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American Morning
No Eleventh Hour Reprieve for Stanley 'Tookie' Williams; Is National Guard Equipped to Handle a Crisis at Home?
Aired December 13, 2005 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
I'm Miles O'Brien.
No eleventh hour reprieve for Stanley "Tookie" Williams. We'll go live to California for reaction to his execution.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien.
Is the National Guard equipped to handle a crisis at home? We're going to take a look at how Iraq is creating dangerous shortages for troops on the home front.
M. O'BRIEN: And it's awards season time. The Golden Globe nominations coming up. And you'll see them here live on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning.
We're glad you're with us this morning.
Let's get right to our top story, and that is the story of "Tookie" Williams.
The State of California executed Stanley "Tookie" Williams just after midnight Pacific time. His case so closely watched and widely reported. And it touched on nearly all the emotional issues surrounding the death penalty.
Kareen Wynter live at San Quentin -- Kareen, still plenty of rhetoric in the wake of "Tookie's" execution.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Miles.
Good morning to you.
All is quiet right now outside the prison, but the public outcry in this case is perhaps even stronger than ever. We're hearing from some of Williams' staunchest supporters, namely his very close friend, Barbara Becnel, who says she's angry California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA BECNEL, WILLIAMS SUPPORTER: Stan was amazing today. In the face of imminent murder, state-sponsored murder for crimes he did not commit, he was the most generous and kind and calm person that you could ever have met.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: Lora Owens, the stepmother of one of Williams' victims -- she actually witnessed the execution -- she appeared earlier on AMERICAN MORNING. She heard these very harsh words that Becnel had to say and said she was disappointed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORA OWENS, STEPMOTHER OF WILLIAMS VICTIM: The reason I came out and started talking was because people said it doesn't matter what he did years ago. And it does matter. It matters a lot, not only to us and to Albert or the Yang family, but other victims, too. There's a lot of victims out there we need to remember.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: And, Miles, it's difficult to assess right now, but after the execution, prison officials said that they would be taking Williams' body to a funeral home. And according to his will, that it would be turned over to his close friend, the very vocal Barbara Becnel -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Kareen Wynter at San Quentin.
Thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: The National Guard may be close to running on empty these days. Deployments in Iraq are leaving many units back here woefully short of equipment. It's already caused some problems.
CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr this morning -- good morning, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, of course, thousands of National Guard troops fighting in Iraq, thousands of National Guard troops here at home on standby if there is another natural disaster.
The question now is can they do both?
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
STARR (voice-over): When Army Nation Guard troops and members of the elite 82nd Airborne Division both hit the streets of New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, one of the biggest problems? They couldn't communicate. The Guard didn't have modern radios. Eventually, they borrowed some from the 82nd.
But it wasn't a fluke. After nearly three years of war in Iraq, the units of the National Guard back home are running on empty, according to the commanding general.
LT. GEN. STEVEN BLUM, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU: We are now below 34 percent of the equipment that I must have to be able to respond to future Katrinas, Wilmas, Ritas or al Qaeda attacks on this nation.
STARR: Blum says his units in the U.S. are short of communications, medical and engineering equipment, as well as trucks and helicopters.
BLUM: I need $1.3 billion to buy the radios I need so I don't have to throw bottles with notes. That's to begin with.
STARR: A recent report from the Governmental Accountability Office found the National Guard had sent more than 100,000 pieces of equipment to its units fighting in Iraq. The trouble is that equipment all stays in Iraq to be used by the next units coming in.
JANET ST. LAURENT, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE: The Guard has had a strategy of robbing Peter to pay Paul because they have had to have units that are staying behind, transfer equipment to the units that are going to Iraq.
STARR: That strategy has almost wiped out the inventory of high demand equipment, such as night vision goggles, trucks and radios. There is no immediate plan on how to replace it all at home or in Iraq, where it's wearing out fast.
ST. LAURENT: This type of equipment is important not only for the Guard to be able to do its war fighting mission, but also for the Guard to be able to do homeland security and disaster response missions.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
STARR: And, Soledad, the Army calculates it would cost about $15 billion to give the National Guard the modern equipment it says it now needs. That would take about six years and so far there is no plan in the budget on how to make it all happen -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us this morning.
That's disturbing news.
Thanks, Barbara.
Other stories making news.
Carol's got that.
She's got a look at the headlines -- hey, Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.
Good morning to all of you.
President Bush has Medicare on his agenda today. He'll be in Virginia to discuss that this morning. Today's topic comes after the president talked about the challenges in Iraq. The president was asked if he would order an attack on Iraq today.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Knowing what I know today, I'd make the decision again. Removing Saddam Hussein makes this world a better place and America a safer country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: His speech in Philadelphia was the third in an attempt to get more Americans to support his policy on Iraq. We'll get some reaction from the Democrat in just a minute.
And there is a milestone regarding Iraq. This is the 1000th day of the war. Just two days from now, on Thursday, Iraqis will be voting on a new parliament. Early voting already underway. Iraqi expatriates casting ballots; also, Iraqi security forces voting early. They've been helping to step up security to try to prevent insurgents from disrupting Thursday's general elections.
Police in Sydney, Australia are on alert for more racial violence today. Riots erupted again after a confrontation last Sunday involving about 5,000 young people. Police say people believed to be of Middle Eastern descent are being targeted and some of them are now retaliating. An emergency session of parliament is called for Thursday to grant police more authority to handle these riots.
We've got a welcome message for some hurricane Katrina victims -- don't pack your bags just yet. FEMA's latest deadline for evacuees living in hotels has now been extended by one more month. Instead of having to leave on January 7th, a judge says FEMA must keep paying their hotel bills through February 7th. FEMA estimates about 40,000 people are affected by the judge's decision.
So, think your favorite movie this year will make the cut? Well, you will know in just minutes. The Golden Globe nominations being announced within the next 30 minutes. The nominations usually give units a clue to the Oscars, so stick around because we're going to carry the announcement live at 8:30 Eastern time.
To the Forecast Center now to check on the cold.
Bonnie Schneider is in -- good morning.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, ATS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, President Bush reminding Americans of his strategy for Iraq. But Democrats, on the whole, less clear on their approach.
We're going to talk to a Democratic senator about just where the party stands. M. O'BRIEN: And later, our online gift guide. Today, sage advice on gifts for the gourmet food lover in your life.
Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: We have been talking a lot about problem's effort to build support for the Iraq war. He's been delivering a series of speeches.
What's the reaction among Democrats?
From Capitol Hill is Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed.
He's a member of the Armed Services Committee.
Good morning, Senator.
Nice to see you, as always.
SEN. JACK REED (D-RI), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Good morning, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: What did you think of the president's speech yesterday?
REED: Well, I thought the president was more realistic in this speech. He talked about some of the significant challenges. But I don't think he's laid out yet a compelling strategy nor indicated the resources that are necessary to achieve that strategy. So he still has a long way to go and I think that's reflected in the opinion of the American public.
They're very concerned about our direction, or lack of direction, in Iraq.
S. O'BRIEN: They might be very concerned, but those numbers are changing slowly, maybe.
Take a look at the approval numbers on how the president is handling Iraq.
Thirty-nine percent say they approve. That's a, you know, a low number, in the 30s, obviously, but it's up 4 percent from when the president started giving this series of speeches.
Should I read into that the American public -- these speeches are resonating with the American public?
REED: I don't think they're resonating. I think the very fact that the president is engaged again in speaking tends to focus attention on the issue and may provide some movement. But, frankly, that's a reaction, really, to a lot of what we have been doing in the Senate, particularly the Democrats, in terms of moving forward an amendment, which became a bipartisan amendment, to ask the president to come forward with a plan and also to make 2006 a significant year of transition where the Iraqi security forces will take the lead.
So I believe the president's reacting not only to the perception of the public, but also to things that we're doing here on Capitol Hill.
S. O'BRIEN: After the president's speech, here's what Congressman Murtha had to say.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: I keep hearing victory. I keep hearing terrorism. I keep hearing 9/11. I'm trying to talk about substance and they keep talking with rhetoric. I still don't see a plan that I think will prevail. That's the problem I have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: And here's what the president had to say, part, at least, from his speech a little bit earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: The enemy has got one weapon. You see, they can't defeat us militarily. What they can do is they can -- and will -- kill innocent people in the hopes of trying to get the United States of America to leave the battlefield early. The only way we can lose is if we lose our nerve. And they know that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: So you have Congressman Murtha, who pretty much says we can't win militarily. We have the president, who pretty much says we can't lose militarily.
Where do you stand on this?
REED: Well, not only Congressman Murtha, but all the military leaders in Iraq will tell you quite quickly that we can't achieve a solely military victory, that we have to have a political and economic strategy also. And the economic strategy has been lagging for years now. We haven't devoted enough resources to it. And the political strategy is not at all certain.
It is an achievement to have these elections and we have to give credit to the Iraqi people and to the administration for their policy toward these elections.
But in terms of the long run, or even the short run, in Iraq, it's very uncertain what will happen. And most particularly, I think Congressman Murtha pointed out, it is a lot of generalities -- complete victory and we'll stand down when they stand up. What the American people are looking for is a plan, a sense of the timing and also the sense of the significant resources that we're going to have to devote to this endeavor. S. O'BRIEN: Here's what your colleague, Senator Joe Lieberman, had to say the other day.
Listen to it and then we'll talk on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be the commander-in-chief for three more critical years and that in matters of war, we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Do you agree with your Democratic colleague that these discussions are undermining presidential credibility?
REED: Oh, absolutely not. I think without these discussions, we wouldn't have the vigorous debate that will actually create more effective policy. Frankly, if we just stood and continued to let the president do what he was doing, we would not have had these speeches. We would not have had a refocused effort by the administration to explain not only to the American public, but also to craft a policy that'll be much more effective. That's the strength of our country, not the weakness.
S. O'BRIEN: You think...
REED: And I think this debate is a very positive one.
S. O'BRIEN: So you think Senator Lieberman is wrong on this one?
REED: I think on this is one he is overstating. There's no disloyalty here. This is part of presenting our views, in the best interests of, the nation as to what we should together as presidents. And, frankly, much of the credibility problems the president suffers as a result not of criticism by Democrats or Republicans. In fact, many Republicans have criticized him, also. It's a function of his own statements -- the buildup to the war, the misstating the case about weapons of mass destruction, overly conflating the war on terror and terrorism with what was going on in Iraq.
So I think he is suffering at his own hands, not at the hands of any Democrats.
S. O'BRIEN: Jack Reed is a Democratic senator from Rhode Island.
Nice to see you, Senator.
REED: Thank you, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you for talking with us -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, it'll be time for our online gift guide, from wild sweets to the bacon of the month. Bacon of the month, that's for real -- Soledad, you listening? S. O'BRIEN: For me?
M. O'BRIEN: Listen up. Bacon of the month.
We've got some rare treats for the food lover in your life, and I think I just checked off a box on my list for Soledad.
Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
I hope you weren't listening.
You weren't listening, were you?
No.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(AUDIO CLIP OF CHRISTMAS MUSIC)
M. O'BRIEN: Is that Ella? That's Ella. Oh, you don't have an earpiece. Yes. So you're not even...
DANNIELLE ROMANO, DAILYCANDY.COM: But they're mixing it up.
M. O'BRIEN: You're not enjoying the music.
Yes.
ROMANO: I just go what you tell me, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: A little Ella Fitzgerald. Yes.
ROMANO: It could be anything.
M. O'BRIEN: Ah, what a voice!
ROMANO: I love variety.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, yes. I know you do.
It's Daily Candy time.
Dannielle Romano is here.
She's the editor-at-large.
And we're going to talk about buying food online.
ROMANO: That's right.
M. O'BRIEN: Because, really, you can't spend too much time talking about food online these days. It's...
ROMANO: There's never enough...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. ROMANO: ... time to talk about food, because I'm always hungry.
No, remember the very first day -- think back -- when we talked about...
M. O'BRIEN: Lo, these many weeks ago.
ROMANO: ... online shopping trends.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes?
ROMANO: I mentioned that something we're seeing at Daily Candy is a big trend of shopping for food online...
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
ROMANO: ... because there's so much available. All these tiny artisans around the country, now you can do amazing shipping things and get it.
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
ROMANO: So I thought we'd pick -- we mentioned that as a trend, but you don't have to be trendy to enjoy a couple of these really cool food sites.
M. O'BRIEN: But if you do, you are. So -- but you don't have to be.
ROMANO: And that makes it easy.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, so let's start off with some fen (ph) chocolate.
ROMANO: Fen chocolate, indeed. Mais oui.
M. O'BRIEN: This is Ruby -- Dcduby --
ROMANO: Dcduby.com.
M. O'BRIEN: Duby, Duby, Doo.
ROMANO: Dat.com. Dat.com.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
ROMANO: They are a husband and wife team, or a brother and sister -- but I think they're husband and wife.
M. O'BRIEN: Wow! They're beautiful looking things.
ROMANO: That's their last name.
M. O'BRIEN: Somehow we made it in.
ROMANO: And they are like scientists. M. O'BRIEN: Wow!
ROMANO: They are, you know...
M. O'BRIEN: They are beautiful.
ROMANO: ... gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous things.
M. O'BRIEN: And then it's the little known edible hat there.
ROMANO: Oh, mmmmuh!
M. O'BRIEN: It's delicious. It's delicious.
ROMANO: My compliments to the hot chef.
M. O'BRIEN: The bill in particular -- no.
So tell me about these.
ROMANO: So the cool thing about these chocolates are this team, the Dubys, are scientists thinking about, you know, food is science. What taste goes well with what taste?
So they put together these sometimes bizarre, but really incredible combinations. They call them wild sweets. So imagine apricot and mushroom. I don't know why it tastes good together
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, I don't know about that.
ROMANO: No, it really, really is...
M. O'BRIEN: I don't know about that one.
ROMANO: Or they do wine varietals.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
ROMANO: So an ice wine with a passion fruit gele (ph). So they really -- you can see them tinkering away in their laboratory.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
ROMANO: They work on what's going to taste good that might not be intuitive.
M. O'BRIEN: So if you're sick of Hershey's Kisses...
ROMANO: This is the place for you.
M. O'BRIEN: ... go for the apricot mushroom chocolate.
ROMANO: Ah, the apricot mushroom gele (ph). Um, better than the edible hat.
M. O'BRIEN: It makes me want to have a Christmas tamale. ROMANO: Christmas tamale!
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
ROMANO: Did you know that? I didn't know this...
M. O'BRIEN: I had no idea.
ROMANO: Tamales...
M. O'BRIEN: I had no idea.
ROMANO: ... in Mexico are a traditional Christmas time treat.
M. O'BRIEN: Who knew?
ROMANO: There is a party called a tamalata.
Did you know that? That's where you have your Christmastime tamales.
M. O'BRIEN: Yet another way you've edified me. Yes.
ROMANO: I just keep on giving.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
ROMANO: Wouldn't it be cool...
M. O'BRIEN: Not much to see on this site except, you know, you can order.
ROMANO: Well, you have to go oh, you know what?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, order here.
ROMANO: If you click and if we had sound, it plays really good music...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. It's a cute little music.
ROMANO: ... like tamale music.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
ROMANO: And you can -- you order them. They're fresh made. They're hand wrapped. And then the people that -- the recipient just steams it or sticks it in the microwave. They send them the second day...
M. O'BRIEN: Do they taste good after being shpd?
ROMANO: They send them second day.
M. O'BRIEN: There it is.
Listen.
ROMANO: Delicious.
(AUDIO CLIP WEB SITE)
M. O'BRIEN: There we go.
ROMANO: See, it makes shopping fun.
M. O'BRIEN: That's excellent. There you go.
ROMANO: All day yesterday I was just kind of, you know...
M. O'BRIEN: Canalia (ph)? Yes.
ROMANO: ... you were like do you still have to look at that tamale site?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
ROMANO: I think that's a really cool, and, now we know traditional, gift.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
ROMANO: Speaking of tradition, let's say you grew up in Kansas and there was this special kind of candy that you could only get, you know, out there. Now you're a big city girl, you live in New York. The hard to find...
M. O'BRIEN: Those would be Auntie M&Ms, right? The Auntie M&Ms? Kansas?
ROMANO: Oh my gosh.
M. O'BRIEN: I don't know. Anyway, so...
ROMANO: The hometown grocer, the hard to find grocer at Hometownfavorites.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
ROMANO: So they have all of this stuff, whether it's discontinued and they have a secret stash of it...
M. O'BRIEN: Oooh.
ROMANO: Not that it's old. Or it's a regional favorite that you used to only be able to get it in California, like a special candy that you remember loving as a kid.
M. O'BRIEN: They have gift baskets, too...
ROMANO: Wouldn't it be great...
M. O'BRIEN: ... which is kind of good. ROMANO: ... especially if someone is far from home...
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
ROMANO: ... you can send them their favorite treats from childhood, like a cereal they forgot they loved or a certain type of candy.
They also, for the -- this isn't a good gift, but just, again, for your edification, they have a whole chicken in a can.
M. O'BRIEN: Chicken in a can, one of my favorite things.
ROMANO: I don't know...
M. O'BRIEN: All right...
ROMANO: I don't know what kind of regional specialty that is.
M. O'BRIEN: Time...
ROMANO: Last, but certainly not least...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes...
ROMANO: The grateful...
M. O'BRIEN: Just don't eat the can.
ROMANO: Don't eat the can, for sure.
M. O'BRIEN: And this is important because -- we're running out of time -- but we've got to get this one in because I know you're a big fan.
ROMANO: Gratefulpalate. It's gorgeous. Maybe you've heard of it because they're sort of famous for their bacon of the month...
M. O'BRIEN: Bacon of the month.
ROMANO: ... subscription.
M. O'BRIEN: Right here.
ROMANO: That's kind of popular. But...
M. O'BRIEN: Artisan bacons.
ROMANO: ... they -- this guy travels the world looking for good food. He presents it all on this beautiful Web site and I just -- it's so cute. It's so great.
M. O'BRIEN: Dannielle Romano bringing home the bacon for us.
ROMANO: I'm hungry.
M. O'BRIEN: Once again, thank you very much.
ROMANO: And frying it up in a pan.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, right.
And we'll see you back here tomorrow.
ROMANO: All right.
M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: We are just minutes away now from the nominations for the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards.
We're going to take you live to L.A. just as soon as they begin.
Stay with us.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): In a country where women didn't have a voice, Wangari Maathai spoke to the people. Born a farmer's daughter in Kenya in 1940, she traveled to America on a scholarship and became the first woman from Central or East Africa to earn a doctorate degree.
But when Maathai returned home, she found most of Kenya's forests had been destroyed.
WANGARI MAATHAI: It is the women who are expected to produce food to feed the family. So it is the woman who feels it when the land can no longer produce.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under her leadership, more than 30 million trees have been planted all over Kenya. Her movement has helped citizen foresters improve their quality of life.
MAATHAI: We realize that people need to understand that some of the problems they have are of their own making and they can do something about those problems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her commitment to community and women made her the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Maathai became a member of the Kenyan parliament. Her political standing has taken her fight for the environment and democracy on to a larger landscape.
MAATHAI: Outside, you can make all the noise you want, but you cannot change laws. When I'm in parliament, I can make contributions that will ensure that the future will be better.
(END VIDEO TAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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