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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Why Did Gunman Open Fire at Los Angeles Airport?; U.S. Plan to Attack Iraq No Longer Secret
Aired July 05, 2002 - 17:00 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: Now on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: Was it terrorism or some other act of madness? Authorities try to learn why an Egyptian national opened fire at an Israeli airline counter in Los Angeles.
A secret U.S. plan for a massive attack against Iraq may no longer be a secret.
One of baseball's greatest hitters, the last major leaguer to bat over .400, fighter pilot, fisherman and Hall of Famer, Ted Williams is dead at 83.
And just for our viewers, country sensation Toby Keith sings his hit, "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue."
It's Friday July 5th, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.
Authorities know who he was, but they don't know why he attacked the Israeli airline counter at Los Angeles Airport yesterday. The gunman killed two people and wounded four others before he was shot dead by an El Al security guard.
Let's go live to CNN's Charles Feldman. He's been all over the story right from the beginning. Charles, what's the very latest?
CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well the latest, Wolf, is the FBI is still trying at this hour to find out whether this was a terrorist act in the sense that he was part of some group or had some political cause behind his actions or whether or not this was the action of a lone and crazed gunman.
What we do know about him is that he earned his living here in the United States owning his own limousine service. He drove a limo and was licensed to drive a limo. He had a wife and a child and both of them apparently went to Egypt last week. Now, it is unclear whether this was a planned vacation or whether or not for whatever reason he sent them off.
The other thing that's emerging that's rather interesting, according to the FBI, is reports of domestic problems that he may have had with his wife and perhaps other relatives here in California. Apparently, the local police in Irvine, California were called to the residence on multiple occasions because of domestic disturbances, unclear what the nature was, and unclear whether or not that played any role in terms of a possible motive for his attack.
One of the things, though, that the FBI said and made very clear is that while it is not sure whether or not this was or wasn't a terrorist attack, it's also not sure whether or not this was a hate crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD GARCIA, FBI AGENT IN CHARGE: We have not determined whether or not this individual had any anti-Israel views or any anti- other type of racial views, too. As you know, besides terrorism and such, we're also looking at the possibility of a hate crime. We're also looking in the possibility of the person being despondent for some reason on a -- I would say normal, but an abnormal reaction to being despondent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FELDMAN: Now, the FBI says, Wolf, that as far as they can determine, he was not on any FBI or FAA, Federal Aviation Administration, watchlist nor was he apparently on any watchlist for any other law enforcement agencies across the world. The FBI is working though very closely with the Egyptian law enforcement agencies to try to find out more about him. And they are appealing, Wolf, to people all over in this country and elsewhere with any information about him, to please come forward and contact the FBI in the United States to help them try to figure out what was behind this attack yesterday and most important whether or not there is any reason to believe that this was part of some broader plan or some terrorist attack -- Wolf.
BLITZER: At this stage, Charles, and I know you've been doing an incredible amount of digging with your colleagues out there, any evidence he was involved in any political groups, any religious groups, anything that might point to some sort of organized behavior around him?
FELDMAN: Not thus far. I know that they confiscated a computer from his home and some other electronic equipment. And about an hour ago, they were still awaiting a judicial search warrant in order to go through those computer files and they're hoping that perhaps somewhere in the computer would be some information that would answer the very questions you've just raised. But so far, no indication that he was particularly political.
The only thing, of course, was that no, he had a bumper sticker that was on the door to his house, which apparently had been on the door and then off the door and it was back on the door yesterday and all it said was, "read the Koran" -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Charles Feldman, and we'll be back to you if you develop some more news. Thank you very much for your good reporting. Let's go live now to the scene of the attack at LAX.
Our national correspondent Frank Buckley is standing by live. You're right where the event, the incident, occurred, aren't you, Frank?
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. And as Charles was saying, the motive remains unclear, but police and FBI investigators do believe now that the suspect, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, came here to LAX intending to kill, as they put it. We also have a clearer view of exactly what the scene was like here yesterday. We've talked about the Bradley International Terminal being a very crowded place.
There are a number of ticket counters here of various airlines that are here in this terminal. Right over there is the area from which people can enter the Bradley International Terminal. There's no security checkpoint there. You don't go through a metal detector or anything like that. Anyone can simply walk into the airport.
We are at the area where the El Al counter was yesterday. This is a shared space, so today there is no El Al representative here, and there are no airlines that are using this counter. The only indication right now, in fact, of anything having happened here are the flowers that are here in front of the Lufthansa space. Yesterday, El Al was using this portion of the Lufthansa area and you can see that flowers have been left in that place.
If you pan over to the left a little bit, you'll be able to see where the El Al ticket agents were yesterday. All of the signage that was there yesterday has been taken down. That happened this morning and we can show you what the signage looked like this morning.
There were, in fact, indications on that signage of some of the violence that took place here. There were bullet holes that were in existence there in the signage, and you could really get a sense of the violence that took place. I am standing in the location where it is believed that the suspect was wrestled to the ground, where FBI agents tell me that they believe this suspect simply began shooting in a direction of the ticket counter.
As he was doing that, according to the FBI, he was wrestled to the ground by both an El Al security agent and a passenger. As that was happening, Haim Saphir, another El Al security agent, came from behind the counter, and came across, in this direction. He was also armed. He joined into that altercation.
He was shot and stabbed in the process. He was armed, as I said. He was able to return gunfire, according the FBI agents, and he shot the suspect dead at about this location, several feet away from the El Al counter -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Frank, is it back to business as usual at LAX? I take it there's a lot more security presence there, though.
BUCKLEY: There was already a heightened security presence as a result of the July 4th weekend. Some 925,000 people were expected to travel through LAX. LAPD told us this morning that there would be an even heavier police presence. Everywhere you go, in fact, you do see the LAPD or airport police as you cross from one terminal to the other. As far as operations here, by midnight last night, the 10,500 passengers who had been delayed here in the Bradley Terminal were on their way. Some 35 different flights were affected by what happened at the Bradley International Terminal. The last flight to push back that had been delayed was the El Al flight. I'm told by airport officials that they pushed back at 2:08 a.m. -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Frank Buckley at LAX. Thanks very much.
And with security tight at major airports and airlines around the country, officials are worried that terrorists may turn their attention to smaller airports and smaller planes. The FAA today, as a result, warned general aviation airports and owners of charter, freight and private aircraft to be vigilant. Officials say the warning is not based on a specific new threat, but is intended just as a reminder.
Targeted repeatedly by terrorists, El Al was forced to develop very tough security measures. Now it has a reputation as the most secure airline in the world.
Joining me now from Tel Aviv, Itzchak Amitay. He's the executive vice president of El Al. Mr. Amitay, thank you so much for joining us and our deepest condolences to you, but tell us first of all the latest information you have about the shooter in this particular case.
ITZCHAK AMITAY, EXEC. V.P. EL AL: As a matter of fact, good afternoon, Wolf. Let me first express our condolences and our sorrow for the victims too, and sending our love and Israeli condolences to all of the families. And as a matter of fact there is not much that we know over here in Israel, and we are almost totally dependent on the investigations that are being made from your major security authorities in the states.
BLITZER: Is there a separate investigation at El Al and or the Israeli government is undertaking beyond what the FBI is doing?
AMITAY: El Al, as a matter of fact is -- El Al -- our security agents in Israel are debriefing all the operations that we have done and the measures that we took yesterday in order to learn into some future events that might or may cause (ph) to us, because as you know and everybody knows that for the last 34 years, we have had a lot of experience, almost between 30 to 40 attempts in order to attack Israeli and El Al aircraft passengers, clients and airports.
Seven of them were major attempts in order to explode El Al airplane in the air. Some of them were to attack Israeli passengers all over the world in some airports and especially or mainly in Europe, and trying to shoot an airplane on the ground while taxiing. So we learned a lot from our experience and that's the way we developed the method and all the counter measures that we take and that helped us very much yesterday night.
BLITZER: Mr. Amitay, is there anything that you know specific? Any hard evidence to point to terrorism or is that simply a working assumption on your point -- on your part? AMITAY: For the time being, it's a working assumption. But, you know, as far as we can understand over here, it's not a simple coincidence. It's not a simple coincidence that on the Fourth of July on American territory, someone with the origin of some, the Arab or the Muslim nation took some steps in order to kill some Israelis or ex-Israelis or Jews on American territory.
BLITZER: Do you know anything at all about Hesham Mohamed Hadayet that perhaps we don't know?
AMITAY: No, we don't know anything over in Israel, even though it's under a very, very deep investigation over here to try to locate or try to gather some pieces of information to see ...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: What, if anything, is El Al going to be doing differently in the aftermath of the shooting in Los Angeles?
AMITAY: Well, El Al is going to pay a lot of more attention to the check in area as far as we're concerned. But we developed, as I mentioned before, some kind of an onion-ring model that has about seven layers. And those -- each of this layer, we take special precautions and special measurements in order to try to isolate each of them and in a way to link them together and to integrate them with intelligence just in order that each layer of this onion-ring model is well sufficient and well protected from such kind of attack.
BLITZER: Itzchak Amitay, thank you very much for joining us and good luck to you.
Here's your chance to weigh in on this important story. Our Web question of the day is this. Do you think airlines should have their own armed guards at ticket counters? Go to my Web page, cnn.com/wolf. That's where can you vote. While you're there let me know what you're thinking. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some on them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also where you can read my daily on-line column, cnn.com/Wolf.
For more now on the investigation and the aftermath of the airport shooting, I'm joined by Commander Gary Brennan of the Los Angeles Police Department. Commander, thanks for joining us. You're still refusing to say this is terrorism, but tell our viewers why.
CMDR. GARY BRENNAN, LOS ANGELES POLICE: Well it's important, Wolf, of course, that we understand the FBI is the lead on this investigation and when they determine the motive, they will make a statement as to whether or not it is motivated by terrorism, hate crime or some other purpose, and the reason why we're not saying at this point is because the FBI has not reached their point, that point in their investigation.
BLITZER: What can you tell us about the shooter in this case who is dead, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet?
BRENNAN: Well, again that's a question that really should be addressed to the FBI. They issued a press release earlier today that identified him and his victims. And as to whether or not he was on any watchlist, the FBI made the statement that that is absolutely not true. The FBI has asked for the public's help in determining a little more about this individual. They released better quality photographs of him in the hopes that the public may be able to supply them some additional information.
BLITZER: And as far as you know Commander, he has no record, no criminal background as far as you know.
BRENNAN: That's correct.
BLITZER: Any known political associations that might by suspicious as far as you know?
BRENNAN: No, not as far as we know and again as the FBI's got the lead in the investigation, that's something that they, of course, are looking very closely at.
BLITZER: Commander Gary Brennan of the LAPD, thank you very much for joining us. And as we heard, there's a growing debate brewing over how to categorize the airport attack. What kind of crime was it?
More now from our national security correspondent, David Ensor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As the July 4th drama unfolded at Los Angeles Airport, Israeli officials were quick to call it an act of terrorism. Israelis assume that, they say, because of the terrorism they face at home, and because of previous attacks against El Al.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are under attack of terrorism, the most brutal attack of terrorism for 20 months. So when El Al passengers at an international airport, attacked by gunman, it's the most logical conclusion that this is a terrorist act.
ENSOR: But so far at least U.S. officials do not agree. The White House spokesman Friday backed the view of officials on the scene that there is no evidence or indication that this was a terrorist attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, we have no reason to believe that this was an act of terrorism.
ENSOR: Who is right? The Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines terrorism as the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce especially for political purposes, or take the Oxford Dictionary definition. The systematic employment of violence and intimidation to coerce a government or community, especially in to acceding to specific political demands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The purpose is to change something, to change a political way of doing things or a social way of doing things so it has an end goal. It's not just a random act of violence against an individual.
ENSOR: Was the man at L.A. Airport trying to change something or was it a random act?
(on camera): Could it have been a hate crime or the actions of a madman? We don't know yet. There simply is not enough evidence yet to call this an act of terrorism, though that evidence may yet emerge.
David Ensor CNN Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: CNN has details of a U.S. military plan to try to topple Saddam Hussein. But, do Americans really want a Gulf War II? A debate on that when we return.
Also, floodwaters rising, thousands evacuated, seven dead and no end in sight. A live report still to come.
Plus ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOBY KEITH, COUNTRY SINGER: We'll put a boot in your ass. It's the American way. Hey, Uncle Sam...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Back by very popular demand, Toby Keith sings his controversial song exclusively here on CNN.
Ted Williams baseball career was interrupted twice while he served as a Marine Corps pilot in World War II and the Korean conflict. Who was Williams' squadron operations manager: John Glenn, Bob Hope, Joe DiMaggio, Chuck Yeager? The answer coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
Two days of talks between the United Nations and Iraq have ended without an agreement to resume weapons inspections. The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says talks in Vienna, Austria, with the Iraqi foreign minister produced some movement, but not enough. He says there will be more discussions, but no date is set. Inspections for chemical and biological arms ended in 1998. The United Nations says they must resume before sanctions against Iraq can be lifted.
The lack of an agreement on weapons inspectors could strengthen the hand of hawks inside the Bush administration who want a United States attack on Iraq sooner rather than later. "The New York Times", in fact, is reporting today that the Pentagon is considering an invasion force of up to 250,000 troops.
Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre reports on what he's learned.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN reported in April that Pentagon planners envisioned a force about half the size deployed in the 1991 Persian Gulf War if the U.S. went back to Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein. That number is confirmed by a two-month-old series of briefing slides shown, but not given to "The New York Times".
RETIRED GEN. WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: What has been leaked is some sort or some version of a courses of action briefing apparently at least one concept in there calling for about 250,000 American ground troops to do the job.
MCINTYRE: The Bush administration has made no secret of its goal of regime changes in Iraq and its willingness to employ military force. But White House officials and Pentagon sources tell CNN the president has made no decision and has no final war plan currently under review. General Tommy Franks, the Persian Gulf commander, has briefed the president on a general concept of operations, a sign that war planning is well underway.
CLARK: This probably indicates that since there's been a couple concept meetings that the president has generally blessed the concept for develop of further planning.
MCINTYRE: The briefing slide cited by "The Times" outline a three-pronged ground invasion against Baghdad with Special Operations troops or CIA forces hitting suspected chemical or biological weapons labs. Pentagon officials say that's just one concept, not the plan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): Now, "The Times" says the source of its story was an official who was frustrated that Iraq war planning was - quote - "insufficiently creative". It just so happens that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has had similar criticism in the past rejecting more than one plan as -- quote -- "unimaginative" -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thanks very much.
So is it time to attack Iraq? Joining us now to discuss that question are Michael O'Hanlon. He's a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute here in Washington and Ken Adelman, a former director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Thanks to both of you for joining us. Ken, we've spoken about this before. You think it would be a cakewalk?
KEN ADELMAN, FMR. DIR. ARMS CONTROL AND DISARMAMENT AGENCY: I do.
BLITZER: When you say a cakewalk, what does that mean? How many days or weeks or months? ADELMAN: I think it would be a limited period of time of a few months. I think it would be easy for four quick reasons. It was a cakewalk last time. We have gotten so much stronger since that time. They have gotten so much weaker since that time, and this time we are going to play for keeps and I think when you look at those four factors and examine them, you come up with an answer that it's something that absolutely needs to be done and needs to be done right away.
BLITZER: What about that? Is he right Michael?
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: He's partly right. He is right that once we go to war against Iraq we will win and we'll win decisively and it won't take more than a few months of combat. It may take even less than that. And once we show we're serious, if we have hundreds of thousands of forces in that region, some of the Iraqi military may change sides. But the real problem is if you talk as if you can just drop a few drops, give a few arms to the Kurdish opposition, and repeat the Afghanistan model, I think you're ignoring what we're looking at here.
Iraq's army has 400,000 people, at least 100,000 of them are pretty dedicated to Saddam -- it's the Republican Guard, Special Republican Guard. He'll be fighting in Baghdad. That's where Saddam's going to try to hold up. This is urban combat. We can't forget how hard that is. Remember Mogadishu 1993. We'll do a lot to avoid the Mogadishu kind of style combat, but if you're fighting in the city, it can get ugly.
ADELMAN: So, Michael, are you saying that you know, you get all this loyalty, but what we know before when we weren't playing for keeps were that the Iraqi troops surrendered in tens of thousands. They were surrendering to Italian film crews and the problem was what to do with all these. Now if you announce...
BLITZER: When you say the U.S. wasn't playing for keeps, I honestly...
ADELMAN: They weren't playing for keeps.
BLITZER: ... I covered that. There were half a million U.S. troops involved.
ADELMAN: Right...
BLITZER: That sounds like they were playing for keeps.
ADELMAN: No, no, no. It's a difference, Wolf, between getting out of Kuwait and overthrowing the regime. When you overthrow the regime, you think to yourself, am I going to give my life for Saddam Hussein? That is what the question is rather than am I going give my life to stay in Kuwait? It is easier to be loyal to Saddam Hussein ...
BLITZER: But...
ADELMAN: ... and... BLITZER: ... let me bring back Michael. But, Michael, can U.S. military planners just assume that they won't be loyal, that they're going to roll over?
O'HANLON: Absolutely not. There's plenty of room for debate between Ken and myself as to what will happen. There is no room for debate about what you have to assume. You have to assume this will be tough. Anything else is irresponsible, because to assume otherwise is to make a mess of the situation. It's ...
BLITZER: And there's another important point. I want to go to the Telestrator to show our viewers. If we take a look at the various facilities, for the U.S. to go into Iraq and into Baghdad, they need bases in Turkey, in the Gulf presumably. Saudi Arabia would be great, but the Saudis are making no secret of the fact they're not sure they want to support the United States in this kind of endeavor and Beirut, at the end of March the Arab League said no.
ADELMAN: Well, who is the Arab League that you always cite?
BLITZER: They're all the Arab countries.
ADELMAN: Not one of them, Wolf, not one of them has legitimate government. Not one of them has a freely elected government.
BLITZER: But air bases the U.S. might need ...
ADELMAN: OK, but let me get to that. But this is the first group internationally of governments since the Soviet block that doesn't have one legitimate government in it. So let's understand that every time we use the phrase Arab League. Now, you're saying we need basing rights. Yes we do.
We have Turkey. We have certainly Kuwait will help us. We have a lot of offshore facilities. I don't believe that we should pay that attention to Saudi Arabia, you know, on restrictions to us, because I don't care that much about Saudi ties. I think the Saudis have not been friendly and ...
BLITZER: Turkey, Kuwait and aircraft carriers, is that enough?
O'HANLON: It's close to enough. I'll partly agree with Ken on this. I think if you really have to do it using just Kuwait - I mean, for heavens sake, we invaded France using no bases in that region except England. So you can do it if you have to, but it's a lot bloodier, a lot harder.
We really want to have the Saudis on our side. We want their air space. We want their bases, and we want their political support. If you're doing this without the Saudis, you're really fighting with one arm tied behind your back. It's possible, but it's not the way you want to go.
ADELMAN: But when you say doing this without the Saudis, I mean I guess I would be inclined to let it go and then tell the Saudis that, you know, we're going to use the base there and awfully sorry about this, but you know that's something we got to do. I don't care that much about the Saudi, you know, reaction because I think that Saudi Arabia has been really part of the problem on terrorism and not part of the solution at all. I don't see them as a friendly state at all.
BLITZER: Unfortunately, we got to leave it right there. We didn't even get into the whole impact of the Israeli-Palestinian issue on this subject of Iraq. We'll save that for another occasion.
O'HANLON: Great.
BLITZER: Michael O'Hanlon, Ken Adelman, thanks to both of you.
ADELMAN: Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: Saddam Hussein's stepson is drawing international headlines after being arrested in Miami. How did he slip through the system and almost into an American flight school? Our Susan Candiotti will detail the investigation.
Plus, a bizarre end to a hostage standoff in California. Find out how the SWAT team ended this one.
And Ted Williams, the passing of a legend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Checking our top stories: The search for a weapon against AIDS is leading experts to focus on prevention as the best way to control the epidemic. Two reports issued this week say programs such as promoting the use of condoms and education campaigns could cut the number of future HIV cases by two thirds.
A former Nazi SS officer known as the "Butcher of Genoa" has been sentenced to seven years in prison, but the 93-year-old won't have to serve time in prison because of his age. A German judge pronounced Friedrich Engel guilty of overseeing the massacre of 59 Italian prisoners during World War II.
President Bush called his Afghan counterpart today to express sorrow for a U.S. bombing raid Monday. The president spoke with Hamid Karzai for about five minutes. Dozens of civilians were reportedly killed in the incident. An investigation is under way.
The stepson of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is awaiting deportation from the United States. He was arrested this week as he arrived in Florida, where he planned to study at A Miami flight school. The facility, used by one of the September 11th hijackers, is now answering some tough questions.
Joining us now from Miami is CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti. She has all the latest.
Susan?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf. Yes, that flight school, in business for 25 years, is answering some tough questions and giving some surprising answers. More on that in a moment, but first what Saffi himself, Mohammad Saffi, Saddam's stepson, has to say about his own predicament.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Nervous jitters over Saddam Hussein's stepson trying to attend a flight school appear to have subsided. No evidence of any kind at this time Mohammad Saffi intended to make trouble. Saffi's associate, a U.S. citizen, insists everything was on the up and up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He ended up in jail. Something went wrong.
CANDIOTTI: Which is why the INS says Saffi will be deported any day now. He'll get the boot for failing to get a student visa required for flight school and lying on an immigration form about his intentions. INS sources say Saffi admitted as much, but indicated he didn't think it was a big deal. The school, Aero Service Aviation, apparently had no obligation to check whether Saffi had a student visa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as we know, everything we did, all the approvals we needed, we have.
CANDIOTTI: He's right. Immigration officials say it's up to the student, not the school, to get the right visa. In other words, a school can assume if someone shows up at their doorstep, they entered the U.S. legally, even in the unsettled post-September 11th climate. In this case, Aero Service Aviation did fill a new Justice Department requirement, an overnight check by the foreign terrorist-tracking task force.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got an approval to train Mr. Saffi about, oh, four days ago. So all of the things we were required to do by the Department of Justice has been done.
CANDIOTTI: The proof is this e-mail that reads, "Based on information available at this time, the U.S. Department of Justice does not deny training to Mohammad Saffi. Training may commence at any time you choose."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
So Saddam's stepson apparently was cleared from being on any kind of a terrorist watch list, but there were enough red flags raised about him when he made the trip to the United States for the FBI and INS to pay attention -- for example, attending the same flight school as one of the September 11th hijackers, traveling here during the 4th of July holiday weekend, and also the fact that the last time he had been to the United States was four days before September 11th.
Wolf?
BLITZER: I assume at that time, Susan, no one knew he was the stepson of Saddam Hussein. How did people learn about that?
CANDIOTTI: Well, actually the FBI did know at the time that he was the stepson of Saddam Hussein when he entered the United States. That was the intelligence that made the FBI sit up and take notice, and that's why they were following him so closely, along with the INS.
BLITZER: Susan Candiotti, thanks, as usual. Thank you very much.
And in Auckland, New Zealand, a suburb there, Glenfield (ph), Mohammad Saffi's family is waiting to hear when he'll come home. And the man who was to become his boss is concerned about the reasons for his arrest. Mark Hannan (ph), of TVNZ reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK HANNAN (ph), TVNZ (voice-over): One News wasn't welcome at Mohammad Saffi's home today.
(on camera): Can you tell us about Mohammad?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't care about it.
HANNAN: Do you live here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't live here. Go!
HANNAN: Well, why don't you talk to us?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm telling you to [deleted]
HANNAN: We're on public property!
Visitors arrived at the Saffi home throughout the day. Mohammad Saffi and his wife and their teenage son and daughter have lived in this house in a quiet cul-de-sac on Auckland's north shore for about three years. Neighbors wouldn't go on camera, but they say the family is very nice, always friendly, but they keep very much to themselves.
But one person came to talk about Mohammad Saffi is the man set to employ him.
JIMMY BROOKS, TIGER LINES CARGO: He's a very nice, hard-working family man, wants to live peacefully and do his job.
HANNAN (voice-over): Mr. Brooks owns the freight company Tiger Lines Cargo. It has a 727-200 parked at Hamilton airport, but plans to run a freight business servicing the Pacific. The only place Mr. Saffi could get certification to fly the plane was Miami.
EWAN WILSON, AVIATION ANALYST: The U.S. offers the least expensive simulator training facilities in the world, so it makes a great deal of sense to me.
HANNAN: Mr. Saffi is currently employed as an engineer at Air New Zealand, but he took leave to get his Miami training. Now his future employer is concerned about his well-being.
BROOKS: Both of our captains that are there in Miami drove down to the detention center today, and they were denied access to him.
HANNAN: Flying this plane will also be forbidden if Mohammad Saffi is deported from the U.S., and now his job prospects are uncertain.
Mark Hannan, One News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: When it rains, it pours. It certainly has in Texas, and thousands of people are being driven from their homes. A live report when we come back.
Plus, something you won't see anyplace else, Toby Keith with an encore performance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEITH (singing): And American guys will always stand up and salute. We'll always recognize...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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BLITZER: More rain is falling in flood-ravaged parts of Texas. Just when San Antonio residents thought they'd moved into the clean-up phase, a new burst of downpours brought water levels back up this morning. Meanwhile, some people are being force to evacuate. Kim Alvarado of our affiliate KPRC joins us now from the town of Seguin.
Kim, give us the latest.
KIM ALVARADO, KPRC: Well, all residents south of Canyon Dam, which is north of San Antonio, have been told to brace for the worst. Now, keep in mind, not only are they releasing water from the dam, but all the added tremendous amount of stream and creek run-off in this highly saturated area and also this non-stop rain in the region is just unbelievable. Now, these people -- people are armed with their video cameras to document this historic flooding. Residents are prepared for a bout with Mother Nature, or more appropriately, a KO from Mother Nature.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When this river meets this puddle, people do not understand they will have about 15 minutes to get out.
ALVARADO: And she did. Minutes earlier, the Gutierrez (ph) family loaded a trailer full of their life's lot and hauled out of the riverfront community. Others follow with the same sense of urgency, as flood water rises at least 20 feet from the river's bank. Gutierrez has already accepted what will happen to her home. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, it's going under. Definitely. It will go. It will be -- I believe that the firemen that came down this morning -- I believe they know what they're saying. They said it will be worse than '98. So we took 11 foot there in '98. Our back bedroom is probably 4 foot under already.
ALVARADO: And newcomer George Harris (ph) didn't heed the warning from experienced river residents until co-workers showed up to physically persuade him with manual labor. They actually loaded his entire house. His boss learned from past floods.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the next four hours, we'll have probably 10 feet of water here, right where we're standing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw a house go by earlier, and then we saw two cars go by, a bunch of boats.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's coming over the spillway! There's no control over there!
ALVARADO: And there is no way of knowing what kind of historic damage this storm will do. The Guadalupe has flooded before, but never coupled with a dam that had never used its spillway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a really sad thing. A lot of our friends and families that we know and love are in dire straits here again.
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ALVARADO: And a very rain-swollen, flood-swollen Guadalupe River here right in Seguin. We've seen parts of homes, cars, sheds, all kinds of lawn equipment and barrels and containers coming down this river. It is at least twice its size, its normal size.
In the city of Seguin, where I'm at, they are under a state of emergency because no one -- no one -- knows what to expect. There are several Red Cross shelters open, and everyone is prepared. They've already been told if you're on the riverfront to get out. They've been evacuated, but everyone else inland has been told, "We don't know what to expect, just be prepared to reach high ground."
We're live in Seguin, Guadalupe County. I'm Kim Alvarado.
BLITZER: Thank you very much, Kim, of our affiliate KPRC.
And we have a developing story we're following right now coming out of Anderson, South Carolina. A Greyhound bus traveling from Atlanta to Charlotte ran into the back of a tractor-trailer in the northbound lanes of Interstate 85 this afternoon. The driver and 26 passengers suffered injuries, most of them described as non-life- threatening. Stay with CNN for updates on this story.
And turning now to California, where a four-hour stand-off in the suburbs of San Francisco ended with a little help from fire-fighting foam. A SWAT team used the substance to incapacitate a man who led police on a high-speed chase. CNN's Miles O'Brien has more.
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MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a textbook example of how police can get their man without firing their guns. After a wild hundred-mile-an-hour chase on both sides of San Francisco Bay, the California Highway Patrol set up a puncture strip that blew out the maroon Oldsmobile's tires. The car was dead on the pavement, some very busy pavement, Highway 101 in Palo Alto.
The driver then appeared to douse himself with gasoline. Despite a growing snarl of rerouted traffic, police stuck to avoiding their guns and remained patient. Wearing Kevlar vests and carrying shields and semi-automatics, they crept up and threw the driver a phone, but he refused to reach out. So police reached deep into her bag of tricks, practiced a novel tactic on a similar car nearby, and then made their move -- a quick approach, a smashed-out window and a thorough dousing with foam, sort of an involuntary interior car wash.
The driver was arrested, all wet and yet no worse for the wear, the clean conclusion, to a San Francisco soap opera.
Miles O'Brien, CNN.
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BLITZER: Very creative. Good work by the police.
And the "Splendid Splinter," "Teddy Ballgame," or "The Kid" -- whatever you call Ted Williams, you'd also have to call him a legend. We'll take a special look at the Hall of Famer just ahead.
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KEITH (singing): American girls and American guys will always stand up and salute...
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BLITZER: And Toby Keith sings "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" when we come back. Stay with us.
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KEITH (singing): There's a lot of men dead so we can sleep in peace and...
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BLITZER: Earlier we asked, "Who was Ted Williams's squadron operations manager?" Williams flew wing man for astronaut and later senator John Glenn.
And one day after the 4th of July, an American icon is gone. Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams, the last player to hit .400 for a full season, died of cardiac arrest today in a Florida hospital. Flags have been lowered to half-staff at Boston's Fenway Park, Williams's home for his entire major league career.
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(voice-over): He was as American as a Norman Rockwell painting. Portrayed as a skeptical veteran in this "Saturday Evening Post" cover, "The Rookie," Ted Williams captured America's imagination like few ballplayers before or since. Joe DiMaggio called him the best pure hitter he ever saw. Williams hit 521 home runs, with a lifetime batting average of .344, but that's only half the story.
TED WILLIAMS, HALL-OF-FAME BASEBALL PLAYER: I had, I think, just enough grit in me that, certainly, if any pitcher tried to intimidate me, I was a better hitter.
BLITZER: Williams said he could see the individual stitches on a pitched ball, and when his bat made contact, he could smell the burning wood. On the final day of the 1941 season, Williams was hitting a phenomenal .399 -- actually .399.6. His manager offered to keep him on the bench so that his full-year batting average would be rounded off to .400. Williams refused the offer.
WILLIAMS: Cronin asked me, he said, "If you want to -- if you don't want to play today, it's all right." And I -- I thought, "What the hell's he talking about?" I never even give it a thought!
BLITZER: The Red Sox slugger went 6 for 8 that day and finished the year at .406, a feat no other baseball player has matched in the 60 seasons that have followed. Williams spent what should have been some of his peak productive years in military service, both in World War II and the Korean conflict.
MATT MOSCHELLA, FAN: Even in his prime, he was away fighting in the war, so I mean, the numbers he had could have been so much better, too.
BLITZER: In 1958, at age 40 he became the oldest man ever to win a major league hitting title. Two seasons later, in his last at-bat in the last game of his career, he stepped up to the plate and he hit a home run.
JAMES MOSCHELLA, FAN: He's meant everything to the fans. He did everything. He always played well. He played hard, and he never didn't give up.
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BLITZER: Ted Williams was 83, a great man and a great ballplayer.
Let's go to live New York now and get a preview of "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE." That, of course, begins right at the top of the hour. Jan Hopkins once again sitting in tonight for Lou.
Jan?
JAN HOPKINS, GUEST HOST, "MONEYLINE": Thanks, Wolf.
Coming up on "MONEYLINE": The worst is yet to come in the flooding that's ravaging Texas. We'll have a live report. The market breaks its losing streak with strong performances on both the Dow and the Nasdaq. The markets' performance will be one of the topics when I talk with Steve Forbes and "BusinessWeek's" Mark Morrison. And we'll start our series on jobs that are the most underpaid. Tonight, the high risk and low pay of being a firefighter.
All of that and a lot more. Please join us.
Back to you, Wolf.
BLITZER: We will, indeed. Thank you very much, Jan.
And Toby Keith's star is rising. You'll see him right here, performing his controversial new hit, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue."
And there's still time for you to weigh in on our Web question of the day: Do you think airlines should have their own armed guards at ticket counters? Go ahead and vote, cnn.com/wolf.
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BLITZER: Singer Toby Keith performed "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" in Provo, Utah, last night. Keith says he had been asked to sing the song on an ABC 4th of July broadcast. He says he was dropped because show host Peter Jennings objected to the lyrics.
Yesterday at this time, breaking news prevented us from airing the song and an exclusive interview with Toby Keith. We did air both later in the evening. But for those of you who missed it, you can read the full text of the interview on my Web page, cnn.com/wolf.
For those of you who have called and e-mailed us and want to hear Toby's performance of the song -- and there are many, many of you out there -- here it is.
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KEITH (singing): American girls and American guys will always stand up and salute, will always recognize when we see Old Glory flying, there's a lot of men dead so we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our head. My daddy served in the army, where he lost his right eye, but he flew a flag out in our yard till the day Daddy died. He wanted my mother and my brother, my sister and me to grow up and live happy in the land of the free.
This nation that I love has fallen under attack. A mighty sucker punch came flying in from somewhere in the back. Soon as we could see clearly through our big black eye, man, we lit up the world like the 4th of July. Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list, and the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist. And the eagle will fly, and it's going to be hell when you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell. And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you, brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue.
Now, justice will be served and the battle will rage, and this big dog will fight when you rattle his cage. And you'll be sorry that you messed with U.S. of A because we'll put a boot in your ass. It's the American way. Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list, and the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist, and the eagle will fly. There's going to be hell when you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell. And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you, brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue, of my red, white and blue.
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BLITZER: Thank you very much, Toby Keith. A nice way to end the week.
I'll be back Sunday on "LATE EDITION," the last word in Sunday talk. That's noon Eastern, 9:00 AM Pacific. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Have a wonderful weekend. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" begins right now.
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