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American Morning

Court Decisions; Promises to Africa

Aired June 29, 2006 - 09:36   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a question for you, did the Bush administration go beyond the limits of the law when dealing with detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba? A ruling on that is expected out of the Supreme Court this morning.
AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken joins us. He's in Washington.

Hey, Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Hello. Good morning, Soledad.

This could be one of the biggest rulings to come out in a long time on the limitations, or lack thereof, of the presidential power in creating the military commission sometimes referred to as tribunals that are formed at Guantanamo Bay. There are 10 defendants now. One of them is Ahmed Salim Hamdan. He is considered to be a former driver and bodyguard of Osama bin Laden. He is one of the 10 who is facing charges down there. But his lawyer has argued before the Supreme Court that the president went beyond his authority in forming these commissions that are not valid because they don't provide fundamental legal defenses to the defendants, including those involved in U.S. law and international law, and that's specifically refers to Geneva Convention.

The administration always argued that the Geneva Convention, which protests prisoners of war, does not apply here because those who are being held are, quote, "enemy combatants" instead of POWs. The Supreme Court justices could decide that, and also the validity of the commission, or they could decide that a congressional act that was passed last December means that they should not rule now. It says that rulings should take place after the actual trials are held. If they would do that it would mean that things would proceed, and then rulings would come later.

It's going to be interesting, because the president is said depending on what happens here, he may make some decisions on how long Guantanamo might stay open.

Also interesting because there are only eight of the justices who are going to take part. The Chief Justice John Roberts had ruled earlier in the lower court that the commissions could go forward. If there is a tie, that would be the ruling. So as I said, there is constitutional drama here, and we should find out how it's going to play out in about a half hour -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken for us this morning. Thanks, Bob. Here's a question for you, too. Who would buy the childhood home after presidential assassin? Andy Serwer's got the answer to that question just ahead as he minds your business.

Also up next, my exclusive interview with Bono. He's been keeping track of the G8 pledge last year to improve the African economy through favorable trade agreements? Is the world keeping its promise to Africa? Bono will tell us coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: This word just in to CNN. It looks like the folks in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania are going to lift the flood evacuation at noon, for the people in that town who have been asked to evacuate. They are going to lift the order the flood evacuation order, at noon today. That word coming to us from the mayor, Tom Leighton. He says he's basing his decision to lift the order on a U.S. Army corps inspection of a local dike. Many words you heard earlier today about how concerned they were about how much integrity that dike still had.

It looks like there's good news on that front. So they are going to allow people in the area to move back. We have been showing you these pictures that you're looking at now all morning about just how tough the flooding situation, the flooding situation is for the folks in Wilkes-Barre And some of the surrounding areas, as well. That word just in to CNN.

Turning now to a story we've been talking about all morning, Bono, and his mission to help fight poverty and AIDS in Africa. We're going to have my exclusive interview with BONO in just a moment, but first a look at his work and legacy, too.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): He's the frontman for one of the world's great rock bands. And the pointman for the Global Aid for Africa Campaign. Bono's interest in Africa dates back to the mid- '80s, and the Band Aid and Live Aid projects, all efforts to raise money and awareness of famine in Africa. Bono wanted to know more and wanted to help. He went to Africa and spent six eye-opening weeks working at an orphanage in Ethiopia. Since then, he's been tireless in his efforts to end poverty in Africa. He founded the group DATA, which stands for debt, AIDS, trade, Africa.

BONO, SINGER/ACTIVIST: I don't think what's happening in Africa, with AIDS in particular and just the poverty and despair there, is a cause. I think it's an emergency. And lots of people have causes, and I have. But 69,000 people die ever day -- not a cause, an emergency.

S. O'BRIEN: Last July, Bono and Bob Geldof staged Live 8, billed as the biggest rock concert ever with a powerful message for the world's most powerful leaders. Days after Live 8, members of the G8, the world's eight most industrialized countries, responded. They pledged to cancel the debt of the 18 poorest African nations, and to increase aid by $50 billion by 2010.

Bono is the only person to be nominated for a Grammy, an Oscar and the Nobel Peace Prize.

S. O'BRIEN (on camera): It's been almost a year since those G8 promises. So what is the status? Bono joins us from Monaco this morning. It's nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us.

DATA said it was going to...

BONO: Thanks. Thanks for having us on.

S. O'BRIEN: It's our pleasure.

DATA said it would have this report to serve as a report card, but also a road map for the next years coming. So let's start with the report card part of it. Would you say it's been successful, it gets a stellar grade, or would you say that the G8's commitments get a failing grade at this point so far?

BONO: Well, there's good news and bad news, the DATA report shows. There's a couple of high grades to be given. Maybe we should start with those. I mean, just in the United States, you should be very proud that you have a truly historic AIDS initiative. It was an unfathomable, even a few years ago, to imagine that you could get, I think it's probably 600,000 people on anti-retroviral drugs in an 18- month period. On motorcycles and on bicycles, those drugs got out there, and I think you should be very proud about that.

Though, that said, Congress in the last months have tried to block the president's request for his AIDS money for next year, and that, that's bewildering. You know, I was just in Africa a few weeks ago, and there's kids following me around like I'm a hero. They think I'm American. I don't explain where Ireland is. And I'm saying, you know, the reason she's following me around is because her mother, her father, her sister, her brother, all HIV-positive, all going to die, but these drugs are on their way from America.

S. O'BRIEN: What you're talking about...

BONO: And she thinks I'm a hero. The idea of going back to that kid and saying actually, the Congress cut the budget, sorry about that, is just obscene.

S. O'BRIEN: You're talking about this $3 billion that they're debating right now, and Congress is sort of saying, well, no, more like $600 million is what we're thinking about, which is a, you know, massive percentage cut there. Is the crux of the problem that the leaders of the G8 can pledge all they want, but at the end of the day, if you don't have public support and if you don't have congressional support, and then, frankly, if you don't have the president willing to put political capital on the line and push it through, it's just not going to happen.

BONO: Soledad, you're exactly right. And I think the cavalry here are going to turn out to be the American people. They're organizing in ways that are very inspiring, across the political spectrum, you know. There's two -- I think it's maybe 2.2 million Americans have joined the one campaign recently, one.org, because they're serious about this. They're soccer moms. They're student activists. They're NASCAR dads. They're hip-hop stars. I mean, it's not just rock stars and policy wonks that are on this. And I think it says something deep about the way Americans feel about America right now, which is, they do not like to see their flag disrespected in far- off places around the world. They're very proud of this AIDS initiative. They want to put kids in schools, because they know that Democracy is being taught in those schools.

I was in a school in Abuja with Gordon Brown, the finance minister, the chancellor of (INAUDIBLE), the U.K. And next door to where we were sitting, there was a class being taught in Nigeria about democracy, complicated questions that the kids could easily answer.

A thousand miles from there in northern Nigeria, there are madrassas where children are being taught to hate us.

So I think that it's a missed opportunity not to keep the promises made in the G8 and get more kids to school. Because of the debt cancellation movement -- that's another thing I want to give a good mark on, debt cancellation. They did follow through on that, and when I was recently in Africa, 15 million more kids were going to school, because of the drop-the-debt movement. And all the people that got out on the streets there should, you know, should give themselves a high five. That was really something.

But there's 40 million more African children that want to go to school who can't, and in these dangerous times it might be just smart to get them to school.

So, unless we keep track of these promises and fulfill them, they won't go to school. So that's the kind of yin and yang of this DATA report.

S. O'BRIEN: There is a theory, Bono, as I'm sure you've heard before, that people will say, listen, what Africa really needs is something that money can't buy. Africa needs political growth and socioeconomic growth. And by -- sometimes by giving large chunks of money, what you really do is fund brutal dictators, who often, as we know from Africa's history, steal the money, take the money, and it never gets to the people who really, really need it. How do you make sure that doesn't happen?

BONO: That used to be true. The Cold War was fought on the African continent, and we in the West propped up some very dangerous dictators by giving them loans and throwing aid at them, because they were not communists. And we can't then point to the waste of those resources as just their fault.

Anyway, that era is over. Now we only increase aid to countries where we can see that they're tackling corruption, where there's a clear and transparent process. If there's not, we pull out. In Ethiopia, things were looking great for a while, and then we couldn't see where the money was going, people pulled out. In Uganda, the Global Fund, this extraordinary organization that gets AIDS drugs to people and fights TB and malaria, they pulled out of Uganda because they couldn't see the -- where the money was going.

It's a new era of aid, and I think Americans will become much more generous when they know that the money is being spent well. And I can assure you, with the Millennium Challenge corporation supported in Congress, that's what will happen.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's look ahead in the little time I have left with you. You say it's a report card and a road map. You point to a lot of nations that are behind, that aren't really on track to meet their goals, the U.S. included. What has to happen to make sure that in 2010 we're meeting that goal? What has to happen next?

BONO: I think the dawning of on the body politick that this strategic value in dealing with Africa's problems. It's a 40 percent Muslim country. A country like Nigeria is a big oil-producing country. And it would be awful to see Nigeria get into trouble. I think then just at the grassroots level, as we get into the 2008 election, I think politicians will be wise to pay attention to this movement, because it will be five million by then. And you know, that's like -- that's real political muscle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: If you want more information on Bono's campaign to help fight poverty, go to data.org, or one.org -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: "CNN LIVE TODAY" is coming up next. Daryn Kagan is here with a preview.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Hello, Daryn.

KAGAN: You know I can add something to Soledad's interview, because a lot of those pictures came on my trip that I did to Africa with Bono and Paul O'Neill back in 2002. The incredible thing about him, people don't know who he is. He kind of made reference to that, that they follow him around, they don't who he is. But they don't play U2's music in Africa. So he's doing all this work and he has to introduce himself, and say, hi, I'm Bono, I'm a rock star; I'm here to help.

M. O'BRIEN: Here's my question, why does Bono go through life with rose-colored glasses on.

KAGAN: Because it takes people like that to make changes in the world.

M. O'BRIEN: Is that what he says?

KAGAN: No, that was just my answer.

M. O'BRIEN: But I mean, he always wearing them. It's interesting. Anyway, what else. KAGAN: "LIVE TODAY," staying on top of the big floods in the east. Tens of thousands of people are out of their homes this morning. Live updates from our correspondents across the flood zones.

In just minutes, the United States Supreme Court rules on presidential war powers. Can they try enemy combatants in military tribunals? Our top analysts will be here to walk us through the very important ruling.

Plus this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: Was it purposely leaked to the "New York Times" and was the "New York Times" complicit in leaking a highly classified program to the American people, which makes us less safe?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: National security tangles with freedom of the press. Congress weighs in today on the "New York Times" and its decisions to disclose sensitive information. A presidential news conference, as well, this morning. Of course, any breaking news.

"LIVE TODAY" at the top of the hour. We're now back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Sure.

M. O'BRIEN: Appreciate that.

Up next, Andy, "Minding Your Business." Andy, what do you got?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Mile, the great Massachusetts marshmallow fluff imbroglio is over. We'll tell you all about that.

Plus, the childhood home of John Wilkes Booth is for sale. Would you buy it? We'll show you a picture, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up at the top of the hour, a city of more than eight million, what if? Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it hits New York, New Orleans will look like a walk in the park.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: New York considering worst case hurricane scenarios. Could the city be ready?

And then rescued by Charlie Company, spirited to the U.S. for surgery. Whatever happened to that little Iraqi infant, Baby Noor? We'll update you.

And there's more AMERICAN MORNING right after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: So coming up at 10:30, Pipeline is the place to be.

S. O'BRIEN: With Miles O'Brien!

M. O'BRIEN: It's just me today. Apparently Soledad is out today. But that's OK. She'll come back another week.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you talk about the Shuttle Discovery. That's really your thing.

M. O'BRIEN: That's kind of a thing.

S. O'BRIEN: I'm just going to be dialing in, watching.

M. O'BRIEN: You'll be watching. OK. And send us an e-mail at am@cnn.com.

As for the shuttle itself, tomorrow we'll give you a good preview. Everything you need to know about what is shaping up to be one of the most tense countdowns I can recall. The space shuttle flying, second flight after Columbia. Lots of debate over whether it is safe to fly, including the chief safety officer, chief engineer for the program, saying no go for launch. But nonetheless, it will launch. The administrator has said he's willing to accept the risk. So we will be there, of course, tomorrow with a preview.

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