Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CNN Newsroom

Aired January 10, 2002 - 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.
ANNOUNCER: Seen in classrooms the world over, this is CNN NEWSROOM.

SUSAN FREIDMAN, CO-HOST: Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Susan Freidman.

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

Investigators are trying to figure out why a U.S. military plane crashed Wednesday in Pakistan. The KC-130 is used for military transport and refueling. It went down as it was preparing to land at a Marine base near Shamsi, Pakistan, just west of Quetta. U.S. officials say there is no indication of enemy fire and seven Marines were on board that airplane.

FREIDMAN: The Afghan government, meanwhile, says it is investigating why seven high ranking Taliban officials were allowed to go free. This, just days after their surrender.

MCMANUS: U.S. military officials at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba are getting ready for the arrival of several hundred al Qaeda and Taliban detainees. The U.S. has made arrangements to transfer them 15 to 20 at a time from Afghanistan to a top security prison located inside the base. Any day now, the first detainees may head to Guantanamo Bay. The military took a contingent of reporters for a tour of the facility.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): It's the only U.S. base on communist soil, a perennial thorn in Fidel Castro's side, and soon, home to some of the world's most dangerous men.

Guantanamo Bay played a crucial role in some of America's most important conflicts, most notably the Cuban missile crisis. With the Cold War over and the war on terror just begun, Guantanamo is once again in the spotlight. Gitmo, as it's informally known, is no stranger to media attention.

(on camera): These Haitians have been given the bad news.

(voice-over): In early 1990s, I was there covering the Haitian refugee crises, when thousands were held there before ultimately being sent to Haiti. That was an enormous challenge for the U.S. Navy. These people were desperate. Many had AIDS.

Guantanamo Bay is a place of dramatic contrasts. A spectacular Caribbean setting, and a vast military base surrounded by miles of razor wire and land mines. The military facilities were clean and efficient, the refugee center, chaotic.

And how does Cuba feel about what amounts to a maximum security prison in its own backyard? Guantanamo Bay has long rankled Fidel Castro. He sees it as an affront to Cuban dignity. But with last month's shipment of U.S. food to Cuba, the first in 40 years, relations appear a bit less chilling. The Cuban government's official line on the new detention camp: "no comment."

Wolf Blitzer, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: In a separate yet controversial issue, the Justice Department is defending its initiative seeking 6,000 Arabs and those from Middle Eastern countries here in the U.S. illegally. Officials say names of deportable immigrants will be put in a computer database to make it easier for local authorities to catch them.

CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Critics call it "ethnic profiling," targeting aliens from countries with active al Qaeda cells. But the government is unapologetic. The Justice Department is aggressively trying to track down 6,000 of 314,000 aliens under deportation orders, for violating U.S. laws. The 6,000 are from Arab and Middle Eastern countries.

But if the government wants to get rid of potential terrorists, civil rights groups charge authorities are casting too narrow a net.

WADE HENDERSON, CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATE: Focusing only on a slice of those individuals, 6,000 of them, who happen to have Arab surnames, and suggesting that that is the answer to the problem of terrorism in this country, is far too narrow and far too restrictive.

CANDIOTTI: The Justice Department says its first priority is to protect Americans, and adds: "We will continue to focus investigative, intelligence gathering, and enforcement operations on individuals in the U.S. from countries with highly active al Qaeda networks, to protect Americans."

Since September 11th, the attorney general has battled accusations of ethnic profiling, after detaining hundreds of Middle Eastern and Arab men for questioning.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We remain a nation committed to welcoming America's friends from abroad. But we have a new determination, not to see our welcome abused by America's enemies.

CANDIOTTI: Target certain ethnic groups is only logical, according to some former Justice Department officials.

GEORGE TERWILLIGER, FMR. DEPUTY ASST. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I really think that anybody that looks at this objectively will understand that there is a terrorism profile, of which race is a part. There is not a racial profile to look for terrorists.

CANDIOTTI: In Arab-American communities, there is anger.

ZIAD ASALI, AM.-ARAB ANTI DISCRIMINATION CMTE.: The fact that they were singled out because they were Arabs and Muslims is a particular concern to us. And it is, in our view -- has much more negative baggage with it than the potential contribution to the security problem.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Would this new approach had prevented the attacks of September 11th? All 19 hijackers entered the country legally. Only three overstayed their visas, and none of them had been ordered to leave the country.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Teachers, make the most of CNN NEWSROOM with our free daily classroom guide to the program. There you'll find a run down 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.

MCMANUS: We've seen lives torn apart during wars. It's been happening in Afghanistan for the past decade. Now it's time to start rebuilding. From broken bones to the cracked walls of homes, Afghans are picking up the physical and emotional pieces of shattered lives and beginning to put them back together.

CNN's Lisa Rose Weaver reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a destroyed village that hundreds of homeless Afghans now call home, a visitor who knows only too well the plight of the displaced. Sadako Ogata, the former U.N. high commissioner for refugees is finding out just what these people need. "We have little to eat," says this villager, who arrived here several days ago from a valley north of here, hoping to find food from the U.N. Food will arrive soon, say eight official. Meanwhile, the villagers have received donated tents and other basic supplies to start with.

Some 1,000 families fled this region three years ago when their homes fell in the line of fire between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. The United States and other coalition partners have said they made mistakes in Afghanistan's past conflicts, not engaging enough to help the country rebuild. Ogata hopes an upcoming conference in Tokyo will change the pattern.

SADAKO OGATA, FORMER U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: That's the main objective of the conference really, to make the commitment firm so that they don't make mistakes again.

WEAVER (on-camera): Feeding people is the most pressing task, then will come long term plans, which hopefully will allow Afghans to settle in villages like this and forge stable lives, as well as recite from the devastation of war.

(voice-over): Fighting the Taliban changed Habi Dula's (ph) life. He lost a leg on the battlefield when he stepped on a landmine. He fled north and lost a child to starvation. He's not sure how he can support the four he has left.

Even farming is fraught with danger. The abandoned fields here have not been cleared of mines.

Sai'id Bagun (ph) has new kitchen supplies, which she plans to sell so that she can afford food. For the past few days, dried mulberries is all she's been able to feed her family. Sai'id's (ph) husband, Mohammed, who lost an eye in battle, says he hopes for the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters mostly gone from the country, there is a chance for Afghans to live in peace. But he adds, he'd fight again if he had to.

For families like this, the pain of hardship is at least predictable by comparison. For generations they have known nothing but the scars of war.

Lisa Rose Weaver, Istalif District, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: As people in Afghanistan work to rebuild their lives, many people find themselves considering new careers. Options have broadened and some industries, like the movie business, have been given a new life.

Wayne Gray brings us a glimpse of one documentary and the hopes of its creator.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WAYNE GRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They cram the cinema in Kabul for a movie that pays tribute to a man revered by many as a hero. The nine hour, three-part film "Resistance" tells the story of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the Northern Alliance commander assassinated on September 9.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I came here because I wanted to see Moghavem At's film about Massoud because all Afghan people consider him a hero, all Afghan people love him and will never forget him.

GRAY: Moghavem At is the author of "Resistance." The studio is, in itself, a reflection of what Taliban rule brought to Afghanistan. Much of the studio was destroyed under a regime that viewed films as un-Islamic.

MOGHAVEM AT, AUTHOR, "RESISTANCE" (through translator): This movie was filmed for three years. Most of the equipment was privately owned, but we also got some stuff from the Northern Alliance Cultural Committee. We were helped, also, financially from outside of Afghanistan.

GRAY: And like Afghanistan itself, the country's movie industry hopes to rebuild, starting with works like "Resistance." It never produced the quantity of film that India's Ballywood (ph) boasts, and you won't see Afghan films at art houses with the frequency of say Iranian works, but this is where movie makers like At hope to build a reputation.

MOHAMMAD AFZAI BARIALAI, FILM EDITOR (through translator): I have spent 30 years working in this studio and all my work has been destroyed. All my works, features, documentaries and news pieces, all of it was destroyed when the Taliban came to power. A part of me died with this studio.

GRAY: And like Afghanistan itself, that rebuilding process will take a long time.

Wayne Gray, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: Humans aren't the only ones neglected during war, animals are as well and that's no different in Afghanistan. Last year, we told you about a zoo in Afghanistan where the animals had all but been forgotten. Now we bring you an update to that story, an update that includes long needed help for livestock, zoo animals and stray dogs.

ITN's Dan Rivers reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The pathetic image of Marjan the lion left forgotten in Kabul Zoo touched millions of TV viewers around the world when his plight was recently highlighted. He, along with dozens of other animals, were stranded on the front line of a war for years as fighting raged all about them. But now it seems that some semblance of peace is returning to Afghanistan, and there is hope that Marjan and the other animals in the zoo can be treated. A team of vets based in Britain is today flying out bringing vital food and medical supplies.

JOHN WALSH, WORLD SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANIMALS: We'll be looking, one, at the zoo and what we need to do immediately at the zoo to look after those animals.

Two, we'll be looking at all the livestock problems in the country.

Three, we'll be looking at a problem that since the Taliban have been in place in Kabul and the major cities, there's been an increase -- a tremendous increase in rabies and that coincides with the increase in the number of dogs. There's been no control of dog population so we're going to have to try to access what we can do to reduce rabies, which are taking human lives.

RIVERS: It's ironic that while countless humans were suffering in Afghanistan, it was the pictures of animals starving that provoked such a strong reaction. The team of vets say the animals in the zoo do deserve to be saved.

WALSH: Marjan is indicative of the plight of the afghan people. He -- you look at him with those big open sockets of eyes, that smashed old jaw, the matted old fur and he's -- people just -- heart go out to him. The bear that's thrashing back and forth because of the man's hostility to man with bayonets or bombs, and this poor old bear is suffering out his life. People want to see something done about it. We've caused these problems for the animals, we'll have to solve them for the animals, and we've got the capacity to do it.

RIVERS: A day out at the zoo remained a popular way for the people of Kabul to relax during the Taliban years, few other pastimes were permitted. Now it's hoped that with the help of vets from WSPA the zoo will be rebuilt, and perhaps one day Marjan may be given some other lions for company after the long lonely years of war.

Dan Rivers, ITN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: As we saw yesterday on CNN NEWSROOM, the students from New York's High School of Economics and Finance were among the thousands of people fleeing to safety on September 11. The closest school to the World Trade Center disaster, these students have had a tough journey.

Today, Mara Wilcox looks at where the students are now and how they're coping.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARA WILCOX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are high schoolers without a high school. The students from New York City's School of Economics and Finance, a block and a half away from the World Trade Center disaster, have been displaced since September 11.

AUSTIN CANTRELL, AGE 17: We have not been near our high school for three months already, and we just feel like something's been taken away from us.

WILCOX: Although their building was not harmed in the attacks, the school is so close to the disaster site that the city does not deem the area safe enough for them to return.

(on camera): For now, the students share a space here at Norman Thomas High School about 20 minutes away from their former school. Their classes begin at 1:00 p.m. after the school's regular students are through with their day. They don't finish up until 6:00 at night when most of their peers across New York are long home with their families.

(voice-over): After school activities like sports and theater have been suspended and that's only part of it.

MICHAEL WONG, AGE 17: There's no more time for like messing around anymore, you know. So maybe some of that fun that we had, you know that we're supposed to have for teenage years, maybe it's a little bit gone.

WILCOX: The students don't have their own lockers, guidance office, even supplies.

SHIOMARA ARROIO, AGE 17: It was difficult. It wasn't your home. It wasn't, you know, your school, wasn't your chairs, your books, your pencils -- nothing was yours.

HARVINDER KAUR, AGE 17: And it's just like little things. I'm on yearbook and we try to do bake sales. We can't put up posters letting the students know. So it's odd because it's not our home, we're just a guest here. And it's like we don't have the same advantages that we had at our old school.

WILCOX: The Board of Education says that the kids could be back in their school by the end of January, but it won't be the same.

SHEDISHA MATTHIAS, AGE 17: Whenever people ask me where do you go to school because our school is not that (UNINTELLIGIBLE), I say I go to school near the World Trade Center and that was like such a big thing, and I don't have that to say anymore. And I don't think it's ever going to be the same.

WILCOX: And ground zero is a constant reminder of what once was.

KAUR: We don't want to see the whole destruction and how they're cleaning it up. It's not going to be the greatest sight to see everyday, but I think it'll be better for me to go there than to come here. I mean I know it happened. What happened happened, we can't change that. But now that they're -- we're trying to cope with it and just maybe to see it will help us even more. WILCOX: While the students are grateful just to have a school to go to and to have each other, they agree that the sooner they get back to school the better.

Mara Wilcox, CNN NEWSROOM, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: Thousands of college students across the nation are combing a traditional education with military officer training. Graduation will mean both a degree and active military duty.

CNN's Student Bureau reporter Barbara Hedges has this report on student cadets from the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA HEDGES, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Duty, honor and country, words these University of Missouri, Kansas City students live by. They are military cadets enrolled in the school's Army ROTC program.

MARYBETH MALL, 4TH YEAR CADET: What ROTC is, it stands for Reserve Officer Training Corp. And what that means in the military, I don't know how many -- you know what you know about the military, but there's a group of people called the enlisted people and they're more the executors. And then there's the officers, and they're the planners. They decide, you know, what happens. And what ROTC does is train college students to be officers in the United States Army and during school and then afterwards they go and they are second lieutenants.

HEDGES: In addition to regular course work, the norm for these students includes physical training three times a week in a weekly lab session or field training exercise.

CHRISTOPHER ANDERSEN, 3rd YEAR CADET: A couple of weekends out of each semester you get to dress up in all your BDUs and all your gear, you go out to the field and you participate in what would be an actual combat training exercise and you eat the food that you'd eat in the Army and you do the activities that you'd do. You work out. You don't have the showers, and it's a great chance to really get the experience.

HEDGES: All college students can sign up for basic ROTC courses without military obligation. Advance courses are reserved for contracted cadets going into active military duty after graduation. Active duty in the wake of September 11 has taken on new meaning for many of these cadets.

MALL: I realize now, you know, the danger is just right there. You know in May I could be out there, you know, participating in this war, doing things to help our country.

WILL MORRIS, 3rd YEAR CADET: As cadets we're pretty guaranteed we're not going, you know what I mean? So it's -- we can talk about it, but we're no -- we're not going to go anywhere until we graduate.

ANDERSEN: There's a Chinese proverb that says the harder you train in peace the less you bleed in war, and I think because of what's happened, we've become more focused.

HEDGES: Money for school and developing skills valued in the civilian job market draw many students to the program. Personal growth and service to country are things they find along the way.

MORRIS: Like you said, some cadets you know use this to get through college. I'm really using college to be an officer.

MALL: Before I joined, I wasn't really physically fit. I didn't have a lot of discipline. So to me it's meant you know of course becoming physically fit, with that become confident, confident to do, you know, anything.

(CADENCE)

HEDGES: Barbara Hedges, CNN Student Bureau, Kansas City, Missouri.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTY HOUSE, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: I'm Christy House from Los Angeles, California. And I'd like to know what's the difference between the CIA and the FBI?

JEFF BEATTY, FORMER CIA CASE OFFICER AND FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well the CIA and the FBI have different but sometimes overlapping missions. Central Intelligence Agency has no law enforcement authority capability whatsoever and the FBI does. The FBI can make an arrest, the CIA can't.

The CIA is designed to operate almost exclusively outside the boundaries of the United States. The FBI principally has been within the country. But there's also been some competition in recent years over who should be doing the terrorist mission.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: September 11 marked the beginning of a new era for certain careers. One of those is law enforcement.

MCMANUS: You're about to meet C.W. Saari, a special agent with 26 years experience in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He's investigated everything from espionage and fugitive cases to kidnappings and extortion.

CNN's Deanna Morowski talked with him about what it takes to have a career with the FBI.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) C. W. SAARI, FBI AGENT: When I was 14 years old, I had decided -- I was thinking what do I want to do with my life? Initially I had thought about being a jet pilot until I went to the eye doctor and he said forget that, but I was always intrigued by being a detective. And I thought what's the best law enforcement experience that I could steer myself toward?

And it ended up, one night I was in a public library with nothing to do, sort of killing time, and I saw a monitor coming my way. And if I wasn't working on something or didn't have a book, I would be asked to leave. So I reached out to the shelf next to me and I pulled a book. It just so happened to be "The FBI Story" by J. Edgar Hoover. And I happened also to be assigned to write a paper on an interesting job so I used that.

No. 1, I thought this is what I might want to do, and I did some research. And from that point on, I geared what I took in school, what I majored in to lead me -- to make myself most competitive and that caused me to go into the Marine Corp. I also went through law school. I served as a Judge Advocate General or a JAG officer. And I applied for the FBI while I was still in the military.