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CNN Sunday Morning

Biden Celebrates with Troops in Iraq; Swimming in the Gulf

Aired July 04, 2010 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SPC. LEVI CRAWFORD, U.S. ARMY: I'm trying to keep moving them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're doing the right thing.

CRAWFORD: It's hard.

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dole co-chaired a 2007 presidential commission that investigated shoddy conditions at Walter Reed, but he has nothing but praise for the medical care.

BOB DOLE, FORMER SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: It took me nine hours to get on the battlefield and it took me weeks to get home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Here he goes.

DOLE: These modern medical miracles, you see them every day, and if they're wounded on one day, they could be at Walter Reed on the third day.

HENRY: He's eager to get back to work at the law and lobbying firm, Alston & Bird. His failed bid pot White House, a distant memory.

DOLE: You got to move on, you know? Life is short. Keep pushing and realize we have a great country, and, you know, we have just -- one chapter ends and another chapter starts and keep on going.

HENRY: Good advice, now being passed on to a whole new generation of heroes.

DOLE: This is what America is all about right here.

HENRY: Ed Henry, CNN Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you all. Welcome to the CNN SUNDAY MORNING on this 4th of July. And also to all of you who may be listening to us on CNN Radio, thank you all for being here.

Top of the hour here now. Thank you all for being here.

Here are some of the stories that are making headlines right now. A major blow at the drug smugglers in Ecuador. Authorities were actually lending some help here in this case. And they have seized a massive submarine built to transport cocaine. The 98-foot-long vessel is apparently seized before its maiden voyage. One person is in custody now. Officials are investigating the group behind it.

Also, the RNC chairman, Michael Steele, is spending the holiday weekend working the phones trying to rally support from high-profile Republicans called for his resignation after Steele said the war in Afghanistan was, quote, "a war of Obama's choosing," end-quote -- and suggested America can't win there. He made the comments at a fundraiser in Connecticut, and they were posted on YouTube. An RNC spokesperson tells CNN, Steele is, in fact, winning back some support.

Also, happening this morning in Atlanta we're keeping an eye on it, going to get some pictures for you here in a little bit. It's getting started in the next half hour. The Peachtree Road Race happens, an annual tradition. I believe this is the 40th year for this, but 55,000 people are going to be taking to the streets of Atlanta.

There's a live picture of Centennial Olympic Park, just across the street from where we are here at our world headquarters in downtown Atlanta. Beautiful morning. It's going to be a beautiful day as the race gets underway. We'll continue to check in with those 55,000.

On this Fourth of July, a lot of people are out there serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our men and women out there fighting to keep this country safe, they are celebrating without their families, but they are celebrating with their fellow soldiers.

Atia Abawi is joining us live now from Kabul.

Atia, hello to you once again on this day. We know Petraeus got there a couple of days ago. He was approved by the Senate last week, but, still, today makes it official that he's on the job.

ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, T.J. He officially assumed command by staff forces in Kabul in a ceremony held on Independence Day, on Fourth of July. We're actually not in Kabul. We're in Bagram Airfield, and if you look behind me, the celebrations are going on. There's a dunk tank right there, and I got to tell you, T.J., I won.

HOLMES: You -- oh, wait. It sounds like -- it looks like a festive atmosphere there. Of course, we know what's going on in Afghanistan, but still, it's very important and do officials go out of their way to make this day, make this Fourth of July, make these celebrations feel like you're not quite frankly in a war zone?

ABAWI: Absolutely, T.J. they live in a very tough environment. This is a very challenging war. General Petraeus said it himself. It's a tougher fight. And right now, he's assuming command of increasingly unpopular war in various countries, including America. But at the same time, the commanders on the ground try to bring up the morale here, especially at Bagram.

You can see the service members, whether they be Air Force, whether they be the Army, they're trying to have some fun today. This is Independence Day. They're away from their families. Right now, all they have is each other, and they want to have some fun.

We saw a little small parade, but it was a very cute parade. They had little vehicles decorated many their own little float-type ways. Later, there's a barbecue. There are bands playing.

So, today a little piece of America here in Afghanistan.

HOLMES: All right. Atia Abawi, it is not the sight we're used to seeing there from Afghanistan when we talk to you, but, you know what, it's nice that those guys and girls are getting maybe a bit of a day off and relief and they're getting a chance to enjoy the Fourth of July. Thank you so much, Atia. We'll talk to you again.

We turn from Afghanistan now over to Iraq. And some video we're just getting in that we do want to share with you. The vice president -- there he is -- Vice President Biden, he's there in Iraq. We know he got there yesterday, there along with his wife, actually. But they're celebrating this Independence Day there with the troops in Iraq, sitting down for a meal.

We see these pictures oftentimes. Always have to go to the mess hall and share a meal, break some bread with the soldiers there. His wife is there as well in the region. Again, that was something we're not used to seeing, and we're told it's a first to see a U.S. official, a head of state, someone travel over with their wife, with their spouse on one of these trips.

Now, the vice president is expected to meet with Iraqi political leaders during the day and during his stay there in Iraq.

Well, let's turn back here for a moment now to the U.S. and a disaster going on here -- a continuing disaster, day 76 now of this oil disaster, into the third month since this ruptured well began gushing oil into the Gulf.

Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Lisa Jackson, is keeping an eye on the EPA's ground response to the oil spill. She visited Pensacola Beach on Saturday. You're seeing pictures of it. This is her first trip to Florida and her sixth to the Gulf since the spill.

Also, she's admitting yesterday that even she would not go into that water. She said that yesterday when pressed by reporters -- she agreed, in fact that, some of the oil washing up on to the beaches, even though the water itself may not just be totally tainted to oil, some of the oil turned people off and it turned her off. She says she wouldn't get into it, but she agreed local officials should be the one making the decision about whether or not they would keep those beaches open.

Also, engineers still doing some testing on what is billed as the world's largest skimming vessel. We showed you this thing yesterday. This is what they call the "A Whale." This is a big, old skimming ship that's owned by a company out of Taiwan.

Now, tests are going on right now. It's in the region, but tests are going on to see if it should be put to good use. Now, if it was put to good use, we're told it could scoop up some 21 million gallons a day -- a day. So, in one day, this thing could do the work that all the skimming ships that are out there have yet to be -- have yet to do in the time since the spill.

Also, you're seeing a picture there of Reverend Al Sharpton. He was in the region yesterday at a church in Louisiana, listening to concerns over the oil disaster. People up there are upset about the crisis, of course, but some of the main concerns about the jobs and the economy right now, but also jobs that could be lost in the region because of the oil spill. He was advising the community that they need to stay vocal and active with BP and other government agencies to make sure their needs are met.

Well, there are a lot of beaches out there along the Gulf Coast right now where there isn't any oil. Unfortunately, Pensacola Beach is not one of them. You can still take a dip there if you want to.

But John Zarrella asking the question for us: is it really safe to do so?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More clean-up crews than we have seen in days scoured this section of Pensacola Beach, perhaps just a coincidence EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson dropped by for a firsthand look at the work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has no odor. So (INAUDIBLE) are long gone out of there.

ZARRELLA: While it's pretty clear that the beach is a mess, what isn't clear to people here is whether the water is safe for swimming.

(on camera): Oil impact notice -- these are the signs that have been posted on all 40 miles of Escambia County's coastline. And they say avoid wading, swimming or entering the water, but they don't say you can't get in.

(voice-over): What would Administrator Jackson do?

LISA JACKSON, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: Based on the fact that the beaches have oil, no, I would not go into the water today.

ZARRELLA: Cindy O'Sullivan and Jenny King couldn't agree more. They have lived in Pensacola for years.

(on camera): Would you get in that water right now?

CINDY O'SULLIVAN, PENSACOLA RESIDENT: There's no way. I don't understand why people are in it. But it looks good. It looks pretty, but not.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Well, that depends upon who you talk with.

DR. JOHN LANZA, ESCAMBIA COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT: Right now, I would go into the water.

ZARRELLA: Dr. John Lanza heads the county's health department. Lanza believes the water is safe unless you see tar balls or sheen on the water or you feel oily, and not from suntan lotion.

For now the county commission is not banning swimming until the EPA gives them concrete guidance.

LANZA: Until we get a standard from the EPA on the levels of the petrochemicals in the water so that we don't suggest people go into the water specifically for that, we can't do anything.

JACKSON: There is nothing that I'm going to be able to tell you in a chemical lab that you can't learn about the safety of the water from a bathing purpose by looking at it and smelling it.

ZARRELLA: It looked pretty good to the Vonsleich (ph) family vacationing from Oklahoma. They played in the surf. They hadn't seen the "avoid the water" sign and no one told them not to go in.

(on camera): If they were warning to you stay out of the water --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We should not have gotten in.

ZARRELLA: You wouldn't have gotten in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): The bottom line seems to be this: right now, scientifically, no one is sure whether the water is safe. You're on your own. Just smell it first.

John Zarrella, CNN, Pensacola, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, you probably know the word vuvuzela by now. You maybe didn't know it before the World Cup started. But we have a vuvuzela viral video. A guy who cheers everything is getting huge hits on the Internet. There he is.

Chad, I don't even know what to say about this guy.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's that sound.

HOLMES: It is the most annoying thing. But I love it during the games, though. It works.

MYERS: I don't know when to cheer. They're just -- they're always playing the same song. The same horn, man.

HOLMES: They go the whole game.

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: Hey, it's going to be a hot one today. That should not be breaking news to anybody that realizes it's the Fourth of July. We also have, hey, you know what, they're going to eat all those hot dogs today -- Nathan's Hotdogs.

HOLMES: Oh, yes.

MYERS: Yes, Kobayashi -- or maybe an American challenger, we don't know. Let's take a look. It's going to be hot one way or the other. Coney Island forecast coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(GREETINGS FROM THE TROOPS)

HOLMES: All right. Love to see those this time of year. Any time of year, Mother's Day as well. They're always cool.

But not going to be cool in Atlanta. We have this picture of Atlanta behind me, but this road race is about to get underway.

MYERS: Oh, yes, we're missing it, aren't we?

HOLMES: Yes.

MYERS: You know, I'm so sad you have to work.

HOLMES: Actually, it's 7:30. You can run out there, it starts. You can run out there and get those, what do you say, 6.2 miles it is?

MYERS: Yes, you're right on that.

HOLMES: But still, I mean, people enjoy this tradition, but it can be dangerously hot, right?

MYERS: Absolutely. There are so many water stations. And then there's a place called Cardiac Hill.

HOLMES: Ooh!

MYERS: Cardiac Hill right in front of Piedmont Hospital.

HOLMES: OK.

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: Perfectly. Exactly. It's like almost the very end, and you got to go up this long hill, and there are water stations all the way up.

HOLMES: So, it's the end of the race. (CROSSTALK)

MYERS: Some friend of mine. I'm not an expert.

HOLMES: You haven't run it?

MYERS: I have -- I have friends that are actually running it today. So, I guess if you're going to be out there, enjoy it, if you're going to be out here.

Something I also want to get to today, T.J., is that, you know, we've been talking about all these beaches and how there's oil on them. They're not closed. Most of them are not closed.

Everybody wants you -- all the people that are living around the beach or having businesses on the beach say, hey, we're not -- we're not done. We're not shut down. Please come out. Yes, there's oil m water, and maybe the first five feet there's oil on the beach itself, but the rest of the beach is wide open.

So, yes, there are advisories, but to be honest, most of the beaches are at least open for some type of business. Make a phone call or get out there and drive down, take a look.

Heavy rain showers across some of the beaches, though, today. Those are the ones that last, like, an hour. So, if you just sit in the car and wait for it for a little while, it will go away. There are showers across and up and down through the Midwest that may not go away today. In fact, they have been so heavy at times today that we have some flood warnings, even up to International Falls, we've got some flood warnings going on because here's the rain all the way from northern Minnesota all the way back down into Texas, and also more showers here across parts of Florida.

Everybody else, we'll just call it hot, and I'm not going to call breaking news or developing weather on this because it's just supposed to be hot on the Fourth of July. So, make sure and all your kids have sunscreen and all those things. You know, the water is the most important thing if you're going to be doing anything outside today -- T.J.

HOLMES: Chad, where is that thing going to go -- that big yellow blob in the middle you circled, where is it going to go?

MYERS: It's going to slide to this.

HOLMES: Is it going to keep that form, and we're all going to get some weather here in the coming days?

MYERS: Well, you know, we get some showers in Florida, of course, but the real -- I think, this is not moving very quickly. Watch. Watch. Watch.

It's -- that's almost eight hours worth of rain. It's staying in the same spot -- so, not going to get here.

HOLMES: All right.

MYERS: OK?

HOLMES: Thank you.

MYERS: Our grasses are burning up.

HOLMES: Yes.

MYERS: I know.

HOLMES: I was about to blame my company for not doing a good job on my lawn. (INAUDIBLE)

MYERS: Yes.

HOLMES: All right. Thanks, Chad.

All right. Josh Levs keeping an eye on this stuff on the Internet. And we see this every once in a while. Well, not once in a while. Last night, we see a new one everyday. Somebody out there does something silly on the Internet, and it goes viral.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, you remember how weeks ago there was a baby doing the samba that became the new Internet dance star?

HOLMES: Yes, that was a little freaky.

LEVS: Yes, it was a little freaky. But now, this guy, at the other end of the age spectrum, take a look at this man who is schooling young folks at how to dance to Lady Gaga. You'll go crazy over this. Some people are calling him "Grandpa Gaga."

We got this plus vuvuzela man and the July 4th rap song that somehow I'm in and so is T.J., and so is Chad -- coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Twenty-two minutes past the hour.

Let's get right over to Josh Levs, finding some odd things online. Vuvuzelas -- people didn't know what these things were before the World Cup started. Now, everybody knows, and now, this guy is taking it too far.

LEVS: Well, it's kind of inevitable, wasn't it, that at some point, someone was going to come up with a viral video that's all about the vuvuzelas. But what they did, the folks at Landline TV, it's a production company in New York, they're really clever, and they go out and make these comedy videos.

Look what they did. Check this guy out, s vuvuzela man. He basically celebrates everything he can possibly celebrate. So, he runs around the street of New York just blowing out and get on the subway, and, like, woo-hoo!

Skip to the next section, I want to see what happens.

(VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: So, basically, the vuvuzela man is now little (INAUDIBLE) online. People loving it. They're getting so many clicks on this video, and it's only been out a matter of days. It's king of amazing.

All right, let's skip to the next one. Time to see the new Internet dance star. We probably wouldn't expect to see it. Check it out.

The elderly gentleman schooling the younger folks in how to dance to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face." We can't even track down where this one originated, but it's on the Internet now in at least 20 different places. People are clicking on it like crazy, and you can see the young guys come along try to match his moves, can't quite keep up.

He's now got a new name, Grandpa Gaga, which I don't like saying because I don't know if he's a grandfather. But people are now on the search for this man.

All right. It is July 4th, and I've heard from the fine folks at Jib Jab, and, T.J., they sent me a card celebrate July 4th, and you and I have a role in it. Take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: See, I think you look totally natural at this.

HOLMES: You know what I'm about to say, though, Josh?

LEVS: What do you about to say?

HOLMES: Why do I have the white hands still? Look at that.

LEVS: Well, you know what, maybe you'll feel better if I show you the next version we have, which is Chad.

HOLMES: All right.

LEVS: Chad right in. Let's skip to the second video, here comes Chad, everybody, rapping away.

MYERS: As long as have I hair.

There you go.

LEVS: Check it out. You got Ben Franklin in there. You got a little Thomas Jefferson. (INAUDIBLE). We got to hear this.

(VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: I think Chad looks (INAUDIBLE).

What do you think, Chad? You feel good about this?

MYERS: That's really how I dance.

(LAUGHTER)

LEVS: I think it comes naturally to these guys.

HOLMES: And, Chad, we got onto him we did one a couple of weeks back. And then, in fact, my -- this is my -- the skin tones weren't matching up, the hands and whatnot. So, we continue that thing.

Jib Jab, we appreciate it.

MYERS: My hair tones, too.

(CROSSTALK)

LEVS: And we got links to all this stuff up for you at the blog itself. It's up at Facebook as well. You can go in, you can pop in any face you want. Just have a little fun with it. Happy July 45th from me T.J. and Chad, our new weekend morning dancer.

MYERS: I love it.

HOLMES: Josh and the rapping Chad, appreciate you both.

Quick break. We're right back.

LEVS: See you guys.

MYERS: Thanks, Josh. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(GREETINGS FROM THE TROOPS)

HOLMES: Hopefully, family members are able to see those this morning. And Happy Fourth of July to you all. If you're just getting it started, I hope it's off to a good start. Hope your weekend has been good so far.

But we're going to be back here at the top of the hour with more live news. But, first, I'm going to hand this thing over to the good doctor, "DR. SANJAY GUPTA, MD."

See you back here, shortly.