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International Effort on to Donate Textbooks to Baghdad University

Aired July 13, 2004 - 14:30   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: From dictatorship to war, Iraq has had its share of misery. Now one Iraqi-born professor in the United States is trying to improve life in his homeland by sending the gift of knowledge. Dr. Safaa al-Hamdani teaches biology at Alabama's Jacksonville State University. He joins me now to talk about his effort.
What a pleasure to have you here.

DR. SAFAA AL-HAMDANI, JACKSONVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY: Pleasure all mine, thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well let's talk about first why you came to the U.S. back in the '70s.

AL-HAMDANI: Well I came for my graduate education. My B.S. was from Baghdad University. So I came to finish my Ph.D. and I went to Oklahoma State University. So I got my Ph.D. in '88.

PHILLIPS: And something very interesting happened while you were here. A man by the name of Saddam Hussein came into power and you said, I don't think I'll be going back to Iraq.

AL-HAMDANI: No, no. As a matter of fact, the day I left he assassinated my second cousin, Adnar al-Hamdani (ph). He was in the government. And he claimed, one, he (UNINTELLIGIBLE), of course, he justifies his action. But we are still in pain for his loss.

Yes, I decided I will not go to Saddam's if he is in power. And so far we got rid of him, thank God. And we believe -- we feel very good about that.

PHILLIPS: So you stayed here in the United States. You got married. You had a family.

AL-HAMDANI: Yes, ma'am.

PHILLIPS: You've been talking about your family. Wonderful family, that is.

And, but you still kept in touch with your family in Iraq. What was life -- I mean you talked about your relative being assassinated. It must have been a difficult time all these years. Here you are in the United States. What was your family telling you like about life under Saddam? AL-HAMDANI: It was a miserable life. There is no future. He block every avenue for success of the individual. He controlled everything. There is no room to improve from the education to health. And it's time for him to go. And I'm glad what happened. We got rid of him.

PHILLIPS: So you were in the United States, of course, taking advantage of the democracy and getting a chance to have an education. You now have a Ph.D. You're teaching biology. You students love you, from what I hear.

AL-HAMDANI: Oh, thank you.

PHILLIPS: And you decided to give back. You saw what happened to the library at the Baghdad University, your alma mater. Tell me what you decided to do.

AL-HAMDANI: Well when I saw after the conclusion of the ground war and we lost a lot of libraries. And I know the fact before that, Iraq was suffering from a lack of material, textbook material, because I was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to Jordan in 2001. And I've come to know several faculty, Iraqi faculty. And we exchange information, we exchange e-mail.

And I have it in my mind one day I'm going to help. So I decide to initiate a drive to collect books to send to Iraq. We call it "Books to Baghdad."

It's wonderful. The response is tremendous. And my colleagues, my friends and, of course, right now, people I don't know around the nation from New York to California e-mail me and are trying to send books, they're trying to send money, which I cannot believe. It's bloomed to something wonderful. I'm glad what happened.

PHILLIPS: Well it is pretty amazing what you've done. The response you've had. I mean, under Saddam, of course, he was in every textbook. He was telling people how to think and how to be educated what to believe.

So now you're sending over all these books. But let's explain to our viewers, it's OK that they're in English because...

AL-HAMDANI: Yes, because the science, for example, medicine, engineering, biology, it has been taught in English. English is science -- the language of science. So most of the Iraqis, they speak the English language, a secondary language.

PHILLIPS: So the students and the professors at Baghdad University, what are they saying to you? We love you? Keep sending more books, please?

AL-HAMDANI: Yes, yes. I receive e-mail from the vice president of Baghdad University. And he's very appreciative. And we're trying to invite him with his colleagues to Jacksonville State university. And we take the lead to invite the Iraqi professor. Hopefully we'll initiate some type of program of training, exchange students. We hope our students from Jacksonville will visit Baghdad. And from Baghdad University I hope I will see some Iraqis will come and visit us. It's at least something I like to contribute to my homeland, my beloved Iraq.

I'm very compassionate about back home. We have to do something. I know it's tough to individual can make a difference especially, this country.

PHILLIPS: Well you are making a difference. I can't wait. This will be part two. Our next interview will be about the exchange program with students in Iraq coming to your university and vice versa, OK?.

AL-HAMDANI: That will be great.

PHILLIPS: All right, I want folks to know how to donate books. We've already received a number of e-mails about professors and universities that want to donate to you program, books that go over to Baghdad. How can they do it?

AL-HAMDANI: Well, first thing, we require really the books to be five years or less. We don't want to send old, old books because we need to keep them with the new technology.

And if they could send it to Jacksonville State University, under my name, biology department, Jacksonville, Alabama, 36265, I will receive it. Jacksonville State University, right now, initiated organization to collect the books. The president behind us, the vice president, the faculty, senate, all -- we are together to help this project.

And any money or books you sent will be appreciative, will be collected and sent hopefully in September or so.

PHILLIPS: Excellent. I know you need money for the shipping, too. I'm just curious, quickly, before we go, the relationship between faculty and students. I know the issue of the war and Iraq -- Operation Iraqi Freedom, there was a lot of debate going on at your university.

Are people finding more of a peaceful feeling through this program in talking to you about your homeland and...

AL-HAMDANI: My friends they know me. And they treat me as individual. And, of course, there's misconception about the Middle East in general. I keep saying that's the problem. I think in the Middle East they don't under United States as I understand it. And the same things people in this country -- I believe they don't understand it as well.

We need some promotion exchange. We talk about the issue. Let's be -- open to issue to the public and debate. We could disagree. That's part of the democracy. Culture...

PHILLIPS: The beauty of democracy. AL-HAMDANI: Absolutely, absolutely. I can say to CNN I like this, I don't like that. That's a wonderful thing. I believe democracy is God's given to human. We should cherish it and we should emphasize on it. We should be implementing it in every country in the Middle East. And I hope one day we will see it.

PHILLIPS: Well you're a wonderful roll model for the cross relations. I am going to come sit in on your class one day, OK?

AL-HAMDANI: You will come any time.

PHILLIPS: Professor, thank you so much.

AL-HAMDANI: Thank you. ma'am.

PHILLIPS: OK, Books for Baghdad. Definitely get involved and donate those books.

Well you may see this sign down in Florida. Kind of scary, but it's true. "Lost cat, 750 pounds, stripes, gorgeous, answers to Bobo. If found, please let him not bite you." We're on the prowl.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: I'm technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg. Coming back after the break, are you keeping your downloading on the downlow? If so, you're in crowded company. Online music piracy is on the rise. Back with more as CNN's LIVE FROM rolls on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Do you like that techno music? That was just for you, Daniel.

Every day Internet users swap some 3 billion songs an 5 million movies online. Most of it illegally. That's from a study released today that shows Internet piracy is on the rise. technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg is here on piracy patrol. Did you bring that music in?

SIEBERG: I'm sorry, I left eye patch on my desk. Piracy patrol.

(LAUGHTER)

SIEBERG: I'm not responsible for the music. But it was pretty hip.

PHILLIPS: Pretty hip. Because you're a hip guy.

SIEBERG: I try to be.

PHILLIPS: All right. Take it away.

SIEBERG: Thanks. All right.

Yes, Internet piracy has long been a thorn in the side of the entertainment industry. And they're recently tried to counter that by filing a number of lawsuits. In fact about 3,500 lawsuits against anyone accused of file sharing illegally.

They have also, of course, unveiled these legitimate services like iTunes, the New Napster, to try to get people to pay for the music they download. And for any entertainment content.

Well a couple of new studies are rather alarming news and perhaps a troubling direction for the industry. We can show you some highlights from these two studies which are basically indicating that online piracy is on the rise.

First of all, this one from BigChampagne.com, saying that illegal file sharing up about a million and a half people from this time last year. About a billion songs available for illegal download. That's up about 20 percent. Means there's more content out on the Internet. Some of them are bogus content that the recording industry puts out to fool people.

Other programs like iMesh and eDonkey popping up. People are probably familiar with Kazaa by now as one of the more familiar names as far as these peer to peer or file sharing programs go. Others are popping up that don't have the same type of spy wear or stuff that messes up the computer.

Now this other study is from a company called Cash Logic. They looked at the same sort of idea and found the same sort of thing. They are saying global Internet users swap the equivalent of 3 billion songs or 5 million movies every day. That's an enormous amount of content.

We should point out that Cash Logic looks at providing filtering and other software to for Internet service providers to manage all of this. So they have an interest in this. But they are saying that this file sharing is costing ISPs about $10 million a year for bandwidth and network repair.

Also, this is interesting that users are increasingly sharing different types of contents, movies, software and game files. And, Kyra, the reason this is interesting is because these are much, much larger files. Not just a song file which is fairly small by comparison. These are much larger files.

You know, people have broadband connections these days, a high speed connection so they can share these files, more space on their computer.

So that is certainly troubling for the recording industry with these studies.

PHILLIPS: If this industry is not competitive enough, you know, musicians all the time talking about how difficult. And this just adds right to it.

SIEBERG: It really does. I mean it is sort of a slap in the face. And the recording industry has put out these lawsuits in the last six months to a year or so trying to go after people. A number of them have been settled, 600 or so, for about 2 to $15,000. But you know there was kind of a fear period when these lawsuits first came out. I think what is happening now analysts are saying some people have gotten past that. They are not as afraid. There are technologies that allow people to hide on line. They feel fairly safe.

Even with 3,500 lawsuits there are millions of people that are doing this. So they feel they can hide under their computer or in the sort of masses that are out there on line. They are not as worried about it.

And these legitimate services -- these studies come out as we find out that Apple is saying with its iTunes service that they are getting their 100 millionth song downloaded. So certainly there is some success behind these legitimate services.

A dollar a song, for some people how can you explain about that? That's a fairly good deal. But if you can get it for free, some people are going to go for that instead.

And if their conscious wasn't bothered before, it's not going to be bothered now.

PHILLIPS: Not going to change. All right, we buy everything at the music store, right?

SIEBERG: Absolutely, of course.

PHILLIPS: Thank you very much. Appreciate it, piracy patrol update.

All right, well the everyday t-shirt has long been a billboard for the written word. Now there's a t-shirt that turns chests into flat screens. CNN's Jeanne Moos explains how the t-shirt has become a TV-shirt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Please stay tuned for T-shirt TV.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What in heaven's name?

MOOS: An 11-inch screen, four built-in speakers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, that is awesome!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like I shouldn't be looking at their chest!

MOOS: That's not what guys say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You kill two birds with one stone, you know. Get to watch a movie and a get a thrill at the same time. MOOS: Must-see TV, but must not touch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's the on and off switch!

MOOS: Just like with any TV, you can do it manually or with a remote. But only creator Adam Hollander of Brand Marketers is allowed to fine-tune the T-shirts. The models are used to the jokes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, the boob tube.

MOOS: And then there's the line actor Tom Hanks used when he crossed paths with a T-shirt TV-wearing model.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, you're very attractive for a flat- chested girl.

MOOS: Right now, T-shirt TV is being used to promote the movie, "I, Robot." It plays digitized media, and it played a live feed from a video camera shooting us.

ADAM HOLLANDER, BRAND MARKETERS: Every time we wear it out, people ask, "Where can I buy it?" They offer us money for it.

MOOS: This is no $10 T-shirt. Until the technology gets cheaper, a T-shirt TV would run several thousand dollars.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does it hurt to wear that?

MOOS: No, the models say it feels like a push-up bra, though even the pushiest bra doesn't weigh seven pounds and take 10 minutes to put on.

MOOS (on camera): I mean, this really is, it's a Teletubby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is.

MOOS: Well, Teleboobies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Teleboobies, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to cleavage?

MOOS: Cleavage is out.

(voice-over): This is a set men can't resist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Better than boobs!

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right, said the "b" word.

A one-time Tarzan loses his kitty -- and it's a big kitty. A tiger on the loose. Folks in Florida getting pretty antsy. We'll talk to the man in charge of bringing in Bobo right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A tiger is on the loose in Florida and that's got a lot of folks on the edge. Bobo, as he's known, escaped yesterday from the residence of an actor who, yes, once played Tarzan. Sean Kelly of CNN affiliate WPBF joined the hunt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN KELLY, WPBF CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Steve Sipek, a man who played Tarzan in the movies, grabbed a chained leash for his pet tiger that escaped. Sheriff's deputies had guns ready, fish and wildlife officers loaded tranquilizers.

WILLIE PUZ, FISH AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION: We had officers on the ground about 4:00. And the hunt began.

KELLY: Bobo, all 750 pound of him, got loose. This is him one year ago in Sipek's Big Cat Sanctuary. His escape shutdown roadways and stirred fear in people unfazed by the cats until now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I have horses and I know a bunch of people around here that have horses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's scary, scary. You know.

KELLY (on camera): And your wife is home?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, she's home. And she's nervous.

KELLY (voice-over): One woman brought a pig in the trunk of a Cadillac as bait. Meanwhile a helicopter helped keep an overhead eye on Bobo, but may have scared him too.

PUZ: He had the officers getting close, getting within shooting range for the tranquilizer gun. Something spooks the animal, it runs.

KELLY: People moved larger animals away from the neighborhood afraid of what could happen during an encounter. Bobo has been declawed. He can be equally playful and aggressive. Watched what happened when I tempted him a year ago.

(on camera): But as you can see, you don't want to get too close.

(voice-over): Sipek has two tigers, two lions, a panther and a cougar protected behind 12-foot high bars.

Kara Johnson (ph) volunteers at the sanctuary. She's surprised that any of the animals could get free.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I always feel safe when I'm out there.

KELLY: Lee Ann Lewis (ph) lived at the sanctuary and helped raise Bobo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm pretty sure he's just scared. He wouldn't do anything to hurt anybody.

KELLY: Florida fish and wildlife officials won't take that chance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right, well how close are they to join trapping the tiger? Joining me know on the phone with the latest, Willie Puz, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Willie, I know you're actually trying to track him right now. Tell us exactly what you're doing.

PUZ: Hey, Kyra. Thanks for having me on today.

What we do is we have five crews on the ground right now. Looking as best we can. We're following some paw prints that we found earlier today. But we have yet to find a visual.

It's really hot here in Florida and there's a lot of scrub and a lot of thick brush back there. What we're thinking is that the tiger is kind of laying down underneath the brush and under the trees and we just can't find him.

PHILLIPS: Now, how do you call for him? Do you call for him? And then if you do make contact with him, you see him and he sees you, how do you keep him calm and bring him to you?

PUZ: One of the things that we've been working with is the owner. He's been going out with our crews and he has established a relationship with this animal since it was a cub. He raised it since it's been so young.

And we're hoping he's ale to work with the animal, calm it down a little bit and be able to lead it home. That's what we're hoping.

PHILLIPS: OK, you know, it sounds straight out of a movie, no pun intended. But this former actor actually played Tarzan. This was a tiger that was with him in this film.

I'm just curious, legally, is he able to have all the wild animals on his compound?

PUZ: He has the permits that he needs to keep this animal on his compound, yes. His permits are active and valid. And one of the things that we'll be doing is once the animal is captured, our investigation will determine our next course of action.

PHILLIPS: Willie, a lot of people have tried to help creatively. Tell us about this woman with the Yorkshire pig.

PUZ: We had a woman come up and wanted to offer her pig as bait. We said, thank you very much but that's not the type of support we needed right now. We encouraged her to also go home and thank her for the help.

PHILLIPS: No doubt.

All right, now this tiger, how do you think it got out of the compound? There's a pretty high fence, but there's trees in the compound. Could he have climbed over?

PUZ: We don't know that yet. I walked the furthest west side of the compound. It was 12-foot high concrete wall. There were some trees on the other side. There's a bunch of speculation as to how the animal could have gotten out. But we're really not sure at this point. The investigation will tell.

PHILLIPS: All right, you're told that the tiger doesn't have claws. And had never been taught to hunt. So put into perspective, then again, it's a wild animal. How dangerous is it truly this tiger is out on the loose?

PUZ: You have always heard the stories of wild animals, it's captive, it's tame, it's my pet. There's no such thing as a tame wild animal. We have seen and heard the stories over and over of pets that were wild animals that had an animal instinct or something.

We're just trying to make sure that doesn't happen by keeping everybody safe in the community.

PHILLIPS: How many hours have you been searching now?

PUZ: Since probably 4:00 yesterday.

PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh!

PUZ: We did suspend operations last night probably about 8:00, just so we don't have investigators on the ground in the woods with the panther -- with the tiger at dark. So we started again early this morning.

PHILLIPS: So meanwhile everybody in the area, are they staying in the house? Are you telling them not to come out?

PUZ: A lot of people are staying in the house. That's what we're requesting just for their safety. Also for the safety of the tiger.

If we're coming up on the tiger and we could possibly make a shot. We don't want anybody to spook it and have it run away. It's been a trial to get close to it so far. We have had some near misses and unfortunately we had some scares due to helicopters and other loud noises.

PHILLIPS: Understandably. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Spokesperson Willie Puz, right now on search to this tiger. I know you'll be on AMERICAN MORNING with an update. We'll look forward to that, Willie, thank you.

PUZ: Thanks, Kyra. Appreciate it. PHILLIPS: You bet.

(MARKET UPDATE)

PHILLIPS: Not the average rainy day on the East Coast. True stories from flood ravaged regions losing everything and why some people stayed through it all.

Get more on the follower of Osama bin Laden who says thank God for the opportunity to turn himself in. It's all next when LIVE FROM returns.

(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 July 13, 2004 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: From dictatorship to war, Iraq has had its share of misery. Now one Iraqi-born professor in the United States is trying to improve life in his homeland by sending the gift of knowledge. Dr. Safaa al-Hamdani teaches biology at Alabama's Jacksonville State University. He joins me now to talk about his effort.
What a pleasure to have you here.

DR. SAFAA AL-HAMDANI, JACKSONVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY: Pleasure all mine, thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well let's talk about first why you came to the U.S. back in the '70s.

AL-HAMDANI: Well I came for my graduate education. My B.S. was from Baghdad University. So I came to finish my Ph.D. and I went to Oklahoma State University. So I got my Ph.D. in '88.

PHILLIPS: And something very interesting happened while you were here. A man by the name of Saddam Hussein came into power and you said, I don't think I'll be going back to Iraq.

AL-HAMDANI: No, no. As a matter of fact, the day I left he assassinated my second cousin, Adnar al-Hamdani (ph). He was in the government. And he claimed, one, he (UNINTELLIGIBLE), of course, he justifies his action. But we are still in pain for his loss.

Yes, I decided I will not go to Saddam's if he is in power. And so far we got rid of him, thank God. And we believe -- we feel very good about that.

PHILLIPS: So you stayed here in the United States. You got married. You had a family.

AL-HAMDANI: Yes, ma'am.

PHILLIPS: You've been talking about your family. Wonderful family, that is.

And, but you still kept in touch with your family in Iraq. What was life -- I mean you talked about your relative being assassinated. It must have been a difficult time all these years. Here you are in the United States. What was your family telling you like about life under Saddam? AL-HAMDANI: It was a miserable life. There is no future. He block every avenue for success of the individual. He controlled everything. There is no room to improve from the education to health. And it's time for him to go. And I'm glad what happened. We got rid of him.

PHILLIPS: So you were in the United States, of course, taking advantage of the democracy and getting a chance to have an education. You now have a Ph.D. You're teaching biology. You students love you, from what I hear.

AL-HAMDANI: Oh, thank you.

PHILLIPS: And you decided to give back. You saw what happened to the library at the Baghdad University, your alma mater. Tell me what you decided to do.

AL-HAMDANI: Well when I saw after the conclusion of the ground war and we lost a lot of libraries. And I know the fact before that, Iraq was suffering from a lack of material, textbook material, because I was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to Jordan in 2001. And I've come to know several faculty, Iraqi faculty. And we exchange information, we exchange e-mail.

And I have it in my mind one day I'm going to help. So I decide to initiate a drive to collect books to send to Iraq. We call it "Books to Baghdad."

It's wonderful. The response is tremendous. And my colleagues, my friends and, of course, right now, people I don't know around the nation from New York to California e-mail me and are trying to send books, they're trying to send money, which I cannot believe. It's bloomed to something wonderful. I'm glad what happened.

PHILLIPS: Well it is pretty amazing what you've done. The response you've had. I mean, under Saddam, of course, he was in every textbook. He was telling people how to think and how to be educated what to believe.

So now you're sending over all these books. But let's explain to our viewers, it's OK that they're in English because...

AL-HAMDANI: Yes, because the science, for example, medicine, engineering, biology, it has been taught in English. English is science -- the language of science. So most of the Iraqis, they speak the English language, a secondary language.

PHILLIPS: So the students and the professors at Baghdad University, what are they saying to you? We love you? Keep sending more books, please?

AL-HAMDANI: Yes, yes. I receive e-mail from the vice president of Baghdad University. And he's very appreciative. And we're trying to invite him with his colleagues to Jacksonville State university. And we take the lead to invite the Iraqi professor. Hopefully we'll initiate some type of program of training, exchange students. We hope our students from Jacksonville will visit Baghdad. And from Baghdad University I hope I will see some Iraqis will come and visit us. It's at least something I like to contribute to my homeland, my beloved Iraq.

I'm very compassionate about back home. We have to do something. I know it's tough to individual can make a difference especially, this country.

PHILLIPS: Well you are making a difference. I can't wait. This will be part two. Our next interview will be about the exchange program with students in Iraq coming to your university and vice versa, OK?.

AL-HAMDANI: That will be great.

PHILLIPS: All right, I want folks to know how to donate books. We've already received a number of e-mails about professors and universities that want to donate to you program, books that go over to Baghdad. How can they do it?

AL-HAMDANI: Well, first thing, we require really the books to be five years or less. We don't want to send old, old books because we need to keep them with the new technology.

And if they could send it to Jacksonville State University, under my name, biology department, Jacksonville, Alabama, 36265, I will receive it. Jacksonville State University, right now, initiated organization to collect the books. The president behind us, the vice president, the faculty, senate, all -- we are together to help this project.

And any money or books you sent will be appreciative, will be collected and sent hopefully in September or so.

PHILLIPS: Excellent. I know you need money for the shipping, too. I'm just curious, quickly, before we go, the relationship between faculty and students. I know the issue of the war and Iraq -- Operation Iraqi Freedom, there was a lot of debate going on at your university.

Are people finding more of a peaceful feeling through this program in talking to you about your homeland and...

AL-HAMDANI: My friends they know me. And they treat me as individual. And, of course, there's misconception about the Middle East in general. I keep saying that's the problem. I think in the Middle East they don't under United States as I understand it. And the same things people in this country -- I believe they don't understand it as well.

We need some promotion exchange. We talk about the issue. Let's be -- open to issue to the public and debate. We could disagree. That's part of the democracy. Culture...

PHILLIPS: The beauty of democracy. AL-HAMDANI: Absolutely, absolutely. I can say to CNN I like this, I don't like that. That's a wonderful thing. I believe democracy is God's given to human. We should cherish it and we should emphasize on it. We should be implementing it in every country in the Middle East. And I hope one day we will see it.

PHILLIPS: Well you're a wonderful roll model for the cross relations. I am going to come sit in on your class one day, OK?

AL-HAMDANI: You will come any time.

PHILLIPS: Professor, thank you so much.

AL-HAMDANI: Thank you. ma'am.

PHILLIPS: OK, Books for Baghdad. Definitely get involved and donate those books.

Well you may see this sign down in Florida. Kind of scary, but it's true. "Lost cat, 750 pounds, stripes, gorgeous, answers to Bobo. If found, please let him not bite you." We're on the prowl.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: I'm technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg. Coming back after the break, are you keeping your downloading on the downlow? If so, you're in crowded company. Online music piracy is on the rise. Back with more as CNN's LIVE FROM rolls on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Do you like that techno music? That was just for you, Daniel.

Every day Internet users swap some 3 billion songs an 5 million movies online. Most of it illegally. That's from a study released today that shows Internet piracy is on the rise. technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg is here on piracy patrol. Did you bring that music in?

SIEBERG: I'm sorry, I left eye patch on my desk. Piracy patrol.

(LAUGHTER)

SIEBERG: I'm not responsible for the music. But it was pretty hip.

PHILLIPS: Pretty hip. Because you're a hip guy.

SIEBERG: I try to be.

PHILLIPS: All right. Take it away.

SIEBERG: Thanks. All right.

Yes, Internet piracy has long been a thorn in the side of the entertainment industry. And they're recently tried to counter that by filing a number of lawsuits. In fact about 3,500 lawsuits against anyone accused of file sharing illegally.

They have also, of course, unveiled these legitimate services like iTunes, the New Napster, to try to get people to pay for the music they download. And for any entertainment content.

Well a couple of new studies are rather alarming news and perhaps a troubling direction for the industry. We can show you some highlights from these two studies which are basically indicating that online piracy is on the rise.

First of all, this one from BigChampagne.com, saying that illegal file sharing up about a million and a half people from this time last year. About a billion songs available for illegal download. That's up about 20 percent. Means there's more content out on the Internet. Some of them are bogus content that the recording industry puts out to fool people.

Other programs like iMesh and eDonkey popping up. People are probably familiar with Kazaa by now as one of the more familiar names as far as these peer to peer or file sharing programs go. Others are popping up that don't have the same type of spy wear or stuff that messes up the computer.

Now this other study is from a company called Cash Logic. They looked at the same sort of idea and found the same sort of thing. They are saying global Internet users swap the equivalent of 3 billion songs or 5 million movies every day. That's an enormous amount of content.

We should point out that Cash Logic looks at providing filtering and other software to for Internet service providers to manage all of this. So they have an interest in this. But they are saying that this file sharing is costing ISPs about $10 million a year for bandwidth and network repair.

Also, this is interesting that users are increasingly sharing different types of contents, movies, software and game files. And, Kyra, the reason this is interesting is because these are much, much larger files. Not just a song file which is fairly small by comparison. These are much larger files.

You know, people have broadband connections these days, a high speed connection so they can share these files, more space on their computer.

So that is certainly troubling for the recording industry with these studies.

PHILLIPS: If this industry is not competitive enough, you know, musicians all the time talking about how difficult. And this just adds right to it.

SIEBERG: It really does. I mean it is sort of a slap in the face. And the recording industry has put out these lawsuits in the last six months to a year or so trying to go after people. A number of them have been settled, 600 or so, for about 2 to $15,000. But you know there was kind of a fear period when these lawsuits first came out. I think what is happening now analysts are saying some people have gotten past that. They are not as afraid. There are technologies that allow people to hide on line. They feel fairly safe.

Even with 3,500 lawsuits there are millions of people that are doing this. So they feel they can hide under their computer or in the sort of masses that are out there on line. They are not as worried about it.

And these legitimate services -- these studies come out as we find out that Apple is saying with its iTunes service that they are getting their 100 millionth song downloaded. So certainly there is some success behind these legitimate services.

A dollar a song, for some people how can you explain about that? That's a fairly good deal. But if you can get it for free, some people are going to go for that instead.

And if their conscious wasn't bothered before, it's not going to be bothered now.

PHILLIPS: Not going to change. All right, we buy everything at the music store, right?

SIEBERG: Absolutely, of course.

PHILLIPS: Thank you very much. Appreciate it, piracy patrol update.

All right, well the everyday t-shirt has long been a billboard for the written word. Now there's a t-shirt that turns chests into flat screens. CNN's Jeanne Moos explains how the t-shirt has become a TV-shirt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Please stay tuned for T-shirt TV.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What in heaven's name?

MOOS: An 11-inch screen, four built-in speakers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, that is awesome!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like I shouldn't be looking at their chest!

MOOS: That's not what guys say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You kill two birds with one stone, you know. Get to watch a movie and a get a thrill at the same time. MOOS: Must-see TV, but must not touch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's the on and off switch!

MOOS: Just like with any TV, you can do it manually or with a remote. But only creator Adam Hollander of Brand Marketers is allowed to fine-tune the T-shirts. The models are used to the jokes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, the boob tube.

MOOS: And then there's the line actor Tom Hanks used when he crossed paths with a T-shirt TV-wearing model.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, you're very attractive for a flat- chested girl.

MOOS: Right now, T-shirt TV is being used to promote the movie, "I, Robot." It plays digitized media, and it played a live feed from a video camera shooting us.

ADAM HOLLANDER, BRAND MARKETERS: Every time we wear it out, people ask, "Where can I buy it?" They offer us money for it.

MOOS: This is no $10 T-shirt. Until the technology gets cheaper, a T-shirt TV would run several thousand dollars.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does it hurt to wear that?

MOOS: No, the models say it feels like a push-up bra, though even the pushiest bra doesn't weigh seven pounds and take 10 minutes to put on.

MOOS (on camera): I mean, this really is, it's a Teletubby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is.

MOOS: Well, Teleboobies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Teleboobies, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to cleavage?

MOOS: Cleavage is out.

(voice-over): This is a set men can't resist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Better than boobs!

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right, said the "b" word.

A one-time Tarzan loses his kitty -- and it's a big kitty. A tiger on the loose. Folks in Florida getting pretty antsy. We'll talk to the man in charge of bringing in Bobo right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A tiger is on the loose in Florida and that's got a lot of folks on the edge. Bobo, as he's known, escaped yesterday from the residence of an actor who, yes, once played Tarzan. Sean Kelly of CNN affiliate WPBF joined the hunt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN KELLY, WPBF CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Steve Sipek, a man who played Tarzan in the movies, grabbed a chained leash for his pet tiger that escaped. Sheriff's deputies had guns ready, fish and wildlife officers loaded tranquilizers.

WILLIE PUZ, FISH AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION: We had officers on the ground about 4:00. And the hunt began.

KELLY: Bobo, all 750 pound of him, got loose. This is him one year ago in Sipek's Big Cat Sanctuary. His escape shutdown roadways and stirred fear in people unfazed by the cats until now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I have horses and I know a bunch of people around here that have horses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's scary, scary. You know.

KELLY (on camera): And your wife is home?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, she's home. And she's nervous.

KELLY (voice-over): One woman brought a pig in the trunk of a Cadillac as bait. Meanwhile a helicopter helped keep an overhead eye on Bobo, but may have scared him too.

PUZ: He had the officers getting close, getting within shooting range for the tranquilizer gun. Something spooks the animal, it runs.

KELLY: People moved larger animals away from the neighborhood afraid of what could happen during an encounter. Bobo has been declawed. He can be equally playful and aggressive. Watched what happened when I tempted him a year ago.

(on camera): But as you can see, you don't want to get too close.

(voice-over): Sipek has two tigers, two lions, a panther and a cougar protected behind 12-foot high bars.

Kara Johnson (ph) volunteers at the sanctuary. She's surprised that any of the animals could get free.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I always feel safe when I'm out there.

KELLY: Lee Ann Lewis (ph) lived at the sanctuary and helped raise Bobo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm pretty sure he's just scared. He wouldn't do anything to hurt anybody.

KELLY: Florida fish and wildlife officials won't take that chance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right, well how close are they to join trapping the tiger? Joining me know on the phone with the latest, Willie Puz, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Willie, I know you're actually trying to track him right now. Tell us exactly what you're doing.

PUZ: Hey, Kyra. Thanks for having me on today.

What we do is we have five crews on the ground right now. Looking as best we can. We're following some paw prints that we found earlier today. But we have yet to find a visual.

It's really hot here in Florida and there's a lot of scrub and a lot of thick brush back there. What we're thinking is that the tiger is kind of laying down underneath the brush and under the trees and we just can't find him.

PHILLIPS: Now, how do you call for him? Do you call for him? And then if you do make contact with him, you see him and he sees you, how do you keep him calm and bring him to you?

PUZ: One of the things that we've been working with is the owner. He's been going out with our crews and he has established a relationship with this animal since it was a cub. He raised it since it's been so young.

And we're hoping he's ale to work with the animal, calm it down a little bit and be able to lead it home. That's what we're hoping.

PHILLIPS: OK, you know, it sounds straight out of a movie, no pun intended. But this former actor actually played Tarzan. This was a tiger that was with him in this film.

I'm just curious, legally, is he able to have all the wild animals on his compound?

PUZ: He has the permits that he needs to keep this animal on his compound, yes. His permits are active and valid. And one of the things that we'll be doing is once the animal is captured, our investigation will determine our next course of action.

PHILLIPS: Willie, a lot of people have tried to help creatively. Tell us about this woman with the Yorkshire pig.

PUZ: We had a woman come up and wanted to offer her pig as bait. We said, thank you very much but that's not the type of support we needed right now. We encouraged her to also go home and thank her for the help.

PHILLIPS: No doubt.

All right, now this tiger, how do you think it got out of the compound? There's a pretty high fence, but there's trees in the compound. Could he have climbed over?

PUZ: We don't know that yet. I walked the furthest west side of the compound. It was 12-foot high concrete wall. There were some trees on the other side. There's a bunch of speculation as to how the animal could have gotten out. But we're really not sure at this point. The investigation will tell.

PHILLIPS: All right, you're told that the tiger doesn't have claws. And had never been taught to hunt. So put into perspective, then again, it's a wild animal. How dangerous is it truly this tiger is out on the loose?

PUZ: You have always heard the stories of wild animals, it's captive, it's tame, it's my pet. There's no such thing as a tame wild animal. We have seen and heard the stories over and over of pets that were wild animals that had an animal instinct or something.

We're just trying to make sure that doesn't happen by keeping everybody safe in the community.

PHILLIPS: How many hours have you been searching now?

PUZ: Since probably 4:00 yesterday.

PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh!

PUZ: We did suspend operations last night probably about 8:00, just so we don't have investigators on the ground in the woods with the panther -- with the tiger at dark. So we started again early this morning.

PHILLIPS: So meanwhile everybody in the area, are they staying in the house? Are you telling them not to come out?

PUZ: A lot of people are staying in the house. That's what we're requesting just for their safety. Also for the safety of the tiger.

If we're coming up on the tiger and we could possibly make a shot. We don't want anybody to spook it and have it run away. It's been a trial to get close to it so far. We have had some near misses and unfortunately we had some scares due to helicopters and other loud noises.

PHILLIPS: Understandably. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Spokesperson Willie Puz, right now on search to this tiger. I know you'll be on AMERICAN MORNING with an update. We'll look forward to that, Willie, thank you.

PUZ: Thanks, Kyra. Appreciate it. PHILLIPS: You bet.

(MARKET UPDATE)

PHILLIPS: Not the average rainy day on the East Coast. True stories from flood ravaged regions losing everything and why some people stayed through it all.

Get more on the follower of Osama bin Laden who says thank God for the opportunity to turn himself in. It's all next when LIVE FROM returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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