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CNN Newsroom

Aired October 05, 2001 - 04:30   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.
MICHAEL MCMANUS, CNN CO-HOST: Welcome to CNN Newsroom, I'm Michael McManus.

U.S Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Thursday. That visit is part of a mission to shore up support for the international battle against terrorism. It is the third stop on a four-nation tour of the region.

Our Joel Hochmuth brings us a closer look at Mr. Rumsfeld's itinerary and some nations considered key in the war against terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is on a whirlwind tour of the Muslim world. He is helping to cement support for any potential strike by the U.S. against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We want countries across the globe to recognize the seriousness of the threat. We want to understand the -- we want them to understand the damage which was done to our country, and the threat that existed in countries across the globe and we want their cooperation in a lot of ways.

HOCHMUTH: Along the way old friends are getting reacquainted, new friendships are forming, while centuries old animosities will simmer. Among Rumsfeld's stops Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt. All are old allies in the Muslim world and appear to be on board, at least lending moral support to any potential strike against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

But Rumsfeld is treading on new ground in the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan, which is more strategically important than geographically desirable. It has several air bases capable of accommodating heavy air crafts; in fact Uzbekistan was the main bridgehead for the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

There's no word yet whether Uzbekistan will allow U.S. troops to be based there but just the fact, the idea is under consideration would have been unthinkable just a decade ago. Until 1991, Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union and an enemy of the United States in the Cold War. Now an independent nation, Uzbekistan is free to act on its own. While it wants to help the United States in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, its President is worried about inflaming Uzbekistan's own home grown extremist movement.

CNN's Alessio Vinci is on videophone from Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There is no one to be perceived as a predominantly Islamic country, being too close in this war, too closely connected to the United States in this war against Afghanistan mainly because he fears that the Taliban, and the and terrorist groups in Afghanistan could then stage some retaliatory attacks during the war against the people in this country here in Uzbekistan and destabilize this government.

(voice-over): Conspicuously absent from Rumsfeld's itinerary was Pakistan. Although the country could prove to be a key ally in tracking down bin Laden. Its relationship with America too is a case of two nations at odds forced into cooperation. The United States has long accused Pakistan of supporting terrorism, and the United States has imposed sanctions on Pakistan after its nuclear test in the late 1990s. But Pakistan, next door to Afghanistan and the only nation left that still recognizes the Taliban regime is suddenly needed.

MORT ZUCKERMAN: Well I'm reminded what Winston Churchill said after Germany invaded the Soviet Union, he said I'd do a partnership with the devil if it could help me defeat the Nazi's and I think here what we're doing is a version of that. We're going to get in bed with a lot of people with a lot of fleas on them and we're going to hope that we don't wake up and have some the fleas on ourselves.

VINCI: Pakistan has granted the United States, use of its air space and hence it would also get its use of air bases. While that sounds like a big boost on the surface; the United States says it won't rely on those bases for fear that could destabilize the country, which has its share of Muslims sympathetic to the Taliban.

The thought of an uprising by extremists makes India particularly nervous. The two neighbors have been feuding for years. Now India is afraid of what could happen with Pakistan's nuclear weapons.

GEORGE PERKOVICH, ANALYST: People worry that its possible that there could be tumult in Pakistan, there could be massive unrest, and in some kind of worst case scenario then people might worry that the nuclear weapons of Pakistan could fall into less responsible hands.

VINCI: Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf says that's just not possible.

PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTANI PRESIDENT: The command and control setup that we have evolved for ourselves, is very very secure -- is extremely secure and there is no chance of these assets falling in the hands of extremists.

VINCI: Still, some Indian officials remain skeptical.

JASWANT SINGH, INDIAN MINISTER OF DEFENSE: If the leadership of Pakistan and if Pakistan were to abandon the past of violence -- and of terrorism and join the rest of the international community in its fight against this evil, it would be a development that India would welcome.

VINCI: One over looked player in any potential strike is Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO and geographically the closest NATO country to Afghanistan. Long and allied to the United States, Turkey has put its air space and airports at U.S. disposal. Rumsfeld is due to stop there Friday to thank Turkey for its support.

As the U.S strengthens its ties in the Muslim world, it's rethinking its relationship with major powers, Russia and China. As Garrick Utley reports in turn those countries are rethinking their relationship with Washington.

GARRICK UTLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Once upon a time there was a Cold War.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nuclear missiles, launched from (INAUDIBLE).

UTLEY: East versus west and whatever you consider to be good versus evil and then it ended. Once until a very recent time there was what we call the Post Cold War era because we couldn't think of any better name for it. For America this was the time of 1990's peace and prosperity and then its end. The disaster seen around the world has changed so much. It marked the end of that Post Cold War era...

(on camera): and the way the biggest countries with the most terrifying weapons, nuclear weapons, look at each other. Russia, China and the United States they've been enemies, they have been rivals now they are coming closer together to face the new common terrorist threat. We can only imagine where this will lead.

(voice-over): Example Russia, President Vladimir Putin has thrown his full support behind the United States.

PROF. ROBERT LEGVOLD, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Putin himself evidently decided that this was a moment where he had to climb off the fence, that was very much in Russian's interest to align with the west, which would be the core of this international community opposed to terrorism.

UTLEY: That's astounding, or is it just ironic given that today's terrorist threat emerged from the Soviet Union's failed war in Afghanistan in the 1980's. It was the Cold War rivalry that led the United States to offer American arms, American training and American money to surrogates, the most militant Muslim fighters, without really thinking where it could lead to. The Mujahideen did help to drive the Russians out of Afghanistan and then they turned their military training and their hate on the United States. The Russian's fear, they may be next given the millions of muslins who live in the former Soviet Union, in fact President Putin says it's already happening.

In the long bloody war in Chechnya where Muslim fighters trained by Osama bin Laden have assented to combat. Eduard Shevardnadze knows how we got to where we are, he was foreign minister in the final years of the Soviet Union; today he is president of the Republic of Georgia, which borders on Chechnya. He has been the target of terrorist assassination attempts. EDUARD SHEVARDNADZE, PRESIDENT OF REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA (through translator): Probably geopolitics is the culprit, the existent geopolitics. We have slept longer than we should have; we're all simple in this world. Yes, the cold war is over but the hot war begins now.

UTLEY: Wednesday in New York City, Shevardnadze met with Mayor Giuliani and visited the disaster site and operations center. He is happy to see Russia moving closer to the west.

SHEVARDNADZE (through translator): Russia has no other way it has to move westward. This is the only alternative, their interests are the same, it is common sense.

UTLEY: There are signs that Russia's president Putin would even like to move Russia right into the western alliance.

LEGVOLD: The idea of NATO membership for Russia is a new and suddenly resurgent or a suddenly surging idea in many circles, and people have been talking about it as now a genuine prospect.

UTLEY: The term "geopolitics" is shorthand for the politics of geography. Just look at the map and that tiny sliver of Afghanistan leading into the northwest corner of China, which is heavily Muslim. There have already been bombings and terrorist attacks. China's leaders in far away Beijing worry about what that could lead to.

The Olympics are coming in 2008. The jubilation could turn sour if the games become a terrorist target. True, when an American reconnaissance plane was forced to land in China earlier this year and its crew held, it re-ignited the still burning rivalry between the two countries. But September 11 appears to have changed a lot of minds and priorities.

LEGVOLD: And the Chinese in this respect have some of the same kind of a stake in this effort that the Russians do. It helps them to overcome some of the fundamental divides in the relationship with United States. The Chinese want that.

UTLEY (on camera): Of course there is a price, China and Russia will likely ask of the United States, hold off in any criticism of Human Rights violations. Is that a price worth paying in order to have important allies in this new war? Is this a lasting realignment of geopolitics, or merely marriages of convenience? Two more questions arising in the wake and from the rubble of September 11.

Garrick Utley, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCMANUS: The U.S. lead international coalition against terrorism likely will proceed on several fronts. Psychological operations or PsyOps are expected to play a big role in the campaign to capture Osama bin Laden. How effective is mind warfare? David George looks at a few previous PsyOp operations ranging from the Tokyo Rose broadcast during World War II to the rock music played to unnerve Manuel Noriega.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID GEORGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was one of history's most infamous examples of psychological warfare. A round the clock barrage of ear splitting rock and roll, aimed at helping convince fugitive Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to leave the building where he'd holed up following his ouster in 1989. On the streets of Panama, posters put up by psychological warfare operatives offered people money for turning in their guns.

Modern practitioners of psychological warfare call themselves mind benders. They plied their trade in every resent conflict. In the Gulf War, leaflets some printed on the back of phony Iraqi currency urged Iraqi soldiers to surrender or die. Live in peace not war said one, cease resistance, be safe, said another. Leaflets dropped from helicopters and planes are credited with convincing at least 60,000 Iraqi soldiers to surrender.

Leaflets or propaganda newspaper complete with comic strips were used with less obvious effect by U.N. forces during their ill-fated attempt to restore order to Somalia in 1992. Both sides resorted to psychological operations during World War II. Allied forces offered safe passage to surrendering German troops with a leaflet signed by General Dwight Eisenhower. German leaflets urged Russian soldiers to surrender. Russian leaflets urged German troops to give up. And this German markup of a popular American magazine enticed Allied forces to choose between life and death.

One of the best known and most misunderstood examples of psychological warfare were the broadcasts by a voice that came to be known as Tokyo Rose. Military historians say there was no Tokyo Rose but over a dozen English-speaking women broadcasting Japanese propaganda to Allied forces.

Ironically the only one ever brought to trial was the American born Evita Gore, forced to broadcast for Japan after being trapped in that country by the war, she laced her program with messages that subtly mocked Japan while escaping notice by Tokyo. It was the ultimate mind bend. Nevertheless Evita Gore served six years after being convicted of treason. She was pardoned by President Gerald Ford three decades after the war ended.

David George, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUE KERVITSKY, LEVITTOWN PENNSYLVANIA: Hi! My name is Sue Kervitsky. I'm from Levittown, Pennsylvania. And, my question is, how did the Red Cross get started?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN E. SHULMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HISTORICAL RESOURCES DEPARTMENT (voice-over): The American Red Cross was founded by Ms. Clara Barton in the ancient of the battlefields. When in 1881, she created the organization here in Washington D.C., and we became signatories to a treaty with Geneva Conventions in 1882. The conventions themselves were established in 1864, as a result of the work of Jean Henri Dunant. Dunant came across a battlefield where there were 40,000 men dead and dying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(on camera): They returned to the small community nearby and got the residents to come out and help in whatever way they could. The experience so moved him that he returned to Geneva...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(voice-over): ...and he inspired the creation of the international Red Cross Committee. May 8 is World Red Cross Day. It's the birthday of Henri Dunant. This is a very special birthday because it's the centennial celebration of being the first winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCMANUS: The Red Cross provided help and relief in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania following the attack; and plenty of people have been helping the Red Cross. The gifts have been record breaking, donations, food and clothing have been pouring in. But is that all, surprising? Citizens of the U.S. have had a long-history of stepping up to the plate when catastrophes befall the country. Let's take a look at who is giving and who has given during times of crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): A high school football team in Wisconsin, Blue Chip Companies in New York, students in California; what do they all have in common? They have given over a million pints of blood, a half-a-billion dollars in cash, and hundreds of thousands of pounds of food and supplies.

MAJ. JOHN R. JONES, SALVATION ARMY: Everybody's heart is in the same mode, everybody's mind on the same wavelength. They're all thinking, we need to help our fellow men, and so they find it very easy to contribute to something like this.

MCMANUS: According to Major John Jones of the Salvation Army, in times of crisis, Americans have always opened the wallet, closet or the pantry.

JONES: It's been our experience. Whenever we expressed the need, and especially in a very emotional disaster like this that people just respond very freely.

BILL MADDOX, AMERICAN RED CROSS: We have a long record of people giving to the American Red Cross, the generosity of the American public is I think; unmatched.

MCMANUS: According to the Red Cross, donations have always skyrocketed after catastrophe. They received $10 million after the Oklahoma City bombing, $104 million after Hurricane Andrew and so far, over $250 million in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11.

MADDOX: It's just amazing. You know, what we have seen here in the short time, since the event is...

MCMANUS: It's also getting easier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We still need your help, please...

MCMANUS: Dozens of television commercials are flooding the airwaves with toll free numbers. If you are surfing the Web, chances are one of the sites you visit, you will have a link to where you can donate.

(on camera): And then there is the thousands of merchants across the country. Here at this Atlanta area grocery, you can add a few extra dollars to your food bill at the check out line. The store takes care of the rest.

BRENDA REID, PUBLIX GROCERY STORE: This program resulted from a meeting, where somebody said, it would be nice to be able to go somewhere and make a contribution and not have to, you know, write a check, get a stamp, put it in the mail.

MCMANUS (voice-over): So much money is now flowing to New York and Washington that charities are making it clear, unspecified donations maybe used elsewhere. The important thing, says one charity spokesperson, the gift you give will always go to someone, somewhere, in need. Now let's take a look at how donations given have helped those directly effected by the New York terrorist attacks.

Hillary Lane has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY LANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is under the white tent of the Red Cross that many of those affected by the September 11 attacks begin the lengthy process of applying for aid. Some are referred to other agencies; others walk away with the check in hand for temporary housing or other expenses. There is up to 30,000 dollars available per family.

With an average of 200 cases per day, in this one service center alone, the paper work is heavy. The tax complicated, for the Red Cross and the dozens of private and public agencies involved.

LORIE SLUTSKY, NEW YORK COMMUNITY TRUST: We believe in the final analysis, there will be far more people who need help than there will be resources.

LANE: One concern at the United Way that provide individuals with private cash assistance could make them ineligible for certain federal funds. No one's quite sure just yet.

GORDON CAMPBELL, SAFE HORIZON: We're working very closely with other nonprofits such as the American Red Cross, but also (INAUDIBLE), the mayor's office, the governor's office to make sure that when people do receive immediate financial assistance, it doesn't impact their ability to receive funds from other sources later on.

LANE: Inside the Family Relief Center at Pier 94 the nonprofit Safe Horizon is writing checks on the spot to families in need and to displaced workers and residents, such as Gloria Munoz who until September 11 worked at the Millennium Hotel.

GLORIA MUNOZ, DISPLACED WORKER: I have to look somewhere else. I am not going to wait for them to call me to -- you know, I am going to look work, because I have a little child and I have to take care of her.

LANE (on camera): It's all the matter of trying to balance long term needs with short, a bit of prospective. The Red Cross is just wrapping up operations setup to help families of the Oklahoma City bombing victims. Here, they estimate that they'll be working with families for at least, another 10 years.

Hillary Lane for CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: The U.S. Tourism industry took a big hit after the terrorist attack. This has companies in traditional tourists havens like New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles offering generous incentives to attract visitors; everything from cheap fares to get this, free hotel room.

Casey Wian reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This previously unreleased Frank Sinatra song is part of a new Las Vegas ad campaign telling potential visitors, it's OK to have fun again. After September 11, Las Vegas resorts were stuck with tens of thousands of empty rooms. Many laid- off thousand of workers and they already troubled Aladdin filed for bankruptcy.

JASON ADER, BEAR STEARNS: It's very hard for a company to adjust immediately to such a huge decline in demand. I think they are doing the best they can but it's been a painful process for the employees of Las Vegas.

WIAN: To ease the pain. Vegas resorts are slashing prices. National Airlines, partly owned by Las Vegas hotels now offers round- trip airfare, as well as $50 from the west coast to 190 from the east plus a free night in one of 15 top hotels. While National says the fare can barely cover fuel costs, its planes are now more than 90 percent full. MICHAEL CONWAY, PRESIDENT & CEO, NATIONAL AIRLINES: Americans are just looking for any kind of an incentive to get back to the business, that is America, and people are willing to fly, and I think we've demonstrated that.

WIAN: Las Vegas and Orlando both avoided being put on credit watch by Standard and Poors this week, Orlando got a boost from the president.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF AMERICA: Get down to Disney World in Florida.

WIAN: But SNP did place Hawaii, the Washington D.C. Convention Center, and Anaheim, California on its list of potential debt down grades. Disney's new California adventure in Anaheim was struggling even before the terrorist attacks. Since, its lost two high profile restaurants, but Disney says overall theme park attendance is back to near normal.

(on camera): While the tourism industry has had some success in bringing back visitors, there is still a long way to go. A study this week by Ernst & Young for example, found that occupancy rates at California hotels have dropped to a 10-year low.

Casey Wian, CNN Financial News, Los Angeles.

MCMANUS: So what are Americans doing if they are not traveling or going out for entertainment? Well, many are staying home and this has been a boom for businesses which cater to people planning a night- in.

Allen Chernoff explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the afternoon of September 11, Blockbuster Video saw a surge in business across the nation. Since the deadly attacks, some Americans have been avoiding public places; staying home instead, sometimes simply watching movies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just really watching more television and actually renting videos, which I have never had a habit of in the past.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just that I am very weary of what happened and I am just very very grievous, and I wouldn't mind.

CHERNOFF: Companies that cater to at-home activities stand to benefit, if the cocooning of America becomes a lasting trend. Already the number 2 video chain; Hollywood Entertainment is telling Wall Street, this year's profits should be better than previously forecast. And stocks of video rental companies have become overnight stars.

Blockbuster is up to 31 percent, since the attack, Hollywood Entertainment up 64 percent, and the number 3 chain, Movie Gallery is up 49 percent. Pizza parlors have also been seeing a pickup in demand.

DAVE MELTON, DOMINO'S PIZZA: People in an event like this spend more time at home watching television and maybe reluctant to leave home and Domino's Pizza is able to fit their needs by delivering a meal to their home.

CHERNOFF: Domino's is privately owned, but publicly treated Papa John's International has seen its stock rise 11 percent, since September 11. The company says sales in recent days have begun returning to normal level.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): The cocooning effect maybe short lived. Here in New York City, Broadway theater attendant has been bouncing back every week since the attacks, although, it remained 10 percent below, year ago level. Success in the war on terrorism is likely to determine, how long the cocooning of America will last.

Allan Chernoff, CNN Financial News, New York.

MCMANUS: New Yorkers have in the past had a reputation as being rushed and sometimes gruff, even rude, but that along with many other things have changed during the past several weeks.

CNN's Jeanne Moos reports that a kinder, gentler population of New Yorkers appears to be surfacing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some clouds have no sliver lining, at least the worst put folks on their best behavior. From store owners offering terrified pedestrians refuge, to strangers helping someone who is down. And, even as New York got back on its feet, hardcore New Yorkers seemed softer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More willing talk and when they say, how are you? They really mean, "How are you?"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or even smiling, just making eye contact, you know, usually people are like, you know...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More polite, they look into your eyes, say good morning, they hold the door for you, it's like going back to -- maybe the 60s.

MOOS: ...from less pushing in the subways to less pushiness on the roads.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What I have found though is that there's less honking of horns.

MOOS: Now drivers are honking to make way for an ambulance, or to signal its OK to cut in front.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I know that I have got more patient after this. I have realized that I am just lucky to be alive.

MOOS: These days, you might even find a shoulder to cry on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I was just sitting at the bar waiting for a burger and all of a sudden, I just like lost it and all these people came over and started hugging me. I mean complete strangers, and like, that doesn't happen in New York City.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This incident drew everybody together, you know that right, black and white, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and that's the best thing.

MOOS: Even that pierced look draws fewer sharp glances.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they don't look at us in like, the weird manner that they used to.

MOOS: But to some New Yorkers all this niceness is just another sign that things aren't normal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the police tell you, you can't go down a block and people wave and say OK. I think, this is New York. You are not supposed to wave and say OK?

MOOS: Those perturbed by surplus civility take heart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's gone back to the usual.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It (INAUDIBLE) in the subway, when I was in the subway people weren't patient. They weren't, people were irked, hitting each other...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're salesmen, no one's ever nice to us.

MOOS: Aren't they nicer now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it actually got worse.

MOOS: Even a rude awakening doesn't make everyone permanently polite.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: OK, New York. We're going to keep our eye on you to see if this is just a temporary thing, but that's all for Newsroom Friday. Please stay tuned for continuing coverage, and we leave you now with images from the recovery site.

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