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CNN Saturday Morning News
State-of-the-Art U.S. Destroyer Just Arrived in Japan; Chance of Real War with North Korea?; FBI Says Foiled New York Terrorist Plot Involved Martyrdom and Explosives; Astronauts from Discovery on Spacewalk; Israel Still Seeks Release of Soldier Held Hostage; Californian in al Qaeda Profiled; Best Hospitals in U.S.
Aired July 08, 2006 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone.
Now in the news, as tensions grow over North Korea's missile tests, U.S. forces are beefing up their presence in the area. We learned just hours ago the Navy has deployed a new guided missile destroyer to Japan. Much more on that in a moment.
The Palestinian prime minister is calling for a return to calm in the Mideast, where tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have been escalating. Ismail Haniya says he wants an end to military operations from both sides. We will have a live report later this hour.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there is little calm in Iraq's volatile Anbar Province, where three U.S. soldier have been killed today alone. The three members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were killed in combat.
And at the International Space Station, way, way up above, a pair of U.S. astronauts are almost two hours into a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk. Here are some live pictures, really remarkable. Here's what they're doing. They're testing a new robotic arm on the Shuttle Discovery.
We're going to get a live report from our very own Miles O'Brien in just a minute.
And you can bet on it. Atlantic City casinos are back in business. The state budget crisis that forced a three day shut down was resolved this morning. Legislators passed a new budget and Governor John Corzine signed an order allowing businesses to reopen.
Hello there, everybody.
Good morning.
It's Saturday, July 8th.
From the CNN Center right here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen.
HARRIS: Let's see if I can time stamp it for us.
NGUYEN: OK. HARRIS: 11:00 a.m. -- I had problems the last hour.
NGUYEN: Right here. Yes, I know.
HARRIS: I had problems.
NGUYEN: You had problems with the West Coast.
HARRIS: Yes.
11:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, all along the East Coast.
NGUYEN: Right. Very good.
HARRIS: 8:00 a.m. all along the West Coast.
Good morning, everyone.
I'm Tony Harris.
NGUYEN: You passed, yes!
HARRIS: Yes, thank you.
And straight ahead this hour, how a California kid went from mama's boy to Osama's boy. Also...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON BUNCH, STRUCK BY LIGHTNING: Here's what's left of the earphones. You know, here's the plug in to the iPod and then apparently this is what goes in your ears.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Yes, it wasn't loud music that fried this teen's iPod. Stick around for the shocking explanation.
And no one wants to go there. There. Yes. But if you're sick, which hospital is best?
We've got the list.
NGUYEN: Well, there is a new weapon in the missile standoff with North Korea. We're learning this, this morning. A state-of-the-art U.S. destroyer has just arrived in Japan. The USS Mustin docked at Yokosuka, home port to the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet. Now, this warship is equipped with the most advanced technology to track and shoot down enemy missiles.
A Navy spokeswoman says the deployment was not in response to North Korea's missile test this week. And retired Major General Tom Wilkerson of the U.S. Naval Institute agrees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAJ. GEN. THOMAS WILKERSON, U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE: The Mustin's been tracked and ready to go to Japan for some time. This is not a knee-jerk response to the North Korean effort. It takes a lot of effort on the part of the Navy to deploy major combat systems because, especially in the instance of home porting in a foreign port like Yokosuka, there are families involved and moves involved and a whole bunch of other things.
So this is not something that just happened yesterday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: OK, so that puts it in perspective. But this new military move does come amid diplomatic dealings. U.S. envoy Christopher Hill is in South Korea trying to get the communist North back to the negotiating table. He says the U.S. will talk one-on-one with Pyongyang, but only if the reclusive country rejoins stalled six party talks on its nuclear weapons program.
HARRIS: So that brings us to the big what if question -- what happens if diplomacy and the military show of force fail? Is there a real chance of war with North Korea?
Our Brian Todd talks to some experts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a peninsula that's been heavily militarized and preparing for confrontation for more than 50 years, scenarios for war are detailed and frightening. We discussed them with a former senior U.S. Army intelligence officer assigned to Korea, a former Delta Force commander who also has a CIA background and a former strategic planner at the National War College, who developed a war game on Korea.
They all make clear war is a very remote possibility. So is the prospect of a U.S. pre-emptive strike.
MAJ. JEFFREY BEATTY, FORMER DELTA FORCE COMMANDER: If you're going to do a pre-emptive strike, you have got to make sure you get everything, because if you don't, they're going to launch what they have left, and they're going to probably launch a full-scale attack against the South.
TODD: Our experts say if America struck first, the best case scenario is casualties in the tens of thousands on both sides. If North Korea attacked first, they say, thousands of its special operations commandos would likely swarm into the South from the air and sea, linking up with sleeper agents who've already infiltrated through tunnels.
Then...
BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Step two would be they have to secure the demilitarized zone that separates North from South. And they would do that with light infantry, simply to hold the shoulders of the penetration. Not go very deep, but to hold the door open, if you will.
TODD: Holding the door for North Korea's heavily armored million man army to push toward Seoul and points south. At the same time, the North Koreans would launch missiles.
MARKS: They would be conventionally tipped. We have to assume they would be chemically tipped.
TODD: Prompting U.S. forces to launch air strikes on North Korean artillery positions, many of which can be hidden in deep underground bunkers. And inevitably, experts say, U.S. and North Korean ground forces would engage, likely on very difficult terrain.
(on camera): Terrain in what has turned into a very urbanized region over the past 50 years. That means possibly hundreds of thousands of casualties, military and civilian, and that leaves out North Korea's nuclear capability, which our experts say is too crude to be used effectively, for the moment.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: This weekend, "CNN PRESENTS" gives you a rare look at the brutal world of life in North Korea. You've got two chances to watch "UNDERCOVER IN THE SECRET STATE," tonight and tomorrow, 8:00 Eastern, only on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
NGUYEN: Let's get you now to some serious security concerns right here at home.
We are getting new details this morning about an alleged plot by Islamic extremists to flood New York City tunnels. Now, the FBI says the foiled plot involved martyrdom and explosives.
CNN's Kelli Arena has those details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Officials say the plot was in the early stages, but well enough along and serious enough to act.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We don't wait until someone has lit the fuse to step in and prevent something from happening. That would be playing games with people's lives. So we always intervene at the earliest possible opportunity.
ARENA: The attack, they say, was planned for this fall, and called for putting suicide bombers with backpacks full of explosives on trains.
MARK MERSHON, FBI NEW YORK ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: They were about to go to a phase where they would attempt to surveil targets, establish a regimen of attack and acquire the resources necessary to effectuate the attacks. ARENA: This is the alleged mastermind, Assem Hammoud, 31-years- old, from Lebanon. He's being held in Beirut.
MERSHON: We know that he has acknowledged pledging a bayat, or allegiance, to Osama bin Laden. And he proclaims himself to be a member of al Qaeda.
ARENA: Lebanese security officials say Hammoud was taken into custody on April 27th. The Lebanese government says Hammoud was living a life of "fun-and indulgence" to hide his extremist views. It also says he was supposed to travel to Pakistan for terror training.
The FBI says that, in all, eight people are involved. At least two other alleged participants are also in custody, but the FBI won't say where.
As for the other five, officials say they do not believe they're in the United States.
MERSHON: There are still subjects out there, mostly known, some only partially identified or unknown. And we remain vigilant.
ARENA: The plot was first revealed in a New York newspaper and that infuriated officials, who say the disclosure jeopardized the investigation.
But there is another view. The story of an apparent law enforcement success came out on the anniversary of the London subway attacks and suggests a political motivation for leaking.
JOE CIRINCIONE, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: If this was a genuine plot, there's nothing wrong with that. But we do have to keep in mind, the Department of Homeland Security, in particular, is under a lot of pressure to show some results.
ARENA (on camera): The investigation is ongoing. The FBI says at least six countries are actively involved. Sources tell CNN those include Iraq, Canada and Pakistan.
Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: So stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
HARRIS: How about this? It's a great day for a walk that's out of this world. That's happening...
NGUYEN: You're not kidding.
HARRIS: How about that?
It's happening hundreds of miles above us at the International Space Station, Betty.
NGUYEN: Yes.
Two astronauts from the Shuttle Discovery are spacewalking right -- well, you see it right there.
HARRIS: Look at that.
Look at that.
NGUYEN: Our space correspondent, Miles O'Brien, is down here on Mother Earth and he joins us live from New York.
HARRIS: That's terrible.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Sad to say.
NGUYEN: I know.
O'BRIEN: Sad to say.
NGUYEN: You're hating life right about now.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
NGUYEN: But, boy, this is an important spacewalk.
O'BRIEN: Yes, about as close as I can get is New York.
But anyway, two hours into this spacewalk. Is it going to be a very dramatic and spectacular spacewalk, as spacewalks go. This is, I believe, the 66th spacewalk to help support the construction of the International Space Station. So think of the hours that have been logged by spacewalkers, so far safely, we're glad to report.
But it is a -- it's a hazardous thing. I mean you're out there with micro meteoroids, potentially; space junk. You've got 15 layers of space suit protecting you and you're -- it's really like the world's smallest space craft, are these space suits.
Take a look at this Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum as they got to work. They're still in the process of setting up their tools for what will be a dramatic test of a 100-foot-long boom that could one day be used to repair an orbiter in space.
There they are right down there. It's kind of hard to spot them. But as you can see their legs as they move around a little bit. Every now and then taking an opportunity, as they've gotten ready, gotten their tools together, to stop and remark at where they are.
Mike Fossum saying: "Oh, it's a beautiful day in Ireland."
"Indeed it is," said Piers Sellers.
And a little shout out. So to everybody in Ireland, hello. You look beautiful today. So they do have an opportunity to stop and smell the roses. Nevertheless, they're spending a lot of time doing this, getting together all their tools, because what they will do eventually, once they get this all together, is work at the end of this 100-foot-long boom to see how stable it is. If it works, it'll provide another option for NASA if they go to space and they have a heat shield that is damaged. It would allow them to repair the belly of the shuttle if the shuttle is flying alone, separate from the International Space Station, with all the access that provides.
Here's a look at the animation to give you a sense of what we're talking about. That's the normal length of the space shuttle robotic arm, about 50 feet. There's a 50-foot extension boom, which is used, incidentally, to do inspections of the leading edge of the wing and so forth, all post-Columbia.
The question is can somebody work out there and get any real work done? Or is it too bouncy?
So Fossum and Piers Sellers will individually try it out and then also try it out together, because there could be some two man jobs required. And they will have a -- when it extends out -- a six story distance between them and the shuttle and the Space Station. And they have cameras mounted on their helmets. And so we're looking forward to that picture. I think it's going to be a good one.
Now, a quick thought, a quick final thought. If this does work, they might have to do it. There's a gap filler, a little piece like this sticking out in the rear section of Discovery. And it, you know, sits right beside those heat-resistant tiles. It could cause a potential heating problem on re-entry.
They may want them to use that boom there to go after this particular piece, which is right near the base of Discovery's tail. And the only way they can reach it is with that 100-foot boom or a very complicated maneuver, which would allow them to sort of dock in a different way at the Space Station.
So we'll be watching that.
HARRIS: That's right.
Yes.
NGUYEN: Yes. And I think you really hit it on the head when you said their suits alone are the smallest shuttles out there, essentially.
O'BRIEN: Because, I mean, the gloves -- I mean tell us how much those cost. They're a fortune.
O'BRIEN: The only thing custom on the suits are the gloves. And they're $250,000 for these gloves.
NGUYEN: Jeez.
O'BRIEN: And I've tried them on... NGUYEN: Really?
O'BRIEN: ... and had it pressurized. And obviously they weren't custom made for me. But it's like you're constantly -- you know, like those things you use to -- those...
NGUYEN: Squishy
O'BRIEN: ... if you're a golfer...
NGUYEN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... to -- it's -- every time you flex your hand, it's like strengthening your wrist.
HARRIS: Oh, yes, yes, yes. Yes.
O'BRIEN: And I've talked to some spacewalks. After a long difficult spacewalk, they take their gloves off after they get in the space craft and they've actually -- they're actually bloodied...
NGUYEN: Really?
O'BRIEN: Because it's so much pressure. It's a high pressure suit. It's like being the Michelin man for six-and-a-half hours of work.
HARRIS: Right.
Yes.
NGUYEN: I was going to say, yes, all of that. And then they've still got to do it for six-and-a-half hours.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.
HARRIS: Right.
NGUYEN: Well, you'll be there. We'll be here watching it.
Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right.
My pleasure.
HARRIS: And still ahead, working in the yard while listening to some tunes...
NGUYEN: Yes?
HARRIS: ... maybe watching a storm roll in. We all do it. It's, you know, let me see if I can get the yard cut...
NGUYEN: Just a little more done, yes.
HARRIS: ... before it all rolls in. We've all done it. But you won't do it again once you hear what happened to this guy.
NGUYEN: Oh, no.
HARRIS: And then this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM GADAHN, AL QAEDA MEMBER: They've murdered thousands of Afghan civilians. I've seen it with my own eyes. My brothers have seen it. I've carried the victims in my arms -- women, children, toddlers, babies in their mother's wombs. You name it, they've probably bombed it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: An al Qaeda insider denouncing the West with an American accent? We'll tell you who he is and how he ended up so far from home.
HARRIS: And later, Dave Chappelle, the $50 million mystery man tells our Anderson Cooper why his decision to leave Comedy Central had nothing to do with the money.
You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And good morning.
Top stories right now.
Spectacular pictures from the International Space Station. Two Shuttle Discovery astronauts -- live pictures right now. Live pictures. The astronauts are conducting a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk. Their mission is to test a new shuttle robotic arm and make repairs to the orbiting outpost.
The U.S. military has dispatched a top-of-the-line guided missile destroyer to Japan. The USS Mustin arrived this morning on permanent assignment to the region. It comes amid growing tensions over North Korean missile tests. A U.S. envoy has an offer for North Korea.
Christopher Hill says the reclusive country can have a one-on-one meeting with Washington if Pyongyang returns to six party talks on its nuclear program. Hill is touring the region to coordinate an international response to North Korea's missile test.
Who today doesn't have a cell phone or an iPod? They're kind of must have accessories for people on the go. But before you dial up or plug in, you might want to check out the forecast or you could end up looking like this guy. The story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Across America starts in Tennessee.
Bond set for Mary Winkler, $.75 million. The preacher's wife is charged with killing her husband in the church parsonage in March. Her attorney indicates Winkler can't make bond. If that's the case, she'll stay in jail at least through her murder trial this fall.
It turns out that the guy who tackled an unruly plane passenger once worked as a bar bouncer. It helps.
Adam Davisberg says 9/11 flashed in his head when a young man rushed the cockpit door. It happened as his Delta flight was descending into the Tampa airport. Relatives say the agitated passenger had just returned from duty in Iraq and is having problems.
Suddenly a cemetery -- Civil War era graves are found on land the Catholic Church sold to a Boston school -- 100 or more graves. Well, they were supposed to have been moved interest late 1800s. Obviously, someone didn't finish the job. One grave had eight coffins stacked one on top of the other.
Deep water in the desert -- heavy thunderstorms brought a flash flood to Tucson. Roads were closed when underpasses were deluged. About 1,000 customers lost power. The area got about a half inch of rain in an hour. It doesn't sound like much, but we're talking about a desert.
NGUYEN: All right, all right. You've got to listen to this story, OK?
What a kid. His parents out of town.
HARRIS: Right.
NGUYEN: And he mows the lawn.
HARRIS: Sure.
NGUYEN: Shocking, right?
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: What kid is going to do that?
Well, it turns out Jason Bunch was the one who got the shock of a lifetime, literally. A storm was on the horizon, grass still left to cut, lightning zapped the Colorado teen's iPod. You see, he was listening to music while he was mowing. Ooh, did you see that? It melted the ear buds, which ruptured Jason's eardrums. Look, it frizzed his hair and blew a hole in his pants.
OK, don't insert laughter here.
HARRIS: What is that...
NGUYEN: This is serious, folks.
HARRIS: OK.
NGUYEN: It blew a hole in his pants.
Jason may have some permanent hair loss and hearing loss, as well. He says he's just thankful to be walking and talking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUNCH: Here's what's left of the earphones. You know, here's the plug in to the iPod and then apparently this is what goes in your ears. And it's just thread. I mean it roasted. And the iPod here, it doesn't look too bad until you look at the back. And the electricity, you know, just roasted it. I tried turning it on and there's no chance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Kind of scary, huh?
Roasted is right.
Hey, and just a few days ago, British doctors warned against using an iPod or cell phone during a thunderstorm. They say the metallic parts can act as a conductor and because the devices are near the head, well, injury can be severe, if not fatal. Really, honestly, Jason is lucky to be alive.
HARRIS: Well, I wasn't buying the story, you know, holes in the pants. Kids -- that's a style for the kids today, isn't it? And the frizzed up hair. That's the way they wear...
NGUYEN: OK, but then when you saw the ears...
HARRIS: When I saw the buds on the -- yes, yes, yes. Right. OK.
NGUYEN: And the rest -- oh.
HARRIS: That's ...
(CROSSTALK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Still to come, we're trying to make some sense of this next story.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HARRIS: Spreading al Qaeda's message of hate with an American accent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Adam Gadahn has come a long way from his home in California. A. GADAHN: Why should we target their military only?
COOPER: That's him playing a starring role in the latest al Qaeda video.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Up next, CNN's Anderson Cooper reports how a California farm kid moved into Osama bin Laden's inner circle.
CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Now in the news, the U.S. military says enemy action is to blame for the deaths of three American soldiers in Iraq's Anbar Province. They are the first U.S. military fatalities in Iraq in four days.
Well, the number two American commander in Iraq has reportedly issued his report on the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha last fall. The "New York Times" quotes two Defense Department officials as saying the officer found some senior Marine officers negligent for failing to aggressively investigate those killings.
HARRIS: Amid tensions over the North Korean missile tests, the U.S. Navy sends a guided missile destroyer to the Japanese port. A spokeswoman for the Navy's Seventh Fleet says the USS Mustin and its crew of 300 sailors will be permanently assigned to the region.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill says Washington is open to one on one talks with North Korea if Pyongyang rejoins six party talks over its nuclear weapons program. Those talks stalled nine months ago when North Korea began insisting on direct talks with Washington.
Live pictures now, 220 miles above the earth. Two Shuttle Discovery astronauts are taking a little walk about. Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum are spending six-and-a-half hours fixing a rail transporter on the international space station and testing a new robotic boom. It's the first of three planned space walks with "Discovery's" 13-day mission.
NGUYEN: Well, the dice, they are rolling again in Atlantic City, where casinos are back in business after a three-day budget deadlock that forced them to close their doors for the first time in history. The state legislature approved a new budget just before dawn this morning.
And Federal authorities say they have foiled a lot by Islamic extremists to attack tunnels linking New Jersey and Manhattan this fall. The FBI calls the plan by eight overseas terrorists the real deal. New York authorities say the plot was still though in its planning stages.
Good morning and welcome back everybody to the last half hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING, at least the morning here on the east coast. I'm Betty NGUYEN.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. To the Mideast now where the Palestinian prime minister is calling for calm as Israeli troops exchanged fire with militants in Gaza. The Hamas-led government says it must resolve the standoff over a kidnapped Israeli soldier diplomatically, but Israel is not quite ready yet to negotiate. Paula Hancock has the latest from Gaza City.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello Tony. Well, the Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya basically called for calm and said if Israel is quiet on the military front, so will we be. He also said that the Palestinian government's one ticket to negotiate about the safekeeping and the safe release of this 19-year-old corporal who was kidnapped now almost two weeks ago.
Now Israel in the past few days has consistently said first release the soldier, then stop the homemade rockets being launched from Palestinian militants from Gaza into Israel and then we will talk.
Now we have had some movement in Israeli troops this Saturday. We know that much of northern Gaza is now clear of tanks and troops. They pulled back from the areas in northern Gaza where over the past three days, we've seen some very fierce fighting. We know that 31 Palestinians, according to Palestinian security sources, have been killed in clashes with Israeli military over the past three days alone.
Also, one Israeli soldier was killed. Now just to the east of Gaza City, there are still some engineering troops in that area trying to clear tunnels, trying to find unexploded devices in that particular area. So really it is just southern Gaza where these tanks and troops are in any kind of number.
We also know that at the crack of dawn this Saturday morning, about 65 Americans were moved out of Gaza. Now most of these Americans were of Palestinian descent and they come over to visit families or relatives and they had been caught up and not able to leave.
About two weeks ago, after they asked the U.S. consulate to helped in the past two weeks. They've been trying to organize them leaving because there's nightly air strikes. There's a lot of shelling. There are sonic booms and it is very disconcerting for them. They've been trying to get out for a couple of weeks and the crack of dawn this morning, the UN envoy took them back into Israel. Tony.
HARRIS: CNN's Paula Hancocks in Gaza City for us. Paula, thank you.
NGUYEN: All right. We're going to go global now and kicking off with the most famous planned rampage in the world. Of course, it's the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Take a look at this. No one was gored today, thankfully in the second day of the run.
The streets though were packed and the half dozen massive bulls charged, tossing aside those in their path of course. Now here's the sad part of this. Doctors say an American man who was left partially paralyzed during yesterday's bull run remains in very serious condition.
HARRIS: And Mexico's leftist presidential candidate is calling today for protests against the election. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador insists the governing party stole his victory in the narrow vote. The country's election court has yet to name a president elect, because it still has to certify the vote count. But conservative rival, Felipe Calderon, is acting as if his win is secure.
NGUYEN: Pope Benedict is in Spain, a country where same sex marriage became legal last year. Referring to this, the pope said there are certain things to which the church must say no. The pope is in Valencia for an international meeting of Catholic families.
HARRIS: Security watch now, prosecutors in Berlin say they've got a new terror suspect in custody. They say the man recruited suicide bombers for Iraq and gave al Qaeda financial backing. The 36- year old is a German of Moroccan descent. Authorities say they caught him by tracking his online chats.
NGUYEN: It is shocking to watch, but an American speaking for al Qaeda, railing against U.S. troops. It happens on a newly released al Qaeda video and here's a look from CNN's Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Adam Gadahn has come a long way from his home in California.
A. GADAHN: Why should we target the military only?
COOPER: That's him playing a starring role in the latest al Qaeda video.
GADAHN: ... because they're the ones who started this dirty war.
COOPER: U.S. officials say this tape shows Gadahn playing a central role in al Qaeda's inner circle valued by its leaders for putting an American face on al Qaeda, a valuable propaganda tool, attacking his own country in its own language.
GADAHN: No sane Muslim should shed tears for them.
COOPER: This is Adam Gadahn in the early 1990s. His odyssey began on this goat farm in rural Riverside County, California. His father, Phil, once an acid rock guitarist and his mother dropped out of the LA music seen, moved to the farm and home schooled their children. But Adam Gadahn rebelled against the counter culture and his parent's Christianity.
PHIL GADAHN, ADAM'S FATHER: Most of the kids, they don't want to be a bumpkin out here, living on the farm, so they all move to town.
COOPER: After going through a heavy metal phase, Adam Gadahn embraced Islam and took the Muslim name Yaya. That was in 1995 and Gadahn wrote after it in this Web site posting. Having been around Muslims in my formative years, he wrote, I knew they were not bloodthirsty barbaric terrorists.
Two years after becoming a Muslim, he was arrested for allegedly attacking the president of the Islamic society of Orange County. Federal officials say soon after, Gadahn moved to Pakistan in 1998. His family lost touch with him after 2002.
P. GADAHN: Sort of detached. He went off and did his own thing.
COOPER: But he surfaced in a big way in 2004. First named by the FBI as someone it was seeking information on in connection with possible terrorist threats, threats he later made when appearing masked in this video, calling himself Azam, the American.
A. GADAHN: People of America I remind you.
COOPER: Now in this latest video, he gives a hint of time he spent in Afghanistan during and after the Americans toppled the Taliban and drove out al Qaeda.
A. GADAHN: More than thousands of Afghan civilians. I've seen it with my own eyes. My brothers have seen it. I've carried the victims in my arms, women, children, toddlers, babies in their mother's wombs. You name it, they've probably bombed it.
COOPER: Gadahn is now believed to be somewhere along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. He appears for more than five minutes in the latest video, his words aimed at both the British and American audience.
A. GADAHN: Britain is the one who taught America how to kill and oppress Muslims in the first place.
COOPER: Gadahn refers to the recent charges of U.S. killings in Iraq, saying it is proof that Muslims are being slaughtered by American troops there.
A. GADAHN: And then when our mujahideen take revenge on the unit which committed this outrage and capture and execute two of its members, they're called terrorists.
COOPER: Gadahn's family isn't talking about the latest tape. But a family friend says they are devastated.
Anderson Cooper, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And as we just heard, that story comes to us from "ANDERSON COOPER 360" and you can join "A.C. 360" weeknights at 10:00 Eastern. So how you feeling today, Tony? Feeling all right?
HARRIS: Outstanding, thank you, thank you. NGUYEN: If you are under the weather, where do you want to be? Which hospital? Well, good thing you asked because we have a list of the best hospitals in the nation. This is very informative and you'll want to stick around for that. We'll run down the top five for you. Plus this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE CHAPPELLE, COMEDIAN: There's two perceptions that people have. One perception is that I got paid $50 million and left. That's not what happened. If that was the case, then I'd be running from the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: David Chappelle isn't running from the law. He's actually sitting down with our Anderson Cooper. We will hear what he has to say about this $50 million mystery in about 10 minutes.
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HARRIS: And good morning everyone. Top stories right now. A U.S. Navy missile destroyer is taking the president in Japan. The military says the "USS Mustin's" deployment was part of a previously scheduled plan to rotate out older ships. But its arrival comes in the middle of a growing crisis over North Korea's recent missile tests.
Live pictures now from the international space station. The two astronauts, there we go, are taking a six-and-a-half hour space walk. Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum are testing whether a new robotic boom can be used to make repairs on the Shuttle Discovery.
And Fred, the one-armed bandits are sucking down quarters in Atlantic City again. Casinos reopened this morning working after a budget crisis forced a three-day government shut down. That closure costs the state nearly $4 million in tax revenues -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Tony, when you're sick, only the best will do, right, the creme de la creme. Well, "U.S. News & World Report" ranks the best hospitals in America in its new issue and Dr. Bernadine Healey is the magazine's health editor. Now, you may remember her from her days at the helm of the American Red Cross, there she is, or the National Institutes of Health. You know that face, Dr. Healy joins me from Cleveland this morning. Good morning to you, doctor.
DR. BERNADINE HEALY, US NEWS & WORLD REPORT: Good morning Betty.
NGUYEN: Let's talk about this, the best hospitals in the country, what criteria did you use to rank these hospitals?
HEALY: They're the kind of criteria that everybody should think about. First of all, we looked for hospitals that are ranked highest by doctors, by specialists in the field.
NGUYEN: Because they would know, right? HEALY: They would know. They're doctors' hospitals. Secondly we looked at mortality. We want to know something about outcome, particularly for the tough procedures. Third, we look at volume. There's a lot of evidence that shows that hospitals on tough cases that do lots of volume do it best, fourth nurses. All the best hospitals have got to have good nurses. And technology, we're in a technology age Betty and if we don't have the best technology in our institutions, we may be short shrift in our care.
NGUYEN: And it's true, but what about affordability? Did that come into, factor, when you went looking at these hospitals and how they ranked.
HEALY: We didn't look at affordability. You have to remember, in our current health system, so much of the system of bill paying is done and directed by half of the biggest bill payer in the world, which is the U.S. government. And there are DRGs and there are almost price settings that come in directly through government directive. So I think when hospitals have, when you compare hospitals on actually what they are billing, it is pretty comparable for most patients.
NGUYEN: OK, so let's get right to it. Shall we? We'll get to that ever important list. I got it right here. We're going to keep you in suspense because - oh, they're putting it all up there at once. I was going to keep you in suspense. That's all right. Let's start with UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Why did that one come in at number five?
HEALY: Well, all of this hospitals, the honor roll, remember 176 hospitals ranked out of about 5,000 hospitals in the country. The honor roll and here you're looking at the top five. There are actually 14 on the honor roll. They were all hospitals that were great in six or more specialties. And of course, what you see is John Hopkins.
NGUYEN: They're always number one in many of these lists. Why is that?
HEALY: They led in 15 of 16 major specialties. After that is Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic. And after that of course you see the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and then as you mentioned UCLA, all of them excellent in multiple specialties. It gathers the breadth as well as the depth of their performance.
NGUYEN: It does. Now your report does something else that's very important, I feel, because, just because you're number one in the hospital category, doesn't mean you're number one in each specific treatment. So when it comes to treatment of ailments like cancer and other types of illness, you also rank them as well, don't you?
HEALY: That's correct. For example, in cancer, you see Sloan- Kettering in New York. You see MD Anderson in Houston. If you look at the area of orthopedic surgery, you'll see coming in number two is the hospital for special surgery in New York City. So it includes the specialty areas that you have to look at.
And by the way, Betty, I think people ought to go to the Web site, usnews.com, because there they can see much more detail about the top 50 hospitals in the country and the top 50 hospitals for a given specialty. Because even when people go to the web or have a problem, they're going to go into the hospital, it is usually because they have one particular disease.
NGUYEN: A lot of people don't live near these top ranked hospitals, so it's a good way of them finding which one is in their area that does lead in the ranking, at least among the top 100, but which leads to my next question. Do you have to be a big, established hospital to get innovative treatment?
HEALY: No, not necessarily. I mean you have to be a good hospital and I looked on the web this morning and I pulled out Sarasota Memorial Hospital. It is ranked in six specialties in six different areas, you get excellent care and so often, it's a great tribute to American medicine is the diffusion of excellent quality from major teaching centers into community hospitals and questions that patients should be asking. Where did you train? Where did you get your specific training in heart disease? Where did you go to medical school? Often, patients are afraid to ask those questions but they should.
NGUYEN: That's true.
HEALY: And I think that the other thing you can see in our best hospitals listing from, year to year, is the extraordinary geographic dispersion of quality in this country. Even in that honor roll, you have five of the major centers are in the east. You have four in the Midwest.
You have four in the west coast. So everybody should be near a major medical center that is highly ranked. And everyone should have, even in a rural community, people who have been trained there who have benefited from the research that comes from those marvelous centers.
NGUYEN: You really nailed it when you said, you really got to ask questions. You got to do your research, because there's a good hospital near you. You just have to find it. Dr. Bernadine Healy, thank you for your time today.
HEALY: Thank you.
HARRIS: "CNN LIVE SATURDAY" is coming up at the top of the hour. You know who this is, Fredricka Whitfield is here. What are you and the fabulous team of yours working on this morning?
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR Good morning, Tony, we've got a whole lot straight ahead. We'll talk terror of course and you know the New York tunnel plot was discovered by agents watching Internet chat rooms. We'll show you how the web has become a dangerous tool for would be terrorists.
And in dollars and deals, euros to yen, a vacation overseas can cost you pretty big. But we've got some money saving tips you might not have thought of. All that and much more coming up at the top of the hour. Got any overseas travel plans Tony? HARRIS: I will pay attention first and then decide.
WHITFIELD: Because it's expensive. Airfare is really, really high right now to everywhere, especially abroad. But we got some money saving tips on how to stretch that dollar.
I will be there, paying close and rapt attention. Thank you, Fred. See you in a couple of minutes.
Dave Chappelle, we'll talk about it in just a moment though, had $50 million good reasons to work things out with Comedy Central, so why did he just walk away? We will find out when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues in a moment.
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HARRIS: When it comes to Dave Chappelle, hey, this is a good movie by the way. This is "Block Party" movie. This is really good. OK, so when it comes to Dave Chappelle, we've got an earful over the last year. Dave Chappelle signed a $50 million deal with Comedy Central, then Dave Chappelle skips out on Comedy Central and the $50 million and finally, Dave Chappelle has lost his mind.
He must be crazy. Well, tomorrow night, Comedy Central is releasing what they're calling the lost three episodes of the Chappelle show. So last night, Chappelle talked exclusively with Anderson Cooper. He wanted to dispel a few myths, address some comments being made about him and talk about the issue of the $50 million.
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CHAPPELLE: I think one of the things that happened. One of the incidents that happened with this, that was really off putting, is when I first signed the deal, there was like a big, don't mention the terms of the deal, babe, whatever you do, don't mention what you're making.
It should be a big secret. I go, fine, I won't. Then the next morning in the paper, it's like, Dave Chappelle makes $50 million. Which is like a social, it is like putting a social hit on a person. You know, it is like from that moment on, my life was completely different. I think that people judge you differently and then incentives were, you start dealing with agendas.
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HARRIS: You can watch "A.C. 360" weeknights, 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
NGUYEN: This has really gotten us talking. Would you walk away from $50 million. You said you would.
HARRIS: Once again, I can make money, I don't need $50 million.
NGUYEN: What is the price of that $50 million.
HARRIS: What's the price you pay for it.
NGUYEN: That's right. Let's pose that to Reynolds Wolf. I know you got busier things, more important than $50 million, you walk away.
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NGUYEN: Yes, "CNN LIVE SATURDAY" with Fredricka Whitfield is up next.
HARRIS: Right after this short break. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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