Return to Transcripts main page
Piers Morgan Live
North Korea Nuke Threat; Traveling to Parts Unknown
Aired April 11, 2013 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: Tonight, he left his heart in San Francisco and he ate the still beating heart of a cobra.
This is PIERS MORGAN LIVE. I want to welcome my studio audience and all of you at home. We're taking your questions and comments. Tweet us @piersmorganlive. We also got some very special guests in the green room right now. Team Tony. Tony Bennett and Tony Bourdain. They'll be coming out in a few moments.
We also got a White House warning and a day of confusion on North Korea's nuclear capability. But we begin with breaking news. A powerful and deadly storms ripping across the Midwest and the south. A tornado killed one person and injured more in Mississippi today. Forecasters say the same could batter Alabama, Georgia and parts of Florida.
Chad Myers is in the CNN Severe Weather Center with all the latest.
Chad, tell me what's happening.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: So many lightning strikes, Piers, in the past hour, it's covering up, those lightning strikes are covering up the radar. Hard to see what's going on. Tens of thousands of strikes from cloud to ground. Weather moving into Atlanta, moving into Montgomery, and this all across the southeast will play out tonight.
The problem is now it's dark and you're going to sleep. You need a NOAA weather radio on tonight if you have one. If you don't, go out and buy one tomorrow.
You have to think about this, Piers. We should have had over 90 tornadoes in March. We had 17. There wasn't a spring in March. Now we're making up for that. The weather is warm, the weather, the hot and the cold makes this, this was at least in my opinion from this view, a half a mile wide tornado, probably somewhere around 140 or 150 miles per hour at its core, knocking things down for miles. Probably 30 or 40 miles.
Tomorrow the weather service will go out there and confirm that that was a tornado, but you don't even have to be a weatherman to figure that out. Right now on the ground from Mississippi, crossing the border into Alabama, one man was killed in Pickens County. I can't really believe only one killed in that size of a storm. The reason that was is because there were plenty of warnings and it was in a very rural area.
If that storm rolled through this metro area, any kind of a city, there would have been a lot more fatalities than that -- Piers.
MORGAN: Chad, thanks very much.
Warning time for all those in the area, please be safe. And obviously if there are any developments through this live hour, we'll bring you up to speed with them.
I want to turn now to more serious breaking news. A day of confusion on just how bad the nuclear threat is from North Korea. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency says Kim Jong-Un may have nuclear weapons that can be delivered by ballistic missiles. An administration official tells CNN they don't believe that North Korea has tested the weapons and they're not fully developed.
CNN's Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon and Kyung Lah is in South Korea.
Barbara, a day of confusion and mixed messages. What do we think we know and what don't we know?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Piers, this is very serious business. For the Pentagon, the biggest problem is they don't really have specific intelligence about what's going on inside North Korea, no assets on the ground, no personnel. They can only make assumptions and they are essentially assuming the worst-case scenario. That from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Here's where we stand tonight. The Defense Intelligence Agency says that North Korea has nuclear weapons it can put on top of ballistic missiles and deliver those to a target, not very reliable but small comfort, I suppose. Still the assessment is they can do it.
The Pentagon issued a statement saying they hadn't fully test -- the North Koreans hadn't fully tested and developed such technology but nobody, Piers, is denying that that is exactly what they're working on and that is exactly what the North Korean regime is after -- Piers.
MORGAN: Kyung Lah, this is clearly a very disturbing development, and particularly I would imagine for the people of South Korea. What's been the reaction to this there?
KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's disturbing because we're talking about delivery of these weapons, Piers, and that's really been what's at issue here for South Koreans. We know that the North Koreans have had nuclear weapons, about four to eight of them already in their possession, but it's how do you deliver it to South Korea, how do you deliver it to other countries in the region, and so what this is is it sort of underscores that they're a little further on that delivery. That's what's concerning here.
But what's also concerning is that South Koreans look at the long-term game. They've lived with this threat for some time. They believe that North Korea wouldn't actually send out these weapons because it would be in effect regime suicide. The long-term gain for South Koreans is they also want nuclear weapons. There's a growing consensus among the South Korean public, polls show 60, 70 percent of South Koreans now want nuclear weapons and the game here, Piers, is whether or not that's going to mean a regional arms race.
MORGAN: And, Barbara Starr, we heard about this in the most bizarre way imaginable, where it sort of came out today. It seemed to surprise everyone from the White House to everyone here and everyone in America. How did that happen and why did it happen like that?
STARR: Yes. Bizarre, to say the least. Only the Pentagon some days can bring you this kind of thing. You know, there was an open hearing on Capitol Hill. The secretary of defense, the chairman, testifying and a congressman from Colorado suddenly decided to read this statement, which was at the time unclassified from the Defense Intelligence Agency, saying that North Korea had this capability, and he asked the chairman of the Joint Chiefs all about it.
General Dempsey sort of was taken aback. He well knew about the study, but thought it was fully classified. Well, Piers, at the end of the day, what it turns out is somehow, which nobody can explain, this very critical piece of information was not marked classified for the congressman. The DIA tonight is trying to figure out how they could have screwed up so bad.
MORGAN: Seems quite extraordinary. Anyway, Barbara, thank you very much. And thank you, Kyung in South Korea.
And I want to bring in a retired general, Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied commander, and Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Let me start with you, if I may, Bill Richardson. It seems like a comedy of errors if it wasn't so serious about how this information's come out at one of the single most important new pieces of information about North Korea and it sort of comes out by accident.
BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Well, it is unfortunate and, for instance, I study this issue extensively and I'm not sure that information is correct. The problem is nobody knows because we don't have any hard intelligence there.
What is troublesome is this, Piers, that it seems that the new North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, is playing to different audiences now. His main audience is the North Korean military, which really runs the country, which has the most power. I think he's trying to strengthen himself with them. And secondly, he's sending a message to the international community that North Korea's a major nuclear power, and you have to deal with us, and we may be asking you for something if you want us to stop this effort.
That's what's disturbing. And the danger is always an altercation with South Korea, a skirmish in the yellow sea, shots fired in the borders. But it's still very alarming. But this information that came out, I'm not sure it's that conclusive. MORGAN: General Clark, how worried should we be, you think, right now about what's happening in North Korea?
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Well, I think there's always a chance that you could have a spark, an accident, a miscalculation, an overzealous commander on one side or the other that starts something that neither side can really stop easily and gets out of control. And that's always been the fear on the Korean peninsula. This rhetoric heightens the tension a lot. And the more that it's stoked, the greater the likelihood that there is someone out there who could miscalculate. Either on the South or on the North.
So we would be worried about that. But I think that the commanders there and the public and our policy makers in Washington, this is -- this is a very familiar scenario. I know it's shocking now, because of the new -- because you've got a new person over there, but this has been going on for a long, long time.
Every time we run team spirit war games in Korea, there's a reaction from the North. And there's a strategic play in this, which is to raise the tension and then blame it on the presence of the Americans and the American alliances in there. So I'm not sure exactly who's behind all of this. It's a really clever play and I know whose interest it serves.
MORGAN: Governor Richardson, I mean, should the Chinese be taking a more direct role now in trying to calm things down?
RICHARDSON: I don't believe the Chinese are doing as much as they could and they're sending mixed messages. On the one hand, they were more helpful to the United States and Security Council members in tightening sanctions after the North Koreans launched missiles and had that underground nuclear test. They're very, very tough sanctions. The North Koreans were very upset at the Chinese for doing that.
The Chinese have since then backed off. They came out saying we're very concerned about the military exercises between the U.S. and the South. The point is, China is a key player. They have leverage over North Korea. They provide food, energy resources, funds, investment, and they can do a lot more than they're doing.
Why they're not doing it, I think there are two reasons. One is they don't want an implosion there that would send thousands of North Korean refugees into China. And then secondly, the strategic competition with the United States. Why should they help us? They may want a little bit of a state of tension on the peninsula.
MORGAN: Right. I mean, General Clark, I saw you nodding there.
CLARK: Right.
MORGAN: You've got 30,000 American troops up there.
(CROSSTALK)
CLARK: We're playing Chinese checkers here.
MORGAN: Right.
CLARK: You know the game where you have a lot of marbles, it's not chess. You don't take the knight and jump to another square. You sort of move the marbles. The Chinese's long-term vision is that they're the dominant power in Asia. They see no reason for the United States to be there and it makes them a little uncomfortable. They certainly don't want an implosion in the north that would bring a U.S. allied South Korea up to their border.
In the long term, they don't want the U.S. there. They probably want Okinawa back. It used to belong to China a couple of hundred years ago. And they want us out of the other areas around the South China Sea. Don't want our ships there. Don't see any reason for it. And so these kinds of provocations by the North actually serve China's interests.
I'm not saying they're not ambivalent. They don't want an explosion that would disrupt their economic growth. But insofar as they can point out the U.S. presence is contributing to raising tensions, it's leverage against the United States. And insofar as it upsets the South Korean public, it undercuts the alliance between the United States and South Korea and that works to China's interests in the long term.
MORGAN: Let's take a short break. I want to bring out Nick Kristof after. And gentlemen, please stay with me as well. I want to find out what's going on inside the most isolated country on the planet, North Korea, and what we really know about its new leader.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: More now on our big news tonight, the growing threat from North Korea. Still don't know exactly what Kim Jong-Un is planning. And today, President Obama warned North Korea to stop.
Joining me now is a man who's traveled extensively in North Korea, the "New York Times" Nick Kristof. And I'm still retired General Wesley Clark and Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Nick Kristof, you've been to North Korea a few times. What do you think is the mood of the people there? I mean, are they supportive of their people when this kind of thing happens?
NICHOLAS KRISTOF, COLUMNIST, NEW YORK TIMES: Well, I mean, you think that here is this incredibly totalitarian and brutal country. Most totalitarian country in the history of the world, perhaps, and people would be outraged by it. In fact, the brainwashing is every bit as good, I think, as the controls and people have no other source of information. A radio in North Korea does not have a dial. It has fixed locations so you can't choose anything but local information.
And I'm struck that when I talk to defectors, they say that yes, they hate the regime, they would like to see it be toppled but their family back in Pyongyang or back around the country, they still believe in the leadership. So I think that it's a mistake to think that just because it's incredibly brutal that people necessarily are against it.
MORGAN: Let's take a question from the audience. This is from Megan, a question for the panel. I may go to Bill Richardson with this, actually. So ask the question.
MEGAN, AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hi. My question is about North Korea and I just wanted to know since you've been there, what is daily life there like and what do they think about America and Americans?
MORGAN: OK. Let me -- the first part of it I'm going to put to Nick about daily life, and then Bill, I'll come to you about the American perception.
Nick, what is daily life like in North Korea?
KRISTOF: Well, I mean, a lot of it, of course, is hunt for food, for things like this, and -- but the thing that really struck me the most, Megan, when I kind of randomly walked into homes and there's always a bit of a stir, this American, you know, wanting to see a home. But I found on every home that there was this speaker on the wall and what is a speaker doing on the wall? This is the -- it wakes you up in the morning with propaganda. It puts you to bed at night and every home in the country essentially has that speaker.
MORGAN: Did you find it soothing or not?
KRISTOF: I sure --
(LAUGHTER)
Most of all no (INAUDIBLE) to it. And you know, this is just, people have this hostility toward America, just bred into them. The axes that were used in the 1976 axes incident in which two American soldiers were killed, those axes are in a museum that you go through. The Pueblo, which was seized from the U.S., is right in the capital and you tour, it has become kind of an anti-American museum, too. And I think people kind of absorb this.
MORGAN: Let me go to Bill Richardson. Bill, you've been to North Korea. Did you sense an extreme anti-Americanism?
RICHARDSON: No, I really don't. And I -- last time I was there in January, I was there with Eric Schmidt of Google, the CEO. He was preaching the Internet, he had his computer there. The North Koreans, the government, the students, software engineers, university, they were fascinated with that. And they wanted to know more about it. They knew it was American technology.
When you travel in North Korea, I've been there eight times, you're very tightly controlled and you're only talking to your handlers and high officials. But I have been able to get out into the subways, into some of the rural areas, and there is no dislike of America. There is no hostility. There is, however, a blind loyalty to the cult of personality, to the deity, to Kim Jong-Un, to Kim Jong- Il, to Kim Il-Sung, the founder of North Korea, and whatever they say goes. And so there's this mixed message. I don't believe there's this hatred of America by the North Korean people.
MORGAN: General Clark, you were saying in the break that you actually were personally involved in a previous North Korean crisis. Tell me about that and tell me, is it always the same, is it always the same pattern?
CLARK: Well, I can say they broke out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. They had a nuclear reactor and under the International Atomic Energy Agency, you're supposed to allow your spent uranium fuel to be inspected because you're not allowed to reprocess it and enrich it. But they would not allow the inspection. This was like 1993.
And we moved right toward a crisis. And we threatened to go to the United Nations then, the United States did, and the North said, at that time it was Kim Il-Sung, and he said, you know, this -- if you bring sanctions against us, this is an act of war. We did the war briefings at the White House, we were prepared, and then President Clinton sit in, President Jimmy Carter, there was an agreement that we would provide two nuclear reactors.
They'd take that nuclear reactor out of commission and in the meantime we'd provide them with heavy fuel oil. And so this was the framework agreement that Ambassador Bob Galucci was the ambassador who negotiated this for us. And at the time, we thought we had avoided conflict.
Well, what happened is of course they continued to work. They have -- instead of using plutonium, they started working on enrichment of uranium. Then they abrogated the framework agreement, still asking for help, and then this bubbled up again in the early part of the Bush administration.
And at this point, the Bush administration was focused on the Middle East. There were some who really wanted to go to war with Iraq and were pushing us that way inside the administration. So this was a really inconvenient truth to come out. And somehow, we didn't deal with it. And of course, now the consequences are in 1994, we thought god, we can't possibly have a nuclear armed North Korea and now 19 years later, we have a nuclear armed North Korea.
MORGAN: I mean, Nick, you know, it's a -- it's a sorry pattern and it's led to exactly what General Clark has said it has led. And what now? What do you think is going to happen in the next few weeks?
KRISTOF: My best guess is that North Korea is throwing a tantrum, it's trying to get international attention. It's -- this is one thing it can do, that it's trying to parlay the threat and international concern into some kind of a deal a little bit like the 1994 one so that it would get some kind of support.
And so I think that we're probably fussing unnecessarily but I also think there is some chance that I am wrong and that this could be, you know, could indeed in the worst case set off a war. It is just the most bizarre -- it's kind of impossible to convey just what a bizarre country it is and how little we understand.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: Well, I've to see Wolf Blitzer's special on it last year and it was really weird, it's a weird place, weird leadership, unpredictable. Now we have this young guy at the helm of all this weirdness and it is unpredictable.
KRISTOF: Just the wackiest story of all that always resonates with me is one time, Kim Jong-Il, his bodyguard brought home to his wife stories about how leader is drinking, womanizing. The woman, the wife believed in the system so she wrote a letter to the party center saying Kim Jong-Il has to correct himself, Kim Jong-Il held an event with all these people, including that bodyguard, brought -- had the woman brought in, denounced her as a traitor and invited her husband to execute her in front of everybody, and he did.
MORGAN: Yes. That was --
(CROSSTALK)
CLARK: But, you know, Piers, when you say it's unpredictable, it's unpredictable and bizarre at the human level, but if you look at the regime's interests and how they pursue those interests.
MORGAN: Right.
CLARK: It's been very consistent and very predictable over time.
MORGAN: Yes. It's a political game. Yes.
CLARK: Absolutely.
MORGAN: Thank you all very much indeed. Nick Kristof and General Clark, and to Governor Richardson, I appreciate it very much.
Coming up next, a couple of Tonys here with me to lighten the load of the evening. Maybe you recognize them. The great Tony Bennett and the great Tony Bourdain. Both joining me coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY BOURDAIN, HOST, CNN'S "PARTS UNKNOWN": Check this out. OK. It's a Ferris Wheel but the power source not unusual for these parts. It's not electric. It ain't gas. Oh, man, are you kidding me? It's human power. You have to see it to believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: A human powered Ferris wheel, just one stop for Anthony Bourdain. His new CNN show, "PARTS UNKNOWN," which premieres this Sunday. This week he heads to Myanmar just in time for Full Moon Day, a holiday celebrating the end of the rainy season with a street fair packed with food you wouldn't find anywhere else.
And Anthony Bourdain joins me now.
Welcome to you, sir.
BOURDAIN: Thank you.
MORGAN: Cracking party last night to welcome you to the CNN fold.
BOURDAIN: Thank you.
MORGAN: And I'm excited about this show because it's going to bring America to some very unusual places here. You do a lot of traveling. Americans don't traditionally do a lot of traveling, do they?
BOURDAIN: Relative to a lot of other first world countries, we are low on passport holders and we don't travel as much as I think we should.
MORGAN: The figures are quite staggering. Of the 311 million citizens in the United States, 30 percent have passports compared to 60 percent in Canada, 75 percent in Britain, for example. Why is it, do you think?
BOURDAIN: I don't know. I mean, we were all of us brought up to think we live in the best place on earth. We are well off. We are reasonably comfortable. And I think fear. I think a lot of people from what I've heard are just wary of going to an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar customs where one might be called upon to eat unfamiliar food. Surprising, but I guess that's the way it is.
MORGAN: We've got a question from the audience, from Mazin, who actually is on a similar theme with a few explanations for why more Americans don't travel abroad.
MAZIN, AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thanks, Piers. Hi, Anthony. I was actually looking for some advice. I think many young Americans are looking to go abroad and expand their horizons and experience new culture, but we also have the trouble of growing student debt and a tough job market here at home. So I'm actually wondering if you have some practical tips for somebody who is looking to go ahead and take the leap and go abroad?
BOURDAIN: Well, look, I'm all for going even deeper into debt for a travel experience and great meals.
(LAUGHTER)
You know, this is something -- this is something you will remember for the rest of your life. It is a -- it is a life-altering experience that you will never forget that will change the whole way you look at the world and understand the events around you.
You know, a few weeks in Southeast Asia for me changed my whole life. You know, I'll always be grateful for it. If my traveling had ended just with that, it would be something I would -- a memory I would cherish for the rest of my life. So, you know, one can travel relatively inexpensively in places like Vietnam. You will not be living luxuriously but look, I'm not going to tell you drop out of school and start traveling, but you might consider it.
MORGAN: We've got a clip to play here. This is from a friend of yours, Chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin. He's got a few things to say about you, Mr. Bourdain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC RIPERT, CHEF, LE BERNARDIN: Anthony, when I was in Peru with you shooting "PARTS UNKNOWN" for CNN, I noticed that suddenly we have a car just for the talent and everybody else is cramped in those tiny cars with no air conditioning, and I'm thinking wow, this is a promotion.
Then I realized you sleep a lot and you probably don't know that, but you snore, you drool on my shoulder and because you eat so much, you have some kind of flatulence. So now I got it. I know why they don't want to be in your car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Wow. Talk about killing your brand.
BOURDAIN: The last time I eat at his restaurant.
MORGAN: All you chefs I have ever met, anyone in the culinary business, all incredibly competitive. You would all basically trample over each other.
BOURDAIN: No, less so -- in England, that's true, merciless. Cut each other's throat, wouldn't lend each other tomatoes. I remember talking to a chef friend in England describing an incident where I just borrowed tomatoes from the chef across the street.
He said I would never do that. I would never borrow tomatoes from the guy across the street. Here, we all get along. I would say competitive by nature, but in a friendly way.
MORGAN: You've been to some very dangerous places. In this series, you go to the Congo and you had a few problems there with the police constantly wanting bribes and all that kind of stuff. Do you ever fear for your life in this? You think it's worth that for a show about food, essentially?
BOURDAIN: I'm having fun. I mean, I hadn't been anywhere until at age 44, I was still standing next to a deep fryer, looking at a life of more of same, so it came as a very pleasant surprise to me to have the privilege of travel to live out the little boy fantasy of going to places where books like "Heart of Darkness" had been set, where "African Queen" was shot.
This is a great adventure for me and maybe it's a little foolhardy at times, but I'm working with some really talented people. I like to make things and tell stories and in a place like the Congo, as difficult as it is and dangerous at times, I know I'm doing the best work of my life and I'm making something that I can be really proud of.
MORGAN: You're well trained because your wife, Octavia, is a mixed martial arts fighter.
BOURDAIN: Yes.
MORGAN: That must be handy.
BOURDAIN: It's really nice walking into a bar and knowing that your wife can pretty much beat the crap out of anybody.
MORGAN: Let's take a question again from the audience, from Linda this time. This is about American cuisine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Anthony. Food is very important, first of all, I have a passport but it's expired. In any case, I want to know, you travel around the world. I want to know what do other countries think about American food and when they think, what do you think comes to their mind, burgers, fries?
MORGAN: Yes. I can help you with that. The same way that Americans criticize British food, I can tell you that our view of American food is way too many burgers and fries. You serve cheese with everything.
And any meal you order at any time of day or night, you have to have this amount of fried potatoes and no one ever orders them. You order a simple egg or bacon, and come the potatoes. Anthony, you stand accused of being obsessed with potato chips and cheese.
BOURDAIN: There's no doubt about it. I think people -- people, especially countries where they don't eat much, when they see what we're eating and you know, a grand slam breakfast, I think they're just appalled. They can't believe it. When they see the size, the sheer size of many Americans, I think they're freaked out.
And yes, in a lot of the world, the first thing they think of when you mention American food would be hamburgers and fast food. It's certainly our most well known and possibly most lethal export.
I was always an advocate for opening fast food outlets along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border as a way of undermining al Qaeda. It would have done a real solid job on them.
Honestly, at a higher level among the chef community, in France, Europe, Latin America, everyone knows that the high end cooking in this country, the middle to high end is as good as anywhere.
Increasingly, even in Paris, and this is a real sea change, talk to the whole, the new generation of hot French chefs and they're all talking about Brooklyn as a major influence and as a new business model. MORGAN: What do you think the American dish is now? In Britain, for example, it's gone from fish and chips to now Indian curry, amazing cultural change. What is it in America, would you say now?
BOURDAIN: You know, what is American food? American food, reality is food made by whoever happens to be in America right now. The dish -- the food of the moment is ramen or new Korean, Korean- American. So, don't know.
MORGAN: Preparing one meal to personify America, what would you cook?
BOURDAIN: Really, I make a great hamburger. I would make --
MORGAN: A good one.
BOURDAIN: I would make a seriously respectable, you know, hamburger on a perfect bun and I would stand that excellent high quality burger up against most other national dishes.
MORGAN: I've got a surprise for you because after the break, I'm going to make you eat some absolutely disgusting things because you've said you will eat anything. I'm going to test this theory, Mr. Bourdain.
BOURDAIN: Bring it on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOURDAIN (voice-over): Let me set the scene. It's hot out here, desert hot. And we plan to ride three hours along the coast to our lunch spot. And I ate salty goat innards for breakfast and I refuse to wear a helmet or sun block.
We avoid wild donkeys and goats and get lost more than a few times. So a little heat stroke leads to a lot of horsing around and we decide to open these puppies up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: An unexpected detour there by Anthony Bourdain in Colombia. Anthony is the host of CNN's new show, "PARTS UNKNOWN." This is going to be great. You made the fatal error of saying you would eat anything so we decided to test this theory.
I want you to start with number one. After you've eaten them I will tell you what they are.
BOURDAIN: I'll tell you, it's rubbery as hell. This isn't what I think it is. Yes. It looks like -- Good. Not since prison. Not bad.
MORGAN: That is bull penis. Let me pour you a glass. You may need this for some of these. It's only going to get worse. BOURDAIN: Penis, it's so last week.
MORGAN: Number two, is over here.
BOURDAIN: This is another part of the three-piece unit, I believe.
MORGAN: It looks so harmless and tasty. That is turkey testicles.
BOURDAIN: If you didn't know, you would have no problem with that.
MORGAN: But if you did know?
BOURDAIN: He puts those on his breakfast cereal. No problem.
MORGAN: Number three here.
BOURDAIN: That's interesting. That looks good, cartilage-y.
MORGAN: Steamed pig feet.
BOURDAIN: That's great. Who doesn't like this? Communists, communists don't like this.
MORGAN: OK, number four?
BOURDAIN: Frog?
MORGAN: Yes.
BOURDAIN: You know, (inaudible), that's a French name.
MORGAN: This is not too bad. It's fried frog.
BOURDAIN: Trouble's coming up.
MORGAN: Yes, it is. Number five, this is one of my favorites.
BOURDAIN: New York, we have pest problems sometimes.
MORGAN: This is maggot fried rice.
BOURDAIN: Yes, that's good. Yes. I'll pass.
MORGAN: Number six, have a little. He's beginning to crack, been a gallant effort.
BOURDAIN: Jellyfish?
MORGAN: Nope.
BOURDAIN: That's good.
MORGAN: What do you think it is? BOURDAIN: I don't care. I'll eat more of it.
MORGAN: It's goose intestines in black bean sauce.
BOURDAIN: Good stuff. I'd order that in a restaurant. I know what this is. This is balut isn't it?
MORGAN: It is.
BOURDAIN: This is the fertilized -- basically fetal duck egg. It's a half term duck, very popular in the Philippines and Vietnam. This isn't a bad one. Usually it's like a little feathery baby -- little bits of beak.
MORGAN: Are you allowed to serve that in New York?
BOURDAIN: There is a very hot hipster restaurant currently in New York where hipsters with ironic facial hair and sunglasses are lined up 12 deep to get in and eat this. It's a textural problem, really. It's not the taste. Not one of my favorite things on earth, but really not that bad if you get past the feathers and the beak.
MORGAN: Here's the thing about food. All these things are delicacies in various countries of the world.
BOURDAIN: If you grow up in the Philippines, this is something that's supposed to make you more fertile, I understand. Good for pregnant women, very, very popular. Close to -- this is like the chicken soup of the Philippines, a beloved dish.
It's very popular in Vietnam as well. This is standard fare in China. The idea of throwing out any part of a turkey would be madness and irresponsible. The bugs look, you know, the Thais eat bugs of various kinds. They grew up in that culture. They consider it a delicious crispy snack.
If we were to put this in batter, this would be a popular dish all across America. But think of how they look at us. They're a non- dairy culture. They see us eating, you know, bleu cheese or cottage cheese or ranch dressing, much less a giant Cinnabon the size of your head. Imagine what we look like.
MORGAN: Let's get another question here. We can take one from Tanya. Where's Tanya?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Tony. My question is during all your travels all over the world, sampling food there, and some are your hosts, how do you react while you're on camera and you don't like something?
BOURDAIN: Look, the only times -- I try -- number one rule on the show is try to be a good guest. We're not getting anywhere. We're not getting the kind of scene we want. We're not making friends. We're not developing the relationships that are important if we're rejecting people's whole culture. They're speaking to us, saying something very important about themselves by offering what they feel is good and they're proud of. So even as has happened, only two times I've gotten really, really sick. It was clearly old food.
It was clearly past its prime. There was dirt grounds and every once in awhile I will take one for the team meaning I will grin and I will bear it. Much like tonight.
MORGAN: Well, you have grinned and bared it. Anthony Bourdain, terrific new show, "PARTS UNKNOWN" premieres this Sunday on CNN, really good show, 9:00 on Sunday night. Best of luck, great to have you in the fold. Come back soon.
Coming next, another great Tony, Tony Bennett, the Grammy winning icon is with me. You might be surprised to know --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: I'm now with a true American icon. You know him. We all do. Tony Bennett, legendary performer, 17-time Grammy winner. Prior to Sandy Hook tragedy, Tony's son founded the grassroots campaign "Voices Against Violence" aimed at stopping gun violence throughout the country.
Joining me now is Tony Bennett and Danny Bennett. Also here is Dan Gross, the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Welcome to you all.
Tony, I know that you were personally very, very moved by what happened at Sandy Hook like so many. Why did it affect you so much?
TONY BENNET, 17-TIME GRAMMY WINNER: Well, you know, I've been around a few years now performing. When I first went to your country, Great Britain, 50 years ago, the police didn't have any weapons and it was very organized.
There was such a lack of violence. It was so admirable to me to see a country that was civilized enough to, you know, if somebody's doing something very naughty, instead of putting handcuffs on them and beating them up and all of that, they would just say come this way and take care of them privately and it was so civilized.
And I just think all these years that I've been watching the world, it is quite insane to put an accent on violence throughout the world. I think it's very old fashioned. We've come so far now in learning about what a wonderful gift social security to be alive and be blessed that we're in this world.
To be frightened about something that's going to give you great harm to your family great harm is tragic to me.
MORGAN: What do you think should be done about guns in America?
TONY BENNETT: Well, I just think all weapons should be absolutely outlawed. None of this fierce -- you know, no imitating the films that you see where there's all this kind of strong violence to try to hold an audience, you know. Life is much more important than that.
MORGAN: Let's get to exactly what you're doing. It's a very interesting campaign you used with your father. Tell me about it.
DANNY BENNETT, TONY BENNETT'S SON AND MANAGER: Well, when the tragedy happened in Sandy Hook, we literally called each other. Tony has had a long past with Martin Luther King and the March in '65 when it wasn't a popular thing to do. He said two words that resonated with me. Enough is enough.
When is this going to stop and he asked me to reach out and see what we can do to get out there to help. Coincidentally, he was invited to sing at the inaugural with Lady Gaga. So we went down and met with the vice president's task force and Michelle Obama and said what can we do to help?
We realize that -- there was people working, but there wasn't a centralized voice of the people. We have an overwhelming majority in this country that support common sense laws that keep America safe and we just started going where is everybody?
MORGAN: Tell me exactly how this works.
DANNY BENNETT: When we came up to the Brady Center, we came up there. We created "Voices Against Violence." It's a platform for we, the people, and in the next three weeks, it's extremely critical. Basically, what we have come up with is a call Congress, text campaign.
We want to make it as simple as possible and go with the numbers and just say raise your voice. What we've done is we're able to actually say text my voice to 877877 and what happens is you receive a text back that asks for your zip code. You put in your zip code.
The phone rings, it's Tony's voice. And Tony says -- we'll play the recording. I think your people have put this together. Basically, it urges people to call their senator. And we automatically connect them to their senator.
MORGAN: I love this idea. Let's just remind me what you do, you text my voice to 877877. You get a text back and reply it to your zip code. When you do that, you hear this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BENNETT: Hi, this is Tony Bennett. In a moment, you'll be connected to a senator that needs to hear your voice now. Tell the senator that you support common sense laws that keep guns out of the hands of wrong people, including criminal background checks on all gun sales. Thank you for raising your voice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Dan Gross, it seems a terrific idea to me. This is direct action at its best.
DAN GROSS, BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE: It's what it's all about, Piers. I mean, we are on the verge of historic change in Washington, D.C. around this bipartisan compromise that was received yesterday and reached around background checks. I'm often asked for odds.
What are the odds that something meaningful can happen? I can give you a guarantee. If the American public does not make its voice heard, nothing will happen. If the overwhelming majority out there make their voice heard, I guarantee we will achieve change.
And it's going to take things like this. So I just encourage everybody to go 877877 and text my voice to 877877 to make your voice heard.
MORGAN: It's fantastic. Thank you all for coming in.
We look forward to seeing you again. This is a really important thing. Thank you. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Tomorrow night, Kid Rock joins me and doesn't hold back as he talks guns, politics and the power of money. Thanks to my terrific audience and all the guests tonight. That's all for us. "ANDERSON COOPER" starts now.
