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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

September 11 Attack on Pentagon Caught on Film; Operation Anaconda Rages On in Mountains

Aired March 07, 2002 - 19:00   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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, THE WAR ROOM: Caught on camera, the September 11 attack on the Pentagon.

Operation Anaconda rages on in the mountains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There seems to be no inclination to surrender.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Can U.S.-led forces tighten the noose?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN BURNHAM, HOSTAGE: I, Martin Burnham, and my wife, Gracia, both U.S. citizens, were taken as captives on May 27, 2001.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Al Qaeda's allies use their hostages to send a message.

We'll go to the Pentagon to both sides of the battle line in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to the Philippines. And I'll speak live with the CIA's former pointman for Afghanistan, Milt Bearden, and with CNN security analyst Kelly McCann, a former Marine special ops officer, as we go into THE WAR ROOM.

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight from Washington.

All of us remember in horror where we were on September 11, when those hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Today, nearly six months later, we saw for the first time some extraordinary images of what happened at the Pentagon on that awful day.

Let's go live to our military affairs correspondent, Jamie McIntyre. He's over at the Pentagon -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, up to now, most of us had only heard about what happened at the Pentagon, didn't get a chance to see it first hand, even those of us who were here.

But today, we have dramatic pictures seen first on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The sequence of five photographs obtained by CNN was taken by an automatic security camera at a Pentagon checkpoint and shows what up to now was seen by only a few eyewitnesses, that the American Airlines 757 came in extremely low before hitting the ground floor of the Pentagon.

MIKE WALTER, EYEWITNESS: I looked off. I was, you know, looked out my window. I saw this plane, a jet, an American Airlines jet coming. And I thought this doesn't add up. It's really low. I mean, it was like a cruise missile with wings, went right there and slammed right into the Pentagon.

Huge explosion, great ball of fire, and smoke started billowing out and then it was just chaos on the highway as people either tried to move around the traffic and go down either forward or backward.

MCINTYRE: At first glance, it's hard to see the jetliner in the first frame. But it's there just a few feet off the ground. The plane hit the Pentagon at a 45-degree angle and was reduced to tiny fragments by the impact.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is visible smoke coming from that area, high visible smoke.

MCINTYRE: The biggest piece of fuselage that could be found outside the Pentagon was only about three feet long. The only other recognizable feature can be seen in this exclusive CNN photograph, the shattered cockpit window.

One hundred eighty-nine people were killed, 125 on the ground, 64 on the plane, including the five hijackers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): These pictures are the first to be made public, but they are not the only images that captured the attack. Sources tell CNN that a hotel security camera also caught the plane's impact on camera, but those tapes have been confiscated by the FBI and not yet released -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And, Jamie, nearly six months later, U.S. troops are fighting as a result of that attack on September 11. What are you hearing now at the Pentagon about casualties among the al Qaeda/Taliban fighters in that eastern Afghanistan region, where Operation Anaconda has been unfolding?

MCINTYRE: Well, all along, the Pentagon has been reluctant to give out any enemy body counts. But, they are in this case. They're telling CNN that they believe they've confirmed to have killed at least 450. They may have killed as many as 650. And they think they only have a few hundred left. But the weather is turning bad there. It could be a rough couple of days.

BLITZER: Weather obviously the enemy right now of the U.S. troops. Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thanks for that report.

And now, let's have two reports from both sides of the Operation Anaconda that's unfolding in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We also have some striking new video images straight from the combat zone. Let's begin with CNN's Nic Robertson. He joins us live from Gardez in Afghanistan -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the bad weather that was plaguing this area on Thursday appears to be clearing. We can begin to see stars overhead, an indication that the dust being whipped up off the ground by the strong winds, the strong winds perhaps abating.

What we've been able to hear overnight are many aircrafts sorties flowing into the mountains. We're about 7,500 feet up in the town of Gardez, right next to the mountains where the frontlines are. We've also, within in the last hour or so, heard bombs falling in those mountains. Those bombs falling perhaps as close as 10 miles away.

Afghan commanders here tell us that morale is high. They tell us that the fighting is still going on on the ground. They don't know how long it will last. But they do say that right now, al Qaeda troops are surrounded and that reports that al Qaeda have been able to get reinforcements in are now history. They say that that perhaps was true in the first two days of combat. But now, they say they have completely cut off al Qaeda. Al Qaeda can no longer get any reinforcements in -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Do you have a good sense out there, Nic, how many al Qaeda fighters are left alive and in this battle?

ROBERTSON: Difficult to tell, Wolf. Getting into the mountains here is really tough. No. 1, there's a lot of animosity among some of the Afghan Pashtun tribes here. They don't want journalists venturing into that area. The Operation Anaconda has caused some concern amongst some groups of Afghans here. So it is difficult to get to the frontline for that reason. There's also a combat zone. Afghan commanders here are under instructions not to let journalists into that area as well.

What we do hear from Afghan commanders is that there are several thousand al Qaeda forces in that area. They say that they won't tell us how many are injured they have on their side of the battle. They do say morale is high. They do say that in the early stages, they were caught unaware, that they were ambushed in the early stages from the high ground. They believe that Taliban and al Qaeda forces had advance information about their movements into the region, but they do believe now that the higher elevations that the Taliban had held are now disrupted and that they are moving more freely through the mountains as they begin to feel that they perhaps dominate this space better. But to get accurate accounts of how many al Qaeda there are is very, very difficult for us to independently verify, Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic Robertson from the scene in Afghanistan, thanks for that report. And this important note. Please stay tuned to CNN. Nic will be back right at the top of the hour at 8:00 p.m. Eastern with LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN.

And let's get the view now from the other side of the frontline. CNN's Kamal Hyder joins us live via videophone from Miran Shah, Pakistan. That's on the border with Afghanistan. Kamal, what are you seeing and hearing from your vantage point?

KAMAL HYDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, one thing is very clear, that, of course, coming in from across the border in Paktia, which is very hard because of Operation Anaconda, speak of fierce resistance from Taliban and from the al Qaeda fighters holed up in that area.

People say that this comes amidst rising tensions between the Northern Alliance, which is now positioned for the first time in the Paktia region, and as the animosities between the tribesman grow, there are fears that al Qaeda members or Taliban members may be planning similar operations elsewhere in Afghanistan -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Are there indications, Kamal, that the Pakistani border patrol, the Pakistani border forces are picking up, arresting those Taliban or al Qaeda fighters who may be crossing over?

HYDER: Wolf, it might be remembered that the operation on the Pakistani side of the border is unprecedented. This is the first time since independence that Pakistan has sent a regular armed forces to these borders, these being tribal areas and no-go areas for central authority.

However, the political authorities, which were maintaining the show here and running the show here, have also shown tremendous cooperation with the armed forces, and there is consensus amongst the tribal leaders here also to seal this border. We have seen evidence that the Pakistani armed forces and the authorities here have been doing around-the-clock job and vigilance is very high indeed. These areas have been sealed off. And it's a three-tier defense. The first line of defense is the tribal militia forces, which are the Hash-e-Daj (ph). And the second line of defense is the frontier corps, which is a paramilitary organization, and followed by the Pakistani regular army. So it is quite a deployment -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kamal Hyder with another exclusive report as he's done so often over these past five months, an exclusive report from Miran Shah, on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan. Thanks very much.

And up against the determined dug-in enemy, are U.S. forces fighting Operation Anaconda the right way? Will al Qaeda regroup to fight again? Joining me here in the CNN WAR ROOM, Milt Bearden, he spent 30 years in the CIA and oversaw secret U.S. aid to anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan. He's also written a novel, a good novel, about that war entitled "Black Tulip." And CNN analyst Kelly McCann, he's a CEO of Crucible Securities. He's a former Marine special ops officer, has taught antiterror techniques to the U.S. military. And remember, you can e-mail your WAR ROOM questions to us. Go to my Web page, CNN.com/wolf. That's also where you can read my daily online column.

Milt, you spent a lot of time in that area. Your book basically involves that specific area, where Operation Anaconda is unfolding right now. Is the U.S. fighting that ground war the right way?

MILT BEARDEN, FORMER CIA OFFICER: There probably isn't another way to do it. But you have to remember that this piece of real estate was the most tightly contested piece of real estate during a 10-year Soviet occupation. The Soviets took more heavy casualties in Pakhtier (ph) province than probably any other place in Afghanistan. They took losses of 50 percent KIA in a spetznaz battalion in May of 1987. This is a tough territory.

BLITZER: Well, why is it so tough?

BEARDEN: Because over the last 15 years, every square kilometer has been looked at from a point of view of an ambush. The people that live there, the Taliban or the Afghans or the tribals, have ambushed invading forces, mainly Soviet, from almost every -- every high point in that whole region. We are talking about the toughest perhaps neighborhood that we are going to go into.

BLITZER: So is it smart, Kelly, for the U.S. forces to be going into that area, on the ground with air cover the way they are going in?

KELLY MCCANN, CNN ANALYST: Well, remember, the mission is to close with and through close combat destroy the enemy. And that's what we're seeing. I mean, "The Post" has reported distances of up to 150 feet where they've closed with the enemy in the effort to destroy them. We have faced similar odds like this during World War II, in Tarawa (ph), places that were wired for sound, which colloquially called wired for sound. It's what Milt was talking about.

It's a tough combative job. And these guys are earning their money right now. Now, General Hagendaag (ph) said today that they now own the dominant pieces of terrain. On what hierarchy of dominant, you know, terrain that is is probably at a much higher level, and now they're going to push and prosecute, exploit vulnerabilities that they've made.

BLITZER: And the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld underscored both points that you're both making. I want you to listen to what Rumsfeld said earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We do know there are very deep caves and tunnels, that they are exceedingly well dug in, that air power works to a certain extent, but they are also well supplied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Which begs the question, how can they be so well supplied?

BEARDEN: Well, first off, it depends on what they need or what the definition of well supplied is. This was the retreat (ph) area during the 10-year occupation by the Soviet Union. When everything else was going bad everywhere else, the mujahideen would fall back into this area. The Soviets never made a successful sweep since 1985, until they left the country in 1989.

BLITZER: You probably saw the story in today's "New York Times," John Burns, the reporter on the scene, suggesting some speculation among local warlord commanders that perhaps even Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leaders of the al Qaeda are holed up in that area, the thrust, the target of Operation Anaconda.

BEARDEN: Could be. I have no idea. That's all speculation. But the main point is that we've got these guys sealed in. So they have nowhere to go. All -- whenever the Soviets were sweeping in, there was always the Pakistani border. And if it got too hot for them, they moved out.

The other factor here that I think the secretary understands is that Afghans don't fight this kind of war. They do the unconventional thing. This is what we do. Nobody else is going to do this. So it's going to be GIs on ground, closing that last 150 meters. And we are going to do it, and they're not.

BLITZER: Even though it's so dangerous. Obviously, the U.S. has to get the job done on the ground. Air power alone is not going to do it. Kelly, let me read to you an e-mail; Larry from West Seneca, New York -- that's near my home town of Buffalo. He writes this: "Officials state that progress is being made in Operation Anaconda, and that many enemy fighters have been killed. If this is the case, why are more U.S. troops being sent to the area?"

MCCANN: The idea of combat is to overpower and dominate, and that's what we are intending to do here. I mean, that's the idea. Simple combat ration is three to one. So, to empower the troops and, you know, ensure safety, of course we want to overwhelm them.

The other point about their resupply is, don't forget that they've had years and years to cache small arms, medical supplies, et cetera.

BLITZER: To warehouse them.

MCCANN: To warehouse them inside specific areas. And we know from previous experience, as Milt ran around the country, that in fact they could move very quickly and lightly, because they knew where their other prepositioned goods would be.

BLITZER: You've been in those caves. You went to those caves. We were told early on that those caves would lead some heat sense -- some heat, which sophisticated sensors would be able to pick out and the U.S. would be able to bomb those caves and destroy them.

BEARDEN: There's too much talk about supercaves, caves with hydroelectric generators. All that was nonsense. These are holes in the ground, some are big enough to drive a truck into, and they're full of ordnance. These guys will never run out of ordnance. That's not the issue. They are not going to hold the last bullets...

BLITZER: They have guns, they have ammunition.

BEARDEN: They've got what they need, and they have got mortars and they've got rifles, and they've got RPGs. They have got all of that. That is there. It's in there.

BLITZER: They still have Stingers, the shoulder-fire anti- aircraft missile?

BEARDEN: I imagine they do. There are probably still some out there. But I think our tactics have just leapfrogged over that issue to where we built that in, and we understand that. And we'll go in, and we'll finish the mission.

BLITZER: Here's another e-mail from Maurice in Toronto. Kelly, why don't you handle this one. "There have been reports that al Qaeda and Taliban rebels in eastern Afghanistan are being reinforced with fresh troops. How is that possible if coalition forces have them surrounded?"

MCCANN: I don't think it is very possible now. I mean, I think we've got it sewn up. I don't mean finished, I mean sewn up where we know the battle space. The Pakistanis have now got depth in their coverage. They've got three levels of depth. We are in the area, we've got drones overhead, we are doing (UNINTELLIGIBLE) searches, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) searches. I mean, if they're getting any fresh troops, there's not many of them getting there.

BLITZER: Very quickly, how much longer is this battle going to continue, if you can make a prediction, and, B, is this the last holdout of the al Qaeda-Taliban resistance?

BEARDEN: Nobody knows the answer to either of those. One hopes that this, in fact, does yield some major benefit. I'd like not to see this thing repeated over and over again, because if we are bringing the Northern Alliance in with us, we are starting to stir up some trouble in the neighborhood.

BLITZER: Any quick prediction?

MCCANN: We will prevail.

BLITZER: That's quick. Not specific, but quick. Kelly McCann and Milt Bearden, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

And this reminder: Tomorrow night at this time, I'll have a special interview with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. That's tomorrow night here, in the CNN WAR ROOM.

An American husband and wife are being held hostage in the Philippines, and have issued a statement. When we return, we'll tell you what they say and what authorities are saying about that statement. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. A new video has been released of an American couple being held hostage by an al Qaeda-linked group in the southern Philippines. In the video they deliver a political statement. CNN's Atika Schubert has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SCHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the videotape that was released today shows the Burnhams reading from a written statement that appeared to have been written by their captors, the Abu Sayyaf rebel group.

MARTIN BURNHAM, AMERICAN HOSTAGE: I Martin Burnham and my wife Gracia, both U.S. citizens, were taken as captives on May 27, 2001, at the Dos Palmos (ph) Resort in Pailau by the al Qaeda (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Islamia or the Abu Sayyaf group.

SCHUBERT (voice-over): Now, this was a very interesting video in the sense that it showed the definition shift from the demand in ransom payments that the Abu Sayyaf group were making before to a political statement. Now there are a couple of interesting points in the statement that was read. First of all, that the Abu Sayyaf group has directly linked themselves with al Qaeda, something that was alleged before, but has been declared very clearly by them in this videotape.

Now, the other interesting point is that they named several political reasons for keeping the Burnhams captive. Most of these reasons, five in all, actually revolve around U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East, but also against what they call U.S. indifference of Muslim minorities, particularly in the Philippines. Now this video is interesting because while there have been other videos released of the Burnhams, this one focuses almost entirely on the political statement of the Abu Sayyaf. We have to remember that this is a rebel group that even though it claims to be fighting for an Islamic separate state here in the southern Philippines has often been reduced to a kidnap for ransom gang, has asked for ransoms before and, in fact, seems to survive off of the ransom payments it's made over the many years.

(on camera): This appears to be a shift into the political limelight, trying to politically justify these kidnapping, and that could also be a result of the pressure, increasing pressure that they're feeling from Philippine troops and, of course, U.S. troops that are now here in the Philippines -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Atika Schubert, in the Philippines,

And remember, I want to hear from you. Please go to my Web page, cnn.com/wolf, click on the designation for comments. I'll read them. My producers will read them. We read them every single day. Still ahead: President Bush lives up to his promise to New York City and then some. We'll explain in a check of our top stories when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Checking our "News Alert," President Bush is delivering on a promise to provide $20 billion in federal aid to New York City. What's more, the president wants Congress to approve more than a billion dollars in additional aid for New York. The funds will help the city rebuild and recover from the World Trade Center attacks.

The special U.S. Mideast envoy, Anthony Zinni will be heading back to the region as part of a bid by President Bush to pull Israelis and Palestinians back from the brink. Zinni will travel to the Middle East next week to try to persuade both sides to stop the violence, and accept existing U.S. plans for a cease-fire.

The former New York City police officer, Charles Schwarz says he had been waiting for this day for 33 months. A federal court today ordered Schwarz's release from jail on $1 million bail. Schwarz is one of three police officers whose convictions in the Abner Louima beating were overturned last week. He faces a trial, a new trial that is, in June.

And that's all the time we have tonight. Please join me again tomorrow, twice at both 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

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