Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Interviews With Tom Ridge, Janis Karpinski
Aired May 26, 2004 - 07:00 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: As many as 18,000 al Qaeda terrorists now thought scattered around the world. Does the U.S. expect a major attack this summer?
Midwestern towns under water again today as the massive spring storms bring rivers over their banks.
And, who's got the pipes to be the next American Idol? Diana or Fantasia? The question millions are answering on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Morning everybody -- on a Wednesday morning -- other headlines making news today.
Suddenly a whole lot of talk today about al Qaeda and whether it might be plotting a major attack on U.S. soil in the next few months.
The Attorney General John Ashcroft will hold a news conference later today. In a few moments we'll talk to Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, trying to find out what exactly that Intel reports are showing today, and what is new that you need to know as well, in a moment.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, a closer look at the suspension of Brigadier General Janis Karpinski from her command with the 800th Military Police Brigade.
She's our guest in just a few moments. We're going to ask about mistakes; whether she made them; whether they allowed the prisoner abuse scandal to happen.
HEMMER: Also if you saw it last night we're coming down to the wire. The finale for "American Idol" in our "90-Second Pop" did it (UNINTELLIGIBLE). You can't wait.
I'm on pins and needles over here. Fantasia or Diana? No that's not -- that's "The Sopranos." All the TV buzz as well. Kept it up.
O'BRIEN: We didn't cover it fast enough.
HEMMER: Actually, I'd rather watch that.
All that's coming here this hour here on AMERICAN MORNING. Also good morning to Jack Cafferty. Hello, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Bill Cosby stood up in a crowded room and made a blistering attack on some members of his own race, talking about bad parenting, out of wedlock births, and black crime.
Needless to say, there were repercussions. We'll take a look in a few minutes.
HEMMER: When he talks, people listen, though.
Thank you, Jack. Want to start this morning with what several U.S. officials tell us are increasing concerns about the possibility of another major terrorist attack here in the U.S.
One official saying that nothing in the current Intel is exceptionally specific and that includes targets, time or date for any possible attack.
The concerns are based, though, on accumulation of Intel that's been known and gathered over a period of time, and a bit earlier today I talked with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge about what is new in the latest Intelligence Report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: The intelligence that we've received over the past several weeks is just, again, a series of general non-specific threats against the United States and, as I think we discussed, probably six, eight weeks ago since Homeland Security is responsible for coordinating a national effort to make us smarter and more secure using people and technology, we pulled together a variety of agencies within the federal government to say what are we going to do now, how can we accelerate, and what additional things can we do over the next several months to just improve our security and make us safer?
And that's precisely what we've been doing every single day.
HEMMER: I apologize for the interruption. Let me try and be clear here, the past six to eight weeks you're saying there is not new intelligence or there is, then?
RIDGE: Oh, there is continued reporting, some reporting says that there are multiple attacks that may occur in the next couple of months, some -- most of them are very, very unspecific in terms of when.
Just, again, general threat reporting against the United States is not really news for those of us who look at the threat reports every single day.
There's been a series of these ever since 9/11 that we have to deal with. But, again, more importantly I think in the absence of specific information -- it's our job every day to get smarter and more secure and we use people and technology around the country to do that.
HEMMER: Based on the information you're getting, Mr. Secretary, will you raise the terror alert sometime prior to the Memorial Day weekend?
RIDGE: There is absolutely nothing specific enough or that rises to the level where we would presently, today as we speak, make a recommendation to the president to raise the threat level.
What I think it's important for America to know is that we don't need to raise the threat level in order to continue to work every day to improve security.
As a matter of fact, every single day not only within the Department of Homeland Security, but across the country the FBI, Justice, EPA, Health and Human Services, everybody works to make us more secure. That's why we pulled together the inter-agency group to do precisely that.
So we don't need to raise the level to work every single day to be more secure and that's exactly what...
HEMMER: So you're saying the alert stays the way it is, then, is what you're saying?
RIDGE: Yes, for the time being we are at level yellow, it's an elevated risk. Again that's serious enough for us to understand that they're serious about our being their number one enemy, it reinforces our belief that we have to do everything we can every single day to protect ourselves.
We are in charge of security and -- but with the summer months coming up, travel, vacations, high-profile events, we hope everyone just understands that there are a lot of -- hundreds of thousands if not millions of people that are working on security.
Our job is to make America more secure and over these summer months America's job is to enjoy living in this great country and go out and have some fun.
HEMMER: There is a report that came out yesterday suggesting al Qaeda may have 18,000 potential terrorists around the world. How many do you believe are here in the U.S. now?
RIDGE: Well, I'm not surprised that the large number of potential terrorists, because before we went and were out of the Taliban and al Qaeda out of Afghanistan literally thousands and thousands of terrorists were trained.
It's difficult to pinpoint a number of terrorists within the United States that have been trained by al Qaeda, but we operate every single day that there are quite a few here, and we know very well that the FBI and the law enforcement have their eyes on those who we think are sympathetic and supportive.
If they are getting ready to operate, obviously, we'd go out and apprehend them but we keep our eyes on a lot of folks in this country who we think are sympathetic to al Qaeda.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Tom Ridge, Homeland Security Director, earlier today. A few moments ago, actually, in D.C., outside the World War II memorial, which opens officially this coming weekend.
Later today, the Attorney General John Ashcroft, and FBI Director Robert Mueller will hold a news conference at 2:00 Eastern time, at which point they will talk about disrupting potential plots by al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.
When that happens later today, certainly we'll be there live -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: The abuse of prisoners under U.S. military command goes far beyond those Abu Ghraib, "The New York Times" is reporting.
The "Times" publishing results of an Army summary showing a pattern of mistreatment involving Army and Navy units in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Abuses at Abu Ghraib first came to light when the "New Yorker" first published results of the Army's investigation into charges of abuse. Then "60 Minutes" broadcast pictures showing prisoners being abused by U.S. soldiers.
One soldier pleaded guilty last week to maltreatment of prisoners and six more soldiers face courts martial.
On Monday the Army suspended Brigadier General Janis Karpinski. She was in command of the prison system at the time of the alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib, and Brigadier General Janis Karpinski joins us this morning.
Nice to have you back on AMERICAN MORNING.
Thanks for being with us. Suspended from duty. What specifically does that mean? Is your career over?
BRIG. GEN. JANIS KARPINSKI, ARMY RESERVE, 800TH M.P. BRIGADE: Well, it can certainly have an impact, a dramatic impact, on my career. Suspended means they take you out of the position pending the results of something.
O'BRIEN: The investigation...
KARPINSKI: Perhaps. I don't know because I've never been officially notified. I don't have anything in writing. I found out, as everybody knows, though the media, initially.
O'BRIEN: From our last interview, I was going through some of the stuff that we talked about and you said this: "I certainly take some of the responsibility for this because those soldiers were assigned to a company under my command. Blame though? I don't think the blame rests with me or the 800th Military Police Brigade. In fact, it's unfair."
Some would say that you are ultimately responsible because you were the one in charge, you were in charge of these particular soldiers; they were in your command. Why have you said in recent days you've been set up?
KARPINSKI: Well, I think from the beginning there -- and as more information comes out and more of the truth unfolds in this story -- people had information before, long before the prison actually transferred to control of the MI Brigade.
And those cell blocks; 1A and 1B in particular were under the control of the MI Brigade before they took control of the whole facility in November. We had 16 facilities. Interrogations were run at one of those facilities, Abu Ghraib. And in two cellblocks, 1A and 1B.
And it is the only place where these infractions and these photographs have been taken and reported. I think that speaks volumes of what the Military Police Brigade represented in all of our operations in Iraq, in all of the locations.
O'BRIEN: You have said that the man in charge in Iraq, Ricardo Sanchez, General Sanchez, visited Abu Ghraib at least three times.
He has said that he witnessed no abuse at the time. You also say that there was a letter that was drafted in response to the Red Cross and that was done some time in December.
He said he didn't know anything about the abuse until January 14. Who is lying here? I mean, both your stories can't not possibly be true.
KARPINSKI: Well, the ICRC report apparently came down much earlier than I was aware of. I saw it for the first time at the end of November, very late November and it was clear that this impromptu meeting that took place at the CJTF7 headquarters, the people that were there at this meeting it was very informal and they were all aware of the report.
As a matter of fact, when I asked the question about the report, the SJA to the CJTF7, the lead lawyer, responded very quickly and said I have a copy of the report right here, you can see it.
So, clearly, they had already seen the report, maybe it had been intercepted or routed to them. In this particular case and they were already working on a response for my review.
O'BRIEN: What do you make of this "New York Times" report that says abuse is more widespread than originally thought, that it happened not only in Iraq, but in Afghanistan as well. We heard the president say that it was -- essentially the few bad apples theory. Who's right?
KARPINSKI: Well I -- I don't know who's right, and hopefully, as the story unfolds, and more information comes out and people come forward with less fear of reprisals and retribution, I just think that people feel an obligation more and more everyday to tell the truth and to tell what they know.
I took a glance at the article this morning and again I'm surprised as extensive as the article implies that it is.
O'BRIEN: Do you want to see Abu Ghraib torn down?
KARPINSKI: I always did. That was always the plan.
O'BRIEN: General Karpinski, nice to see you. Thanks for being with us and talking with us.
We of course want to keep in touch, see how the rest of it goes for you.
KARPINSKI: OK, thank you.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, thanks for that. Another note on Iraq today.
Senior administration officials telling CNN that a Shiite Muslim nuclear scientist is a leading candidate for interim prime minister. The official is also cautioning that a final decision not yet made.
Hussain Shahristani is said to be a favorite of U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is now working with the Iraqis to pick interim officials, possibly this week, in fact.
Robin Wright of "The Washington Post" talked about Shahristani with CNN recently.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBIN WRIGHT, WASHINGTON POST DIPLOMATIC REPORTER: This is a man who fought Saddam Hussein, was a Shiite Muslim, part of the majority community in Iraq, who has very strong ties with Grand Ayatollah Shahristani, who is a major player in Iraqi politics behind the scenes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: President Bush in a speech on Monday said a new slate of interim Iraqi officials would be announced this week.
We will stay tuned for more on that -- Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Illinois, there is no relief yet from floodwaters brought by a severe midwestern storms. River levels in some areas are still rising and more evacuations might be necessary.
The town of Des Plaines is expecting the very worst tonight.
Keith Oppenheim is live for us there with the very latest. Keith, good morning. KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN: Good morning, Soledad, and there's still a threat out here, but some good preparations as you can see from this dirt pile behind me.
The residents in this subdivision have been sandbagging. I'm actually going to take you to the river right now, Soledad, but as I do, I'm going to show you another camera shot of a home just a couple of doors down from where I am at, where there has been some significant flooding in a low lying garage.
That's actually not as typical as what you see in the backyard that I'm approaching right now. This is the Des Plaines River and it's rising.
It's at about eight feet right now, and it's got a pretty good clip. It's moving at a fairly good current. What I'm going to do right now is take you to the back of this resident's home. We have permission to do this, I should say.
And she showed us, with the help of a surveyor, where in this sandbag pile that the water would get to if it got to the level it was predicted.
Right here is where the water would have come if it reached 11 feet. The good news that people are getting right now here in Des Plaines is that it will probably only get to around nine feet, possibly by tonight, as you said, and if that is the case, that means that the water level would probably be right around here in the backyard and that means that the threat is there.
There will be some flooding in the street, but likely not to be in people's basements in this community.
Yesterday in Gurney, you might remember seeing just up stream from here, that there was significant flooding for about 24 homes, so the expectation which has sometimes proved wrong is that the flooding will not be quite as serious as it was yesterday in Gurney. Back to you.
O'BRIEN: Let's hope that that expectation is right on the money and it's not as bad as everyone first thought.
Keith Oppenheim for us. Thanks, Keith.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: I'll talk to the mayor of Des Plaines in about 15 minutes as well, the latest there coming up.
O'BRIEN: Let's turn to Heidi Collins now with a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. Good morning.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys. Nice day today, that is for sure.
Want to get you the headlines, though, right away. Fifteen minutes past the hour now. And here's what's happening.
A key arrest during overnight raid in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf. U.S. military officials say they now have in custody an aide to wanted Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Clashes have been ongoing in the region between American forces and fighters loyal to Al-Sadr. Officials in Najaf say at least 11 people were killed during an overnight battle.
A chilling new report from a London think tank says al Qaeda is recruiting terrorists at an alarming rate. The International Institute of Strategic Studies reports Osama bin Laden's terror network is now about 18,000 members strong, and the potential terrorists are scattered across the globe.
We will talk to one of the leading members of the group, which came out with the al Qaeda report coming up in our next hour.
Hundreds of people are dead after severe flooding in the Caribbean. Its feared more than 360 people have drowned in the Dominican Republic in Haiti.
Thick mud buried small towns this morning. Rescuers are frantically searching for survivors. A river burst its banks from all the heavy rain and washed away entire neighborhoods.
In Cummings, Georgia a huge fire at a chemical plant forcing the evacuation of about 300 people. The fire was reported early yesterday morning and sent nine people to the hospital complaining of burning eyes and lungs.
A plume of chlorine-tinged smoke you see here estimated to be roughly ten miles long and half a mile wide. The fire is now contained, but authorities are monitoring the air quality as you might imagine around the site.
To basketball now. Game Three of the Western Conference finals goes to the Los Angeles Lakers. The 100-89 victory against Minnesota's Timberwolves gives the Lakers a 2-1 advantage in the seven game series.
Remember it is seven games, though. Shaquille O'Neal was good for 22 points and 17 rebounds last night after a scoreless first half. Kobe Bryant matched O'Neal's 22 points. So Game Four Thursday then on to Minnesota for Game Five Saturday.
So they still have a chance.
HEMMER: You think that series goes seven games, like the other one?
COLLINS: Honestly?
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: I don't think so. HEMMER: No?
COLLINS: Maybe. We'll see. We'll see.
HEMMER: Don't show your colors.
COLLINS: Yes. Try not to. But not doing very well.
HEMMER: You're exactly right. Thanks, Heidi.
O'BRIEN: Time to check in with Jack and the "Question of the Day." Good morning.
CAFFERTY: Good morning, Soledad. Thank you.
Bill Cosby turned up the heat considerably on a discussion about race when he talked about the parenting skills and values of low- income blacks on the 50th anniversary of Brown versus the Board of Education -- and at Stanford University -- a week later.
Some of what Bill Cosby said included this: I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange jail jumpsuit. Where were you when he was two?
Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol?
And where is the father? We as black folks have to do a better job, Cosby said. Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.
And Cosby said this: Brown versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem.
So the question is this: he said a lot of other things too -- were Bill Cosby's remarks racist or where they right on? AM@cnn.com is the e-mail address -- we trust you have some opinions.
O'BRIEN: It's been really interesting to read the variety of opinions on this from comments that have come forth, some of who were actually attending, sort of sat -- they said -- in a little bit of shock while they heard what he was saying from the podium.
CAFFERTY: If you think we don't have a ways to go on the race relations in this country, think about a white person standing in front of that same audience and saying these same things.
Think about what the reaction might have been then. We got a long way to travel.
O'BRIEN: I will have to agree with you on that, Jack.
Still to come this morning, is America in the bull's-eye again? We have the latest on heightened terror concerns as the summer approaches. HEMMER: Also in a moment, why have drug prices been rising faster than inflation? Andy Serwer has an answer in our business check in a moment.
O'BRIEN: Plus the "American Idol" divas duke it out. Who is going to take home the crown?
Our predictions ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: There are new signs that drug prices have been rising much faster than inflation and its seniors who are taking the hit.
With that and a preview of the market this morning Andy Serwer "Minding Your Business" hello good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
O'BRIEN: Talk about seniors first.
SERWER: Yes, let's do that. Death, taxes, and rising drug prices. Those are the three certainties of existence, are they not?
O'BRIEN: Yes, but it's incredibly unfair, of course. Because it's the seniors who are on those limited incomes.
SERWER: Yes, and it's an election year so it's a big issue again. Two groups, Soledad, who seek lower drug prices.
We should point that out -- have new studies out showing that prices of medicines, especially, rising faster than inflation over the past four years. Let's check it out.
Especially a study by the AARP shows drug costs going up 27.6 percent over the past four years, that's more than double.
Hey, that's almost triple the rate of inflation over the past four years. And let's take a look at some of the drugs specifically that seniors use.
You can see Premarin there, osteoporosis I think -- or, no, that's an Estrogen. Excuse me. That's up a lot more, 21 percent. Ambien, a sleep medicine, and Lipitor.
Those are actually not so bad. In fact, when you drill down this study it's 155 drugs; a lot of them that are most commonly used are not up quite as much as those numbers indicate.
There are a few that are way, way up. Some of the newer ones. Of course -- right. It's about averages, of course. And the drug companies, of course, would counter this by saying it's incredibly expensive to develop these drugs and market these drugs. Of course they spend a lot of money marketing drugs now.
Magazine advertisements and television advertisements. We know that as well.
But, again, there's a new Medicard coming out in June that's going to have a discount for seniors; it'll be very interesting to see how that plays in this whole debate.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about the market yesterday it was up.
SERWER: It was.
O'BRIEN: Good news.
SERWER: Yes, very good news. Wall Street had their rally caps on and what was happening there...
O'BRIEN: What was that?
SERWER: Bill knows exactly what that is.
HEMMER: Turn it around.
SERWER: In baseball when your team is losing you turn your hat around.
O'BRIEN: Ah, sports metaphor, oh my goodness.
SERWER: Yes, sports metaphor. What was happening, Soledad, oil prices going down a little bit and stocks basically oversold so people used this as an opportunity to jump in.
Nasdaq way, way up. This morning, though, futures down a little bit. Fear factor going on with all that news out of Washington about possible terrorism activity in the United States, so...
O'BRIEN: See how that plays.
SERWER: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: Andy, thank you.
SERWER: You're welcome.
HEMMER: I'm wearing my rally cap because I have the next -- I got the next two days off.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Yes, to the -- yes.
O'BRIEN: They're all like -- no, no idea.
SERWER: No, they know.
HEMMER: Monday night, President Bush laid out his five-point plan for the future of Iraq. You saw it live here on CNN.
The major broadcast networks did not choose to air that speech, but last night on David Letterman found some humor in that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN FROM CBS: These are difficult times in the world. How many of you saw President Bush's explanation speech last night about Iraq? How many of you -- I think it was on about 8:00 last night and some television outlets carried it. CBS did not carry President Bush's address last night.
The network feels that the war in Iraq is important. However, not as important as the season finale of "Yes, Dear."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Nice. I think it got funnier as it went along.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: Could we play some more of that? There's got to be a punch line, Bill.
HEMMER: No.
O'BRIEN: You've seen enough. Let's move on, shall we?
Still to come this morning, the new movie "The Day After Tomorrow" stirs up politics and science.
And we're going to find out if this disaster flick will survive at the box office. Also, who will survive the voting on "American Idol?"
And did a beloved character survive a hit on "The Sopranos" -- you see, surviving is our theme as the theme music for "90-Second Pop" this morning. That's all ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 26, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: As many as 18,000 al Qaeda terrorists now thought scattered around the world. Does the U.S. expect a major attack this summer?
Midwestern towns under water again today as the massive spring storms bring rivers over their banks.
And, who's got the pipes to be the next American Idol? Diana or Fantasia? The question millions are answering on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Morning everybody -- on a Wednesday morning -- other headlines making news today.
Suddenly a whole lot of talk today about al Qaeda and whether it might be plotting a major attack on U.S. soil in the next few months.
The Attorney General John Ashcroft will hold a news conference later today. In a few moments we'll talk to Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, trying to find out what exactly that Intel reports are showing today, and what is new that you need to know as well, in a moment.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, a closer look at the suspension of Brigadier General Janis Karpinski from her command with the 800th Military Police Brigade.
She's our guest in just a few moments. We're going to ask about mistakes; whether she made them; whether they allowed the prisoner abuse scandal to happen.
HEMMER: Also if you saw it last night we're coming down to the wire. The finale for "American Idol" in our "90-Second Pop" did it (UNINTELLIGIBLE). You can't wait.
I'm on pins and needles over here. Fantasia or Diana? No that's not -- that's "The Sopranos." All the TV buzz as well. Kept it up.
O'BRIEN: We didn't cover it fast enough.
HEMMER: Actually, I'd rather watch that.
All that's coming here this hour here on AMERICAN MORNING. Also good morning to Jack Cafferty. Hello, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Bill Cosby stood up in a crowded room and made a blistering attack on some members of his own race, talking about bad parenting, out of wedlock births, and black crime.
Needless to say, there were repercussions. We'll take a look in a few minutes.
HEMMER: When he talks, people listen, though.
Thank you, Jack. Want to start this morning with what several U.S. officials tell us are increasing concerns about the possibility of another major terrorist attack here in the U.S.
One official saying that nothing in the current Intel is exceptionally specific and that includes targets, time or date for any possible attack.
The concerns are based, though, on accumulation of Intel that's been known and gathered over a period of time, and a bit earlier today I talked with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge about what is new in the latest Intelligence Report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: The intelligence that we've received over the past several weeks is just, again, a series of general non-specific threats against the United States and, as I think we discussed, probably six, eight weeks ago since Homeland Security is responsible for coordinating a national effort to make us smarter and more secure using people and technology, we pulled together a variety of agencies within the federal government to say what are we going to do now, how can we accelerate, and what additional things can we do over the next several months to just improve our security and make us safer?
And that's precisely what we've been doing every single day.
HEMMER: I apologize for the interruption. Let me try and be clear here, the past six to eight weeks you're saying there is not new intelligence or there is, then?
RIDGE: Oh, there is continued reporting, some reporting says that there are multiple attacks that may occur in the next couple of months, some -- most of them are very, very unspecific in terms of when.
Just, again, general threat reporting against the United States is not really news for those of us who look at the threat reports every single day.
There's been a series of these ever since 9/11 that we have to deal with. But, again, more importantly I think in the absence of specific information -- it's our job every day to get smarter and more secure and we use people and technology around the country to do that.
HEMMER: Based on the information you're getting, Mr. Secretary, will you raise the terror alert sometime prior to the Memorial Day weekend?
RIDGE: There is absolutely nothing specific enough or that rises to the level where we would presently, today as we speak, make a recommendation to the president to raise the threat level.
What I think it's important for America to know is that we don't need to raise the threat level in order to continue to work every day to improve security.
As a matter of fact, every single day not only within the Department of Homeland Security, but across the country the FBI, Justice, EPA, Health and Human Services, everybody works to make us more secure. That's why we pulled together the inter-agency group to do precisely that.
So we don't need to raise the level to work every single day to be more secure and that's exactly what...
HEMMER: So you're saying the alert stays the way it is, then, is what you're saying?
RIDGE: Yes, for the time being we are at level yellow, it's an elevated risk. Again that's serious enough for us to understand that they're serious about our being their number one enemy, it reinforces our belief that we have to do everything we can every single day to protect ourselves.
We are in charge of security and -- but with the summer months coming up, travel, vacations, high-profile events, we hope everyone just understands that there are a lot of -- hundreds of thousands if not millions of people that are working on security.
Our job is to make America more secure and over these summer months America's job is to enjoy living in this great country and go out and have some fun.
HEMMER: There is a report that came out yesterday suggesting al Qaeda may have 18,000 potential terrorists around the world. How many do you believe are here in the U.S. now?
RIDGE: Well, I'm not surprised that the large number of potential terrorists, because before we went and were out of the Taliban and al Qaeda out of Afghanistan literally thousands and thousands of terrorists were trained.
It's difficult to pinpoint a number of terrorists within the United States that have been trained by al Qaeda, but we operate every single day that there are quite a few here, and we know very well that the FBI and the law enforcement have their eyes on those who we think are sympathetic and supportive.
If they are getting ready to operate, obviously, we'd go out and apprehend them but we keep our eyes on a lot of folks in this country who we think are sympathetic to al Qaeda.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Tom Ridge, Homeland Security Director, earlier today. A few moments ago, actually, in D.C., outside the World War II memorial, which opens officially this coming weekend.
Later today, the Attorney General John Ashcroft, and FBI Director Robert Mueller will hold a news conference at 2:00 Eastern time, at which point they will talk about disrupting potential plots by al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.
When that happens later today, certainly we'll be there live -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: The abuse of prisoners under U.S. military command goes far beyond those Abu Ghraib, "The New York Times" is reporting.
The "Times" publishing results of an Army summary showing a pattern of mistreatment involving Army and Navy units in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Abuses at Abu Ghraib first came to light when the "New Yorker" first published results of the Army's investigation into charges of abuse. Then "60 Minutes" broadcast pictures showing prisoners being abused by U.S. soldiers.
One soldier pleaded guilty last week to maltreatment of prisoners and six more soldiers face courts martial.
On Monday the Army suspended Brigadier General Janis Karpinski. She was in command of the prison system at the time of the alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib, and Brigadier General Janis Karpinski joins us this morning.
Nice to have you back on AMERICAN MORNING.
Thanks for being with us. Suspended from duty. What specifically does that mean? Is your career over?
BRIG. GEN. JANIS KARPINSKI, ARMY RESERVE, 800TH M.P. BRIGADE: Well, it can certainly have an impact, a dramatic impact, on my career. Suspended means they take you out of the position pending the results of something.
O'BRIEN: The investigation...
KARPINSKI: Perhaps. I don't know because I've never been officially notified. I don't have anything in writing. I found out, as everybody knows, though the media, initially.
O'BRIEN: From our last interview, I was going through some of the stuff that we talked about and you said this: "I certainly take some of the responsibility for this because those soldiers were assigned to a company under my command. Blame though? I don't think the blame rests with me or the 800th Military Police Brigade. In fact, it's unfair."
Some would say that you are ultimately responsible because you were the one in charge, you were in charge of these particular soldiers; they were in your command. Why have you said in recent days you've been set up?
KARPINSKI: Well, I think from the beginning there -- and as more information comes out and more of the truth unfolds in this story -- people had information before, long before the prison actually transferred to control of the MI Brigade.
And those cell blocks; 1A and 1B in particular were under the control of the MI Brigade before they took control of the whole facility in November. We had 16 facilities. Interrogations were run at one of those facilities, Abu Ghraib. And in two cellblocks, 1A and 1B.
And it is the only place where these infractions and these photographs have been taken and reported. I think that speaks volumes of what the Military Police Brigade represented in all of our operations in Iraq, in all of the locations.
O'BRIEN: You have said that the man in charge in Iraq, Ricardo Sanchez, General Sanchez, visited Abu Ghraib at least three times.
He has said that he witnessed no abuse at the time. You also say that there was a letter that was drafted in response to the Red Cross and that was done some time in December.
He said he didn't know anything about the abuse until January 14. Who is lying here? I mean, both your stories can't not possibly be true.
KARPINSKI: Well, the ICRC report apparently came down much earlier than I was aware of. I saw it for the first time at the end of November, very late November and it was clear that this impromptu meeting that took place at the CJTF7 headquarters, the people that were there at this meeting it was very informal and they were all aware of the report.
As a matter of fact, when I asked the question about the report, the SJA to the CJTF7, the lead lawyer, responded very quickly and said I have a copy of the report right here, you can see it.
So, clearly, they had already seen the report, maybe it had been intercepted or routed to them. In this particular case and they were already working on a response for my review.
O'BRIEN: What do you make of this "New York Times" report that says abuse is more widespread than originally thought, that it happened not only in Iraq, but in Afghanistan as well. We heard the president say that it was -- essentially the few bad apples theory. Who's right?
KARPINSKI: Well I -- I don't know who's right, and hopefully, as the story unfolds, and more information comes out and people come forward with less fear of reprisals and retribution, I just think that people feel an obligation more and more everyday to tell the truth and to tell what they know.
I took a glance at the article this morning and again I'm surprised as extensive as the article implies that it is.
O'BRIEN: Do you want to see Abu Ghraib torn down?
KARPINSKI: I always did. That was always the plan.
O'BRIEN: General Karpinski, nice to see you. Thanks for being with us and talking with us.
We of course want to keep in touch, see how the rest of it goes for you.
KARPINSKI: OK, thank you.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, thanks for that. Another note on Iraq today.
Senior administration officials telling CNN that a Shiite Muslim nuclear scientist is a leading candidate for interim prime minister. The official is also cautioning that a final decision not yet made.
Hussain Shahristani is said to be a favorite of U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is now working with the Iraqis to pick interim officials, possibly this week, in fact.
Robin Wright of "The Washington Post" talked about Shahristani with CNN recently.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBIN WRIGHT, WASHINGTON POST DIPLOMATIC REPORTER: This is a man who fought Saddam Hussein, was a Shiite Muslim, part of the majority community in Iraq, who has very strong ties with Grand Ayatollah Shahristani, who is a major player in Iraqi politics behind the scenes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: President Bush in a speech on Monday said a new slate of interim Iraqi officials would be announced this week.
We will stay tuned for more on that -- Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Illinois, there is no relief yet from floodwaters brought by a severe midwestern storms. River levels in some areas are still rising and more evacuations might be necessary.
The town of Des Plaines is expecting the very worst tonight.
Keith Oppenheim is live for us there with the very latest. Keith, good morning. KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN: Good morning, Soledad, and there's still a threat out here, but some good preparations as you can see from this dirt pile behind me.
The residents in this subdivision have been sandbagging. I'm actually going to take you to the river right now, Soledad, but as I do, I'm going to show you another camera shot of a home just a couple of doors down from where I am at, where there has been some significant flooding in a low lying garage.
That's actually not as typical as what you see in the backyard that I'm approaching right now. This is the Des Plaines River and it's rising.
It's at about eight feet right now, and it's got a pretty good clip. It's moving at a fairly good current. What I'm going to do right now is take you to the back of this resident's home. We have permission to do this, I should say.
And she showed us, with the help of a surveyor, where in this sandbag pile that the water would get to if it got to the level it was predicted.
Right here is where the water would have come if it reached 11 feet. The good news that people are getting right now here in Des Plaines is that it will probably only get to around nine feet, possibly by tonight, as you said, and if that is the case, that means that the water level would probably be right around here in the backyard and that means that the threat is there.
There will be some flooding in the street, but likely not to be in people's basements in this community.
Yesterday in Gurney, you might remember seeing just up stream from here, that there was significant flooding for about 24 homes, so the expectation which has sometimes proved wrong is that the flooding will not be quite as serious as it was yesterday in Gurney. Back to you.
O'BRIEN: Let's hope that that expectation is right on the money and it's not as bad as everyone first thought.
Keith Oppenheim for us. Thanks, Keith.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: I'll talk to the mayor of Des Plaines in about 15 minutes as well, the latest there coming up.
O'BRIEN: Let's turn to Heidi Collins now with a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. Good morning.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys. Nice day today, that is for sure.
Want to get you the headlines, though, right away. Fifteen minutes past the hour now. And here's what's happening.
A key arrest during overnight raid in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf. U.S. military officials say they now have in custody an aide to wanted Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Clashes have been ongoing in the region between American forces and fighters loyal to Al-Sadr. Officials in Najaf say at least 11 people were killed during an overnight battle.
A chilling new report from a London think tank says al Qaeda is recruiting terrorists at an alarming rate. The International Institute of Strategic Studies reports Osama bin Laden's terror network is now about 18,000 members strong, and the potential terrorists are scattered across the globe.
We will talk to one of the leading members of the group, which came out with the al Qaeda report coming up in our next hour.
Hundreds of people are dead after severe flooding in the Caribbean. Its feared more than 360 people have drowned in the Dominican Republic in Haiti.
Thick mud buried small towns this morning. Rescuers are frantically searching for survivors. A river burst its banks from all the heavy rain and washed away entire neighborhoods.
In Cummings, Georgia a huge fire at a chemical plant forcing the evacuation of about 300 people. The fire was reported early yesterday morning and sent nine people to the hospital complaining of burning eyes and lungs.
A plume of chlorine-tinged smoke you see here estimated to be roughly ten miles long and half a mile wide. The fire is now contained, but authorities are monitoring the air quality as you might imagine around the site.
To basketball now. Game Three of the Western Conference finals goes to the Los Angeles Lakers. The 100-89 victory against Minnesota's Timberwolves gives the Lakers a 2-1 advantage in the seven game series.
Remember it is seven games, though. Shaquille O'Neal was good for 22 points and 17 rebounds last night after a scoreless first half. Kobe Bryant matched O'Neal's 22 points. So Game Four Thursday then on to Minnesota for Game Five Saturday.
So they still have a chance.
HEMMER: You think that series goes seven games, like the other one?
COLLINS: Honestly?
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: I don't think so. HEMMER: No?
COLLINS: Maybe. We'll see. We'll see.
HEMMER: Don't show your colors.
COLLINS: Yes. Try not to. But not doing very well.
HEMMER: You're exactly right. Thanks, Heidi.
O'BRIEN: Time to check in with Jack and the "Question of the Day." Good morning.
CAFFERTY: Good morning, Soledad. Thank you.
Bill Cosby turned up the heat considerably on a discussion about race when he talked about the parenting skills and values of low- income blacks on the 50th anniversary of Brown versus the Board of Education -- and at Stanford University -- a week later.
Some of what Bill Cosby said included this: I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange jail jumpsuit. Where were you when he was two?
Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol?
And where is the father? We as black folks have to do a better job, Cosby said. Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.
And Cosby said this: Brown versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem.
So the question is this: he said a lot of other things too -- were Bill Cosby's remarks racist or where they right on? AM@cnn.com is the e-mail address -- we trust you have some opinions.
O'BRIEN: It's been really interesting to read the variety of opinions on this from comments that have come forth, some of who were actually attending, sort of sat -- they said -- in a little bit of shock while they heard what he was saying from the podium.
CAFFERTY: If you think we don't have a ways to go on the race relations in this country, think about a white person standing in front of that same audience and saying these same things.
Think about what the reaction might have been then. We got a long way to travel.
O'BRIEN: I will have to agree with you on that, Jack.
Still to come this morning, is America in the bull's-eye again? We have the latest on heightened terror concerns as the summer approaches. HEMMER: Also in a moment, why have drug prices been rising faster than inflation? Andy Serwer has an answer in our business check in a moment.
O'BRIEN: Plus the "American Idol" divas duke it out. Who is going to take home the crown?
Our predictions ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: There are new signs that drug prices have been rising much faster than inflation and its seniors who are taking the hit.
With that and a preview of the market this morning Andy Serwer "Minding Your Business" hello good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
O'BRIEN: Talk about seniors first.
SERWER: Yes, let's do that. Death, taxes, and rising drug prices. Those are the three certainties of existence, are they not?
O'BRIEN: Yes, but it's incredibly unfair, of course. Because it's the seniors who are on those limited incomes.
SERWER: Yes, and it's an election year so it's a big issue again. Two groups, Soledad, who seek lower drug prices.
We should point that out -- have new studies out showing that prices of medicines, especially, rising faster than inflation over the past four years. Let's check it out.
Especially a study by the AARP shows drug costs going up 27.6 percent over the past four years, that's more than double.
Hey, that's almost triple the rate of inflation over the past four years. And let's take a look at some of the drugs specifically that seniors use.
You can see Premarin there, osteoporosis I think -- or, no, that's an Estrogen. Excuse me. That's up a lot more, 21 percent. Ambien, a sleep medicine, and Lipitor.
Those are actually not so bad. In fact, when you drill down this study it's 155 drugs; a lot of them that are most commonly used are not up quite as much as those numbers indicate.
There are a few that are way, way up. Some of the newer ones. Of course -- right. It's about averages, of course. And the drug companies, of course, would counter this by saying it's incredibly expensive to develop these drugs and market these drugs. Of course they spend a lot of money marketing drugs now.
Magazine advertisements and television advertisements. We know that as well.
But, again, there's a new Medicard coming out in June that's going to have a discount for seniors; it'll be very interesting to see how that plays in this whole debate.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about the market yesterday it was up.
SERWER: It was.
O'BRIEN: Good news.
SERWER: Yes, very good news. Wall Street had their rally caps on and what was happening there...
O'BRIEN: What was that?
SERWER: Bill knows exactly what that is.
HEMMER: Turn it around.
SERWER: In baseball when your team is losing you turn your hat around.
O'BRIEN: Ah, sports metaphor, oh my goodness.
SERWER: Yes, sports metaphor. What was happening, Soledad, oil prices going down a little bit and stocks basically oversold so people used this as an opportunity to jump in.
Nasdaq way, way up. This morning, though, futures down a little bit. Fear factor going on with all that news out of Washington about possible terrorism activity in the United States, so...
O'BRIEN: See how that plays.
SERWER: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: Andy, thank you.
SERWER: You're welcome.
HEMMER: I'm wearing my rally cap because I have the next -- I got the next two days off.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Yes, to the -- yes.
O'BRIEN: They're all like -- no, no idea.
SERWER: No, they know.
HEMMER: Monday night, President Bush laid out his five-point plan for the future of Iraq. You saw it live here on CNN.
The major broadcast networks did not choose to air that speech, but last night on David Letterman found some humor in that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN FROM CBS: These are difficult times in the world. How many of you saw President Bush's explanation speech last night about Iraq? How many of you -- I think it was on about 8:00 last night and some television outlets carried it. CBS did not carry President Bush's address last night.
The network feels that the war in Iraq is important. However, not as important as the season finale of "Yes, Dear."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Nice. I think it got funnier as it went along.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: Could we play some more of that? There's got to be a punch line, Bill.
HEMMER: No.
O'BRIEN: You've seen enough. Let's move on, shall we?
Still to come this morning, the new movie "The Day After Tomorrow" stirs up politics and science.
And we're going to find out if this disaster flick will survive at the box office. Also, who will survive the voting on "American Idol?"
And did a beloved character survive a hit on "The Sopranos" -- you see, surviving is our theme as the theme music for "90-Second Pop" this morning. That's all ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
