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American Morning

Book Tells Story of Iraq Invasion; Men at Risk for Breast Cancer, Osteoporosis; Book Claims Culture of Crime in NBA

Aired June 21, 2004 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
The handover in Iraq just a few days away. In just a few moments, we're going to talk with a journalist who truly has seen it all, embedded with some of the first Marines to go into Iraq. We're going to get his thoughts on security in the country now.

Also, this morning seems it like you might have to club men over the head to get them to go to the doctor. Well, this morning Dr. Sanjay Gupta is swinging that club. New research now showing a variety of reasons why men need to get serious about health problems they never even thought about before.

And also this morning, is the NBA in denial about its players? An author says a shocking number of them have had serious run-ins with the law. Does he have his facts straight, or are these accusations sensationalism of the very first -- worst kind? We're going to look into that this morning as well -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CO-HOST: Soledad, thanks.

They were nicknamed the "First Suicide Battalion." Elite U.S. Marines heading into Iraq first, more than a year ago, spearheading the invasion by traveling ahead of the main forces.

A journalist witnessed those forces firsthand. Evan Wright, a contributing editor for "Rolling Stone" magazine, author of the new book, "Generation Kill." He's with us now here in New York.

Good morning to you.

EVAN WRIGHT, AUTHOR, "GENERATION KILL": Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: The title of the book is intriguing. Why "Generation Kill"?

WRIGHT: Well, there are a couple of reasons I named it that.

One of them is that we've grown up in the past 10 years in this country, these kids grew up under the shadow of the greatest generation, and this title is really sort of a response to that. This is their war. It's a different kind of war.

And I think there was a lot of sentimentality about the greatest generation. They should be honored. It's right to honor them, but at the same time, we sort of turn that war into a Hallmark card. We remember World War II so much as the sailor coming home and kissing his fiancee, and not for the horrors that are part of war.

HEMMER: Let's get to your book here in a second. You said at one time, "They would die for each other," meaning the Marines you were with...

WRIGHT: Yes.

HEMMER: "Yet they were so different as well." I want you to talk about that and also take a look at this picture with three Marines that was taken in Iraq and tell us what it means to you.

WRIGHT: Well, what this picture means to me is you have three guys here who've been through a lot. And one of the Marines that I talked to said, you know, "If only we could get along like this in America."

Within this platoon there were people of so many different backgrounds and beliefs and politics. And we're so -- We tend to be so polarized in this country. Within this platoon there were people who were born-again Christians, atheists, Republicans, Democrats, and they all -- you know, that didn't matter out there. What mattered is that they had a job to do and they were together and they wanted to get it done.

HEMMER: And do it in a way that they could all come out alive, of course. Which is an overriding concern and perhaps explains why the relationship was as cohesive as it was.

WRIGHT: Sure, yes.

HEMMER: You said at one time also there was a failure to destroy Iraqi arms and munitions, and you saw that firsthand, which later contributed to the deaths of many Americans, you allege. How so?

WRIGHT: Yes. Well, that's the big issue as we approach the handover. We went in there so quickly that we bypassed large numbers of munitions that Saddam had stockpiled. Not WMDs, obviously, but the conventional munitions that are now being used against us. And...

HEMMER: At the time, did they stop and think, "You know what? Maybe we should stop and secure this area?"

WRIGHT: Sure. There was a lot of frustration within the battalion. There were combat engineers that wanted to destroy this, but they didn't have the time, nor the resources to do it.

HEMMER: I know it's been about a year since you've been back in Iraq. You've had extensive contact with people there within 'the military and otherwise. What's the sign that you're getting or indication you're getting about the handover?

WRIGHT: Well, I think, as there is here, there's a lot of nervousness about what's going to happen once we pull out. There's a sort of "darned if we do, darned if we don't" situation because as we're there we're provoking the Iraqis as we're in their midst in the cities. But if we pull back, there's a fear that the fighting is just going to increase between the Iraqis.

HEMMER: We all wait to see. Evan Wright. The book is called "Generation Kill." Nice to talk to you. Good luck to you, all right?

Here's Soledad.

O'BRIEN: It's often been said that men take better care of their cars than their bodies. Well, it might be true, but it's more important now than ever for men to get regular checkups from their doctors.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta at the CNN center tells us why.

Good morning, Sanjay.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Yes, that stat is absolutely true about cars and bodies. Listen, it's no surprise that men and women are different. But they're also more similar than we know when it comes to their health.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): Now there are new reasons to get a checkup. Diseases thought to be solely women's problems are on the rise in men.

Male breast cancer cases are up, while still rare, around 1,500 cases up from 1,100 cases back in the early '80s. Most experts attribute the recent rise to obesity. Fat tissue produces estrogen, which in turn can lead to cancer. Most men with breast cancer are diagnosed much later than women, so the cancer has progressed further and is more likely to be fatal.

DR. JEAN BONHOMM, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Nobody was expecting it. The men were not expecting it. The doctors were not expecting it. Nobody was thinking about it.

GUPTA: But now doctors are checking more often, and men can do self-exams as well.

Here's what to look for: a lump or swelling of the breast, skin dimpling or an inverted nipple, redness or scaling or discharge.

Another disease men should be on the alert for is osteoporosis. Now two million American men have been diagnosed with weak or brittle bones, and another 12 million are at risk.

Steve Thompson was diagnosed when he was just 21 years old.

STEVE THOMPSON, SUFFERS FROM OSTEOPOROSIS: There really wasn't a lot of experience with male osteoporosis at the time. So there was kind of an enigma in terms of what the doctors wanted to do with me.

GUPTA: Now doctors are starting to wake up to the fact that osteoporosis affects both men and women. Risk increases with age, but the disease tends to be much more serious for men, mainly because men are older when osteoporosis takes hold and a fall or fracture could be deadly.

The best way to avoid osteoporosis is through screening and prevention. Ask your doctor for a bone density test and avoid excess drinking and smoking.

BONHOMM: Get regular physical exercise, especially weight bearing exercise. That seems to improve bone density. Get adequate calcium.

GUPTA: For Steve Thompson, having doctors focus on male osteoporosis makes all the difference.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: And Steve Thompson is living an active life now, taking bone strengthening drugs, which he's been doing for a couple of decades. It's made all the difference for him. His outlook is good.

But the key for him, Soledad, and for so many men, worth remembering the day after Father's Day, is to get to the doctors. Not enough men do -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: That's a ridiculous statistic; take better care of your car than you take care of yourself? Sanjay.

GUPTA: I just report it. It's true.

O'BRIEN: I hear you. I heard you. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning.

GUPTA: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Sanjay, thanks -- Bill.

HEMMER: In a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING, some new developments today from Baghdad regarding the prison abuse scandal. We'll get to that in a moment here.

O'BRIEN: Also despite recent attacks on Iraq's oil pipelines, there could be some good news ahead. We'll explain as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone.

His basketball future hinges on the outcome of his sexual assault case in Colorado. While many in Kobe Bryant's matter say he may be the most prominent pro athlete in legal trouble, a new book claims that nearly half of NBA players have police records involving serious crimes.

The book has the league crying foul. It's called "Out of Bounds: Inside the NBA's Culture of Rape, Violence and Crime." Jeff Benedict wrote the book. He's the author. He's with us now.

Good morning to you.

JEFF BENEDICT, AUTHOR, "OUT OF BOUNDS": Good morning.

HEMMER: You have stirred up a hornets' nest in this book. You claim that 40 percent of the NBA players have a police record. How did you arrive at that 40 percent figure?

BENEDICT: Bill, quite simply, I sent out nearly 100 public documents requests to law enforcement agencies all across the United States. I sent freedom of information record requests to over 30 courthouses, and petitioned roughly 12 district attorneys' offices.

Got back 12,000 documents of police and court records on almost half of the players. I tried to get records on all 417 American-born NBA players. I got records checks back on 42 percent.

HEMMER: So let me just understand the numbers you're working with now.

BENEDICT: Sure.

HEMMER: You got response on 50 percent of the players in the league.

BENEDICT: Roughly.

HEMMER: And from that 50 percent, that's where you extrapolated this 40 percent figure?

BENEDICT: Forty percent of them had a record.

HEMMER: What do you define as a serious crime?

BENEDICT: Serious crimes would be felonies or misdemeanor crimes involving violence, weapons, substance abuse or theft.

HEMMER: Is this just an accusation or was there a conviction?

BENEDICT: In roughly half of these cases, about 50 percent of these cases result in some form of conviction, meaning either a jury convicted or there was a plea bargain agreement.

HEMMER: How did you handle -- If it's just an accusation, though, how does that, again, fit into your 40 percent category?

BENEDICT: Well, the 40 percent statistic says they have a police record on file.

The story of "Out of Bounds" isn't numbers. It's how come those guys so often don't get convicted. And it's really a look at how NBA players, because of their money, their power, can get away with criminal behavior that most people would never get away with.

HEMMER: Here's what the NBA says, on the screen for our viewers. "The author" -- you -- "has taken a few previously well-publicized incidents of such conduct and used them as a springboard for fabricating a statistic that unjustly disparages all NBA players. His so-called statistics on NBA players are false and intentionally inflammatory."

You respond to that how?

BENEDICT: Well, it sounds like a lawyer and a P.R. person got together and wrote that. But anybody who reads "Out of Bounds" is going to be shocked at who is in this book and what these players have done.

These are not cases that have been well documented. These are intense, reporting cases of players who have done not just minimal things but serious crimes.

Glenn Robinson is one of the most famous players in the NBA today. People do not know what he did to get a conviction for domestic violence, that he went into a house, threatened to shoot his girlfriend, beat her to a pulp and was convicted. And one of the reasons nobody knew about that case is because it was overshadowed by Allen Iverson's arrest, which resulted in nothing happening.

But I think there's a lot of players in the NBA that have these cases on the record that you haven't heard about.

HEMMER: What is your theory as to why this exists, if it is true, the way your numbers say?

BENEDICT: I think it gets to the kind of culture that these guys live in. These are people who are never told no. They are surrounded by yes men from the day they exhibit exceptional athletic ability in high school.

By the time they get to the NBA they have agents, lawyers, women, people all around them who give them what they want. Suddenly, they encounter someone that says no. They don't know what no means. They don't know how to stop, and these are guys who -- these are the ones who end up in the police blotter for being accused of assaulting a woman.

HEMMER: Jeff Benedict is the author of "Out of Bounds." I mentioned your book caused quite a few waves, waves that may be tidal waves in some corners of the NBA. Thanks for coming in with us today.

BENEDICT: Thank you.

HEMMER: Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, find out your company cheated on its taxes? Well, blow the whistle and there could be a payday coming to you. We're "Minding Your Business" just ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: Time to find out what's going on in the world of money. Rewarding whistle-blowers is our topic this morning. The IRS may have some extra money for you if you help them out.

Andy Serwer has that, plus a preview of the markets for you, "Minding Your Business."

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you again.

Let's start with the markets, because I want to talk about Iraq quickly. Some good news out of there, apparently.

The Iraqi oil pipeline is being repaired, and it looks like we're going to be up to a million barrels a day there today, which is great news. Daily output, usually 1.6 million, and they're saying we're going to get back to that probably by midweek. You may remember, these pipelines were destroyed or damaged last week.

Price of oil falling down to $38 this morning. Markets are looking pretty good. Futures are up nicely. Japanese market is looking good. Intel saying some good things this morning.

Also want to talk about a merger here. This is something Bill Hemmer apparently very interested in. Bacardi buying Grey Goose vodka. Vodka.

Bacardi, of course, the big rum company. Also owns Dewar's and Bombay Gin, by the way. Vodka, hot property.

And interestingly, Bacardi at some point may be going public. So that will be kind of interesting to watch.

O'BRIEN: And vodka is carb-free, right?

SERWER: Yes.

HEMMER: As a matter of fact, yes.

O'BRIEN: Not that I've had a drink in a really, really, really long time.

HEMMER: I was going to say.

O'BRIEN: But that's what I've heard.

HEMMER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: That's why it's really getting popular.

SERWER: That's it.

Let's talk about this whistle-blower thing, because this could be really interesting stuff coming down the pipeline. Proposed legislation in Washington, D.C., rewarding whistle- blowers. Basically, if you know about someone in your company that's cheating on taxes from a corporate standpoint, you could collect up to 30 percent of the penalties and interest.

How about that? Bill, you -- everything OK with you?

HEMMER: I'm all OK.

SERWER: You sound interested in that.

HEMMER: Maybe you'll turn me in.

O'BRIEN: But it's a corporate thing or just someone...

SERWER: It would have to be within the corporate setting, not just on their personal income taxes.

O'BRIEN: I see.

SERWER: Right.

O'BRIEN: Not that I have...

SERWER: I was going to say. Anything...

HEMMER: And if you falsely accuse one of your colleagues, you pay a penalty, right?

SERWER: What would it be, be 40 percent of all people? Yes.

HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.

O'BRIEN: Just asking.

SERWER: Right.

HEMMER: That's right.

SERWER: It's a good question.

O'BRIEN: That's all I wanted to know. Thank you.

SERWER: You're welcome.

HEMMER: In our next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING, you've heard about it for weeks. Finally hitting bookstores tomorrow. Will Clinton's new book live up to the hype? Good question.

Back in a moment after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Jack has got the question of the day.

JACK CAFFERTY, CO-HOST: Nice move.

O'BRIEN: Good job.

CAFFERTY: President Clinton's autobiography called "My Life" goes on sale tomorrow.

The publicity launch for this 957-page memoir includes TV interviews, book signings. There's a party for 1,000 guests tonight in New York City.

"The New York Times" trashes the book, calling it sloppy, self- indulgent and often eye-crossingly dull.

Our question this morning is "How much more do you want to know about President Clinton's personal life?" Because a lot of the book is devoted to his personal life, as opposed to the eight years he served as the nation's chief executive.

Grace in Atlanta, Georgia, writes this: "I don't. Unless it's something new and different like, 'I've finally decided to be the type of husband that I would want for my daughter'."

Christine in Charlotte, North Carolina: "I believe it's refreshing that a president or former president puts his life out there for everyone to read. It shows his honestly and his accountability for the mistakes he has made. Kudos to Bill."

Gordon in Fort Wayne, Indiana: "TV people are hardly the ones to be questioning the delving into personal lives. You get on a juicy story about anyone, you become maggots, feasting on the behavioral carrion that is part of all of us. I want to know as much about Bill Clinton's personal life as he's wants to tell us."

And Guillaume writes, "I don't care about his personal life. But I know one thing for sure. I hope the guy stays healthy as long as possible, because I'm not ready to go through another week of excessive adulation for a president."

There you go.

HEMMER: You get that.

CAFFERTY: Very good.

O'BRIEN: That was very good.

HEMMER: A check of the weather again. Here's Chad Myers at the CNN Center.

Hey, Chad, what are you watching today?

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: Chad, thanks for that.

Next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING, was Saudi security involved in the kidnapping and killing of an American? We'll talk to a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia about that and more as we continue top of the hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: A controversial claim by terrorists in Saudi Arabia. Did Saudi security forces aid in the plot against Paul Johnson?

What is sexual assault in the state of Colorado? And are lawyers for Kobe Bryant trying to rewrite the definition?

And witnessing a new chapter in the history of space exploration. The private spaceship blasting off in just about 30 minutes on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.

HEMMER: Morning everyone. Monday morning here. Good to have you with us along today. Some of the headlines again this hour.

Officials in Saudi Arabia are finding themselves in familiar territory again today, defending their action against terrorists in that country. We'll look at these claims from al Qaeda as well as the circumstances surrounding the recent killing of a number of terrorists when we talk to former U.S. ambassador to the kingdom about the possibility of exaggeration and other things there revolving around that story. We'll get to it in a moment.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, the military moving ahead today with proceedings against several soldiers accused in the prisoner abuse scandal. Some surprises, though, along the way as well.

We'll get perspective on this from the attorney for Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, the former commander at Abu Ghraib prison.

HEMMER: Also this hour, returning to the darkest hours of the civil rights movement in the state of Mississippi. We'll look at a movement to reopen the investigation into 40-year-old murders. Stay tuned for that, as well.

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 June 21, 2004 - 08:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
The handover in Iraq just a few days away. In just a few moments, we're going to talk with a journalist who truly has seen it all, embedded with some of the first Marines to go into Iraq. We're going to get his thoughts on security in the country now.

Also, this morning seems it like you might have to club men over the head to get them to go to the doctor. Well, this morning Dr. Sanjay Gupta is swinging that club. New research now showing a variety of reasons why men need to get serious about health problems they never even thought about before.

And also this morning, is the NBA in denial about its players? An author says a shocking number of them have had serious run-ins with the law. Does he have his facts straight, or are these accusations sensationalism of the very first -- worst kind? We're going to look into that this morning as well -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CO-HOST: Soledad, thanks.

They were nicknamed the "First Suicide Battalion." Elite U.S. Marines heading into Iraq first, more than a year ago, spearheading the invasion by traveling ahead of the main forces.

A journalist witnessed those forces firsthand. Evan Wright, a contributing editor for "Rolling Stone" magazine, author of the new book, "Generation Kill." He's with us now here in New York.

Good morning to you.

EVAN WRIGHT, AUTHOR, "GENERATION KILL": Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: The title of the book is intriguing. Why "Generation Kill"?

WRIGHT: Well, there are a couple of reasons I named it that.

One of them is that we've grown up in the past 10 years in this country, these kids grew up under the shadow of the greatest generation, and this title is really sort of a response to that. This is their war. It's a different kind of war.

And I think there was a lot of sentimentality about the greatest generation. They should be honored. It's right to honor them, but at the same time, we sort of turn that war into a Hallmark card. We remember World War II so much as the sailor coming home and kissing his fiancee, and not for the horrors that are part of war.

HEMMER: Let's get to your book here in a second. You said at one time, "They would die for each other," meaning the Marines you were with...

WRIGHT: Yes.

HEMMER: "Yet they were so different as well." I want you to talk about that and also take a look at this picture with three Marines that was taken in Iraq and tell us what it means to you.

WRIGHT: Well, what this picture means to me is you have three guys here who've been through a lot. And one of the Marines that I talked to said, you know, "If only we could get along like this in America."

Within this platoon there were people of so many different backgrounds and beliefs and politics. And we're so -- We tend to be so polarized in this country. Within this platoon there were people who were born-again Christians, atheists, Republicans, Democrats, and they all -- you know, that didn't matter out there. What mattered is that they had a job to do and they were together and they wanted to get it done.

HEMMER: And do it in a way that they could all come out alive, of course. Which is an overriding concern and perhaps explains why the relationship was as cohesive as it was.

WRIGHT: Sure, yes.

HEMMER: You said at one time also there was a failure to destroy Iraqi arms and munitions, and you saw that firsthand, which later contributed to the deaths of many Americans, you allege. How so?

WRIGHT: Yes. Well, that's the big issue as we approach the handover. We went in there so quickly that we bypassed large numbers of munitions that Saddam had stockpiled. Not WMDs, obviously, but the conventional munitions that are now being used against us. And...

HEMMER: At the time, did they stop and think, "You know what? Maybe we should stop and secure this area?"

WRIGHT: Sure. There was a lot of frustration within the battalion. There were combat engineers that wanted to destroy this, but they didn't have the time, nor the resources to do it.

HEMMER: I know it's been about a year since you've been back in Iraq. You've had extensive contact with people there within 'the military and otherwise. What's the sign that you're getting or indication you're getting about the handover?

WRIGHT: Well, I think, as there is here, there's a lot of nervousness about what's going to happen once we pull out. There's a sort of "darned if we do, darned if we don't" situation because as we're there we're provoking the Iraqis as we're in their midst in the cities. But if we pull back, there's a fear that the fighting is just going to increase between the Iraqis.

HEMMER: We all wait to see. Evan Wright. The book is called "Generation Kill." Nice to talk to you. Good luck to you, all right?

Here's Soledad.

O'BRIEN: It's often been said that men take better care of their cars than their bodies. Well, it might be true, but it's more important now than ever for men to get regular checkups from their doctors.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta at the CNN center tells us why.

Good morning, Sanjay.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Yes, that stat is absolutely true about cars and bodies. Listen, it's no surprise that men and women are different. But they're also more similar than we know when it comes to their health.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): Now there are new reasons to get a checkup. Diseases thought to be solely women's problems are on the rise in men.

Male breast cancer cases are up, while still rare, around 1,500 cases up from 1,100 cases back in the early '80s. Most experts attribute the recent rise to obesity. Fat tissue produces estrogen, which in turn can lead to cancer. Most men with breast cancer are diagnosed much later than women, so the cancer has progressed further and is more likely to be fatal.

DR. JEAN BONHOMM, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Nobody was expecting it. The men were not expecting it. The doctors were not expecting it. Nobody was thinking about it.

GUPTA: But now doctors are checking more often, and men can do self-exams as well.

Here's what to look for: a lump or swelling of the breast, skin dimpling or an inverted nipple, redness or scaling or discharge.

Another disease men should be on the alert for is osteoporosis. Now two million American men have been diagnosed with weak or brittle bones, and another 12 million are at risk.

Steve Thompson was diagnosed when he was just 21 years old.

STEVE THOMPSON, SUFFERS FROM OSTEOPOROSIS: There really wasn't a lot of experience with male osteoporosis at the time. So there was kind of an enigma in terms of what the doctors wanted to do with me.

GUPTA: Now doctors are starting to wake up to the fact that osteoporosis affects both men and women. Risk increases with age, but the disease tends to be much more serious for men, mainly because men are older when osteoporosis takes hold and a fall or fracture could be deadly.

The best way to avoid osteoporosis is through screening and prevention. Ask your doctor for a bone density test and avoid excess drinking and smoking.

BONHOMM: Get regular physical exercise, especially weight bearing exercise. That seems to improve bone density. Get adequate calcium.

GUPTA: For Steve Thompson, having doctors focus on male osteoporosis makes all the difference.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: And Steve Thompson is living an active life now, taking bone strengthening drugs, which he's been doing for a couple of decades. It's made all the difference for him. His outlook is good.

But the key for him, Soledad, and for so many men, worth remembering the day after Father's Day, is to get to the doctors. Not enough men do -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: That's a ridiculous statistic; take better care of your car than you take care of yourself? Sanjay.

GUPTA: I just report it. It's true.

O'BRIEN: I hear you. I heard you. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning.

GUPTA: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Sanjay, thanks -- Bill.

HEMMER: In a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING, some new developments today from Baghdad regarding the prison abuse scandal. We'll get to that in a moment here.

O'BRIEN: Also despite recent attacks on Iraq's oil pipelines, there could be some good news ahead. We'll explain as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone.

His basketball future hinges on the outcome of his sexual assault case in Colorado. While many in Kobe Bryant's matter say he may be the most prominent pro athlete in legal trouble, a new book claims that nearly half of NBA players have police records involving serious crimes.

The book has the league crying foul. It's called "Out of Bounds: Inside the NBA's Culture of Rape, Violence and Crime." Jeff Benedict wrote the book. He's the author. He's with us now.

Good morning to you.

JEFF BENEDICT, AUTHOR, "OUT OF BOUNDS": Good morning.

HEMMER: You have stirred up a hornets' nest in this book. You claim that 40 percent of the NBA players have a police record. How did you arrive at that 40 percent figure?

BENEDICT: Bill, quite simply, I sent out nearly 100 public documents requests to law enforcement agencies all across the United States. I sent freedom of information record requests to over 30 courthouses, and petitioned roughly 12 district attorneys' offices.

Got back 12,000 documents of police and court records on almost half of the players. I tried to get records on all 417 American-born NBA players. I got records checks back on 42 percent.

HEMMER: So let me just understand the numbers you're working with now.

BENEDICT: Sure.

HEMMER: You got response on 50 percent of the players in the league.

BENEDICT: Roughly.

HEMMER: And from that 50 percent, that's where you extrapolated this 40 percent figure?

BENEDICT: Forty percent of them had a record.

HEMMER: What do you define as a serious crime?

BENEDICT: Serious crimes would be felonies or misdemeanor crimes involving violence, weapons, substance abuse or theft.

HEMMER: Is this just an accusation or was there a conviction?

BENEDICT: In roughly half of these cases, about 50 percent of these cases result in some form of conviction, meaning either a jury convicted or there was a plea bargain agreement.

HEMMER: How did you handle -- If it's just an accusation, though, how does that, again, fit into your 40 percent category?

BENEDICT: Well, the 40 percent statistic says they have a police record on file.

The story of "Out of Bounds" isn't numbers. It's how come those guys so often don't get convicted. And it's really a look at how NBA players, because of their money, their power, can get away with criminal behavior that most people would never get away with.

HEMMER: Here's what the NBA says, on the screen for our viewers. "The author" -- you -- "has taken a few previously well-publicized incidents of such conduct and used them as a springboard for fabricating a statistic that unjustly disparages all NBA players. His so-called statistics on NBA players are false and intentionally inflammatory."

You respond to that how?

BENEDICT: Well, it sounds like a lawyer and a P.R. person got together and wrote that. But anybody who reads "Out of Bounds" is going to be shocked at who is in this book and what these players have done.

These are not cases that have been well documented. These are intense, reporting cases of players who have done not just minimal things but serious crimes.

Glenn Robinson is one of the most famous players in the NBA today. People do not know what he did to get a conviction for domestic violence, that he went into a house, threatened to shoot his girlfriend, beat her to a pulp and was convicted. And one of the reasons nobody knew about that case is because it was overshadowed by Allen Iverson's arrest, which resulted in nothing happening.

But I think there's a lot of players in the NBA that have these cases on the record that you haven't heard about.

HEMMER: What is your theory as to why this exists, if it is true, the way your numbers say?

BENEDICT: I think it gets to the kind of culture that these guys live in. These are people who are never told no. They are surrounded by yes men from the day they exhibit exceptional athletic ability in high school.

By the time they get to the NBA they have agents, lawyers, women, people all around them who give them what they want. Suddenly, they encounter someone that says no. They don't know what no means. They don't know how to stop, and these are guys who -- these are the ones who end up in the police blotter for being accused of assaulting a woman.

HEMMER: Jeff Benedict is the author of "Out of Bounds." I mentioned your book caused quite a few waves, waves that may be tidal waves in some corners of the NBA. Thanks for coming in with us today.

BENEDICT: Thank you.

HEMMER: Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, find out your company cheated on its taxes? Well, blow the whistle and there could be a payday coming to you. We're "Minding Your Business" just ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: Time to find out what's going on in the world of money. Rewarding whistle-blowers is our topic this morning. The IRS may have some extra money for you if you help them out.

Andy Serwer has that, plus a preview of the markets for you, "Minding Your Business."

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you again.

Let's start with the markets, because I want to talk about Iraq quickly. Some good news out of there, apparently.

The Iraqi oil pipeline is being repaired, and it looks like we're going to be up to a million barrels a day there today, which is great news. Daily output, usually 1.6 million, and they're saying we're going to get back to that probably by midweek. You may remember, these pipelines were destroyed or damaged last week.

Price of oil falling down to $38 this morning. Markets are looking pretty good. Futures are up nicely. Japanese market is looking good. Intel saying some good things this morning.

Also want to talk about a merger here. This is something Bill Hemmer apparently very interested in. Bacardi buying Grey Goose vodka. Vodka.

Bacardi, of course, the big rum company. Also owns Dewar's and Bombay Gin, by the way. Vodka, hot property.

And interestingly, Bacardi at some point may be going public. So that will be kind of interesting to watch.

O'BRIEN: And vodka is carb-free, right?

SERWER: Yes.

HEMMER: As a matter of fact, yes.

O'BRIEN: Not that I've had a drink in a really, really, really long time.

HEMMER: I was going to say.

O'BRIEN: But that's what I've heard.

HEMMER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: That's why it's really getting popular.

SERWER: That's it.

Let's talk about this whistle-blower thing, because this could be really interesting stuff coming down the pipeline. Proposed legislation in Washington, D.C., rewarding whistle- blowers. Basically, if you know about someone in your company that's cheating on taxes from a corporate standpoint, you could collect up to 30 percent of the penalties and interest.

How about that? Bill, you -- everything OK with you?

HEMMER: I'm all OK.

SERWER: You sound interested in that.

HEMMER: Maybe you'll turn me in.

O'BRIEN: But it's a corporate thing or just someone...

SERWER: It would have to be within the corporate setting, not just on their personal income taxes.

O'BRIEN: I see.

SERWER: Right.

O'BRIEN: Not that I have...

SERWER: I was going to say. Anything...

HEMMER: And if you falsely accuse one of your colleagues, you pay a penalty, right?

SERWER: What would it be, be 40 percent of all people? Yes.

HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.

O'BRIEN: Just asking.

SERWER: Right.

HEMMER: That's right.

SERWER: It's a good question.

O'BRIEN: That's all I wanted to know. Thank you.

SERWER: You're welcome.

HEMMER: In our next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING, you've heard about it for weeks. Finally hitting bookstores tomorrow. Will Clinton's new book live up to the hype? Good question.

Back in a moment after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Jack has got the question of the day.

JACK CAFFERTY, CO-HOST: Nice move.

O'BRIEN: Good job.

CAFFERTY: President Clinton's autobiography called "My Life" goes on sale tomorrow.

The publicity launch for this 957-page memoir includes TV interviews, book signings. There's a party for 1,000 guests tonight in New York City.

"The New York Times" trashes the book, calling it sloppy, self- indulgent and often eye-crossingly dull.

Our question this morning is "How much more do you want to know about President Clinton's personal life?" Because a lot of the book is devoted to his personal life, as opposed to the eight years he served as the nation's chief executive.

Grace in Atlanta, Georgia, writes this: "I don't. Unless it's something new and different like, 'I've finally decided to be the type of husband that I would want for my daughter'."

Christine in Charlotte, North Carolina: "I believe it's refreshing that a president or former president puts his life out there for everyone to read. It shows his honestly and his accountability for the mistakes he has made. Kudos to Bill."

Gordon in Fort Wayne, Indiana: "TV people are hardly the ones to be questioning the delving into personal lives. You get on a juicy story about anyone, you become maggots, feasting on the behavioral carrion that is part of all of us. I want to know as much about Bill Clinton's personal life as he's wants to tell us."

And Guillaume writes, "I don't care about his personal life. But I know one thing for sure. I hope the guy stays healthy as long as possible, because I'm not ready to go through another week of excessive adulation for a president."

There you go.

HEMMER: You get that.

CAFFERTY: Very good.

O'BRIEN: That was very good.

HEMMER: A check of the weather again. Here's Chad Myers at the CNN Center.

Hey, Chad, what are you watching today?

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: Chad, thanks for that.

Next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING, was Saudi security involved in the kidnapping and killing of an American? We'll talk to a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia about that and more as we continue top of the hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: A controversial claim by terrorists in Saudi Arabia. Did Saudi security forces aid in the plot against Paul Johnson?

What is sexual assault in the state of Colorado? And are lawyers for Kobe Bryant trying to rewrite the definition?

And witnessing a new chapter in the history of space exploration. The private spaceship blasting off in just about 30 minutes on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.

HEMMER: Morning everyone. Monday morning here. Good to have you with us along today. Some of the headlines again this hour.

Officials in Saudi Arabia are finding themselves in familiar territory again today, defending their action against terrorists in that country. We'll look at these claims from al Qaeda as well as the circumstances surrounding the recent killing of a number of terrorists when we talk to former U.S. ambassador to the kingdom about the possibility of exaggeration and other things there revolving around that story. We'll get to it in a moment.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, the military moving ahead today with proceedings against several soldiers accused in the prisoner abuse scandal. Some surprises, though, along the way as well.

We'll get perspective on this from the attorney for Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, the former commander at Abu Ghraib prison.

HEMMER: Also this hour, returning to the darkest hours of the civil rights movement in the state of Mississippi. We'll look at a movement to reopen the investigation into 40-year-old murders. Stay tuned for that, as well.

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