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American Morning

Plug Pulled on Controversial Ports Deal

Aired March 10, 2006 - 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: Good morning, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

The plug is pulled on that controversial ports deal, but the change may not offer any political cover for the president.

S. O'BRIEN: New pictures this morning of an American tank attacked in Baghdad, part of another deadly day around Iraq.

M. O'BRIEN: A warning from the judge in the al Qaeda trial. Prosecutors told to watch their case very closely.

S. O'BRIEN: And a disaster declared after strong storms sweep through the southeast. We're going to check the forecast on that.

And then this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma'am, what's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's pushing our car!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, I understand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: That's the A 911 tape. It's a bizarre attack on two pregnant women. We're going to tell you what their attacker was trying to do, ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, that Dubai ports deal is a dead. Among a firestorm of criticism on Capitol Hill, Dubai Ports World, owned by the United Arab Emirates government, is dropping its plans to manage six U.S. ports. For the Bush administration, it may be welcome news, or is it really?

AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken in Washington, CNN's Elaine Quijano at the White House. We begin with Bob.

Bob, first of all, is the deal really dead?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: That's a good question. The Dubai Ports World people had a very carefully worded statement. They would transfer the control of the ports operations to a U.S. entity, raising questions exactly what does "transfer" mean? Another question, what does "U.S. entity" mean? Could it be something where there is control still exercised in some indirect way by Dubai Ports World by Dubai Ports World.

Another question, who would buy if it was for sale? Who would buy under these circumstances at prices that might be acceptable to the seller? A lot of devilish details, as the cliche goes. And the politicians are watching this very closely. They're very skeptical, particularly the Democrats, are going to continue pushing on Capitol Hill, certainly pushing for the political advantage.

But what this does, it stops the momentum, which, for the Bush administration, was heading right toward disaster. Congress was about to take action, which would of really been a catastrophe as far as the president is concerned. For the moment, that momentum has stopped. But I underline the words, "for the moment" -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, and the real rub here, Bob, is that we're talking about a bread and butter Republican issue, national security, the war on terror. And that may be the reason folks on Capitol Hill got so nervous.

FRANKEN: Certainly go so nervous, but the Republicans were marching full-speed ahead against the president, certainly making them nervous at the White House, and it's also the reason why the Democrats are not going to let this be forgotten.

O'BRIEN: All right, Bob Franken.

Let's go to the White House now. Elaine Quijano there.

Elaine, what are they saying this morning? What were they saying yesterday there?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles.

Well, President Bush and White House officials are certainly hoping to put this episode behind them. Administration officials really are saying that this decision by DP World allows them or provides, in their words, the way forward, allows them to stay focused on other issues.

But, of course, there is an awareness here at the White House of the harsh political reality on this issue, that President Bush was defeated, as evidenced, of course, by the very public split by congressional Republicans and the intense pressure on the administration, especially on an issue that had been President Bush's strong suit, of course, national security.

Now, though, Miles, officials here hoping to move past this controversy and focus on the challenges that lie ahead -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Elaine, the president has never used his veto pen, and he was ready to bring it out on this particular issue. I suspect he's glad he doesn't have to.

QUIJANO: Well, absolutely. And you'll recall that when President Bush initially made that veto threat, many were taken by surprise by that. It would have been, as you noted, the president's first veto of his presidency. And interesting to note, though, almost immediately there seemed to be a bit of a backing away from that, but nevertheless, behind the scenes, as you know, negotiations had been going on fast and furious to try to avert a showdown with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Now, though, officials saying they believe this does provide a way out -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano at the White House, thank you very much.

"Time" magazine out with an interesting footnote to this, this morning. One of the companies under consideration as a U.S. partner for Dubai Ports World is Kellogg, Brown and Root. KBR, as you may recall, is a subsidiary of Halliburton, which of course is the company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney. KBR already partnered with a company called ISS to provide security for U.S. Navy ships at ports in the Middle East. ISS is owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates, coming full circle.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: A deadly suicide bombing to tell but in Fallujah today. Iraqi police found the bodies of nine men in two Baghdad suburbs. Each man was shot in the head. CNN's Aneesh Raman is following developments from Baghdad for us this morning.

Hey, Aneesh, good morning.

Really a horrific report. Let's begin -- or I should say reports.

Let's begin with the car bombings. What do we know?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

And these eight people were killed, some 11 others wounded after a suicide truck bomber detonated in the city of Fallujah. That's about 40 miles west of Baghdad in the Valdo An Anbar province. The intended target, it seems, was a joint Iraqi military and police checkpoint. Again, though, those numbers expect to rise. These are initial casualty numbers.

In the capital today, Iraqi police, though, have said, as you mentioned, that they found since last night, nine bodies throughout the capital in various parts, not in one discovery. Some of them did show signs of torture. They have yet to identify any of the bodies yet -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you about the reports that we've had about Abu Ghraib Prison. The U.S. announcing, of course, it's going to vacate the prison. What happens to those prisoners? RAMAN: Well, essentially the U.S. is saying the 4,500 prisoners that are under coalition control will move to a new facility called Camp Crawford. That's near Baghdad's International Airport. It is also where they are keeping right now high-level detainees. The facility, Abu Ghraib Prison, will then be transferred to the Iraqi government.

They have said, at least the beginning, they will not put prisoners there. There are security issues around that area, but they reserve the right to do so later on.

Again, though, the Abu Ghraib Prison has been the source of immense controversy here. So for Iraqis, many would like to see it just simply destroyed -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman for us this morning. Thanks, Aneesh, for the update. Appreciate it.

M. O'BRIEN: At the Moussaoui trial today, the defense gets its crack at a key government witness. Yesterday, one week into the trial, the jury heard from the FBI agent who arrested the confessed al Qaeda conspirator.

We get more from CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was here at this hotel in Egan, Minnesota where Zacarias Moussaoui was taken into custody, just three weeks before the September 11th attacks. The FBI agent who arrested him testified that Moussaoui repeatedly lied during questioning, lies that the government contends helped the 9/11 plot go undetected.

Agent Harry Samit says Moussaoui told him he wanted to learn how to fly for enjoyment, for his own personal ego. Moussaoui told Samit the $32,000 he brought to the United States was given to him by family members and business associates, and he denied being a member of a terrorist group. Samit said he wasn't getting anywhere, that Moussaoui was evasive. He also said he told Moussaoui he believed he was part of a terror plot, and that if anything happened, he would be held accountable.

Samit and a flight instructor who testified said they were suspicious from the very beginning because, Moussaoui wanted to learn to fly a 747 without hardly any flying experience. It was those suspicions led these two Pan Am flight school employees in Minnesota to call the FBI.

TIM NELSON, FLIGHT SCHOOL MANAGER: I don't know what this guy is up to, but he's paying a lot of money for nothing he can use legitimately.

ARENA: The defense argues Moussaoui had no role in the 9/11 attacks, that he never had any contact with any of the hijackers and never knew any of the specifics. His attorneys are expected to aggressively cross-examine agent Samit on Monday.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Alexandria, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Moussaoui is facing life in prison without parole, or the death penalty -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Cleanup day for residents of some southern states after fierce winds and hail. Some of this hail was the size of baseball. Here is a look at some of this videotape of the damage and the trees and power lines knocked down in parts of Arkansas. Tornadoes reported, too, along with high winds. A fire was actually sparked by lightning that killed a man. The baseball-sized hail was reported in southern Oklahoma. And a tornado-damaged elementary school in Indianola, Mississippi. Nobody, fortunately, though, was injured.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Let me tell but a story near Detroit, a really bizarre incident. It involving two pregnant women. The women were in their SUV, when suddenly, man in another SUV started ramming them from behind. You're looking at police dash-cam video of the man's SUV. The wheels are smoking. The wheels are smoking because he was pushing so hard, his vehicle into the other SUV, into the women's SUV, when police finally got involved and prevented them from pushing them into oncoming traffic.

Listen to the 911 call. It is horrifying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOMAN: What is going on?

OPERATOR: He's moving our car.

WOMAN: Now he's blowing kisses at u.s

OPERATOR: Now he's what?

WOMAN: He's blowing kisses at us.

OPERATOR: Yes, he's pushing their car.

WOMAN: Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

OPERATOR: Ma'am, what's going on?

WOMAN: He's pushing our car.

OPERATOR: OK, I understand.

Oh, my God.

WOMAN: What do we do? What do we do? OPERATOR: Stay in the car. How hard is he pushing you? Is he...

WOMAN: Really hard.

OPERATOR: ... moving you?

WOMAN: Yes.

OPERATOR: OK. You guys can't drive away from him?

WOMAN: Stop!

OPERATOR: OK, I'm getting help as fast as I can, ma'am.

WOMAN: Oh, my God.

OPERATOR: OK, I understand...

WOMAN: Nicole, I can't hear.

OPERATOR: Tell Nicole the police are there.

WOMAN: The police are here. The police are here. They're here! OK, they're here!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh, what a horrifying call. The police were there, and in fact they arrested 50-year-old Earl Boyd. There he is. That's his mug shot. They charged him with two counts of assault with a motor vehicle. The two women had been on their way to a baby fair. As we mentioned, they were pregnant women, when that horrible attack happened.

M. O'BRIEN: What on earth was he thinking?

S. O'BRIEN: You know, it's unclear. There's been no real update on any sort of insight on what was going on, you know, rammed them from behind, then tried to push them into oncoming traffic. They're in an SUV. He's in an SUV. Horrifying. You can hear it from their screaming. Chilling.

M. O'BRIEN: Glad everybody is okay.

Still to come do you remember that fugitive dad who ditched his son instead of giving him a kidney? You know the story. Well, maybe a bounty will help.

S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, we're going to meet a man called the Donald Trump of New Orleans. He's going to tell us why he's not loving that name.

M. O'BRIEN: And later, a stormy political sea ends the Dubai Port Deal. Now what? We'll go to Dubai for the reaction from there.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, that Dubai Ports deal has run aground after a storm of political protests from Congress. Six U.S. seaports will not be managed by a company owned by Dubai. Virginia Senator John Warner broke the news on Thursday on the Senate floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: Because of the strong relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the United States, and to preserve that relationship, DP World has decided to transfer fully the U.S. operation of PNO Ports North America to a United States entity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: What's it mean for President Bush? Ron Brownstein is CNN's political analyst and "L.A. Times" columnist. He's in D.C. This morning.

Nice to see you, as always, Ron. Thanks for talking with us.

You know, we hear the senator there talking about preserving the relationship. But you know, after putting it on hold and the search and the search for a compromise, why do you think it ultimately failed?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POL. ANALYST: Well, I think there was simply too much political resistance. I mean, this result was I think foredained once the leaders of both chambers, Republican leaders of both chambers, indicated they were going to buck the White House.

If there is a silver lining here for the president it is that he has cut his losses. Another several weeks of this could have been devastating, probably with the same result at the end.

On the other side of the ledger, this sends a very clear signal to Republicans who are leery about whatever policy the president proposes, that the iron-fisted unity of the first term is eroding, and I think this is going to embolden those who want to challenge the president on whatever the issue may be.

S. O'BRIEN: And that's really why this revolt over this issue is really bigger than just this particular issue, isn't it?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I mean, through the first five years of the Bush presidency, we have seen extraordinary levels of party unity among Republicans on Capitol Hill. They have voted together far more than Democrats did when Bill Clinton was president, and even more than Republicans did when Ronald Reagan was president. And we've seen repeatedly the willingness of moderates to vote for things they were uncertain about, like tax cuts, and conservatives to vote for things that they were uncertain about, like the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill, on the theory that they would all benefit if they hung together. Well, starting over the last year, certainly with the resistance in Social Security, President Bush being forced to back off the nomination of Harriet Miers and now this, you're clearly seeing that the lower poll numbers for President Bush, the erosion of his popular support, has made Republicans more willing to cut their own deals. They're still not in total disarray. They're still going to hold together on most issues.

But clearly there is a different environment now, and we're seeing much more willingness to challenge the White House lead, so that even on an issue that his been his core strength, the fight against terror.

S. O'BRIEN: Put that willingness to challenge into some perspective for me, because certainly President Bush is not the first president who has had a challenge from his own party.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, absolutely. And, to some extent, as I said, what's been more unusual is the degree of unity that they have managed over the first five years. I mean, you look at when the Democrats held unified control of the Congress and the White House in Bill Clinton's first two years. He faced dissension from the right on his budget, dissension from the left on aspects of the crime bill, and there was sort of an "every man for himself" attitude. Republicans have avoided that to a remarkable extent, but you know, events have consequences, and the president is not the political figure that he was for most of that first term when his approval rating was well over 50 percent. Now he's down in the 30s at some point, in some polls, or around 40.

And what was dangerous for him about this deal was that it was unpopular with the Republican base, as well as with swing voters and Democrats. And in that way, as I said, the White House is probably better off having it resolved now than having another month of fights within their own party to further depress his approval rating.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask on quick final question: Republican revolt equal Democratic victory?

BROWNSTEIN: In this case, I think the Democrats understood that they were best served by taking, you know, a step back and letting Republicans take the lead. I think it does provide -- the breakdown of Republican unity does provide more opportunities for Democrats, but the reality is with Republicans holding majorities in both chambers, Democrats can still only move forward their ideas when Republicans splinter.

S. O'BRIEN: Interesting.

All right, Ron Brownstein for us this morning. Nice to see you, as always, Ron. Thanks -- Miles.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Soledad.

M. O'BRIEN: So was that port deal collapse bad for business in the U.S.? It could have a chilling effect. Andy explains, "Minding Your Business" in just a little bit.

And later...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very sorry for what his dad did to him, and that we will find him in some way or somehow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: We'll check in with that teen waiting for a kidney promised to him by his fugitive father. Time may be running out. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Hey, did you know "Forbes" just came out about with its list of this year's billionaires, and Donald Trump is still on the list. Martha Stewart, though, off the list. Donald Trump is not letting Stewart forget the fight over "The Apprentice." In fact, he talked about it last night with Larry King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, "THE APPRENTICE": Martha, frankly, didn't do well in "The Apprentice." And she sort of took shots at Mark Burnett and myself and tried to blame us. I said, what do have to do with it? You have a show. It didn't have the temperament. I haven't spoken to her. I feel a little guilty about that, because I like Martha. Look, you like her and I like her. I haven't spoken to her. But I didn't like being blamed for her failure.

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: So you're not going to call her?

TRUMP: I'm not going to call her. You know, it's just like one of those things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: I like her, but I haven't spoken to her, and I'm not going to call her. "LARRY KING LIVE," of course, airs every night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

A little bit later, we're going to meet a guy that some people are calling the Donald Trump of New Orleans. We'll tell you how he got that nickname and why he is not happy with it.

Also, another legal setback for Michael Jackson. We'll tell you why authorities have now shutdown the Neverland Ranch.

Those stories are ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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