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American Morning

American Aid Workers Held News Conference Following Captivity in Afghanistan; New Documents Underscore Seriousness of Al Qaeda Nuclear Threat

Aired November 16, 2001 - 07:00   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A joyful celebration of freedom. Western aid workers rejecting at their rescue after months of Taliban.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEATHER MERCER, SHELTER NOW INTERNATIONAL: It really was a Hollywood rescue. But these men, men from the American military, they did an amazing job and from the moment they arrived to the moment we finally landed we, it was incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: And a pointed threat to America backed up with a book describing how you annihilate people. The disturbing documents left behind by al Qaeda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA: We in Russia have known for a long time that Texas is the most important state in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: And was it a presidential news conference or a comedy routine? Whatever their differences, George Bush and Vladimir Putin find plenty to laugh about.

Good morning, everyone. TGIF. It is Friday, November 16. From New York, I'm Paula Zahn.

We have a lot of big questions to address this morning. Over the next few hours we will ask about the crash of Flight 587 and whether safety issues were ignored. We'll speak with NTSB Chairwoman Marion Blakey.

In Afghanistan, battlefield reports raise the question is the Taliban close to complete collapse? Our correspondents in the field will update the status quo.

And the lingering mystery over the source of anthrax in America -- was this an act of homegrown terrorism? We're going to show you how an FBI profiler is working to answer that question. And overnight, an emotional outpouring -- the two reunited American aid workers freed from Afghanistan had their first meeting with reporters. From all outward appearances, all eight of the Western aid workers plucked from Afghanistan are in good shape. They were whisked out of Afghanistan by U.S. helicopters and their joy was obvious as they were reunited with loved ones in Pakistan.

Here are some of what Heather Mercer and Danya Curry had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERCER: But the last three and a half months have probably been the greatest terror of my life, but they have also -- it has also been the greatest privilege of my life. And there, I would never trade it for the world because I know coming out not only am I changed, but a nation is changed.

DAYNA CURRY, SHELTER NOW INTERNATIONAL: At times we really didn't know if we were going to make it out alive. But god would give us different promises and people would send us letters and tell us they were praying for us. And we knew that if so many people were praying, that god was going to get us out of there somehow. And it really was a miracle and -- because it, especially at the very end, it didn't look like it was going to happen and it was, our government did an incredible job and got us out of there safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: In a few minutes, we're going to be going live to Islamabad for more on their incredible ordeal.

First, though, we want to bring you the latest headlines, and for that we turn to Miles O'Brien, who's standing by in Atlanta with our war alert -- good morning, Miles.

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

A battle rages for the town of Kunduz, this first day of the holy month of Ramadan. But the Taliban still abandoning cities elsewhere in Afghanistan. And Jalalabad is the latest to fall. Taliban fighters have pulled out of that eastern city and turned it over to a Pashtun tribal leader. The Northern Alliance says it controls Jalalabad, but a Lebanese correspondent who is there says local fighters appear to be in control.

CNN has learned that Afghan opposition forces have captured a group of senior Taliban officials and that raises the possibility of a breakthrough in the search for terror suspect Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. The capture took place Wednesday. U.S. officials aren't saying where it happened or who the prisoners are.

The two Americans among the eight aid workers free by the Taliban this week say they feel no animosity toward their former captors. The group, seen here arriving yesterday in Pakistan after being held three months on charges of preaching Christianity. The Americans are Heather Mercer and Danya Curry. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERCER: I've never seen anything like it in my whole life. They were wild, wild west men, for sure, with rocket launchers, machine guns, Kalashnikovs, what else? They, Uzis. I mean they had everything in their hands, reams of bullets around their necks. And we walked outside and there was probably close to a hundred people there cheering, saying that the city is free, the Taliban have fled and long live Massoud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: More from the freed aid workers coming up just a few minutes from now.

Some 160 American and British troops have landed at the Bagram Air Base north of Kabul. The troops include 100 British Royal Marines. They're inspecting the base for possible use in a large humanitarian aid operation. They have encountered no resistance.

The House and Senate vote today on a compromise airline security bill. The measure makes most airport security screeners federal employees, but gives airports the option of going back to private contractors after three years. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta likes the compromise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORMAN MINETA, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: It provides direct federal control and will allow us to raise standards and insist on high performance. When this new program is implemented, the confidence of the American traveler will be further restored.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: President Bush likes it, too, and is expected to sign it into law soon.

American Airlines Flight 587 encountered turbulence twice in the seconds before it crashed Monday. Investigators say it is likely the Air Bus A-300 flew through the wake of the 747 that departed ahead of it. At least 265 people died in the crash in the New York borough of Queens. Pictures there of smaller aircraft flying through wake turbulence. The FAA will order inspections of a tail fins of all U.S. registered A-300s. The fin and rudder of American 587 sheared off in the air. American Airlines already inspecting the 34 remaining A-300s in its fleet.

Homeland security director Tom Ridge is in New York at this hour. He is touring the site of the World Trade Center attacks. His tour guide, Mayor Rudy Giuliani. A news conference will follow the tour and we are planning live coverage, of course.

Now, that is the news for now. We'll take you back to Paula in New York.

ZAHN: Thanks, Miles.

As we mentioned, American aid workers Heather Mercer and Danya Curry held a news conference today in Islamabad following their forced captivity in Afghanistan.

Tom Mintier is in the Pakistani capital with more -- Tom, what's the latest from there? Good morning.

TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Heather Mercer is 24 years old. Danya Curry turned 30 while she was held in captivity. But the last three and a half months most definitely a roller coaster and earlier this week the roller coaster went over the top and went speeding toward the bottom.

It appeared to both young women that they were on their way to Kandahar with the Taliban. They were stopped at another prison, where they were put inside. The doors were locked and the guards basically ran away. That's basically how they were freed. They were freed by Northern Alliance soldiers who came along.

As you heard earlier, the girls were describing it as the most terrifying ordeal of their life, but at the same time the most gratifying. They both say that their concern is no longer with themselves but for the people they left behind. They say they are concerned for Afghans and the people of Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CURRY: This is a hopeless, hopeless nation. They really feel like nothing could ever help their country. They have no hope. They have no future. And I think through all these prayers and through all the attention now Afghanistan has that and all the American and the different nations that want to come with relief, that something amazing is going to happen in this nation and they have hope now where they didn't before.

MERCER: So the nights when there was heavy bombing, our building was shaking, our prison was shaking. And, you know, all we could do is sit in the hallway and pray with all our hearts that the building wouldn't be damaged in any way.

The moment I felt free is when we crossed over into Pakistani air space and when we finally landed in Islamabad, that was the moment where we knew we could really rejoice. The first thing I saw was my dad with his jeans and his red, white and blue jacket going like this. And I remember talking to my mom on the telephone one time, once on a satellite conversation, and she asked me if I had a pair of running shoes. And I said why do I need a pair of running shoes? I hope I'm not making any great escapes. And she said well, because when you get off the plane I want you to run as fast as you can to us.

The women had taken off their burkas. All of the villagers were out in the streets cheering. And to see people playing music, shooting off their guns with great rejoicing and -- I really believe that a good day will come for Afghanistan. The last three and a half months have probably been the greatest terror of my life, but they have also -- it has also been the greatest privilege of my life. And there, I would never trade it for the world because I know coming out not only am I changed, but a nation's changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MINTIER: The news conference that lasted nearly 50 minutes sounded like the script from a Hollywood movie, but this was real life. This was real terror. They said that they heard banging on the doors. They thought it was the Taliban returning. They did not know what for, either to take them on or to kill them. But it was the Northern Alliance, who came in, opened their cell doors saying you are free, you are free. The Taliban have gone.

What is not gone was their memory. It is, I'm sure, an experience that they will remember for a long time. Both young women were asked if they would like to return to Afghanistan. They said they would like to continue their work, their charity work for the Afghan people but gave no indication that they were returning any time soon -- Paula.

ZAHN: I guess that would make a lot of sense given what they've been through over the last several months.

Tom Mintier, thanks.

Osama bin Laden, as you know, claims to have nuclear weapons and new documents found in London in an abandoned al Qaeda safe house and also in Kabul underscore the seriousness of that threat.

Christiane Amanpour is in Kabul with more on this disturbing discovery -- good morning, Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, we've been going through houses in what used to be a diplomatic quarter of Kabul. When the Taliban took over, this became the quarter for their privileged Arab guests, we're told by the residents. These Arabs left within hours after it was evident that Kabul was going to fall and they left behind a series, a pile of documents in many of the houses that journalists have visited.

We went today and we went to a house that, in fact, had been locked and, in fact, we did scale the wall and we went in. And we found documents, including this one that was found in a bag that had looked like it was being tossed out.

This, helpfully, in Arabic, says "the biggest bombs." When we turn over and we look at the carefully photocopied and handwritten pages, we see all sorts of references which you can't see right now, but I will tell you, to uranium 235, to the words "nuclear - atomic bomb." We see references to TNT. There was even a heading which said how to make a nuclear bomb.

We saw other pages and other documents, as well, one specifically that was written to an Abu Habab (ph). Abu Habab also happens to be the name of one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants. And it says to the rcpt, it says, "I am sending you companions who are eager to be trained in explosives and whatever else they may want." It was signed and dated January of 2001.

We also saw a letter that purported to have come from somebody in Kandahar sent here to Kabul which said, "Since the last operation against America, I cannot travel anymore." And he went on to say that he had changed his name. That appeared to be, although it didn't mention the date, it appeared to be a reference to September 11.

We saw many other things, as well, tables of manuals, an 82 page manual that said, the printed words said that this was published by the al Qaeda worldwide network, the committee for recruitment and training. And we found all sorts of these kind of documents today.

I must say, it's very hard to understand why these documents, which appear to be at least evidence of intent, were left around. We saw that many of the houses that we had gone into had appeared to have been cleaned out. We don't know by whom. It appears that journalists, some of our colleagues who went in there yesterday, including CNN, and then went back again today found some of these houses now cleaned out except for some of these documents that we found.

So this pretty troubling trail and still a great deal of mystery attached to what we found -- Paula.

ZAHN: Christiane, is there any connection with the documents found in London, partially burned documents, that also provided a lot of information on how to make various types of weapons?

AMANPOUR: Well, if I'm not mistaken, the document that you refer to was found by a colleague of ours here from the "Times of London" and he found those yesterday or the day before. We have gone to different houses in that same area where he found them and discovered more of these documents. His, he said, were partially burned. The ones that we've discovered, for instance, this one that I'm showing you, was not burned. It just looks like it's been sort of wrapped up around a paper that indicates that it was about, as I say, the biggest bombs. That's the Arabic handwriting on there.

And the others that we found were sort of tossed away on what looked like garbage piles as these houses were cleaned out. We also found chemicals in one outdoor shed in one of these houses. We found several different chemicals and what looked to be like a metal crucible where it could have been heated, and some of these chemicals, experts say, are used to make explosives, and a lot of manuals on making explosives.

We also found something that, again, was handwritten and it showed how to blow up and -- hijack and blow up a plane. It showed how to blow up a bridge, how to blow up a tower, a ship, railways, all sorts of things. I mean a lot of this could have been from, obviously, the public domain. But clearly it had been handwritten, photocopied and kept in these houses. ZAHN: Very frightening to contemplate.

Christiane Amanpour, thank you.

On to what is going on in Washington right now. The long delayed legislation to beef up airport security might be on final approach.

CNN correspondent Kate Snow has the details on the congressional compromise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The compromise would overhaul security screening at the nation's airports. Private companies would be replaced, phased out in favor of federal employees, a priority for Democrats.

SEN. THOMAS DASCHLE (D-SD), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: This is a big victory. It is a victory we've waited for for a long period of time, but I think it's a win-win. I think everybody wins here.

SNOW: Immediately after the president signs the bill, a year long transition begins -- background checks for workers in secure areas, training for thousands of new security screeners. All of them must be U.S. citizens and speak fluent English.

In the short term, new federal standards mean current workers might be replaced by National Guard troops or other federal agents.

REP. JOHN MICA (R), AVIATION SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: There are some provisions, where it may require a replacement. If they can't meet the background checks, if they don't meet the citizenship requirements and they don't meet the standards or testing, they will be gone. Both the employee and the company will be gone.

SNOW: To satisfy Republican concerns, five airports of various sizes would be chosen for experimental programs using private security companies. Three years after the bill goes into effect, any airport could opt to switch to private contractors.

TRENT LOTT (R-MI), MAJORITY LEADER: This is the key that I think brought about the final agreement. There will be an opportunity to opt out.

SNOW: But even the transportation secretary acknowledges it's unlikely many airports would choose to do that.

NORMAN MINETA, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: There is a possibility that some airports would do that, but I'm not sure that there is an incentive for the airports to do that.

SNOW: The legislation also calls for air marshals on flights, stronger cockpit doors and cameras in the cockpits. Within 60 days, airports would have to start screening checked baggage, using machines that have been sitting idle or find another way, checking the bags by hand or with bomb sniffing dogs. (on camera): All this new security won't come cheap. The airlines would kick in about $1 billion and passengers would pick up much of the tab. A new fee on plane tickets, at least $2.50, at most $10 per round trip.

Kate Snow, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And back to the issue of that American Airlines Flight 587. It could take a year for federal investigators to make a formal determination of what actually caused that plane to go down. But already the focus has shifted from catastrophic engine failure to wake turbulence from another jumbo jet. Now, if that is the case, does it mean the pilots may have ignored safety rules?

NTSB Chairwoman Marion Blakey is in Queens this morning to address that. Thank you very much for being with us. We appreciate it.

MARION BLAKEY, NTSB CHAIRWOMAN: You're welcome.

ZAHN: The "Wall Street Journal" is reporting this morning that the pilot of Flight 587 may have pushed the rudder pedals in such a way that when the Air Bus 300 hit turbulence that it went into a fishtailing motion that caused unusually strong aerodynamic loads to be placed on the plane. Can you confirm that this morning?

BLAKEY: No, I can't because what we have in front of us, of course, is a mountain of data from both the flight data recorder as well as the cockpit voice recorder. But we've got to put all of that together and really analyze it along with a lot of other information that we're working on.

What we do know is that, in fact, after the American Airlines plane passed through the wake of the JAL flight, there were significant rudder movements. At the same time, there was a real buffeting, a side to side forces on the plane. But what caused that and what caused the rudder movement I can't put it as a question of did it come from the cockpit, was it something that was caused by the electronics, was it something that was caused by another mechanical problem? We just simply don't know.

ZAHN: So essentially what you're saying, then, is it's premature for the "Wall Street Journal" to be reporting that the pilot was over controlling the plane?

BLAKEY: Well, I haven't seen the "Wall Street Journal" story yet this morning, but what we do know is that we are going to have to look at a lot of questions before we can tell whether it was a question of the pilot's maneuvering. And certainly we do know that the pilots were actively working to fly that plane out of its problem at that point.

But what exactly the pilots did versus, as I say, something that may have been purely mechanical or electronic, I don't know that yet. ZAHN: And what does it take to rule out that, in fact, it was a possibility the fatigue of the tail that caused the crash and then turbulence was a last straw?

BLAKEY: Well, we're looking at the question of the tail very carefully because, as you know, that appears to have been the first thing that came off the plane. The vertical stabilizer, the rudder were both found out in Jamaica Bay. And it's our belief at least that at this point that we need to be examining the broad issue of composite materials, because that's what the tail assembly was made out of. It was not aluminum. It was made out of composites.

So we want to look very closely at the research on this, do some testing. We're going to do some work with simulators to see what we can learn about how they react, how composite materials react under similar circumstances.

ZAHN: Now, can you explain something to us this morning? I know you're also looking at the bolts that hold the tail fin to the fuselage. Those appear to be intact. But there are these internal connectors to which the bolts were attached that were torn apart. Is there any initial conclusions you can reach about that and what that means?

BLAKEY: Well, we know that there was terrific force on the tail assembly. We certainly can tell that. But we can't tell whether there was any kind of defect there or whether there may have been other kinds of problems that might have had to do with some sort of, you know, deterioration of the structures there. It's really, as I say, unfortunately too early for us to be able to tell.

ZAHN: And what will it take to rule out either terrorism or sabotage?

BLAKEY: Well, what we're doing is working very closely with the FBI in this investigation. They're examining all the evidence that we have. We are talking with them from the standpoint of witness interviews, looking at the maintenance situation, all of those kinds of things together.

What we have seen so far is that all of the evidence we have points toward an accident. It does not point towards sabotage or some act of terrorism. But certainly, again, I would not want to rule anything out because we want to continue to examine that question. I think that the public should be assured that the minute we have any indication that that might be an issue, we'll certainly be putting those facts forward. But the facts as we know them right now say it looks like an accident.

ZAHN: I need about a 10 second answer to this to hit a commercial break on time. Do you think the NTSB will eventually recommend that the separation should be increased from two minutes to three minutes between large jets?

BLAKEY: We're looking at the question of separation. We're talking to the FAA. But at this point, again, I think we don't know that.

ZAHN: NTSB Chairwoman Marion Blakey, thank you very much for your time. Appreciate your dropping by.

BLAKEY: Absolutely.

ZAHN: Still to come this morning, international standup comedy as only presidents can do. Plus, conjuring up some box office magic. If the already forming lines are any prediction, Harry Potter's magic carpet ride is now under way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: You think you're being funny, do you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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