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American Morning
Interview with Rep. Peter King; Terror Leader Al-Awlaki Killed; Checks Delayed For Madoff Investors; GM To Add New Air Bag; Al Qaeda Leader Killed in Yemen; Trial of Michael Jackson's Doctor Continues; Major League Baseball Set to Begin Playoffs; New Fee for Using Debit Cards; Anwar al-Awlaki Killed in Air Strike
Aired September 30, 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: Breaking news overnight. I'm Christine Romans. Another key al Qaeda killed. Anwar al Awlaki, the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, is dead.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Some experts saying this is bigger, a bigger killing than Osama bin Laden. I'm Carol Costello. Al Qaeda using a young Internet savvy, English-speaking, extreme American citizen. More on how huge this kill is on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: All right, everyone, good morning. It's Friday. Friday, September 30th. Ali Velshi is off today. Following a lot of breaking news overnight.
COSTELLO: You're not kidding. Let's start with the breaking news that we had overnight. Another key death in the war against al Qaeda. Yemen saying Anwar al Awlaki, the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is dead. Al Awlaki was considered more even dangerous than Osama bin Laden by some experts, since he was a U.S. citizen. He was linked to the accused underwear bomber and the accused Ft. Hood shooter. He was called the Internet bin Laden for his skill of recruiting terrorists online.
ROMANS: We are covering this on every front, digging for details on how they got him and reaction from Washington. Mohammed Jamjoom, Dan Lothian at the White House, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, and CNN national security contributor, Fran Townsend.
First, to Mohammed Jamjoon, covering this live from Istanbul this morning.
Good morning to you.
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. We just got a statement from a Yemeni government official. He says that this is a strong statement to the commitment of the Yemeni government to eliminate the threat emanating from AQAP within its borders.
Also, Yemeni a government official telling me that Anwar al Awlaki was in a convoy of vehicles when an airstrike hits his motorcade, and that's how he was killed.
Now, what -- what remains to be seen at this point is if the U.S. played a role in this. Now, we know a few days after Osama bin Laden was killed, there was a drone strike aimed at killing al-Awlaki in Shabwa province, that was a few months ago. Anwar al-Awlaki narrowly escaped with his life, went back into hiding after that drone strike. That was cooperation between the U.S. and Yemen on that drone strike.
We're trying to find out today if it was indeed a drone strike, the nature of the airstrike and if the U.S. was involved. Those details have yet to emerge at this time.
Back to you.
ROMANS: All right. Mohammed Jamjoom, thank you.
COSTELLO: Congressman Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has released a statement in part saying and I quote, "For the past several years, al-Awlaki has been more dangerous even than Osama bin Laden had been."
Congressman King actually is on the phone right now. He joins us live.
Congressman King, tell us -- how important is this kill?
REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK (via telephone): Absolutely vital. Earlier this year, while bin Laden was still alive, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Mike Leiter, testified before the Homeland Security Committee that Awlaki was significantly more dangerous than bin Laden. That he'd become the leading terrorist in the world, that he was the greatest threat to our country.
The main reason being, he was American. He understood American life, American idiom. He was really involved one way or the other since September 11th. He was actively recruiting, you mentioned the Christmas Day bombing. The Fort Hood attacks. There have been a series of arrest around the country, including this last year in New York, people linked to Awlaki.
He was attempting to link up with al Shabaab in Somalia. So, he was emerging clearly in the al Qaeda world as one of their top leaders. He was actually not even the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but he was the most dynamic leader.
And I can tell you that U.S. intelligence officials were most, most concerned about Awlaki. In fact, my committee, we had a hearing scheduled for later next month on the extent from Awlaki.
ROMANS: You have been briefed for sometime now about efforts to get him. You are the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. I assume you will likely be briefed again on details of this attack later on today perhaps sometime.
Are you assuming this was a drone strike?
KING: I certainly am assuming that U.S. intelligence was involved. It was either a drone attack or a bomb attack. My understanding was at 3:00, 4:00, a convoy.
And, you know, we almost got him several times before. We have been very aggressive in Yemen.
I give President Obama tremendous credit on this. He signed the order basically saying get Awlaki dead or alive, whether or not he was an American citizen. Even though he was American citizen, still, he allowed our people to target him. It was the right decision to make.
And, again, it's significant victory for us and I will urge, I'm sure the administration will do it, is to keep the pressure on before al Qaeda and any of its elements get the chance to reconstitute themselves.
COSTELLO: Yes, we were looking at the FIB most wanted list and there are plenty of people still on that list.
Who is the next target? I mean, who should we be worried about now?
KING: Well, obviously, we're going after Zawahiri. He's number one man in al Qaeda central. But there's any number of others out there. You know, names that aren't always highlighted -- top tier, second tier.
And, again, even though people were killed, al Qaeda is still a threat. Having said that, the more we can diminish them, the more we can keep them on defense and the more we can keep them in hiding, the harder it is for them to reconstitute themselves.
At the same time because of the charismatic following that Awlaki had in this country, we have to be very much on our guard against the revenge killing right now because they will definitely want to avenge this.
COSTELLO: Yes, he was a good recruiting tool for al Qaeda and for extremism. But there are plenty of operational people out there making bombs and teaching people how to make bombs right now, right?
KING: Oh, yes. This threat has metastasized. It's no longer this operating out of Afghanistan. Awlaki was an example of this, but a number of other operatives all over the world, including people in this country who al Qaeda has attempted to recruit. So, no, it's still a massive threat to our country, but it's been diminished. It began during the Bush administration. It's continued in the Obama administration of keeping them on defense, going after them, killing them whenever we can.
COSTELLO: Congressman Peter King, thank you for joining us live. We appreciate it.
KING: Thank you.
ROMANS: Let's bring in Barbara Starr for us live this morning at the Pentagon.
Barbara, are you learning any more from your sources there at the Pentagon about the specifics of this particular attack?
BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what's very interesting this morning, this is right now the story where people aren't talking but you can reasonably deduce a number of clues here. The administration very early on this morning said that Awlaki was dead. What would make the White House, the Pentagon, government agencies around town so certain so early on that, in fact, he was dead unless they knew plenty about it.
It is unlikely this was a sole Yemeni operation. All sources pointing to U.S. intelligence and even potentially U.S. military involvement.
There's three ways they could have gone about this. There could have been some kind of fighter jet overhead, F-16, F-18 dropping a bomb. But that doesn't give you the absolute precision that he's in the car, in the convoy, in the compound and that he is dead.
So, next, a drone strike. Lower altitude, perhaps more precision, more cameras, more reconnaissance equipment. They would be able to know that there might be a convoy moving on the road. He was in it and be able to strike and see that he was dead.
There is a third way these type of operations happen. And that is U.S. Special Forces on helicopters, they have done this in Somalia, moving in, shooting from helicopters against a convoy or a target on the ground.
What we do know is that U.S. forces were in Yemen until at least very recently working with the Yemenis on counterterrorism operations and training -- training is what they publicly call it. We don't know if those U.S. troops are still there, but at this point, our sources are telling us there's no indication that they left in recent days. We're going to keep poking away at this, but it's that initial clue from the administration this morning. How did they know so certainly, so fast that it was Awlaki that had been killed -- Carol.
COSTELLO: The confirmation came within hours, right? Barbara Starr --
STARR: Right, absolutely.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Barbara. We appreciate it.
STARR: The Obama administration authorized the CIA to capture or kill the New Mexico-born Muslim cleric. Authorize that last year. Let's head to Dan Lothian who's live at the White House.
Any word that the president will come out and talk about this?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Not yet. I have reached out to a number of administration officials and they have not yet made any changes to the president's schedule, in terms of telling us that. What I can point out is that the president at 11:00 will be attending a change of office ceremony for the Joint Chiefs that will take place in nearby Virginia.
So, that would be a very good opportunity for the president, either before, during or after those remarks to say something about this killing.
Beyond that, as Barbara pointed out, all signs are pointing to the fact that the U.S. was deeply involved in this operation, but so far, no confirmation at all. If and when we do hear from the president, perhaps the message will be similar to what we heard from Representative Peter King, who you just had on the air in a statement that he released earlier where he said, quote, "that America has to continue being, quote, 'vigilant' knowing there are more Islamic terrorists who will gladly step forward to back fill this dangerous killer."
That we expect will be the message from the administration that while, yes, this is a big get, yes, this is a big day for the U.S. and military, the threat still continues not only in other countries like Afghanistan but also in Yemen against al Qaeda in that region.
COSTELLO: Dan Lothian -- reporting live from the White House -- thank you.
Joining us with more perspective on this, CNN national security contributor, Fran Townsend.
And I'd like to talk about Yemen itself because that is a country in disarray. Its president just returned to the country and now this happens. The government there is very unsettled.
How worried should we be about that?
FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: Well, we should be very worried about Yemen itself because, of course, what we know is al Qaeda benefits from ungoverned or weakly governed territories, whether that's the federally administrated tribal areas in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Mali-Mauritania border -- all these places allow them the real estate they need, if you will, to train and recruit and plan an attack.
And so, the chaos in Yemen is of particular concern, one, because of its proximity to the Straits of Hormuz, that's the area in the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran. We care because of its on Saudi southern border. Sixty-five percent of the world's known oil reserves could be very disruptive if al Qaeda would use Yemen to launch an attack into Saudi.
And so, for a whole bunch of reasons, the United States government and Saudi government prevailed on President Saleh not to return to Yemen, to increase sort of the protest and violence and he chose to do that anyway.
ROMANS: And a reminder that he was out of the country because of an attack on him and his cabinet, essentially, that rendered him burned, I think, 40 percent of his body. He was very injured. He went to Saudi Arabia, and the Saudis and the Americans said, look, don't come back, don't come back. We need stability in this country, trying to figure out what to do.
He came back. Could this be him saying, look, I'm in charge and he helped with the intelligence? Or after all these years, he's finally helping?
COSTELLO: He wants the United States support right now. So, he can keep his presidency in Yemen.
TOWNSEND: Absolutely. Let's remember, just this week, there was an assassination attempt on the Yemeni minister of defense. I mean, this is -- this is completely chaotic and absolutely he's looking for support.
Traditionally, what he was looking for when I was in the White House during the Bush administration were arms and weapons to fight these folks. But he's certain looking for -- at a minimum, political support and probably more than that.
ROMANS: So interesting, too, that this was an American and that the United States government targeted an American on foreign soil. It's war. This is someone who had basically declared war against the United States and was doing a pretty effective job of radicalizing people against our interests.
How important is it his citizenship?
TOWNSEND: Oh, well, look, it took a good deal of sort of both legal work and then leadership and courage on the part of the administration to be willing to target an American. John Brennan, my successor, has said quite clearly in a public speech, we won't let anyone wrap themselves in the flag and protect themselves using their own citizenship when they're trying to attack us.
And so, look, this was a big deal. It also sends a message to others who think that they might be protected by the American citizenship. But that's not the case.
And let's remember, I think when people think of al-Awlaki they think of his relationship with Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter or the Christmas day underwear bomber. But, let's remember, he goes back to 9/11. He was imam to at least if not three of the 9/11 hijackers. This was a very substantial figure.
His information was found in the German apartment of Ramsey bin al-Shibh, the one hijacker who couldn't get in the United States for the 9/11 hijacking. And so, this is a man with long, strong ties to the core of al Qaeda and directly linked to the largest attack against the United States.
COSTELLOI: Fran Townsend, thanks so much. We appreciate it.
We will continue to follow breaking developments on al-Awlaki's death.
Also ahead, hurricane Ophelia getting stronger. So, who's in the danger zone? Rob Marciano is up next.
It's 11 minutes past the hour.
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ROMANS: I love that song.
COSTELLO: I do, too. That's getting me going.
ROMANS: All right. New York City, sunny, 62. It's going to be a little cloudy later. Please don't rain, at 73.
Happy Friday, everybody.
COSTELLO: I know. We had enough rain.
October starting early. The Major League Baseball postseason begins tonight. The American League kicks things off. The Detroit Tigers will battle the Mystique (ph) in a (INAUDIBLE).
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: And it'll be here in Yankees Stadium tonight as they try to knock out the New York Yankees.
And it's the comeback kids, the Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers. Tomorrow is the National League's turn, the Arizona Diamond Backs versus the Milwaukee Brewers. Can you believe Milwaukee is in it? And the St. Louis Cardinals versus the Phillies at 8:40 eastern. A little pregame, I should say.
The "Wall Street Journal" sports columnist, Jason Gay, is here. We'll be talking football, too. The lions, baby.
ROMANS: You get like two hours of sleep during this whole season --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Yes, I do, actually.
ROMANS: I knew you did.
COSTELLO: But can you believe it? It was Nirvana. Tonight, I get to watch the Tigers beat the Yankees, and on Sunday, the Lions will beat the Cowboys.
ROMANS: And Rob, what are you going to wear? What's the bet again when your team loses to Carol's team? What happens? I can't remember what we decided yesterday?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Apparently, I dress in a Boston uniform.
ROMANS: That's right.
MARCIANO: And, Carol, you're going to have to dress up in a Yankee uniform, obviously, if you lose, which is going to happen. Aren't you from Cincinnati or are you originally from --
COSTELLO: No, I'm from Canton, Ohio, where football began, but when the Brown moved to Baltimore, I adopted the Detroit Lions and then I adopted the tigers, and I've been a fan for about 13 years now.
MARCIANO: OK.
COSTELLO: So, that's the story.
MARCIANO: You're a transfer.
COSTELLO: Yes.
MARCIANO: Well, at least, you're not a winner picker.
(LAUGHTER)
MARCIANO: All right, guys. Good morning, again. We are looking for cool fall weather for the incoming fall classic, which won't be for another month, but the wildcard and divisional races and playoffs will feature some cool weather and maybe some showers today as this front pushes off to the east, but I don't think any of it's going to be game-threatening weather.
They may have to intermittently throw the tarp on, potentially. Fifty-nine degrees in Chicago. Winds gusting in the windy city over 30 miles an hour times this morning. Waves at Lake Michigan building over 20 feet in spots. So, this is pretty potent storm that's making its way off towards the east, and the cool down will get its way all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.
Sixty-seven degrees the expected high temperature, high temperature tomorrow in Atlanta overnight lows across the south, and some spots will get down into the 40s, but this will kind of hang around across the northeast, so it's not going to completely clear out over the weekend. There'll be some kind of unsettled weather and showers that will just kind of aggravate you a little bit.
I do want to talk about this briefly, Hurricane Ophelia, now a strong category 2 storm, 105-mile-an-hour winds. It will skim Bermuda, and potentially hit Newfoundland Sunday and to Monday, but nowhere near the U.S. Guys, back out to you.
COSTELLO: All right. Thanks, Rob. Justin Verlander.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Torturing him.
COSTELLO: Check of the early morning markets, next. It's about 18 minutes after the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: And welcome back. It's 21 minutes after the hour. Watching your money this morning.
Bank of America says it will begin charging customers $5 a month to use their debit cards. The move coincides with new government rules limiting how much banks can charge merchants on debit card transactions.
U.S. stock futures are pointing to a lower open on Wall Street this morning. That slide followed declines overseas. Markets there down on concern about the European debt crisis.
This morning, billionaire investor, Warren Buffett, returns to the New York Stock Exchange for the first time in 23 years. He'll be ringing the opening bell to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Business Wire. That's the company own by Berkshire Hathaway.
Victims of Bernie Madoff will have to wait a little longer to recover some of their loss money. The first round of checks were supposed to be mailed today, but a ruling earlier this week against the owners of the Mets cuts the recovery for Madoff victims by an estimated $6 billion.
Many of you now may be a good time to buy a home or, at the very least, consider refinancing. Take a look at your mortgage right now, folks, because fix mortgage rates get their lowest lower level since Freddie Mac began tracking them back in 1970. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaging 4.01 percent this week.
And General Motors is adding a new type of airbag to some of its crossover SUVs next year. The airbag pops up between the front seats. GM says it could help prevent 29 percent of fatalities from side crashes.
Still ahead this morning, a dramatic and frightening rescue caught on tape while a six-year-old boy trips and falls in front of a moving car. How cops and bystanders banded together to save that boy's life. AMERICAN MORNING back right after the break.
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COSTELLO: Twenty-five minutes past the hour. Good morning. A daring rescue captured on camera in Boca Raton, Florida. Eight-year-old Dominic DiRobert (ph) is trapped underneath his grandfather's car. He's rescued by a group of police officers along with a few bystanders. We're joined now by the officers that made that dramatic recovery, Mike Daly, Bruce Sonnenblick, and Ernie Bucinskas. Welcome, officers.
OFC. BRUCE SONNENBLICK, RESCUED TRAPPED CHILD FROM UNDER CAR: Good morning.
OFC. ERNIE BUCINSKAS, RESCUED TRAPPED CHILD FROM UNDER CAR: Good morning. COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Officer Bucinskas, you were first on the scene. So, did it just pop into your head that, you know, what exactly you should do?
BUCINSKAS: No, ma'am. When I arrived on scene, I saw that the boy was under the vehicle. I got down to his level and looked to see where he was kind of pinned underneath the car. He was visibly shaken. He was scared ,and he said he was scared, and he wanted to get out of there. I told him to just be brave, and we'll get him out in just a minute. His leg was pinned in such a way that I knew that we had to lift the car somehow.
So, once I got from underneath the car, I went to the rear of the vehicle and tried to get access to a jack and tried to lift it and was unsuccessful. And when I turned around, I saw Officer Sonnenblick and then Officer Daley responding, and then I knew that we definitely have a shot at getting him. And you know, we were going to be able to do that right away was to lift the vehicle.
ROMANS: Let me bring in Officer Sonnenblick, because one of the issues here when we look at this video, you all seem so amazingly calm, and so, do the bystanders. And when I think that it's a little six-year-old boy, afraid, probably hurt under there. It could have been a chaotic situation and it wasn't. Officer Sonnenblick, what was the little boy saying and what were people doing as this was happening?
SONNENBLICK: The boy wasn't saying much. He was crying and, obviously, in distress. He was trapped under that car, and we just felt like we had to do something. The child was trapped under the car, and the bystanders were looking upon us to try to help them and do what we can to get the kid out from under the car.
ROMANS: We're watching him right now. He's being pulled out. He's been hugged by someone there. You know, he's just a little guy. Just a little guy. You know, Officer Daily, how did he get stuck? What was exactly happening there? His arm or his leg was stuck between the wheel well and the tire? What was happening?
OFC. MIKE DALY, RESCUED TRAPPED CHILD FROM UNDER CAR: Yes. From what Officer Bucinskas saw was his leg was pinned up underneath within the wheel well and the engine compartment. Officer Bucinskas re-laid to us. When we got there, we only need about three inches or so in order to elevate the car.
So, that's when we immediately, all three of us, didn't even have to say, let's lift it. We just went right up to the wheel well and, you know, just gave it a big tug.
COSTELLO: So, I was just going to ask Officer Bucinskas, I mean, this is a heavy vehicle, obviously. I mean, where did you guys get that super human strength, all of a sudden?
BUCINSKAS: Super human strength at all. I think just the collective group, you know, total team effort. We just, you know, like Officer Daly said and Officer Sonnenblick said before, you know, it's just, we didn't have to say anything. We just knew that we had to get to it and just lift that car. Like he said, it didn't have be super high, maybe three inches or so, you know, that would be enough just to free him and we accomplished that. So, we're grateful.
ROMANS: Officer Bucinskas, how did he -- he tripped, he got out of the car and he tripped and then the car was going and then he fell under, is that how he got under there?
BUCINSKAS: Essentially, yes, ma'am. That's the way it happened.
ROMANS: Do you guys have kids?
BUCINSKAS: Yes. I have a seven-year-old little boy, Wyatt. He's home at school right now. And he reminded me of my son because he's standing like Dominic and dark hair and right away a flash of my own son.
COSTELLO: So, final question for you, guys. You know how the little boy is doing right now? Officer Daly, maybe you can answer that question.
DALY: Yes, he's doing fine. He's still in the hospital in the intensive care unit. They were able to reattach his ear, which was severed in the crash, and he is recovering nicely up at the intensive care unit at the Downey Medical Center. He is going to have some recovery time, but they do expect him to have a full recovery.
COSTELLO: Well, thank you so much for joining us this morning with such an inspiring story. We're glad that little boy is going to be fine. Thank you. Thanks to all of you.
Top stories, including we're going to update that breaking news for you this morning. We're now hearing from a Yemeni official that an air strike killed Anwar al Awlaki, the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. But the official would not say who instigated the attack, who actually carried out the attack. Of course this is a huge blow to Al Qaeda. Al Awlaki's sermons on the web may have even inspired the accused Ft. Hood shooter and the suspected underwear bomber. Nic Robertson will join us live with more details in just a moment.
ROMANS: Other top stories this morning, closing arguments in the Amanda Knox murder appeal trial continue today in Italy. We're also getting some never-before-seen pictures, a look at her life behind bars. Out Matthew Chance obtained these photos from a local rock band that played a few gigs at her prison that show her dancing. Knox of course is a college student from Seattle convicted of the gruesome murder of her college housemate back in Italy.
COSTELLO: Two men charged with the brutal beating of a San Francisco Giants fan are due back in court today. And 29-year-old Louis Sanchez and 30-year-old Marvin Norwood have pleaded not guilty. Bryan Stow was attacked outside dodger stadium back in march. He was beaten to a coma. His family says Stow continues to make significant improvements and was actually able to go outside last week for the first time.
ROMANS: and jurors will hear more testimony today against the doctor accused of causing Michael Jackson's death. Jackson's bodyguard Alberto Alvarez said he called 911 on the day Jackson died, but Conrad Murray made a stunning request first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBERTO ALVAREZ, MICHAEL JACKSON'S DIRECTOR OF LOGISTICS: I was standing at the foot of the bed. He reached over and grabbed a handful of vials, and then he reached out to me and said, here, put these in a bag.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So prosecutors contend that Dr. Murray was trying to cover up his actions. He's charged with involuntary manslaughter.
COSTELLO: Back to our breaking news now. Anwar al Awlaki, the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has been killed. He was looked at as the leader of the next generation of terrorists and was different because he was born here in the United States.
Nic Robertson has more on who this man is. He joins us live from London. Good morning, Nic.
ROBERTSON: Good morning, Carol. Well, the fact that Yemeni officials say that he was killed by an airstrike but won't say who was behind the airstrike perhaps not surprising. A politically sensitive issue for the Yemeni government right now if the United States were known to be the ones behind the attack, because it would certainly set -- certainly set more of this civil war that is going against the government in Yemen, set more of that at an impassionate level, if you will.
But Awlaki himself, charismatic, spoke English, could reach out, had a strong Internet following and could reach out to people in English and in Arabic, young people in particularly. I spoke to some of them in London just last year, they told me that they considered Awlaki as important as Osama bin Laden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Anwar al Awlaki, the radical Yemen-based preacher seen here online. His followers say he's like Osama bin Laden.
ABU MUWAZ, HEAD SALAFI YOUTH MOVEMENT: He reminds me of Osama bin Laden and also Ayman Zawahiri in terms of his soft- spoken, and at the same time the knowledge that they have, the foundations that they have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hand me over your scrolls.
ROBERTSON: This is the same Anwar al Awlaki who exchanged e-mails with Major Nidal Hasan, accused of killing 13 people at Ft. Hood. After the killings Awlaki praised Hasan on his website calling him a hero.
Why Awlaki is so influential is a combination of birth and upbringing. He was born in the United States. His father was a minister in the Yemeni government. He is smart and privilege. He preached in Imam Johari Malik's mosque in Virginia. He doesn't agree with Awlaki's extreme views and denounces the killings at Ft. Hood. But it was here at Malik's mosque that Awlaki met Major Hasan as well as two of the 9/11 bombers.
The 9/11 Commission reports even before this he was on the FBI's radar. According to the commission by the time we sought to interview him in 2003 he had left the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: Of course, incredibly critically, not just to get this man who is so charismatic because he, a, can recruit a lot of people and attract a lot of funds, but there is a civil war going on in Yemen. And Al Qaeda controls now, according to the vice president, three provinces in that country, which gives them the territory to plan and train and prepare for more attacks against the United States. Yemen, of course, being behind the last two principal attacks against the United States, Carol.
ROMANS: Christine here. Interesting in his biography, he was picked up a couple times in, I think, 1996 and 1997 for soliciting prostitutes in San Diego. He has kind of a complicated personal history as you try to comb through it and find out what made this guy tick and just how pious was he.
ROBERTSON: It's clear that he wasn't that pious, particularly in the beginning. We've seen this with other radicals. They've sort of been drinkers and they had womanizing episodes in their lives, even been involved in drugs. And suddenly they want to put all that behind them, become holier than thou, get more and more religious.
And Awlaki had fallen in that category. At one point he was picked up for soliciting hookers. There are some questions about what law enforcement officers may or may not have said to him during that period, but it was after that that he became more and more radicalized through the 2000s, becoming extremely radical in the end.
When he was here in Britain, he wasn't standing up in mosques and espousing people go out and commit terrorist actions as he was in 2009, 2010 in Yemen. So this is a process that he's gone through. But there were clear turning points, and this notion of somebody sort of transgressing and getting involved in women in his case or alcohol or drugs and then turning to hardcore religion, this perhaps is not so abnormal as some of the real radical Al Qaeda adherents.
COSTELLO: As for how he was killed, Nic, we are getting more information. We understand his motorcade was hit by some kind of air strike. Do you know anything more? ROBERTSON: We don't have more details. We know that his motorcades have been tracked before. A drone strike narrowly missed him in May. The indications are -- this was a U.S. drone strike back then. The indications are that he was tracked for a while. Certainly, we're asking questions.
The Saudis were very important in giving a key piece of intelligence, tip off information about the bombs that were made in Yemen and exported on flights to the United States about this time last year. Could there have been an intelligence asset on the ground that has passed along information specifically about when Awlaki was to get into an aircraft? Certainly drone aircraft loitering for hours and hours and hours over a potential target, just waiting to make that identifying image, if you will, of somebody getting in the vehicle. The drone would be the ideal platform to have waited, loitered until they picked up al Awlaki coming out of a certain building. And there would have been some predictability about Awlaki's movements on a Friday. He was in imam, Friday is the day of prayer. Perhaps they have some information about where he was going to go preach this day.
ROMANS: Nic Robertson reporting live from London, thanks.
It's 38 minutes after the hour.
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COSTELLO: Good morning, Detroit, Michigan. Could it be a better day? The weather doesn't matter. So, it's mostly cloudy and 54 degrees and going to rain later. Who cares? The Detroit Tigers play the New York Yankees today and then, of course, the Lions play this weekend. I'm sure they'll take the Dallas Cowboys.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
The Major League Baseball season, let's start with the post-season, shall we? It begins tonight after one of the most thrilling days of the regular season ever. The Tampa Bay Rays, the Texas Rangers, and my tigers go face-to-face in the Bronx to face the New York Yankees.
And what about football? The Buffalo Bills and my Lions, three and zero.
Joining us now for a little pregame sports columnist from "Wall Street Journal" Jason Gay. Welcome, Jason.
JASON GAY, SPORTS COLUMNIST, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: It was such an exciting weekend. Let's start with the Rays and Rangers because the Rays just had an amazing end of the season.
GAY: Incredible. I mean, I think people are still recovering from Wednesday night, probably the craziest night in Major League Baseball history. Four teams competing for playoff spots. Red Sox and the Rays, that flurry at the end, the red sox losing in Baltimore -- shocking, shocking.
COSTELLO: It was shocking but sometimes when a team has a hot streak like that, they kind of pitter out in the playoffs. Let's face it, the Texas Rangers are good.
GAY: Truthfully, I think the Rangers are a little more scared of the Rays than they would be of the Red Sox. The Rays, here's a team that has had a huge hot streak and firing away. I don't know if they want to play them as much as they wanted to play Boston.
COSTELLO: We'll see.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about the Detroit Tigers, because I can't wait to talk about the Detroit Tigers. When they clinched their division, Jim Leyland, the manager of the Tigers, was so emotional. Let's play a bit of what he said after that game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM LEYLAND, DETROIT TIGERS MANAGER: It's tough times for people in Detroit, we know that. And, believe me, it's not something that we don't think about, because we do. I come from a big family. My dad was a factory worker. I know all about stuff like that, worrying about getting laid off. I have a great appreciation for that, and it means so much to me.
But I think during times like this, a sports team can uplift your spirits, and I hoped we lifted the spirits of the fans in Detroit, because they deserve it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It makes me cry. I mean, he's very emotional. I know Detroit is a little sick of everybody feeling sorry for it, but I think that, you know, that the Tigers have uplifted the city. I think every game has sold out for them this season.
GAY: Detroit has been a fantastic story in baseball and also now in football. The Tigers, you know, very hot teams going in to play New York. Justin Verlander, no team in baseball wants a piece of Justin Verlander right now. Very tough series for the Yankees.
COSTELLO: Very tough. Just a bit more about Justin Verlander because he had this amazing season. He could actually win the Cy Young and most valuable player.
GAY: Yes, it's an -- it's a regular debate whenever this happens when you have a superstar pitcher like Verlander, do they deserve both consideration for best pitching. I mean, he is a lock to win the CY Young that will be a unanimous vote.
But is he also worthy of consideration for Major League Baseball? Some folks feel we should only give that to position players, the hitters, people in the line-up every day. But Verlander is going to get a lot of votes.
COSTELLO: Yes I think so, and I can't wait to hear what it takes if he faces CC Sabathia tonight.
GAY: That's right. That's right.
COSTELLO: So that should be a great matchup and a great game. I'm sorry Yankees fan, I'm hoping the Tigers win.
Let's turn our attention to football now. Because you wrote quite an enjoyable column in the "Wall Street Journal" saying, that it will be the Bills and the Lions in the Super Bowl.
GAY: You know, this is an incredible circumstance. The Bills and the Lions are both 3-0. The Lions have not been 3-0 since 1980. Ok, Matthew Stafford, the quarterback wasn't born the last time the -- the Lions were in this position.
You know both of these teams are quality teams. This is not just some sort of flight of fancy, some joke. The Bills, of course, an unbelievable upset win on the Patriots last week. The Lions 3-0, going now to play a huge game in Dallas on Sunday. It could be 4-0 for the first time since 1980. I mean, this is a remarkable turn of events for this franchise.
COSTELLO: Well, but couldn't it be that in the case of both teams that their weaknesses have not been exposed because in the game last week with the Lions in the first half of that game, they looked pathetic.
GAY: Well, both of them are kind of living on the edge. I mean, the Lions had to come back from a 20-point first half deficit against Minnesota. The Bills, of course, came back with 21 points against the Patriots. They're not going to be able to do that week in, week out. I think you're entering a critical part of the schedule, especially the Lions. You've got the Cowboys, you've got the Bears coming up after that.
If they can sail through that, I think you're really looking at a quality playoff team.
COSTELLO: Well, I think it's -- I just think it's fun to root for different teams. It's not the same old teams winning every week.
So --
(CROSSTALK)
GAY: I -- I agree. I think it's great. I mean for most Americans, we're used to watching the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: And complaining about it.
GAY: Yes, now we're watching them in October, what's not to like?
COSTELLO: I know, Jason Gay, thank you so much for joining us. Jason Gay from the "Wall Street Journal."
"Morning Headlines" coming your way, next. It's 46 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Forty-nine minutes after the hour. Here are your morning headlines.
Word of the biggest blow to al Qaeda since Osama bin Laden. Yemen now saying Anwar al Awlaki, the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was killed in an air strike on his motorcade. The official wouldn't say who carried out that attack. But al Awlaki is dead.
We could be in for a lower opening on Wall Street. Right now U.S. stock futures are trading lower as investors remain focused on the debt crisis in Europe.
Some of the first responders who rushed to Michael Jackson's home on the day he died, they will testify today. They're expected to tell jurors they asked Dr. Conrad Murray if Jackson was taking any drugs, but he never told them about Propofol which caused the pop star's death.
Hurricane Ophelia gaining strength in the Atlantic this morning. Right now, it's sitting hundreds of miles southeast of Bermuda. Ophelia isn't expected to move towards the United States.
Florida is now expected to move up its presidential primary to the last day in January 2012. A decision on that, likely coming as early as today. It's a move that could throw the entire Republican nominating calendar into a frenzy.
That's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning, New York City. It's sunny and 65 degrees and of course, it will turn partly cloudy and dark tonight after the Tigers -- I know, I'll get off it now. I promise.
Welcome back, Americans, well, they're feeling pretty grim about the economy these days. According to a brand-new CNN/ORC poll just 10 percent of Americans say economic conditions today are good; 90 percent say they stink.
ROMANS: And just this summer, 81 percent said that the economy stunk. So you can see people are thinking it stinkier.
That number may rise. Bank of America says it will begin charging customers $5 a month to use their debit cards and a lot of customers are outraged this morning. But guess what, it's not the only bank instituting new debit card fees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS (voice-over): $5 a month, that's how much it will cost Bank of America customers to make purchases with their debit cards. It's set to take effect in 2012 and customers are already voicing their displeasure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not too psyched about it and that's why I'm switching.
ROMANS: The fee will not apply if you only use your debit cards at ATMs or have a premium account with a high minimum balance.
Why the new fees? A Bank of America spokeswoman says quote, "The economics of offering a debit card have changed with recent regulations."
The regulation they're referring to is the Durbin Amendment. It goes into effect on Saturday and it reduces the amount of money banks charge merchants every time a debit card is used to make a purchase. It'll drop from 44 cents to between 21 cents and 24 cents.
Now, that difference may seem like pennies, but it's expected to cost banks $6.6 billion in revenue per year, according to Javlin Strategy and Research.
And B of A isn't the only bank making changes, Chase and Wells Fargo are testing $3 monthly debit card fees in select markets. SunTrust started charging a $5 debit card fee on basic accounts this summer. And Regents Financials is expected to roll out a $4 fee on debit cards next month.
With the latest regulation, along with legislation from Congress last year, shutting down the bank's fee machine of overdraft charges, financial institutions are finding new ways to generate income. But all these new fees are leaving customers jaded.
ALLISON JOSEPH, BANK CUSTOMER: It is a matter of very -- very little time before they send you a notice that they're tacking on a fee in another way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Bank of America is the biggest bank in the country and has big influence on what other banks do. If this debit card fee works, we can probably expect to see other banks following suit. And as I just reported to you many banks are testing it in select markets to see if customers will do a $3 a month or a $5 a month debit card fee and not switch banks.
COSTELLO: So give us that Web site again, if we don't want to pay these fees. There are other options. ROMANS: There -- well, first of all, you're going to get a 30-day notice. By law they have to give you a 30-day notice. If you just use your ATM card and you don't use debit purchases, you will not get this fee. You can go to BankRate.com though and you can test -- take a look at fees and interest rates and also links to credit unions and the like where you can see, you know, other banks and what their -- what their strategies and --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: So this is really forcing people to use their credit cards, again.
ROMANS: It is, you know, credit cards are also adding on monthly payments and they're taking away your rewards plans and the like.
So look, I mean we've been telling you for a year that this was going to happen right? And it's happening, exactly what -- exactly what it looked like. It's going to cost you more to use your own money.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Yes but now the cold water has been thrown on our face.
ROMANS: I know, it's going to cost you more to use your own money. So you have to be very careful to make sure you don't -- you don't incur these fees.
COSTELLO: It's going to cost you more to use your own money.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: That's right, that's right.
COSTELLO: Nothing makes sense in this country anymore.
ROMANS: That's right, Carol.
COSTELLO: Its six minutes until the top of the hour.
New information on the breaking news we've been following all morning. The man believed to be al Qaeda's number one in the -- in the Arabian Peninsula is now dead. How they got him. That's coming your way, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: That breaking news is the death of Anwar Al Awlaki the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. A Yemeni government official telling CNN it was a quote, "successful joint intelligence sharing operation between Yemen and the United States." Al Awlaki was considered even more dangerous than Osama bin Laden by some experts because he was a U.S. citizen. Al Awlaki was linked to the accused underwear bomber and the accused Fort Hood shooter.
COSTELLO: Yes. Al Awlaki was called the Internet bin Laden because of his skill for recruiting terrorists online. So let's turn, once more, again, to CNN national security contributor, Fran Townsend.
We're getting a little more information about how this went down. It was a joint operation between Yemen and the United States. We understand that his motorcade was hit by an air strike. So --
FRANCES TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: So you know, given that, I think what you're going to see over the coming hours is joint -- is going to have a very heavy American hand in it. No question. We knew that the Americans took an attempted strike, drone strike about, you know, a couple months ago. It missed. It makes perfect sense.
You know, there was also in the early going after 9/11, there was another al Qaeda member in Yemen. The U.S. took a drone strike and acknowledged it later. I think you're going to find over time it's just hard getting officials to confirm it yet that this is a pretty serious American hand.
The U.S. has worked intelligence and military very closely, but the Yemeni services and Americans have the capability. So, we did it. We did it in cooperation with them and the fact that they get credit for making it joint. For permitting U.S. action and working cooperatively.
ROMANS: Fran Townsend, thanks for being with us this morning and walking us through all this. A big morning for breaking news.
TOWNSEND: Yes.
COSTELLO: Yes. It was very helpful. Thank you so much.
TOWNSEND: Good to be with you.
COSTELLO: We're going to throw it to Atlanta now. Kyra Phillips, take it away.
