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American Morning

While Most Americans Enjoy Holidays, U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Back at Work

Aired December 26, 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Moving deeper to find an underground movement of terrorists. We'll look at the mission of U.S. forces as they intensify the search for Osama bin Laden, one cave at a time.

Good morning to you. Wednesday, December 26, 2001, from CNN center in Atlanta. I'm Miles O'Brien in for Paula Zahn this morning. I hope you had a Merry Christmas.

Here are the big questions we're looking at this hour. First, does the search for bin Laden intensify today? There are signs the U.S. is about to ratchet up the cave-to-cave search near Tora Bora. We'll talk with our own security analyst about that. Also, what news stories did you miss because of 9-11? We'll take a look at the half- hour mark.

But first, we want to catch you up on all the latest developments in America's new war.

The president of a French security company tells CNN he warned French authorities about Richard Reid. Reid is accused of trying to set off explosives on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami.

India and Pakistan on the brink of war, their armies on alert, and missile positions in both nations at the ready. There have been daily exchanges of gunfire since mid-December, when 14 people were killed in an attack on India's Parliament. Both nations have nuclear weapons.

One person was killed, another injured critically, in the crash of a single-engine plane off Oceanside, California. Officials say the plane developed engine trouble several miles off the coast. It turned back toward land, but then crashed into the ocean.

This is a grim anniversary in a murder case that once dominated the news. Five years ago today, JonBenet Ramsey was found strangled in her Colorado home. She was six years old. No one has ever been charged in her death.

Former pro football standout Harvey Martin has died in Texas, at 51, of cancer. He played 11 years as a defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys, leading the team in sacks seven times. Martin shared MVP honors with teammate Randy White (ph) in the 1978 Super Bowl. Buffalo, New York is digging out from more than 25 inches of snow. And even by Buffalo standards, that's a lot of snow. It's actually the third heaviest 24-hour snowfall on record in that city.

Today is the first day of Kwanzaa. The African-American holiday centers on seven principles -- unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. Each day is dedicated to one of those principles, and gifts are exchanged.

While most Americans enjoy the holidays, U.S. troops in Afghanistan are back at work. The job there is getting down and dirty, about to go cave-to-cave in the search for Osama bin Laden, and al-Qaeda. CNN Security Analyst J. Kelly McCann, joining us now to talk about the mission of digging through the bombed-out caves and tunnels of Tora Bora. Good to have you with us Kelly.

KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Thanks, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Take us into those caves, if you will. What's the strategy that is employed, typically, as special forces approach the entrances to these caves?

MCCANN: Tough stuff in a lot of different kinds of situations. First, they'll create a security envelope with reconnaissance and surveillance to maintain an over-watch of all the exits and all the entry points, et cetera. At that point, I'm sure they'll be task- organized to move forward with specialized skills -- with the breaching skills, et cetera -- so if they do run into any intermediate or mid-barricade -- mid-objective barricades, they'll be able to blow through those.

Of course, they'll also have to have an explosive ordnance capability with them in the event they do run into some booby-traps. So, tough work. It was interesting to note that it's going to be special forces teamed with Marines, so the Marines will probably act like the hammer, because they have a little bit more depth and a little bit more combat capability. But difficult going.

O'BRIEN: I can't imagine a brand of warfare that would be more hazardous, and more potentially difficult. You go into these situations, clearly it's dark. The U.S. has tremendous night-vision capability, but nevertheless, inside these tight confines, how are troops -- can troops be properly protected?

MCCANN: Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's kind of akin to close- quarter battle, or tactical techniques that you use in confined spaces. White light, for instance, that are mounted to the weapons, can use to -- can be used to our great tactical advantage. They're so bright, that when you illuminate an area, if someone has been existing in that dark, obviously, it creates night-blindness. So once the white lights come on, they can stay on, or you can put them on, take them, and turn them down and let your night-vision capability take over with the technical capability we have.

So, interesting tactics, but our men in uniform are well- rehearsed in these tactics, and I think that -- I think, probably, they're going to have some counter-intelligence people with them to sort through the intelligence, the information left behind. But it's going to be kind of slow going. Add to that the cold weather, and you've got a difficult situation, but the men are trained for it.

O'BRIEN: I suspect these caves are typically booby-trapped. How do you guard against that sort of thing?

MCCANN: If they've used the weapons that we've seen, they just sent over there, the fuel-air explosive weapons, a lot of that will help through sympathetic detonation, setting off any booby-traps that may be inside, through the use of overpressure. By creating a great amount of overpressure, they may be able to reduce significantly, the likelihood that there's booby-traps inside, without anyone even going in.

O'BRIEN: How do you navigate inside these tunnels? Clearly, they have the ability to get some intelligence. These were built during the Soviet occupation in the '70s. Apparently, the CIA helped build these, in some cases, so there might be some sort of diagrams out there, but I imagine it's easy, quite frankly, just to get lost inside these caves.

MCCANN: Absolutely. Disorientation would be a big problem, and they'll likely use leave-behinds -- little chem-lights that you can use -- either in the infra-red variety that only can be seen with night-vision, or with the visible kinds, and actually leave troops in place so that you create a human chain.

Once you've cleared a space and you occupy it, and you own it, and you know it?s cleared, no problem to leave back a watch who can hang on to that area, and et cetera. Kind of the old "Hansel and Gretel" routine.

O'BRIEN: You know, it?s interesting, you talking about "Hansel and Gretel." We've been talking for so long in this conflict about the technology the U.S. employs. There's really no substitute for just putting people in the cave, is there? No matter how much technology we have, you've got to put soldiers, troops, special operations, whomever, inside those caves.

MCCANN: There's an old saying, "You don't own it until you stand on it," so, in fact, you're right. I mean, the bottom line is, thermal imaging won?t give us the kind of information that we want out of that cave, because of the rock shelf, and it'll only see so deep. And until we go in and actually see what's in there, we may find that there's a wealth of information in pockets. I don't think, generally speaking, there's going to be a lot of information, but I think that we may stumble on to some pretty decent cash-type information things that'll really help us.

O'BRIEN: Well, what's your gut-level feeling about the fate of Osama bin Laden, right now?

MCCANN: You know, it?s a difficult question, Miles, you know, and if you look at it -- I mean, I'd like to think that he's dead, or I'd like to think that we have him totally under surveillance and we're allowing him a little bit of breathing room to see where he's going, who he's talking to, so that we can then track them back, develop additional leads, and actually get deeper inside al-Qaeda. We may never know, you know? But the bottom line is, the American people have to remember that the primary objective here was always the al- Qaeda network, and to disable terrorists, worldwide, from being able to hurt us, domestically and abroad. So if we keep that in focus, you know, a six -- a six-foot-five, skinny man is not that scary.

O'BRIEN: All right. Kelly McCann, our security analyst. We'll check in with you in the next hour, talk about some other matters. We appreciate your insights this morning.

MCCANN: Thanks, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Now, if you've been watching us over the couple of days, you know our Bill Hemmer is spending Christmas with the U.S. Marines deployed in Afghanistan, part of CNN's Operation Happy Holidays. Bill joins us now from the Marine base in Kandahar, at the International Airport there. Bill, good morning to you, sir.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good morning to you, and we should say good late afternoon to you, from Kandahar, Afghanistan. We have a Sea Knight coming in behind us, here. They've been conducting drills for about the past hour, and this is more of the operation ongoing here, at Kandahar. In fact, a short time ago, Miles, the entire base conducted it's first full-on drill, together, since the Marines took this place about two weeks ago, about 14 days ago.

More now talk on that Tora Bora region you were just discussing, there. One Marine, here, says that is the million-dollar question, whether or not Marines will be dispatched to join that hunt in the Tora Bora cave complex for al-Qaeda members and ultimately, Osama bin Laden. Although there have been reports that the marines would join it, the word here is that there has been no order given, but if indeed, it comes, they say they will be ready.

As for the detainees, effectively, the Marines today doubled their capacity to handle detainees here. In fact, they finished a second warehouse, and they say at any point they could take hundreds more of suspected al-Qaeda or Taliban members. At the moment they have about 17, here. They've been questioned and detained and spotlights are shone on them about 24 hours a day. There has been word throughout the week that more detainees would come. It hasn't happened yet, but it may come at any point.

As for the Kandahar city -- many of you may have been following the story at the Kandahar Hospital -- there are eight Arab al-Qaeda members who have involved in a, pretty much of a lock-down on Sabat (ph) Hospital for four days running. Yesterday they were involved in a shootout with local anti-Taliban forces. At this time, they're still holed up. They say they're fully loaded with tons of ammunition inside, and they say they will not surrender to any U.S. forces. That situation, again, is ongoing. And another note here from Southern Afghanistan. You might remember Camp Rhino. That was the initial forward base the Marines set up about a month ago, about 80 miles outside of here. They say in a few days' time, they will close down that operation. They say it's just a logistical nightmare at this point, out there in the middle of the desert. And with the progress we have seen at the Airport, here in Kandahar, day-by-day, moving forward piece-by-piece and little-by- little, they say this place is becoming more and more suited. So again, Rhino will shut down completely in a couple of days' time.

We have a lot more in store today from Kandahar, Afghanistan. A lot more to come to you in the next five or six hours or so, Miles. So we shall see you again shortly, here, and we'll have some more -- have some more helicopters buzzing the air, then, too. Miles, back to you in Atlanta.

O'BRIEN: Well, it is in fact an active Marine encampment. Bill, I'm just curious, if the Marines do get involved in that cave-to-cave search, what typically, would their role be?

HEMMER: Miles, what would be extraordinary, if the Marines were called in for that operation -- this is an expeditionary unit. As you know, they stay, usually, close to the water. Already, they're 400 miles inland. They've never quite done this before, for the 15th and 26th MEU. If they are called to Tora Bora, that's an additional extension of several hundred more miles inland, and we have not been told exactly their duty would be, what their mission would be, but as you were talking with Kelly McCann a short while ago, to secure the area there and make sure the cave-by-cave hunt is indeed carried out in a safe and secure manner.

I should also point out -- I was talking about the detention a short time ago. The Marines are especially careful right now not to have any repeat performance of what happened to that prison in Mazar e-Sharif about a month ago. We all know, inside, once the Taliban prisoners were taken there, it was a bloodbath, ultimately. They want no repeat of that here in Kandahar. Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, Bill Hemmer. Check in with you in just a little bit. Still to come in our program this morning, deep discounts at a mall near you. The post-Christmas tradition of returning gifts, but this year, better buys after the holidays.

Also ahead, your health. A new gene therapy for your heart, and a holiday gift one man will never forget. And a little later, walk the walk and talk the talk with teens in America. Our Leon Harris (ph), and the new language of this country's youth.

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