: And later today on LIVE FROM..., NASCAR legend Richard Petty joins us to talk about a new project and his brother Kyle and Patty, of course: a racing camp for chronically ill children. That's coming up at 3 p.m. Eastern time, you won't want to miss it.
Well, it's back, what the...? It doesn't come close to describing how an Australian woman felt when she saw what was causing her chronic stomach pains. Told you so, is more like it given Pat Skinner's (ph) 18 months of agony before she was able to persuade her doctors to take another look. Skinner plans to sue the Sydney hospital where she underwent surgery in 2001 but she doesn't hold a grudge. Her husband Don (ph), seen here with exhibit A, is a patient there now with prostate cancer.
Well, the words of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are music to a pair of composer's ears, literally. They've turned some of his best known statements into songs. The story only as only Jeanne Moos can tell it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Donald Rumsfeld briefed reporters, little did he know he was writing songs.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (SINGING): We also know there are known unknowns That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know
RUMSFELD: But there are also unknown unknowns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SINGING): Unknown unknowns.
MOOS: Who knew, two composers, one on the West Coast, one on the East Coast, would separately put Secretary Rumsfeld's word to music?
: Rumsfeld is like a singer and dancer of language. He just spins stuff. He loves it, you can tell.
MOOS: Rumsfeld's words were first collected in a book of poetry. Now poetry has become song.
RUMSFELD: Everyone's so eager to get the story before, in fact, the story's there, that the world is constantly being fed things that haven't happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (SINGING): The world is constantly being fed things that haven't happened.
: I've become very good at keeping a straight face. MOOS: Soprano Ellender Wahl (ph) was asked by her composer friend, Bryant Kong, to perform the Rumsfeld songs. And no, they're not fans of the defense secretary's policies.
BRYANT KONG, COMPOSER: There is a gray area between satire and a good-natured roast.
MOOS: Phil Klein (ph) even made a song out of the defense secretary's reaction to TV replays of looting in Iraq.
RUMSFELD: And it's the same picture of some person walking out of some building with a vase.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SINGING): It's the same picture of some person walking out of some building with a vase
MOOS: Both composers have released CDs.
(on camera): You can't imagine a song like this ever being played on the radio and becoming like a hit song?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not?
MOOS (voice-over): Rummy, number one on the hit parade?
RUMSFELD: There are things we do not know we don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (SINGING): We don't know
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is wonderful. This is very strange.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They never did put Mr. Kissinger to music did they?
MOOS: The Pentagon released a statement saying: "No one is more surprised than Secretary Rumsfeld that people find his work poetic." We wanted to ask the secretary himself about this at a briefing but were afraid someone would turn it into a song.
RUMSFELD: The world thinks all these happened. They never happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (SINGING): They never happened, never happened.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(MARKET REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Coming up next in our second hour of LIVE FROM..., the latest on the killer storms in the Midwest, find out what's next for the area, and how the search efforts are going. More LIVE FROM... right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
