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CNN Saturday Morning News

WikiLeaks Releases Iraq War Docs; Deadly Cholera Outbreak in Haiti; Obama Hits Campaign Trail

Aired October 23, 2010 - 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: Here we come up on the top of the hour here on the CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

As we know, people are heading to the polls in 10 days. Imagine getting there and a pollster asks you to change your clothing. That favorite t-shirt you are wearing, maybe you shouldn't wear that. We'll explain why wardrobe matters on Election Day.

MALVEAUX: Just when you thought you had the perfect credit score, well, think again, 720 is the new 680. We're going to explain what that means.

HOLMES: Yes. Hello to you all. From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING for the 23rd day of October. I'm T.J. Holmes.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Thanks for starting your day with us.

Just within the past two hours, we heard the founder of whistleblower Web site WikiLeaks defend the release of almost 400,000 classified military documents from the Iraq war.

HOLMES: Now, you know, WikiLeaks, this Web site that is essentially dedicated -- dedicated to doing these leaks, that's the reason why they were founded. They put out so many documents, you remember earlier this summer, about Afghanistan. Well, this time, they are going with Iraq documents. They sent this out late yesterday.

Now, certain news organizations got them early. CNN was offered to get the documents in advance of the release. However, we here at this network declined because there were conditions attached to accepting the material.

But, we are going by what other organizations have done in reviewing those documents, including "The New York Times," saying the documents provide a new look at the number of Iraqi civilians killed in the war as well as the role that Iran has played in backing militants in Iraq.

The documents also say that Iran provided Iraqi militants with the most lethal type of roadside bombs. Also included are reports of abuse by Iraq's army and police.

The British newspaper "The Guardian," another organization that reviewed the documents, they say they found details of torture, summary executions and war crimes.

The Pentagon has been critical of the head of WikiLeaks and the site itself. And this time around, it's saying the release of these documents could expose military tactics, techniques and how the military works with Iraqis, adding that Iraqis who worked with the U.S. forces could be in danger now.

Our Atika Shubert was at the news conference that was held by the WikiLeaks founder and another team a little earlier this morning, just a couple of hours ago.

Atika, hello. What did they want to highlight as being some smoking gun, if you will, found in these particular documents?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, the highlight of it is really just exposing the day-to-day chaos happening in Iraq. Among this, of course, is the very high civilian death toll, Iraq body count.

One of the groups involved with WikiLeaks on this project says that there are 15,000 civilian deaths that previously were not known to the public and that have been found in these documents. So, they are adding that to the total death toll, to bring it to about 120,000 civilians killed in Iraq.

Now, Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks editor and founder, has also said he found compelling evidence of war crimes by both coalition troops and Iraqi security forces. He says this disclosure is about revealing the truth. Here's what he said there:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN ASSANGE, FOUNDER, WIKILEAKS: In our release of these 400,000 documents about Iraq war, the intimate detail of that war from U.S. perspective, we hope to correct some of that attack on the truth that occurs before the war, during the war, and which has continued on since the war officially concluded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: One interesting thing to note from this press conference is that Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the Pentagon papers from the Vietnam War, actually made an appearance and gave his wholehearted support to Julian Assange, to WikiLeaks, saying that he had been waiting decades to see a leak like this. It is now the biggest leak of U.S. military records in history, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. CNN's Atika Shubert for us in London -- Atika, we appreciate you as always.

MALVEAUX: Well, less than a year since a massive earthquake devastated Haiti, the people are still trying to recover. And they are mourning the loss of loved ones. And now, there is another tragedy, a deadly cholera outbreak now.

Our Hala Gorani is telling what is being done to help. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A chaotic scene in the town of St. Mark, where hospitals are overflowing. Witnesses say the sick are lined up, many on stretchers, some waiting 24 hours or more to get medical care.

The Red Cross and other humanitarian agencies are rushing doctors, medical supplies and clean water to the affected region. The doctors call it the biggest medical crisis in Haiti since the January earthquake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a worrying situation. We are concerned and we are mobilizing much more tomorrow to make sure that we found (INAUDIBLE).

GORANI: Haiti's prime minister confirmed the outbreak, the first in the country in decades.

JEAN-MAX BELLERIVE, HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER: We are in contact with the CDC and we made all the analyses that has to be done in that case and we can confirm we have specific cases of cholera in Haiti since Tuesday.

GORANI: Doctors are trying to determine where the cholera came from. There are fears the Artibonite River, which irrigates much of central Haiti may be contaminated. There's also concern the outbreak could spread to the crowded tent cities in Port-au-Prince, where thousands of quake survivors are still living in makeshift tents.

GREGORY HARTL, WHO GLOBAL RESPONSE TEAM: The disease hasn't been reported in those camps yet. But the camps aren't far away from where the disease is being reported. So, the local and international community is going to have to work very hard, very fast to try to get supplies in. But, also, do a lot of education with the people in the camps about measures which they can take in order to prevent contracting the disease and prevent spreading the disease.

GORANI: Hala Gorani, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Well, heavy hitters from both parties are hitting the campaign trail as the midterm election approaches -- fast approaching.

HOLMES: Yes, Sarah Palin delivered a surprise speech at a rally in Arizona, wasn't supposed to be speaking there, but popped up on the stage and she had something to say. She's going to be stumping again today.

Our Ed Henry is following the president.

And, Ed, we actually got him up to make an appearance on our show. Ed, we were supposed to be friends. I have begged you to come on this newscast week in and week out. And we finally got you.

Good to see you, Ed.

MALVEAUX: It must be me.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I hope -- I hope you appreciate this. It's 4:00 in the morning at Vegas, I'm at the Caesar's pool. And, you know, they filmed "Hangover" here -- somewhere, you know, one of those towers over there. So, I could e doing all kinds of other stuff.

But I'm here for you because the president has a pretty busy schedule. He's been out here on the big West Coast swing several days now. We've been following him.

He's been getting big crowd. He's trying to get his base out to vote, close that so-called enthusiasm gap with the Republicans. How is he doing so far?

I'll have an update in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Eight minutes past the hour.

You might want to mind your attire when you go vote in Connecticut. Voters there may not -- may not be able to wear their World Wrestling Entertainment clothes to the poll. If they do, they might be told to cover them up. The secretary of state's office put out kind of a memo to all the state registrars.

People around the state in different counties saying that you can ask people who show up in WWE clothing to cover it up. You may ask them. But they told them to do it on a case-by-case basis. This was an edict that comes from on high, not a law, not rule, but telling people they may have to.

Now, the secretary of state decided to do it because the Republican Senate candidate there, of course, is Linda McMahon. She used to manage the WWE family, very close to it. And officials believe the clothes, they could be a violation, could be considered a form of political advertising which is, of course, banned at polls or being close to polls. You can't do that.

So, it's possible people could be told. But we don't know if there'll be any big incidents of this. McMahon, of course, is calling the decision partisan.

MALVEAUX: I don't know. Do you wear WWE gear?

HOLMES: No. Not since high school, I don't think.

MALVEAUX: OK.

Sarah Palin headlines a Republican National Committee rally in Orlando, Florida, today. Now, the former Alaska governor is going to appear with party chair, Michael Steele. This is for the second week in a row. HOLMES: Yes, she was a surprise guest at a Tea Party Express rally in Phoenix yesterday. You see her there, holding her son Trig up on stage. She's calling the crowd to vote for commonsense conservatives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Right around the corner, November 2nd is the time for choosing and a time to put America back on the right track! November 2nd, we can see it from our house. Let's take America back!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, the Tea Party Express rolls into Las Cruces, New Mexico, for a rally later today. We are 10 days away now until these midterm elections.

President Obama is wrapping up now a five-state push for Democrats, heading to Minnesota later today, after stumping for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Our Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent, is traveling with the president. He gets the gig in Vegas.

I know it's early out there, Ed. But at the same time, it is late for you given the schedule I know you keep when you are in Vegas. So, we don't want to hear you complain about getting up early for us. You haven't been to bed yet.

MALVEAUX: It's like a half day, 12 hours, half day here anyway. Come on.

(LAUGHTER)

HENRY: I just follow your rule, T.J. You just don't go to bed.

HOLMES: There you go.

HENRY: You punch through, you get out here, it's 4:0 a.m. Great to be with you and Suzanne.

You know, we've been on this -- it's a four-day West Coast swing for the president. He's been through several states -- Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada now, and he's going to be going on to Minnesota later today.

The bottom line is, what I've been noticing out here is that the president, you know, he's been governing obviously for the last two years. And a lot of critics saying, you know, that maybe he's not connecting with middle class voters, et cetera. He's doing a lot more rural plans now as we get closer to this election.

He's drawing some of those big crowds, sort of like the crowds he had in 2008. He had 37,500 people on the campus of USC yesterday, for example, stumping for Barbara Boxer in a tight senate race, Jerry Brown in a tight gubernatorial race there in California.

And what the president was trying to do when he was here with Harry Reid, for example, the Senate majority leader who's in an extremely tight race with Republican Sharron Angle, a Tea Party favorite, is the president is trying to reframe this and say, look, it's not a referendum on my leadership, it's not a referendum ion Harry Reid's leadership, instead, it's a choice between two competing visions.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got a choice between the policies that got us into this mess and the policies that are helping to get us out of this mess. It's a choice between the past and the future, between falling backwards and moving forward -- a choice between hope and fear. I don't know about you, but I want to move forward.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Very interesting because Harry Reid is in such a tight race here, the fight of his political life that he could become the first majority leader since Tom Daschle, remember in 2004, sitting majority leader knocked out of office in South Dakota. It was a big embarrassment for Democrats. That is what this president is now trying to avoid.

In fact, they're pulling out all the stops. Vice President Biden was here in Nevada just a couple of days ago. And we've got new details that First Lady Michelle Obama, she's coming here to Vegas on November 1st, the day before the election, to try and stump for Harry Reid. That kind of star power, that much within 10 days of each other, shows how worried the White House is about Harry Reid right now -- T.J., Suzanne.

HOLMES: All right. Ed, appreciate you, buddy. I think we're talking to you again later this hour. So, I hope your drink is where you left it. Hit a table and we'll --

MALVEAUX: It's coffee. It's just coffee, don't worry.

HOLMES: Surely.

Ed, good to see you as always.

HENRY: I got my bathing suit. I don't have any WWE gear, but I got a bathing suit.

HOLMES: OK. Thank you for that. It's 7:30 in the morning.

Ed, appreciate you, buddy. And our "Ballot Bowl" is back. You can hear what the candidates, President Obama, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, all of them, what they're saying about the race and the issues. We're counting down to those midterms with "The Best Political Team" you'll find on TV.

"Ballot bowl," 3:00 to 6:00 Eastern this afternoon, right here on CNN.

It's 13 minutes past the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: I just told you what I was doing.

HOLMES: All right. We are making plans for after the show.

MALVEAUX: Sorry.

HOLMES: We'll get to that.

Fifteen minutes past the hour. The biggest competitions ever on the Internet, YouTube and the Guggenheim is named the most creative and innovative YouTube video ever.

MALVEAUX: And Josh Levs has (INAUDIBLE) on that this morning.

Josh, tell us about the winners.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they announced this competition a few months ago. More than 23,000 videos were sent in for this competition. And they only chose 25 to be the final winners.

And what they did was pretty cool. In fact, take a look at this. This first video I have for you. They projected images of all the winners on to the Guggenheim in New York. So, wherever you are in New York, if you're anywhere nearby, you could see these really cool images. It's called video mapping out there.

They got from more than 90 countries. And they chose some that they think are the most creative, most innovative.

Take a look at this first one here, flying food.

(VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: By Erik and Matthew Huber. You might take a look at that and say, OK, I've seen, you know, funnier ones on YouTube.

But the idea for what YouTube and the Guggenheim were looking for here is some amazing artistry, which this is. They talk about every pixel and being incredibly clear in what they created right there. So, that is -- the sound is by a guy named Brian Slusher (ph). A lot of praise going out for this one.

Now the next one is very interesting. It's an unknown interview with John Lennon back in 1969. This 14-year-old kid snuck into his hotel room. Jerry Levitan, this kid snuck into John Lennon's hotel room, convince him to do an interview. Almost 40 years later, he hooks up with a couple of animators and they create this.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN LENNON, SINGER: Do everything for peace. Kiss the peace or smile for peace or go to school for peace or don't go to school for peace. Whatever you do, just do it for peace. It's up to the people. We can't blame on the governments and say they're doing this, they're going to pursue the war. We put them there and we allow it --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: This interview with John Lennon has gotten a ton of traffic online. And this is just one of them that they are saying is so innovative, so creative.

A new way to use YouTube, to bring people information and artistry.

I got the whole list for you at my Facebook and Twitter pages, JoshLevsCNN. We'll have more for you throughout the day as we take a look at these 25 winners.

We encourage you to check them out, too, say what you think. And, guys, I will tell you, while we are busy covering the news all the time, there are some people out there who spend days, weeks, months, and some case, even years on one single YouTube video. It's nice to get some recognition there.

MALVEAUX: How do they make the liquid go up like that in that first one?

LEVS: They use this incredibly high-speed videography. And that's part of what the folks who awarded this said they were so amazed by. They actually watched it happened. It wasn't digitally enhanced or created afterwards. Apparently, they were able to capture in such high speed so many frames with such clear pixilation, they got that beautiful view of what actually happens when you throw food up in the air.

Make you hungry a little bit? Watch them now (ph). Fruit loops there?

MALVEAUX: That's pretty cool.

LEVS: Yes, pretty cool.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Josh.

HOLMES: Thanks, Josh.

LEVS: You bet guys. MALVEAUX: Well, do you pay most of your bills on time, you got that the magic credit score of maybe 680, think that your loan is going to trying to get you something that's a sure thing?

HOLMES: Yes, 680 ain't getting you much these days.

Our Clyde Anderson is standing by. He'll tell you the new magic number you need to have. He'll tell you what it is. There he is.

Eighteen past the hour. We'll talk to him after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, everyone. I'm meteorologist Bonnie Schneider in the CNN weather center.

We are tracking a tropical storm. I know it's October, but still have activity down in the Caribbean. Tropical Storm Richard is bearing down on Central America right now. Look for heavy rain to work its way into Honduras. We could see three to five inches, seven inches on some of the higher terrain and that mean mudslides.

Also areas that will be threatened by this storm: Belize, Guatemala and parts of Mexico. We are monitoring it to see if it reemerges in the Bay of Campeche and whether or not it will hold itself together. There's a good chance it might just dissipate.

All right. Let's go to the U.S. mainland and see what's happening this morning on the busy Saturday. We have heavy thunderstorms rolling through the Midwest. From St. Louis to Chicago, watch out for some very heavy downpours as we go throughout the day today. A lot of this does contain lightning and as well heavy, frequent downpours of rain.

So, the forecast calls for stormy conditions today down through Texas. Notice this front coming through. We have a severe thunderstorm watch in place for Texas that will go through the afternoon.

Showers through the Midwest, heavy rain in the Pacific Northwest. It will be cool today in Portland, for example. Look for a high there of only 60 degrees. And as we head out to the Southeast, it's actually looking quite nice with lots of sunshine through the Carolinas and mild temperatures in the 80s down in Florida.

Stay with us. CNN SATURDAY MORNING will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. What is your credit score? Used to be 680 was the magic number, you can get the best rates, you always, you know, you pay your bills on time. The 680 was going to do you fine.

Clyde Anderson, our financial analyst, says that ain't it no more. If it ain't 680, what is the new number?

CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Seven-twenty is the new magic number.

HOLMES: When did this happen?

ANDERSON: The game has changed.

HOLMES: When?

ANDERSON: Recently. When the markets start to shift, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the biggest backers of mortgage-backed securities, really set the tone. And so, when it went rough in the market crash, they had to go to a new number that they felt safe with. And so, other lenders follow suit.

HOLMES: OK. Wait, is there going to be a time you tell me when things are good again that maybe we go back down to 680?

ANDERSON: Exactly right. It's a supply and demand type of thing. So, when lending kind of loosens back up, it can go back down and 680 could be that new number.

HOLMES: What difference is it going to make? If you, this guy over here has a 720, he's going for the same loan on the same care, this guy with 680, what's the difference going to be?

ANDERSON: A couple of different things. One, if you look at -- and I think we got some graphics to be able to show you.

HOLMES: OK.

ANDERSON: If you look at it, if you're are talking about 720 versus 680, you could be talking about 1 percentage point difference in a rate, or maybe 2 percentage points difference.

HOLMES: That's real money?

ANDERSON: Yes. You're talking about maybe $20 a month in the payments. So, maybe 720 or so over a life of a loan, a three-year alone. But now, it really gets serious when you're talking about a mortgage loan, because now, we're talking about a mortgage. And 1 percent difference in an interest rate can mean a difference of about $91 a month. So, over the life of the loan, $32,000 that you're going to pay just because you're at maybe a 619, I mean, a 719 instead of a 720.

HOLMES: OK. That was we want to explain.

ANDERSON: Yes.

HOLMES: You tell me, if this guy has a 720 and I got a 719, that still going to make a difference? You get lumped in the category.

ANDERSON: It's brackets. And so, they put you on these brackets, and 719 maybe the top of one bracket and then you go to the next bracket that will start off at 720. So, that's really where that makes a difference. And so, you got to really be careful to look at it and see where you are. That's why it's so important to know your credit score.

HOLMES: OK. How am I supposed to get up to 720-plus?

ANDERSON: Well, several things that you got to do.

HOLMES: I didn't -- my credit score is OK, I just want to make sure we clear that up.

ANDERSON: Yes, just make sure.

HOLMES: Well, how do you? How do you?

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON: I mean, what you got to do is really, don't max out your credit cards. You got to keep your balances down, usually 30 percent below the limit. So, if you got a $1,000 limit, try not to go beyond $300 a month, as far as that balance or keeping that balance.

HOLMES: So, wait a minute, even if you are paying it on time, that's not the bigger point. Just if you're carrying a high balance, that's going to hurt your credit.

ANDERSON: Yes, that could hurt you. So, there are so many other factors outside of just paying on time --

HOLMES: OK.

ANDERSON: -- that you really got to look at. So, again, you're talking about $300 if you have a $1,000 limit. You know, keeping that space in there. Paying on time is big.

HOLMES: Yes.

ANDERSON: But also, don't max out the credit cards, don't do things like that. And then make sure that you got some history in there. You know, they give you rewards for having at least a 15-year history. So, the longer you've been in the system, longer you've been playing the game, the better your credit score is going to be.

HOLMES: What's the perfect -- what's a perfect credit score?

ANDERSON: Perfect credit score is 900. I've never seen a 900 credit score. Eight-fifty is up there, you're really good if you're up in that 850 area.

HOLMES: OK, I'm working on it, man. Working on it.

ANDERSON: There you go.

HOLMES: All right. Good information. Everybody is always concerned and they got questions about their credit score. Great information this morning.

ANDERSON: My pleasure.

HOLMES: Good to see you as always, my man.

ANDERSON: All right. You, too.

HOLMES: We're going to have more, Suzanne and I, top stories at the top of the hour when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues live.

But, first, we need to hand it over to "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." starts after a quick break.