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CNN Saturday Morning News
Senator Barack Obama Wrapping Up Overseas Visit in London; Emergency Landing in the Philippines; 100 Days Left Until the Presidential Election; Senate Working On a Massive Housing Rescue Bill; Iraq Banned from Competing in Olympics: Government Fighting Decision
Aired July 26, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, from the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is the 26th of June. Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: It's the weekend.
HOLMES: It is.
CHO: Happy weekend. Good to see you.
HOLMES: Good to see you this weekend.
CHO: Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho. Betty has the weekend off. Thanks for waking up and starting your day with us.
And take a look at this dramatic video from inside that Qantas flight that made an emergency landing. It's incredible. People are calm. The oxygen masks are, you know, they came down. And we're going to talk to a passenger who shot this video, what were those terrifying moments like?
HOLMES: And it was funny. You made the point, I didn't even notice, but they were still serving drinks.
CHO: Yes, flight attendants, oxygen masks on, are serving drinks, incredible.
HOLMES: We've got some more video. Some unfortunate video, really, a story to tell you about -- a couple of shark attacks happened on U.S. beaches. And one of them, one person, at least, in serious condition, another person lost a foot.
CHO: Yes, a 17-year-old boy and a woman. The boy was surfing -- check this out, as well -- a routine traffic stop, a bone jarring crash. And a police officer goes flying. It's incredible. We'll tell you exactly what happened.
But happening this morning, Barack Obama in London, wrapping up a week-long overseas visit -- and within the past hour -- he spoke at 10 Downing Street -- of course, that's where the prime minister lives. And he's going to head home to Chicago later today.
HOLMES: Now, this is the final stop of Obama's overseas trip. It started a week ago in Afghanistan. And CNN senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, has been on this trip. She joins us now from London.
Candy, hello to you. This is the last stop. Did he do what he needed to do and was trying to look presidential, if you will, on this trip?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, certainly they think so in the Obama campaign. They believed that back home what voters saw was a person standing toe-to-toe with world leaders, looking as though he could handle the job, because they understand that voters need to be able to envision their president as the president. And part of that entails being able to play on the international stage.
So today, he spoke with Tony Blair, the former prime minister here. He came then over at 10 Downing Street, as you mentioned, to talk to Gordon Brown. There's another meeting this afternoon and then it is back to Chicago.
One of the things that's been happening is while all these picture postcards are beamed back to voters in the U.S., whether it's standing in the midst of Berlin with 200,000 people or whether in Jordan looking over the city of Amman, or whether it's here at 10 Downing Street -- the McCain campaign has been pounding Obama, saying that, "Listen, this looks like a premature victory lap."
And when he gave what will be his final press conference over here in Europe, that's what Barack Obama addressed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D-IL) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In terms of a victory lap, it's hard for me to understand Senator McCain's argument. He was telling me I was supposed to take this trip. He suggested it, thought it was a good idea, although I've got to admit we had it planned before he made the suggestion.
John McCain has visited every one of these countries -- post primary -- that I have. He has given speeches in Canada, in Colombia, Mexico. He made visits. And so, it doesn't strike me that we've done anything different than the McCain campaign has done -- which is to recognize that part of the job of the next president and commander-in- chief is to forge effective relationships with our allies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Now, as whether forging effective relationships with U.S. allies is the right thing to do when back home they are looking at gas prices and home foreclosures remains an open question. In fact, Barack Obama himself said, "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a dip in the polls because he was over here, while, obviously, U.S. voters' minds are elsewhere.
So, we shall see. He is heading back. We do expect to see him in some of those battleground states fairly soon, T.J. So, this is the wrap-up here and it is back to those domestic issues when he gets back to Chicago.
HOLMES: And, Candy, you mentioned there about a possible dip in the polls. We've been watching the polls here in the U.S. for the past week and he's maybe lost some ground in some places. In fact, now, he was supposed to make this trip and this was supposed to be at least for the American audience, to see this guy that he could be toe- to-toe, as you mentioned, and stand next and look presidential.
But was his audience also a lot of the rest of the world? He is out there trying to showcase himself to Europe, to Afghanistan, to the MidEast.
CROWLEY: Sure, absolutely. No, absolutely. And he says, you know, "Look, it's a good idea for me to touch base with these people, to tell them what a Barack Obama administration might look like."
And frankly, the European leaders also have a vested interest in -- who is this guy, what does he actually mean about international trade when he sort of speaks as being against trade deals, where in Europe, obviously, they're quite pro of these trade deals. What does that mean? What exactly does he want to do in Iraq? Well, he wants us to step up in Afghanistan. What does that mean?
So, it was their chance also to begin sizing up a man who might be president. So, there was a lot of reasons for them to see him, and for him to see them.
HOLMES: All right, Candy Crowley for us on the trip in front of 10 Downing Street right now. Candy, we appreciate you this morning.
CROWLEY: Sure. Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: Now, get your countdown clocks out, set it to 100 days because that's what we have now between now and the critical vote November 4th -- 100 days for the candidates to get their final points across.
And while Barack Obama, of course, is overseas, right now, John McCain has been all over the place on the domestic trail, talking a lot about the economy, also talking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer about Osama bin Laden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: If you capture him alive, what do you do with him?
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R-AZ) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Of course you put him on trial. I mean, there are ample precedents for that. And it might be a good thing to reveal to the world the enormity of this guy's crimes and his intentions, which are still there. And he's working night and day to destroy everything we stand for and believe in.
BLITZER: Do you do him a regular civilian trial here in the United States, or is it a war crimes tribunal, a military commission -- what kind of legal justice would you bring him toward?
MCCAIN: We have various options, but the Nuremberg Trials are certainly an example of what we could move forward with. I don't think we'll have any difficulty devising an internationally supported mechanism that would meet out justice. And there's no problem there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And be sure to tune into a very special CNN "LATE EDITION" tomorrow. Wolf Blitzer has more with John McCain, plus, he'll be interviewing Barack Obama. Both candidates on one show, 100 days to go until you vote. CNN "LATE EDITION" comes your way tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
CHO: Now, a story we talked about at the top hour. In the Philippines right now, investigators are taking a close look at a nine-foot hole inside the -- of a Qantas jumbo jet. T.J., that hole is a size of a small car, and the plane carrying nearly 350 passengers made an emergency landing yesterday after the hole opened up in the fuselage.
HOLMES: And would you believe, and thankfully, nobody was hurt here.
Yes, these are some of those passengers after that experience. Many of them have now made their way to their final destination. But listen to this incredible story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you see on the movies, everything starts to shoot out of the aircraft.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, our Carol Costello now reports. People on board didn't quite realize what had happened until this whole thing was over.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is no small hole. It's roughly nine feet wide. But the 346 passengers on board and even the pilots didn't realize the enormity of what had happened until they got off the plane. The only clue, at around 30,000 feet, was the almighty blast.
VOICE OF ROB HENSHAW, PASSENGER: Look, it was very scary, because, you know, we were just about to have our lunch. And suddenly the plane lurched to the left. It was a loud banging explosion going off. And then the cabin depressurized.
COSTELLO: Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling and the pilots began an immediate descent to 10,000 feet, an altitude that would allow passengers to breathe without masks. Passenger Rob Henshaw shot these pictures as the plan dropped. HENSHAW: And there was just a lot of pain in the ears, roaring sounds of the wind, and stuff sort of flying around and the stewardesses are kind of running to their seat. So, we kind of knew it was serious.
COSTELLO: Passengers were told a door had popped and to stay calm. They were about to make an emergency landing.
OWEN TUDOR, PASSENGER: No one knew really what was going on. But it didn't seem that -- the staff weren't panicking and they were looking after us.
COSTELLO: Passengers were calm until they got off the plane and took a look at that gaping hole near the plane's baggage hold. They wondered how it happened. We did, too.
We showed the damage to Peter Goelz, a former NTSB investigator.
(on camera): What can you tell me from looking at this shot?
PETER GOELZ, FMR. NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: Well, you look at this, you see that the panel that came off has come along the rivet lines, the fastener lines, right along here. And it separated cleanly along those lines.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Goelz says it's hard to tell whether the plane had been damaged before the flight or in mid-air.
(on camera): If something did hit that to cause that hole, what would that something be?
GOELZ: Well, I mean, at that altitude, it's certainly not going to be a bird. What will happen is, they'll listen very carefully to the voice recorder, the cockpit voice recorder. And in a plane like this, there's probably five or six mikes in the cockpit. They'll listen to see if the fraction before the event happens, whether there was any preceding sound.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Investigators are already looking into that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Can you imagine? Thank goodness they didn't know what had happened when they were inside the plane.
HOLMES: That would scare the mess out of you.
CHO: The oxygen mask coming down, that's scary enough.
We're going to talk to Rob Henshaw. He was on the plane, a little later on in the show. And he shot incredible home video. You were talking about earlier, these flight attendants had their oxygen masks on, but still doing their jobs, serving the drinks -- incredible.
HOLMES: You know, if that was going, I'd probably want a scotch on the rocks, too.
CHO: Most incredibly, nobody hurts.
HOLMES: Nobody hurts, that's good news there.
But somebody was hurt in this story I need to tell you about now. A couple of apparent shark attacks to tell you about this morning. One was in Hawaii. Officials say a woman was snorkeling off of Makaha when she was apparently bitten by a 16-foot shark. Well, paramedics say the woman made it to the shore on her own, but then, she had to get some help from bystanders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY CHAPMAN, AIDED SHARK VICTIM: When I was putting on (INAUDIBLE) and she said, "You have to release this every five minutes. And I kind of give her a look like, "How do you know that?" You know, she informed she was a doctor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, lifeguards posted warning signs and closed a two- mile stretch of that beach.
To another now: a Florida teenager's foot was bitten off by a shark. The 17-year-old is now recovering. This bite took about 30 stitches to try to close up. So, apparently, it wasn't bitten off -- I should correct myself -- it was just bitten. Police say he was surfing with friends when the shark took that bite.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE FULTON, INJURED TEEN'S FATHER: He had just finished riding a wave in and had jumped off the board to turn around to go back out. So, I'm assuming his feet were on the ground and was bit from the bottom of his heel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, the incident happened yesterday of New Smyrna Beach, that's about 15 miles south of Daytona Beach. This is the 15th shark bite they've had in that county this year.
CHO: Bulk of them seemed to happen in Florida, don't they?
HOLMES: They do.
CHO: Lots of water.
A police officer on the side of the road and the edge of disaster. This jaw-dropping video was shot from a police patrol car, happened in Burnsville, Minnesota. You've got to look closely, but you can actually see the officer go flying, and amazingly no one was seriously injured.
HOLMES: Yes, the driver who plowed into that stopped vehicle is suspected of drunk driving. The town's police chief says routine traffic stops are becoming increasingly dangerous. He says eight of his department's squad cars and three officers have been hit by motorists.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: How much you bet that guy doesn't get away with just a warning? You know, call me crazy but I think ...
CHO: Suspected of drunk driving, yes.
WOLF: Yes, I think he's going to -- that's going to be bad news, hard to accept.
Hey, it's going to be rough for people across the nation. It's going to be warm one for you. No surprise, warm in Las Vegas, 106 degrees; 95 in Billings; and 102 in Dallas. We're going to have your complete forecast coming up in just a few minutes. Yes, just a few. See you then.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back, 15 minutes after the hour.
A slow going along the Mississippi River this morning. The coast guard has started allowing some ships through the muck near New Orleans. The river was closed for most of two days by a massive oil spill. Take a look at that.
Now, some of the ships are being allowed through depending on the importance of the cargo. Petroleum tankers were the first to move. Losses, by the way, at the port of New Orleans were estimated at $275 million a day.
Who knew Dolly was still sticking around?
HOLMES: Yes.
CHO: So, why was Dolly still dumping some rain in some places? Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is tracking it all.
I know you were in the center of it all. You made it to the eye and it's incredible. I covered a lot of hurricanes as you have, Reynolds. The eye is really calm. It's just one of those bands start moving in, right?
WOLF: Well, the eye itself is very calm. But the eye wall as it comes past your area, I mean, it's just unbelievable. We had some wind gusts there topping 100 miles per hour.
I believe we've got some video that we're going to share with you this morning. And you just get an idea of actually, this is the aftermath, I believe. Yes, this is taken on Thursday. You'll notice that we've got a lot of docks, a lot of boats in places where you wouldn't normally find them.
That's what happens when you have a category two storm that comes ashore. You'll notice the power lines are out. Water is out for much of the island, home to roughly 3,000 people, but, of course, during the summer months, this time of year, the population swells considerably. But this is really going to put a tremendous dent to the local economy. There's no surprise about that.
Let's go right back to the weather computer. As we go back to the weather computer, we're going to show you where the remnants of the storms were located at this point. Back to the four corners we go. You'll notice a little bit of shower activity along just north of I-40 back towards Phoenix, to Tucson, even to El Paso and Albuquerque.
But if you'll look very carefully, you'll notice a little bit of circulation. That's an area of low pressure. Not under pressure anymore, really not much of anything, just the remnants of Dolly.
But still there is going to be the risk of some flash flooding in parts of the four corners and west Texas.
Heavy rain this morning into the Tennessee Valley for parts of Nashville, back to Knoxville, and as far as south as Birmingham, Alabama and then to the north. Yesterday, we had some rough weather in parts of the northeast, places like New Hampshire, Vermont, very rough weather. In fact, we had some possible tornadoes in places like New Hampshire. One now at this point confirmed. We're still seeing some scattered showers just to the northwest of that location.
Across the nation, you get a warm summer day for you. Temperatures are going to 92 degrees out by Kansas City for Dallas and the Stock Yards, 101; and D.C. currently at 90; Boston with 85 degrees.
Let's show you a great shot we have in Texas right along parts of I-35. This is News 8 shot in Austin, Texas. You see The Capitol there on the one side, then on the other side, you can't see it, but I guarantee you it is the Colorado River.
And it's a beautiful morning, not a bad day to go out there for a quick jog. Make sure you just do it after our show this morning. So, you run and exercise, and be informed all at the same time -- what a great plan that would be.
(LAUGHTER)
CHO: And stay hydrated. You forgot that.
WOLF: That's one of those key components, you can't forget about that.
CHO: You clean up nicely, Reynolds, after being there in the storm.
WOLF: It's amazing what soap can do. Let's put it out there.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Reynolds, we appreciate you, we'll see you again soon. Well, jalapeno peppers from Mexico, do more than make you cry these days. It makes you sick. The latest on the salmonella investigation, the FDA is saying those peppers from Mexico have been the cause of it, also serrano peppers from Mexico are suspect. Well, that clears all American-grown peppers and all tomatoes that are on the market right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID ACHESON, DIRECTOR OF FOOD SAFETY, FDA: What the FDA has been doing based on that information is a series of trace-backs from the clusters -- a cluster being a group of patients who got sick from one common source or restaurant or something like that -- tracing those clusters back. And we traced a number of them back. And they have now all converged on Mexico.
What changed was the recent cases indicated that -- yes, tomatoes were still part of that, but jalapenos and serranos were now getting out in front a little bit. So, let's look and see if we can find problems with them.
So, it's not that the tomatoes have been exonerated, but an important consumer message is that tomatoes currently on the market, we do not believe are contaminated with the outbreak strain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: More than 1,200 people have been sickened in 43 states and in Washington, D.C.
CHO: Nobody was spared.
The clock is ticking on the presidential election. It seems like 1,000 days since this all started but the next 100 days will be critical. Josh Levs is here with more on that.
Hey, Josh, good morning.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It does feel like 1,000, doesn't it? It really does.
Yes, good morning to you, it's always good to have you down here.
So, yes, 100 days, folks, until the Election Day. But if you think you know how the race might be shaping, something from this exact same time in the last race four years ago, was about to give you a reality check.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Make up your mind. You've got 100 days now to make up your mind about who you're going to vote for. Well, maybe you've made up your mind, you can't wait to vote or maybe 100 days isn't enough for you to make up your mind. But it might be just around the corner for some of you. CHO: Yes, it feels like a long time. It feels like 1,000 days as I said earlier. But it's 100 days. So, these 100 days are going to be critical. Josh Levs is here to put it into perspective.
Hey, Josh. Good morning.
LEVS: Yes, hey, guys. You, too.
You know what? They're going to be battling just as hard when there are 100 minutes left toward this election. Really, it's incredible what lead up to this. And I've been thinking a lot about this lately because there's been all this attention, you know, on Barack Obama's trip and a lot of people are focusing on these candidates, really fascinated by them.
So, we started to look a little back at history. Let's first look right now where our Poll of Polls stand so you can see why John McCain has called himself an underdog and that Barack Obama is technically ahead. Now, that's barely within the margin. So, it really is technically, anybody's game. We've got Obama at 44 percent right now in our Poll of Polls and McCain at 41 percent.
So, I started thinking, what about four years ago, 100 days out, how do things looked at that time? Let's go to this next graphic. You're going to see that now. Look at that. The same time in the last race, John Kerry had a four-point lead and that was just outside the margin of error. So, actually, he was clearly in the lead doing, in that sense, a little bit better than Obama today.
Obviously, let's go to the last graphic now. Let's look at how that race ultimately turned out. You've got Bush who ultimately won, 51 percent to Kerry's 48 percent.
So, what does this tell us? Clearly, it's anybody's game at this point and despite all the talk and all this fascination, the truth is, pretty much the American electorate is split 50/50. And if you want a piece (ph) to any of these things, you can see them right here. We've got all this information at CNN.com at our election center.
This is our latest Poll of Polls. Let's close in right here and if we can pan down a little bit. You can see our latest numbers. We keep updating this all the time each week with our latest Poll of Polls.
If you want to look back to how it compares to 2004, all you need to do is go to the 2004 page. It brings you right there. So, guys, you know, it's something important to keep in mind that we have a long way to go here, and really the American electorate is split and it's no clearer right now who's going to win than it was four years ago at this same time. See?
HOLMES: See.
(LAUGHTER)
CHO: So there. HOLMES: We appreciate you, Josh. Yes, that Web site is a good resource. We appreciate you bringing it to us.
A lot of people right now are trying to keep their homes and a lot of them are not succeeding, a lot of people in foreclosure right now.
CHO: Yes, that's right. The mortgage meltdown as we call it. The Senate is taking action today over the weekend to help struggling homeowners, but this bill is really, really hard to understand. Will it help you? We're going to break it down in a live report coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Yes, hello. Wow, I didn't realize the microphone was on already, but hi. Welcome back, everybody.
CHO: Good morning.
HOLMES: I'm T.J. Holmes.
CHO: Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho. Thanks for starting the day with us. Hope you've had your coffee already like we have.
They've ruled out terrorism, some kind of mechanical problem is probably to blame for that gaping hole that opened up mid flight on a Boeing jumbo jet. It was a Qantas flight. And that's according to a TSA official. The Qantas 747 landed safely in the Philippines, unbelievably nobody was hurt.
We're trying to get on the phone the man who shot that video, his name is Rob Henshaw. He's safely back in Melbourne, Australia. But, really incredible stuff, and as we mentioned before, flight attendants are still doing their job.
HOLMES: Still doing their jobs, serving drinks while this is going on. Yes, hopefully, we can get him live. Hope to talk to him here very shortly.
Also, Barack Obama, the senator, he's heading back home to Chicago in just few hours. He's been all over the place lately -- last stop in London this morning, a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Before he leaves, he's making a stop at the House of Commons. Obama has, of course, been on the week-long overseas trip that also took him to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East.
CHO: That's right. Trying to tow the line between statesmanship and politics, but certainly a delicate balance but he'll be heading home to Chicago later today.
Meanwhile, homeowners are struggling to avoid foreclosure could soon get some help.
HOLMES: Yes, the Senate is meeting in a special Saturday session to vote on a massive housing rescue bill.
We want to turn now live to CNN's Kate Bolduan. She is in Washington for us.
Good morning to you, Kate. And this must be a big deal to get these folks to be working on a Saturday.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's hard to get us working on a Saturday.
CHO: That's right.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: Well, T.J., this is a bill, and we've heard a lot about it but it's really designed to give struggling homeowners a break and boost confidence in the housing market. It's been a long road getting here for the housing bill, but it's all led to what's expected to be the final vote during this rare weekend session for Congress.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Senators working overtime this week to push through a massive housing bill. A Democratic proposal enjoying broad Republican support aimed at offering homeowners some relief amid record numbers of foreclosures across the country.
SEN. HARRY REID, (D) MAJORITY LEADER: It's damaged neighborhoods. It's devastated local governments and state governments with the tax revenues, and it's made the bank industry very, very shaky.
BOLDUAN: The bill includes up to $300 billion in government guaranteed loans to allow homeowners facing foreclosure to refinance to more affordable mortgages. The bill also gives the government new authority to prop up the giant mortgage firm Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
There's about $15 billion in tax breaks, including a tax credit of up to $7,500 for first time home buyers. And there's $4 billion in grants to help communities fix up foreclosed properties.
This portion was a sticking point with the White House. The Bush administration is concerned the grants were more of a bail out for lenders than help for homeowners, but in the end, the president reversed his veto threat.
DANA PERINO, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: So, we had to make a hard choice and the choice that we made is that the president will accept Secretary Paulson's recommendation and sign the bill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Now, White House spokesman Tony Fratto told me yesterday that the president will sign this bill into law as soon as he gets the bill. But first, Alina and T.J., the vote is expected around 11:00 Eastern Time.
HOLMES: OK. You say he's going to sign it as soon as he gets it, but as soon as he signs it, how soon is anybody going to see some of the effects of this bill? It doesn't seem like anything happens too quickly.
BOLDUAN: It's difficult to get moving in Washington. But what they're hoping for is that, at least, this passing will boost confidence in the market right away. That, of course, is something that they're hoping. But the provisions of the bill, the tax breaks, and the government-backed loans, that goes into effect October 1st. So, that's when homeowners can really start looking for some effect.
HOLMES: All right. Kate Bolduan keeping an eye on things for us in D.C. Kate, T.J., Alina, Reynolds, all of us working on a Saturday along with the Senate.
All right. Thank you so much, we'll see you again.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, T.J.
CHO: And we'll be back again tomorrow, as well.
We are on the Olympic torch watch and it's continuing through China today. The torch bearers (INAUDIBLE) are 22 rescuers who helped the victims of China's killer earthquake back in May.
There are just two weeks to go until the Olympic Games, kickoff in Beijing, but for some athletes, their dreams are in jeopardy. This week, the Olympic committee banned Iraq from competing because of what it calls political interference. Iraq's government no surprise is fighting the decision.
CNN's Morgan Neill has more from Baghdad.
Morgan, good morning. Is there any chance that this ruling will be overturned?
MORGAN NEILL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alina, what the IOC says is that in order for there to be any chance for these Iraqi athletes to compete, Iraq's government would have to reinstate an Olympic committee that it disbanded in May, which the government says it will never do.
But at the end of the day, it's the athletes themselves who just had a nightmare couple of days. We went and visited with the couple of them to see how they're holding up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEILL (voice-over): One day after the IOC issued a letter banning Iraqi athletes from competing in Beijing, it was as if athletes like (INAUDIBLE) and Haidar Nozad hadn't heard. Like every other day they're hard at work, training for a race it appears they won't be a part of. "It's every athlete's dream to raise their country's flag," says Haidar, "and I was dreaming of being the one who carries Iraq's flag in the opening ceremony at the Olympics."
The IOC sent a letter to the Iraqi officials Thursday, saying Iraqi athletes would not be able to compete in Beijing. The decision, said the IOC, was due to political interference from Iraq's government, which disbanded the country's Olympic committee in May, accusing it's members of corruption. The country's minister of sports says the IOC hasn't taken the time to understand the government's position and that he believes there was corruption among the ranks of the committee.
"There are a lot of Baathist who left Iraq in 2003," he says, "they have conspired against Iraq, taking Iraq's money from the country's sports and sending it back in the form of car bombs and terrorism. We rejected them as sports people in Iraq."
We also sat down with a member of the disbanded committee, Hussein al-Amidi, who says the allegations aren't true.
"I blame the minister of sports and his advisors," he said, "because they have misled the Iraqi government with their lies."
But if political interference is what got Iraq banned from the games, observers wonder about countries like China, this year's host for the games, with the Olympic committee completely controlled by the government.
VOICE OF DAVID WALLECHINSKY, AUTHOR: What they've done is they've done it formally in a way that the Chinese Olympic Committee appears to be independent. And so, as long as you play by the rules, at least on paper, the IOC will ignore any government interference.
NEILL: The victims of all of this political maneuvering, of course, are the athletes who say they still hold out hope.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEILL: And now, the Iraqi officials are headed to Switzerland in hopes of finding some kind of last-minute resolution that would allow these athletes to compete. But chances appear to be slim.
Now, a couple of things stand out there. Within Iraq, this is clearly a sort of "he said, she said" situation trying to find out who exactly the telling the truth. But in the end, of course, it's the athletes and this country who suffer where sport -- this sport has been one of the few things that really unite Iraqis.
Secondly, some very serious questions about this IOC decision, when a country like China can compete, which completely controls its national Olympic committee and Iraq is banned for political interference in its committee -- Alina.
CHO: Morgan, it's such a shame when politics gets in the way of sports as you pointed out, especially because sports are so important there at this moment in Iraq. Have you gotten a chance to talk to any of the athletes and how they're feeling? Because, these athletes work their whole lives in some cases to get to this point.
NEILL: Well, we went out immediately when we heard the news and we met with a female sprinter, Dana Hussein (ph), who, she couldn't control her emotions. She was crying when we got there. We were able to talk to her for a short while.
Her coach was trying to comfort her, saying, "Listen, at the very worst you'll be able to compete in 2012." And she said, "In this country, with the horrible things that happen here, who's to say I'll be alive in 2012?" Alina?
CHO: Oh, my goodness. Morgan Neill with that incredible story and an incredible report -- we thank you for joining us live from Baghdad and we'll talk to you a bit later. Thank you, Morgan.
We want to go back to a story that we've been following all morning long. That Qantas jet that made an emergency landing in the Philippines with a nine-foot hole right in the fuselage. Rob Henshaw was on board that flight. He shot this traumatic video from inside the plane. We just saw some of it a moment ago in Carol Costello's report. And there you see it now.
As you can see, the oxygen mask came down. People still have their meals on their tray tables there and the flight attendants incredibly were still doing their job, serving drinks with their oxygen masks on.
And Rob, thankfully, we've made contact with him. He's on the phone with me now from Melbourne, Australia.
You already made it home, Rob. You must be so happy to be home. But take me back inside that plane. What on earth were you thinking when all of this went down?
VOICE OF ROB HENSHAW, PASSENGER: Alina, it was such a quick event. We had, you know, a large explosion and it really rocked the plane. It actually lurched to the left where the left wing went down a bit.
There was a really strong wind, there were lots of dust, and you know, papers and things flying around. There was stewardesses ran to their seats, kept orders. And, you know, within the short span of time, we couldn't breathe, and then the oxygen masks sort of flew out of the ceiling and we didn't know what was happening.
We really didn't know what was happening. You just sort of thought that, you know, something major is going on and you could hardly breathe and, you know, it started getting painful. So, it was very dramatic (ph).
CHO: I have to say, it gives me chills just hearing you talk about it. And I know it's been a couple of days now. I'm just curious to know because when I watch the video, and there we see the actual landing, which seems relatively calm given the circumstances, but I'm wondering, it seemed like people were relatively calm on the plane wearing their oxygen masks. I mean, what was it like inside there?
HENSHAW: I think when it first occurred and people were very worried. There was, you know, a guy behind me just was screaming. I think he was panicked, he was in pain, I don't know what was going through his head. The lady, you know, just a few seats up, she started screaming, all the kids are crying.
There was some infants, some babies, kind of, you know, just crying in pain, because obviously the ears, you know, being pressurized, it just sort of creates a lot of pressure in the ears ...
CHO: Rob, I have to interrupt you very quickly. I just want to -- because we don't have much time. I want to ask you, when did you realize what had happened? And what did the airline tell you initially happened?
HENSHAW: We didn't get told very much. We basically went down to 10,000 feet, it seemed almost OK, we slowed up, we landed very -- eventually. They said they're going to check the damage. We didn't know (ph) until we got out the plane and came in the other side, then we saw that hole and we said, "Oh, my God, this is an absolute miracle we got down, absolute miracle."
CHO: Well, I know you were scared out of your mind and I know you said a prayer. And I know a lot of people don't believe in miracles, but this certainly is a miracle that nobody was injured.
HENSHAW: Absolutely.
CHO: Rob Henshaw, we thank you for joining us on the phone from Melbourne, Australia. We had to work for it, but we're glad we got you on the phone. Thanks so much for sharing your story.
HENSHAW: Thanks, and all the best to your viewers.
CHO: Thank you.
HOLMES: Yes, it's one thing to be on the plane and we go on through that, but to get off and to see what was on the side of that plane.
CHO: Can you imagine? I mean, we're talking about a hole the size of a small car.
HOLMES: Of a vehicle. And they made it all right.
CHO: They did.
HOLMES: All right. Well, issue number one these days at the ballpark. The economy is hitting families, but is it hurting attendance?
Our Rick Horrow is on the way -- there he is, another prop. And a beautiful color on that shirt. We'll talk about it shortly. RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Beautiful.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Oh, boy. An ugly scene at a Minor League Baseball game. Take a look. Ten-minute brawl. It was ten minutes long, Thursday, between the Dayton Dragons and the Peoria Chiefs ended with the arrest of one of the players.
It doesn't usually get that serious. But the Dragons' pitcher, Julia Castillo is being held on $50,000 bond for an assault charge. He's accused of hitting a fan in the head with a ball during the fight -- incredible.
HOLMES: That was an ugly scene there. The person that was hit, by the way, taken to the hospital was released. Ugly there at the ballpark.
Another unwelcome, not so ugly, but unwelcome sight at a ballpark is empty seats. Is the economy right now forcing people to skip out on some sporting events?
Well, our sports business analyst, Rick Horrow, again, with us this morning from West Palm Beach.
We're talking about ticket prices and attendance (ph) this morning. The economy is hitting everybody hard. Those tickets are not cheap to any sporting event these days. Are people just cutting back now?
HORROW: My friend, yes they're cutting back. I appreciate you not using the segue ugly to refer anything other than that question, OK? So, $4.50 gas prices, the economy in the tank, what's the sport industry to do? Lower prices. The Braves are offering two to one deals for example. They're also offering a deal where you get gas rebates.
So, the whole idea of promotion is a big deal now and lowering prices. NASCAR's trying to eliminate those four night minimums at hotels. People are not going as much, they're watching on TV more, but they're still not going (INAUDIBLE).
HOLMES: Well, if people are, if they're cutting the prices, that still, I assume, is hurting the bottom line for a lot of these teams. Are they feeling any of these effects? Is it still better to have been somebody in the seat at half price than it is to have nobody in the seat at all, right?
HORROW: Yes, because they buy twice as many hotdogs, right, and beer and all of that. And so, there's a major sponsorship deal by the way, InBev, you know, and a $50 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch. Everybody says, "Oh, Armageddon, the world's falling apart," that's the biggest sponsor. That's not happening, 2009 all star game in St. Louis. So, Anheuser-Busch will continue with that brand but everybody's worried about sponsorship and corporate dollars and the economy. HOLMES: Oh, right. Let's turn -- everybody's worried about this and that, is anybody worried about what's going to happen when the football season starts? The NFL begins and we don't have or will we have this Brett Favre mess taken care of? How ugly could this thing get and could it have an affect on more than just the Packers, the NFL as a whole?
HORROW: I'm going to a Dolphin training camp right after this is over; I'm going to test my arm. I got a little ball. So, that will help me. But everybody is optimistic. The beauty of the NFL is that team, Dolphins one and 15, yet everybody says they're going to Super Bowl.
And look at the jersey sales in the last three months from NFL.com. They got Brady and Manning and Manning and Romo and all those guys, number one, a retired Brett Favre, whether he's a Packer, or a Viking, or a Jet, or a Buccaneer, stars sell in the NFL.
HOLMES: OK. And the jersey that's selling right now is his number four from Green Bay, right? Nothing else...
HORROW: Well, no, no because they can't sell it yet until he's traded if he is traded. Well, he knows if he's going to be traded or not. But I guarantee, the minute he's traded, if he is, those jersey sales skyrocket.
HOLMES: All right. We'll see. We're out of time here. We do want to talk to you more about the Olympics. I know we'll have you back. Olympics is about to kick off here in the next, what -- we got a good couple of weeks here, maybe. It's going to be kicking off. We'll talk about that later.
HORROW: We'll do the Olympics next week. I'm just thinking about training camp.
HOLMES: We'll do it next week. All right, have fun with the little football there and playing with the kids. See you, Rick.
HORROW: Yes.
CHO: Well, imagine being in the eye of a storm. A firsthand account from our very own Reynolds Wolf on what it's like to be right in the middle of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF: If you want to ask me a question, that'd be great, but I'm telling you I don't think Dolly's going to let me hear it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: There we are. Hurricane Dolly.
WOLF: Yes. CHO: History now, but it was a powerful storm that packed a punch in Texas, left a mess behind.
HOLMES: Yes. And it almost took out our boy here Reynolds Wolf; he was in the middle of it. All week long pretty much, things were calm at first as we saw but now as we will see as well, the calm did not last that long.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF: When we're here on the beach, we're trying to give you the story. We're expecting conditions here to deteriorate and there's a good chance we'd get sand blasted over the next couple of hours. Also, another component we deal with is the heavy rain. To sort (ph) of deal with the wind and rain, we've got to find some kind of shelter.
And if you look right over there, you can see the CNN gulf coast bureau truck and right next to that a two story tan building with hurricane shutters that are on. That is going to be our home base. For the next 24 to 48 hours, we're going to broadcast from that place to bring you the latest stories in South Padre Island.
Right now, we're near the top half of the storm. The eye should pass farther to our south but we're getting the real brunt of a lot of wind and of course, a lot of the rain, still on the backside, but we're still going to be dealing with that later on.
When these storms get closer to the land they're going (ph), there's a possibility that we could have a couple of tornadoes. There is a tornado watch in effect for this region as well as a flood watch and, of course, the hurricane warning in effect, too.
No surprise with these winds. If you wanted to ask me a question, that would be great, but I'm telling you I don't think Dolly is going to let me hear it. So, what I'm going to do for now is I'm going to send it back to you in the studio, guys.
We've been hearing noises that sound like tiles on some of the roofs close by, we think they're about to give way in just a little bit. I can tell you, it is really picked up in terms -- it's not just the wind but also the rain and the rain is one of the real big fears that we have in this area.
In fact, for a good part of south Texas, we already have a flood watch that is in effect. There's the anticipation of anywhere from say six to 10 inches of rainfall, some places could get well over a foot of rain, especially in areas like Brownsville.
Since we started just a few hours ago -- we started here a few hours, ago, it was maybe around 40, maybe few gusts to 50, but I can tell you, as the storm has been edging ever closer to the coastline, the intensity has begun to pick up. Here, we got a little bit of a breather. Take a look at this over my shoulder, you can see the waves, plenty of wave action. Yesterday, there was a decent beach, now there's not much of a beach at all. You see dunes covered with the saw grass and the water coming in. Much of it is just white (ph) water at this point. It's is an amazing thing to see all blown by this heavy, heavy rainfall. One of the things you really would not want to have...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Incredible. I mean, it's -- you can tell how windy it is by whether you have your hat on or not.
WOLF: Yes, crazy. Two people I want to mention, I would like to mention Jerry Appleman (ph) and Stewart Clark, my sound tech and my photographer. And you, it's so often during these stories, all you see is the bozo in front of the camera, the one you at home are looking at right now, but you don't get a chance to see the people working behind the scenes, that are holding on to a camera, that are trying (INAUDIBLE) to let us be heard.
CHO: And it's dangerous work. I mean, you and I both worked in local news in Florida and covered a lot of storms. And this is the worst storm to make landfall in a couple years, right? I mean, I know we're early in the season.
WOLF: Well, the last one was in Texas, that was back in 2005. There was Humberto. And that was one of those surprise storms that was just off the Texas coast and just blew up into a hurricane very quickly. It was there spinning for about 20 minute and a cup of coffee before it came on shore. It didn't cause any widespread damage.
But this is, by far, the strongest one we've dealt with in a while. Early in the season, too, remember, we go all the way through November. So...
HOLMES: We're just getting started.
CHO: Get your waiters out.
WOLF: It's going to be a long season.
HOLMES: Well, good stuff out there, Reynolds. We were worried about you for a while. We're glad you didn't get blown away, but really, good stuff out there.
WOLF: Me, too.
CHO: You're happy to get a shower.
WOLF: You bet.
HOLMES: All right. Well, of all the iReports we've received on Hurricane Dolly, this is one of the scariest we got.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: That's right. That's what it's like to ride out a category two storm on a boat.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back. Hurricanes can affect lives for days or weeks, years, after coming ashore as we saw with Katrina, of course, but it's the moment of impact that really burns into memory.
HOLMES: And our Josh Levs is joining us. Now, he spoke with an i-Reporter who had a front row seat as Hurricane Dolly roared ashore in Texas and a front row seat to a hurricane is not always the good thing.
LEVS: No. Have you guys seen this one? Do you know what she did?
HOLMES: What?
LEVS: You're about to find out. I mean, this is even crazier than some of the things Reynolds did. Yes, no exaggeration there. This was a terrifying experience and I can tell you right now that Lisa Graves had to do this again, she would not.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.
LEVS (voice-over): This video was taken by Lisa Graves on a ship at South Padre Island during Hurricane Dolly. She says at one point a sail boat crashed into the ship.
VOICE OF LISA GRAVES, REPORTER: I really did fear for my life at that time just because of everything that was going on and you have no control over it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurricane Dolly, unbelievable.
LEVS: Why was she here? Her boyfriend Steven Murphy (ph) and his brother Patrick owned two fishing vessels for tourists. The ships were docked, but the brothers feared debris could sink them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wind is coming from behind this boat. (INAUDIBLE).
LEVS: So, they stayed on with four crewmembers and Lisa who sent us i-Report photos and spoke to us during the storm.
GRAVES: It's absolutely outrageous here. The winds are high, just I mean, I can't describe it. In all my life I've never seen anything like this.
LEVS: Looking back now, Lisa says it was terrifying, especially when the others kept running outside to push away debris.
GRAVES: They were out there risking their lives and I mean, I was -- I was petrified and I was inside the cabin. You're at Mother Nature's will. So, I will never forget this for the rest of my life.
LEVS (on camera): Lisa, I am assuming you would never, ever counsel anyone else to stay on a boat in the middle of a hurricane, am I right?
GRAVES: No, no, I would never do that. In fact, my mother thought that I was staying in our condo, our house, and she found out the next day that I was on a boat and she's mad at me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: And I think more and more are getting a little upset when they find out what she did. Lisa's group did make it through fine. They're all fine.
But South Padre Island was devastated and Lisa's boyfriend and his brother they won't be able to run their tourist business for quite a while. Captain Murphy's as they call it.
So now, guys, they're going to be looking for work in a really rough economy. I just tell you, quickly, if anyone has any stories you want to share with us, iReport.com. Send it along photos, videos. We obviously love to share your story but never go to any danger ever to send us any iReports. There you go, guys. Amazing story, huh?
CHO: Yes, it goes without saying. Stay safe.
LEVS: Stay safe.
CHO: That's number one.
LEVS: Yes.
HOLMES: Josh, thank you.
And the next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING starts right now.
Good morning to you all from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
CHO: Good morning, T.J.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho in for Betty. She has the weekend off. Thanks for starting your day with us this morning.
HOLMES: And we will start with Barack Obama this hour. He is wrapping up a heck of a tour he has been on overseas. He has been meeting a short time ago with the current British prime minister, Gordon Brown, also met with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
CHO: Yes, that's right. It has been a week-long trip and today's stop in London is the last for Obama before heading home to Chicago. CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley has been following Obama on his European tour.
Not a bad assignment, Candy. She joins us now from London. Hey, Candy, as you've been reporting, of course, Obama has been trying to strike this delicate balance between statesmanship and politics. So how has he been doing?
CROWLEY: Well, we'll see. I mean, he says that he believes that he has acted -- at one point he called himself a citizen of the world. He did have to remind people yesterday at a news conference where the French president was standing right beside him that he was a U.S. senator.
Certainly, though, the problem is that they're trying to project these images of Barack Obama as a world statesman and at the same time, trying not to act like a president and honestly, sometimes it is easy to confuse those pictures.
As you mentioned, this is his last stop, London, before he heads for home. He's really sort of meeting with the former and current power structure here in London. He met this morning with Tony Blair, now a European envoy to the Middle East. Then he came over here to 10 Downing Street where he met with the current prime minister, took a little stroll through the park.
So, what he is doing, again, as he says, is forging alliances, trying to make a better connection between the U.S. and Europe. Now the question is, how does it all play back home?
And so, as Barack Obama left 10 Downing Street, that was one of the questions he addressed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I wouldn't even be surprised if -- that in some polls that you saw a little bit of a dip as a consequence. We've been out of the country for a week. People are worried about gas prices. They're worried about home foreclosures.
So the reason that I thought this trip was important was I am convinced that many of the issues that we face at home are not going to be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: As you know, Alina, the Republicans and John McCain have taken full advantage of Obama's absence from the U.S. campaign trail. They accused him of not addressing issues -- home and hearth issues, home foreclosures, gasoline prices. Today Obama shot back and said, listen, John McCain came over here after his nomination was set and he made virtually the same stops I have made.
And I will tell you that in an interview yesterday, I said, yes, but you got more attention. And he said, I did, but he, in fact, went to all these same spots. So -- and he also noted that it was John McCain who said, boy, he really needs to get over there and see Iraq and see Afghanistan, and so he did it. So today firing back and certainly you can see how the two are now beginning to re-engage on the U.S. campaign trail as Barack Obama heads home to Chicago.
CHO: That's right and no question, he's getting a lot of attention. I mean 200,000 people in Berlin for his speech. Of course, McCain feeling it, as you mentioned, Candy, saying in his radio address this morning, as you know, I'm starting to feel a little left out. Maybe you are too. I know you've been covering Obama a lot and we look forward to your reports later on this morning. Candy, thank you.
CROWLEY: Thanks, Alina.
HOLMES: Well, John McCain is feeling a little left out these days. He's trying his best to get some attention by still hitting his opponent even though his opponent has been out of town for a week. He is not backing down from his own strong comments that he aimed at Barack Obama.
And he spoke with our Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: You also made a very serious charge against Senator Obama. You've repeated it. You say you stand by it, that he would rather lose a war to win a political campaign. Raising questions about, you know, his motives. Joe Klein writing in TIME magazine says: "This is the ninth presidential campaign I've covered, I can't remember a more scurrilous statement by a major party candidate. It smacks of desperation."
Those are pretty strong words from Joe Klein, whom you obviously know. But tell us, what are you charging? What are you accusing Obama of doing?
MCCAIN: I am accusing -- I am stating the facts. And the facts are that I don't question Senator Obama's patriotism. I'm sure that he's a very patriotic American. I question his judgment because he lacks experience and knowledge and I question his judgment.
I'm not prepared to see the sacrifice of so many brave young Americans lost because Senator Obama just views this war as another political issue for which he can change positions.
And everybody knows that he was able to obtain the nomination of his party by appealing to the far left and committing to a course of action that I believe was -- I know was wrong because he said the surge would not work. He said it wouldn't succeed.
No rational observer in Iraq today believes that the surge did not succeed. So, he just treats it as another political issue because he doesn't understand and he doesn't have the knowledge and the background to make the kind of judgments that are necessary.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: And be sure to tune in to a very special CNN "LATE EDITION" tomorrow. Wolf Blitzer will have more with Senator John McCain, also Barack Obama at the Unity conference happening in Chicago. Both candidates on one show, 100 days to go until your vote is counted. CNN's "LATE EDITION" comes your way tomorrow 11:00 Eastern.
CHO: There are new tallies out this morning on just how much the Iraq War is costing us. The Congressional Research Service estimates the U.S. has spent a staggering $648 billion on Iraq. That's $588 billion more than the White House predicted it would cost back in 2002. What's even more surprising is that the Iraq War bill is close to exceeding what Vietnam, the second most expensive war in U.S. history, would cost if it happened today, and that's $686 billion.
Help for struggling homeowners, the Senate is meeting today in a rare Saturday session to approve a housing assistance bill. That bill would allow homeowners facing foreclosure to refinance to more affordable mortgages. It would also allow the government to prop up the giant mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The White House says President Bush will sign the bill -- T.J.
HOLMES: Well, how would you feel about flying in a plane that had a hole the size of a small car in it? That's what some people had to go through and that investigation in the Philippines is going on right now, looking at this nine-foot hole that was in the side of a Qantas jumbo jet.
Look at this video, dramatic stuff that was shot by a passenger on that plane. His name is Rob Henshaw. The plane was carrying about 350 people. You can see they have those masks on. They had to make an emergency landing yesterday after that hole opened up in the fuselage. Nobody was hurt here.
Rob talked to us live just a few minutes ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HENSHAW: Now, it was such a quick event. We had, you know, a large explosion and it really rocked the plane. It actually lurched to the left where the left wing went down a bit. There was a really strong wind. There was lots of dust and you know papers and things flying around.
There was -- the hostesses -- stewardesses actually ran to their seats on the captain's orders and within a short span of time we couldn't breathe and the oxygen masks sort of flew out of the ceiling and we didn't know what was happening.
We really didn't know what was happening. We just sort of thought that, you know, something major is going on and you could hardly breathe and, you know, the air started getting painful. So it was very dramatic.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Well, investigators say they are now ruling out terrorism, at least. They're now focusing on some kind of mechanical problem that may have caused that massive hole in the side of that plane.
Turn to now New Orleans and the Coast Guard, slowly reopening the Mississippi River for shipping traffic. A big oil spill near New Orleans caused ships to stay anchored for two days. An investigation into the tanker collision that started this spill is going on. Cleanup going on right now and some of it even being done by hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SR. CHIEF PETTY OFC. STEVE CARLETON, U.S. COAST GUARD: They actually will take them, put them onto the surface of the water and work them across the surface because the oil is floating up on the top there. And when they get dirty they'll bag them up and they'll cart them off for disposal. But you see, it's very labor intensive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Quite. They're not the only ones cleaning. Ships have to be cleaned too. The ones that make it through that oily area, they have to be stopped to have their hulls scrubbed. It takes about three to four hours to do this cleanup job and it keeps them though from dragging more oil up the river. So just a mess going there.
CHO: That's God's work.
HOLMES: Oh my goodness.
CHO: Well, people in south Texas are being warned about what might be lurking in the floodwaters. The flooding was caused by hurricane Dolly, which brought as much as a foot of rain in some areas.
HOLMES: Well, officials now say snakes, tarantulas, and fire ants are swimming all around in that water. Dolly, of course, hit Texas as a Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday, 15 Texas counties were declared federal disaster areas.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Well, it doesn't matter, some say. You could be rich, famous, recognizable, influential, but if still you are black, police just might treat you differently anyway.
CHO: Yes. We're going to hear from one well-known comedian who says, yes, that happened, part of our special documentary "Black in America." It's getting a lot of attention and we're going to talk to Soledad O'Brien on the other side of the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We'll have an encore presentation tonight of our groundbreaking documentary "Black in America." CHO: Yes. So many people have seen it. It's getting a lot attention. We want more of you to see it. When it comes to African- American and the police, some say blacks face unfair treatment and it doesn't matter at all whether you're rich or poor, some say.
Special correspondent Soledad O'Brien takes a closer look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is South Central L.A. In the 1980s, these streets were a symbol of racial hatred and gang warfare. The infamous Rodney King beating led to the deadliest riots in more than a century. It's where actor and comedian D.L. Hughley grew up.
He was a gang member in the notorious bloods.
D.L. HUGHLEY, COMEDIAN: I never felt more a part of something, more connected, more powerful than I did when I was with this group from my neighborhood that was all about us looking out for us.
O'BRIEN: But Hughley got out when murder took the life of his cousin.
D.L. HUGHLEY: He lived in a Crip neighborhood. Then some cats killed him who happened to be bloods. At that point, I realized I didn't want to die and I didn't want to kill anybody. This wasn't real for me. This wasn't a real option for me.
O'BRIEN: Today, D.L. Hughley has achieved great success. But he believes, as a black man, he's always a target of the police.
D.L. HUGHLEY: When you're black, your skin color is always in the equation.
O'BRIEN: An equation, Hughley says, where it doesn't matter how rich you are or how famous you are. It's something he tells his son Kyle daily.
D.L. HUGHLEY: He already knows and he has learned from the time he was 12 years old how to speak to the police, what to say, what not to say, to view the police differently than everybody else.
KYLE HUGHLEY, SON OF D.L. HUGHLEY: If they ask me a question that I'm uncomfortable answering, I say, officer, I respect your job, but I would appreciate you if you would just call my parents and I'm not saying anything else.
D.L. HUGHLEY: And it's just sad that I've had to have those conversations with him.
O'BRIEN: Hughley tells the story of sending his son on an errand to a local jewelry store.
D.L. HUGHLEY: The security guard pulls a gun on my son. The jeweler calls me and said, oh, I'm so sorry, we didn't know who he was. We had just got robbed. And there were people that came in and they looked the exact same way.
My son was going to get -- do exactly what I told him to do. He didn't do anything wrong. He's not a bad kid. That's how it happens, just like that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Really incredible. Our Soledad O'Brien has put together a series of reports for this amazing four-hour documentary. She joins us by phone by New York.
Hey, Soledad, thanks for waking up, my friend.
O'BRIEN: Hi, Alina. Of course.
CHO: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: For you, anything.
CHO: All right. Hey, listen, I'm biased because you're my good friend. But this is a fascinating piece of journalism, two years in the making, 16 months of shooting. Really, I know a labor of love for you. What surprised you the most as you started to investigate this issue?
O'BRIEN: You know, you heard D.L. Hughley tell that story. And what surprised me was hearing that same story almost verbatim over and over again, the story of, as a black parent, whether you're a single mom living in impoverished Detroit, whether you're D.L. Hughley in your giant Hollywood mansion, whether you're a middle class family, mom, dad, several kids, everybody had the same story, almost verbatim, the conversation they had when their son was about 12, here's how you behave if you're stopped by the police, whether you've done something or not, here's how you behave.
And some people, and I said, I really felt like a lot of people who aren't black don't really understand that conversation because people have said to me, well, everybody has a conversation, you know, respect authority, how you behave and treat the officers who stopped you.
I said, no, for black children, it's, we want you to survive that confrontation, that meeting. I mean, there's an element of, I don't want you to get shot that I think other people don't have conversations about.
CHO: Yes. I think that's really hard for people to understand, as you mentioned, unless you're living it. I know it's kind of like picking a favorite child, Soledad, but is there one story -- I mean, there's so many over the four hours and it's so fascinating, but is there one story or one person that really sort of resonated with you, stuck with you?
O'BRIEN: No. There's a lot. You know, we love the Rand (ph) family because they have sent their six kids off to college and they are doing so well and they really are a symbol of middle class black America that I think, Alina, really almost never gets covered on mainstream television.
And then you have the story of Eric Kennedy (ph) and his dad, Eric Sr., who are truly struggling, one step away from being homeless, I mean, literally. in two-and-a-half weeks they will be homeless because, you know, the landlord has decided that he's going to make the apartments a single family home. You know, through nobody's fault, they could be back out on the street. And so both of those ranges of black experience are really fascinating to me.
CHO: Well, lots of well-deserved accolades for this fascinating documentary.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Alina.
CHO: Soledad, congratulations. Thanks again for waking up with us and be sure to tune in tonight, 8:00 p.m. to Midnight for a special encore presentation of "Black in America," and again tomorrow, 8:00 p.m. to midnight.
HOLMES: Well, even before our special airs, CNN received a huge number of iReports from people who wanted to share their experience of being black in America. Josh Levs has been looking through those for us.
Good morning to you, again, Josh.
LEVS: Good morning to you guys. You know, we've got more than a thousand "Black in America" iReports, this is one of our most popular iReport topics ever in the history of iReports, since it was created.
And what I want to do is start off with a piece of a video, one video iReport we received from Vince Priester who said that he feels that too often black existence today is becoming about documentaries and historical research.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VINCE PRIESTER, IREPORTER: It's like we're some type of sociological lab rat. And I myself, a black man, really feel that pressure. Also, I think that we need to move forward from documentaries and historical research and take action, action on education, the restructuring and renovation of the black family, and just a sense of pride and a sense of being an American.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: All right. Quickly, I want to show you one more that we received, a photo and some writing that was really interesting. This one comes to us from Anthony Williams who says: "I think we as black men want society to feel what we go through on a daily basis. It's sad that I feel scared and don't want to come out of the house when the police bulletin states they're looking for a six foot black male between 170 and 200 pounds. I worry I will get pulled over and some police officer will decide to shoot first, ask questions later."
Guys, this is what has happened on the iReporters, it has really become a place for discussions. People responding to each other, weighing in. You can join the conversation at ireport.com. Throughout the morning today, we're going to share more. And in the noon hour today we're going to take a look at your reactions to CNN's special -- guys.
HOLMES: All right. Josh, we appreciate you, buddy. We'll check in with you again.
LEVS: Thanks.
CHO: And your blog getting a lot of attention too. So get on cnn.com and read it.
Well, it's now less than two weeks until the Olympics get under way in Beijing.
HOLMES: And we've been, of course, introducing you to some of those athletes, including one family pretty much making up their own Olympic team.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: The Olympic games just around the corner now and many of the athletes starting to say good-bye to family and friends before heading over to Beijing. But our buddy, CNN Sports Larry Smith is here with us now to talk about one family that doesn't really have to say good-bye to family.
LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: No, they don't. It's funny, T.J., from so many Olympians arranging travel details and accommodations and tickets for family members, it's a chore and it's also very expensive. But for the Lopez family, well, they figured out a way around that. Four kids in the family, no problem. All four are Olympians.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN LOPEZ, USA TAEKWONDO COACH: You know, I think you have a better chance of winning the lotto than seeing something like this happen.
SMITH (voice-over): It's one thing to have an Olympian in your family; but imagine being an Olympic family. Meet the fighting Lopezes, three siblings, all world champions in Taekwondo, all U.S. Olympians, the first time that has happened in more than 100 years.
J. LOPEZ: Actually, we broke that record because the older brother is coaching them, so there's four siblings on the Olympic team.
SMITH: I stand corrected.
Leading the way is 29-year-old Steven, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who hasn't lost a match since 2002. Joining him as Olympians for the first time are little brother Mark and baby sister Diana. STEVE LOPEZ, 2-TIME GOLD MEDALIST: I think it has been the toughest part to be the princess, the little sister, also having three older brothers who picked on her a lot as she was growing up, but I think that's what has made her the toughest.
DIANA LOPEZ, FIRST-TIME OLYMPIAN: They opened the doors and the road for me to make it easy for me. I train with the best. I train with guys. No one is going to be stronger or faster in the ring.
You know, the sky is the limit for Marky. You know, he's Hollywood. He does his back flips after he wins.
MARK LOPEZ, FIRST-TIME OLYMPIAN: Yes, I like to please the crowd. I like to blow kisses. I like to show my appreciation when they support me.
SMITH: Not only do the Lopezes share a deep commitment for each other, but all are driven by a fiery competitive spirit that never takes a day off.
D. LOPEZ: We can never have this little friendly game of poker or anything because it just excels and becomes competitive.
J. LOPEZ: Having four siblings, the nature of going home for dinner and knowing that if you're late for dinner, that, you know, you wouldn't have any food left because we're big eaters, can drive anyone to be competitive.
SMITH: But knowing how and when to push that drive is big brother and USA coach Jean.
M. LOPEZ: He's the most essential part of the formula. Without him, we wouldn't even be on a national team together. We wouldn't be in this sport together. I mean, he's a father figure, psychologist, our manager, our agent. He's everything.
J. LOPEZ: At the end of the day, it's the unconditional love for each other that, you know, pushes each other to levels that we never thought that we could accomplish.
S. LOPEZ: The question has been asked, you know, would you rather win your third Olympic gold medal or them win their gold medals? And I mean, that's a no-brainer. I would rather them win two gold and me not win.
SMITH: But for the Lopez family coming up one short just isn't an option.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: In case you're wondering, Mr. and Mrs. Lopez will be in Beijing watching all four kids in action. Sugar Land, Texas, their hometown, a couple weeks ago had a big celebration on a Saturday night to say good luck to their first family of Olympics before they went on to Beijing. HOLMES: Well, that's awesome. We appreciate it. We know you're heading over, we'll see you in Beijing as well. Good to see you, Larry.
SMITH: All right. Take care, good seeing you too.
CHO: So jealous. That's a great assignment.
Well, she may be tiny, but she's the sweetheart of the rodeo and she does it for a good cause.
HOLMES: Oh my goodness. What is that?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Well, take a look at this. Time for a little wrangling with Dawn (ph), the rodeo monkey. Go, girl!
HOLMES: Oh, please.
CHO: Former rodeo star in Missouri trained the monkey to ride a border collie. Yes, this is true.
HOLMES: This just looks silly to me.
CHO: Your eyes are not deceiving you.
HOLMES: He says it took two years to train the dog. The act, actually, benefits the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, so some good comes of this foolishness.
CHO: And that is why we are telling you this story.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHO: We're going to be back in 30 minutes. But right now, it's "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
