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American Morning

America's New War: Promising New Lead in Investigation of September 11th Attacks

Aired September 28, 2001 - 12:24   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Well, one day after the federal government released photographs, at least what they believe to be the photographs of the 19 hijackers, there could be a promising new lead in the investigation of the September 11th attacks.

Our reporter who has been following this Kelli Arena, our justice correspondent -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, yes, you're right, this could be a very big break, and it's happening in London. And Algerian pilot appearing in British court this morning. Prosecutors allege that he instructed the four pilots involved in the September 11th terrorist attacks. Lotfi Raissi denies the charges. He remains in custody for another week, and will face another hearing on October 5th. The prosecutor says there is video of Raissi and suspected hijacker Hani Hanjour flying to Phoenix, Arizona. Now Hanjour is the man, investigators believe, piloted the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

Prosecutors say Raissi is wanted in the United States for allegedly providing a fake Social Security number in connection with his application for a pilot's license.

And as Judy said yesterday, the FBI did release photos of the alleged hijackers for the very first time. Now the FBI is not 100 percent sure that all of the photos matched the names on the list. The use of false names or passport photos is still a possibility.

On American Airlines flight 11, that crashed into the World Trade Center, these are the pictures of the five suspected hijackers. Among them, Mohammed Atta, possibly the pilot, and according to law enforcement sources, a ring leader in the operation.

Five more suspected hijackers from United flight 175. That hit the second tower of World Trade Center. The key player here Marwan Al-Shehhi, believed to have studied in Hamburg with Atta. On American Airlines flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, pictures of the five suspected hijackers include Khalid Al-Midhar, who sources say was observed last year meeting with a man in Malaysia who authorities say was later involved in the bombing of the USS Cole.

And the pictures of four suspected hijackers on flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania. Now investigators believe the passengers tried to overtake these men to avoid crashing into another target.

Investigators released the photos in hopes of jogging someone's memory. They are looking for any clues in hopes of tracking down associates of these men -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: We can't stress enough how much the government keeps saying they would like any more information. They've had 100,000 tips, but want more.

Kelli, separately, let me ask you about this document that was found with so-called rules of engagement...

ARENA: Yes.

WOODRUFF: ... that belonged to one of the alleged hijackers

ARENA: Right, Mohamed Atta. We reported a little bit of this yesterday, but we have more detail today. Mohamed Atta, who was believed to be a key organizer among the 19 hijackers, left behind a five-page handwritten document, a sort of rules of engagement, as Judy just said. The document was found in Atta's luggage, which, by the way, did not make it on to his flight. Law enforcement sources say that it contains missives, such as "strike your enemy above his neck."

Now other instructions, which appeared in "The Washington Post," basically matched an FBI translation. That's according to sources. Now they include things like, "Check all items -- your bag, your clothes, your knives, your will, your IDs, your passport, all of your papers." "Make sure that nobody is following you." "Continue to pray throughout this night." "Continue to recite the Koran."

Now that note and the pictures released yesterday start to provide a bit of insight into the men who allegedly attacked the United States, Judy.

WOODRUFF: It's still chilling. Two weeks and three days after it happened, and you hear about this, and it just sends chills up your spine.

All right, Kelli Arena, thanks very much -- Aaron.

AARON BROWN. CNN ANCHOR: Judy, whether it's the investigation, which is worldwide, whether it's the mission to Pakistan, whether it's the political situation in Washington, it all seems to come back to ground zero here in New York. On a cool Friday afternoon, the work goes on, the still smoldering scene.

Look at that, how long ago it seems September 11th was, and it continues to smolder. An awful lot of work has been done in the last several days, as you can tell, and an awful lot of work, months and months of work remains to be done. They are talking about years to rebuild parts of the subway, a system that has collapsed down by what was the Trade Center station. Huge machinery has been brought in. There is now obviously, less concern about -- not less concern, less hope of finding survivors. They can bring in heavier machinery.

Brian Palmer is down around ground zero, and joins us now -- Brian.

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Aaron.

Just to orient, we are about our viewers we are about a block east of the World Trade Center zone. You mentioned the smoldering. There is fresh plumes of smoke and steam that have billowed up this morning, presumably firefighters dousing smoldering debris.

This morning, Mayor Giuliani updating us on the recovery operation. The latest figures, 306 people confirmed dead. That is only one more than yesterday. No new numbers on the people identified. That number stood at 238 yesterday. The mayor also gave us his latest and best estimate on how long this recovery, removal and cleanup operation would take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYR. RUDY GIULIANI, NEW YORK CITY: The amount of time that they will need to remove a clear the site will range anywhere from nine months to one year, because of the complexity that they believe they are going to face, in particularly, once they remove the surface structures and debris, which will take still a very, very long period of time. The complexity that they're going to face in removing the debris and the structures that have been driven into the ground, which is something that is going to make the removal effort even more difficult.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PALMER: Now, the smell of burning debris is very, very thick in the air. In fact, there is a sort of fine mist of particles that blows by. Air quality has been one of the major concerns that workers, residents north of this area have had, concerns for asbestos, fiber glass, silica, burning PVC, that polyvinyl chloride pipe. That's something that the mayor also addressed in his daily press briefing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANI: Although they occasionally will have an isolated reading with an unacceptable level of asbestos, because a truck may have gone by or something like that, very occasional and very isolated, the air quality, is safe and acceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PALMER: Now one of the reason that this air quality concern came up, independent monitoring cited in New York newspapers, and that CNN spoke to, say that samples that they've seen, samples that they've taken say that the levels of asbestos are actually higher than what the official agencies are reporting.

So they say that EPA, CDC need to release more information, and perhaps, perhaps need to take greater precautions to control the dust being kicked up in the air. But both the official agencies and the independents saying that long-term exposure to asbestos is what causes health damage, not the short-term exposure that you're seeing here -- Aaron.

BROWN: Brian, quickly, are you seeing evidence that lots of tourist or New Yorkers coming down, in any case, people coming down to get a firsthand look at the site?

PALMER: From where we are, actually, yes. I was about to say no. We are very close to the restricted zone, but I'm looking the other way, and there are people -- pardon me for peeking out of the frame, but it looks to be about 20 people deep at the closest barrier that regular civilians and non-press can get. So, yes, people are still coming down here just to see what was wrought on September 11th -- Aaron.

BROWN: Brian, thanks. Brian Palmer at ground zero.

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