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American Morning
Interview with U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson; Fight for Iraq; 90-Second Tips: Kids, Money
Aired April 14, 2004 - 07:30 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And baseball's Barry Bonds has surpassed Willie Mays on the career homerun list. Bonds hit his 661st homerun last night. Only Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron have hit more in their careers. Bonds is on pace to surpass Ruth by early next year and is only 94 homers shy of tying Aaron's record.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Another shot. They call that a splash ball out there in SBC Park.
O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
HEMMER: It used to be Pac Bell, and now it's SBC.
O'BRIEN: Right.
HEMMER: You know, they keep on changing the name in San Francisco.
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, as things change...
HEMMER: Yes, that they do.
O'BRIEN: ... economically.
HEMMER: That's true.
O'BRIEN: I used to cover those guys who are out there in their canoes.
HEMMER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: A crazy bunch of people. It's really cold there. I mean, choppy and very cold.
HEMMER: In the Bay area.
O'BRIEN: Yes, and so they're nutty.
HEMMER: And they're huge fans, too.
O'BRIEN: They think it's worth it to get the ball.
HEMMER: That's right. Barry Bonds, 661, still going.
(WEATHER BREAK) HEMMER: The 9/11 Commission, meanwhile, is convening in about two hours from now. The panel has criticized the FBI and the CIA, saying their lack of coordination played a part in the failure to uncover the attacks of 9/11. At that hearing yesterday, the attorney general, John Ashcroft, putting the blame on the years before him in the Clinton administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We did not know an attack was coming, because for nearly a decade our government had blinded itself to its enemies. Our agents were isolated by government-imposed walls, handcuffed by government-imposed restrictions, and starved for basic information technology. The old national intelligence system in place on September 11 was destined to fail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: John Ashcroft from yesterday.
U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson lost his wife, Barbara, on 9/11. She was on board the plane that crashed into the Pentagon two and a half years ago. Ted Olson live in D.C.
Nice to see you again, sir. Good morning to you.
TED OLSON, U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: Good morning to you.
HEMMER: It was a war of words and accusations yesterday, Thomas Pickard before the attorney general, saying he tried to warn John Ashcroft when he came into office there in D.C. that these threats were out there, and Ashcroft did not want to hear it. What's the truth in this, as Ashcroft comes back and says that simply was not the case?
OLSON: Well, I've worked closely with John Ashcroft over the years since I've been to this -- in this department. I can't imagine a more conscientious, thoughtful, aggressive person with respect to those matters. I can't understand what that individual was saying, but I do know that having worked closely with John Ashcroft, he has not only been concerned with terrorism and the fight against terrorism, but other crimes that hurt American people. I just don't see any basis for that accusation.
HEMMER: Knowing what we know now and looking back in hindsight, you have a very intimate position on this whole 9/11 matter because of your involvement with the government and because of your personal involvement as well. What makes you angry about what was not stopped on 9/11?
OLSON: I don't think that anger is an emotion that does any of us any good. My wife and the other individuals who lost their lives on that day, I know, would want us to prevent that kind of tragedy from occurring again. And we must look at the things that could be done better. And there's been too much of this finger-pointing and grandstanding and blame-finding. There are systems that could be improved. The attorney general mentioned several of them yesterday. Unfortunately, we had rules and restrictions that prevented our intelligence officials from talking to our law enforcement officials. That barrier has been broken down. Other barriers have been breaking down so that we can fight terrorism effectively.
Anger is not what we should be dealing with. We should be trying to be constructive to save people's lives in the future.
HEMMER: I know you were in the room yesterday for John Ashcroft. I don't know if you were in the room when Ambassador Cofer Black spoke yesterday. Listen to what he said, in part an apology, in yesterday's testimony.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMB. J. COFER BLACK, FORMER DIRECTOR, CIA COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: We are profoundly sorry. We did all we could. We did our best. And they said make them understand how few we were and what we had to deal with. The shortage of money and people seriously hurt our operations and analysis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: If you could, take the beginning of that statement. How does that speak to you?
OLSON: I think that this business of apology and attempting to find blame when it would have been very, as we know, extraordinarily difficult to connect remote, disparate pieces of information to connect what was happening. I -- there's too much playing to the cameras going on and not enough concentration on the things that can be done in the future.
I know that the president and the attorney general and the other members of this administration are working constructively, not only to develop the resources, but the systems and the cooperation that's necessary to learn the information and then interdict the terrorists before they can strike America again. We know that the planning is in operation to try to do damage to American people and other people throughout the world again. This administration is working extremely hard to prevent that from happening wherever the threats occur, and that's what we should be focusing on.
HEMMER: And finally, if I could. Speaking as an American, what's not been answered for you?
OLSON: I don't know how to answer that question. I think that when a tragedy occurs, people have a tendency to look around and try to say, well, someone should have done something differently. We have to focus on the future. We have to make sure that we understand that terrorisms despise everything about America -- our freedom, our liberty, our justice, our equality. We must live by those principles, but we must fight aggressively against people that would tear us down because of those principles. HEMMER: Thanks for your time. Good to speak with you, as always. Ted Olson in D.C.
OLSON: Thank you.
HEMMER: Testimony gets under way in less than two hours. We will be there. George Tenet goes today, Robert Mueller in the afternoon.
About 22 minutes now before the hour. Other news now.
Back to Iraq, and President Bush on Tuesday evening warning the American public that -- quote -- "Our work in Iraq may become more difficult before it is finished. He also went on to say that the enemies will be emboldened if the criticism just continues from this country directed overseas.
Let's talk about the future for Iraq. "Newsweek" international editor Fareed Zakaria, also author of the book, "The Future of Freedom," our guest now on AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you. Thanks for coming back here on AMERICAN MORNING.
June 30, the deadline for the handover of power, it looks like it will still stick in Iraq. Good idea or not?
FAREED ZAKARIA, "NEWSWEEK" INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: It's at this point a good idea, because we've flip-flopped so many times in Iraq that to make one more alteration in our plans doesn't make sense. The date is irrelevant.
What's important is what are we going to transfer power to? We need to make sure that we are transferring power to some kind of government that is seen by the Iraqi people as legitimate and credible. Because otherwise, June 30 will only be a date. The attacks on America will continue. The attacks that say the government is an American puppet will grow, and then we'll be in this terrible situation, which is very much like Vietnam. You are supporting a local government that doesn't have legitimacy, that doesn't have power, and it's a kind of death spiral.
HEMMER: From your perspective, you've cut this both ways. You've talked about U.S. mistakes and you've talked about the successes. And there are many, I believe you believe, on both side. The mistakes, in your opinion, are what so far?
ZAKARIA: The mistakes, unfortunately, are few, but very large. Basically, to rule a foreign country, you need power and you need legitimacy. We didn't have enough of either. We didn't have enough troops on the ground. We didn't have enough troops providing security for the Iraqi people. Our troops sit in bases rather than patrolling the streets. The Iraqis constantly complain about the lack of security.
Second, we didn't have enough legitimacy. We didn't go in realizing we're a foreign country and we're a country with -- let's face it -- an image problem in the Middle East.
HEMMER: On this same note, I've heard you say there are thousands of success stories in Iraq today.
ZAKARIA: Oh, it's extraordinary to hear and watch the successes that the American military, mostly, has been able to achieve in terms of opening schools, in terms of building bridges, but even in terms of training people for local self-government. And it's extraordinary to watch these village councils, even in places like Fallujah. But unfortunately, nation-building is about not just engineering. It's about politics. Getting the politics right is very important.
HEMMER: If Moqtoda al-Sadr is apprehended or even killed, would that forge a better future for the Iraqi people?
ZAKARIA: It depends on how it happens. Again, if it turns into a mano-a mano (ph) contest between him and the Americans, we'd probably lose, because we've elevated his status, he becomes a martyr. What needs to happen is he has to be politically-marginalized. The key in Iraq is that you can win militarily but lose politically. We've got to make sure that we politically defeat these forces. You go in guns blazing and you only increase anti-Americanism.
HEMMER: You have also been critical of the 600 dead in Fallujah. There is a theory that says after 35 years of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi people respond to force. Is that a true statement or not?
ZAKARIA: Well, I think the newspapers today have borne out my point, because the fighting in Fallujah has begun again. There are new ambushes, new attacks, helicopters down. Look, there is no case that we know of, of fighting insurgency, of fighting guerrilla warfare, where overwhelming force that is indiscriminate has worked. Because you are killing lots of people who have been emboldened, who then support the insurgency.
If you know who you are hitting, fine. Go for it. But we have hit, as far as we can tell, 600 people in retaliation for four of ours dead. We haven't got the killers. We have probably alienated whole towns, cities. That doesn't help us. That helps the insurgency, because now it has not just 600, probably 600,000 more houses to hide in, 6,000 more people who supply it with tacit support.
HEMMER: Fareed Zakaria, thanks again for coming back here. The author of the book, "The Future of Freedom." Thanks -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: A pretty incredible story of survival out of southern California. Yesterday, road workers discovered 5-year-old Ruby Bustamante (ph) alive after a terrible accident. Ruby (ph) was with her mother when their car went off a highway and plunged 400 feet into a ravine. It happened in Banning, about 70 miles east of L.A. Authorities say 26-year-old Norma Bustamante (ph) died days before. The little girl survived on dry noodles and Gatorade.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. ROBERT CLARK, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL: The small child complained of being thirsty and hungry, and the worker gave her some water and an apple. She appeared to be without injury, except maybe dehydrated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The little girl is now recovering in stable condition. She and her mother were reported missing back on April 5. We're going to have more on this story later on AMERICAN MORNING.
HEMMER: And a story that is, too.
About 18 minutes before the hour. U.S. soldiers, just hours away from coming home, get last-minute word that they are staying put for at least three months. We'll talk to a very patient Army wife back here stateside.
O'BRIEN: And it's never too young to learn when it comes to learning about money. Important financial tips for children and their parents ahead.
HEMMER: Also, it was a very long quest, 0 for 42 in fact. Phil Mickelson hasn't taken off the green jacket yet. He's our guest also this morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: When it comes to personal finance, America's youth apparently need to do their homework. In a recently-released survey, high school seniors were asked questions about economics and personal finance, and they answered only 52 percent of the questions correctly, 66 percent of the students actually failed the exam.
Our personal finance contributor, David Bach, is the author of the best seller, "The Automatic Millionaire," and he's here with some "90-Second Tips" on how we can start teaching our children some good personal finance habits.
Nice to see you, as always.
DAVID BACH, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE CONTRIBUTOR: Good to see you.
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to it. You say the most important thing actually for a parent is to teach by example. What do you mean by that specifically?
BACH: You know, as a parent, whether you're talking to your kids about money or not, they are learning from you this very moment.
And I'll give you a really good example of this. I was just recently on the "Oprah" show in January. We did makeovers for couples. And we had this one couple that was $27,000 in credit card debt. So, we went over to their house, and we got this couple to cut up their credit cards on camera, because we said, you've got to stop using these credit cards. Their 4-year-old daughter ran into the room as the mother was cutting up the credit cards and started crying. Crying. O'BRIEN: Because she understand at 4 what that meant.
BACH: Exactly. And this was an eye opener for me, because you wouldn't think a 4-year-old would understand this. And the 4-year-old said to mommy, "How are we going to go out to eat lunch every day?"
So, my point here is that whatever you do right now, your kids are learning from you. If you go to the ATM machine every single day, they're learning from you, and they're going to do the same thing. If you lease a brand new BMW every two years, guess what? When they get out of college, they want a brand new BMW. So, you teach by example.
O'BRIEN: So, then what specifically should parents be doing? I know you say involve them in the process. But what's the process exactly?
BACH: Well, here's a really simple example. Everything you do as a parent you can use as a teaching tool about money. So, let me use my grandmother for example. When I was 7 years old at McDonald's, she said, David, there's three types of people that come here: those that eat at McDonald's, those that work at McDonald's and those that own McDonald's. She said at 7 years old you can be an owner, and she proceeded to tell me how I could buy stock in McDonald's.
O'BRIEN: Do you own stock in McDonald's?
BACH: I still own that same stock. And that's how I became an investor. I tell parents, your kids are playing video games. Say to them, you know what? There's a company called Electronic Arts that makes those video games. Let's teach you how to buy stock in that company, so that when you just go out and spend your money on a video game, you're actually making money.
Again, you can teach your children about money at a very young age. Just start talking to them about what you're doing, how you pay the bills, what the mortgage costs, how you invest. And also, what did you do wrong? A lot of parents say, boy, I wish I had done this sooner. Tell your kids that. I wish, you know, mommy and daddy wished we had started saving when we were 20. It's harder now, because we waited.
O'BRIEN: A big question about allowance. My kids are 3 -- almost 4 and 2. So, when do you start giving kids allowance? And how do you use it as a teaching tool, which I know is one of your tips?
BACH: Have they asked you yet for money?
O'BRIEN: No. You know, they use money just to play with., not to really...
BACH: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I don't think they get what money is.
BACH: They're going to hit you up in about two years. So, here's... O'BRIEN: I've got time is what you're saying.
BACH: You're got time. You've got about two years. When your kids start asking you for money really is when most parents start thinking to themselves, OK, what's the allowance going to be? What I recommend to parents is that they're going to come up with allowance anyway. Let's come up with a plan on how the kids use that money.
So, I've got three envelopes here. I don't know if you can see them. But one envelope says the word -- it says the word "spend" on it. So, parents should say, look, we know you're going to spend money. Eighty percent of your money can go in this envelope. This is what you're going to spend. We want you to track it.
Then you're going to save money. Ten percent of what we give you for your allowance is going to go in this save envelope, and we're going to help you invest that.
And then 10 percent of this money is going to go to giving people money, to charities.
Now, what parents can do is once a month they can sit down with their kids and say, well, where did the 80 percent go? And I see a lot of parents today that are saying, if you put $1 in the savings envelope and you leave it there for one year, mommy and daddy will add another dollar to it. That way your kids start getting this idea, almost like a 401(k) plan, it's a parent 401(k) plan. You save some money, we'll encourage you to save some money.
O'BRIEN: And you also say start investing early.
BACH: Yes, going back to, like, for example, with my grandmother. You know, when you show your kids the compound interest factor, the miracle compound interest...
O'BRIEN: They're not going to get that when they're little.
BACH: It's really, really huge. Well, it can be really. You know, we have a chart here, if we show this example here. We're going to show you a chart of where you've got $3,000 being invested at the age of 15.
O'BRIEN: We've got Billy and Susan and Kim.
BACH: And this is just a great example for somebody going into college. So, if you saved $3,000 a year from the age of 15 to 19, and then we show Susan saving $3,000 a year from 19 to 26 and we show Kim, she waits until 27 and she saves $3,000 every single year from age 27 to 64...
O'BRIEN: So, she's 64.
BACH: Now, check this out. Billy here only saved $15,000 at a 10 percent rate of return, age 65, has $1.6 million.
O'BRIEN: Even though he stopped at 19. BACH: Isn't that amazing? Now, Kim over here at the very bottom saved $117,000 during her lifetime and only has 1.2 million. When we put these screen shots together, people from CNN called to fact-check this. They said, how can that be? Again, these are the kind of lessons when you teach your young children the miracle of compound interest, you may motivate them to start being savers in college...
O'BRIEN: Don't call it compound interest. Show them a chart is what you're saying.
BACH: Yes, exactly.
O'BRIEN: David Bach, as always, it's nice to see you. Great advice.
BACH: Thank you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you so much. Appreciate it. And David, of course, is the host of a nationally-syndicated radio show, which airs on Saturday afternoons on Sirius satellite radio, and every Wednesday you can catch him right here on AMERICAN MORNING for tips on how you can improve your financial life -- Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad, in a moment here, Amy and Phil Mickelson are still in the clouds. The secret to the success on Sunday. A bit of my chat from yesterday with the new champ and the green jacket right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Phil Mickelson and his wife, Amy, are still smiling today. Mickelson won his first green jacket Sunday in Augusta, beating Ernie Els by a single stroke.
Yesterday afternoon, he and his wife, Amy, sat down and talked about that with me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL MICKELSON, MASTERS CHAMPION: I was more relaxed. I was having fun. I was smiling. I was being what I feel was myself and enjoying the round and enjoying the day as opposed to fighting it. And I think in some of the past events that I've played where I've come close and lost by a shot or come up a little short, I felt like I was almost pressing a little too much. I wasn't enjoying it for what it was and taking advantage of the opportunity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Yes, Phil and Amy. The entire interview next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Amy says on Sunday night it was Amy, Phil and the green jacket in bed at the Mickelson home.
O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). HEMMER: And they're really charming.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I wouldn't go near that with a (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
HEMMER: I'll tell you, they have gone through so much together as a couple and as a family with a lot of loss in their own lives. It's really changed them and their outlook on life, and you'll hear about that next hour here. I asked them, I said, if the marker doesn't give you that six-inch break to give you the read on the putt, do you still make it on 18? Amy jumps in and says, yes he does. A wife and a good coach, too.
O'BRIEN: Oh, that's nice.
Hello, Jack. Do you want to talk about the question of the day?
CAFFERTY: Why sure. Why don't we do that?
O'BRIEN: Why not?
CAFFERTY: President Bush spent most of last night's press conference answering questions about Iraq, terrorism and September 11 -- or not answering them or dodging them or evading them, however you choose to interpret it.
But when it comes to elections, traditionally history suggests people vote for a candidate based on economic issues. It's all about your wallet.
If the election were held today then, what issue would be most important to you?
Doug writes: "Honesty and trust. The level of evasions, deceptions and outright lies from the Bush administration are just demoralizing. We need a fresh start."
Carol in Crossville, Tennessee: "Jack, your question is easy this morning. The answer is vote for President Bush, because he's determined and committed to winning the war on terrorism. The economy, jobs, the stock market, civil liberties, et cetera, mean nothing if we're not free and free from fear."
And Michael in Fort Lauderdale: "The economy. It's hard to get past all of the other messes Bush has made if we don't have a job. Who really worries about what's going on elsewhere if you are forced to worry about how you're going to feed your family tomorrow."
O'BRIEN: Interesting insight, and some of the questions that the viewers yesterday posed made their way into the press conference.
CAFFERTY: They did, yes. Did any of them get answered?
O'BRIEN: I heard some that weren't answered...
CAFFERTY: Yes, I did, too. O'BRIEN: ... like the one about testifying with Dick Cheney.
CAFFERTY: Well, what's up with that? The commission asked them to appear separately. They refused. And then when the reporters says, how come you can't go and talk to them by yourself, he wouldn't answer the question. He was asked it twice. And when it was pointed out that he wasn't answering the question, he still didn't answer the question.
O'BRIEN: One of the 9/11 commissioners will be on the show later them, and we're going to ask them that very question.
CAFFERTY: There you go.
O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Still to come this morning, about 90 minutes in fact from now, CIA Director George Tenet goes before that 9/11 Commission. Coming up, we'll talk to one of the men who is going to be listening very closely to what he has to say.
Stay with us. We're back in just a few moments.
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Aired April 14, 2004 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And baseball's Barry Bonds has surpassed Willie Mays on the career homerun list. Bonds hit his 661st homerun last night. Only Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron have hit more in their careers. Bonds is on pace to surpass Ruth by early next year and is only 94 homers shy of tying Aaron's record.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Another shot. They call that a splash ball out there in SBC Park.
O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
HEMMER: It used to be Pac Bell, and now it's SBC.
O'BRIEN: Right.
HEMMER: You know, they keep on changing the name in San Francisco.
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, as things change...
HEMMER: Yes, that they do.
O'BRIEN: ... economically.
HEMMER: That's true.
O'BRIEN: I used to cover those guys who are out there in their canoes.
HEMMER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: A crazy bunch of people. It's really cold there. I mean, choppy and very cold.
HEMMER: In the Bay area.
O'BRIEN: Yes, and so they're nutty.
HEMMER: And they're huge fans, too.
O'BRIEN: They think it's worth it to get the ball.
HEMMER: That's right. Barry Bonds, 661, still going.
(WEATHER BREAK) HEMMER: The 9/11 Commission, meanwhile, is convening in about two hours from now. The panel has criticized the FBI and the CIA, saying their lack of coordination played a part in the failure to uncover the attacks of 9/11. At that hearing yesterday, the attorney general, John Ashcroft, putting the blame on the years before him in the Clinton administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We did not know an attack was coming, because for nearly a decade our government had blinded itself to its enemies. Our agents were isolated by government-imposed walls, handcuffed by government-imposed restrictions, and starved for basic information technology. The old national intelligence system in place on September 11 was destined to fail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: John Ashcroft from yesterday.
U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson lost his wife, Barbara, on 9/11. She was on board the plane that crashed into the Pentagon two and a half years ago. Ted Olson live in D.C.
Nice to see you again, sir. Good morning to you.
TED OLSON, U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: Good morning to you.
HEMMER: It was a war of words and accusations yesterday, Thomas Pickard before the attorney general, saying he tried to warn John Ashcroft when he came into office there in D.C. that these threats were out there, and Ashcroft did not want to hear it. What's the truth in this, as Ashcroft comes back and says that simply was not the case?
OLSON: Well, I've worked closely with John Ashcroft over the years since I've been to this -- in this department. I can't imagine a more conscientious, thoughtful, aggressive person with respect to those matters. I can't understand what that individual was saying, but I do know that having worked closely with John Ashcroft, he has not only been concerned with terrorism and the fight against terrorism, but other crimes that hurt American people. I just don't see any basis for that accusation.
HEMMER: Knowing what we know now and looking back in hindsight, you have a very intimate position on this whole 9/11 matter because of your involvement with the government and because of your personal involvement as well. What makes you angry about what was not stopped on 9/11?
OLSON: I don't think that anger is an emotion that does any of us any good. My wife and the other individuals who lost their lives on that day, I know, would want us to prevent that kind of tragedy from occurring again. And we must look at the things that could be done better. And there's been too much of this finger-pointing and grandstanding and blame-finding. There are systems that could be improved. The attorney general mentioned several of them yesterday. Unfortunately, we had rules and restrictions that prevented our intelligence officials from talking to our law enforcement officials. That barrier has been broken down. Other barriers have been breaking down so that we can fight terrorism effectively.
Anger is not what we should be dealing with. We should be trying to be constructive to save people's lives in the future.
HEMMER: I know you were in the room yesterday for John Ashcroft. I don't know if you were in the room when Ambassador Cofer Black spoke yesterday. Listen to what he said, in part an apology, in yesterday's testimony.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMB. J. COFER BLACK, FORMER DIRECTOR, CIA COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: We are profoundly sorry. We did all we could. We did our best. And they said make them understand how few we were and what we had to deal with. The shortage of money and people seriously hurt our operations and analysis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: If you could, take the beginning of that statement. How does that speak to you?
OLSON: I think that this business of apology and attempting to find blame when it would have been very, as we know, extraordinarily difficult to connect remote, disparate pieces of information to connect what was happening. I -- there's too much playing to the cameras going on and not enough concentration on the things that can be done in the future.
I know that the president and the attorney general and the other members of this administration are working constructively, not only to develop the resources, but the systems and the cooperation that's necessary to learn the information and then interdict the terrorists before they can strike America again. We know that the planning is in operation to try to do damage to American people and other people throughout the world again. This administration is working extremely hard to prevent that from happening wherever the threats occur, and that's what we should be focusing on.
HEMMER: And finally, if I could. Speaking as an American, what's not been answered for you?
OLSON: I don't know how to answer that question. I think that when a tragedy occurs, people have a tendency to look around and try to say, well, someone should have done something differently. We have to focus on the future. We have to make sure that we understand that terrorisms despise everything about America -- our freedom, our liberty, our justice, our equality. We must live by those principles, but we must fight aggressively against people that would tear us down because of those principles. HEMMER: Thanks for your time. Good to speak with you, as always. Ted Olson in D.C.
OLSON: Thank you.
HEMMER: Testimony gets under way in less than two hours. We will be there. George Tenet goes today, Robert Mueller in the afternoon.
About 22 minutes now before the hour. Other news now.
Back to Iraq, and President Bush on Tuesday evening warning the American public that -- quote -- "Our work in Iraq may become more difficult before it is finished. He also went on to say that the enemies will be emboldened if the criticism just continues from this country directed overseas.
Let's talk about the future for Iraq. "Newsweek" international editor Fareed Zakaria, also author of the book, "The Future of Freedom," our guest now on AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you. Thanks for coming back here on AMERICAN MORNING.
June 30, the deadline for the handover of power, it looks like it will still stick in Iraq. Good idea or not?
FAREED ZAKARIA, "NEWSWEEK" INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: It's at this point a good idea, because we've flip-flopped so many times in Iraq that to make one more alteration in our plans doesn't make sense. The date is irrelevant.
What's important is what are we going to transfer power to? We need to make sure that we are transferring power to some kind of government that is seen by the Iraqi people as legitimate and credible. Because otherwise, June 30 will only be a date. The attacks on America will continue. The attacks that say the government is an American puppet will grow, and then we'll be in this terrible situation, which is very much like Vietnam. You are supporting a local government that doesn't have legitimacy, that doesn't have power, and it's a kind of death spiral.
HEMMER: From your perspective, you've cut this both ways. You've talked about U.S. mistakes and you've talked about the successes. And there are many, I believe you believe, on both side. The mistakes, in your opinion, are what so far?
ZAKARIA: The mistakes, unfortunately, are few, but very large. Basically, to rule a foreign country, you need power and you need legitimacy. We didn't have enough of either. We didn't have enough troops on the ground. We didn't have enough troops providing security for the Iraqi people. Our troops sit in bases rather than patrolling the streets. The Iraqis constantly complain about the lack of security.
Second, we didn't have enough legitimacy. We didn't go in realizing we're a foreign country and we're a country with -- let's face it -- an image problem in the Middle East.
HEMMER: On this same note, I've heard you say there are thousands of success stories in Iraq today.
ZAKARIA: Oh, it's extraordinary to hear and watch the successes that the American military, mostly, has been able to achieve in terms of opening schools, in terms of building bridges, but even in terms of training people for local self-government. And it's extraordinary to watch these village councils, even in places like Fallujah. But unfortunately, nation-building is about not just engineering. It's about politics. Getting the politics right is very important.
HEMMER: If Moqtoda al-Sadr is apprehended or even killed, would that forge a better future for the Iraqi people?
ZAKARIA: It depends on how it happens. Again, if it turns into a mano-a mano (ph) contest between him and the Americans, we'd probably lose, because we've elevated his status, he becomes a martyr. What needs to happen is he has to be politically-marginalized. The key in Iraq is that you can win militarily but lose politically. We've got to make sure that we politically defeat these forces. You go in guns blazing and you only increase anti-Americanism.
HEMMER: You have also been critical of the 600 dead in Fallujah. There is a theory that says after 35 years of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi people respond to force. Is that a true statement or not?
ZAKARIA: Well, I think the newspapers today have borne out my point, because the fighting in Fallujah has begun again. There are new ambushes, new attacks, helicopters down. Look, there is no case that we know of, of fighting insurgency, of fighting guerrilla warfare, where overwhelming force that is indiscriminate has worked. Because you are killing lots of people who have been emboldened, who then support the insurgency.
If you know who you are hitting, fine. Go for it. But we have hit, as far as we can tell, 600 people in retaliation for four of ours dead. We haven't got the killers. We have probably alienated whole towns, cities. That doesn't help us. That helps the insurgency, because now it has not just 600, probably 600,000 more houses to hide in, 6,000 more people who supply it with tacit support.
HEMMER: Fareed Zakaria, thanks again for coming back here. The author of the book, "The Future of Freedom." Thanks -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: A pretty incredible story of survival out of southern California. Yesterday, road workers discovered 5-year-old Ruby Bustamante (ph) alive after a terrible accident. Ruby (ph) was with her mother when their car went off a highway and plunged 400 feet into a ravine. It happened in Banning, about 70 miles east of L.A. Authorities say 26-year-old Norma Bustamante (ph) died days before. The little girl survived on dry noodles and Gatorade.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. ROBERT CLARK, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL: The small child complained of being thirsty and hungry, and the worker gave her some water and an apple. She appeared to be without injury, except maybe dehydrated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The little girl is now recovering in stable condition. She and her mother were reported missing back on April 5. We're going to have more on this story later on AMERICAN MORNING.
HEMMER: And a story that is, too.
About 18 minutes before the hour. U.S. soldiers, just hours away from coming home, get last-minute word that they are staying put for at least three months. We'll talk to a very patient Army wife back here stateside.
O'BRIEN: And it's never too young to learn when it comes to learning about money. Important financial tips for children and their parents ahead.
HEMMER: Also, it was a very long quest, 0 for 42 in fact. Phil Mickelson hasn't taken off the green jacket yet. He's our guest also this morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: When it comes to personal finance, America's youth apparently need to do their homework. In a recently-released survey, high school seniors were asked questions about economics and personal finance, and they answered only 52 percent of the questions correctly, 66 percent of the students actually failed the exam.
Our personal finance contributor, David Bach, is the author of the best seller, "The Automatic Millionaire," and he's here with some "90-Second Tips" on how we can start teaching our children some good personal finance habits.
Nice to see you, as always.
DAVID BACH, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE CONTRIBUTOR: Good to see you.
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to it. You say the most important thing actually for a parent is to teach by example. What do you mean by that specifically?
BACH: You know, as a parent, whether you're talking to your kids about money or not, they are learning from you this very moment.
And I'll give you a really good example of this. I was just recently on the "Oprah" show in January. We did makeovers for couples. And we had this one couple that was $27,000 in credit card debt. So, we went over to their house, and we got this couple to cut up their credit cards on camera, because we said, you've got to stop using these credit cards. Their 4-year-old daughter ran into the room as the mother was cutting up the credit cards and started crying. Crying. O'BRIEN: Because she understand at 4 what that meant.
BACH: Exactly. And this was an eye opener for me, because you wouldn't think a 4-year-old would understand this. And the 4-year-old said to mommy, "How are we going to go out to eat lunch every day?"
So, my point here is that whatever you do right now, your kids are learning from you. If you go to the ATM machine every single day, they're learning from you, and they're going to do the same thing. If you lease a brand new BMW every two years, guess what? When they get out of college, they want a brand new BMW. So, you teach by example.
O'BRIEN: So, then what specifically should parents be doing? I know you say involve them in the process. But what's the process exactly?
BACH: Well, here's a really simple example. Everything you do as a parent you can use as a teaching tool about money. So, let me use my grandmother for example. When I was 7 years old at McDonald's, she said, David, there's three types of people that come here: those that eat at McDonald's, those that work at McDonald's and those that own McDonald's. She said at 7 years old you can be an owner, and she proceeded to tell me how I could buy stock in McDonald's.
O'BRIEN: Do you own stock in McDonald's?
BACH: I still own that same stock. And that's how I became an investor. I tell parents, your kids are playing video games. Say to them, you know what? There's a company called Electronic Arts that makes those video games. Let's teach you how to buy stock in that company, so that when you just go out and spend your money on a video game, you're actually making money.
Again, you can teach your children about money at a very young age. Just start talking to them about what you're doing, how you pay the bills, what the mortgage costs, how you invest. And also, what did you do wrong? A lot of parents say, boy, I wish I had done this sooner. Tell your kids that. I wish, you know, mommy and daddy wished we had started saving when we were 20. It's harder now, because we waited.
O'BRIEN: A big question about allowance. My kids are 3 -- almost 4 and 2. So, when do you start giving kids allowance? And how do you use it as a teaching tool, which I know is one of your tips?
BACH: Have they asked you yet for money?
O'BRIEN: No. You know, they use money just to play with., not to really...
BACH: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I don't think they get what money is.
BACH: They're going to hit you up in about two years. So, here's... O'BRIEN: I've got time is what you're saying.
BACH: You're got time. You've got about two years. When your kids start asking you for money really is when most parents start thinking to themselves, OK, what's the allowance going to be? What I recommend to parents is that they're going to come up with allowance anyway. Let's come up with a plan on how the kids use that money.
So, I've got three envelopes here. I don't know if you can see them. But one envelope says the word -- it says the word "spend" on it. So, parents should say, look, we know you're going to spend money. Eighty percent of your money can go in this envelope. This is what you're going to spend. We want you to track it.
Then you're going to save money. Ten percent of what we give you for your allowance is going to go in this save envelope, and we're going to help you invest that.
And then 10 percent of this money is going to go to giving people money, to charities.
Now, what parents can do is once a month they can sit down with their kids and say, well, where did the 80 percent go? And I see a lot of parents today that are saying, if you put $1 in the savings envelope and you leave it there for one year, mommy and daddy will add another dollar to it. That way your kids start getting this idea, almost like a 401(k) plan, it's a parent 401(k) plan. You save some money, we'll encourage you to save some money.
O'BRIEN: And you also say start investing early.
BACH: Yes, going back to, like, for example, with my grandmother. You know, when you show your kids the compound interest factor, the miracle compound interest...
O'BRIEN: They're not going to get that when they're little.
BACH: It's really, really huge. Well, it can be really. You know, we have a chart here, if we show this example here. We're going to show you a chart of where you've got $3,000 being invested at the age of 15.
O'BRIEN: We've got Billy and Susan and Kim.
BACH: And this is just a great example for somebody going into college. So, if you saved $3,000 a year from the age of 15 to 19, and then we show Susan saving $3,000 a year from 19 to 26 and we show Kim, she waits until 27 and she saves $3,000 every single year from age 27 to 64...
O'BRIEN: So, she's 64.
BACH: Now, check this out. Billy here only saved $15,000 at a 10 percent rate of return, age 65, has $1.6 million.
O'BRIEN: Even though he stopped at 19. BACH: Isn't that amazing? Now, Kim over here at the very bottom saved $117,000 during her lifetime and only has 1.2 million. When we put these screen shots together, people from CNN called to fact-check this. They said, how can that be? Again, these are the kind of lessons when you teach your young children the miracle of compound interest, you may motivate them to start being savers in college...
O'BRIEN: Don't call it compound interest. Show them a chart is what you're saying.
BACH: Yes, exactly.
O'BRIEN: David Bach, as always, it's nice to see you. Great advice.
BACH: Thank you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you so much. Appreciate it. And David, of course, is the host of a nationally-syndicated radio show, which airs on Saturday afternoons on Sirius satellite radio, and every Wednesday you can catch him right here on AMERICAN MORNING for tips on how you can improve your financial life -- Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad, in a moment here, Amy and Phil Mickelson are still in the clouds. The secret to the success on Sunday. A bit of my chat from yesterday with the new champ and the green jacket right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Phil Mickelson and his wife, Amy, are still smiling today. Mickelson won his first green jacket Sunday in Augusta, beating Ernie Els by a single stroke.
Yesterday afternoon, he and his wife, Amy, sat down and talked about that with me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL MICKELSON, MASTERS CHAMPION: I was more relaxed. I was having fun. I was smiling. I was being what I feel was myself and enjoying the round and enjoying the day as opposed to fighting it. And I think in some of the past events that I've played where I've come close and lost by a shot or come up a little short, I felt like I was almost pressing a little too much. I wasn't enjoying it for what it was and taking advantage of the opportunity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Yes, Phil and Amy. The entire interview next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Amy says on Sunday night it was Amy, Phil and the green jacket in bed at the Mickelson home.
O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). HEMMER: And they're really charming.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I wouldn't go near that with a (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
HEMMER: I'll tell you, they have gone through so much together as a couple and as a family with a lot of loss in their own lives. It's really changed them and their outlook on life, and you'll hear about that next hour here. I asked them, I said, if the marker doesn't give you that six-inch break to give you the read on the putt, do you still make it on 18? Amy jumps in and says, yes he does. A wife and a good coach, too.
O'BRIEN: Oh, that's nice.
Hello, Jack. Do you want to talk about the question of the day?
CAFFERTY: Why sure. Why don't we do that?
O'BRIEN: Why not?
CAFFERTY: President Bush spent most of last night's press conference answering questions about Iraq, terrorism and September 11 -- or not answering them or dodging them or evading them, however you choose to interpret it.
But when it comes to elections, traditionally history suggests people vote for a candidate based on economic issues. It's all about your wallet.
If the election were held today then, what issue would be most important to you?
Doug writes: "Honesty and trust. The level of evasions, deceptions and outright lies from the Bush administration are just demoralizing. We need a fresh start."
Carol in Crossville, Tennessee: "Jack, your question is easy this morning. The answer is vote for President Bush, because he's determined and committed to winning the war on terrorism. The economy, jobs, the stock market, civil liberties, et cetera, mean nothing if we're not free and free from fear."
And Michael in Fort Lauderdale: "The economy. It's hard to get past all of the other messes Bush has made if we don't have a job. Who really worries about what's going on elsewhere if you are forced to worry about how you're going to feed your family tomorrow."
O'BRIEN: Interesting insight, and some of the questions that the viewers yesterday posed made their way into the press conference.
CAFFERTY: They did, yes. Did any of them get answered?
O'BRIEN: I heard some that weren't answered...
CAFFERTY: Yes, I did, too. O'BRIEN: ... like the one about testifying with Dick Cheney.
CAFFERTY: Well, what's up with that? The commission asked them to appear separately. They refused. And then when the reporters says, how come you can't go and talk to them by yourself, he wouldn't answer the question. He was asked it twice. And when it was pointed out that he wasn't answering the question, he still didn't answer the question.
O'BRIEN: One of the 9/11 commissioners will be on the show later them, and we're going to ask them that very question.
CAFFERTY: There you go.
O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Still to come this morning, about 90 minutes in fact from now, CIA Director George Tenet goes before that 9/11 Commission. Coming up, we'll talk to one of the men who is going to be listening very closely to what he has to say.
Stay with us. We're back in just a few moments.
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