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THE SITUATION ROOM
Afghanistan War Documents Leaked; Will BP Fire Tony Hayward?
Aired July 26, 2010 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Happening now: A huge document leak rips open the veil of secrecy surrounding the Afghan war. There's growing outrage over suggestions that Pakistan's spy agency is aiding America's enemy. I'm going to speak with Pakistan's ambassador to the United States.
And is BP's boss about to get fired for botching the response to the disastrous Gulf oil spill? Why CEO Tony Hayward may have sealed his own fate.
And just days before a controversial law takes effect in Arizona, there's stunning new evidence that Americans are deeply dissatisfied about the tide of illegal immigration.
Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off. I'm Suzanne Malveaux and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
It's a massive document leak on the Afghan war, shocking in scale. It involves tens of thousands of military and diplomatic reports filed over a five-year period. Many of those documents suggest that Pakistan, a key U.S. ally, is aiding Afghanistan's insurgents.
Now, the White House calls the leak a breach of federal law and on Capitol Hill and the Pentagon there's outrage over possible harm to the security of U.S. troops.
I'm going to go straight to our CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
Barbara, what is the Pentagon saying today about what has happened?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, this is a leak of some 90,000 documents, and the question on the table is, is it now a risk to the troops and to military operations in Afghanistan? Is it a breach of national security?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): The 90,000 documents on WikiLeaks' Web site include extensive reports on everything from individual firefights in Afghanistan to concerns Pakistan's intelligence service is supporting the Taliban insurgency, a massive leak of classified information. BRIGADIER GENERAL MARK KIMMITT (RET.), FORMER U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR PLANS AND STRATEGY: The fact that we are putting on the Internet sensitive military information that puts our soldiers at risk, put our coalition allies at risk, put our mission at risk, outrage is -- is the only word that can -- that can describe my emotions when I heard this.
STARR: Many are field reports filed by U.S. military units between 2004 and 2009, reports used by commanders to track enemy techniques and strategies in thousands of firefights, roadside bombings and attacks involving U.S. troops over the years.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There names. There are operations. There's logistics. There are sources. All of that information out in a public way has the potential to do harm.
STARR: Some sensitive new details are revealed. One example, the military has said little about last year's capture of Private 1st Class Bowe Bergdahl by insurgents in Eastern Afghanistan. The report says that within hours, roadblocks had been set up, compounds searched, aircraft overhead looking for the missing soldier.
The report reveals even more. Local radio traffic indicates -- quote -- "An American soldier is talking and looking for someone who speaks English." Another intercept from a suspected insurgent is logged, saying, "All I know, that they capture him alive and they are with him right now."
The reports are often just a first take, for example, this incident last August where dozens of people were killed by a coalition airstrike. The document shows that at first, a coalition fighter pilot reported 56 Taliban fighters killed, but the final update of the report says that all 56 dead were innocent civilians, and that none were insurgents.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Now, the Pentagon is not commenting on any of the individual reports, but they are going through everything, trying to determine if there is a specific risk to troops or operations, and, of course, trying to find out who handed over 90,000 sensitive documents to the WikiLeaks Web site -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Obviously, Barbara, it must be a very serious concern, serious question for the Pentagon today.
STARR: Oh, this has grabbed everyone's attention, trying to really figure out, in a data dump of 90,000 documents, what's hidden in all of here that they might not see very quickly that could pose a very specific risk to troops in the field?
MALVEAUX: All right, Barbara Starr, thank you.
I want to take a look at the possible fallout from this massive leak. Joining me now is CNN national security contributor Fran Townsend. She was the homeland security adviser to President Bush. She worked in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration. She's also a member of the CIA's External Advisory Board.
And, Fran, when you take a look at WikiLeaks and all the documents that we have before us right now, what is your sense about the danger to national security? Has this disrupted operations? Does this put people's lives in danger?
FRANCES TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Suzanne, the big problem is not so much the historical information itself. Most of these operations are passed.
The concern that you hear people in Washington and at the White House rightly drawing attention to is, our enemies learn how we look at things, how we perceive things. They can understand from the various reports what our different perspective is and what are the perspectives of our allies, where are our weaknesses, what are our concerns, what are the things that influence the way we think.
It's not only a breach of national security. Suzanne, I venture to say it's a crime. And what we need is the Justice Department to work with the Pentagon to make sure instead of them investigating former activities by the CIA, that they're looking to investigate and bring to justice the people who leaked these classified documents.
MALVEAUX: In covering the Bush administration, I know that President Bush too didn't always trust General Pervez Musharraf, the leader of Pakistan at the time on his watch. Is any of this new, do we believe? Was that a problem, where you had Pakistan's spy agency consulting with the Taliban, with al Qaeda, plotting against U.S. and NATO forces?
TOWNSEND: Suzanne, it is no shock to me. And in fact I was on CNN when I was in the administration and asked this very question.
Yes, we had concerns about ISI activities, not the support of the government of Pakistan as a whole. They clearly were committed, but we believed that there were aspects in individuals in certain agencies that may have not been completely signed on, if you will, to the policy of the government of Pakistan to combat the Taliban, to combat the al Qaeda.
And so we voiced those concerns during the Bush administration as well.
MALVEAUX: Is it possible that the ISI is operating without the Pakistan government's knowledge, that they are having these meetings and these plots and the Pakistan government doesn't know it?
TOWNSEND: Suzanne, that's a little hard for me to believe. ISI really comes under the rubric of the Pakistani military. The military is the most powerful arm of the Pakistani government, and it has -- it always has been. It's also, frankly, while we believe the commitment during the Bush administration had not always been consistent on counterterrorism, we have seen -- in defense of them now, we have seen an increase in consistency and commitment to fight and take on criticism. And I think the Obama administration is rightly concerned that, just as we're seeing this commitment, this performance by the government of Pakistan, we now have this information come out.
MALVEAUX: All right, Fran Townsend, thank you so much. I appreciate your time.
Is Pakistan's spy agency aiding American's enemies? That's the next question. We're going to get much more on the secret war documents from CNN's Nic Robertson. And Nic is going to join me in questioning Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani.
Jack Cafferty is off today.
Among the stories we're working on, all eyes are on BP headquarters in London, where many expect controversial CEO Tony Hayward to be outed anytime now. Was it a perceived lack of empathy that led to his downfall?
Plus, a heart breaking mix-up. One family is led to believe their living daughter is dead, while another family believes their dead daughter is alive. We're going to show you how that happened.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: In the Gulf of Mexico, the rough weather has moved on, leaving scant evidence of oil on the surface. Crews are getting ready to resume the relief drilling meant to permanently seal the blown-out well, oil well.
But work is also proceeding on the static kill operation, which will involve pumping heavy mud and possibly cement into the ruptured well. That could begin in one week.
And more than 10 days after a temporary cap was placed on the well, the Coast Guard says there's little sign of oil on the surface of the Gulf. Spotter planes aren't finding any significant patches and officials say that the oil is breaking down very quickly.
BP's board of directors met this afternoon in London amid widespread speculation that CEO Tony Hayward would be forced out as boss of the oil giant.
I want to bring in our CNN senior correspondent, Allan Chernoff, who joins us from New York.
Allan, give us a sense of when we might hear about Tony Hayward's fate.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, well, we almost certainly will hear tomorrow from BP. They will reveal the fate of CEO Tony Hayward in London, along with an awful, awful second- quarter financial report.
Now, an announcement is scheduled for 7:00 a.m. London time. That's the middle of the night here. And perhaps that's appropriate, because, to many Americans, Tony Hayward appeared to be in the dark.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY HAYWARD, CEO, BP GROUP: I wasn't a part of the decision- making process on this well.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): It wasn't the Gulf oil spill that doomed BP CEO Tony Hayward, rather his awkward response to it.
A nation furious at the environmental and economic catastrophe needed to see a contrite and compassionate CEO. Instead, BP sent what appeared to be a pompous foreigner. First, Hayward minimized the problem, claiming the amount of oil released was tiny relative to the Gulf itself.
HAYWARD: I think the environmental of this disaster is likely to have been very, very modest.
CHERNOFF: Then he whined about damage he had suffered.
HAYWARD: There's no one who wants this thing over more than I do. You know, I would like my life back.
CHERNOFF: Not even BP's P.R. machine could salvage Hayward's reputation.
HAYWARD: I'm deeply sorry. We will get this done. We will make this right.
CHERNOFF: The CEO then attended a sailing race in which his yacht was competing, while residents of the Gulf worried about their livelihood were left to clean up BP's mess.
BP executive Bob Dudley then arrived to oversee the cleanup and Hayward's fate appeared sealed.
FADEL GHEIT, OIL ANALYST: He obviously get all the credit when things go well, and he gets all the blame when things go bad, just like the president of a country.
CHERNOFF: Hayward had gotten a lot of credit. Before the spill, BP earnings had steadily climbed during his three-year tenure. He pulled it off in part by slashing expenses, all the while claiming BP had fixed safety lapses that had led to the 2005 Texas City refinery fire that killed 15 people. It turned out Hayward was wrong about BP's safety. He appeared unaware of his own company's failings, as was apparent during his appearance before Congress.
HAYWARD: I haven't seen this. Again, I haven't seen this. I don't know the precise number. I'm afraid I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm afraid I don't know that either.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: The Gulf oil spill was a disaster seeking a party to blame, and, as BP's boss, Hayward assumed ownership of that catastrophe. His reported successor, American Robert Dudley, is a contrast. Not only did he grow up in Mississippi. He's been able to manage the cleanup without offending residents of the Gulf -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, thank you, Allan.
Did BP's oil ties with Libya lead the oil giant to work for the release of the man convicted of blowing up an airliner over Scotland? Some U.S. lawmakers want to find out.
Our Mary Snow is digging into that.
And, Mary, what do we know so far?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, the lawmakers looking into any potential ties want to hear firsthand from BP's CEO, Tony Hayward, and that's whether or not he remains in his job.
They have invited him to testify at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Thursday. Senators Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, both Democrats, are investigating whether BP pressed for the release of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi because of a pending oil deal in Libya.
Now, Megrahi was convicted of the Pan Am 103 bombing that killed 270 people. Last August, he was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds, doctors saying he was expected to die from cancer within three months. But nearly a year later, he's still alive.
As part of this probe, Menendez produced a letter dated July of 2009 from a member of the House of Lords who is also the chairman of the Libyan British Business Council. It was sent to the Scottish justice minister, Kenny MacAskill, and it reads: "The Libyan authorities have made it clear that should he die in prison in Scotland, there will be serious implications for U.K.-Libyan relations. This prospect is of grave concern to LBBC member, not just Scottish ones."
Here's how Senator Menendez ties it in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: So, the bottom line is, I know that Mr. MacAskill has said that he never had any contacts with BP, but this letter, of which BP is a member of that council, asking him to do this raises just another question.
In additions to the silence from BP, the limited amount of cooperation from the hearings of the British and Scottish governments has been unfortunate. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Now, the Scottish government has insisted that BP never lobbied to free al-Megrahi, but it did admit that BP did encourage the U.K. government to conclude a prisoner transfer agreement with the Libyan government.
Now, a spokesman for BP said CEO Hayward has received an invitation to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but it would only say that he will respond to that committee directly about whether or not he will attend -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: OK, Mary, thank you so much.
There are new details in the case of two American sailors missing in Afghanistan, but the details are not coming from U.S. military officials.
And we now know at least one very high-profile person who's not going to go to Chelsea Clinton's wedding.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Well, is Pakistan's spy agency working with the Taliban to kill Americans? We're going to hear from CNN's Nic Robertson on the Afghan war log leak. And we're going to speak with the Pakistani ambassador to the United States.
Plus, tragedy strikes a group of teens, and a case of mistaken identity makes it much worse for two of the families involved.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Back to our top story. Tens of thousands of secret anti-war documents are made public now. Many of the war logs suggest that Pakistan is aiding the insurgents. And there are new revelations about the apparent vulnerability of U.S. troops.
Here's CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a guy in white right there.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Fall 2007 -- U.S. troops fend off a feared attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They got one on top of the building right here, too.
ROBERTSON: It is a remote, barely accessible U.S. mountain base, Camp Keating, barely 100 troops at the time. I had just arrived. They told me a month earlier a massive Taliban ambush nearby killed the base commander. CAPT. JOEY HUTTO, U.S. ARMY: We had never seen armed that well. There was numerous rockets. Until someone has come out here, seen this terrain and been in some of these tight firefights, you will never understand what these shoulders are trying to express.
ROBERTSON: It was clear then the base was vulnerable, but far worse was to come. Only now are the details of how bad becoming clear. According to the "New York Times," one of the 92,000 documents details a Taliban attack here two years later as the base was being closed, because it was undermanned and ineffective.
CNN has not independently confirmed the authenticity of the documents, but, according to the newspaper, desperate computer messages were being sent, indicating insurgents had made it to the last line of defense. Support did eventually arrive. Eight soldiers were killed, almost two dozen wounded. It's what WikiLeaks' boss, Julian Assange, calls the squalor of war and why, he says, he's outed the documents.
JULIAN ASSANGE, FOUNDER, WIKILEAKS: Our goal is just reform. Our method is transparency, but we do not put the method before the goal.
ROBERTSON: Assange says thousands of documents were being held back so names can be removed. Still, some military experts are upset.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of these documents are being filtered for potential harm that could be done for our troops, revealing vulnerabilities in our troops' location, in our tactics in our techniques, in our procedures. The only word that comes to my mind is outrage.
ROBERTSON: There is outrage in Pakistan, too. Leaks apparently show Pakistan's intelligence services have been supporting Taliban attacks on U.S. troops, fingering this former intelligence chief in particular.
HAMID GUL, FORMER HEAD, INTER-SERVICES INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, PAKISTAN: There is absolutely no truth in what has been said. I have a moral position which I take, and that moral position is that this was wrong.
ROBERTSON: The allegations, like much that is emerging from the documents so far, are not new, but threaten to destabilize Pakistan's rocky relationship with the U.S.
Pakistani officials recently told me they want a friendly government in Kabul, not one that supports their archrival, India. The implication is the Taliban are their insurance against that happening.
British newspaper "The Guardian," that, like "The New York Times" has had access to the documents for the past few weeks, says it's compared the military's accounts of events with other sources, concluding, in the cases they highlight, civilian casualties have been under-reported.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: So, is this going to make a difference, because some of the reports here have been heard before or at the very least discussed publicly? Perhaps not. But, on the other hand, so many of the reports, so many of these documents haven't been read , haven't been followed up on.
And in their granular detail, this detail about the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence helping the Taliban, the detail about this base that was already known to be vulnerable being attacked and overrun and so many soldiers were killed years after it was already clearly a problem, these kinds of details are going to cause people the issues and the heartache here -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Nic, thank you very much.
I want you to stay with us.
We are joined now by Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani.
Mr. Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us in THE SITUATION ROOM.
I want to start off, first and foremost, this is 90,000 documents, But the main concern here obviously is the fact that there's the accusation that Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI, met with the Taliban to plot attacks against U.S. troops and NATO forces. Is that true?
HUSAIN HAQQANI, PAKISTANI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Suzanne, first thing is the nature of these documents.
We haven't seen them all. We haven't read them all. But what we do know is that they are first takes written in the fog of war, based on unprocessed intelligence. So, somebody comes in, tells an officer, this is what I'm hearing. That's what is in these documents.
The United States government knows better. That's why the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and even congressional leaders have said that these are outdated perspectives, that Pakistan remains an ally of the United States.
MALVEAUX: An ally nevertheless, are you saying that this is not true? Are these documents forged? Is somebody making this up?
(CROSSTALK)
HAQQANI: No, I'm not saying that.
I explained already that these documents reflect a first take. In a police station, many 911 calls come. Not every one is true. A lot of these things are basically people saying this is what we've heard, this is the rumor, this is something that I know. It's not processed intelligence. More important than that is what is happening on the ground today. And we all know that the Pakistani military, the Pakistani intelligence service, they are losing men as they fight alongside the Americans. It wouldn't make sense for us to help the Taliban who are killing our own soldiers and our own intelligence officers.
MALVEAUX: I don't think it's disputed that things have gotten better and there's progress. We heard from Robert Gibbs who said this information is not new. That this is in part why the Obama administration changed strategy inside of Afghanistan because there were problems with Pakistan. He's not saying -- he's not denying that some of these allegations may, in fact, be true. Are you saying that categorically --
HAQQANI: I'm saying that -- I'm categorically saying that as the government of Pakistan works with the United States to fight the terrorists, allegations of any arm of the Pakistani government collaborating or cooperating with the Taliban is absolutely wrong. As far as history is concerned, I'm sure you and I will be around to read various drafts of history as they take shape in the future.
MALVEAUX: Why do you suppose these allegations are in these documents that are classified and now have been revealed? Do you think that this is some sort of plot? Or duke that it's a strategy --
HAQQANI: Oh, no. I don't believe in conspiracy theories.
MALVEAUX: Forged documents?
HAQQANI: No, no. I didn't even say anything about forged. All I'm saying is these are snapshots at time at different times. Afghanistan, as you know, has had a lot of difficulties in building a government over there. Last several year, since the collapse of the Taliban after 9/11 and their intelligence service had people until recently who had a certain perspective. We have all heard about intelligence going wrong. Do we all not remember that before the war in Iraq everybody believed that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I think the first unprocessed intelligence is not always correct. That's what this was and that's why the United States has persisted in maintaining its alliance with Pakistan instead of just believing all of this and saying you know what, every rumor we believe is true and we should act on it.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Ambassador, I want to bring in my colleague Nic Robertson who is in London to ask you a question. Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mr. Ambassador, your government doesn't have support of all the people in Pakistan for the support it's given the United States. What are your opponents? What are your critics going to do with this type of allegation? Essentially being thrown in the face of your government when on the face of it you say your government is trying to support the United States? How is that going to affect your government back home?
HAQQANI: No government is ever supported by every citizen. This government was voted in on a platform in which we said very clearly we with fight terrorists and we will defeat them. And as long as this government has the legitimacy and support of parliament, that's exactly what it will do. Some people will say these are elements that do not like Pakistan. They're trying to give Pakistan a bad name. But both the U.S. government and the Pakistani government understand what is going on. We understand that unprocessed intelligence cannot be the basis of undermining what is now emerging as a truly meaningful partnership in our region. And you know that things are getting a lot better and Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States are working together right now against the terrorists.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Ambassador I want to bring up the response from Afghanistan today from its own spokesperson from these documents saying the Afghan government is shocked with the report that has opened the reality of the Afghan war. There should be serious action taken against the ISI who has a direct connection with the terrorists. These show the U.S. was already aware of the ISI connection with the al Qaeda terrorist network. The United States is overdue on the ISI issue and now the United States should answer. How do you respond to your partner, the Afghan government that believes these accusations about the ISI?
HAQQANI: We are mature partners. We understand the difficulties faced by our brothers in Afghanistan. People have different views. There are people with sympathies with the terrorists in Afghanistan. There are people with sympathies with the terrorists in Pakistan. The important thing is for us to make a distinction between rumor and fact. Right now, all institutions in Pakistan are working together to essential l essentially defeat the terrorists. The ISI is trying to work together essentially with one objective to contain and defeat the terrorists. That's what we will continue to do.
MALVEAUX: Has your government reached out to the government of act Afghanistan to reassure them?
HAQQANI: The Pakistani government and the Afghan government as you well know have come a long ways since the days when the president of Afghanistan and the then president of Pakistan who wasn't an elected leader wouldn't even shake hands on the lawn of the white house. The president of Pakistan and the president Afghanistan are close now. And our intelligent services are trying to work together as well. Look, the misgivings of the past cannot always easily be overcome, but what we can change is the future and that's what we will do.
MALVEAUX: I remember that day at the white house when they would not shake hands. Thank you so much. Appreciate your time here. Thank you.
Thousands of agents protect the U.S. border, but many of them aren't who you might think they are. We're going to show you the changing face of the border patrol. Plus, he received the world's first full face transplant. Now he's making his first public appearance.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: When you think of a U.S. border patrol agent, a Hispanic woman may not be the first image that comes to mind, but the force is becoming more and more diverse, along with the U.S. population as a whole. Our CNN special correspondent Soledad O'Brien investigated for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Carlos Martinez risked his life coming in to the U.S. from Cuba. Now he's on the other side, trying to keep people out of the United States as an immigration enforcement agent.
CARLOS MARTINEZ, IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AGENT: The immigrants themselves, when you're processing them, they feel more comfortable talking to you. I know they come here like I did one time. But I'm here to uphold the law.
O'BRIEN: He's part of an effort by the department of homeland security to train diverse force to deal with a diverse public.
KEVIN J. STRONG, U.S. CUSTOMS & BORDER PROTECTION: On the cutting edge of diversity. We have a population that is almost 1/3 Latino, almost 20 percent female.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop, stop. Group is to your right.
O'BRIEN: As the U.S. steps up border enforcement, the government wants to make sure federal agents don't detain people simply because they suspect they're here illegally.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We understand we deal with people coming from all walks of the world, right? Cultures are different.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not only do we not deal with racial profiling, we teach about it from the very first day.
O'BRIEN: CNN got exclusive access to this federal immigration officer training facility in south eastern Georgia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to shed those preconceptions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does a criminal look like? What does an undocumented immigrant look like? These people can look like any one of us and take any shape, form, age, nationality, country of origin. So by locking yourself into something as simplistic and wrong headed as racial profiling you're going to miss the real threat.
O'BRIEN: The real threat, say government officials, is from border crossers who threaten national security, or commit crimes. Some critics want more focus on arresting illegal immigrants crossing the border. Arizona's new state law, SB-1070 allows police during the course of an investigation to detain anyone they suspect is in the country illegally.
FRANK ANTENORI (R), ARIZONA STATE SENATE: We wouldn't need SB- 1070 if the government had operational control over the border. Please do your job. Enforce the law and secure our borders.
O'BRIEN: Federal agents say they could avoid racial profiling and still enforce the law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the way to give back to the country that has given me so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: In Arizona, the police have to have probable cause to stop somebody before they ask for their immigration status just like federal agents do. Customs and border patrol officials say their job is helped by having a force that is 35 percent Latino. Many of them concentrated in places like Arizona to help them deal with language barriers and they say helps their force be more sensitive to racial and ethnic profiling. Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Soledad, we look forward to many of your other reports. Thank you for that very unique perspective.
Well there are more than 20,000 agents that patrol the U.S. borders. 85 percent along the border of New Mexico, about a quarter are in Arizona. Minorities make up the majority of the force. 52 are Hispanic and the ranks are about to expand. Last week, the Obama administration announced 300 additional agents to be deployed next month, along with more aircraft and technology. And 1200 National Guard troops will begin a year-long deployment along the U.S.-Mexico border starting August 1.
Americans are speaking out about illegal immigration in a new CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll. When asked how the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. makes them feel, 23 percent said angry, 51 percent said dissatisfied, 20 percent responded satisfied, and 6 percent said pleased. I'm going to talk about this with our CNN's John King, host of "JOHN KING USA" which begins at the top of the hour. John, when you take a look at these statistics, the administration has been pushing comprehensive immigration reform. But it looks like in the polls that Americans, the majority of Americans are looking for something else, deployment. How does the Obama administration make sense of that to try to meet the needs of the people?
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: They wish they could make both political and policy sense of it. There's a collision that you just noted right there and you remember we watched this happen. George W. Bush wanted comprehensive immigration reform. Tension began to fray. The political divide grew and now this president, he promised to do it his first year in office. He's halfway through his second year in office. Mr. President, we want this policy. The math says they will not get the policy before the election this year. They don't have the cotes to do it. The president has talked about it as a priority. It's now on the back burner as a schedule item. Maybe if there's a lame duck session of congress at the end of the year as a possibility, but what happens in the meantime? 74 percent of the American people in that poll right there are a bit grumpy when the issue of immigration comes up. The Arizona law, which has support nationally in the polls, has support in the state in the polls kicks in on Thursday. The next week or so in this debate will be focused almost exclusively on what happens in Arizona and do both political and legal tempers flare. MALVEAUX: We've heard the stories about what's happening in Arizona. You've got a police force being trained with a 90-minute video, what to do, what not to do. You've got Hispanics there also being trained how to deal with the police, how to perhaps avoid the police. You're going to be in Arizona. What are you going to be looking for?
KING: We're going to spend a few days in Arizona starting on Wednesday. We're going to explore these very questions. We're going to take a ride around with the police unit on the first night of this new law. And the police know, 99.99 percent of any police officers, they want to do the right thing. But how will they enforce this law? Because ultimately, the judgment call is on those officers when they encounter somebody who runs a traffic stop or looks suspicious in doing something. Do they have the reasonable doubt then to take it to the next level and demand documentation? That's one thing. But we'll also be on the ground to see. There's a lot of protests on the ground. There's an election year this year. We'll be there for a few days, looking forward to the trip, hoping that it's calm.
MALVEAUX: OK. We'll be watching John. Thank you.
Well, he received the world's first full face transplant and now he's letting the world see it. And one country calls blackberries a potential threat to its security, but does that nation have an ulterior motive? You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Lisa Sylvester is monitoring some of the top stories coming into THE SITUATION ROOM right now. Hey Lisa. What are you working on?
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Suzanne. He underwent the world's first full face transplant and now he's going public. The Spanish man identified only as Oscar appeared at a news conference in Barcelona today, four months after the complex surgery that followed nine failed operations to repair extreme trauma that resulted from a gun accident.
In Cambodia, prosecutors say they may appeal the controversial sentence of a former rouge official. The man known as Doik ran a notorious torture prison where more than 14,000 people died. He was sentenced today to 35 year but the judge order he serve no more than 19 years, and that has many of the victims and their relatives outraged.
The United Arab Emirates is now calling blackberries a potential threat to national security. The government says the smart phones operate outside of national legal jurisdiction and are subject to possible misuse. But critics of the UAE government say suspects it's trying to control the free flow of information. Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you Lisa.
It was a terrible accident and then a stunning mix-up that leaves the wrong families grieving and clinging to hope. We'll show you how it happened.
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MALVEAUX: Two young women are involved in a horrible accident. One family thought their daughter was dead, another thought their daughter had survived. Through a tragic mix-up both families were wrong. Our CNN's Lisa Sylvester is here to explain what happened.
SYLVESTER: This is a tragedy just all the way around. It was five recent high school graduates returning home last week to Arizona from a trip to Disneyland. Their tire blows out, the SUV flips over several times, but here's where the story gets tricky. A young woman died in the crash. Family members are told that person is Abby Guerra, who you see on the screen left, and her good friend Marlena Cantu's family is told she is in critical condition at St. Joseph's Hospital with multiple injuries. But it appears that through a mix-up it was the exact opposite, it was Cantu who died. Cantu seen here on the right. We have some sound. This is just coming in. This is a joint news conference at St. Joseph's hospital and the Arizona department of public safety on this entire identity mix-up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As doctors struggled to save this patient's life, we could not readily tell the patient's identity. We interviewed family members that evening and asked for any discernible visual information that could help us make that positive identification. From the information that was provided us on that evening, we believed the patient was Marlena Cantu. When the medical examiner compared the dental records, it came to light that the patient was April Guerra known as Abby from her nickname.
SYLVESTER: Now, this is not the first time something like this has happened. We'll take you back to 2006. Two young women in an eerily similar case were also misidentified. The VanRyn family held vigils and prayed their daughter would recover for four weeks only to find out later that she, in fact, had died and her friend Whitney Cerak was the one who survived that crash. In both cases you have young women who physically resembled one another. There was facial swelling and other injuries. In this most recent case Abby Guerra's aunt reacted saying on one hand this is a miracle, but you're also angry after spending the whole entire week mourning. For the Cantu family this is just so, so painful. Marlena Cantu's brother says they were clinging to the hope she would have a full recovery, only to be taken away from then. He wants someone to take responsibility.
MALVEAUX: Lisa, how did they realize that they made a mistake?
SYLVESTER: It all goes back to the dental records. They were doing the -- the medical examiner was doing routine dental work and they realized we made a big mistake here. The Arizona department of public safety also apologized to both families for this mistake.
MALVEAUX: Such a sad story. Thank you Lisa very much.
CNN's Jeanne Moos is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: Song birds, duck, pigeons, CNN's Jeanne Moos takes a most unusual look.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sometimes concerts get canceled due to bad weather. What came raining down on the Kings of Leon was pigeon poop. You couldn't really see it just the drummer wiping his face then the bass guitarist wiping his face and then the lights went out and the band left the Verizon amphitheater in St. Louis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They played three songs and they're quitting.
MOOS: Kings of Leon get pooped on and return the favor to their fans. The fans struck back posting concert videos. The fans pecked at the band. What a bunch of weenies. Prissy prima donnas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should have just manned up and got some of you assistants to hold an umbrella.
MOOS: The bass guitarist said he was hit by pigeons on each of the songs. They said the final straw was when a band member was hit on the cheek right near the mouth. It's not only disgusting, it's a toxic health hazard. The usual hazards are beer being thrown at them or as he left a concert the rapper Akon, didn't just stay he sent security after the teenager.
AKON: You made a big mistake today, boy. Put him up here.
MOOS: After Akon tossed the teenager he pled guilty to harassment and doing community service. The Kings of Leon could not do this to a flock of pigeons. News reporters have been on the receiving end of pigeons. Even the secret service couldn't protect the president of the United States from aerial bombardment. Seconds after the hit, then President Bush wiped it off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Improperly took by our own admission.
MOOS: The bride-to-be wore white all right during the wedding proposal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These past three years have been the most wonderful years.
MOOS: At least that didn't happen to any rock stars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They probably ingest more horrible things like drugs and alcohol. A little bird poop won't kill you.
MOOS: He should know. Look where we found him sitting, he should know. Ironically they're chanting the wrong kind of [ bleep ].
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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MALVEAUX: Suzanne Malveaux in THE SITUATION ROOM. John King USA starts right now.
