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CNN Saturday Morning News

New Developments in Child Rape Case; Preventing More Blackwater Incidents; How Much Damage Could Terrorists Do If They Launched a Cyber Attack?

Aired September 29, 2007 - 09:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning, everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We're nearing the end of September.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. So, this is what it's like on a Saturday morning.

NGUYEN: Yeah. Up bright and early. Are you used to it?

LEMON: No. T.J. is off today. I'm Don Lemon.

We have new developments this morning in a case of a little girl seen being brutalized on a homemade videotape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is safe. She's OK. The mother has cooperated with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Right now, police say this guy is a suspect and they are looking for him.

NGUYEN: And just listen to these names. Terren (ph), Lorenzo and Melissa. Yes, it is a stormy Saturday in the Tropics. Our Bonnie Schneider has all the info in just a bit.

Plus, you'll want to check this out.

LEMON: What's this I hear, you guys like implosions?

NGUYEN: Oh, we love an implosion.

LEMON: Just because T.J. is not here, we can still do a good implosion for you.

NGUYEN: Yes, we can and we will.

But we are starting with this, new today. An intense manhunt is under way for the suspect in this disturbing case out of Nevada, the sexual assault of a little girl seen on home made videotape. Authorities have found the girl and she is safe, but the suspect is still on the loose.

CNN's Kara Finnstrom has the latest now from Nevada and she joins us live. Any closer to finding this man, Kara?

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still no word on his where about this morning. But Betty as you mentioned, the focus here really has now shifted from looking for this little girl who late yesterday was found not only alive, but safe and with her mother to now trying to find her attacker, the man who carried out this horrific, brutal attack who authorities say is very dangerous and still out there somewhere.

Now, yesterday, they said their suspect in this case is a man by the name of Chester Arthur Stiles. He is someone that they had been looking for to question as a person of interest. As they found this little girl and spoke with her mother, they then learned that this family had had contact with Mr. Stiles, that he was a distant family friend. We learned yesterday this is a man being sought by the FBI and Las Vegas authorities.

He's wanted in connection with an unrelated case and in that case he's facing charges of lewd conduct with a 14-year-old. We've learned that Mr. Stiles has a combative past with police. We spoke with the sheriff of this county a little earlier this morning and he is urging Stiles to turn himself in, saying that he's got nowhere to run.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF ANTHONY DEMEO, NEY COUNTY, NEVADA: He needs to turn himself in. He's going to be captured. He's a hot topic. No one wants to touch him. Even criminals that are in jail right now are giving us leads as to where he may be. So even the bad guys understand that, you know, this guy should be taken off the streets because there are concerns for the safety of children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FINNSTROM: As for the little girl in this case, detectives tell us that when they found her yesterday, she appeared to be a happy 7- year-old girl. They say the mother said she had no idea that this abuse was taking place and they say that is a good warning for all parents. But they also tell us that there are some troubling questions that remain about this and the investigate will also look into why nobody picked up on any warning signs that this child had been so severely abused -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Well, that is what I want to ask you about. If the mother was unaware, weren't there some physical signs? This little girl, she was just 3-years-old at the time of that abuse.

FINNSTROM: That's one of the things that they'll be delving into. Because this is a case involving a child, a lot of those details will probably never be made public to us. It is a question everyone out here has had. Yesterday detectives said it's one that will be part of their investigation.

NGUYEN: We'll be watching for that and the search for Chester Arthur Stiles. Kara Finnstrom joining us live from Nevada, thank you. LEMON: In Washington, a small group of Republican Senators up for re-election have a new Iraq war policy proposal. A plan would set a goal for the president to change the mission of U.S. troops from combat to support roles within 15 months. That's shortly before President Bush leaves office. But that time frame is too long for many Democrats. They dismiss the plan as too weak.

NGUYEN: Preventing more Blackwater USA-type incidents in Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is sending a team to Iraq to review how private security contractors operate. This follows a shooting where Blackwater guards are accused of killing Iraqi civilians.

CNN's Brian Todd outlines a new report on that incident.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A source familiar with the incident report describes the scene at that crowded Baghdad intersection as mayhem. According to the initial state department report on the September 16 shooting obtained by CNN, Blackwater contractors at one point were surrounded by Iraqi army and police units.

BOBBY GHOSH, "TIME" MAGAZINE: When continued the Iraqi police or Iraqi military turns up in a situation, you can't tell whether they're good guys or bad guys because the Iraqi police and the Iraqi military is so thoroughly infiltrated by the various militias.

TODD: So far, details haven't been released publicly, nor has any evidence that the Blackwater guards exchanged fire with the Iraqi forces. Accounts differ on whether they pointed their weapons at each other. But a U.S. army quick response force had to come in and extricate the Blackwater team. While not speaking specifically about Blackwater, one U.S. commander was asked if he believes some private contractors are overly aggressive in these situations.

BRIG. GEN. JOSEPH ANDERSON, MULTINATIONAL CORPS, IRAQ: I have seen them in my opinion overreact, but that doesn't mean it's consistently the case.

TODD: An official with Blackwater USA denies published accounts that at last one Blackwater guard drew a weapon on his own colleagues and screamed for them to stop shooting. The Blackwater officials say "There is no truth to that." State Department officials say they are disturbed that these accounts are trickily out.

TOM CASEY, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: It's unhelpful to the investigation. It's unfair to any of those involved. And ultimately, while I understand why it makes for good copy, it doesn't necessarily shed any real light on the incident that occurred.

TODD: Both sides are sticking to their very different versions of this incident. Iraqi authorities saying Blackwater guards opened fire in discriminately in the busy intersection killing up to 20 civilians, Blackwater saying its team responded to an insurgent attack. As several different investigations into this incident continue, the State Department is now sending its own team to Iraq to review security contractor operations there.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: A possible array of hope in the struggle in Myanmar a U.S. envoy arrived just a couple of hours ago meeting with government leaders today trying to find a diplomatic solution. On the streets of the countries largest city, more military presence being seen there today, cracking down on pro-democracy protesters.

Take a look at these i-Report pictures. This is what it looks like today. It's getting harder to get accurate information out of there now. The Internet was a portal for prohibitive video and information coming out of the country, but now, all Internet links have been shut down.

NGUYEN: Rioting this morning in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad this after Pakistan's elections commission accepted President Pervez Nusharraf's nomination to run in next week's presidential election. Clashes erupted outside the commission building between Pakistani police and anti Musharraf's demonstrators.

Yesterday, Pakistan's Supreme Court cleared the way for today's commissioned vote. And the panel rejected petitions that would have blocked Musharraf from seeking re-election. Musharraf took power in 1999 during a military coup.

LEMON: New this morning out Afghanistan a deadly blast in the capital city of Kabul, government officials say a bomb ripped through a crowded military bus killing at least 27 people, most of them soldiers. Nearly 30 others were wounded. The government has said no one has claimed responsibility.

The calendar says fall but the picture say winter, take a look at this. Blowing snow in Mt. Hood, Oregon, Betty. Can you believe that? A western cold front dropped temperatures across the region and dumped snow in the higher elevations yesterday. It wasn't enough, though, to bring out the skiers and the snowboarders. But locals say it's an early reminder of the winter sport season is just around the corner.

NGUYEN: Well for some folks they are enjoying it right now. So if you're getting up this morning, and there's a new tropical storm that we do want to tell you about.

Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is in the Weather Center to talk about, there are so many names so far this year, which one is this?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well the newest one is Melissa.

NGUYEN: Melissa.

SCHNEIDER: For us a lot of excitement about that snow. I just want to show you where it is right now, we're seeing it slide further to the east and now we have a couple of spotty snow showers popping up in the higher elevations of Idaho at this hour. It's a tell tale sign that the winter season is on the away. This is not enough snow to ski on. So skiers you have a little ways to go before you can get the snow to do that.

All right. Back to the Tropics, it's still the tropical season, for sure. We have two storms on the map. Karen that is further to the west and Melissa. This storm just formed early this morning. The latest coordinates have the tropical storm with winds at 40 miles per hour, gusts as high at 50 and as the storm works its way to the west, we are watching it very closely because it looks like it may intensify a bit but then weaken.

What's happening over the Atlantic right now, it's a hostile environment for storms to develop? This is tropical storm Karen. And notice on the satellite perspective you can almost see a vertical line breaking down the clouds here. That's the wind sheer coming from the southwest, it's tearing down the storm. And as Melissa follows along the same track as Karen, we're expecting that storm to dissipate, as well.

But Karen may hold a surprise for us because this storm could intensify a bit as we get into Tuesday and Thursday we'll have to see, it's definitely something to keep an eye on. All the models are not agreeing as to where this storm is going to go or how intense it is going to get.

In the meantime, your weekend looks terrific. We are talking about gorgeous weather. Boston, New York, Philadelphia. Watch out for severe storms in the northern Plains.

Betty, Don.

NGUYEN: All right. We'll be watching. Thank you, Bonnie.

LEMON: I hear you guys are big fans of implosion. Even though I am just sitting in, I'm going to give it my best, OK?

NGUYEN: All right.

LEMON: Wait for it.

NGUYEN: Is that just beautiful, or what? Yes, Don, just the way we like it. This is actually though a piece of history is knocked down in England. It's the world's first nuclear power station, we are going to re-rake it and watch it one more time. Look at that thing crumble, it opened in 1956 and closed in 2003. And all four of those big cooling towers came down today.

LEMON: A cyber security threat on the nation's power grid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I woke up tomorrow morning and decided I wanted to do that against a generator, I could. And it would not be that hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Our power systems at risk in our cities, could they be going dark? Well CNN investigates how easily the system could be hacked.

JOSH LEVS, CNN DOT COM DESK: And I'm Josh Levs today at the CNN.desk. Topping our most popular video online this morning. This record breaking effort to shatter safety glass with your head. Ouch. All right. We're going to tell you if he succeeded. That is later.

LEMON: Ah, this one will get you. Probably draw some tears. A heart warming home coming for a marine dad and his two daughters. When CNN SATURDAY CONTINUES in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Earlier this morning, Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve brought us a report of detailing the damage that could be done if terrorists launched a cyber attack on America's power plants. Now the next part of her report we learned experts say that carrying out an devastating attack wouldn't be that difficult.

Here is Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A generator spins its way to self-destruction after a simulated cyber attack on its control system. Could it happen in the real world? A professional hacker says, you bet.

KEVIN JOHNSON, INTELGUARDIANS: If I woke up tomorrow morning and decided I wanted to do that against a generator, I could. And it would not be that hard.

MESERVE: First step, pick a target. Second, cyber reconnaissance. On the Web, a hacker can find a treasure trove of sensitive information and strangers who will give you more.

JOHNSON: I can ask any body, hey, what's the password for this system? And somebody will come back and say, oh, its tiger. And then I am able to log into that system.

MESERVE: Because in many cases default passwords on many systems have never been changed. And once in the system sometimes there are schematics mapping the route for a hacker to follow to lets say jam electricity to something like this and then potentially this, a blackout that could last for months and months. Cyber experts say it is a scenario with life or death implication that policymakers just have not taken seriously.

O. SAMI SAYDJARI, PROFESSIONAL FOR CYBER DEFENSE: Nuclear chemical biological attacks they are more immediately understandable because we've seen them and they result in body bags. Where as cyber attacks would result in body bags ultimately, but really, they attack is civilization, our way of life, which is much harder thing to grapple with.

MESERVE: The White House insists cyber security is a priority.

DANA PERINO, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The overall cyber security budget has gone up.

MERSERVE: Although the Department of Homeland Security is projected to spend only $12 million next year to protect control systems, administration wide cyber security spending will increase to more than $6 billion. But the control systems are owned by private utilities. They decline to talk with us about what they are doing to or how much they are spending to better secure their system.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Despite all the warnings and worry, there hasn't been a publicly known successful cyber attack against a power company control system.

NGUYEN: And CNN is committed to providing the most reliable cover to the news that affects your security so stay tuned.

In the meantime though, it's like America's funniest home videos when it comes to what people are watching on CNN.com right now.

LEMON: Our own Josh Levs is here to talk about some popular -- what's popular on the Web this morning, besides people googling Josh Levs.

LEVS: Of course, typing in my name. I love our hot videos this morning. They're so fun.

NGUYEN: How hot are they?

LEVS: They are so hot -- I'm not going to go there. Whatever I say will get me into trouble. So let's just get to the first video.

Straight from the Guinness World Records, watch this guy. He has to break safety glass with his head. He's German. So the contest is -- what does that have -- it happens in Germany which is why you see SEK instead of SEC.

He has to break ten within a minute; he gets a Guinness World Record. He ends up doing it. This is other scary -- let's move on to the next one. That guy is so scary; I don't want to disturb people so early in the morning.

These days, I don't know if you guys know this, people are stealing backhoes, then driving to an ATM and stealing the entire machine. They're not breaking it down to pull out the money. They're actually taking the machine somewhere. Even if you steal the machine, often you can't get the money and some machines are designed so if you try to get in and get the money it sprays all the cash with ink so it's unusable. Some places they're still doing it because some people have managed to get money out of it.

LEMON: There was over a $100,000 in that one particular ATM.

LEVS: Yes but they don't know if it has been spent. They this is out of Homestead, Florida. People love that because they got this video of it. They steal the backhoe and then they steal the machine. People try to count them down.

Last one, the most fun of all, I love G.I. Joe. Watch this, guys. 300 G.I. Joes in parachutes falling from the top of one of the tallest hotels in the world, that's right here in Atlanta. Almost all of them made nice, safe landings. This was kicking off a big G.I. Joe convention. They fell 500 feet that is 47 stories. G.I. Joe is still my hero.

Let's get back to the snake. Why won't you show people the snake?

NGUYEN: Why would he put those in his mouth?

LEVS: Fine. It's another Guinness World Record. He's putting live snakes in his mouth. How many snakes can one person put alive in his mouth and hang them?

LEMON: How many did he end up getting?

LEVS: He just smushed all of his heads together and opened his mouth really wide.

NGUYEN: There's some strategy. If you smush them all together maybe they won't bite you.

LEMON: Would you strategize for that?

LEVS: There you go. Always keep your anchors happy. New twist on breakfast sausage, right?

NGUYEN: It tastes like chicken, right?

LEVS: I love the videos and then they pulled out the ugly part of it.

LEMON: Somebody is saying gotta go.

NGUYEN: All right there is no more fun for now, but we'll talk to you later.

LEMON: Thanks, G.I. Joe.

NGUYEN: Well, Don, this one is for you because you have those Chicago roots. Celebrations in Chicago as the Cubbie's get yet another chance too break the curse.

And this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we say in the Marine Corps, reach down and grab a hold and find that inner strength to keep you going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: This one is definitely something for the heart. A marine's happy homecoming, later on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Budget troubles loom this morning over Detroit and all of Michigan States. The state legislature in Lansing will try to reach an agreement with the governor on how to deal with the $1.7 billion deficit. Two-thirds of the state's more than 53 thousand employees have been told not to report to work on Monday if there is a budget impasse and a shut down occurs.

NGUYEN: Well Don you know what they say, it is always better when it's free. Man that is one of my favorite words. So how do you get those freebies? Well our Gerri Willis has the secret.

GERRI WILLIS, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hi, Betty.

Who doesn't love free stuff? Get out those pencils. We found the best deals for the taking. First off everyone loves free samples but there are a few things to consider. Be careful of free product programs. Your inbox may be flooded with ads or there may be hidden fees. So read the fine print carefully. One Web site that connects manufactures with consumers is startsampling.com.

You also want to check out company Web sites directly like Tide.com and olay.com to sign up for discount coupons and new product samples.

We've all been charged with dialing 4 11. Now there's free directory assistance. That number is 800-Free 411. Listen to a few minutes of ads of advertising but you will get your number at no charge. And here is great freebie if you are an advent reader, go to Paperbackswap.com and choose a book you would like to read from a list and you'll get it in the mail. At the same time you list the books you want to get rid of. And when some requests to read it all you'll have to do is pop it in the mail, you will have to pay postage, but that's usually around $2.30.

Coming up at "OPEN HOUSE," that is 9:30 am, what do mosquitoes have to do with the mortgage melt down? In one part of the country everything.

Then we are uncovering America, how on organization is working to help Latino home owners and hanging a for rent sign in your window could get you some serious extra cash. We'll tell you what you need to know before becoming a landlord.

That is coming up on "OPEN HOUSE," Betty.

NGUYEN: Thank you, Gerri.

Well this story is for all of you long, suffering Chicago Cubs fans out there, including any cohort today, Don Lemon and our director. The Cubs are going to the postseason, folks, beating the Cincinnati Reds last night to clench their division. Don is dancing over here.

LEMON: It's the Cubs first trip to the post season since 2003. You know how that one ended. The fans, understandably, going crazy, gathering in front of Wrigley Field down in Wrigley, this neighborhood. The team is in Cincinnati. Now the Cubs just need to keep up that momentum. Come on, Cubbies, trying to win their first World Series since 1908. Probably the people who are the most upset about it are the White Sox on the south side. They don't like it when they do well.

NGUYEN: Do you have a good feel? Do you have faith?

LEMON: Omh.

A return marine, his daughters and a lot of tears. You are going to get chills. I promise you. Straight ahead in the news room on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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