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CNN Newsroom

Aired October 31, 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.
TOM HAYNES, CO-HOST: Hi, everyone, welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tom Haynes.

MICHAEL MCMANUS, CO-HOST: And I'm Michael McManus.

Much of yesterday's show was preempted for continuing coverage of America's new war, so let's catch up now.

The Federal Aviation Administration is enforcing flight restrictions after an announcement of a credible domestic terrorism threat. Monday, Attorney General John Ashcroft said another major attack could happen this week. As a precaution, no aircraft will be allowed to fly near the World Series games and flights are banned near 80 nuclear power facilities through next Tuesday.

HAYNES: The anthrax crisis, meantime, continues to cause problems for the nation's postal service. Officials say 200 postal facilities across the nation are now being tested for the bacteria and it will likely take billions of dollars to recover from the anthrax crisis.

Now to the military strikes in Afghanistan, Jamie McIntyre fills us in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Pentagon says it's now concentrating 80 percent of its firepower against front line Taliban forces, but says the shift is not a sign of frustration at a lack of progress, but rather part of a methodically planned military campaign that is just three weeks young.

GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: In my view, it is not at all a stalemate. I believe that we're on the timeline that we established, which essentially is the timeline that we exercise at our initiative.

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon has now acknowledged publicly that pinpoint strikes against Taliban targets in the north have been more effective in recent days because a handful of U.S. special forces, working with the opposition, are calling in strikes and using lasers to mark targets.

But with fewer than 100 planes a day attacking the Taliban, critics say the U.S. could easily intensify the pressure, by carpet bombing troop concentrations or putting in more special forces to better direct attacks.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Were anyone to make that suggestion, it would reflect a lack of understanding or knowledge as to the effort we've been putting into it. It is not easily done.

MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld acknowledges the war in Afghanistan is constrained, but insists the constraints are practical, not political.

RUMSFELD: In any conflict there are constraints. And there are constraints because weapons have only so much precision, there are constraints because there are some things you simply don't want to do, and you make a conscious decision not to do them.

MCINTYRE: And to critics who argue the Pentagon needs to send ground troops in to root out the Al Qaeda network and its Taliban backers, both the United States and its closest ally, Great Britain, say that may yet happen.

RUMSFELD: The United States of America has certainly not ruled out the use of ground troops.

GEOFFREY HOON, BRITISH DEFENSE MINISTER: Nor have we.

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon says in three weeks it has established air superiority over Afghanistan, eliminated much of the Taliban's military equipment, cut off its resupply lines, and made it possible for U.S. forces to maneuver on the ground.

REAR ADM. JOHN STUFFLEBEEM, JOINT STAFF DEPUTY OPERATIONS DIRECTOR: We know we're doing the right thing. We're doing it in the best way that we know how. We're adapting as we go along. We're confident that we're making progress. And we are going to win.

MCINTYRE (on camera): Both the United States and Britain say it would not make military sense to ease up on the aerial assault for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins in mid-November. That, they say, would simply give the Taliban a chance to regroup.

And Pakistan's president has eased up on his call for a bombing pause, saying simply he hopes the U.S. can achieve its military objectives by then.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYNES: Meantime, Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, is receiving much domestic criticism for his support of the air strikes in neighboring Afghanistan. That's not his only problem either. Pakistan is also dealing with an onslaught of refugees. We'll have more on that in just a minute.

First, our Joel Hochmuth brings us a closer look at the region.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pakistan's sudden friendship with the United States is just the latest twist in that nation's already unpredictable political landscape. Pakistan, a nation about twice the size of California, has a population of about 145 million. Although 90 percent are Muslim, they are anything but unified. There are a number of cultural groups, each with its own language. For instance, Urdu is Pakistan's official language, yet less than 10 percent of the people speak it as their primary language. Politically, the country is deeply polarized with some eager to take the country into the 21st century and others trying to march it back in time.

In the cities there's a growing middle class that sympathizes with the U.S. and the West, but there also remain many Islamic fundamentalists loyal to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan. It's said in rural areas more people own guns than refrigerators.

President Pervez Musharraf is just the latest in a long list of leaders who have tried to rule this often unruly combination. Until 1947, Pakistan was part of India and under British rule. But a country that was supposed to be a democracy has seen precious little of it in its five decades of independence. Instead, it seems there have been more coups, assassinations and corruption then anything else. Musharraf himself came to power just two years ago in a coup that toppled the corrupt government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

While Pakistan has endured its share of infighting, there's also its ongoing feud with its next door neighbor, India. The two nations have gone to war three times over the disputed region of Kashmir. Depending which side you believe, anywhere from 30 to 80,000 people have been killed in the last 12 years alone.

India charges Pakistan trains and supports rebels waging a terrorist war against its rule there. Pakistan claims India has reneged on a promise to let the largely Muslim Kashmiris decide their own political future. The war of words seems never ending.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALEEHA LODHI, PAKISTANI AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: We would like India to accept that there is no military solution to Kashmir. And I'm afraid we have not seen (INAUDIBLE) recognize that. We would like to be on the negotiating table but we would like to have a negotiating partner who can talk to us. So far we have not seen that happen.

LALIT MANSINGH, INDIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Our contention is that Pakistan must stop sponsoring cross border terrorism, then we can have a reasonable dialog and have normal relations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOCHMUTH: So Musharraf finds himself governing in a political minefield, both domestic and international. As if he didn't have enough on his mind, now there's a new crisis, thousands of desperate refugees from neighboring Afghanistan are massing along his border with that country.

For more on that situation, we go to Carol Lin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): At the Charman border, under the menacing eye of the Taliban, Afghan refugees meet at a tension- filled crossroads of hope and despair -- despair for those who do not have visas to Pakistan, hope for those who do. They crossed into Pakistan Sunday with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

"We came here to get shelter," Miraweis told us. He says he doesn't have a penny to buy food. He is one of 150,000 refugees the UNHCR now predicts could cross into southwest Pakistan. But even if they arrive, they may not get the shelter they seek.

This is the only refugee camp they've been able to get approved at this busy border crossing, and it is temporary at best -- primitive latrines, simple tents. In a month when winter hits, aid workers want to move the refugees to a more permanent site.

(on camera): The problem is it is 40 minutes up this winding, bumpy road to a site that has no water, no facilities, nothing is set up.

(voice-over): This desolate plain is one of a handful of places Pakistan's government has only just approved for new refugees. Pakistan has been reluctant to expand existing camps or build new ones because it already cares for two million Afghan refugees and says it cannot handle more.

Even as aid workers keep negotiating with Pakistan, they stockpile tents and supplies for the flood of refugees they still expect. But they may not be able to help the vast majority of undocumented refugees, an estimated 50,000 in Quetta alone. Some would rather take their chances on the streets, some seek day labor, others beg, but here they say they feel safe.

These Shi'a refugees, ethnic minorities in Afghanistan, tell us they won't live in a camp with their historic enemy the Pashtuns. That new twist has put the UNHCR's commissioner in a tough position.

RUUD LUBBERS, HIGH COMMISSIONER, UNHCR: I don't think the solution is to start a sort of ethnic cleansing, having different camps for different sorts of people. It must be possible that people live in one refugee camp together.

LIN: So Ruud Lubbers toured part of Quetta's refugee community to get the word out. Come to the refugee camps, the UNHCR will guarantee your safety. But first he has to convince Pakistan's government to not deport the Afghans who come forward and also to allow aid workers to finish building the camps. If he does not succeed, it could be a crisis the United Nations did not predict, how to explain why $50 million in international aid did not help the people who need help the most.

Carol Lin, CNN, Quetta, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: As you've been hearing, the attacks of September have led to a dark October in the U.S. as well as around the world. The markets are down, layoffs are up and many say the U.S. has slipped into a recession. And America isn't the only country feeling the after effects of terrorism. We continue our look at Pakistan, a country near the center of military action that's also getting hit hard financially.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Normally these markets in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi would be crowded with tourists with plenty of cash buying leather jackets, rugs and carpets for just a fraction of the price they sell for in Europe or the United States. But these days there's hardly a tourist to be found, and the owners of these small businesses consider themselves victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Mohammad Ilyas sells T-shirts, shorts and caps. In his shopkeeper's English, he sums it all up.

MOHAMMAD ILYAS, SHOP OWNER: Business is nothing. No business. Business all very (INAUDIBLE). Everybody no happy.

VAUSE: Not happy but not blaming Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda. Instead, these shopkeepers blame America.

Muhammad Yasin sells locally made ornaments. In a good month, he grosses about 400 U.S. dollars, enough to cover the shop's expenses and to support his family of seven. Last month, though, he grossed less than $100. In another month he says he'll be broke and there'll be no food for the family.

Across from Muhammad Yasin's shop, Bheen Rhraj sells carpets, wraps and tablecloths. His is a similar story.

BHEEN RHRAJ, SHOP OWNER: My shops is (INAUDIBLE) but now is you know not coming in (INAUDIBLE).

VAUSE: And he says unless things improve, he too will soon be broke.

Quite simply, it's not good for business to be next door to a war zone. The air strikes on Afghanistan will cost the Pakistan economy billions of dollars -- billions it simply doesn't have.

The insurance bill for the national airline has increased fivefold. Hotels are mostly empty, except for foreign journalists. Ships which normally load and unload at Karachi's port are now diverted to Bombay in India, and Pakistan's garment industry, a major employer, is hurting as western companies cancel orders.

But Pakistan's economy was in trouble long before September 11. The average per capita income has fallen over the past five years to around 300 U.S. dollars a year. About half the population lives in poverty.

(CROWD SHOUTING)

VAUSE: And the fear is economic and social unrest make for a fertile recruiting ground for Islamic hard-liners.

IFFAT MALIK, POLITICAL ANALYST: It basically offers a solution to all their problems. It's saying to them that the reason why you are in the situation you are is because your governments are pro-west, because they're secular, because they haven't followed Islam. If you turn to Islam, that will offer the solution to all your problems and people respond to that. They really don't have -- they see that as a last hope.

VAUSE: A last hope because they've been disappointed so many times before. There is distrust of the United States and suspicion that the U.S. will turn its back on the region like it did at the end of the Cold War.

MOHAMMAD ZIAUDDIN, EDITOR, "THE DAWN": The people of Pakistan, according to their perception, have seen the U.S. betraying this country again and again. I mean recently as soon as the war in Afghanistan was over, just walked away, leaving us -- I mean burdening us with (INAUDIBLE) of one crisis, the civil war, the drugs, the guns. So its -- and the fundamentalism.

VAUSE (on camera): But what about all that aid, all that debt relief from the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe, Pakistan's reward for its part in the international coalition against terrorism? Most here from President Musharraf down say they're grateful, but to be honest, they say, it's nickel and dime. So far this country has received hundreds of millions of dollars. What they say they need is in fact billions to help pay off the national debt which is close to $40 billion.

(voice-over): But why should the world's richer nations pick up the tab for Pakistan's economic problems? Because people like Bheen Rhraj and his fellow shop owners who already blame the United States for their problems say they'll take to the streets if they can't make a living. And those anti-U.S. protests, which so far have been relatively small, will grow causing more problems for President Musharraf.

MALIK: I think men are very susceptible. I think if you look at the pattern of other Muslim countries across the Islamic world, you see that where you have a combination of high unemployment, lack of economic opportunities, lack of business that's not doing well, lack of economic growth, under those circumstances, when combined with other factors, Islamic rhetoric or the appeal of Islamic parties, then people do respond to that appeal.

VAUSE: President Musharraf insists that Pakistan sided with the United States because of his country's apporance (ph) of terrorism, but there are also national interests as well. In his own words, "Pakistan is once again part of the international community" and his Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz is expecting big things from these new friends.

SHAUKAT AZIZ, PAKISTANI FINANCE MINISTER: I guess our friends will be more understanding and they will contribute to Pakistan getting more market access, they'll contribute to Pakistan getting more investment and donor money because a stable Pakistan is good for the region and good for the world.

VAUSE: But with signs the world economy is suffering a slowdown and the United States faced with growing expenses for home security and billions just to rebuild after September 11, the question now is how much are many countries willing to spend to keep the shopkeepers in Karachi and others just like them employed and their families fed and away from the hard line Islamic fundamentalists?

MALIK: If you look at Afghanistan, it took just 20 years for that country to reach the stage it is now. And if you are going to stop that kind of thing happening here as well, you need to take action now.

VAUSE: Action which the shopkeepers in Karachi say they desperately need as they count another day without customers.

John Vause, CNN, Karachi, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Teachers, make the most of CNN NEWSROOM with our free daily classroom guide to the program. There you'll find a rundown of each day's show so you choose just the program segment that fits your lesson plan. Plus there are discussion questions and activities and the guide highlights key people, places and news terms. Each day find hot links to other online resources and previews of upcoming desk segments.

It's all at this Web address where you can also sign up to have the guide automatically e-mailed directly to you each day. It's easy. It's free. It's your curriculum connection to the news. After all, the news never stops and neither does learning.

HAYNES: The U.S. Senate is debating two closely related issues, the economy and energy policy. On the energy front, you may have noticed gasoline prices are the lowest they've been in nearly two years. That's not stopping Senate Republicans from demanding a vote on an energy policy that would include drilling for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. They say the less the U.S. depends on oil from other countries, the more secure it will be. A vote could come before Thanksgiving.

Meantime, many of those same Republican senators are advocating an economic stimulus package to jumpstart the economy. Two senators went as far as proposing a nationwide sales tax holiday to encourage a shopping spree. The package is made up primarily of tax relief.

MCMANUS: The events currently unfolding will certainly go down into the history books, and it is to the anals of history that we turn for our next story. It is the story of a short-lived civilization whose legacy is timeless. The Inca Empire was located in South America. Its emperor was simply known as the Inca. Later, the entire population would inherit that name.

This week we're bringing you a series exploring the Inca's rich history. Today's installments probe the past and the present.

First up, NEWSROOM's Janice McDonald visits the Inca capital in Peru.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANICE MCDONALD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Now all but deserted, these massive stone gates once served as the entrance to the ancient Incan capital, Cuzco. While Cuzco is still a center of activity for the area high in the Andes Mountains, more than 500 years ago this town square was also the center of a vast empire.

The Inca Pachucutec named the city Qusco, meaning navel, where the empire came together.

ROXANNA DUBRILL NUNEZ, DIRECTOR, INKA MUSEUM: The name of the Incan empire was Tahuantinsuyu. Tahuan means four. It was divided in four great parts. The Inca empire was in the north until the southern part of Columbia of the actual country of Columbia. In the south, it was the north part of Chile, including Santiago, Chile that is now the capital.

MCDONALD: In fact, during its nearly 300-year existence, beginning in 1250 with Pachucutec's victories over regional tribes, the Incan Empire was the largest in the world.

NUNEZ: The social and the political organization is amazing in the Incas. How they were able to control the big territory that they conquered.

MCDONALD: This plaza where people now come to talk, chase pigeons or sell wares, used to be surrounded by Incan government buildings and palaces. It was the heart of a city built in the shape of a sacred puma.

The ancient Fort of Sacayhuama high on the hill is considered to be the head. Its wall built to form teeth. From here, runners called chasqui could relay messages to any point of the empire's 380,000- square-mile range in a matter of just days.

While they were considered fierce warriors, the Incan lifestyle was itself peaceful, with very little crime and no jails because that would require feeding precious food to the prisoners. Punishment was extracted swiftly.

(AUDIO GAP)

... was itself peaceful, with very little crime and no jails, because that would require feeding precious food to the prisoners. Punishment was extracted swiftly.

VICTORIA MORALES CONDORI, GUIDE: First, I cut the fingers or sometimes the hand, and after the last one, is to push down from the top of the mountains.

MCDONALD: All laws boiled down to three basic rules.

CONDORI: Don't steal, don't lie, don't be lazy.

MCDONALD: Lazy hardly seemed an option in a largely agricultural society. The mountains are still decorated with the terraces used for farming, some long since abandoned, many still very much in use. Incas had no money. People paid for what was needed by bartering or by working. Their ability to build is a marvel to this day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Original Inca wall. Nobody knows how to restore it or how to rebuild. We don't know what kind of mathematics they had or what kind of tools they had to get, you know, these angles. We don't have any written records left by our ancestors.

MCDONALD: Centuries later, some Inca-built walls built without mortar have withstood earthquakes. Some of the few walls remaining are part of what was called the Temple of the Sun, where the Cathedral of Santa Domingo now stands.

(on camera): This building may not look like much now, but it is the reason why the conquistadors came to Cuzco. In its heyday, its walls were covered in gold and its rooms were filled with golden statues.

(voice-over): The main area was built so that sun would enter the room and cast a blinding light on the bejeweled golden walls within. Outside, there is still a garden but it's a far cry from the Incan garden, which was said to have statues of llamas, plants, and even butterflies, all sculpted in gold. These pieces at the Gold Museum in Lima are only a small representation of what had existed. The conquistadors, led by explorer Francisco Pizzaro, began melting down the statues to be shipped back to Spain almost as soon as they arrived.

The Incas had not considered them a threat either through belief of their own superiority or because they mistook the bearded white men as long lost gods.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They remember a god that came and that was a very good person. And the appearance was similar to the Spaniards, and this god they remember (UNINTELLIGIBLE) went through the Pacific, through the ocean. You know that the Spaniards came by the ocean, too, and they were confused.

MCDONALD: Pizzaro and his men killed the ruler, Atahuallpa, putting his nephew Manco in power as a puppet ruler and dismantling the structure of the Inca's empire. As the people began to see the Spaniards as enemies, they resisted, but resistance was easily put down. In 1536, during a great battle at Sacayhuama, knives and spears were no match for the Spanish rivals, and it was a slaughter. The Incan empire was destroyed.

Sulma Morales and her friends Marlene and Alicia have grown up in the heart of what was once the capital of the Incan empire, Cuzco, Peru. They are Quechua, descendants of the Inca, a heritage they both are proud of and take for granted.

MARLENE QUISPE, AGE 18 (through translator): Why shouldn't we pass it on to our children? That's what they've always taught us. It started out with our ancestors and has been keep alive for centuries. It will continue to be that way forever.

MCDONALD: But if you listen closely, you will notice that some of the culture is already being lost. The girls are speaking in Spanish. The language of their parents is Quechua. Although Quechua and Spanish are both Peru's official languages, it's a language the girls and many of their friends speak only when they have to.

SULMA MORALES, AGE 18 (through translator): Most of us speak Quechua because our parents speak Quechua. They are the ones who encourage us to speak Quechua.

QUISPE (through translator): We don't study Quechua in school, never mind college, we learn it at home. From the day we are born, we hear our peasant parents' Quechua. We learn from them. At school they teach us our other language, Spanish.

MORALES (through translator): We only speak basic Quechua. We don't really speak it that well because at work they don't usually ask for Quechua speakers; they want other languages. The Quechua tradition is dying out.

MCDONALD: Peru's new president is among those who don't want to see that happen. Alejandro Toledo is also Quechuas and proud of it. He's trying at least to slow the language loss.

ALEJANDRO TOLEDO, PRESIDENT OF PERU: I am going to reinstitute the Quechua as a language in the school. We're not going to force anyone, but just as English or French, it's an option, with much more reason.

MCDONALD: He hopes the move will also spark interest in holding on to other traditions, traditions which seem old and passe when put against the new things the young people are being exposed to via television and computers. While home computers are rare in this poverty stricken country, cyber cafes such as this one are popping up all over. For three soles, or less than a dollar, you can spend an hour exploring the World Wide Web -- far more interesting to some than learning the ways of their ancestors.

ALICIA YUCRA, AGE 18 (through translator): We don't mean to say that our traditions are bad or good. We appreciate our culture and traditions, but believe that they should be as they are now.

QUISPE (through translator): Out of the traditions kept by our people, some are good and must be maintained by the younger generations as well. But there are other traditions, especially religious ones, which are bad. Those shouldn't exist anymore.

MCDONALD: The traditions of today are indeed evolving. Some things such as ancient building and farming methods are gone for good. Others, such as language and traditional dress, are hanging on. These teens want their lives to be a hybrid combining the past and the present.

YUCRA (through translator): I like my culture, and I wish to pass it on to my children. I want it to continue for generations to come, because I think it's interesting and that it should be promoted among other people, with changes, of course. That's an incentive for our culture and for more changes to be passed on from generation to generation.

MORALES (through translator): In other words, so that my children don't lose my tradition. Quite the contrary, that they have more and be more than what I am -- that my culture continue to prevail in them, but go beyond it.

MCDONALD: While their children will likely inherit less of their culture than they did, it's up to these girls and their generation to determine just what traditions will remain.

Janice McDonald, CNN NEWSROOM, Cuzco, Peru.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: That's all for NEWSROOM right now, more on Peru tomorrow.

HAYNES: Take care.

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