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American Morning

Two American Sisters Survived London Bombings; New Troops Deployed to Afghanistan; Panda-Monium!

Aired July 12, 2005 - 07:29   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It's just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Coming up, overnight developments in the police investigation into the London bombing. Several homes raided in northern England. A live report coming up on that.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: First, though, let's get right to a check of the morning headlines with Kelly Wallace.

Hey, Kelly, good morning.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. And welcome back to the two of you.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

WALLACE: Great job day and in and day out. And good morning, everyone.

Here are some stories "Now in the News."

Tropical Storm Emily is picking up speed over the Atlantic. The fifth storm of the season is nearing the Caribbean with winds of some 45 miles per hour. Forecasters say Emily could hit land near Pensacola, Florida, this weekend.

But people in the surrounding areas are still cleaning up from Dennis. Just take a look at these pictures of a submerged roller coaster at a Six Flags theme park near Atlanta, Georgia. The storm dumped nearly 10 inches of rain there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WALLACE: Turning overseas now, a powerful explosion ripped through Beirut this morning. The car bomb was apparently targeting outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Elias Murr. He was one of a dozen people injured in the blast. Two people were killed.

Back here in the United States, prosecutors in Idaho say convicted sex offender Joseph Duncan is expected to face more charges today. He is already accused of kidnapping 8-year-old Shasta Groene and her 9-year-old brother, Dylan. Dylan's remains were found last week in Montana. Duncan is expected to face murder charges in connection with the deaths of the children's mother, older brother and the mother's boyfriend.

Authorities in Arizona are looking for two young children missing after their grandparents and an uncle were found murdered. Police say 18-month-old Bryan Cervantes and his 3-year-old sister, Jennifer, may be with their father. The man is not being called a suspect in the case, but police do want to question him. They think he may be headed for the Mexican border.

And the decision to cut cell phone service inside four New York tunnels is fueling some serious debate. Some New York City officials are questioning the move, because it prevents drivers from being able to dial 911. Service was suspended last week after the bombings in London, but has since been restored in two of the tunnels. Cell phones have been used in the past to detonate bombs in Madrid and in other places.

And to see more on this story and all other top stories, visit cnn.com. Click on the "watch free video" link to see the latest updates on weather, politics and entertainment stories. This gets you caught up.

Back to Miles and Soledad.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you, Kelly.

WALLACE: Sure.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks.

Now to the investigation into last week's terror attacks in London. So far, no arrests are being reported after raids today on five homes in northern England.

British anti-terror place were conducting the raids in the town of Leeds in Yorkshire about 185 miles north of London. But police officials say the raids are directly related to the attacks on the three subway trains and a bus.

Also, according to published reports, the family of a New York City man says that London police have told them that 37-year-old Mike Matsushita is most likely dead. It is believed that Matsushita was on one of the doomed subway trains last week. At least 52 people were killed in the attacks, more than seven (sic) others injured.

And, in fact, two American sisters injured in the attacks are recovering this morning after some reconstructive surgery. Katie and Emily Benton from Knoxville, Tennessee, were in one of those trains that was bombed on Thursday. They were flown from London to North Carolina. They underwent surgery on Monday at Duke University Medical Center.

Dr. Scott Levin operated on the Benton sisters, and he's in Durham, North Carolina.

Nice to see you, Dr. Levin. Thanks for talking with us.

DR. SCOTT LEVIN, DUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: First, given the proximity that we now know to the bomb that these girls had, 10 feet away by some reports, are you surprised that they even survived the attack?

LEVIN: Well, I'd say both these young ladies are very, very lucky. One of the passengers, tragically, adjacent to them, just sitting next to them, did not survive the blast. And I think it has to do with how the projectile material and the bomb exploded, the direction of the fragments, and just sheer fortune that they're alive.

S. O'BRIEN: They've had some reconstructive surgery. How are they doing after that surgery? And specifically, what did you do?

LEVIN: Yes, ma'am. They're doing extremely well. What we did is what we call an octologist (ph) tissue transplantation. We basically, using the operating microscope, transplanted living skin, fat and fascia, the layer over the muscle from their arm on the artery and vein, which is the blood supply of that tissue. We transplanted it to the foot.

Both of these ladies had the exact same operation using the microscope, and they're doing extremely well this morning. I saw them about 45 minutes ago in the intensive care unit. They're awake, cheerful, in good spirits, and determined to go on with their lives.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow! That's really good to hear that they're in good spirits when you consider the amount of damage they had, I know specifically to their feet. What about their prognosis? I mean, will both these women, who are young women, 21 and 20, are they going to walk again? Will they recover fully, do you think?

LEVIN: I think from a physical standpoint, Emily, the young lady who had injuries not only to her soft tissue, the covering around her bones and tendons, but she had bone loss from the blast. And she'll need a second, perhaps a third reconstructive procedure to reconstruct with orthopedic techniques her bone in her foot.

Katie, on the other hand, had basically resurfacing, using the flap technique, or the microsurgical resurfacing technique that I mentioned to you earlier. And with some healing in a few weeks, she's very determined. And both in a few weeks to months will be walking.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, that's some good news, too. Now, I know that both young ladies had damage to one eardrum apiece, and Emily suffered some superficial corneal damage, too. Does that mean that they're going to be able to regain fully their hearing? And will Emily regain her sight?

LEVIN: Both have good vision. I think the prognosis for both sight and hearing -- we use other consultants for that, but I've been involved with that aspect of their care as well -- the prognosis is excellent for both of the ladies.

S. O'BRIEN: How long do you think they're going to be at the center?

LEVIN: I would anticipate perhaps a week to 10 days more in hospital. They're doing so well that we extubated them, took their breathing tubes out last night. They're awake in the intensive care unit, as I said. I saw them. They're both hungry. They want to eat breakfast. And we're going to move them to a lesser degree of care onto the floor today. And I hope within the week, 10 days -- we take it day by day -- they'll be able to be discharged.

S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, more good news. I mean, when you start getting really hungry, I guess that's a good sign for the doctors.

LEVIN: It's a very good sign.

S. O'BRIEN: A very good sign. So, give me a sense emotionally what you think their recovery is going to be like. I mean, to be just feet away from a terrorist bomb. Outside of the physical injuries, I can't even imagine how they're going to overcome this.

LEVIN: Well, first, let me say that their family support is impeccable. They are strong believers emotionally and spiritually. They have great family support. Their mom has been with them. We've been actually working on getting her some rest throughout this ordeal.

But I think the scars will be on their extremities, some on their faces, hopefully not too severe. There are always with traumatic injuries, trauma, particular of this nature, emotional issues, as you can imagine, that I think both of these ladies will have to work through.

What's in their favor is that I think they've had excellent care in Great Britain. We've tried to provide state-of-the-art care for them. We quickly tried to rehabilitate them by taking care of their wounds with fairly sophisticated procedures that will allow them to start to walk again and regain their normal lifestyle.

I think the emotional issues, we will support them with this, as we do all of our trauma patients here at Duke. And hopefully, they'll put this behind and become reintegrated into society.

S. O'BRIEN: Dr. Scott Levin from Duke University Medical Center. Thanks for talking with us.

LEVIN: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The Pentagon has identified a Navy SEAL, whose body was recovered Sunday in Afghanistan. Twenty-nine-year-old Petty Officer Matthew Axelson of Cupertino, California, part of a team of Navy SEALs that went missing two weeks ago. Military officials say he died in a shootout with enemy forces. Only one member of his team survived.

Meanwhile, with violence in Afghanistan on the rise, more U.S. troops are being sent in.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us this morning.

Barbara, was this troop increase in the works for a while? BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the plan to send more troops had been on the table, but now it is taking on a new urgency.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice over): Just as the U.S. was finalizing plans to cut troop levels in Afghanistan, violence has increased, and suddenly more U.S. combat troops are now on the way. This raises questions about long-term plans to have NATO take command of all military operations.

This week, 700 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division were ordered to Afghanistan. Even more violence is expected prior to the September elections.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: The enemy is coming as hard as they can. They have issued orders to everybody that they can get their hands on to try to disrupt this election.

STARR: The U.S. already has 17,000 troops in Afghanistan, mainly along the Pakistani border, where fighting has been under way for weeks. NATO is also sending another 2,000 troops this month in addition to 8,000 NATO peacekeepers on station, mainly in the north and west.

This increase in troops was being considered even before the shoot-down of a U.S. helicopter, killing 16 Special Forces on board, and the killings of three Navy SEALs in a related firefight.

One Navy SEAL was rescued after Afghan villagers took him in. The Afghans smuggled out a note from the SEAL, telling U.S. troops where he could be found.

But there are questions about the long-term plan for all operations to be under a NATO commander by next year and the U.S. plan to cut its troop levels by more than one-third. Can it all really work?

Under the plan, in the eastern sector, along the Pakistan border, U.S. troops would still lead combat missions, but under a NATO flag. In the south, Canadian forces are to take over. Germany will have a lead role in the north. Spain and Italy are in the west.

Even with a NATO commander, the U.S. will continue to provide key military expertise.

BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS, U.S. MILITARY ANALYST (RET.): The one thing that's irreplaceable is the intelligence capability that the United States provides. They also provide a great Special Operations capability.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: Miles, nobody really expects the violence to end anytime soon in Afghanistan. So whether that long-term plan to cut U.S. troop levels can really work still remains very much an open question -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you very much.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, there is much more to come on AMERICAN MORNING. In fact, let's take you right to the panda-cam. There it is, and there is the panda. This is the National Zoo. We're going to check up on the world's newest baby panda and the mommy. Mommy really looks upside down to me.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, I think that probably sometimes they sit on them.

S. O'BRIEN: Are those the legs or the ears?

M. O'BRIEN: Well, she's kind of crouched over. Maybe she's, you know, looking down at the panda.

S. O'BRIEN: Where is the baby?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, where's my baby?

S. O'BRIEN: They're only the size of a stick of butter.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: So maybe it's hard to see.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

But first, we have a trivia question for you. And given the fact that we haven't seen the panda, you might be able to guess this one. How much does a baby panda weigh? Three to four ounces? One pound? Or 10 pounds?

S. O'BRIEN: I'm going with C.

M. O'BRIEN: That's nice, Soledad. That's very nice.

S. O'BRIEN: We're back after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: I know you can't bear the suspense anymore. Before we went to the break, we asked how much does a baby panda weigh? And, Soledad, you guessed 10 pounds, right? Sorry, girl.

S. O'BRIEN: I'm sorry. I was thinking baby infant. Sorry.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, you were thinking about your twins. All right, the answer is, in fact, (a), three to four ounces, which is why -- and, by the way, they end up growing up to be, you know, 200 pounds. So that's some growth.

All right. So there is, in fact, a new cub on Capitol Hill, although we haven't seen this one. There you go. There's a shot where I can finally see something. We told you Monday about the baby panda born at Washington's National Zoo over the weekend. It weighs less than a pound, as we just told you. The proud parents, mother Mei Xiang and father Tian Tian, both on loan from China. A little artificial insemination there to make sure things worked out all right there.

Dr. Jo Gayle Howard, a reproductive scientist at the National Zoo, is here to tell us about this wonderful and rare event.

And, Jo Gayle, you're holding an actual life-sized model of a panda cub. That's the size right there?

DR. JO GAYLE HOWARD, NATIONAL ZOO: This is about the size of the baby. It's hard to see on the video monitor. This is why we call it a stick of butter. It's about the same size and about the same weight. And you can tell it's very immature. It's very small. And this is why the first critical weeks are so important for the growth of this cub.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, I bet. I bet in the wild their survival rate has got to be not so good, as we look at the panda-cam here. I still haven't seen the cub in these pictures, by the way. I know with your trained eye you can see the cub. Do you know if it's a male or female, first of all? Do you know that yet?

HOWARD: We don't know. The cub hasn't been touched yet. The mom is doing a great job taking care of it. And it's good that we don't see it, because she's cuddling it. She's nursing it.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, good point.

HOWARD: And that's exactly what she should be doing right now.

M. O'BRIEN: So that's good news. All right. We want to listen to the cub a little bit, because we listened to some of it this morning. And I want viewers to share this. Listen up for a sec. Can you translate? What does the cub want there?

HOWARD: Well, every time that cub squeals, Mei Xiang moves around. She takes care of it. She really wants to quiet it. So that's good too. So if the cub's in a weird position or not nursing, she'll move around until it gets quiet. So that's also a good sign.

M. O'BRIEN: And as you kind of point out here and you've alluded to, not every panda mommy is very good at raising their babies, right?

HOWARD: Well, this is one of the most difficult species we have to reproduce. And it was a huge team effort here at the National Zoo with the veterinarians, the reproductive scientists and the animal care staff to get this cub a successful healthy cub. It's years, though, been working in China, working in the United States on these pair. Also, to just learn about the biology of the animal. We always say we're going to save what we understand, and that's why it's so critical that we have been studying this species so intensely and really learned the basic biology of this animal. And so that's why the science is so important, and we think it's the result of many years of working and learning about this species. So we're very excited to have this cub.

M. O'BRIEN: I can imagine. And I'm sure you love hearing those squeals, actually. It probably doesn't even grate on your nerves. It's so nice to have her around. Statistically, though, over the years, these breeding programs have led to -- well, not such good outcomes. Are things getting better? Do these cubs have a better survive rate?

HOWARD: Things are getting a lot better, but it's also a testament of the many people working to help save this species. You know that there are only 163 giant pandas in breeding programs in the world. And there were also four just born in China plus ours. So, we don't have that many in a breeding global population.

Well, the other problem that we are worried about, there's 1,600 animals, we think, in the wild, but those animals are very split up in very many fragmented habitats. And there's over 40 fragmented habitats. So, each of those are not a healthy self-sustaining population, and that's why the breeding program is so important to keep this breeding program healthy and genetically diverse.

M. O'BRIEN: And, Jo Gayle, I just got a great glimpse of the little cub there, the best one I've gotten.

HOWARD: Oh, good.

M. O'BRIEN: And by the way, you can go to the Web, and you check in at the National Zoo Web site and just log onto panda-cam there.

Now, let me ask you this. What are the next steps? How soon before your researchers will be able to get in there and see how the cub is doing, try to identify the sex, that kind of thing?

HOWARD: Well, another good part of her mothering skills is that she doesn't want to leave that cub. And so, in maybe a week, maybe two weeks, she'll start to get up. She's hungry by then. She's thirsty. But right now, she's focused on that cub, and that's exactly what we want. But eventually, she will go away. We'll be able to have our hands on the cub, at least get the sex. And then we'll know it's doing well at that point. But right now, everything's going great.

M. O'BRIEN: So, wait a minute. So, the mommy doesn't even eat or drink while she's tending to her brand new baby?

HOWARD: No. That cub is very immature.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow!

HOWARD: And she needs that mother to be focused on it, and that's exactly what's happening.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Well, we hope you have continued good luck. We hope the squeals continue there at the National Zoo.

HOWARD: Thank you very much.

M. O'BRIEN: And we'll be checking back in on the progress of -- we'll have to say "it" for now. But hopefully, soon enough, we'll know who he or she is. Jo Gayle Howard is a reproductive scientist at the National Zoo in Washington. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for bringing the little stick-of-butter thing there. Appreciate it. All right.

HOWARD: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: All right -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: It's so cute, even the fake version. I like that.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, one of the biggest drug companies in the world is now in the crosshairs as a huge trial gets under way in Texas. Andy is going to explain as he minds your business up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: High stakes for Merck as the first trial involving the popular painkiller Vioxx gets under way. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.

Jury selection began yesterday in Angleton, Texas -- that's about an hour south of Houston -- in the first trial involving Vioxx. That's the popular painkiller manufactured by drug giant Merck.

And a lot of interesting things at stake here. It is the first trial, and it involves a gentleman named Robert Ernst, who was a tri- athlete, who died in 2001. He was 59 years old. He took the medication for pain in his hand.

I think that there are going to be some difficulties here, Soledad, proving conclusively that this was the cause of death, this painkiller. So that's going to be a very high hurdle, I think, for the plaintiff's attorney.

There are 3,800 cases. So this is the first one.

The jurors had questions yesterday. They had to answer, first of all, corporate executives may lie under oath to protect the company's profits, true or false? Corporations should be held to the same standard of conduct as an individual, as far as ethics are concerned? That would be a no and yes, I think, on those two questions.

We want to talk a little bit about the attorney here for the plaintiff, a gentleman named Mark Lanier (ph), who has got kind of an interesting background. There he is here. He studied to be a minister and preached before his congregation of 1,000 in West Texas. So he has some skills, perhaps, to sway the jury.

And here's an interesting quote here. He said, "I don't guarantee a win. I've tried too many cases for that. But I do guarantee a good time."

So it could be a very interesting trial.

S. O'BRIEN: OK. I wouldn't have picked that as the quote necessarily.

SERWER: Yes, yes, right.

S. O'BRIEN: That's sort of strange. It's going to be an interesting case, for sure, because, of course, with the 3,799 -- what did you say, 3,800?

SERWER: It's close to 3,800, exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, we've got a bunch more that are going to follow. They're going to watch this one really closely.

SERWER: Exactly. And I know coming up in the next hour, Soledad, you have an interview with the widow, Carol Ernst, of Robert. And I'm looking forward to watching that. It could be really interesting.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, she's got some pretty interesting remarks, I thought. We'll have that coming up.

SERWER: Great.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: In a moment, today's top stories, including the president's top adviser under the microscope. Karl Rove was the secret source on a story that outed a covert CIA agent. But did he really break the law? That is the question now. A closer look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Massive flooding from Dennis as this storm drenches state after state. Homes under water in Georgia. Hard rains just keep coming today. Out in the Atlantic, yes, there's another one. Tropical Storm Emily forms overnight, gaining strength.

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