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American Morning
Decision Day in Greece; Terror Attack on Kabul Hotel; Bulger Accuses Of FBI Leaks; Hotel Closes Because of Falling Glass; The Final Shuttle Voyage; Los Alamos Wildfire; Princess Diana: Tribute, or Tacky?; Decision Day in Greece
Aired June 29, 2011 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans.
Breaking news this morning. Greece tightening its belt again, sparking chaos on the streets of Athens. An important vote happening right now to secure a major international bailout. Protesters right now dodging tear gas canisters.
We're live in Athens with the very latest.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.
Kabul's most luxury famous hotel, the target of a terror attack. Ten people killed, the Taliban claiming responsibility. Eight attackers also killed. Most in a four-hour standoff with NATO police and with Afghan troops, as well as NATO troops.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi.
A Southwest Airlines pilot apologizing for a bash fest against flight attendants, calling them an endless stream of gays, grannies and grandes. The cockpit conversation they weren't supposed to hear but did on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROMANS: Good morning. It's Wednesday, June 29th.
I can't hear about -- I can't wait to hear about that apology from the Southwest Airlines pilot.
VELSHI: Yes, it'd better be a good one.
ROMANS: Yes, it'd better be. I don't know if it's ever going to undo what did he but there you go.
CHETRY: Probably not. At least he's reaching out.
We start, though, first, with the situation growing more tense on the streets of Athens this morning. The government, as you know, right now is continuing to debate desperate measures to try to save that country's economy and to protect the global recovery as well.
So, on one side, you have protesters and, on the other, riot police, who have been firing tear gas to keep the thousands of demonstrators back.
VELSHI: The new measures, if they are passed and they are expected to, means higher taxes, less pay for some workers, fewer government benefits, fewer government jobs, early retirement, less vacation, cuts --
ROMANS: Later retirement
VELSHI: Later retirement, I'm sorry. that's what I meant. Cuts that people on the street who you're looking at insist are just too much.
Our Richard Quest is live in Athens. You'll see him now. You saw him earlier. I believe he is wearing goggles now because the tear gas that is being sprayed -- being shot out in the square is reaching him.
Richard, give us the situation.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I apologize for the goggles but, frankly, you can just talk about talk with the tear gas, but the sheer amount of tear gas, some pepper spray that is now lofting around this place makes it impossible because everything is fired at ground level, if the wind is blowing toward us, which it is, end up just about where we are. So, apologies, for the, if you like, the drama of it.
And it's difficult to say where the protesters are hoping to regroup now. Ali, they seem to be regrouping on that side of the square. On this side where I am, the police have had a constrained and continued attack against the protesters, pushing them back. And that is why we have had so much tear gas sprayed just around where I am at the moment.
In the parliament building behind me, in parliament, the debate is continuing. It's 3:00 in the afternoon here, Ali. We thought that it would be over by now. But it's still going on.
VELSHI: All right. Richard, the thing, I guess, we are all looking for, is we got a world that understands that this has to happen, these measures have to pass, and a Greek population who feels differently about this. When this passes, as it is likely to do, although it may be close, what is the reaction expected to be outside of parliament?
QUEST: Well, I think actually I could probably just about remove these now, which would be a little bit easier.
And the reaction out here is the unknown, whether it just fizzles out, once the fait accompli of a vote is clear, or whether it's escalated to something far more serious. I was just talking to our producer here who is a student of these riots and has watched them over a year that they have been taking place and she says what we are seeing here today is, by far, the worst that they have seen. It's consistent, it's determined, and the fact the tear gas going off again, it's likely to continue.
When the vote takes place, I would suggest all bets are off, whether this becomes the litmus test for the protesters to go into overdrive.
ROMANS: You know, Richard, Christine here.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison just told Kiran that, you know, look what's happening in the streets of Athens, and Dick Durbin talking about it, too. I mean, they are watching what's happening there. It is at the core of a story that lived beyond its means and now has on get things into -- get things back into balance.
QUEST: That's basically it. It's -- I mean, Greece has to learn to live within its means. If you ask the protesters, they will shout abuse of Goldman Sachs, Barclays, all of the banks that lent money in the good times. The more they say, the more intelligent, more reasoned protesters and the anarchists will just cause mayhem and destroy the city. That's all they are here for.
But the more reasoned protesters say what they want is a credible plan to reduce Greece's debts, and that means banks taking haircuts, cutting the debts, cutting the loans. That, of course, is a default in the words of the financial community and that creates the bigger problems.
So, you have this catch-22. How does Greece move forward without moving back?
VELSHI: All right. Richard, we'll stay on top of this with you. And that vote is expected at some point this afternoon, your time this morning, our time.
QUEST: Sure.
ROMANS: OK. Now to the deadly terror attack on Kabul's landmark Intercontinental Hotel. This morning, the fire is out. Officials say everyone is accounted for now following a sustained and deadly assault by suicide bombers. The militants stormed the hotel armed with guns and grenades.
VELSHI: Now, when it was all over, eight attackers were killed, along with 10 civilians. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
CHETRY: Joining us now on the phone right now is Major Rusty Bradley. He's a U.S. Special Operations soldier. He wrote a book called "The Lions of Kandahar: The Story of a Fight Against All Odds."
And, Major, thanks for joining us again. We had you with us here yesterday. And you were talking about all of the progress made there and we were asking you about the security challenges, given the fact that the drawdown by U.S. troops is beginning.
Can you just give us your perspective on what possibly happened here at one of the most well-known hotels in Kabul?
MAJ. RUSTY BRADLEY, U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS (via telephone): Hey, good morning, guys. Thank you for having me again.
I think what you have to understand is the attack in Kabul at the Hotel Intercontinental is an example of the Taliban folks and on, urban terrorism. The bottom line is this incident is not a sign or an indicator of anything that's politically-driven. This is -- this is nothing more than a typical act by a terrorist organization. And at the end of the day, you know, this is all of the Taliban have to offer to the Afghan people in the world.
ROMANS: Major Bradley, a reminder, though, without a NATO helicopter and without NATO as they are called mentors to the Afghan police, this wouldn't have ended. That's when it ended. It ended with intervention from NATO.
The people who are watching transition and how smoothly the transition is going, they are worried that without that help and those mentors, that the Afghans are more helpless to these kind of attacks. What do you say to that?
BRADLEY: I think you know, as we discussed yesterday, I think you know, it is an example of the Afghan national security forces making some significant security steps forward and expanding their capability. But you're absolutely correct, you know, we are still very much in an advisory role. We provided for the stickler operation. We provided spoke some significant logistical support, some aviation support.
And I think these things are going to continue until we can build up, like we talked about yesterday, some of those capabilities, logistical capabilities within their military and takes a long time to train a helicopter pilot or, you know, a predator-drone pilot.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we want to thank you for your take this morning. Major Bradley, always great to talk to you. Thanks so much for joining us.
BRADLEY: Thank you very much.
VELSHI: Here at home, no specific or credible information with the FBI and Homeland Security, both of them issuing a warning for people to remain vigilant during the summer holiday season.
An intelligent bulletin obtained by CNN says Osama bin Laden's death could spur lone offenders to try to attack on a holiday like July 4th, to increase what they call the "symbolic impact."
ROMANS: Meanwhile, in Nebraska, federal regulators say two nuclear plants threatened from the floodwaters from the Missouri River are safe this morning. A watchdog group for the nuclear power industry visited that Ft. Calhoun plant yesterday and the officials say the facility is still safe. The plant has been off line since April for refueling and not up and generating power.
We'll watch this story as it develops and bring you the latest on this.
CHETRY: Also, the wildfires in New Mexico are on the move, burning dangerously close to the Los Alamos laboratory. It's a nuclear facility there. Officials say that all hazardous material is protected and the lab remains shut down.
VELSHI: And firefighters are scrambling to sustain the fierce fires, but the weather isn't on their side. Chief Doug Tucker of the Los Alamos Fire Department will join us at 8:40 Eastern to give us an update on that.
ROMANS: All right. President Obama will make his case this morning for allowing the government to borrow more money. Right now, there is an August 2nd deadline to raise the debt ceiling.
CHETRY: Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING: we had a chance to speak to both a Republican and Democrat senators about what is needed to move these talks forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: I'll tell you what I believe. We need to put everything -- underline that word "everything" -- on the table. Let's sit down like grown-ups and get this resolved. If we let this debt ceiling expire, it will be catastrophic to the American economy and the global economy.
SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (R), TEXAS: There's definitely room for agreement. I think we all realize that a $14 trillion debt is unsustainable. And we need to go forward with a plan, a reform, of the way we spend, which is why the balanced budget amendment is going to be introduced today.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
CHETRY: And again, today, President Obama is expected to meet with Senate leaders, including Senator Durbin, who you just heard from.
VELSHI: The deficit talks will likely be one of the topics when President Obama holds his news conference at the White House, 11:30 a.m. Eastern. CNN will carry that live.
ROMANS: All right. A Southwest Airlines pilot is now apologizing to his colleagues for a cockpit rant that went out over the microphone back in March. Captain James Taylor is his name. You might recall his rant where he made vicious fun of gay, overweight, and older flight attendants, and singled out Houston flight attendants as, quote, "the ugliest group of them all."
Let's listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
PILOT: Eleven (EXPLETIVE DELETED) over the top (EXPLETIVE DELETED) homosexuals and a granny. Eleven, I mean, think of the odds of that. I thought I was in Chicago, which was party land. After that, it was just a continuous stream of gays and grannies and grandes.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VELSHI: I was away for this. How did he -- he's still in his job?
ROMANS: He did diversity training.
CHETRY: Well, he had some diversity training and flight attendants union actually was fighting that. They were upset with the fact that he wasn't removed from his job.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: But Captain James Taylor wrote a letter and this is what he wrote in it. "I deeply regret the derogatory remarks that I made and the hurt that I've caused. I would like to extend a special apology to all flight attendants, and especially those of Houston. I hope you will allow me to maintain a working relationship with all of you that will provide me the opportunity to extend an individual, personal apology to each one of you whenever we fly together."
So, Southwest, again, said that it suspended him and then he took a diversity class and was reinstated.
ROMANS: By the looks of that letter, that diversity class really worked. He's a new person.
VELSHI: He's totally a new person. That's right.
All right. Let's keep on the flying theme. No babies on board. Which airline is batting babies from first class cabins? We'll tell you on the other side.
ROMANS: And blue eyes -- you know, they're usually thought of as a desirable treat in some circles. Not in baseball, the curse of the blue-eyed slugger. That's next.
CHETRY: Also, absolutely stunning pictures of the sun.
VELSHI: Wow.
CHETRY: Solar flares, we have some amazing video you may not have seen before.
Eleven minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fifteen minutes past the hour.
Key testimony in the murder trial of Casey Anthony. Casey's former fiance, Jesse Grund, took the stand after the jury left the courtroom and, again, after the jury was gone, he told the courtroom that Casey told him that her brother watched her while she was sleeping and that he groped her. The judge blocked him from testifying for the jury, calling it, quote, "hearsay."
Meantime, meter reader Roy Kronk, who discovered Caylee's remains describes that horrific day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROY KRONK, FOUND CAYLEE'S REMAINS: Held the bag out. After like the third shake, the contents of the bag shifted, and I looked down at my feet, and that's when I discovered the skull was basically at my feet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY (on-camera): He also recounted telling police on more than one occasion. At least, three 911 calls, you know, made about possibly discovering the remains. He's seen the human remains, and --
ROMANS: It was months later --
CHETRY: Months later and a tropical storm later in that area before her remains were found. But the interesting thing is he said he picked up the bag and the contents moved. I mean, that's good for the defense in that they're trying to argue that her remains were possibly tampered with.
VELSHI: Former Boston Irish mob boss, Whitey Bulger, accusing the feds of leaking information to the press. He was in court yesterday and wants the judge to clap down on leaks from federal agents about his case saying, he's keeping it from getting a fair trial.
Bulger was the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in the movie, "The Departed." He was a fugitive for 16 years, and he's facing charges in 19 mob-related murders.
ROMANS: A Texas hotel shut down because of falling glass. It happened at the W. Austin Hotel. Panels of glass from the balconies have fallen three times in the past times. The two most recent incidents happened just this week. Panels crashed onto the ground and onto parked cars. Earlier this month, the panel rained onto the pool injuring two swimmers. Hotel officials say they're working to replace all of the balcony glass now at that Austin hotel.
VELSHI: OK. So, an airline is now banning babies from first class. Malaysia airlines --
CHETRY: That's right. They said there were too many complaints, and that passengers in first class said, hey, I spent a lot of money on this, and I can't sleep because there's a baby yelling next to me. So, babies are not allowed anymore in first class on their long 747 flights to places like Sydney, to London, to Amsterdam. But as you point out, Ali, they actually have three different --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: So, you can keep your baby in business or coach and sit upfront.
ROMANS: Do they have somebody who's going to take care of the baby for you while you're up in first class?
VELSHI: No.
ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE)
VELSHI: Nailing a date down. The NASA is ready now for its grand finale. "Atlantis" is set to launch on July 8th. This is the historic final mission of the space shuttle program barring any delays. "Atlantis" will be on a 12-day journey delivering spare parts and supplies to the international space station.
And once it comes home, American astronauts will hitch a ride for a little while on Russian spacecraft, and then, will have commercial space craft ready to shuttle people and cargo to the space station.
ROMANS: And CNN is going to be there every step of the way to witness the end of an era. Don't miss "Beyond Atlantis: The Next Frontier." A CNN special investigation Sunday night eight o'clock eastern.
CHETRY: Rob Marciano is in the Extreme Weather Center for us right now. I think you're going to be showing us the solar flares, right? The sun was just amazing.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You want to get right to that as long as we're on space topic --
ROMANS: Yes.
MARCIANO: Check some of this -- this satellite was launched in February, and look at this flare. There's arc of magnesium and solar energy just bursting in outer space. Now, you can imagine, the size of the earth probably about a hundred earths could probably fit within that arc, OK? So, you know, a hundred earth just completely toasted if we were close enough to experience that event.
CHETRY: Wow!
MARCIANO: All right. We've been in a solar minimum now. We're coming out of that. We should get into some increased solar activity. There are some studies that say we may be into some lesser amounts of solar activity, but, nonetheless, the next 10 to 11 years, we should see more of this action, and we'll have these amazing pictures from the solar dynamic observatory which would launch in February.
All right. Let's talk about satellites that now point down to earth. The orbit is about 22,000 miles, and they look down and they see things like this which is tropical storm Arlene. Right now, about 175 miles of the east of Tampico, Mexico, heading that way, will make landfall tonight, tomorrow morning, probably as low to mid-range tropical storm, will bring then some heavy rain.
We could use some of that rain getting up to the monsoon. It doesn't look like a whole lot of it is going to do that. So, we've got the fire threat issued now for parts of Nevada and through Colorado down to New Mexico where fire danger is going to be high there, and heat is going to be rebuilding across parts of the midsection.
Meanwhile, cool and comfortable air with some wind across parts of the northeast if you're traveling through some of those areas. We'll see some mild delays, I think, this afternoon. Temperatures will be in the lower 80s from Chicago to New York, lower 90s from Atlanta to lower 100s in Dallas. Guys, back up to you.
ROMANS: All right. Thank you.
MARCIANO: You bet.
ROMANS: Thanks, Rob.
VELSHI: OK. So, the Red Sox had the curse of the bambino.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: The Cubs had the curse of the Billy goat.
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: Now, one major slugger says that he is suffering from the curse of the blue eyes. Reigning American league MVP, Josh Hamilton, is blaming his baby blues for his slump in day games.
ROMANS: Yes. This year, his batting average is over 250 points lower when the sun is out. Some researchers back him up. They say blue or light colored eyes aren't as good at filtering the sun's glare. His solution? Take a very close look. All right. On Saturday, he wore special contact lenses that that make him make his eyes appear red. For the record, did it help? He was over 4 with four strikeouts.
VELSHI: Why would that be different from wearing sunglasses?
ROMANS: The glare.
CHETRY: I don't know. Got you. Sounds like a good excuse for while you're batting so poorly.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Ouch!
CHETRY: Well, at last check, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg had a net worth of $13.5 billion. Hold your ears (INAUDIBLE).
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Anyway, the new numbers, and boy, did they jump.
VELSHI: And why Twitter's co-founders are leaving. We'll tell you about that. Twenty-one minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: It's 24 minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
You're looking at live pictures right now of the Greek's Prime Minister, George Papandreou, speaking to parliament. He's inside the building, and outside, protesters are clashing with police on the streets of Athens today. Day two of a general strike there. lawmakers in Athens are debating tax increases and spending cuts.
These big cuts that they need to secure more money from the European Union and avoid a debt default. A vote on five-year austerity package is expected at any moment.
And a check in on the markets. U.S. stocks poised to follow gains in world market on optimism the austerity vote in Greece will pass. Right now, the Dow, NASDAQ, S&P 500 futures are all up slightly in premarket trading.
And this just in, Bank of America announces an $8.5 billion, billion with a B settlement with professional investors over bad mortgages that were packaged up and sold before the housing bubble burst. Good news for Bank of America is that its stock is up five percent in premarket trading this morning.
Tiger Woods landing his first endorsement deal since his sex scandal broke. Japanese muscle balm. The first TV ads for the product featuring Tiger Woods will debut this Friday.
Three of the co-founders of Twitter are jumping ship, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, and Jason Goldman are departing to work on a new start- up they announced yesterday. Where else? Online, in a blog post. The trio helped launch that company. Five years ago.
Google launching its own social networking site called Google Plus. It's the latest move by that giant to tap into social media seeing billed as a direct competitor to Facebook. The difference, you can video chat on this new site.
And according to Forbes, the big jumping pay for Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and now, he makes more than the Google guys, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The magazine says that Zuckerberg is now worth $18 billion. That after the "Wall Street Journal" -- after Wall Street maneuvering this week, and the Google guys are now worth only about, hey, $17.5 billion. Too bad.
Up next, the latest newsweek cover, if Princess Diana was alive today. AMERICAN MORNING is back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
CHETRY: It is half past the hour right now. We are taking a look at pictures in the streets of Athens this morning. In Greece, lawmakers are still debating this highly unpopular plan among the population there to cut spending and to raise taxes. This vote was actually supposed to happen in the last hour. That vote has been delayed as discussion continues and debate continues.
But, meanwhile, outside of the Greek parliament, police have been using tear gas to try to keep the thousands of protesters back.
In Egypt, dozens of protesters and police were injured in clashes in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to try to disperse a crowd of about a thousand protesters. They gathered to remember those who were killed in the country's revolution earlier in the spring.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemning the terror brazen attack on Kabul's landmark international hotel that killed 10 people. NATO forces and Afghan troops engaged in a nearly four hour standoff. Karzai said the attacks intended to disrupt the handover of security forces will not succeed.
VELSHI: As U.S. troops begin to drawdown in Afghanistan next month, some are questioning whether the military mission there can ever be considered a success. Our next guests devote much of their time to rebuilding Afghanistan. One of them, Joanne Herring, was portrayed by Julia Roberts in the movie "Charlie Wilson's War."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a member of the defense subcommittee, did you think I'm unaware that Soviet Union has invaded Afghanistan?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I believe my government is aware, but I was wondering if they were thinking about doing anything about it other than boycotting the Olympics, which I think you'll agree was a fairly impotent response to the greatest national security threat we have faced since the Cuban military crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Joanne Herring is the founder of the Marshall Plan charities and author of the upcoming book "Diplomacy in Diamonds." Also with her is Douglas Rine, a volunteer who served in Afghanistan as a naval commander. He's not speaking on behalf of the Navy today. They are both in Washington. Welcome to both of you, Doug and Joanne. Joanne, tell us in the simplest terms what these charities are trying to achieve in Afghanistan.
JOANNE KING HERRING, FOUNDER, MARSHALL PLAN CHARITIES: We're trying to raise the ability of the Afghans to take care of themselves so they can fight their own battles and bring our commanders like Doug home. The way we are doing it, Ali, it takes five things. If you're hungry and the water is polluted, you can't fight and they are hungry and the water is polluted.
So we are having organizations that are nonprofits that have been doing this for at least seven years successfully to work together and to simultaneously achieve all of the things that are necessary to strengthen the Afghan people so that it doesn't become a terrorist training camp again.
Also, how do we get an Afghan army? Well, 80 percent of them are illiterate. But we can have a man battle ready and reading in six months and train the women and children, of course, to take care of the village.
Then they have to have healthcare. It's polio and malaria capital of the world. It takes 50 cent sugar cube for polio. It takes $1.50 mosquito net for malaria. A woman dies every 45 minutes in childbirth. It costs a hundred dollars a month for midwife trained to help them.
And we can do this by utilizing these organizations that have already known how to do it, but they have to do it at the same time. That's what has never been done before. They have to have all five things, food, water, health care, jobs.
VELSHI: Doug, in fact, you did this in your spare time while you were on a one-year tour in Afghanistan. You started a model village based on the stuff that Joanne is telling us. So taking it out of a world of ideal and making it practical. Tell us how this works out.
DOUG RINE, VOLUNTEER, MARSHALL PLAN CHARITIES: I was there last Christmas and visiting family in Texas and read an article in the "Houston Chronicle" that outlined Joanne Herring's concept of a model village. And I realized the other volunteer work I have been doing in Afghanistan, this fell in line with the ideals we were working and striving towards.
When I got back to Afghanistan, I talked with the folks I was working with and we decided that it was something that we could take on as a side project. And I was able to work, you know, with the blessing of the -- my commander from my unit to work in my free time to pursue this.
And so between the three or four of us that were on our team, we were able to put together or select a village and put together a package that is going to, hopefully, make this -- make it a success.
VELSHI: So Joanne, obviously, you and Doug know about the military. You're an expert of this. You've understood military and military work in Afghanistan for decades.
But let's talk about something else that you think is key to success there. It is farmers and crops and soybeans. Explain this.
HERRING: Well, they are taking over the poppy fields. And the soybeans you see provide the protein that the people need to have. And also the women desperately need the protein to produce healthy babies. They have been at war for 30 years and not strong enough.
But within one year, Ali, we can change the whole face of Afghanistan with very little money. In fact, we can do a village of 15,000 people for less than it takes to keep a commander in the field or a soldier in the field for one year. And we can do this. We can do it. But it's as hard as making Madonna Pope.
(LAUGHTER)
The soybeans, you are helping them cultivate it. The idea you're trying to get people off of growing opium and selling that to the Taliban and instead grow soybeans. Is there enough of a market to make that viable?
HERRING: Ali, they want to. Even people are leaving the Taliban to come out of the hills to do it. They want to do it. They just haven't had the resources to plant anything but poppies.
You see, if you start at the top and give them money to a government agency, it doesn't filter down to the people. If you go bottom up with the people getting the money and having somebody to train them, then the villagers and the provincial leaders will raise themselves out of poverty and strengthen themselves.
My whole dream is to bring our boys home. And I made this speech to them, our soldiers and our girls, of course, forgive me, in the field and they -- 3,000 of them stood up and said we love you, Joanne! You might have a tape of that, because they know, having been there, that the Afghans will fight. They will fight for themselves, but they need help to do it.
And we need the money to do it. My website is joanneherring.com. If anybody wants to help us, we would love to have you. Remember, what we are doing is not something that hasn't been proved. These organizations that are doing it have been doing it for seven years successfully.
VELSHI: We have been talking about this for a couple of days now, economic rebuilding in Afghanistan as the answer to supplement the great military work that's being done by people like Douglas Rine and others. Joanne, thanks very much, Joanne King Herring and Douglas Ryan of the Marshall Plan charities.
HERRING: Thank you, Ali.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Up next, New Mexico fire crews scrambling to protect a nuclear lab from fire, a raging fire in New Mexico. We will talk to the fire chief about the challenges of protecting nuclear material next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We're looking at live pictures right now from two different locations. One on the left is the parliament in Greece and the other on the right is the rioting in the streets of Athens as this debate continues and the desperation grows.
VELSHI: It looks like voting has actually begun. If I'm reading this correctly, it appears they are tallying votes. Looks like the vote, which has been delayed, is under way at this point. There is still activity in the street. It's hard to gauge whether it's better or worse than it's been. It was definitely rough today earlier with direct clashes with protesters and police but then they created a bigger perimeter.
ROMANS: You can see the haze of the tear gas still over the crowd as well as they are waiting to find out the outcome of that vote. These are live pictures. It is as the banner says, decision day in Greece. It's the five-year austerity plan. They will have to come up with billions of dollars and it's going to come out of the pockets of the Greek people. The bailout money quite frankly, come out of the money of other Europeans, that's and why such an important issue for the entire place.
CHETRY: What we are seeing right now, we are seeing more protesters than we saw earlier but it looks a little bit calmer than what we saw earlier. I mean, yesterday, we saw literally news trucks on fire. Today, we witnessed tear gas being fired, as well as clubbing.
VELSHI: Clubbing and fighting between protesters and police.
CHETRY: It looks a little bit calmer right now. It could be the snapshot we are seeing there, and you're still hearing the tear gas being fired. It's certainly a country and nation on edge as they await this vote. Also you can't predict, as Richard Quest said, what will happen on the streets after the vote comes.
VELSHI: You can imagine in a close vote with all of these politicians knowing what is going on outside thinking "I have no political future left if I go against everybody." We are awaiting this and as soon as we get this vote, we will bring that to you and we will bring you the reaction from the streets of Athens. At the moment, stock markets are betting the austerity plan will pass and Greece will do to get the bailout it needs.
ROMANS: These are difficult decisions that countries have to make when they have been living beyond their means to long. Obviously, this country is much smaller than the United States, about the size of Washington, but there are deficit hawks in this country look what is happening on the streets of Greece saying if we don't get our own act together here and do things gradually and wisely --
VELSHI: Could we confront this? I think we probably won't, but that is what some people are bringing up.
ROMANS: We want to switch gears to wildfires in New Mexico inching critically closer to a blaze of a nuclear facility. The blaze is already prompting the evacuation of 10,000 Los Alamos residents and fierce winds spreading these flames.
Joining us now from Los Alamos is Fire Chief Doug Tucker. Thank you for joining us. I know you have so much hard work to do. Tell us, you have managed to -- the fire is ever encroaching on the facility. You have taken extensive precautions to it make sure there is not any issues at the nuclear lab.
DOUG TUCKER, FIRE CHIEF: Absolutely. We feel comfortable the material is secure and fire will not get to it.
ROMANS: What kinds of precautions have you taken?
TUCKER: First, there is a whole layer process, and the lab takes great strains to contain that material and keep that material safe. On any given day, it's safe. Right now, it's all locked up and really no issue. The area it's in is well protected and there is no wild land next to that area.
ROMANS: We know that Area G is where there are 10,000 waste containers above ground, 6,000 below ground. There are 55-gallon drums and referred to as waste containers. You tell us the fire is not threatening Area G. It's within, you know, two miles away.
TUCKER: That's right. The fires have been two miles and also there is another layer of protection there sitting on blacktop and drums can take some heat. They just have some waste in them. It's not high level rad waste and we believe we can protect them and foam them if in fact they catch fire. They have vents in them and they will vent with a filter, and there will be no release of any toxic materials.
ROMANS: So tell me about, and you have them on asphalt, blacktop, so there is no foliage or organic material around them that can ignite there, so that's the hope there. What is the wind, the weather and where the flames are going and how much control you have over it.
TUCKER: Well, we have no control over the weather.
ROMANS: Well, I mean over the fire. You know what I mean.
TUCKER: Ok. Over the -- the weather is a major player in this fire because it's going to decide which way the fire decides to go. The winds have been pretty heavy. Today, it should be fairly mild. We have little humidity. So the weather is working with us right now. The winds are coming out of the south, southwest and, yesterday it was actually pushing the fire back on itself until late last night when it started running the ridges.
We -- we are looking for a great day in which we can go in and put some more anchors in. We're feeling pretty good to the south of the laboratory. We've had a small slop over spot fire that hit the laboratory two days ago. About one acre and quickly able to get on that and eliminate that. We still have the potential of spotting on to the lab and the town site.
ROMANS: You know, it's interesting because there was a big fire, I think in 2000, right? So it burned through a lot of the area. What have you learned and what kind of precautions from previous fires so close to the facility and how much better prepared do you think you are?
TUCKER: Well, we've had ten years to prepare since 2000 the Sierra Grande fire. And what we've done is a lot of mitigation. We took a look at that Area G that you were talking about. In fact, as of yesterday they were doing mitigation again going in to just doing some final clean up and removing some fine fuels and flashy fuels from around the area.
So what we've learned is if we have buildings that have a protectional area, an area we can get in and get our firefighters in and out safely, we can protect those buildings. So we've done a lot of mitigation throughout the county at the lab -- the lab has spent millions of dollars protecting that facility from wildfire.
ROMANS: All right. Thank you so much for joining us, Chief Doug Tucker from the Los Alamos Fire Department. Best of luck to you as you -- as you fight that blaze. Thank you.
TUCKER: Thank you.
ROMANS: Its 46 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Its 48 minutes past the hour. And here are a look at your headlines this morning.
We start with live pictures and breaking news out of Athens this morning. A vote is under way right now; you see that on the left side of your screen. That is in Greece's parliament. The government's plan to cut spending and raise taxes, a huge issue. And on the right, you see the fallout. Some of the protests that have happened all day and over the past 48 hours. The austerity measures have drawn thousands of protesters into the streets of Athens.
A check in on the markets: futures up this morning on optimism that that austerity vote in Greece will indeed pass. Right now, the DOW, NASDAQ and S&P 500 are all up in premarket trading.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemning the brazen terror attack on Kabul's landmark international hotel that killed 10 people. NATO forces and Afghan troops engaged in a nearly four-hour standoff, eight attackers were also killed.
That Kabul hotel attack will likely be addressed in President Obama's news conference. It will be later on this morning 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time from White House East Room and CNN will carry it live.
A court hearing is set for accused Tucson gunman, Jared Loughner today. His lawyers want to stop doctors from giving him mind-altering psychotropic drugs to treat his schizophrenia and thus make him competent to stand trial. They are arguing that it violates his rights.
Hurricane season is here and tropical storm Arlene now becomes the first named storm of the season. It's expected to hit northeastern Mexico as early as tonight.
And now, you're caught on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING will be back after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: That is beautiful. That is New York City right now, 72 degrees. The -- the weather report says partly cloudy but I'm going to call it partly sunny.
ROMANS: That's an optimistic view.
VELSHI: It's -- it's the same thing right?
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: You know a lot about the weather.
CHETRY: Why not?
VELSHI: All right, it was going up to 80. And that's the kind of a perfect little window, right?
CHETRY: Yes.
VELSHI: 72 now going up to 80 and partly sunny.
CHETRY: However, I hate to burst your bubble. This humidity is ridiculous. When we were coming in, did you notice there was steam on the windows entering the building?
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes I know it.
CHETRY: That's the only tough part today.
VELSHI: It is outside but it's cooler than a lot of places are right now.
ROMANS: All right, that's true. And welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
Princess Diana would have turned 50 years old on Friday. CNN's Zain Verjee has more on the controversy over there. She is live in London.
CHETRY: We're talking about the cover of "Newsweek" this morning.
ROMANS: Right. That -- that put what she would look like now right next to her daughter-in-law she's never met. It's very odd.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes a lot of people are saying it's creepy, it's uncomfortable, it's tasteless. Some people though, say, you know what, it's grabbing headlines and it wasn't such a bad idea.
Just look at the cover and let viewers decide for themselves. You can see it's kind of a casual stroll down the street with Princess Diana and Kate Middleton there. When you read the article in "Newsweek" magazine, it also actually has a fashion face-off between Princess Diana and Kate Middleton and showing what their styles were.
It also has a fake Princess Diana Facebook page and then it's also digitally modified another photograph that shows her carrying an iPhone. The article goes on to say if she was alive she would have remarried twice and she would have had more than 10 million Twitter followers.
So yes, it grabs the headlines but I -- I didn't really like seeing that, to be honest guys. What did you think?
CHETRY: Well --
ROMANS: You know, these alternate history things always kind of creep me out. I mean whether it's what would have happened if JFK were still alive.
CHETRY: Right. I don't mind that actually. I don't -- I didn't mind the article. It was a thoughtful article by Tina Brown. It was just the -- and they aged her -- they digitally aged her. I mean and they put her head on another --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: But that's not even her dress, right? They actually removed the head of somebody else and put her head on it right? I mean, I don't think that was her dress.
VELSHI: All right, I'm sold Zain. Now I'm creeped out.
CHETRY: Maybe it was her dress. Zain, was it?
VERJEE: Well, I'm not actually sure if it was her dress to be honest. But a lot of the chatter around our newsrooms was -- she -- she was an icon. We've just had the royal wedding. What would it be like for Prince William and Harry to look at something like this and the whole world was engaged. And everyone was asking on wedding day what if Diana was here, you know? It's a pity.
And so it's just like tugs on everybody's, I guess, emotional heart strings a little bit on that one because she was such an icon for all of us here.
ROMANS: It certainly has us all talking about it. Tina Brown, the editor, she said it was meant to --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes everybody is going to be looking for that "Newsweek". Yes. She's shaking things up.
ROMANS: Yes, exactly. All right, thanks Zain.
VERJEE: Yes actually --
ROMANS: Go ahead. Go ahead. VERJEE: Sorry. We did call "Newsweek" and Tina Brown did issue a statement and basically said, "We wanted to bring the memory of Diana alive in a vivid image that transcends time and reflected my piece." So that's what they are saying to all of the criticism today.
CHETRY: All right.
ROMANS: It's our question of the day. Thanks Zain.
CHETRY: If it was meant to transcend time, why did they have to digitally age her?
VELSHI: Oh, stop you cynics. Zain good to see you.
It's our question of the day, as you said. People have -- here is what you have said about the cover of Prince's Di's -- "Newsweek" with Princess Diana on it. Who has got this?
ROMANS: I'll do this one.
VELSHI: All right, here we go, oh, got it. I found it. This is Diane. I'm sorry. A little slow this morning. "I was, am a Diana fan so I thought it was fun to see what she might have looked like. Are there more newsworthy subjects to cover? Absolutely. Did it deserve the cover of a magazine? Maybe not. And I think Diana would have loved Kate.
Sue on her blog writes "Tacky and creepy. Poor Kate. She's already compared to Diana at every turn and now this? Let's give Kate a break and let Diana rest in peace."
CHETRY: Peter B on the blog says, "Not so much tacky as maybe irrelevant and inane. Is it 'Newsweek' or 'news weak'?"
VELSHI: I have to say, there are a lot of critics who said all of this is irrelevant including the royal wedding. It clearly wasn't. Ratings indicated that people loved the coverage of it. So a lot of people criticized, saying it's irrelevant. And apparently thought that irrelevant and in a world where all these bad news is going on all the time, people love the fact that the royal wedding gave them something positive.
So I'm not sure it's irrelevant. A little tacky but I don't know if it's irrelevant.
CHETRY: 56 minutes after the hour. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Looking at live pictures from Athens, Greece, where on the left side of your screen, you can see parliament where voting is under way for whether the government will pass very strict, strict measures to qualify for a European bailout. On the right, you see people in the streets who are not happy about what their elected officials are about to do. VELSHI: This voting got a late start. It's said to be -- it may take up to an hour. It's a recorded vote so we're not sure where we are in the voting just now. We do know that while it is expected to pass, it is expected to be very, very close. And those protests on the outside may be influencing some of the members of parliament or as they call them deputies inside the chamber there.
But the bottom line is if they don't pass the austerity measures, regardless of what that crowd of people on the right side of your screen that you see are thinking, if they don't pass the austerity vote, they don't get the bailout -- they don't get another set of bailouts on Sunday by the European Union. That could not only affect Greece's economy very poorly but all of Europe and it will effect on you here in the United States particularly those of you who have money markets or particularly conservative investments in banks. This is how these credit freezes begin.
CHETRY: It appears that the bond market seems to think this is going to pass. It seems the stock markets all futures pointing up on the optimism at least that while this will be tight, it will go through.
But a different story on the streets and that's what we've really seen this morning. Earlier some of our reporters like Richard Quest and crew had to wear goggles because of the tear gas, they've seen clashes.
VELSHI: You can still hear it going on.
CHETRY: Yes, you can occasionally hear the firing of those canisters as riot police try to get this crowd out of the way.
ROMANS: Success in parliament will mean the people on the streets will lose thousands of job, will have huge tax hikes, will have huge pay cuts, will lose services. So success will be something that will be felt very deeply and painfully for them.
VELSHI: We will be covering it all day for you but that will do it for us.
CHETRY: That's right. We'll see you back here bright and early tomorrow. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now. Good morning Kyra.
