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American Morning
Beheading of Nicholas Berg; What It's Like to Chase Tornadoes
Aired May 14, 2004 - 08:00 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The terrorist connection for American Nick Berg before he went to Iraq -- why the FBI investigated a link between him and Zacarias Moussaoui.
Also, working for Halliburton overseas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There'll be others. I just hope I'm not one of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Families making hard choices between the danger and a better paycheck.
And going after that tornado like you were hunting big game. We'll talk to a storm chaser who bagged a major one in Kansas, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Welcome back, everybody.
Other stories that we're following this morning, the pill that can counter people's deepest fears, believe it or not.
Sanjay Gupta is coming up in just a little bit. He's found an interesting program where pharmaceuticals are used to help people get over their fear of heights and other phobias.
HEMMER: Also, a study all of us will be lucky to be part of. Scientists looking to find a true link between money and happiness.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's easy.
HEMMER: Is it here?
Yes, how's that?
CAFFERTY: Who was it? W....
O'BRIEN: It's not what you think.
CAFFERTY: W.C. Fields said, "I've been rich and I've been poor and on the whole, I'd rather be rich." It's fairly simple.
Coming up in the Cafferty File, now picture this. You're on one of those long transoceanic flights. The plane is absolutely full, not an empty seat anywhere. And the person in the seat next to you dies. What happens then?
And more video of why sometimes teenage girls and automobiles are just a bad idea. I know, I've got four daughters.
HEMMER: Yes, you do.
CAFFERTY: Yes, I do.
HEMMER: Do you get more frequent flier points for that then, what?
CAFFERTY: For what? If you die?
HEMMER: No, if you're sitting next to the person who dies.
O'BRIEN: If you die. If the guy next to you dies.
CAFFERTY: Hmmm?
HEMMER: Look into it.
CAFFERTY: Yes, I think this is yours.
HEMMER: Thank you, baby.
CAFFERTY: Thanks for loaning it to me.
HEMMER: It'll be over here when you need it.
O'BRIEN: Oh, it's going to be a long Friday, isn't it?
CAFFERTY: It already is.
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to our top stories this morning.
The U.S. has freed more than 300 Iraqi prisoners from Abu Ghraib Prison. It is the first mass release since images of abuse surfaced several weeks ago. It also comes one day after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld toured the Baghdad area facility. Secretary Rumsfeld met with Iraqi officials and rallied U.S. troops there, telling them we'll get through the scandal. Rumsfeld is now back in the U.S.
Israel has demolished dozens of Palestinian homes in southern Gaza. Israeli officials say that buildings were bulldozed for security reasons. At least five Israeli soldiers died in a convoy attack this week in the area between Gaza's Rafah refugee camp and the Egyptian border. A source says Israel will compensate residents whose homes are demolished in the operation.
Secretary of State Colin Powell says he plans to reassure Arabs that the U.S. is committed to Arab-Israeli peace. Secretary Powell is expected to meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia this weekend in Jordan. The meeting comes weeks after President Bush supported an unpopular plan for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, orchestrated by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
To Cuba now, where thousands of people in Havana protesting new U.S. measures aimed at squeezing the island's economy. Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro, has been speaking to the huge crowd. Of course, his speeches tend to go on for hours and, of course, these sorts of things are state sponsored events, meaning that the bulk of the people there really didn't have much of a choice about whether they would attend or not. Hence, often explaining the large numbers.
Fidel Castro is speaking live there right now.
And to northern Minnesota. It appears that residents are actually winning the battle against floodwaters today. That's good news. Armed with sandbags, the residents have frantically been working to hold off the floodwaters from the Roseau River. Heavy rains had swollen the river to a crest level of just about 20 feet.
HEMMER: I'll tell you, this time of the year you never know what's going to pop up and when. It's that kind of weather out there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Nicholas Berg, the American beheaded by terrorists, will be remembered today in a private memorial. That's in his hometown of Westchester, Pennsylvania. Understandably, his family deep in anguish still, and making pointed accusations at the Bush administration.
Maria Hinojosa is there again this morning for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Berg faces every parent's worst nightmare -- preparing a funeral for his son. But after days in seclusion, a father in mourning speaks. No tears, just anger.
MICHAEL BERG, NICHOLAS BERG'S FATHER: Nicholas Berg died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. The al Qaeda people are probably just as bad as they are.
HINOJOSA: His son, he says, supported the war, supported President Bush. Father and son, he said, on opposite ends of the political spectrum. BERG: I would like to ask George Bush a question. I would like to ask him if it's true that al Qaeda offered to trade my son's life for the life of another person? And if that is true, I need that information.
HINOJOSA: Meanwhile, more questions about who detained Nick Berg and why, and if the U.S. could have done more to protect him. CNN spoke to the Iraqi police chief in Mosul, who confirmed Berg had been detained, but within hours had been handed over to the U.S. military. That in direct conflict with statements from the FBI, which denies Berg was ever in U.S. custody, and with statements made by the coalition spokesman Wednesday.
And the Berg family provided the Associated Press an e-mail from Beth Payne, a U.S. consular officer in Iraq, saying, "I have confirmed that your son Nick is being detained by the U.S. military in Mosul. He is safe. He was picked up approximately one week ago."
People who saw Berg in Baghdad after he was released from detention but before he disappeared say Berg told them he was handed over to U.S. forces by the Iraqi police.
Throughout the day in Berg's hometown, reminders of grief and a father who said his son wanted to see the good in all people. BERG: The al Qaeda that killed my son didn't know what they were doing. They killed their best friend. Nick was there to build Iraq, not to tear it down. He was there to help people, not to hurt anyone.
HINOJOSA (on camera): The Berg family will hold a private funeral for relatives today and then, at a memorial, a chance for friends to say a final good-bye.
Maria Hinojosa, CNN, Westchester, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Clearly, the anguish continues, as it has every day this week for that family.
A strange twist in the Nick Berg story today to talk about, too. Government sources have told CNN that Berg had an encounter with terrorists in Oklahoma back in 1999. It involved an acquaintance of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person publicly charged in the U.S. in connection with the attacks of 9/11.
Berg's father admits that his son once had a chance meeting with terrorists on a bus in Oklahoma. But he said the FBI investigated the matter more than a year ago. He stresses that his son was in no way connected to the terrorists -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: The CIA says that there was a high probability that Nicholas Berg's murder was carried out by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of an Islamist terrorist group that the U.S. says has close ties to Osama bin Laden. Agents made their determination by analyzing the video and the voice of one of the captors who read a statement just before the beheading.
Earlier this morning, I spoke to the author of "Inside al Qaeda," Rohan Gunaratna, and he is of the Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore.
And I asked him if he agrees with the assessment that Berg's murder was carried out by Zarqawi in that one video.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROHAN GUNARATNA, AUTHOR, "INSIDE AL QAEDA: Whether it is Zarqawi's voice or not, what really matters is that the tape says that, the tape refers to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. And we know that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a man who is capable of doing this kind of operation. He's in the same league as that of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. And we know that in the past, the Arab Mujahedeen have conducted this type of beheading.
So it does not surprise us that this is the work of either al Qaeda, al Qaeda associate organizations such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
O'BRIEN: In that horrible videotape where we see the beheading of Nicholas Berg, in the statement, one person says that the murder is a response to the torture of some of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison. This is a group that has never before needed, necessarily, a reason.
So do you believe what they're saying? Do you agree with the statement that it's retaliation for prisoner abuse? Or do you think that's essentially an excuse?
GUNARATNA: It is an excuse, but at the same time you must realize that revenge and retaliation are the tit for tat tactic is clearly an Islamist group. It is the Islamist mind set that we will seek revenge.
But more than that, the perpetrators of this crime, they are trying to, in many ways, justify their actions by referring to the events of the Abu Ghraib Prison.
O'BRIEN: Before I let you go, I want to ask you a little bit about how the story of the beheading of Nicholas Berg is playing in the Arab media, because, of course, the prison scandal is huge news. But actually, many papers have not even reported the beheading of Nicholas Berg.
Why is that?
GUNARATNA: It is because the Arab media will take more time to actually even refer to this particular beheading. And it is important for the Western countries, for the Western governments, to ensure that the Arab media carries this video, because it is important for there to be a balance of news. Otherwise, the Arab press will merely be a propaganda organ of what happened in the Abu Ghraib Prison.
It is important for the Arab media, also, to highlight that it is routine in the Middle East for there to be torture and for there to be humiliation, the type of images that we have seen in Abu Ghraib Prison. But at the same time, it is the duty of the Arab media to carry that -- the beheading of this Western hostage, because they must exactly know the true face of these violent Islamist groups that are currently active in Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: That was Rohan Gunaratna.
He is the author of "Inside al Qaeda" -- Bill. HEMMER: American soldiers headed for Iraq get their military training in this country then say good-bye to their families. It is no different for the civilians who work for Halliburton and subsidiaries. They get their training and say their goodbyes.
In Texas for us on this story is Susan Candiotti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another day, another busload of civilian workers getting ready to leave for a year of living dangerously in Iraq. The last thing each is given on the way out the door a bulletproof vest. For labor foreman Kevin Kibedo (ph), a stark reminder four colleagues at Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root, already have been killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry this happened, you know, and there will be others and I just hope I'm not one of them.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Kevin, why did you decide to take the job?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know there's money in it. I've missed some work. The economy has been bad.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): The money is good. By law the first $80,000 a year overseas is tax free. The job comes with death benefits too, a promise of lifetime payments for surviving spouses.
(on camera): How do you plan to protect yourself?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay with a lot of people, I believe, and pray, you know, because I'm not going over there for no adventure, you know.
CANDIOTTI: Right behind them two more classes going through survival training. This day's lesson gas masks and chemical suits.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never been separated like this before.
CANDIOTTI: But for Vergie (ph), no protection from heartache.
(on camera): When she came to you and said I'm going what did you say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, you're not. I'll kidnap you. I'll lock you up.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Outside, two busses are waiting, one for Iraq, another for Afghanistan. It will be four months before this couple sees each other again, from Vergie, one promise.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll be back.
CANDIOTTI: Susan Candiotti, CNN, Houston. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: One other note on this story to give you an idea just how big this company is. Halliburton and subsidiaries employ more than 100,000 people in more than 120 countries worldwide, including those combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, forget winning the lottery. Science says you might be happier, believe it or not, without it. Yes, right. We take a look at that.
HEMMER: Also, chasing the storm camera in hand -- amazing videotape and the man who goes after them, next live here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: When a series of tornadoes touched down in Kansas this past week, photographer Mike Phelps had Mother Nature right where he wanted. Phelps chases storms for a living and he caught three of them on Wednesday night.
Mike Phelps is with us today from Wichita, Kansas, talking about what it's like to capture the twisters on tape.
Good morning to you, Mike.
And some really incredible videotape, too.
MIKE PHELPS, EXTREME WEATHER PHOTOGRAPHER: Good morning.
HEMMER: Take me back near the town of Attica.
What did you see on Wednesday night?
PHELPS: Well, Wednesday night, about eight o'clock, we were about a mile east of the town of Attica. And we watched the formation of this tornado to the west or to the south, I should say, southwest of Attica. And it started out as a small dust swirl in a farm field, very innocuous, nothing much going on there, just some weak circulation. But over about the next 10 minutes, as this tornado slowly moved toward the town, it grew and grew and grew in size and it became a monster and went right through a portion of Attica and did quite a bit of damage.
In fact, it's been rated as F2 on the Fujida Scale, which is the scale we rate tornadoes, which means its wind speeds were over 113 miles an hour.
HEMMER: You don't need me to tell you it's just absolutely extraordinary to watch this videotape. I have to think that every twister is unique in a way.
PHELPS: Yes, it really is.
HEMMER: What was unique about these twisters on Wednesday? PHELPS: Well, what was interesting about this set up is it wasn't the classic set up for tornadoes. It was in a very small area where all the right ingredients came together and it was in extreme south-central Kansas, right along the northern border of Oklahoma in extreme southern Kansas. And only just a few counties where these perfect ingredients came together to produce these tornadoes.
Now, they started out really high based and very weak. But as these storms moved into deeper moisture, went from upper 50 to low 60 dew points into dew points that were closer to 70, they had a lot more fuel to work with and they just went nuts for about two hours when they hit that moisture.
HEMMER: Two questions...
PHELPS: And then once the sun went down --
HEMMER: I apologize for the interruption.
PHELPS: Yes?
HEMMER: How close were you and have you ever miscalculated on the distance you need to stay safe?
PHELPS: Never miscalculated. We were, at this situation with the Attica tornado, we were about a mile east, a very safe distance from a tornado. Other tornadoes that day, we were within about a half mile of. But I've never miscalculated the situation in terms of where to position.
Now, what worries me when I'm out there a lot of times is one of these tornadoes going from, say, just a very small tornado to a very large tornado in a short amount of time and encompassing me. So what I try to do myself is try to stay at least a mile away from the tornado. I feel that is a safe distance. Other storm chasers, other people try to get a lot closer. I try to stay a mile because sometimes these things can max out and catch you by surprise.
HEMMER: Some of the videotape we're watching now shows a house under construction just being ripped up from its foundation and tossed into the wind.
PHELPS: Yes. Unbelievable.
HEMMER: My friend Chad Myers tells me, our own meteorologist here at AMERICAN MORNING, we were talking earlier today about this segment, Mike, and to be honest with you, there was one question that we both had in mind here. The fact that you're going out and chasing these storms, is this giving others the idea, amateurs, more courage to chase them on their own? And that is a good thing or a safe thing?
PHELPS: It's, well, you know what? To be honest with you, Bill, it depends on how it's represented in the media. What we do is science. What I do, I am a meteorologist in addition to an extreme weather photographer. And what I do is I document these storms for research and also to educate the public on their dangers and just how bad they can be.
Now, when you have Hollywood and other places glorifying it and making it appear to be something that it's really not, that's where you get the general public going out there and trying to emulate what they're seeing. And that's when you get into trouble.
If anybody is going to do this, they need the proper training. They need to first go out with an experienced storm chaser many, many times before they do it on their own. It's an extremely dangerous thing to do on your own.
HEMMER: I certainly respect that answer.
You stay safe out there, OK?
And job well done, Mike.
PHELPS: I sure will.
HEMMER: All right, Mike Phelps, an extreme weather photographer out of Wichita this morning.
PHELPS: Thank you very much.
HEMMER: The season is still under way -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, is there a link between Nicholas Berg's murder and a suspected 9/11 terrorist? We'll take a closer look at that this morning.
And, also, with all the graphic images of war on television, how do you talk to your children about it all?
Those stories are ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues right after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: As a token of our appreciation, we're going to give this pen back to Jack for the Question of the Day.
Thank you, buddy -- good morning.
CAFFERTY: Good morning.
What a week it's been. The war in Iraq, the prisoner scandal, the decapitation murder. We've got gas prices at levels we've never seen them before and no signs they're coming down. The stock market is not doing well. It just goes on and on. "Friends" is over. "Frasier" is gone forever. I mean how are we going to go on here? This is not the current events we used to read about in our "Weekly Readers."
So the question we're asking this morning is what do you do to escape the horror of today's headlines? And a guy named Tazewell writes from Columbia, South Carolina: "I'm going to get on my sailboat in Charleston Harbor, leave my cell phone in the car, sail out to Fort Sumter, anchor for two days and nights, fish, converse with Jack Daniels at sunset and forget the world for two days."
Boy voyage, Jack.
A note to you, Tazewell. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is having a wedding down there in Fort Charles.
HEMMER: He is.
CAFFERTY: And...
O'BRIEN: Surrounded by CNN.
CAFFERTY: Yes. And my friend Bill Hemmer will be there, too. So be careful where you anchor that sailboat.
HEMMER: I'm thinking about getting on that boat, actually.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Especially at sunset. Watch for these guys at sunset. That would be a bad time. They'll get right on there and steal your Jack Daniels.
Bill Kay in North Bay, Ontario: "How do I escape the horror of today's headlines? Just like John Kerry's daughter does. I fly off to the Cannes Film Festival in my private Gulfstream jet. Doesn't absolutely everyone who's anyone?"
Jeff in Princeton, New Jersey: "I sit on a couch with my wife. We watch all the reality shows to take us away from the reality."
Patti in Zelienople, Pennsylvania -- Patti, if you're going to continue to write to us, move to Pittsburgh. I can't say this name. "I sit outside in the sun. I play with my old dog and I thank god I'm still alive and the sun is still shining."
And Virginia in Galloway, New Jersey: "To escape the images of the war, I close the door to my kids' room and I turn on CNN to see what's going on. The real war is raising five little soldiers and cleaning up their room. Can you send in some backup mothers to help me out?
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HEMMER: Right.
O'BRIEN: You've got it, girl. When do you want me there?
HEMMER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: This weekend, "In The Money," the devastating photos of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners shocked the world. It leads some to ask does war cause otherwise good people to do some bad things? We're going to talk to a world renowned psychiatrist about this issue on "In The Money," Saturday at 1:00, Sunday at 3:00. Hope you'll join us. There you go again. Can't escape the headlines.
HEMMER: Right.
Jim Lehrer told Wolf the other day, he said in 40 years of journalism, it's the first time he could remember when there was breaking news he did not run to turn the TV on.
CAFFERTY: Yes?
HEMMER: It says quite a bit, I think.
CAFFERTY: Did he miss -- he must have missed some of the things, like WWII and some of that stuff. I mean, you know, this -- it's bad, but I mean it's been bad before and it will get bad again.
HEMMER: Very true. Very true.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
In a moment here, John Kerry campaigning across the South. Some critics say he needs to change his focus and his topic on the stump. What do you think? Our Give Me A Minute panel weighs in on that and a few other things, in a moment, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired May 14, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The terrorist connection for American Nick Berg before he went to Iraq -- why the FBI investigated a link between him and Zacarias Moussaoui.
Also, working for Halliburton overseas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There'll be others. I just hope I'm not one of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Families making hard choices between the danger and a better paycheck.
And going after that tornado like you were hunting big game. We'll talk to a storm chaser who bagged a major one in Kansas, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Welcome back, everybody.
Other stories that we're following this morning, the pill that can counter people's deepest fears, believe it or not.
Sanjay Gupta is coming up in just a little bit. He's found an interesting program where pharmaceuticals are used to help people get over their fear of heights and other phobias.
HEMMER: Also, a study all of us will be lucky to be part of. Scientists looking to find a true link between money and happiness.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's easy.
HEMMER: Is it here?
Yes, how's that?
CAFFERTY: Who was it? W....
O'BRIEN: It's not what you think.
CAFFERTY: W.C. Fields said, "I've been rich and I've been poor and on the whole, I'd rather be rich." It's fairly simple.
Coming up in the Cafferty File, now picture this. You're on one of those long transoceanic flights. The plane is absolutely full, not an empty seat anywhere. And the person in the seat next to you dies. What happens then?
And more video of why sometimes teenage girls and automobiles are just a bad idea. I know, I've got four daughters.
HEMMER: Yes, you do.
CAFFERTY: Yes, I do.
HEMMER: Do you get more frequent flier points for that then, what?
CAFFERTY: For what? If you die?
HEMMER: No, if you're sitting next to the person who dies.
O'BRIEN: If you die. If the guy next to you dies.
CAFFERTY: Hmmm?
HEMMER: Look into it.
CAFFERTY: Yes, I think this is yours.
HEMMER: Thank you, baby.
CAFFERTY: Thanks for loaning it to me.
HEMMER: It'll be over here when you need it.
O'BRIEN: Oh, it's going to be a long Friday, isn't it?
CAFFERTY: It already is.
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to our top stories this morning.
The U.S. has freed more than 300 Iraqi prisoners from Abu Ghraib Prison. It is the first mass release since images of abuse surfaced several weeks ago. It also comes one day after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld toured the Baghdad area facility. Secretary Rumsfeld met with Iraqi officials and rallied U.S. troops there, telling them we'll get through the scandal. Rumsfeld is now back in the U.S.
Israel has demolished dozens of Palestinian homes in southern Gaza. Israeli officials say that buildings were bulldozed for security reasons. At least five Israeli soldiers died in a convoy attack this week in the area between Gaza's Rafah refugee camp and the Egyptian border. A source says Israel will compensate residents whose homes are demolished in the operation.
Secretary of State Colin Powell says he plans to reassure Arabs that the U.S. is committed to Arab-Israeli peace. Secretary Powell is expected to meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia this weekend in Jordan. The meeting comes weeks after President Bush supported an unpopular plan for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, orchestrated by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
To Cuba now, where thousands of people in Havana protesting new U.S. measures aimed at squeezing the island's economy. Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro, has been speaking to the huge crowd. Of course, his speeches tend to go on for hours and, of course, these sorts of things are state sponsored events, meaning that the bulk of the people there really didn't have much of a choice about whether they would attend or not. Hence, often explaining the large numbers.
Fidel Castro is speaking live there right now.
And to northern Minnesota. It appears that residents are actually winning the battle against floodwaters today. That's good news. Armed with sandbags, the residents have frantically been working to hold off the floodwaters from the Roseau River. Heavy rains had swollen the river to a crest level of just about 20 feet.
HEMMER: I'll tell you, this time of the year you never know what's going to pop up and when. It's that kind of weather out there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Nicholas Berg, the American beheaded by terrorists, will be remembered today in a private memorial. That's in his hometown of Westchester, Pennsylvania. Understandably, his family deep in anguish still, and making pointed accusations at the Bush administration.
Maria Hinojosa is there again this morning for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Berg faces every parent's worst nightmare -- preparing a funeral for his son. But after days in seclusion, a father in mourning speaks. No tears, just anger.
MICHAEL BERG, NICHOLAS BERG'S FATHER: Nicholas Berg died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. The al Qaeda people are probably just as bad as they are.
HINOJOSA: His son, he says, supported the war, supported President Bush. Father and son, he said, on opposite ends of the political spectrum. BERG: I would like to ask George Bush a question. I would like to ask him if it's true that al Qaeda offered to trade my son's life for the life of another person? And if that is true, I need that information.
HINOJOSA: Meanwhile, more questions about who detained Nick Berg and why, and if the U.S. could have done more to protect him. CNN spoke to the Iraqi police chief in Mosul, who confirmed Berg had been detained, but within hours had been handed over to the U.S. military. That in direct conflict with statements from the FBI, which denies Berg was ever in U.S. custody, and with statements made by the coalition spokesman Wednesday.
And the Berg family provided the Associated Press an e-mail from Beth Payne, a U.S. consular officer in Iraq, saying, "I have confirmed that your son Nick is being detained by the U.S. military in Mosul. He is safe. He was picked up approximately one week ago."
People who saw Berg in Baghdad after he was released from detention but before he disappeared say Berg told them he was handed over to U.S. forces by the Iraqi police.
Throughout the day in Berg's hometown, reminders of grief and a father who said his son wanted to see the good in all people. BERG: The al Qaeda that killed my son didn't know what they were doing. They killed their best friend. Nick was there to build Iraq, not to tear it down. He was there to help people, not to hurt anyone.
HINOJOSA (on camera): The Berg family will hold a private funeral for relatives today and then, at a memorial, a chance for friends to say a final good-bye.
Maria Hinojosa, CNN, Westchester, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Clearly, the anguish continues, as it has every day this week for that family.
A strange twist in the Nick Berg story today to talk about, too. Government sources have told CNN that Berg had an encounter with terrorists in Oklahoma back in 1999. It involved an acquaintance of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person publicly charged in the U.S. in connection with the attacks of 9/11.
Berg's father admits that his son once had a chance meeting with terrorists on a bus in Oklahoma. But he said the FBI investigated the matter more than a year ago. He stresses that his son was in no way connected to the terrorists -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: The CIA says that there was a high probability that Nicholas Berg's murder was carried out by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of an Islamist terrorist group that the U.S. says has close ties to Osama bin Laden. Agents made their determination by analyzing the video and the voice of one of the captors who read a statement just before the beheading.
Earlier this morning, I spoke to the author of "Inside al Qaeda," Rohan Gunaratna, and he is of the Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore.
And I asked him if he agrees with the assessment that Berg's murder was carried out by Zarqawi in that one video.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROHAN GUNARATNA, AUTHOR, "INSIDE AL QAEDA: Whether it is Zarqawi's voice or not, what really matters is that the tape says that, the tape refers to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. And we know that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a man who is capable of doing this kind of operation. He's in the same league as that of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. And we know that in the past, the Arab Mujahedeen have conducted this type of beheading.
So it does not surprise us that this is the work of either al Qaeda, al Qaeda associate organizations such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
O'BRIEN: In that horrible videotape where we see the beheading of Nicholas Berg, in the statement, one person says that the murder is a response to the torture of some of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison. This is a group that has never before needed, necessarily, a reason.
So do you believe what they're saying? Do you agree with the statement that it's retaliation for prisoner abuse? Or do you think that's essentially an excuse?
GUNARATNA: It is an excuse, but at the same time you must realize that revenge and retaliation are the tit for tat tactic is clearly an Islamist group. It is the Islamist mind set that we will seek revenge.
But more than that, the perpetrators of this crime, they are trying to, in many ways, justify their actions by referring to the events of the Abu Ghraib Prison.
O'BRIEN: Before I let you go, I want to ask you a little bit about how the story of the beheading of Nicholas Berg is playing in the Arab media, because, of course, the prison scandal is huge news. But actually, many papers have not even reported the beheading of Nicholas Berg.
Why is that?
GUNARATNA: It is because the Arab media will take more time to actually even refer to this particular beheading. And it is important for the Western countries, for the Western governments, to ensure that the Arab media carries this video, because it is important for there to be a balance of news. Otherwise, the Arab press will merely be a propaganda organ of what happened in the Abu Ghraib Prison.
It is important for the Arab media, also, to highlight that it is routine in the Middle East for there to be torture and for there to be humiliation, the type of images that we have seen in Abu Ghraib Prison. But at the same time, it is the duty of the Arab media to carry that -- the beheading of this Western hostage, because they must exactly know the true face of these violent Islamist groups that are currently active in Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: That was Rohan Gunaratna.
He is the author of "Inside al Qaeda" -- Bill. HEMMER: American soldiers headed for Iraq get their military training in this country then say good-bye to their families. It is no different for the civilians who work for Halliburton and subsidiaries. They get their training and say their goodbyes.
In Texas for us on this story is Susan Candiotti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another day, another busload of civilian workers getting ready to leave for a year of living dangerously in Iraq. The last thing each is given on the way out the door a bulletproof vest. For labor foreman Kevin Kibedo (ph), a stark reminder four colleagues at Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root, already have been killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry this happened, you know, and there will be others and I just hope I'm not one of them.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Kevin, why did you decide to take the job?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know there's money in it. I've missed some work. The economy has been bad.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): The money is good. By law the first $80,000 a year overseas is tax free. The job comes with death benefits too, a promise of lifetime payments for surviving spouses.
(on camera): How do you plan to protect yourself?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay with a lot of people, I believe, and pray, you know, because I'm not going over there for no adventure, you know.
CANDIOTTI: Right behind them two more classes going through survival training. This day's lesson gas masks and chemical suits.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never been separated like this before.
CANDIOTTI: But for Vergie (ph), no protection from heartache.
(on camera): When she came to you and said I'm going what did you say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, you're not. I'll kidnap you. I'll lock you up.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Outside, two busses are waiting, one for Iraq, another for Afghanistan. It will be four months before this couple sees each other again, from Vergie, one promise.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll be back.
CANDIOTTI: Susan Candiotti, CNN, Houston. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: One other note on this story to give you an idea just how big this company is. Halliburton and subsidiaries employ more than 100,000 people in more than 120 countries worldwide, including those combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, forget winning the lottery. Science says you might be happier, believe it or not, without it. Yes, right. We take a look at that.
HEMMER: Also, chasing the storm camera in hand -- amazing videotape and the man who goes after them, next live here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: When a series of tornadoes touched down in Kansas this past week, photographer Mike Phelps had Mother Nature right where he wanted. Phelps chases storms for a living and he caught three of them on Wednesday night.
Mike Phelps is with us today from Wichita, Kansas, talking about what it's like to capture the twisters on tape.
Good morning to you, Mike.
And some really incredible videotape, too.
MIKE PHELPS, EXTREME WEATHER PHOTOGRAPHER: Good morning.
HEMMER: Take me back near the town of Attica.
What did you see on Wednesday night?
PHELPS: Well, Wednesday night, about eight o'clock, we were about a mile east of the town of Attica. And we watched the formation of this tornado to the west or to the south, I should say, southwest of Attica. And it started out as a small dust swirl in a farm field, very innocuous, nothing much going on there, just some weak circulation. But over about the next 10 minutes, as this tornado slowly moved toward the town, it grew and grew and grew in size and it became a monster and went right through a portion of Attica and did quite a bit of damage.
In fact, it's been rated as F2 on the Fujida Scale, which is the scale we rate tornadoes, which means its wind speeds were over 113 miles an hour.
HEMMER: You don't need me to tell you it's just absolutely extraordinary to watch this videotape. I have to think that every twister is unique in a way.
PHELPS: Yes, it really is.
HEMMER: What was unique about these twisters on Wednesday? PHELPS: Well, what was interesting about this set up is it wasn't the classic set up for tornadoes. It was in a very small area where all the right ingredients came together and it was in extreme south-central Kansas, right along the northern border of Oklahoma in extreme southern Kansas. And only just a few counties where these perfect ingredients came together to produce these tornadoes.
Now, they started out really high based and very weak. But as these storms moved into deeper moisture, went from upper 50 to low 60 dew points into dew points that were closer to 70, they had a lot more fuel to work with and they just went nuts for about two hours when they hit that moisture.
HEMMER: Two questions...
PHELPS: And then once the sun went down --
HEMMER: I apologize for the interruption.
PHELPS: Yes?
HEMMER: How close were you and have you ever miscalculated on the distance you need to stay safe?
PHELPS: Never miscalculated. We were, at this situation with the Attica tornado, we were about a mile east, a very safe distance from a tornado. Other tornadoes that day, we were within about a half mile of. But I've never miscalculated the situation in terms of where to position.
Now, what worries me when I'm out there a lot of times is one of these tornadoes going from, say, just a very small tornado to a very large tornado in a short amount of time and encompassing me. So what I try to do myself is try to stay at least a mile away from the tornado. I feel that is a safe distance. Other storm chasers, other people try to get a lot closer. I try to stay a mile because sometimes these things can max out and catch you by surprise.
HEMMER: Some of the videotape we're watching now shows a house under construction just being ripped up from its foundation and tossed into the wind.
PHELPS: Yes. Unbelievable.
HEMMER: My friend Chad Myers tells me, our own meteorologist here at AMERICAN MORNING, we were talking earlier today about this segment, Mike, and to be honest with you, there was one question that we both had in mind here. The fact that you're going out and chasing these storms, is this giving others the idea, amateurs, more courage to chase them on their own? And that is a good thing or a safe thing?
PHELPS: It's, well, you know what? To be honest with you, Bill, it depends on how it's represented in the media. What we do is science. What I do, I am a meteorologist in addition to an extreme weather photographer. And what I do is I document these storms for research and also to educate the public on their dangers and just how bad they can be.
Now, when you have Hollywood and other places glorifying it and making it appear to be something that it's really not, that's where you get the general public going out there and trying to emulate what they're seeing. And that's when you get into trouble.
If anybody is going to do this, they need the proper training. They need to first go out with an experienced storm chaser many, many times before they do it on their own. It's an extremely dangerous thing to do on your own.
HEMMER: I certainly respect that answer.
You stay safe out there, OK?
And job well done, Mike.
PHELPS: I sure will.
HEMMER: All right, Mike Phelps, an extreme weather photographer out of Wichita this morning.
PHELPS: Thank you very much.
HEMMER: The season is still under way -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, is there a link between Nicholas Berg's murder and a suspected 9/11 terrorist? We'll take a closer look at that this morning.
And, also, with all the graphic images of war on television, how do you talk to your children about it all?
Those stories are ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues right after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: As a token of our appreciation, we're going to give this pen back to Jack for the Question of the Day.
Thank you, buddy -- good morning.
CAFFERTY: Good morning.
What a week it's been. The war in Iraq, the prisoner scandal, the decapitation murder. We've got gas prices at levels we've never seen them before and no signs they're coming down. The stock market is not doing well. It just goes on and on. "Friends" is over. "Frasier" is gone forever. I mean how are we going to go on here? This is not the current events we used to read about in our "Weekly Readers."
So the question we're asking this morning is what do you do to escape the horror of today's headlines? And a guy named Tazewell writes from Columbia, South Carolina: "I'm going to get on my sailboat in Charleston Harbor, leave my cell phone in the car, sail out to Fort Sumter, anchor for two days and nights, fish, converse with Jack Daniels at sunset and forget the world for two days."
Boy voyage, Jack.
A note to you, Tazewell. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is having a wedding down there in Fort Charles.
HEMMER: He is.
CAFFERTY: And...
O'BRIEN: Surrounded by CNN.
CAFFERTY: Yes. And my friend Bill Hemmer will be there, too. So be careful where you anchor that sailboat.
HEMMER: I'm thinking about getting on that boat, actually.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Especially at sunset. Watch for these guys at sunset. That would be a bad time. They'll get right on there and steal your Jack Daniels.
Bill Kay in North Bay, Ontario: "How do I escape the horror of today's headlines? Just like John Kerry's daughter does. I fly off to the Cannes Film Festival in my private Gulfstream jet. Doesn't absolutely everyone who's anyone?"
Jeff in Princeton, New Jersey: "I sit on a couch with my wife. We watch all the reality shows to take us away from the reality."
Patti in Zelienople, Pennsylvania -- Patti, if you're going to continue to write to us, move to Pittsburgh. I can't say this name. "I sit outside in the sun. I play with my old dog and I thank god I'm still alive and the sun is still shining."
And Virginia in Galloway, New Jersey: "To escape the images of the war, I close the door to my kids' room and I turn on CNN to see what's going on. The real war is raising five little soldiers and cleaning up their room. Can you send in some backup mothers to help me out?
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HEMMER: Right.
O'BRIEN: You've got it, girl. When do you want me there?
HEMMER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: This weekend, "In The Money," the devastating photos of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners shocked the world. It leads some to ask does war cause otherwise good people to do some bad things? We're going to talk to a world renowned psychiatrist about this issue on "In The Money," Saturday at 1:00, Sunday at 3:00. Hope you'll join us. There you go again. Can't escape the headlines.
HEMMER: Right.
Jim Lehrer told Wolf the other day, he said in 40 years of journalism, it's the first time he could remember when there was breaking news he did not run to turn the TV on.
CAFFERTY: Yes?
HEMMER: It says quite a bit, I think.
CAFFERTY: Did he miss -- he must have missed some of the things, like WWII and some of that stuff. I mean, you know, this -- it's bad, but I mean it's been bad before and it will get bad again.
HEMMER: Very true. Very true.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
In a moment here, John Kerry campaigning across the South. Some critics say he needs to change his focus and his topic on the stump. What do you think? Our Give Me A Minute panel weighs in on that and a few other things, in a moment, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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