Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Chrysler Sold; Massive Manhunt; Waiting To Go Home; Desperate Search
Aired May 14, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Blockbuster sales. A new owner takes the wheel at Chrysler. What it means for thousands of workers and for your next car.
Plus, missing in action. The desperate search for three U.S. soldiers expands in Iraq overnight, with new claims from a group tied to al Qaeda, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning to you. It is Monday, May the 14th. I'm John Roberts in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.
Good morning, Kiran.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Nice to see you.
I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.
Hope you had a good Mother's Day weekend, John.
ROBERTS: Well, I didn't have the great Mother's Day weekend, my wife had a good Mother's Day weekend.
CHETRY: Well, if she did, than you did. And if she didn't, you wouldn't have.
ROBERTS: I'll put it this way, if I had a good Mother's Day weekend, it would have been Father's Day.
CHETRY: All right.
Well, we have some stories on the radar today that we want to talk about. One is, it's a critical day for firefighters both in Florida and in Georgia. They've been making some progress but they still are dealing with wind and also the threat of lightning that could trigger new wildfire flair-ups today. There are two major roadways, stretches of them, that had to be closed an hundreds of people evacuated. So we will bring you an update from the fire lines in the southeast part of the country a little later in the show.
ROBERTS: Now listen to this story. A scare for students in Tennessee. They go to a school in Murfreesboro, but they were off at this Fall's Creek Fall's State Park. The teachers -- they go there every year for a week. The teachers, I guess, decided to have a little bit of fun with these students. They were telling ghost stories and things like that. But the teachers made up this story about gunmen being in the area. Now, guns and schools, as we know, don't go together very well. The students apparently were just frightened to death. Now their parents are speaking out about it. We're going to be covering this story for you this morning. Really sort of a stunning lack of common sense on the part of some teachers here, Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes, and if you were the parent of a sixth grader, it just seems outrageous. So we're going to talk more about it a little later.
ROBERTS: I can't imagine what those kids were going through.
CHETRY: Especially if they turn on the news, they see this happening in real life, unfortunately.
ROBERTS: Yes, it seems like a no brainer.
CHETRY: Well, we begin with breaking news. And that's confirmation within the last hour or so that Chrysler is being sold to a private equity firm that specializes in turning around troubled companies. AMERICAN MORNING's Ali Velshi is live at Chrysler's U.S. headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan, with more details on this.
Hi, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.
The sun is getting ready to rise here in Auburn Hills, just north of Detroit, metaphorically and possibly honestly for Chrysler Corporation. DaimlerChrysler as it's called now. It's coming back home, as it were. A U.S.-based private equity firm, Cerberus Management, is buying a controlling interest, about 80 percent, of Chrysler back from DaimlerChrysler.
Now you'll remember, this merger was in 1998. It was supposed to be a merger of equals between Chrysler and Daimler. That didn't really work out.
But Chrysler's been a troubled company for the last nine and a half years. Daimler's people, investors and shareholders, have been pushing the company to get rid of Chrysler. Well, they're doing it.
At the moment, the president, Tommy LaSorda, CEO and President Tom LaSorda is going to be staying on to run Chrysler Corporation. They're saying that there aren't going to be more job cuts. But this is a company with a lot of work ahead of it.
Its job cuts, 13,000 that were announced earlier this year, come much later than Ford and GM's, which were last year. Chrysler is a company that is heavily dependent on its trucks. It needs to move into new designs and move into more efficient cars. So there's some sense that under a private equity firm, not a public company, Chrysler may actually do better.
Interestingly, the unions are actually supporting this deal, which hasn't been expected. I'll have more on this a more information about this deal comes out over the course of the next few hours.
Kiran.
CHETRY: And it certainly will.
All right, Ali, thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Massive manhunt in Iraq. Some 4,000 U.S. soldiers are looking for three of their own missing since Saturday. The soldiers were ambushed near the town of Mahmoudiya, in an area often called the Triangle of Death. The town is just south of Baghdad where Hugh Riminton has the latest on the search efforts. He joins us now.
Hugh, has the U.S. military been able to confirm yet these claims by the Islamic state in Iraq, a front group for al Qaeda, that its fighters, in fact, were responsible for the kidnapping?
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No verification of it, but it's an entirely plausible claim by this group. It is known in the area. There are a lot of Sunni insurgents and a lot of them are al Qaeda, including foreign fighters in the area.
The Islamic State of Iraq is very quick about making claims on their Web sites. They can get the information out. By and large they've been found to be fairly credible. If they say they've got someone, time tends to pass and it tends to confirm what they have said. So just another little worry as they search for these three men.
John.
ROBERTS: Hugh, this massive manhunt is underway. Some 4,000 U.S. service members involved. And I recall last year, in about the same area, around Mahmoudiya and Yusufiyah, there were a couple of U.S. soldiers who were captured. The military was out looking for them. They were found a couple of days later, mutilated, decapitated and their bodies booby trapped. Is there a worry for a similar outcome here or might they actually be used as a bargaining chip here?
RIMINTON: Well, there's certainly a worry that this will come to a bad end. No American soldier captured by al Qaeda has lived to tell the tale. So that's plainly their concern.
What might happen here, some terrorism experts are saying, is that al Qaeda might be trying to get some sort of wider advantage out of this. If they can keep these soldiers alive, if they can use them through video releases, if they can make demands for release, et cetera, et cetera, that they can rack up pressure, try to, look, to boost their own support base. While they're doing that, of course, they have to keep these soldiers alive and that gives some opportunity for the United States to try to locate them. Probably through intelligence rather than direct physical search and seek to recover them. So much to be worked out on this one yet, John.
ROBERTS: Everybody keeping hope alive.
Hugh Riminton, thanks for that. We'll keep checking back with you this morning.
Hot words from Iran's president this morning, who says his country will strike back if the U.S. hits Iran militarily. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also saying this morning that Iran agreed to, for the good of the Iraqi people, meet with the United States in Baghdad. The U.S. ambassador to Iraq will talk about securing and stabilizing Iraq with Iran's ambassador in the coming weeks.
And Iran now confirms that it's holding an Iranian/American scholar in prison. Haleh Esfandiari is an Iranian-American scholar based in Washington. She heads up the Middle East studies program at the Woodrow Wilson Center. She's been held in Tehran after traveling to visit her mother. That was back in December. The Iranians accuse her of spying for America and Israel. We're going to speak with her husband in our 8:00 hour about the efforts that he is undertaking to try to get her back.
Kiran.
CHETRY: And we turn to the wildfires that are burning across the country right now.
In California, firefighters say that conditions are in their favor to get full control of the fire on Catalina Island. They say the humidity is up and the winds and the temperature are down. Contractors working on antennas at a radio station may have inadvertently started that fire.
In northeastern Minnesota, near the Canadian border, there's a wildfire growing another 10 square miles today. Dozens of houses and cabins have burned in that blaze.
And to the south, in Georgia and Florida, parts of I-75 and I-10 remain closed. Smoke hampering visibility right now. There are more than 200 fires burning in 57 Florida counties. And forecasters say that winds could kick up again today.
CNN's John Zarrella is live in Lake City, Florida. That's near the junction of I-10 and I-75.
John, give us a little bit of a look at what it's like there this morning.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.
Well, in the distance behind me there, beyond the fire trucks and behind the flashing lights of the police car, is a 150-mile fire line. Now, today, firefighters say will be pivotal because the winds are going to start increasing and the humidity is going to go down, which is not good. And the question is, will the fire lines hold?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA, (voice over): A race against changing weather conditions. Bulldozers move in, cutting new fire lines and widening existing ones. Flames are just a few feet away. Division supervisor Jamie Writtenhouse (ph) plots his next move.
JAMIE WRITTENHOUSE, DIVISION SUPERVISOR: Just go in there. You know, cut -- box it in. Whatever. Try to make your way through the flame. Give it some room now in case the wind shifts, OK.
ZARRELLA: The strain of the struggle shows on firefighters' faces. It has already been a long day, knocking down hot spot fires as the wind picks up. Fanning the flames.
The idea to keep it from jumping into that next stand of timber, right?
WRITTENHOUSE: Yes. Yes. Because then that means we lose everything that we've worked hard on the last couple of days.
ZARRELLA: All this that you worked on is . . .
WRITTENHOUSE: Is gone if it jumps over there and we can't catch the spot.
ZARRELLA: After two days of relative calm, the winds are gusting again. Will the fire lines hold? The question for firefighters like Julian Priest (ph) is always the same, have we done enough?
JULIAN PRIEST, FIREFIGHTER: We're widening lines as fast as we can widen lines.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: Now, that's the only way, Kiran, to fight the fires out here is using that heavy equipment, the bulldozers. We don't see a lot of water moving in. That's not the way they fight these fires. But in the next couple of hours, we're going to see a line of fire trucks begin assembling here. They're going in for structure protection. They go out there to protect the homes in case embers start to fly.
And again, parts of Interstate 75 and Interstate 10, periodic closings continue. Forty-one, 441, is road behind me, closed all the way to the Georgia border.
Kiran.
CHETRY: And it just seems like an astounding number when people hear that there are 200 fires burning in 57 different counties across the state. Why?
ZARRELLA: Yes, that's 57 of the 67 Florida counties. Two hundred and eighteen fires at last count. Drought. In a word, drought. The entire state is parched. From north Florida here, all the way down to the Everglades, in a very serious drought.
CHETRY: And so mother nature's against you there. And then also what started the fire, they're thinking it was a lightning strike. And, once again, can't do anything to prevent that.
ZARRELLA: Exactly.
CHETRY: John, thanks so much.
We want you to take a look at these pictures. One of our I- report showing just how fast the smoke was moving. One viewer vacationing with his family.
This is St. Petersburg. A beautiful shot of the beach there. He took this picture Friday morning. Then, just a few hours later, that is what the very same spot looked like. Unbelievable, John.
ROBERTS: Yes.
Some sixth graders at a Tennessee elementary school got the shock of their lives on a school trip to a park. School staffers, including the assistant principal, staged a fake gun attack, frightening many of the sixth graders on the trip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHAY NAYLOR, STUDENT ON CLASS TRIP: Turned out all the lights and said that they had just got a call saying that there was a random shooting going on around the park.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: One teacher disguised in a hooded sweatshirt even knocked on the windows and pulled on a locked door and the kids were told it was not a drill. They were huddled under tables, crying before they were told that it wasn't a real situation. Just a prank. The school's assistant principal said the mock attack was intended as a learning experience, but the principal says the situation involved, "poor judgment." In our next hour, we're going to speak with one of the students who was on the trip and his mother.
CHETRY: Yes, an error in judgment, understatement of the year. All right.
Well, a case of a missing young girl took a new turn overnight. We're going to hear how "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling is now getting involved in the search for four-year-old Madeline McCann.
Also, the search for three U.S. soldiers ambushed inside of Iraq. What is the strategy now for the thousands of U.S. soldiers on the hunt for their missing men?
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We're coming up on quarter past the hour now and we head to Rob Marciano. He's been keeping an eye on the weather for us across the country. And, once again, it's whether or not the wind and the temperatures will cooperate with firefighters on both coasts again. (WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: A desperate search this morning near Baghdad for three missing U.S. soldier. They vanished on Saturday after their military convoy was ambushed south of Baghdad. Four of their comrades and an Iraqi were killed in that attack. An al Qaeda linked group, the Islamic State in Iraq, claims responsibility for the attack and says it captured the missing Americans. Joining us now is retired Brigadier General James "Spider" Marks, a CNN military analyst.
Spider, do you think that they -- do they have any hope of finding these guys, do you think?
BRIG. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hope is always out there. Absolutely. With the Army values, the Army ethos of never leaving a comrade behind, I can tell you, you have to have some hope, but you're also applying a lot of pressure to go find these guys. And you certainly, you certainly never give up the possibility that they're OK.
ROBERTS: As I was saying to Hugh Riminton just a couple of minutes ago, this took place in Mahmoudiya, near the area of Yusufiyah, where last year a couple of American soldiers were kidnapped, mutilated, beheaded and their bodies booby-trapped, all in the space of about three or four days.
MARKS: Yes, clearly not a good place. Clearly, a very different place. A closed society. Very tribal. I mean, this was a hot bed four years ago when we first rolled into town.
This is an area where U.S. soldiers clearly understand that. I mean, soldiers and Marines have been on the ground now four years. So they understand that. We need to figure out the circumstances that were in place when this occurred.
ROBERTS: So there's a lot of assets on the ground looking for these men. There's 4,000 soldiers, I think. They've got the entire town of Yusufiyah surrounded. They're broadcasting in via loud speakers messages for people to stay inside while they go in and look. What's the critical element here if they are to find these people?
MARKS: Yes, that's a great question. See, you really need to fight for intelligence. Intelligence is not a passive endeavor. It doesn't come to you. You have to go get it. And that's what's taking place right now. You cordon off the area. You work very, very aggressively. And what's difficult about this is because it's such a tribal and very closed area, you have to work very, very precisely to try to get some pieces of information.
What you want to know is what was the last sighting? Who was involved? And you try to connect those dots. It's forensics.
ROBERTS: A pretty closed network, though, down there. A pretty tough nut to crack.
MARKS: It very much is. But you don't stop. And human intelligence is clearly the coin in the realm. And now national assets certainly were involved from the outset. Unmanned aerial vehicle, as well as some space based assets.
ROBERTS: Because the Islamic state in Iraq is claiming responsibility, General, do you think that there is any chance that they're holding them as a bargaining chip, or are they just trying to exact the most amount of terror that they possibly can from this incident?
MARKS: Sadly, I was anticipate the latter. You hope that they're holding on to them and you hope there might be some way that we can get these great soldiers back. I mean, there's just no way to tell, John.
ROBERTS: The fact that this group managed to engage and kill four American soldiers, and their Iraqi interpreter -- the last time I was in Iraq, the interpreters weren't armed -- and kidnapped three soldiers, would seem to suggest that there's still a pretty effective fighting force.
MARKS: Well, this was not serendipitous. This was planned and this was an opportunity and the insurgents executed on their time line. These soldiers were ambushed.
Now, that doesn't mean that they were -- that the U.S. soldiers were not armed and prepared for that. But, clearly, they got in a fight that they couldn't handle. So it really speaks to the readiness and preparedness of the insurgents.
ROBERTS: Well, of course, we all hope that they're still alive and hope for a good outcome here. But good outcomes are fairly rare in Iraq these days.
General Marks, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
CHETRY: Well, we have something to tell you about before you drop a letter in the mailbox. You have to remember something today. The price is going up. And we'll give you details.
Also, later, the enemy within. How can you spot a terrorist living in your midst. We're going to show you what to look for. Talk about how it could end up saving a lot of lives.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
Checking the CNN gas gauge now. Gas prices still heading higher. The current national average $3.06 a gallon. That's up from $2.81 last month. Last year at this time, it was $2.90 a gallon. So are gas prices going to just keep going up? And, if so, why are they so high right now? Who's getting all the money? Well, we're going to ask the CEO of Gulf Oil. He's going to be joining us here in the studio at 7:30 Eastern Time.
Also, don't forget to take your pennies to the post office today. A stamp will now costs you 41 cents. That's up from 39 cents. And the post office will also begin charging extra for large or odd shaped pieces of mail.
John, how about that?
ROBERTS: Buy those forever stamps and they way you never have to worry about a price increase.
CHETRY: But I figure you'd lose them, though, after a while.
ROBERTS: Well, you've got to remember where you put them. You know, put them in a safe or some place like that or the drawer where you know they're going to be.
A major deal to sell Chrysler was announced early this morning. A private buyout company is going to be calling the shots now. Let's go to AMERICAN MORNING's Ali Velshi. He's live at Chrysler's American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
Cerberus Private Equity Corporations. What is it, $7.4 billion? How's that going to go over with the workers, though?
VELSHI: Ironically, there's been opposition from the unions, John, for some time. But the unions are on board with this deal, maybe because they think it's a best deal they're going to get. $7.4 billion for 80 percent of Chrysler. The other 20 percent will continue to be held by Daimler. Daimler bought this operation for more than $30 billion nine years ago.
Now here's how it's going to look for workers and for Americans who want to know what the future for Chrysler is. Tom LaSorda, the president and CEO of Chrysler Corporation, the U.S. arm, which used to be known as Chrysler, is going to continue to lead the company. He has said in a press release released less than two hours ago, "Chrysler will be better positioned to focus on the long-term plan for recovery, rather than just short-term results." What he's referring to there is that as part of a public company, that quarterly results have been under a lot of pressure from shareholders, which is why DaimlerChrysler decided to spin Chrysler off, to sell Chrysler. As part of a private firm, they won't be reporting to shareholders, so they'll be able to do other things.
Now, Cerberus is a private equity firm. They own National rent- a-car, Alamo Rent A Car, amongst other things. They own a big part of General Motor's finance unit. The head of that is John Snow. The chairman is John Snow, former Treasury Secretary. He saying, "Cerberus believes in the inherent strength of U.S. manufacturing and of the U.S. auto industry. Most importantly, we believe in Chrysler."
Now Chrysler's got some design problems and some challenges on its hands. It's been a big truck focused company for a long time. They've come out with the Chrysler 300 some years ago. They need to move in that direction and start making cars like the other U.S. automakers that Americans want to buy. It's unclear as to how this new deal is going to affect that, but there is a new deal and that's what we're looking for.
We'll continue to cover this story through the course of the morning, John.
ROBERTS: All right, look forward to it.
Ali Velshi outside of the Chrysler headquarters there in Auburn Hills.
Thanks very much.
Top stories of the morning are coming up next. The man once considered a terror threat to the United States is finally going on trial. But is there even a case against Jose Padilla? We've got a report.
Also, the woman behind Harry Potter is getting behind the search for a missing four-year-old girl. Find out how on AMERICAN MORNING.
The most news in the morning is on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Gathering storm. New fears that wind and lightning could causes wildfires to flair down south in Georgia, as well as Florida today. The race to control the flames and to reopen two major highways on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good to see you again. It is Monday, May 14th. I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.
ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts in Washington, D.C. Good morning to you.
Lots happening in the state of Florida.
Other stories "On Our Radar" this morning, in addition to those wildfires. Opening statements expected in Jose Padilla's trial. This is the former Chicago gang member accused of being an al Qaeda operative and raising money for Muslim extremists. So many things seem to happen in city of Miami and that's where this trial is taking place. We're going to go live to our Susan Candiotti there in just a couple of minutes to update you on it.
CHETRY: And speaking of terror plots being busted up. Of course, we remember the Fort Dix situation where it looked like six extremists were trying to break in to Fort Dix and massacre soldiers. And it was the help of a video store clerk who noticed a DVD they had wanted dubbed and felt it was very suspicious.
Well, we're going to talk to a terror expert about how attacks are prevented here in the United States, how much of a help all of us really are, and if that's a scary proposition that we're the last line of defense in preventing a terror attack. Also, the search for a missing 3-year-old girl in England. When you see her picture, it really breaks your heart. She was kidnapped, they believe, in Portugal while her family was on vacation. And now the "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling is pledging huge amounts of money for this little girl's safe return.
ROBERTS: Oh, can't imagine what those parents are going through.
By the way, if you've got anything that you want to know about the news, or the world around you, for that matter, e-mail us. Send your questions to AM@CNN.com. It's "Ask AM".
We'll pick some of the answers -- some of the questions and give you the answers as we go along here on this AMERICAN MORNING.
A massive manhunt is under way in Iraq right now for three missing American soldiers feared captured by an insurgent group. The soldiers were ambushed on Saturday near the town of Mahmoudiya in an area often called the Triangle of Death. It's just south of Baghdad.
Four thousand troops have been deployed to look for the missing soldiers. The insurgent group, which calls itself the Islamic State in Iraq, posted claims online yesterday saying it had captured the three. Four other American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were all killed in that attack.
CHETRY: And hot words from Iran's president this morning. He says his country will strike back if the U.S. hits Iran militarily. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also saying this morning that Iran agreed for the good of the Iraqi people to meet with the U.S. in Baghdad. The U.S. ambassador to Iraq will be talking about securing and stabilizing Iraq with Iran's ambassador in the coming weeks.
Republican senator and presidential candidate John McCain says that while speaking with Iran may be important, it's also worth remembering who the U.S. is dealing with.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: The U.S. and Iran seem to be signaling a willingness to have talks, but only on the issue of Iraq. Your reactions on that?
JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that if we want to -- if it's our decision of our administration to have face-to- face talks, it's fine. Remember, this is the world's largest sponsor of terror -- state sponsor of terrorism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, many contended talks with Iran are long overdue. Such talks were recommended by the Iraq Study Group last December.
ROBERTS: If it's newsworthy, very often it happens in Miami, and that's the case again today. After nearly five years, the trial of alleged al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla begins. Padilla has been in federal custody since 2002. He was once suspected of plotting to set off a dirty bomb inside the United States. Now the charges are markedly different than that.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is live in Miami for us covering the opening day of this trial.
And where does it look like it's going to go today, Susan?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, opening statements, as you said, are finally here after five years. And as you pointed out, those dirty bomber allegations are no longer part of the case. And if the government tries to slip them in, the judge will allow the defense to bring up allegations of enemy combatant interrogations and torture.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI (voice over): America first came to know Brooklyn-born Jose Padilla as the man who the government said planned to set off radioactive bombs in the U.S., but that's no longer part of the government's case.
GUY LEWIS, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: This case is for all the marbles.
CANDIOTTI: The Bush administration touted his 2002 arrest as a huge get in the war on terror. Padilla was held as an enemy combatant in a Navy brig for more than three years. Nearly all that time in solitary confinement, without access to lawyers. He claims he was drugged and tortured during interrogations. The government denies it.
Then, late last year, the government shifted gears. Padilla was moved to Miami. He was charged in a civilian court, not with plotting to set off bombs, but planning with others of violent jihad overseas.
In pretrial hearings, the judge described the government's indictment as light on facts. A former U.S. attorney in Miami suggests the strongest evidence against Padilla could be his alleged fingerprints and signature in 2003 on a sort of al Qaeda application obtained by the CIA.
LEWIS: And the defense, Susan, is going to come back and say, look it, that doesn't mean he did it. That doesn't mean he actually even adopted anything in it. We don't know how he touched it. Or, indeed, I would suggest to you, they're going to argue conspiracy theories.
CANDIOTTI: Padilla's mother has been in court exchanging smiles and waves with her son. A Muslim convert, he's a long way from dreams of playing professional baseball.
ESTELA ORTEGA LEBRON, JOSE PADILLA'S MOTHER: I know that he's a good son. And I know that he's not evil.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: If found guilty, Padilla and two others defendants could face up to life in prison. And this is expected to be a long trial. It could go about four months. One of the jurors has told the judge he will get married during that time, but, John, he said he will postpone his honeymoon.
Back to you.
ROBERTS: You know, it's really amazing what can sometimes happen during these trials. But the fact, Susan, that these charges have been so watered down, is this still the big get that U.S. officials were making it out to be?
CANDIOTTI: Oh, absolutely. And it's precisely because of how this case started out, that the government knows this is a very big case for the Justice Department. If they lose this one, it won't be a good thing, to say the least.
ROBERTS: All right.
Susan outside the courtroom there in Miami.
We'll keep checking back with you. Thanks very much.
CHETRY: "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling is getting behind the search for a missing 4-year-old girl. Madeleine McCann has been front-page news in England since she was abducted from a resort in Portugal earlier this month. A British newspaper said that Rowling added at least $500,000 to the reward fund for this little girl's safe return. That fund now totaling more than $3 million.
ROBERTS: She is just so cute.
Coming up, wildfires in Florida again causing havoc with major interstates.
And the FBI's best weapon in fighting homegrown terrorism could be you.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, that's a pretty stellar conductor. How about that? But if you take a look if he would turn around for second, you would see, it's actually our president.
He took a turn leading a 400-piece orchestra in Stars and Stripes Forever. It was an event celebrating the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia.
Hey, he stopped conducting, but they're still playing. I guess they're pretty self-sufficient -- John.
ROBERTS: You know, I always wondered what conductors do. But, you know, the president there in Jamestown, remember a couple of weeks ago on the south lawn of the White House. Knows how to get his groove on when he wants to.
CHETRY: Right. I still say that the dance, the dance with the Senegalese troop, was far more entertaining than that.
ROBERTS: That's still the best. Still the best.
Hey, it's a race against the wind in Florida. Forecasters are predicting more storms as firefighters try to get the upper hand in a massive wildfire there.
Hundreds of people have been evacuated between Interstate 10 and the Florida-Georgia state line. Parts of I-75 and I-10 have been closed again today because of smoke. The fire was started by fire more than a week ago. Crews say that it's only about 30 percent contained.
More than 200 fires are burning in 57 Florida counties.
It's coming up now to 41 minutes after the hour. Rob Marciano is in the CNN weather center.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Six foreign-born Muslims charged with plotting an attack on New Jersey's Fort Dix. Thanks to a tip from a video store clerk, the feds were able to infiltrate that group, and they made arrests last week. And this is not the only homegrown terror plot that's been exposed. In recent years, the feds say they've uncovered terror plots in Lodi, California; in San Diego; Los Angeles; in Houston; Dallas; Toledo, Ohio; Miami; northern Virginia; and New Jersey.
CNN security analyst Pat D'Amuro is -- was a top FBI counterterrorism agent, and he joins us now with more on this.
Thanks for being with us this morning.
PAT D'AMURO, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: My pleasure.
CHETRY: The feds pretty much concede that if were not for this smart-thinking video store clerk, soldiers could have been killed at Fort Dix. So is this what we're relying on now in terms of safety?
D'AMURO: Well, it's one of the tools, Kiran. The FBI has made a significant effort since 9/11 to make sure that they're reaching into the various communities and trying to obtain this type of information. Individuals in the communities will be the first eyes and ears that may fall on to a terrorism plot.
CHETRY: Are we overstating that? Or is this really helping foil plots around the country?
D'AMURO: It's helping quite a bit. Since 9/11, I think between the time frame of September, 9/11, and January or February, there were over 3,000 threats that the FBI received, and worked with the community in trying to resolve those threats.
CHETRY: Now, since then, there's a very interesting article that talks about the progress made. Quite a lot of success, apparently, in rooting out local or al Qaeda -- would-be al Qaeda militant that possibly are in the United States, many of them either deported, arrested. But they say that the newer threat is people that are loosely affiliated. They don't have to call long distance to Afghanistan. They're more centralized in their local communities.
D'AMURO: That's correct. Individuals like the Lackawanna Six, for example, that had gone over to Afghanistan for terrorism training, that came back to the communities. And that's how we first learned of their presence.
So, it is a very significant tool. There's individuals here that don't need the approval of bin Laden to conduct their attacks because they sympathize with radical fundamentalists.
CHETRY: So, as an average person, how do I know when to say something, when to alert the authorities about something I find suspicious, or when maybe I'm just being a little paranoid?
D'AMURO: Well, as this individual with Circuit City had done when he saw a terrorism video that he was reproducing, he was able to notify the FBI that this type of activity was going on and somebody wanted to reproduce this type of tape. Situations like that, information where you may hear that somebody is looking on the Internet to obtain bomb information, radical jihadist-type rhetoric saying that they want to conduct some type of attack, those are the types of things that the communities might hear about first.
CHETRY: And apparently it wasn't just the video store clerk, but a couple of people that noticed some suspicious behavior on a firing range. These people were practicing with rifles, and that helped, as well.
Now, the federal government also relies on informants, people that are willing to give up information. Oftentimes it's very helpful. Oftentimes, though, information can be unreliable. So how do you get the most out of that?
D'AMURO: Well, with an informant, you still have to vet the information out. You have to prove that the information that the informant is providing to you is correct. And there are ways through investigative tools to do that. So, you want to add to the validity of an informant.
You don't want to work with an individual that you know is lying to you. In fact, if informants or cooperating witnesses lie to the FBI, that's actually a crime, and they can be prosecuted for that.
CHETRY: There was just some talk that there were people who have other motives and they want to make money. There was a high-profile case where somebody infiltrated a mosque in Lodi. It turns out he had given them wrong information. He just wanted the money.
D'AMURO: There are situations like that, and that's why the FBI has to verify the information that they're provided before -- usually before they take some type of action on that.
CHETRY: All right. Pat D'Amuro, CNN security analyst and former assistant director for the FBI, here in New York.
Thanks for being with us.
D'AMURO: Thanks. My pleasure.
ROBERTS: There are no guarantees in marriage, but there may now be a few when it comes to weddings. The details behind wedding insurance coming up.
And if you think that spy gadgets are the only cool things about the CIA, just wait. There's something new from the secret agents to show you coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, as we head into peak wedding season, more couples are hedging their bets. There is now insurance to cover the cost of a bridal dress or guest stranded by a hurricane. One company even offering a change of heart rider for when the bride or groom gets cold feet. It can cost anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars, to more than a thousand.
And as for the marriage part, of course, you're still on your own there. But the hurricane thing is actually a pretty good idea.
You know, you fly all your guests, John, to a beautiful destination, and then a hurricane wipes out your plans. At least in this case, you'll get your money back.
ROBERTS: I like the change of mind rider.
CHETRY: Right. Well, you know, you don't want to get left with the dress and all your preparations, your flowers and everything if your -- if your would-be groom decides to run.
ROBERTS: True. Yes. Or, you know, I remember one particular bride in Georgia who could have used that insurance.
Hey, some undercover work at the CIA is finally seeing the light of day. The agency is taking the wraps off of its new Web site.
Internet Correspondent Jacki Schechner is here to give us an inside look at the CIA.
Good morning, Jacki.
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
This is actually not surprising that this is a huge improvement. This is what the CIA Web site used to look like, actually, for the last six years. And you'd think for a high-tech...
ROBERTS: It's pretty dull.
SCHECHNER: ... spy agency they can do a lot better. Well, this morning, they have. This is the new CIA Web site, and it's pretty cool and interactive.
One of the best features on the Web site is this interactive tour of the museum, because the museum is on the CIA campus. So, it's not open to the public.
So, this is the only chance that you get to take a look at some of these artifacts. And you can kind of tool around and take a look at some of the things that they have got.
Here's an identification card of Allen W. Dulles. And basically, you can go through and take a look at all the different areas that you would like to see, the cool spy communications devices.
For example, they have here their silver dollar hollow container. The spy coin, for example. So that's kind of cool.
The other thing that they've got on here is the actual headquarters tour. Now, if you can't get to the campus of the CIA, it will give you an idea...
ROBERTS: Well, they're not doing tours here.
SCHECHNER: Right. I mean, but if you can't get to it in general, they'll give you an idea.
And we did talk to them about security concerns, because that was the general question of, how could you put all this information online? They said it goes through rigorous security screening to make sure they're not giving away information that would be a threat to national security. So, it gives you a chance to see what's available on the campus.
ROBERTS: Right. Parts of the Berlin Wall...
SCHECHNER: I thought this was really neat.
ROBERTS: Yes.
SCHECHNER: Yes. This was the Berlin Wall Monument. It gives you an idea of what this looks like.
So -- and all the favorites are still there, which is kind of...
ROBERTS: Yes I mean, the "World Factbook". When I used to travel when I was working for CBS at the White House, the White House advance team would put together these travel books that were basically culled from the CIA's "World Factbook". For any high school or university student doing research, it's a tremendous, tremendous tool.
And then they've also got that other thing that we talked about.
SCHECHNER: Oh, the other thing that we like, yes. No, they say that the "World Factbook" is still there. That's the most popular part of their Web site.
And then one of the things that they use this Web site for that's very important is careers. They do all their recruiting online, or a lot of their recruiting online. And all of the applications are online.
You can only apply to the CIA through the Web site. They get 135 applications -- or 135,000, rather, applications per year. So, they have this fun little personality test on their Web site where you can basically find out what your CIA personality is.
ROBERTS: What kind of spy you would make?
SCHECHNER: Yes, kind of. I mean, it's totally unscientific, and it's not going to tell you much other than to come up with your fun -- now, you did it a little earlier. What did you come up with?
ROBERTS: I'm a daring thrill seeker.
SCHECHNER: Yes. See, your...
ROBERTS: Which people who know me would say, yes, that's an understatement. But...
SCHECHNER: Yes. I think I was something like a curious adventurer, which basically for me was picking everything that had to do with the water.
ROBERTS: Right.
SCHECHNER: Like, would you rather surf? And that's what I said.
ROBERTS: Yes. I picked the surfing, as well.
SCHECHNER: To go all the way through that. Amphibious sports car was my car. And I think that's what I came up with. So, you know, it's just kind of fun to play with it.
And they give you really a good idea of what's -- what's going on at the CIA. There's a lot of fun stuff to tool around with.
ROBERTS: Very cool.
SCHECHNER: If you've got some time today, check it out. It's brand new.
And I did note on the Web site that if you want to apply to the CIA, they were asking people to hold off between 8:00 last night and 8:00 this morning because they're doing this computer upgrade and they want to make sure that people's applications don't get lost in the shuffle.
So, if you want to apply, if you're so turned on by the new Web site that you want to apply to the CIA, wait until after 8:00 a.m. this morning.
ROBERTS: Take that personality test, figure out what kind of spy you would be. And then fill out your application.
SCHECHNER: I'm sipping champagne at an elite New York social gala.
ROBERTS: Yes. Well, that sounds like you.
Kiran, did you ever take this personality test?
CHETRY: I did. And I think I got the same thing Jacki said, the curious adventurer.
SCHECHNER: Yes, there you go. See, the curious adventurer. So he'll balance us out, Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, you know how it is, Jacki. There can only be one daring thrill seeker per morning show. And John has got the lock on that with the Harley and, you know, the jet setting.
SCHECHNER: You figure it's going to be the guy, right?
ROBERTS: I'll be the resident reckless person.
SCHECHNER: And we'll just be curious about your thrill seeking.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Jacki. We'll see you later on.
SCHECHNER: Sure.
CHETRY: Well, there's a troubling headline this morning about mammograms. In fact, fewer women are actually getting them, at least according to a new study that's out today from the National Cancer Institute.
It says that only 66 percent of women 40 and older got a mammogram in 2005. That's down. Back in the year 2000, at least 70 percent did so. And researchers are saying that long waits for appointments could be one reason why.
Coming up, Chrysler sold not one car, but the entire company. That sale confirmed just hours ago. We're going to get reaction from a senior vice president at Chrysler ahead.
And we'll also check the box office ticker. "Spider-Man" hanging on to the top spot in the weekend box office. We'll take a look.
Plus, what can you learn from Mickey Mouse? We'll tell you who's going to Disney's charm school.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: There you go. Some scenes from "Spider-Man 3". The big winner at the box office for a second week in a row.
"Spidey" took in $60 million, off 60 percent from its record debut. Enough, though, to keep the top spot.
Then the zombie thriller "28 Weeks Later" came in second, bringing in $10 million. "Georgia Rule" "Disturbia" and "Delta Farce" rounding out the top five.
ROBERTS: Immigration officers could soon be taking some lessons from the Disney Company. The Walt Disney Company is being asked to help put a more friendly face on the entry process for international visitors.
Apparently 70 percent of the people who say that they have stopped coming to the United States say that they were turned off by the reception that they received at Immigration. And everybody knows how great Disney is at welcoming people, so Immigration may turn to them for some tips.
CHETRY: It's a small world after all, John. How about that?
ROBERTS: It is. It is.
CHETRY: Well, we're coming up at the top of the hour. Rob Marciano at the CNN weather center, keeping an eye on the big weather stories and, of course, the big fires burning still on both costs.
(WEATHER REPORT)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
