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American Morning
Deadly Prison Shootout; Troops Charged with Murder for Actions in Iraq
Aired June 22, 2006 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening this morning, a new videotape from al Qaeda's Ayman el-Zawahiri. On the tape, the terror leader talks about what he calls American crimes against the Afghan people.
President Bush is wrapping up his European trip in Budapest. Today, he is meeting with the president of Hungary. he is also going to deliver a speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hungary's revolt against Soviet rule.
And in Tallahassee, Florida, the FBI investigating now that deadly prison shootout. It's a story that happened yesterday while we were on the air. Authorities say it happened when agents tried to arrest six prison guards on sex for drugs charges. One of the guards and an agent were killed.
Welcome back, everybody.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Roberts in this week for Miles O'Brien.
Good Thursday morning to you.
This morning, the president of Afghanistan called Osama bin Laden's second in command an enemy of the Afghan people. And a new video message from the al Qaeda leader surfaced on Wednesday. Ayman el-Zawahiri calls on Muslims to rise up against coalition forces in Afghanistan. He claims to have recorded this video a day after deadly anti-American riots broke out last month in Afghanistan.
O'BRIEN: For the second time this week, troops have been charged with murder for actions in Iraq. The latest charges come after a lengthy investigation into the death of an Iraqi civilian in Hamandiyah. seven Marines and one Navy corpsman are now charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy.
CNN's Kyung Lah live for us in Washington, D.C. This morning -- Kyung, good morning.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
The parents of the accused vehemently deny the charges. But relatives of the Iraqi man killed say that he died not in a battle in war, but as a result of an act of murder. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
LAH (voice-over): Inside Camp Pendleton's brig sit seven Marines and one Navy Corpsman who fought for their country. They will now be tried by it for murder, kidnapping and conspiracy.
UNIDENTIFIED FAMILY MEMBER: I absolutely understand that this is a life and death situation for my son. Much as he was in combat in Iraq, this is another form of combat and strife that he faces.
LAH: mourners in the town of Hamandiyah this spring accused the Marines of murdering an innocent man. They say U.S. Forces killed 54-year-old Hasham Ibrahim Awad in cold blood after he refused to be an informant.
"We heard gunshots," Awad's brother said, "about 100, maybe less."
Awad's body was found the next day, an assault rifle and a shovel next to it. The family says Marines planted those items.
COL. STEWART NAVARRE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: The Marine Corps takes allegations of wrongdoing by its members very seriously and is committed to thoroughly investigating such allegations. The Marine Corps also prides itself on holding its members accountable for their actions.
LAH: Family members of the accused refuse to believe any of the claims.
UNIDENTIFIED FAMILY MEMBER: He's told me that he is absolutely innocent of these charges and that he was doing his job as a United States Marine, per the orders given him. And I absolutely believe him.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LAH: So what is next is Article 32 proceedings. That's a lot like a civilian grand jury. And out of that could result in court- martials.
In Washington, I'm Kyung Lah -- back to you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Kyung, thank you for that report -- John.
ROBERTS: The Senate is debating a possible withdrawal of U.S. Troops from Iraq.
Two proposals are on the floor, both of them from Democrats, and both are expected to fail, during a vote possibly as early as this morning -- Dana Bash has more for us from Capitol Hill.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Senate debate is being shaped by two different time lines. One is the war that began three years and three months ago. And the other is the election that's less than five months away at this point. And it is that election that really most senators are jockeying to find leverage on, especially when it comes to THE issue that many people think is the overriding one, and that is the Iraq War.
Now, the senators will be voting on two competing measures from Democrats, who don't agree on the controversial issue of whether or not troops should be withdraw from Iraq and when. Now, one is from Senator John Kerry and Senator Russ Feingold. They say U.S. Troops, combat troops, at least, should come home in a year, by July 1st, 2007.
Why?
They say simply that is the only way, they believe, to deal what they call the failed Bush Iraqi policy. And allies point to polls that say, actually, a majority of Americans agree with that time line.
But many Democrats say they remember what happened in 2002 and 2004, that the Bush White House -- Republicans were able to paint them as weak on defense. They are going to support a more cautious time line, something that says that a phased troop withdrawal should begin this year, in 2006, and that the president should offer some recommendations, a plan for what to do about U.S. Troops following that.
Neither of these measures is expected to pass or get much, if any, Republican support.
Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning, jury selection in the second murder trial for Andrea Yates. The Houston woman is accused of drowning her five children in a bathtub. Her conviction in the first murder trial was overturned over a legal technicality. Yates has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.
A Florida hospital says it will not happen again. The family of a 95-year-old patient is angry. They claim the critically ill man was locked in a semi-private room for nearly six hours with a roommate who died. The hospital admits that proper procedures were not followed.
Police in Van Buren County in Arkansas are looking for an escaped prisoner this morning. William Callahan -- there's a picture right there. He's charged with murder. He and five other inmates broke out of jail on Tuesday. Three have been re-captured. The other two remain on the lam, apparently with Callahan.
Firefighters are desperately trying to stop a wildfire from consuming homes in Arizona. The giant blaze has been burning since Sunday. Only 7 percent contained at this point.
CNN's Rick Sanchez is in Sedona, Arizona this morning.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than 2,500 acres have now burned. You can see the mountain actually on fire behind me. That's Wilson Mountain. And you can see the smoke. And throughout the day we've been watching as much of those plumes of smoke come out. And you can see even flames from time to time.
Hot shots -- those are firefighters that specialize in wild land fires -- have been here. They've come from all over the country. They've helped evacuate some of the residents. That happened Sunday night.
Since then, what they're trying to do is build a containment line to separate the fire from a community called Oak Creek Canyon, where many of some 500 homes have been evacuated.
Let me show you what they're doing. There's a road there. It's called 89A. It's no different than a roadway like this one, with two lanes. They're trying to use it to keep the fire on this side, since there's no vegetation. The homes are on this side. Of course, there's always a fear that an ember or something could fly over and spark a fire over there, so they're monitoring it daily.
As to what's burning, well, this is some dried out mesquite wood, similar to what you see up there on the mountain. It turns into something like kindling and that's what they're saying that they're having to work with. On top of that, of course, winds that have been, at some points, gusting up to 35 miles an hour.
I'm Rick Sanchez in Sedona, Arizona.
O'BRIEN: How are those winds looking?
Let's check in with Chad -- hey, Chad, good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.
What a beautiful part of the country there and it's a shame for that.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: If you're a little squeamish, you might want to put down your corn flakes before you watch this next video. In Idaho, they are everywhere -- an invasion of Mormon crickets -- not even real crickets -- got their name when they devoured the crops of Mormon settlers in Utah in the way back when.
It's the time of year when they hatch and they come out all over the place. So many of them, though, crawling around on the ground that they're making driving hazardous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like a sea of red. At first it was just a real small patch and I could tell they were crickets. You could see them hopping on the road. It was like a sheet of ice. I mean you get to a point where you're driving and even though you want to slow down as you're hitting them, you are sliding a little bit. So you have to be real careful.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: They have similar problems with locusts out West, as well. insecticide is going to be sprayed in an attempt to control the invasion of Anabrus simplex, the dreaded Mormon cricket.
O'BRIEN: Oh my gosh. That's gross. You know, they're going to spend $1.5 trying to get rid of those crickets.
ROBERTS: They're coming to get you.
O'BRIEN: Oh, that's creepy.
You've got to watch that stuff.
No, anyway, still to come this morning, no surprise that CEOs of the large companies make big bucks. We were stunned, though, really, when we started crunching the numbers to find out how much money they're really making.
ROBERTS: Is there anything that shocks anymore when it comes down to...
O'BRIEN: No. Yes, but exactly...
ROBERTS: ... executive compensation?
O'BRIEN: But this, yes.
ROBERTS: We look forward to that.
And Oprah Winfrey, one of the world's most powerful and beloved entertainers, now making enemies in the rap industry. We'll explain what's going on there.
O'BRIEN: And we're also following the president's trip to Hungary. A live report from Budapest is straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, they've had a tsunami, an earthquake, a volcano is smoking there. Now deadly floods are sweeping across parts of Indonesia. At least 200 people are dead there. Rescue crews are also searching for more than 120 people still missing. And the heavy rains have triggered major landslides, devastating villages in Indonesia.
That same severe weather is being blamed for the loss of a ship off of the Indonesian island of Sumatra this morning. More than 40 people are still missing. rescue crews so far have been able to pull 73 people to safety.
O'BRIEN: So is it a serious threat or is it a bargaining chip?
Asian nations are still uneasy about a possible missile test by North Korea.
That story is topping our look at stories that CNN correspondents around the world are covering today. ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
I'm Atika Shubert in Tokyo, Japan.
And across Asia, governments are nervously watching for North Korea's response since the Bush administration rejected the country's offer to hold talks. one of the questions now is whether North Korea has begun-fueling of its missile for the test, as some satellite pictures have suggested. If so, experts say North Korea may need to complete the launch soon in order to keep from damaging the missile.
So far, however, no way to confirm how close North Korea is to a launch.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Paula Hancocks in Jerusalem.
Another Israeli air strike has gone wrong. A pregnant woman and her brother have been killed inside of Gaza and 13 others have been wounded, most of them thought to be from the same family. Now, the Israeli Air Force say they targeted a car full of militants that they say were on their way to carry out an attack against Israel. The missile missed and it hit a house, where a family was sitting down to dinner.
Now, this is just the second in two days where a missile strike has gone wrong and Palestinian civilians, many of them children, have been killed. It's increasing international condemnation on Israel to stop these targeted assassinations. Israel says that these assns are necessary to try and stop the incessant rocket attacks from Palestinian militants from Gaza into Israel.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Patrick Snell in Berlin.
All to play for on this World Cup Thursday, as the world champions, Brazil, take on Japan; while Australia faces Croatia. But for Team USA, it really is make or break. They need to win their final group game against African opponents Ghana and they need to win it well. Even that may not be good enough if they fail to beat the African nation and the result in the other group game, between Italy and the Czech Republic, doesn't go their way, then Bruce Arena's side will be out of this tournament.
A major disappointment for the American team, which reached the last World Cup in 2002, getting to the quarter finals.
O'BRIEN: for more on those stories or any of our top stories, you can go right to our Web site, which is cnn.com.
ROBERTS: And still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, we'll have the latest for you on a deadly prison shootout in Florida. Find out why FBI agents were actually trying to arrest one of the guards and what went wrong when they did.
But first, talk show queen Oprah Winfrey accused of discrimination. Does she have a problem with hip-hop?
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Put out there for a pimp. If by pimp you mean hip-hop star and if by bear you mean Oprah's Harpo Studios. Some rappers a little sensitive. They say the talk show queen has banned them from her stage.
Brooke Anderson has our report this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Hey!
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oprah Winfrey -- one of the most powerful and beloved celebrities in the world. But now, the queen of daytime TV is catching some high profile heat.
CHRIS "LUDACRIS" BRIDGES, RAPPER/ACTOR: I feel like she doesn't respect my opinion, and therein lies the problem.
ANDERSON: Rapper and actor Ludacris feels he was mistreated when he appeared on her talk show with the cast of the film "Crash."
BRIDGES: As soon as I got on there I felt like, in my opinion, I was automatically judged.
ANDERSON: Talk turned from the film to explicit rap lyrics. But Ludacris says his response to the criticism was edited out of the show. Winfrey recently discussed the Ludacris flap on a New York radio station.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE ED LOVER SHOW," COURTESY POWER 105.1 IN NYC)
OPRAH WINFREY: And I said to Ludacris, a lot of people who listen to your music aren't as smart as you are. So they take that some of that stuff literally, you know?
UNIDENTIFIED RADIO SHOW HOST: Right.
WINFREY: When you were just writing it for entertainment purposes.
UNIDENTIFIED RADIO SHOW HOST: And art. They don't take it that way.
WINFREY: Yes. Yes, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED RADIO SHOW HOST: . there are a lot of people...
WINFREY: So I think that there has to be responsibility with it, just like I have to have some responsibility with what I do and say on my stage every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (on camera): This controversy has led other rappers, including 50 Cent and Ice Cube, to lash out at Oprah, saying she discriminates against hip-hop artists by not booking them on her show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "WHY WE THUGS," COURTESY LENCH MOB RECORDS)
ICE CUBE: It's boys in the hood, it's boys in the hood...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): Ice Cube told "FHM" magazine: "for 'Barbershop' she had Cedric the Entertainer and Eve on, but I wasn't invited. Maybe she's got a problem with hip-hop."
But Winfrey says that's not the case.
WINFREY: I listen to some hip-hop, you know? I've been accused of not liking hip-hop, but that's just not true. I'm opposed to some of the music that offends my sensibilities and that's when, you know, you're degrading women and marginalizing women.
UNIDENTIFIED RADIO SHOW HOST: Right.
ANDERSON: While Oprah hasn't singled out any particular videos...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "PIMPIN' ALL OVER THE WORLD, COURTESY ISLAND DEF JAM RECORDINGS MUSIC GROUP)
LUDACRIS: But be careful where you walking when you swinging them hips.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: ... songs like Ludacris's "Pimpin' All Over the World"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "CANDY SHOP," COURTESY INTERSCOPE RECORDS)
50 CENT: And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) high school. I got you. When you show me that you're working, baby...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: and 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" have raised the ire of critics for their graphic content.
WINFREY: My point is you don't have to bitch and hold me down in order to make music.
ANDERSON: Ice Cube is appealing to Oprah to schedule a forum on her show to discuss the issue. ICE CUBE, RAPPER/ACTOR/PRODUCER: If she don't really like the content that we're using, have us on. Let's talk about is it.
ANDERSON: Oprah's company, Harpo Productions, told CNN it has no comment on the anti-hip-hop allegations and no word on whether Oprah will devote a future show to this topic, a possibility that gives Ludacris mixed emotions.
BRIDGES: It is something that we need to address, but it being on her particular show, I mean my comments got edited out before. Who's to say that the same thing wouldn't happen again?
ANDERSON: Brooke Anderson, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Brooke's report first aired on "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
You can catch that weeknights, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: My homie Andy Serwer is here with a look at what's coming up in business -- what have you got?
Peace out, man.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, we're down with business.
O'BRIEN: OK.
Hi.
SERWER: OK.
Stop it.
O'BRIEN: Stop.
What then?
Thank you.
SERWER: The average CEO makes $42,000 a day.
S. O'BRIEN: Really?
SERWER: What does the average American worker make?
That's right.
A disturbing disparity to tell you about.
S. O'BRIEN: $42,000?
SERWER: ... thousand dollars a day.
ROBERTS: But, hey, when we do it, it's more like "Napoleon Dynamite," you know?
SERWER: Right. It's out.
ROBERTS: OK.
SERWER: Kidding.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Andy.
Also ahead, how a billion dollar warship is helping to pay tribute to the victims of 9/11. And meet the dedicated folks making it all come together.
Stay with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Wow! That's pretty.
ROBERTS: Isn't that nice?
O'BRIEN: That's a live shot from Tallahassee, Florida.
ROBERTS: Look at the sun-coming up.
S. O'BRIEN: I know. The sun-coming up...
ROBERTS: It's going to be a nice day there. Although you know what they say -- red sky at night, sailor's delight; red sky at morning, sailors take warning.
SERWER: That's right.
ROBERTS: Hey, we were talking about "Napoleon Dynamite" just before we went to the break. And remember that famous scene where he's counting up his change from working at the chicken farm and he says, "It's like a dollar an hour!"
SERWER: Yes.
ROBERTS: Some more perspective now on the real money that's out there.
SERWER: Yes, that's right. And it's just a lot of money for CEOs. We're talking about, John, CEO pay out of control. Total compensation...
ROBERTS: Unless you're a CEO.
SERWER: Unless you're a CEO.
ROBERTS: Then it's quite (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
SERWER: Then it's OK. Then maybe we need a little more.
Total compensation last year for the average CEO at the large companies in the United States -- a billion dollars of sales or more -- that's over 1,000 companies -- $10 million. That's salaries, stock, bonus, everything. Total compensation. The average worker, $41,000. and this is where it gets really startling. The average CEO, if you break down that $10 million on a daily basis, it's $42,000 plus a day. That's more than the average worker makes in a year. I mean it's just staggering.
The average worker makes $161 a day. That means the CEOs in this country are making 262 times what the average American worker makes. That's almost a record. The high water mark was in 2000 at the height of the stock market boom, when it was 300 times what the average worker was making.
ROBERTS: Now is that all salary or is a lot of that stock compensation, bonuses and whatever?
SERWER: A lot of that is stock. It's stock compensation, bonuses, stock options. But, still, it's real money. I mean we're not talking about perks here. We're talking about compensation. And a lot of people will tell you that that is not great news for this country. People have some problems with that, and I think they're right.
Another thing we want to tell you about is a story concerning Chrysler. You may remember employee pricing for everyone. Remember when the car companies did that last summer and it was actually too much of a good thing for the car companies. It was a good thing for consumers, but it was not good for profitability at the car companies.
Well, it appears that Chrysler is going to be doing this again. So you can get the baby Bentley at the same price that the Chrysler employees do. And apparently they're going to be rolling this out in July. They want to clear out the 2006es.
ROBERTS: Right. So for those of you who are making the regular salary, Andy, you can actually afford something a little bit more?
SERWER: Yes.
ROBERTS: And just to keep this all in perspective, too, minimum wage coming up?
SERWER: Minimum wage -- we've been talking about this for the past couple of days, John.
Coming up, we're going to talk about how there seems to be some momentum in Congress for this thing to really get boosted up.
ROBERTS: All right, Andy, thanks very much.
SERWER: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Let's get a check of the forecast, shall we?
Chad's got that.
He's at the CNN Center -- hey, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Minimum wage in 1987 was $4 an hour. And I was making $4.05 at a TV station because they didn't want to pay me minimum wage.
How nice.
ROBERTS: What did you do with all that extra money?
MYERS: A nickel.
SERWER: Oh, you're worth it, Chad.
S. O'BRIEN: You're worth every penny.
ROBERTS: Had you invested it better...
MYERS: Thank you.
I knew I could count on you, Andy.
SERWER: Yes.
MYERS: Good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: the next our of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
O'BRIEN: Call to action this morning in Afghanistan by al Qaeda's number two.
We'll have that.
ROBERTS: More murder charges against American troops. Eight servicemen now facing serious consequences at Camp Pendleton for an alleged attack in Iraq.
O'BRIEN: Withdrawal from Iraq is causing a split among Senate Democrats. Is it going to cost them come November?
A shootout in prison. prison guards wanted in a sex for drugs ring square off with federal agents.
ROBERTS: And a tornado sweeps through Florida, ripping apart homes there. More severe weather ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
O'BRIEN: Good morning.
Welcome back, everybody.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts in this week for Miles O'Brien.
It's Thursday. One more day to go and then we're into that weekend.
O'BRIEN: We're in the countdown already.
ROBERTS: Oh, boy, I'll tell you...
S. O'BRIEN: It's only Thursday.
We've got a little time yet.
ROBERTS: ... it's just over the horizon.
O'BRIEN: Let's begin with the newest videotaped message that comes from the number two man in al Qaeda. It's prompted a blunt response this morning from Afghanistan's president. Hamid Karzai is calling Ayman el-Zawahiri an enemy of the Afghan people and says he must be brought to justice.
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