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American Morning
Number Three al Qaeda Terrorist Says He Planned 9/11
Aired March 15, 2007 - 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, AMERICAN MORNING: Full confession: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed says he is responsible for 9/11 and 30 other terror attacks. New words from the Pentagon transcripts out of Guantanamo Bay today.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Rivers rising: If you are trapped by rushing water, God forbid, who are you going to call for help? We'll meet some brave rescuers expert in swimming against the odds.
S. O'BRIEN: And your tax dollars at work: Congress adding on a lot of extras to the emergency Iraq bill; $74 million for storing peanuts; $16 million for an office move. Find out why it's becoming a pork barrel paradise.
We are live from Berlin, from Washington, D.C., and from New York on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody. It's Thursday, March 15th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us this morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin with this pretty incredible tale of serial terror. Al Qaeda's self-proclaimed operational planner says he is the mastermind of 9/11 -- and much more. The Pentagon releasing transcripts of Khalid Shaykh Muhammad confessing.
He says he was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z but there's much more that Muhammad takes credit for. The 1993 World Trade Center attack, six people killed, 1,000 injured; the Bali nightclub bombing, that killed 200 people. Richard Reid's attempted shoe bombing of an airliner over the Atlantic; assassination plots against two U.S. presidents and the pope, and dozens of other terror plots and attacks. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken is live for us in Washington, D.C.
Good morning to you, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Let's start off by reminding everyone that we are relying on Pentagon transcripts because these hearings -- for the 14 high- profile, high-priority terrorists who have been transferred to Guantanamo Bay -- these hearings have been shut down. They are not being made available to the public because of national security concerns says the Department of Defense. The hearings are specifically to decide whether these 14 -- three of whom had their hearings -- are enemy combatants. That's a preliminary step before they would get to the military commissions.
According to the transcript, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed says, "For sure, I'm American enemies," speaking in broken English as he testified before the tribunal that is supposed to decide this thing.
As you pointed out, he claimed responsibility for 31 different operations including plans to assassinate President Carter. We have not heard about that before. And a plan to assassinate former President Clinton. That one, there had been reports about. As far as his, quote, "confession" is concerned, that's something that had been long reported by the 9/11 Commission.
Muhammad, according to the transcript, went on to say that he really did not like the tactics. He felt remorse about them saying I don't like to kill people. I feel sorry they killed kids in 9/11.
He went on to liken the movement, the Al Qaeda movement, and the leaders of it to the American Founding Fathers. Saying, "If we were living in the Revolutionary War and George Washington, he being arrested through Britain, for sure they would consider him enemy combatant."
Well, the ruling has not been made yet by the military tribunal, but it's an almost certain, of course, Soledad, that he will be designated an enemy combatant.
S. O'BRIEN: Some details, I thought, this whole thing, were really pretty interesting. Is there anyone who is saying he is exaggerating? That, in fact, he is listing these things that he's the leader of when he's really not?
FRANKEN: Some people are saying it would almost be humanly impossible for someone to be involved in so many different operations. There has been a tendency, according to some experts, on the part of some of these people to try and really claim grandiose responsibilities that really are just not possible.
S. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken for us this morning. Thank you, Bob.
The government of Sudan is being held to account for the attack on the USS Cole. A federal judge says the Sudanese government must pay the families of the 17 sailors that were killed. The ruling says Al Qaeda could not have attacked the Cole, which was anchored off of Yemen, back in October of 2000 without help from Sudan. The judge has not decided just how much Sudan should pay -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: More aftershocks, more pressure on the attorney general this morning over that mass firing of U.S. attorneys. The Senate Judiciary Committee threatening subpoenas and a Republican senator now says Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should go the way of those pink-slipped prosecutors. CNN's Dana Bash is live for us on Capitol Hill.
Good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
We have talked to many Republican lawmakers over the past few days, who have, to a person, they are pretty upset about the way the Justice Department has handled the firing of those federal prosecutors.
But now Republican Senator John Sununu is saying he is more than upset, he's fed up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice over): New Hampshire Republican John Sununu says the attorney general has lost all credible, and is now the first Republican lawmaker to say he must go.
In a statement, Sununu said, "The president should fire the attorney general and replace him as soon as possible with someone who can provide strong, aggressive leadership."
In a telephone interview, Sununu told CNN that Alberto Gonzales', quote, "failed supervision over the firing of federal prosecutors was the last straw."
Sununu is a Republican who long tussled with the attorney general over civil liberties concerns in the Patriot Act. And said he is still steaming over last week's revelation that the FBI improperly obtained information about American citizens.
Sununu is up for re-election next year. And is one of the Democrats' top targets. He is the only Republican, so far, to call for the attorney general to be fired. But there is widespread criticism of Gonzales from fellow Republicans, who feel misled by why federal prosecutors were dismissed.
REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, (R-WI), JUDICIARY CMTE.: The attorney general has gotten himself in deep trouble by having a different story come out of the Justice Department about every second news cycle.
BASH: Many Republican lawmakers reluctant to say Gonzales should go are careful to say he should not state. South Dakota Republican John Thune told CNN he will have to answer some very hard questions and politically there are concerns about how things got handled. It does not look good. Even Gonzales fellow friend and Texan said he is concerned and called to offer advice.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-AZ), JUDICIARY CMTE.: I encouraged the attorney general to make his employees at the Department of Justice available for a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. I think it's appropriate for them to answer questions from senators in a public forum.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: The open question now, of course, is whether Senator John Sununu coming out and saying Gonzales should go, will prompt other Republicans too, as well. That of course would change the dynamic and potentially -- potentially, Miles -- Gonzales' fate.
M. O'BRIEN: Dana, what is your sense of it? Will there be quite a few people who will follow him?
BASH: We have talked to a lot of Republicans up here, on the House and on the Senate side, this was a surprise because most of them have said, you know, we're not happy about this, but they have been careful not to take that extra step, and say we want him to go. But, you know, you never know how these situations turn out.
Many of them also say, Miles, they are waiting to see what other documents they get from the Justice Department. They are expecting those in the next couple of days. They say anything could change the dynamic here. Most of them right now are keeping their powder dry, you can be sure. We are talking to a lot more today to see if anyone will follow in Sununu's footsteps.
M. O'BRIEN: I think you should have an extra battery for your cell phone today. Probably have that handy. Dana Bash, thank you.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Heated debate, once again, in the Senate over a binding Democratic resolution to set a date for the troops to come home from Iraq. Two senators, who are also presidential candidates, weighed in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Iraq is not Vietnam, Mr. President. We were able to walk away from Vietnam. If we walk away from Iraq now we risk a failed state in it the heart of the Middle East. A haven for international terrorists, an invitation to regional war, in this economically vital area, and a humanitarian disaster that can involve millions of people.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D-DE), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The reason we all feel so strongly about this resolution is that we got to stop this president from taking us off this cliff, in order to be able to reverse the strategy. There will be nothing left to sustain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Meanwhile, Congress is loading up on President Bush's request for emergency spending in the Iraq war. The president asked originally for $105 billion in emergency funding. That number is now up to $124 billion. And here's where the extras could go; $74 million for peanut storage; $25 million for spinach growers; $100 million to citrus growers. You can see how all those numbers could add up -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: After little more than an hour of deliberation, a Miami jury says John Couey should be executed. They had already convicted the 48-year-old Couey of kidnapping, raping and killing nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford in 2005.
Jessica was buried alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARVIN GUNN, JUROR: I do have sympathy for him, but I mean, still it's -- you know, it is a terrible crime. Just a terrible deed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's unforgivable.
GUNN: You don't know what -- or why somebody would do that. At the end of the day, I think we all understood that.
MARK LUNSFORD, JESSICA'S FATHER: I don't really have to tell people how to think of Jesse or how to remember her. They've -- the people of Florida have already done that. They have already, you know, grown attached to her, and to what happened to her. I want them to remember her the way they see her in her photos, and to remember that we still have a lot to do, you know, for your kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: It's now up to the judge to make the final decision on Couey's fate, but in Florida they rarely overrule the jury's recommendation.
Happening this morning elsewhere, in New York City a wild and deadly shootout on the crowded, narrow streets of Greenwich Village. Two auxiliary cops, unarmed, a pizza parlor employee, and the heavily armed gunman, who began the rampage, dead this morning. It began at 9:00 p.m. last night. The disguised gunman walked into the pizzeria and asked for a menu and then just started shooting.
Flood warnings and a lot of damage to clean up this morning in Ohio. These pictures shot about 25 miles west of Cleveland. A tornado taking out trees, cars, stores. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
And in Minnesota, the small town of Browns Valley, southwest of Minneapolis, under water this morning. Serious flooding along the Little Minnesota River damaging dozens of homes forcing people to evacuate. The water is neck high in some places.
S. O'BRIEN: In Texas, it's a very sad ending to a story we told you about yesterday. The body of 80-year-old Fred List was found, after a pretty heroic effort to try to rescue him, and his wife, from raging floods near Austin. The couple was trapped in their car. Rescuers were able to save his wife, but the very fast current took Fred away.
Just how difficult is it to save people who are trapped in flash floods? AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence went along for a ride with a swift water team rescue group.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, A man and his wife stranded in central Texas, as floodwaters rush over their car. A firefighter reaches out and comes so close to saving them.
We stop the picture here because they lose their grip. The couple touched the rescuer, but couldn't hold on. Rescuers were able to save the wife, but her 80-year-old husband was killed. His body swept downstream by raging floodwaters.
SGT. HARRY SMITH, MULTNOMAH CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: That's heartbreaking to watch because, you know, I just feel for the guy, and his family, but I also feel for that rescuer.
LAWRENCE: Sergeant Harry Smith is dive team leader in Multnomah, Florida. He knows how quickly things can fall apart in a flood.
SMITH: They're not safe until they're out of the water.
LAWRENCE: Like this incident in Los Angeles. A firefighter was rescuing a mother and her baby when their raft flipped over, tossing all three back into the roiling water. It forced another crew to come save them.
Just last summer, a boy in New Mexico, a man was nearly overwhelmed by a flash flood. He could barely keep his head above water as rescue teams tried to pull him out.
Dive teams practice so they can handle these problems. We followed Sergeant Smith through a simulated rescue in Portland.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help me, I'm being swept away.
In real life, people are not so calm. Rescuers have been kicked, punched, their respirators ripped out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all right sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. I am now.
LT. JASON GATES, MULTNOMAH CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: If you aren't being swept down by the current, stay put. Stay where you're at. Don't try to fight against it. Don't try to rescue yourself. Wait for rescue.
LAWRENCE (on camera): If somebody is caught in a situation like that, why can't they just ride out the current?
SMITH: Unless you are an expertly trained swift water swimmer, you will be hard-pressed to come out of that in one piece.
LAWRENCE (voice over): Smith says even the professionals need a helmet, vest and padding. And no one is safe until everyone is out of the water. Chris Lawrence, CNN, Portland.
M. O'BRIEN: This morning, in Germany, they are pondering a big change for the world famous, uber fast, Autobahn. By the time they're done Germans may have to go elsewhere to quench their thirst for speed. CNN's Fredric Pleitgen is in Berlin. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The old German saying goes something this, liberated roads for free people. Though there are some speed restricted areas, the Autobahn is among the few highway systems in the world with no general speed limit. Something that could change with the EU in the driver's seat.
(on camera): The European Union is asking Germany to impose a general speed limit on its highways. The speed limit would be 130 kilometers an hour, about 80 miles an hour. The rationale behind it is simple, cars that go slower emit less carbon dioxide.
So today we have gotten ourselves a fast car and we will find out how much fuel drivers can save by going slower.
(Voice over): To find out, we have to go fast, very fast. The car's fuel consumption rises to almost 20 liters per 100 kilometers or just over five gallons per 62 miles.
(On camera): Right now, we are doing 230 kilometers an hour, that's about 140 miles an hour. Now at this speed, really any car would use a lot of fuel. Right now, we will bring the speed down and see how much fuel we can actually save. Down to 130 kilometers or 80 miles an hour, the proposed speed limb. The car's fuel consumption is cut almost in half within moments.
We pick up Werner Reh from the Union for Environmental Protection. He says drivers could cut carbon emissions on the Autobahn considerably, simply by taking their foot off the gas.
WERNER REH, UNION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: Speed limits cut down the CO2 emissions by two or three percent. That is 3 million tons of cO2. They have an immediate impact, they don't cost anything. And the majority -- the vast majority of people in Germany want it.
PLEITGEN: But some drivers we spoke to, while in traffic, said they were against the general speed limit.
"Sometimes, I just want to drive the car as fast as it goes," this man says. "I don't think it's a good idea. I think not having a speed limit is a cultural thing in Germany, another man says. The industry says German automakers are against the idea and politicians are divided on the issue.
In the end, pressure from the European Union may force the Germans to downshift their love affair with the automobile.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: Miles, what really surprised me, even going on that Autobahn even at the speeds we were going at, people were still tailgating, trying to past us, to go even faster. Really, the European Union has had enough of that. It says it wants Germans to go slower. It says the country can save up to 3 percent in carbon emissions just going a little slower. And it does not seem like much, but it's several tons of carbon dioxide that are not going to get blown into the air, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Frederik Pleitgen, drive safely.
About a quarter past the hour. Chad Myers at the CNN Weather Center watching the "Travelers' Forecast" today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, a Republican senator has joined the chorus of Democrats calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to be fired. We have the latest twists and turns in this Washington drama, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back. You are watching the most news in the morning.
No rest in the outcry over the firing of those U.S. attorneys. New Hampshire's John Sununu is now the first Republican senator to call for Alberto Gonzales to step down.
Could this be the beginning of the end for the attorney general? John Dickerson is "Slate" magazine's chief political correspondent. He's in Des Moines this morning.
It's nice to see you. Good morning to you.
JOHN DICKERSON, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, SLATE.COM: Good morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Do you think that with John Sununu being the first Republican here, do you think this is a tipping point that actually -- this is the beginning of the end, potentially, for the attorney general?
DICKERSON: Well, it's hard to gauge these things. It may be the beginning of the end, but we have to wait for perhaps a few more things, either more Republicans to come forward or some new disclosures about what really was going on at the Justice Department.
S. O'BRIEN: Technically, they're political appointees, and what's more, they're Bush political appointees. Certainly, you know, it's possible to fire them. How has all of this spiraled to the point where people are calling for the attorney general to step down because of this?
DICKERSON: You're right. These are political appointees.
The reason it spiraled out of control is sort of two points. One, the Justice Department has not gotten its story straight on exactly why they were fired; and also about relationships between the Justice Department and the White House. So they have had a new story every sort of few news cycles. And also because, while they are political appointees, it looks like they were pressured and chosen for their jobs, at least in part, because they were toeing the political line rather than prosecuting cases. That is frowned upon.
S. O'BRIEN: Of course, there's the added wrinkle now that the Democrats are in charge they get to pick what the hearings will be about, right?
DICKERSON: That's exactly right. You have some genuine oversight here. There wasn't as much of that under Republican control, in the Congress. And Democrats see an opportunity here to do oversight. And also, you know, bring officials up there and make them speak in front of the cameras, and in front of the senators and congressman.
S. O'BRIEN: You're in front of a beautiful shot, I should say. Behind you, of the Iowa State capital this morning. You have been traveling with John McCain. I think Peter King said that Giuliani is the new McCain. If you are the old McCain, that's got to be a big problem, right?
DICKERSON: It is a problem. It's quite early. Giuliani is ahead by 20 points in most polls. That's a problem for John McCain. But it's quite early. Giuliani has not gone through the brutal testing process of the primary. And that is something -- it will be something difficult to withstand for him, as it is for any candidate.
So McCain is here in Iowa trying to do -- get some of the old magic. He has his bus tour starting up again that we all may remember from the 2000 campaign. And he will go out and give some town halls, and actually meet Iowa voters.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, but you know, he's down in the polls. And he has had some major, major stumbles. Explain those. He's done this before explain these stumbles.
DICKERSON: Well, the problem for McCain is that in 2000 he was an insurgent, sort of fresh face. He was kind of careening all over the country and it was very exciting. That act is no longer new. And he is also the largest proponent, arguably, or a larger proponent than the president of the troop surge in Iraq. That is an unpopular position with the public. And so he goes around and is constantly confronting that position.
That's not sort of fun and exciting the way the topics he talked about in 2000 might have been. So, it's more wearing for a candidate than in the past.
S. O'BRIEN: We will watch and see how he -- and see how all of them -- that long, long list fares. Slate magazine's Chief Political Correspondent is John Dickerson.
John, thanks.
DICKERSON: Thanks.
S. O'BRIEN: Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: A wild ride on Wall Street. The market ends on a high note. We will tell you why we are calling it the "Ali Rally". Ali Velshi, "Minding Your Business" next. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING. We're always bullish here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Well, yesterday at this time we were bracing for the beginning of trading on the market. In the end, it was a good day. How could that possibly be? It's 25 minutes past the hour, Ali Velshi, the man who told us not to panic, to be OK.
Don't worry, be happy, I think is the term he used?
ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, mainly because if I willed the market to go down yesterday, it would have been a long day for me.
M. O'BRIEN: You just want to go home!
VELSHI: So fortunately, while it started off rough, it recovered nicely. For a while I was worried I would have to work late because the Dow was down more than 130 points and then it ends up 57 points higher. Markets across the United States actually did well today because American investors says it ends here.
We saw the Dow increasing about 0.5 a percent. The S&P 500 jumped about 0.7 percent. The Nasdaq 0.9 of a percent. As a result, when American markets closed and trading move over to Asia, the Asians said, Ha, you know what, they like it in New York, we'll like it over here. Asian markets all across the board, with the exception of one, the Philippines, way up. The Nikkei, the one we watch most closely there, up almost 2 percent. Now, Asian markets closed, trade moved over to Europe. European markets right now all looking very strong.
When you speak of Asia and Europe, if you want to go there you have to buy a ticket, many of you may buy that on Orbitz. Orbitz is going public -- again. Now, keep track of this, Orbitz is going to have an IPO. It started in the dot.com boom. It was started by America Air Lines, Continental, Delta, and Northwest, went public in 2003.
A year later Cendant bought the company, then Cendant sold it, and a bunch of other companies for $4 billion. And it had bought it for $1.25 billion, sold it for over $4 billion to a private equity firm. Now that private equity firm says the Orbitz part of it is going to go public again. But just because you like the website does not mean you that you necessarily have to buy the stock.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much. Ali Velshi.
VELSHI: All right.
S. O'BRIEN: Top stories of the morning are coming up next. Chilling words from an alleged terrorist, Khalid Shaykh Muhammad admitting to 9/11 and lots of other attacks. We'll tell you what he said.
And a wild night in New York City as one gunman, 100 rounds of ammo, and two volunteer police officers end up killed. We'll tell you what went down and what the mayor of New York is saying this morning.
You are watching AMERICAN MORNING, the most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning. Welcome back everybody. It's Thursday, March 15th I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: The ides of March upon us. I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us, happening now, we've been going through some transcripts, a confession as thick as a phonebook. Al Qaeda's former number three man claims he is responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks and about 30 other plots as well.
S. O'BRIEN: And we're watching moves in North Korea as well this morning, trying to negotiate an end to its nuclear program. Should Kim Jong-Il get his hands on millions of dollars in frozen assets? We're covering all the angles for you this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, I guess you could call it a family of nations. Angelina Jolie and Brad, too, he's involved, adopts another orphan from yet another country. She's in Vietnam right now picking up the young three-year-old I believe.
S. O'BRIEN: Little boy.
M. O'BRIEN: We have been looking at the issue of adoptions. This is definitely not the easy way to do it and there are plenty of needy kids a lot closer to home. We'll tell but that.
We begin with al Qaeda's self-proclaimed operational planner claiming he is the mastermind of 9/11 and so much more. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessing in a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying he was responsible for 9/11 from A to Z. But he also lays claim to about 30 other plots. CNN's Nic Robertson has followed this case since the very beginning and he joins us from where it all began, Kabul, Afghanistan. Nic, hello.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Some intelligence analysts would question whether Khalid Sheikh Mohammed really was responsible and behind 30 different plots and attacks. They say perhaps he is playing the hero here. If you do accept at face value what he is saying, the implications are quite staggering for the way things are developing here at the moment.
He talked about an assassination plan to kill President Clinton in the Philippines in 1994. That was before al Qaeda really took hold here in 1996, when Osama bin Laden came from Sudan. But when he did that, al Qaeda then grew its operational capability and the plans Khalid Sheikh Mohammed talks about being operationally behind were growing bigger and bolder as al Qaeda had more space to operate here in Afghanistan. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan and right now intelligence officials believe that other al Qaeda people are hiding out in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan and that Pakistan is not going enough to track them down, that al Qaeda is growing stronger in that area, that the Taliban, their allies are growing stronger in that area and the implication is that the stronger al Qaeda gets, the bigger operating space it has, where it feels safer to plan other attacks. It means other people who perhaps replace Khalid Sheikh Mohammed are right now planning big, bold attacks because al Qaeda is having more space to operate in. That's a big concern out here right now, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Nic, it's a big concern for us here as well. What is your sense as to how real and how concerted this effort is to root out Osama bin Laden and whoever is his operational commander at this point?
ROBERTSON: There is a concerted effort here and many people here in Afghanistan, both Afghans and people close to the U.S. military, will tell you that they believe that the efforts are really being stepped up to catch Osama bin Laden because obviously there's an important political advantage for President Bush to realize a success in Afghanistan and that could be realized through the capture of Osama bin Laden, that that would be a good success to have before the presidential elections in 2008.
That's the analysis of some people here. Certainly, when we look at the operation, we can get to (INAUDIBLE) here in Afghanistan (INAUDIBLE) we can get to the NATO operations here attacking the Taliban in the center of the country, but the most sensitive operations, those on the border area close to where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding, are the things that are hardest for us to get to and I think that is indicative that there are a lot of ongoing very secretive operations right up in that border area Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right Nic. Be safe there. Thank you very much, Nic Robertson.
Chiquita banana admitting this morning it funneled money to a terror group in Colombia. The company agreed to pay a $25 million fine after admitting it paid off a paramilitary group to protect its plantations there. Chiquita pulled out of Colombia three years ago.
S. O'BRIEN: A couple of important steps to tell you about in North Korea's nuclear disarmament that are happening today. Negotiators to the six-party talks are arriving in Beijing right now. The U.S. apparently prepared to deal with some cash in hand. We've got two reports for you. Zain Verjee is in Washington, D.C., Becky Anderson is in Beijing for us this morning. Let's start with Zain. Good morning, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Soledad. Show me the money, that's what North Korea's basically been demanding from the U.S. to seal the nuclear deal. It may get what it wants.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE (voice-over): A dangerous game of chicken between the U.S. and North Korea threatens to torpedo the nuclear deal. The winner of this round seems to be North Korea. Two years ago the U.S. infuriated Pyongyang when it froze $24 million of North Korean money at this bank in Macau, Banco Delta Asia, charging this was the problem.
STUART LEVEY, TREASURY DEPT: North Korea's trade and counterfeit U.S. currency, counterfeit cigarettes, narcotics trafficking including several front companies suspected of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in cash through Banco Delta Asia.
VERJEE: When North Korea tied that crackdown to a deal to end its nuclear program, the U.S. paved the way to release about half the money believed to be untainted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had made easing or ending those sanctions one of the key demands that they've had throughout this revived diplomatic process. So they'll be looking to see what in fact the U.S. can deliver.
VERJEE: Now it's North Korea's turn to deliver. Under a recently struck nuclear deal, it has to shut down its main reactor in the next few weeks. But UN nuclear chief Mohammed Elbaradei says North Korea is still holding out until the sanctions fully end.
MOHAMED ELBARADEI, INTL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: Once that is to happen, they said that they are ready to fully cooperate with us.
VERJEE: Skeptics say deals like this one encourage nuclear blackmail.
JOHN BOLTON, FMR US AMBASSADOR TO UN: It sends exactly the wrong signal to would-be proliferators around the world, if you hold out long enough and wear down the State Department negotiators, eventually you get rewarded.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: The Treasury Department insists though that the fight goes on. Officials say that they are going to continue to investigate and hold accountable anyone who counterfeits U.S. currency, including North Korea. Soledad?
S. O'BRIEN: Zain Verjee for us this morning. Going to have much more of that in the top of the hour. We'll take you to Beijin where those North Korean talks are happening right now. Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, job on the line today. It's on the front burner, the heat high. The Senate Judiciary Committee threatening subpoenas to get the White House to talk about the mass firing of Federal prosecutors.
And now the first Republican senator is calling for Gonzales to resign. John Sununu of New Hampshire says Gonzales has lost the confidence of Congress and the American people.
Well, I guess you could call it super duper Tuesday. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signing a law today moving California's presidential primary from June to February 5th. That means at least 15 states will vote on that fateful day. And there's some others including New York thinking of jumping on this bandwagon as well.
Flood warnings and a lot of damage to clean up this morning in Ohio. These pictures shot about 25 miles west of Cleveland last night, a tornado taking out some trees and cars and stores. Fortunately no one hurt.
Investigators on the streets of New York City right now after a wild deadly shootout last night. Two auxiliary cops, they were unarmed, a pizza parlor employee and a heavily-armed gunman who began the rampage all dead this morning. The disguised gunman walked into the pizzeria, asked for a menu, then started shooting. He was later killed by police.
S. O'BRIEN: Happened just at 9:30 at night, awful.
M. O'BRIEN: A lot of people on the streets.
S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, police say he is a one-man crime wave. But, wait, he's only 13 years old and now this young man is facing a shocking number of felony charges. What's the verdict? What happens to him now? We'll take a look.
And Angelina Jolie is in Vietnam this morning adding to her family. How easy is it to adopt overseas? Is it faster to try doing it at home? We'll let you know. You are watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
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S. O'BRIEN: The most news in the morning is right here. Happening now, a stark tale of serial terror. Al Qaeda's former number three man claiming that he was responsible for 9/11 from A to Z he said, as well as more than 30 other terror plots.
In Arizona, fire fighters in the Prescott national forest are trying to get the upper hand on a fire they started themselves. It was supposed to be a controlled burn. That got out of control. Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Now the story of a young man -- actually a boy with a rap sheet as long as the most hardened of criminals. We are talking about a 13-year-old boy in Ohio accused of being a one-boy crime wave. He faces get this, 128 felony charges. How could that be possible? CNN's Brianna Keilar is here with the startling details. Brianna good morning.
BRIANNE KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Miles. When you look at the charges that Andrew Riley is facing, you would never think this is the rap sheet of such a young person, but police in Ohio say Riley is responsible for some very serious offenses.
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UNIDENTIFIED POLICEMAN: It's shocking in a town our size.
KEILAR (voice-over): Some might say it's shocking in a town of any size. Thirteen-year-old Andrew Riley is facing 128 felony charges. Nelsonville, Ohio police have charged the seventh grader with burglary, theft, vandalism and witness intimidation. Riley allegedly beat up a classmate on the school bus when the student threatened to testify against him. Police say Riley broke into houses of people he knew, smashed windows for fun and robbed businesses. Miki Brooks coffee shop was hit twice.
MIKI BROOKS, COFFEE SHOP OWNER: First time my register draw was empty and the second time my register was gone.
KEILAR: Police searched the boy's home and found stolen video games and baseball cards. Still, the boy's mother says she doubts her son is responsible for everything he is charged with.
ROBERTA RILEY, SUSPECT'S MOTHER: I'm not denying that he's guilty of some of it possibly, but there's no way he did all this stuff for the last year, year and a half.
KEILAR Even if Riley were convicted, a psychiatrist we spoke with says he could turn his life around.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If a 13-year-old, even one who has so many felony charges against him, were to get intensive psychiatric treatment, which includes psychotherapy and medication, there is still hope.
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KEILAR: Riley will most likely be tried as a child and that means even if he were convicted on all 128 counts, he would likely be out of jail by the time he was 21. And the reason there are so many charges, police say that among these other crimes he stole checks. And that for each individual check that was stolen that is a felony charge.
M. O'BRIEN: Helps you understand a little bit. Where are the parents in all of this?
KEILAR: That's really the question. Police in Nelsonville, Ohio tell me that it's very likely they're going to be filing child endangerment charges against the parents. Child protective services has been to the house and they've identified some issues, for instance clothing on bare wiring and also just cleanliness issues. So police say really they are just not taking care of Andrew and he also has three other siblings.
S. O'BRIEN: The mother seemed less than appropriately concerned, I thought b her son's alleged crime spree.
KEILAR: She certainly doesn't put it past him to at least be responsible for some of these crimes. We heard that straight from her. M. O'BRIEN: Brianna Keilar, troubling story. Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: Forty five minutes past the hour. Let's get to right to Chad Myers who's watching the weather for us. Hey Chad, good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning Soledad. Let's see if you can find where the front is from blue to green, from 36 in Pittsburgh, 57 in DC, 60 in New York, 31 in Buffalo. Look at that, 29 degrees across the state. You get up state it's much colder and the rain is changing over to snow. That snow will eventually push through the northeast. We will get some today in some spots. Most of it today will be rain. And then tomorrow we redevelop another storm that will become a coastal low, a nor'easter, really.
Look at these highs from yesterday, Baltimore, Maryland breaking a record at 83, Newark, 79. There will be snow on the ground Friday morning and sleet mixing in with snow most of the day Friday into Saturday. New York metro airports an hour maybe even more than that delayed today. Boston and Philadelphia, 30 minutes to an hour with rain and low clouds. We do expect Cleveland to have some snow delays, Detroit the same thing and some fog in Dallas and Houston, but those should be minor delays this morning. Soledad?
S. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Guess what, child number four this morning for Angelina Jolie. The actress is now in Vietnam where she is adopting a little boy. His name is Pax Tien, which I think means peace in heaven Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: That's a nice name.
S. O'BRIEN: He is three years old. It is a nice name. Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt have already adopted a boy, little (INAUDIBLE) from Cambodia, (INAUDIBLE) little girl from Ethiopia and they have a daughter of their own, little baby Shiloh, do you remember, she was born last May.
M. O'BRIEN: No Toms, Dicks or Harry in that crowd.
S. O'BRIEN: As woman named Soledad, I support that fully.
M. O'BRIEN: And Miles (INAUDIBLE) Pax what is it --
S. O'BRIEN: Pax Tien. I may be pronouncing that a little wrong but I think that's close.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, the perils of popping a pill at bedtime to sleep. It could put you behind the wheel of your car before you wake up. We'll tell you about that.
And, you can get fast food anywhere in this country, but let's say you just don't want to. What if you want to eat healthy? What are you going to do about that? Paging Dr. Gupta. He's got a look at so- called food desserts -- deserts? Food deserts, two Ss for desserts isn't it. You want two disserts, two Ss. Anyway we digress, guys, you know -- what day would it be today gentlemen.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS: Miles cam.
M. O'BRIEN: Excellent, excellent. I'm going to get a decibel meter out here one of these days just to see how you're doing so we can grade you. Miles cam day, special Miles cam today, our guest will be producer Rebecca Cutler.
S. O'BRIEN: What is she talking about?
M. O'BRIEN: She's the one who makes us smart, as you know, every morning, producer to Soledad and I. If you have any questions about how we prepare for the program, behind the scenes, Rebecca will be there to give you the full scoop. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
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S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back everybody, some health headlines for you this morning. If you are the parent of a college student, listen up to this. New study says about half, 50 percent of American college students binge drink or abuse drugs. The Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse finds the number of students who abuse pain killers and other prescription medications is sharply higher.
The FDA wants stronger warnings on the most popular prescription sleeping pills like Ambien and Lunesta. They can cause bizarre and potentially dangerous behaviors like sleep driving. There's also the possibility of a severe allergic reaction. Elizabeth Cohen is going to have more on the warnings coming up in the next hour. Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Food, food everywhere, yet not a morsel to munch. It can feel like that if you're trying to follow a healthy diet in our fast food nation. Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes us to the desert, the food desert.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Tishaw (ph) Temple needs to feed her family, she spends $6 on the bus ride there, another 10 to take a cab back from her nearest grocery store which is a 45 minute journey.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) There's a grocery store called Wades (ph) and (INAUDIBLE) big grocery store out her for us until they close down. Other than that, we had nothing.
GUPTA: Welcome to what experts call the food desert, where there is little help for residents who may want to buy healthy food but can't. Vegetables come in cans sold at corner convenience stores. Meat is one of the fast food varieties and the only fruit is what is in jars sold at liquor stores. Researcher Mari Gallagher measured the distance to every single grocery store and fast food store in Chicago, the results were shocking.
MARI GALLAGHER, RESEARCHER: What we found is that over 500,000 Chicagoans live in what we call a food desert, areas with (INAUDIBLE) grocery stores, but ironically, nearby fast food options.
GUPTA: Researchers speculate the reason super market chains aren't in the so-called deserts is they don't see these areas as money makers and the study found food deserts aren't just an inconvenience. They have dire health consequences.
GALLAGHER: Areas that have (INAUDIBLE) grocery stores, but nearby fast food have a much greater likelihood of their residents suffering from diet-related diseases, like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke.
GUPTA: The study sparked city leaders' interest. The Chicago city council says it will try to find ways to encourage grocery stores to move in.
GALLAGHER: The bottom line is you can't choose healthy food if you don't have access to it.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
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S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, words from an alleged terror mastermind. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessing planning 9/11 and much, much more. There are new Pentagon documents to show you.
Plus where does she stand? Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton being asked again about a hot-button political issue. We will tell you what she's saying. You are watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
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M. O'BRIEN: A few minutes before the top of the hour, kind of a sad denouement to the Hewlett-Packard espionage story. Ali Velshi is here with that, with the story, a woman who was really kind of a (INAUDIBLE) type story.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Patricia Dunn, she was the chair person of Hewlett-Packard. This is a woman who really worked her way to the top and she's a very powerful woman. She was implicated in the scandal where they were listening in on board members and journalists with whom those board members were talking because there were leaks from board meetings at HP.
Seemed to be the right thing to do. Companies believe they should be able to have their meetings without leaks, but they did it the wrong way allegedly using this pretexting. Four people were charged. She was one of them. A judge in California now at the behest of the attorney general has dropped the charges against Patricia Dunn, not because she's innocent, he says, but because she is very sick. She is battling advanced ovarian cancer. Now this is a woman who has struggled with her health for some time. Back in 2000 she got breast cancer, then she had melanoma in 2002. In 2004 she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Last year they discovered a malignant tumor in her liver and she is still having trouble with this. It was a sad story because unlike other scandals I've covered in the last number of years of WorldCom and Tyco and Adelphia, they were motivated by greed and what seemed to be clear dishonesty. This was motivated by there's a leak, we need to stop it. It's bad for the business. They went about it the wrong way and, you know, it's a hard end for -- career end for a woman like that.
M. O'BRIEN: So it was a good end, bad means.
VELSHI: Good end, bad means, right. That's exactly right. So nobody is happy about Patricia Dunn having been charged in the first place. They broke the law, and she is ill. It's sad because she accomplished a great deal in an industry, in a world where while women accomplish a great deal, there are still ceilings to break through in the world of business and this woman broke through one of them.
M. O'BRIEN: Very sad conclusion, Ali thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: All right. We're going to take a short break and come back in just a moment after Chad updates us on his big weather story. Good morning Chad.
MYERS: Good morning Soledad, just a lot of rain headed to the northeast. I expect big time slowdowns at the airports today. We will see a bunch of rain in Boston, New York City right on down even into DC. And then later on today, it actually gets cold enough to change it over to a little bit of snow. By tomorrow afternoon, a low pressure that's going to run through Atlanta this morning and make rain to the south as well will run up the east coast and there's going to be a nor'easter in the forecast for you. Look at how the temperatures difference now from Buffalo, difference from 31 to 60 in New York City, that's the cold air that's going to make the snow. We'll tell you how much as the next computer model runs in about two hours. We'll know a lot more. The next hour of AMERICAN MRONING starts right now.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you Chad. Full confession,
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