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American Morning

Reprisal Attacks?; Where is Bin Laden?; Pres. Bush on Iraq; Losing his Seat?; 'Paying the Price in the Heartland'

Aired June 09, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Here is a look at what's happening this morning, Friday, June 9.

DNA samples from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are now at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia. The tests are expected to be completed by Monday morning at the latest. We could hear the results by then. FBI investigators have already matched fingerprints to confirm al- Zarqawi's death.

Police in London are appealing for calm ahead of an expected protest today. Some members of a Muslim extremist group are angry about an anti-terror raid last week. Police apologized when no chemical bombs turned up in that raid. A protest by the same group led to arrests at the Danish Embassy earlier in the year.

M. O'BRIEN: Without DeLay. The end of an era in Congress today. Tom DeLay, the feisty former majority leader, leaves the House today under an ethical cloud. Republicans cheered him on the House floor yesterday after a fiery speech defending his tactics and politics.

The Congressional Black Caucus defending embattled Louisiana lawmaker William Jefferson, the focus of a bribery investigation. They -- top Democrats want him to resign from the Ways and Means Committee, but the leader of the Black Caucus says Jefferson should be presumed innocent.

S. O'BRIEN: Congress has now reached a deal on a more than $94 billion spending bill. It should be on the president's desk by next week. Almost $20 billion will go to Katrina recovery, $70 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have now cost nearly $400 billion. The rest pretty much goes to border security and Bird Flu.

Time for a check of the forecast. Rob Marciano is in for Chad Myers. He's at the CNN Center.

Hey, Rob, good morning.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: All right, that sounds a little ominous. We'll stay tuned for that.

Thanks, -- Rob.

MARCIANO: OK.

S. O'BRIEN: Extra security measures are being put in place today in parts of Iraq after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Iraqi officials are taking the precautions in the hopes of avoiding any reprisal attacks.

CNN's John Vause has details for us. He's live in Baghdad this morning.

Hey, John, good morning.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

A vehicle ban is currently in place in Baghdad and also around the city north of here, Baquba. It started about three hours ago. It will be enforced for another hour. It coincides with Friday noon prayers. This is the busiest prayer time out of all of the week here in Iraq. Shiite mosques have been a frequent target of suicide car bombings in the past, mostly carried out by Zarqawi's al Qaeda group.

Now these vehicle bans have been used before in the past. They are very effective. Most recently back in February after the bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra and also during the elections last November. It's a fairly simple equation, if there are no cars, there can be no car bombings.

Also, extra police are on the streets. So, too, the Iraqi National Guard. They are manning roadblocks, as well as carrying out I.D. checks, security checks as well. As you mentioned, the Iraqi government is preparing for these retaliatory attacks.

Now this vehicle ban up in Baquba only will be extended for evening prayers as well. You may remember Baquba is the city closest to where Zarqawi was killed on Thursday night -- or Wednesday night, rather.

And just north of here, staying around the Baquba area, there have been clashes between the U.S. military and insurgents. At least four people have been killed. We don't know precisely who has died in those clashes, but quite possibly civilians who have been caught in the crossfire -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: John Vause in Baghdad for us this morning.

John, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The Bush administration now offering some details on the hunt for Zarqawi. It appears it was a mix of luck, betrayal and dogged persistence that led to his demise. Officials say the key was the capture of some al Qaeda operatives in Jordan last month. They say someone inside Zarqawi's inner circle offered a crucial piece of information that Zarqawi had a so-called spiritual advisor. And following him led them to Zarqawi.

And what about that $25 million bounty? Iraq's prime minister says it will be paid, but the U.S. State Department writes the checks and officials there are saying it appears no one is eligible for the big bucks. They concede the Jordanian government helped by offering information, but the State Department says governments are not eligible for the reward, just individuals.

Now that Zarqawi has been captured and killed, the question remains, what about Osama bin Laden? He's believed to be still hiding in the rugged terrain along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Barbara Starr with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. troops got Abu Musab al-Zarqawi the old-fashioned way, tracking tips and assembling intelligence. And that is why four-and-a-half years after the 9/11 attacks it is still so hard to get Osama bin Laden.

LT. GEN. KARL EIKENBERRY, COMBINED FORCES COMMANDER, AFGHANISTAN: We will keep after him until one day he is either captured or killed.

STARR: Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry commands 23,000 troops in Afghanistan, but they are not allowed to cross the border into Pakistan where bin Laden is believed to be sheltered by loyal tribes and Taliban fighters. If there are tips, the U.S. either has to rely on Pakistani troops or armed drones to act on them. So far, neither has worked, although many al Qaeda leaders have been taken out.

As the hunt has continued, the war in Afghanistan has taken a grim turn.

(on camera): The U.S. military says it's fighting an insurgency now here in Afghanistan. And a counterinsurgency campaign, they say, could take years to succeed.

(voice-over): The Taliban are stronger now than anyone expected, especially in the south and east along the Pakistan border.

MAJ. GEN. BENJAMIN FREAKLEY, COMBINED JOINT TASK FORCE 76: The fight has not diminished. It -- but they have had time to reorganize. They've had time to recruit more. They've had time to get the funding.

STARR: Eikenberry knows that could make getting bin Laden even tougher, but that's his mission.

EIKENBERRY: We have an obligation to one day either kill or capture bin Laden for the purpose of justice to the American people and, indeed, to the entire world for the misery that this man has inflicted. And we keep faith with that.

STARR: Intelligence officials tell CNN they continue to get unverified reports of bin Laden sightings. If one of those tips ever pans out, the greatest likelihood is that the CIA would quickly launch a predator drone carrying a missile and attempt to kill the world's most wanted man.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: We're expecting to hear more from President Bush this morning about U.S. plans to move forward in Iraq now that Zarqawi is dead. The president is going to face reporters a few hours from now.

Elaine Quijano has details from the White House this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): President Bush is spending the next few days at the presidential retreat at Camp David. Later this morning, he will be hosting the prime minister of Denmark, and he's expected to take a few questions from reporters.

His time at Camp David comes ahead of a round of meetings next week focusing on Iraq. On Monday, the president will meet with members of his national security team, as well as key members of his Cabinet. And then on Tuesday, they will be joined by their Iraqi counterparts via teleconference. The goal -- in the president's words -- "to discuss how best to deploy America's resources in Iraq."

Elaine Quijano, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: And we're learning more about that terrorist plot, alleged, in Toronto. Two defense attorneys say a government synopsis of the case against 17 suspects alleges that one of the men had enrolled in a flight training school to learn how to fly airplanes into targets. The unnamed suspect reportedly withdrew from the school because he didn't want to attract the attention of authorities. Most of the suspects are due in court on Monday -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: A tempest under the Capitol Dome as top Democrats try to force one of their own off the powerful committee. They're calling on Louisiana lawmaker William Jefferson to resign the Ways and Means Committee. Jefferson, the focus of a bribery probe, says he won't step aside.

Carol Costello in the newsroom with more.

Good morning, -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a little complicated. But you knew it would get complicated, don't you, I mean, didn't you?

Representative William Jefferson, Democrat from Louisiana, is not going quietly. House Democrats recommended he be suspended from his seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, but not so fast. Race is now an issue. The Congressional Black Caucus objected to the move, saying the only way to force Jefferson from his position was notice of at least five days. That's how it has always been done.

Listen to a quote from Black Caucus Chair Mel Watt. He said, "If the only person you have applied it to is a black member of Congress, then our community will legitimately ask what in the world are you all doing?"

As you well remember, FBI agents raided Jefferson's congressional office and they found that $90,000 in his freezer. Jefferson, though, has not been charged. And he says he cannot talk freely about meeting with the steering committee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. WILLIAM JEFFERSON (D), LOUISIANA: Had a chance to explain my position in the matter, which is, at this moment, fundamentally unchanged from what you've already heard about and read about. And I agreed that I would not discuss the discussions that are going back and forth in the committee, and I will not. There will be a spokesperson for the committee, at some point, that will -- that may do that, but I'm really not at liberty to -- we all agreed I would not come out and discuss the discussion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Discuss the discussion with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, that's what he's talking about. She says race has nothing to do with this. She says this is about upholding the highest ethical standards in the Democratic caucus. And this could get even uglier. And of course we'll keep following it for you.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Carol Costello.

The rape case against those Duke lacrosse players looking a little flimsier this morning. The other stripper hired for the party where the alleged assault took place says the allegations are a crock. At the outset of the investigation, Kim Roberts said she doubted the story of her fellow stripper who claims three lacrosse team members raped her at a party in March. Roberts says she was with the accuser most of the night. She later changed her story, saying the Duke players are guilty.

A man in central Florida nursing wounds from an alligator bite to his head this morning. He was snorkeling in a canal when the alligator swam up to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL DIAZ, JR., ATTACK VICTIM: It didn't bolt. It didn't run in fear like you figure a wild animal should. And it kind of eyed me down a little bit. When the gator hit me in the back of the head, it -- I guess it bit down and it didn't get a good grip because of my hard skull.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: It's good to have a hard skull. It's a good thing...

S. O'BRIEN: He looks good, doesn't he?

M. O'BRIEN: ... it went after the head, right?

S. O'BRIEN: My god!

M. O'BRIEN: The gator was only three feet long, though. But still, under water that would seem bigger, right? The animal has since been found and trapped.

A shark attack on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. A 7-year- old girl bitten while wading in all of two feet of water. No one saw the shark, but it left a tooth behind in her leg. The doctors pulled it out. She's doing fine. A little shook-up, I'm sure.

And a sports car purring, not because of the engine, a mother cat and her newborn kittens inside the corvette.

S. O'BRIEN: My gosh!

M. O'BRIEN: I wonder if they have a tiger in their tank, too? Luckily, a doorman called the Animal Rescue League before the car was turned on. You might say he presented -- prevented a catastrophe, catastrophe.

S. O'BRIEN: I get it, sorry.

M. O'BRIEN: The wandering kitties and their mom...

S. O'BRIEN: Sorry, I'm slow on the uptake on that one.

M. O'BRIEN: ... have now been reunited.

S. O'BRIEN: That kind of worked, sort of.

M. O'BRIEN: No.

S. O'BRIEN: They're cute little kittens, though.

M. O'BRIEN: I was talking to...

S. O'BRIEN: That's all right.

M. O'BRIEN: It's Friday, what more do you want?

S. O'BRIEN: I hear you man.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm tired.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, we're going to have the latest on this desperate search for those two women who disappeared while they were mountain climbing in Alaska. It's been more than three weeks. We'll update you on the progress there.

M. O'BRIEN: Then we'll tell you how the phone company will help you soon lower your TV bill. Stay with us on that one, we'll explain.

S. O'BRIEN: And we continue our weeklong series, "Paying the Price in the Heartland." High gas prices are forcing one school district to take some pretty drastic measures. We'll show you what they're doing just ahead.

And Carrie Lee has business headlines.

Good morning.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: We look like the twins today in our outfits.

LEE: I know. It's so funny the way it works out sometimes in this business, right?

The government warns that it will go after bonuses paid out at Fannie Mae, the mortgage giant. And Pfizer faces new lawsuits over drug side effects. We'll have those stories and more coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back.

Happening this morning, the FBI working around the clock on a DNA sample from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, they believe. They expect to have test results by this weekend or Monday at the very latest.

It's former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's last day. Republicans cheered his final speech in which he defended his hardball tactics and conservative politics. DeLay is charged with campaign finance violations in Texas.

Phone companies will be able to bring you cable TV under a bill that just passed the House. It's supposed to increase competition and eventually save us money.

M. O'BRIEN: OK, let's cue the music. Yes, you know what that means, folks, "Gas Gauge" time. The national average now $2.90. One month ago, $2.89 and a year ago, $2.12.

And now a lesson in reading, writing and reeling. That's reeling from high gas prices. With costs soaring, at least one school district is using money meant for teaching kids to fill up the school buses to get them to the classroom in the first place.

Dan Lothian continues his series on feeling the pinch in the heartland in Eldridge, Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Good morning.

Well you know last year the school buses in this district traveled over 500,000 miles. You can just imagine how much fuel that is. Well because of that problem and other energy costs, some teachers are paying the price.

(voice-over): It's a math lesson learned the hard way, 34 school bus routes, covering 225 square miles, factor in higher fuel costs and it all adds up to layoffs in the classroom.

TIM DOSE, SUPT., NORTH SCOTT SCHOOL DISTRICT: It's just kind of like the straw that broke the camel's back. It just has thrown our budget way out of balance.

LOTHIAN: The North Scott School District in Eldridge, Iowa, with its vast rural boundaries roughly the size of Chicago, had already been struggling to make ends meet when Superintendent Tim Dose says the unexpected happened.

DOSE: Our costs of fuel have gone up and up and up at a much higher rate, costing us much more money.

LOTHIAN: How much money, $66,000 extra to fill up their buses. But there was more. Natural gas prices also spiked, costing the district an extra $150,000.

DOSE: When we put in the increases in the fuel costs, it really caused us this year to have to go to more drastic moves.

LOTHIAN: Like layoffs. At the end of April 10 pink slips went out across the district. These three high school friends were shocked.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I couldn't believe that they had actually cut the teachers.

LESLIE BEERT, STUDENT, NORTH SCOTT HIGH SCHOOL: I think it was more upsetting at first to know that they would do that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These teachers are very close with us, and I've had classes with almost all of them.

LOTHIAN: So they decided to act by co-writing this letter to the editor of the local paper. It reads, in part,...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The impact they have made on the students here is tremendous.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It would be a huge loss for the students in the future not to have the opportunity...

BEERT: ... to experience the teaching and coaching styles of these particular people.

LOTHIAN: The letter was published shortly after students staged a brief walkout, but they couldn't undo the damage. The laid off teachers did not want to talk; but their union president, who is also a teacher, had plenty to say.

(on camera): Are they angry? I mean, what's the sense?

STEVE MOHR, PRES., TEACHER'S UNION: I think betrayal is a good word.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): That's because while the teachers understand that keeping these buses moving and keeping these rooms heated has gotten more expensive, they had hoped for other options.

MOHR: That they would have kept these people in the positions that they had, they would have found the money in some way, shape or form to keep them.

LOTHIAN: Superintendent Dose says four of the pink slipped teachers have been reabsorbed after others quit or retired and one position was reinstated. But overall, the high cost of fuel will mean fewer teachers in the classroom for the district's 3,000 students.

DOSE: All of our teachers are being forced to take on more teaching duties, probably larger classes, but definitely more teaching duties.

LOTHIAN (on camera): It is quite unusual that a school district is this large. The reason it is this way is because city fathers set it up decades ago. School officials are hoping that lawmakers will take a look at this issue so that they can avoid any additional problems down the road.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Dan.

Dan will be live next hour from Mason City, Iowa. That's the home of "The Music Man." We got trouble right there in River City. That begins with T and that rhymes with P and that stands for pool. Anyway, I digress. He'll take a look inside an ethanol plant. There is a lot of hope from some people that ethanol in production might really give the U.S. an alternative to oil from the Middle East. But could this boom turn into a bust? AMERICAN MORNING's Dan Lothian live from Mason City, Iowa next hour.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, an update in that Duke rape case, how early testimony from the other dancer who was present at that party is now casting doubt on the charges.

And then we'll tell you why a popular cholesterol drug is now the target of two separate lawsuits.

Those stories ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back.

Here's a look at some of the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.

The revelations in the Duke rape case. According to court documents, the other exotic dancer at the lacrosse party, the lacrosse team's party, told police the rape allegations were -- quote -- "a crock." Kim Roberts, you can see her right there, the other dancer, said that, later though, the players were guilty.

New information on more than 26 million veterans that might have been wiped away. Social Security numbers and addresses of the vets were on a laptop that was stolen from the home of a Veterans Affairs employee. We've been following this story for a while now. Well investigators now think the thieves erased the information and maybe sold the computer.

And time may be running out for two stranded mountain climbers in Alaska. Search crews found a radio and a torn backpack they believe belongs to one of the women who went climbing near Mount Foraker three weeks ago -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Carrie Lee is here with a Friday business report.

Good morning, Carrie. We're talking about the stock market and big bonuses...

LEE: And big bonuses at Fannie Mae, which may have to be returned.

S. O'BRIEN: May -- little bonuses.

LEE: That's what the government wants to see. The government warning that it will go after big bonuses paid out to Fannie Mae executives if the company doesn't do so itself.

Now Fannie's company board is now reviewing 30 current and former executives, and they have been accused of manipulating accounting at the company to make profit goals and so earned big bonuses. Former Chief Franklin Raines has reportedly received $52 million in bonuses tied directly to those profit targets. So the accounting...

M. O'BRIEN: Fifty-two million.

LEE: Fifty-two million, that's right.

M. O'BRIEN: That's some real money.

LEE: Yes, we'll see if he has to give some of it, or maybe all of it, back. That's what the government wants to see.

S. O'BRIEN: That has lawsuit all over it, you know, because people accept those checks so readily. And then yet when it comes to giving it back, not so much.

LEE: Well, and for a mortgage company, I mean this should be even more conservative than a regular company or publicly traded company on Wall Street.

M. O'BRIEN: One would think. Yes, yes.

LEE: Yes. So that continues.

Also, Pfizer being sued. Two separate lawsuits here. Men taking the cholesterol drug Lipitor say they suffered lasting damage. Lipitor, the world's top selling drug, $12 billion in sales a year. Both men claim they suffered lasting health damage as a result with muscle problems, some other things. Pfizer says the suits are baseless, that side effects are included on all of its labels and advertising. They say side effects very, very small, less than 1 percent. And so we'll see what happens there.

Finally, on to the markets. We did see a huge turnaround for stocks yesterday. At the close, the Dow up 8 points. But we were lower by as much as 173 points during the session. So some bargain hunters coming in. And this morning, looking like a bullish start as well.

That's the latest.

M. O'BRIEN: There you have it.

LEE: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: The Carrie Lee rally is under way still time (ph).

LEE: We'll see.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Carrie, have a good weekend.

LEE: You, too.

M. O'BRIEN: The morning's top stories are straight ahead, including a small plane down in the middle of the Pacific. Two passengers trapped onboard. We have the Coast Guard video of their dramatic escape and rescue.

And further proof of a man's best friend. Find out what this German Shepherd did to deserve a Purple Heart.

Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.

DNA samples from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi now at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia. The FBI expects to have test results back no later than Monday morning.

Top Democrats trying to remove Congressman William Jefferson from the Ways and Means Committee. That's a powerful one. That was the result of a secret ballot vote last night. Jefferson is at the center of a bribery investigation. A couple of pilots are safe now thanks to a creative Coast Guard crew. When they learned a small plane on its way to Hawaii was in trouble, the Coast Guard plane dropped flares to make a makeshift runway on the water, helping the pilot judge how to ditch an ailing plane. Ditching at night is a difficult thing. Container ship bound for China picked up the two people. That a boy.

Good morning to you, I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

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