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American Morning

Anthrax Scare: Baby Boy Who Contracted Skin Form of Anthrax in Good Condition; Bomb Apparently Hits Red Cross White House in Afghanistan

Aired October 16, 2001 - 11:02   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to begin this hour with the anthrax investigation, and another case apparently contracted in a newsroom.

CNN's Jason Carroll is at ABC headquarters in New York.

Good morning again, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning again to you.

I can tell you that that baby boy that you had been talking about is in good condition, and he is responding well to antibiotics, and ABC has just confirmed for us that the baby is taking the antibiotic Cipro. The baby is the son of an ABC News producer. He has a skin form of anthrax, which is easily treatable with antibiotics.

Now the way we understand this, authorities say the baby may have contracted the disease on visit to ABC back on September 28th. Apparently, he was here for a birthday party. Shortly after that visit, the baby became sick. His parents noticed that his arm was swollen. They thought that perhaps he had a spider bite. They took him to the hospital. Doctors were trying to figure out what was going on. Eventually the CDC confirmed the baby did in fact have a form of anthrax.

Now, given what has happened here at ABC and at NBC, where an employee there contracted the disease after opening a letter addressed to Tom Brokaw, health officials have been doing environmental checks of several news organizations, including ABC, where they are focusing on the second and the third floors, as well as our offices at CNN, also at CBS, and the Associated Press, just to name a few. They are doing this as a precautionary measure only.

Earlier this morning, we did have the opportunity to speak with several ABC employees, and they tell us that despite everything that has happened here, they still feel safe going back to work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not concerned. They are taking care of it. I'm not going to panic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not afraid to come back to work. I don't necessarily believe that it is a terrorist act. I think it is very possible that it is a domestic weirdo who has seen an opportunity to have some fun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really don't have any concerns. I mean, we all do our job, and it's isolated case. Hopefully, we will find out what's going on today more about it, and we just got to be alert, that's all.

CARROLL: I also want to point out that ABC has confirmed for us that the baby is now out of the hospital. Again, he is doing well, and he is expected to make a full recovery -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: That is good news about the young man.

Jason, it has to be unsettling when news becomes the news, but it appears the employees are heading to work as scheduled.

CARROLL: I'm sorry, Catherine, I couldn't understand your question. Could you repeat it for me one more time?

CALLAWAY: The ABC employee do not seem unsettled at all by this.

CARROLL: Yes, I mean a lot of employees here are definitely unsettled by what's been going on. Employees at CNN upset what's been going on there. You talk to people at NBC. I was there yesterday, Catherine. A lot of people are upset, but I have to tell you, even though people are definitely concerned, every woman I have talked to, whether it's at our own organization at CNN, or at ABC or at NBC, everyone is saying, you know what, we are not going to let this get us down, we are just going to go back to work and keep doing our jobs.

CALLAWAY: Thank you, Jason.

HEMMER: All right, and now to another angle on this story.

"The New York Times" obtained transcripts to some conversations between air traffic controllers and the hijackers. They are both revealing and chilling.

CNN's Miles O'Brien watching that story.

Miles, good morning to you.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

You know, since we had an opportunity to see the radar tracks of those fateful flights which left Boston and ultimately went to the World Trade Center, a lot of questions about what was going on in those air traffic control radar rooms. Well, normally, in the case of an accident, the National Transportation Safety Board releases transcripts of those conversations that are carried over the airwaves fairly quickly after any sort of accident. Of course, this not the typical kind of situation; any sort of transcripts would be in the classification of a criminal investigation , so they are tightly held.

But "The New York Times" did get a hold of them, and it really gives you a sense of, first of all, the confusion that air traffic controllers initially faced, and then the slow realization that they were dealing with a hijacking, ultimately followed by some action, unfortunately, action that was too late.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Tape recorded on the ground in air traffic control radar rooms captured radio transmissions between pilots and controllers. They offer fleeting glimpses to an enduring horror.

This overheard from the cockpit of first plane seized out of Boston, American airlines 11: "Nobody move please; we are going back to the airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves."

Air traffic controllers radioed a general call for help to all pilots in locating the missing flight. Ironically, it was the pilot of the second plane to be hijacked who answered that call.

Before the terrorists took control, the unsuspecting flight crew of United 175 told controllers he heard a suspicious radio call from American 11. "Sounds like someone keyed the mike and said everyone stay in your seats," he said.

But it was already too late, 8:41 am, five minutes later, American 11 flew into the World Trade Center.

The "Times" reports air traffic control heard this message from another unidentified pilot. "Anybody know what that smoke is in lower Manhattan?" he asked.

Within minutes, a pair of National Guard f-15 fighters scrambled out of a base in Massachusetts. By then, unite 175 was screaming south toward New York.

The FAA tapes capture a ground controller saying, "We may have a hijack. We have some problems over here right now."

At 9:02 a.m., the second jetliner hit the south tower. The F-15s were still eight minutes away.

Meanwhile, at an FAA en route center in Indianapolis, a controller was trying to raise a third transcontinental flight. "American 77, Indy, radio check. How do you read?" There was no answer.

At 9:27 a.m., a trio of National Guard f-16 fighters left their base in Virginia. At first they headed for New York City. Six minutes later, at 9:33, controllers spotted American 77 speeding toward Washington, it hit the Pentagon five minutes later. By then, according to "The Times," the fighters had veered toward Washington, but then all they could do was look down and confirm the Pentagon was on fire.

By then, the fourth hijacked plane, United 93, was honing in on Washington and the fighters. It crashed in a Pennsylvania field before the pilots had to execute orders to shoot down the 757.

(END VIDEOTAPE) O'BRIEN: Now we should make clear these are transcripts of the radio communications between the controllers and pilots. What might shed more light in all of this would be cockpit-voice recorder, which actually records conversations which aren't necessarily over the airwaves, as it were. Those cockpit-voice recorders part of the two black boxes on every plane. Most experts believe, however, those black boxes did not survive the world trade center crashes, although there is a possibility they might ultimately be found, slim one at that.

In addition, at the Pentagon crash site, the black box there was so heavily damaged, they were unable to recover information from it. So, the cockpit-voice recordings that we normally get in the case of these accidents may never become available to us. We may never know fully exactly what happened on those planes. These communications between the controllers and the planes, or the lack of communication if you will, are telling on their own right however -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed, Miles, thank you. Miles O'Brien watching that.

As you might expect, there were plenty of empty seats on U.S. airlines last month. An airline trade group saying the number of passengers fell by a third, from 46 million in September of 2000, to 30 million this past September. Experts estimating the terror attacks will drain $5 billion from airline coffers by the end of this year, 2001.

CALLAWAY: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in India just a short while ago after a bit of a delicate diplomatic tiptoe through Pakistan.

And CNN's Walter Rodgers is joining us now from Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

Walter, first, can you tell us a little bit more about the bomb that apparently hit a Red Cross warehouse in Kabul, in the capital.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Catherine, U.S. airstrikes continued with unabated fury almost around the clock, across the border in Afghanistan. Navy planes coming from the carriers Vinson and Enterprise in the Arabian Sea. U.S. Air Force jets based more locally, striking at Afghanistan, trying to smash Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. The targets today were Kandahar, the Taliban stronghold in southeastern Afghanistan. Also, the capital Kabul.

That is where mishap occurred, if indeed that is what it was. The reports are that in point of fact an American bomb fell and hit the International Red Cross warehouse in Kabul.

Joining us now is Mario Musa of the ICRC, the International Committee on Red Cross. Perhaps he can give us more specifics on what exactly happened in the Afghan capital.

What happened? Did the bomb actually hit the warehouse? MARIO MUSA, ICRC SPOKESMAN: Yes, indeed at 1:30 Kabul time, we heard a huge explosion of the warehouse, and one of the several warehouses we have, stores was on fire, so it was probably hit by a bomb, yes.

RODGERS: Is it your judgment that that was a bomb went astray, or was there some reason that might have been a legitimate target?

MUSA: Well, this a compound very clearly marked with protective symbol of the emblem of the Red Cross, that you can see from the skies. It is not -- it is only compound where we are using for storing non-food items such as shelter, staples, plastic sheetings, jelly cans for internally displaced people. Our staff was there.

RODGERS: Is it possible that the Taliban had been using that as a warehouse as well? That is to say your people left Afghanistan, left Kabul, a month ago exactly. You weren't there. How do we know what happened?

MUSA: Definitely not. Only the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) had to leave one month ago, as you correctly say, but our colleagues, our 1,000 (UNINTELLIGIBLE) are indeed working. They are working in the hospital. They are working in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) centers for the mine victims. We have an ambulance service not only Kabul, but in all the six problems, which is where we work in Afghanistan, so it's -- the operation is ongoing. That stock (ph) is active, and it is a humanitarian warehouse.

RODGERS: Casualties.

MUSA: One guard was wounded, and then was immediately brought to one hospital we support with one of the ambulances, and we hope is still alive.

RODGERS: Mario Musa, thank you very much. Talk with Mario Musa of the international committee says a Red Cross warehouse was indeed hit in Kabul today, one guard wounded -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Walter, we mentioned a moment ago about Colin Powell, now in India after brief stop in Pakistan. Any word on the talks there in Pakistan, how successful they were?

RODGERS: In point of fact, Secretary of State Colin Powell did score a rather impressive success here, because after his private meeting with Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, Mr. Musharraf came out clearly. Secretary Powell coaxed him into a public statement, in which President Musharraf, who remember is the leader of a major Muslim nation, Musharraf came out and said he will continue to support the coalition against Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda network open- endedly. This is a very important public statement of support coming from the Muslim world, again from Pakistani president, because Pakistan is pivotal to U.S. operation here, it being along a very long, 1,500-mile border with Afghanistan -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: All right, CNN's Walter Rodgers, joining us from Islamabad, thank you. Well, the U.S. has unleashed a fierce barrage on a Taliban stronghold today, calling in gunships to target Taliban troops concentrations.

Let's go now to CNN's Chris Burns, who is monitoring the U.S. attacks from Northern Afghanistan.

What's latest from there, Chris?

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well night has fallen, Catherine. We will wait to see what comes out of this evening. We have set up our videophone, video camera, with night vision to see what happens along the frontline, and looking toward Kabul. Those attacks you were talking about happened in Kandahar, the spiritual center of the Taliban. That is in the far -- in south, where the U.S. used some new helicopter, -- their C-130 helicopter gunships to rake and destroy other Taliban positions over there.

Now what we saw today, of course, in Kabul was yes, the destruction of least one warehouse for the ICRC. And despite some of those civilian destructions, the U.S. campaign is going on with its air campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURNS (voice-over): U.S.-led airstrikes intensify pressure on the Taliban, hitting Kabul and blasting troop positions north of the capitol, despite the menace of anti-aircraft fire. The Taliban and Northern Alliance exchanged tracer, machine gun and mortar fire along the front line north of Kabul, keeping the tensions high there.

Meanwhile, in the southern Taliban stronghold Kandahar, an AC-130 gunship joined bombers in striking at targets. The Taliban claimed more civilian damage and casualties in Kabul and other cities.

Northern Alliance troops say they are closing in on the northern Taliban stronghold of Mazar-E-Sharif. Forces say they are nearing the airport that airstrikes targeted in recent days. They also claim hundreds more Taliban troops defected. The Alliance's reports could not be independently verified.

Humanitarian aid is getting to needy Afghans, and U.S. food airdrops have rained more than a quarter million packets over both Taliban and Northern Alliance held areas, but international aid officials still say that is not enough. They say they need a cease- fire to transport some 14,000 tons of aid by winter to prevent hundreds of thousands from starving in mountainous areas Northern Afghanistan.

U.S. planes have also begun dropping leaflets, showing a western soldier in camouflage shake hands with a man in traditional Afghan dress.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNS: That move could signal a new phase in the U.S.-led campaign. With Taliban defenses that are now softened, perhaps the coalition forces could be more active on the ground. If commandos are not there yet, they could be on their way. CALLAWAY: Chris, how informed is the Northern Alliance in the status of the U.S. assault? How aware are they? What's latest of what is going on there? How are they receiving their information?

BURNS: Well, Northern Alliance claims to be in very close contact with the United States. They say they exchange information virtually daily. Obviously, if you do look at some of what's going on in the ground in air for instance up there, Mazar-E-sharif, That the airport that the Northern Alliance is approaching had been hit repeatedly by U.S.-led attack in previous days, so obviously there is and also the province northeast along supply routes where Northern Alliance is trying to regain control before the winter. Again, U.S.- led airstrikes striking at Taliban troop positions there. That does indicate that there is close contact between the two in coordinating their attacks -- Catharine.

CNN's Chris Burns, reporting from Northern Afghanistan. Thank you, Chris.

HEMMER: OK, then, so what do Americans think and feel at this point. A new Gallup poll indicating that Americans overwhelmingly approve of America's new war, but the public split at this time whether the U.S. is winning that war at this time.

Frank Newport, Gallup poll editor-in-chief joins us now from Princeton, New Jersey at this point with the latest numbers.

Frank, hello.

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Hello, Bill.

Indeed, you are right, support, just like at the Persian Gulf War, is remaining very high for the military action on the part of U.S. and allies, unwavering I would say. We asked the same question in our CNN/"USA Today" Gallup polls from mid-September to early October, and just this past weekend, 82-82, and now up to 88 percent, almost nine out of 10, very high numbers, as polling goes say yes. They support the U.S. and its allies military action we have been hearing about from Afghanistan at this point in time.

But you are right, back in the Persian Gulf war, after a couple of days of the airstrikes and after the ground troops went in February of 91, a big percent, two thirds, three quarters of Americans, said the U.S. was winning against Iraq, but look here, here this weekend we said who is currently winning the war against terrorism? That is how we phrased it. 42 percent say U.S. and its allies, a much, much lower number. A majority plurality of Americans say neither side wining. Very few say the terrorists. This, however, is a big difference.

So Americans, Bill, certainly no optimism now that at this point Americans are overwhelmingly winning.

One last point, all the anthrax discussion, did it affect worry about being the victim of a terrorist attack. We can't find it. We have looked at other polls done, even as late as last night. This is our poll through Sunday night, 51 percent at least somewhat concerned about being victim of a terrorist attack. But as you can see, that has kind of in that range all the way since September 11, so far, our review of the data bill show no signs of a dramatic uptick in concern on the part of the average American, yet, at least as of Sunday -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Frank, thanks. Keep watching numbers. Let us know. Much appreciated.

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