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American Morning

The Day After; Who's Responsible?; Hurricane Dennis

Aired July 08, 2005 - 08:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: New developments in London in the bombings case. Police give details on what used to -- what was used, I should say, to destroy three subway trains and a city bus. And the devastating results. How the death toll is going up again.
In the U.S. Americans going to work this morning with a sense of apprehension. We will look at what's being done to increase security measures in U.S. cities.

And a giant in the Caribbean. Hurricane Dennis, now a Category 4 storm, heading for the U.S. via Cuba. It could get even stronger on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Also ahead this morning, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to speak with reporters in just a few minutes. We're going to bring that to you live.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He's going to make a statement, we're told, and we understand that he'll answer be answering some questions about the bombing yesterday. We're going to carry that for you when it happens.

M. O'BRIEN: And we'll go live to Gleneagles, Scotland, as the G8 wraps up its summit. As a matter of fact, we have some pictures coming in as this meeting disburses. President Bush has left, and Prime Minister Tony Blair, as we say, will be offering up that final communique.

Earlier, Mr. Blair said that the G8 had agreed to give $3 billion to the Palestinian Authority. And in the wake of those bombings, that seems like a very pointed statement.

He is expected to take questions, as we said. It isn't known if he will address the bombings in London directly. But surely, if he takes questions, that subject will, in fact, come up.

There you saw the customary class picture. Smile and say cheese, or fromage or gesundheit, depending on what language you have there. And the meeting pretty much in its final moments. And we will, of course, track it for you as it concludes -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Really interesting, because, of course, that final communique was put off. They were supposed to release it yesterday, and because of the bombings, they held off on that. And a lot of the focus, frankly, of the world was taken off of the G8 and Africa and global warning and went right to London as people's attention was drawn there.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, which makes you wonder if there was some intent there on the part of the terrorists.

S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely.

In fact, let's get to the very latest from London this morning. It is London's bloodiest day since World War II. At least 50 people killed in those terror bombings, 700 injured, 22 people in critical or serious condition. One person died in the hospital overnight.

Investigators are struggling to get the wreckage where more bodies are -- to get, rather, to the wreckage, where more bodies, we're told, are still trapped. And police say the four bombs were made of less than 10 pounds of explosives a piece, small enough to fit, really, into a backpack.

They have not confirmed what was used to detonate the bombs. The London underground has the world's most extensive system of security cameras. Police say they are now reviewing those tapes.

It brings us right to Anderson Cooper. He's live for us in London this morning.

Hey, Anderson. Good morning.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning, Miles.

It's interesting. You were just mentioning those security cameras. I was just walking around here at the King's Cross subway station. There are dozens of cameras in plain view, there are many more probably hidden as well.

So those are things which obviously the gathering of evidence phase of this investigation, which is underway right now, those cameras are going to play a big part. There are an awful lot of cameras, a lot of tapes to actually review.

The authorities really have their work cut out ahead of them, but they will look -- be looking very closely to see if there are individuals leaving those bags on the trains and/or staying with those bags. At this point, they said there is no evidence of suicide bombers involved in these attacks, but they have not rule that out.

At this point, this is still very much an active investigation, as you said, Soledad. The crime scene is still very difficult to get to in two spots, and the list of fatalities, the number of fatalities, is likely to grow above the 50 figure that we heard just a few hours ago.

And the size of the bombs is getting a lot of attention here. I mean, just some 10 pounds each. Very small devices, and yet they created an awful lot of harm in a very short period of time. Less than an hour it took for all four of these explosions to detonate.

The scene here at King's Cross, which is where the most fatalities occurred yesterday, 21 people died underneath the ground on which we stand. The scene, it's a very strange atmosphere here.

I mean, there's a sense of guesting back to business, of people, you know, commuting, getting on buses still, getting on some subways that are still running, going about their daily life. And yet aware very much of what happened here and what is still going on underneath this ground -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Well, as the investigators said, complex and very difficult investigation lies ahead. Anderson Cooper. Thanks a lot, Anderson.

Time to get right to the headlines, the other stories that are making news this morning.

Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center for us.

Hey, Fred. Good morning.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, "Now in the News," little Shasta Groene is at home with her father for the first time in over six weeks. The 8-year-old was released from an Idaho hospital sometime Thursday. A sheriff's spokesman says she's doing well.

Meanwhile, the FBI continues to analyze remains found in western Montana. They're believed to be those of Shasta's 9-year-old brother, Dylan.

Major finds in Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi soldiers have confiscated six weapons caches in operations north of Baghdad in the cities of Baquba and Balad. They include mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. Troops have also detained 10 people for questioning.

And Philippine President Gloria Arroyo is rejecting calls to step down after a third of her cabinet quit earlier today. Arroyo is accused of rigging the vote count during elections back in 2004, a claim she denies. Arroyo says she will announce a new cabinet in the next couple of days.

And Vice President Dick Cheney is getting a routine checkup this morning. The vice president arriving at George Washington University Medical Center last hour. Doctors will also check on a high-tech pacemaker that was placed in his chest in June of 2001. Cheney is due back to work later on today.

And people in Florida are heeding the warnings and heading out. Hurricane Dennis is a Category 4 and could intensify before hitting the U.S. sometime this weekend. People in the Florida Keys, and along the Panhandle, are evacuating.

Take a look at this bridge now in Haiti being swept away. Five deaths are being blamed on Hurricane Dennis there. And right now Cuba is feeling the effects of Dennis, with the eye of the storm some 200 miles southeast of Havana. Much more on Dennis' path from the National Hurricane Center straight ahead.

Back to you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Fred. Thanks a lot.

Well, the first 24 hours of investigation have yielded some clues about the bombings in London, but how much is known about who's responsible?

Bill Daly is a former FBI investigator now with a leading national security firm which is headquartered in London.

Nice to see you.

BILL DALY, FMR. FBI INVESTIGATOR: Good to see you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And thank you for sticking it out with us yesterday as well, I should add.

Where does the investigation begin now, that investigators have said, it's complex, the crime scene is big, a mess, hard to get to? How do you start?

DALY: Well, it's on several different prongs. One is going to be reviewing all the intelligence they have.

They're going to be trying to coordinate with the -- with the U.S. to see if there's anything that we heard or that we may have in our intelligence banks that would help out. But also, the forensic analysis of these crime scenes is critical, finding out what type of device, where the material may have been purchased, is anyone aware of someone buying some of the materials maybe from a local store?

This is all very critical, but it will take a while. This is not -- not to sound glib, but this is not "CSI." This is not a one-hour short story. This is going to take a while.

S. O'BRIEN: And not wrapped up neatly, necessarily.

We got some information out of that news conference that was held by Scotland Yard a little bit earlier this morning. The size of the bombs, they said, you know, it's small enough, 10 pounds, could fit into a backpack. The location of the bombs appears that they were left on the floor. In a couple of cases, right near the doors.

What does that kind of information signal to you?

DALY: Well, it also suggests that somebody, you know, certainly did their homework. They knew they could leave a package there with a briefcase or a backpack, something that someone could easily carry on during rush hour and look as though they're a business person. That they would leave it there perhaps by the door, perhaps, because it was -- it was convenient for whether a timer or some other time of detonator to go off, and they were able to leave the scene.

So there are a couple of things right off the bat that would suggest to me from an investigative standpoint that perhaps that these were not detonated by someone who was there, a suicide bomber or very close. That it was done...

S. O'BRIEN: Not strapped to somebody's body.

DALY: Exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: OK. So, then, let's go with that scenario. And I get that we're sort of working hypothetically.

They talked a lot about these cameras, 4.2 million cameras all along in Great Britain generally. And Anderson was talking moments ago about all the cameras just in King's Cross that he could see in one little area where he was standing.

Well, if , someone's walking with a backpack with a 10-pound item, which is like the size of a bag of sugar or something, in their backpack, how are they going to look any different on tape than anybody else?

DALY: Well, what they're going to be looking for are any other, you know, physical characteristics around that time. In other words, if they start to get information -- in and of itself, just looking at people who are coming in and out with briefcases or backpacks doesn't do too much for you. But when you start to have a list of potential suspects, of people they think could fit into this profile, they may start to look for people who physically look like that person, or may go back farther and say, was someone canvassing the area beforehand, did we see the same person in a repeated pattern?

S. O'BRIEN: How likely is it -- I mean, they talk very confidently that they're going to wrap up this case, they're going to sift through the millions of little bits of evidence and be able to put it all together. How likely is it, though, that can they actually do that when you consider in some cases how bad the crime scene really is?

DALY: I'm confident they will.

S. O'BRIEN: Really?

DALY: I mean, certainly, yes. We have -- in some of the cases that I was involved with -- I mean, it takes a while to determine whether or not the watch that you found was part of a timing device or someone's wrist.

We did it certainly with the Lockerby, with the -- with the flight that went down over there, and that was a plane that was in millions of pieces. Eventually they were able to determine that it was a small, hidden explosive device.

So it may take a while, but they will. Whether or not that is the treasure trove, whether that's the key, or whether intelligence or some mix of the various prongs pays off, but I'm confident that they will wrap it up.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, good. I'm glad to hear that, at the very least. Bill Daly, again, thanks for yesterday, and thanks again this morning.

DALY: Good to see you.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: As Hurricane Dennis bears down on the U.S., a mandatory evacuation order threatens to turn the Florida Keys into a chain of ghost towns. And residents around Florida and along coastal areas are being warned to brace for a beating from a storm now at 135- mile-an-hour winds and more.

Ed Rappaport is at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Mr. Rappaport, good to have you back with us again. Give us an update. Where's Dennis? Where's Dennis headed?

ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Yes, Dennis is still south of Cuba, located south of central Cuba, and will be making landfall there later today at Category 4 intensity, it would appear. The most recent reports from the hurricane hunters that have flown through the hurricane this morning indicate that it's still intensifying. So it will be at least the middle of Category 4 at landfall.

And the great concern there is for storm surge. Along the south coast, we could see a storm surge there in Cuba of 20 feet or more, along with those destructive winds.

Once the center crosses Cuba, it will be in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, in the Straits of Florida. At this point, the track forecast remains as it has for the last day or so, with the center passing near or just west of the lower Florida Keys, and that's why we have that hurricane warning in effect. All preparations should be rushed to completion in the lower Keys.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, I've been talking a lot about -- with Chad this morning -- about Charley, because Charley took that sudden dog leg inward and went across Florida last year. The reason I've been focusing on it because you've got a shuttle on the launch pad and the return to flight for the space shuttle set for next Wednesday.

Is that an unlikely scenario with this storm? Is it more likely to head straight up, the way you've projected?

RAPPAPORT: At this point, the track forecast is through the middle of this white cone, but because we know we don't have perfect forecasts and we can have variations, like what happened with Charley, we want everybody to understand that the center could be as far off to the right as what we're showing here, or perhaps as far off to the left. So this is the area we think the center will go, but this hurricane is not a point. It's quite large, it's a little bit larger than the average hurricane. So we do expect some weather to occur all the way up into the southern Florida peninsula. In fact, we have tropical storm warnings all the way up to Miami-Dade County.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Ed Rappaport at the National Hurricane Center. Busy time there. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

RAPPAPORT: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Chad, of course, is watching Tropical Depression Cindy as well. He's got his hands full there. There's probably a wave off there in the Atlantic already that he's looking at, for all I know.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Cities all over the country are reviewing their security procedures. We'll talk to one mayor whose city doesn't depend on mass transit like London or New York. What is he going to do to increase security in L.A.?

S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, a look at how the Arab world is reacting to the London attacks.

M. O'BRIEN: And we'll talk to a man who came dangerously close to that double-decker bus explosion. What he found surprising about British reaction in the aftermath of the attacks, we'll ask about that. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The U.S. state of alert for mass transit systems was bumped up a notch to orange. America's biggest cities are reviewing their safety measures. Newly-elected Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, is with us now from L.A.

And Mr. Mayor, good to have you with us. You have, unlike New York and some of the East Coast cities, you have a different challenge. You don't have as many people on mass transit.

On the one hand, it's probably less of a target. On the other hand, it poses a problem for you. How do you increase security?

MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, LOS ANGELES: Well, we began increasing security almost from the moment we first learned of what happened in London. At 3:30 in the morning I was called by Chief Bratton. We put together our effort to increase security on our transportation system, and on our heavy rail and light rail system, buses as well, and at the airport. And we did that even before the Department of Homeland Security put it at -- put as at an orange alert. We were already at that level of increased security.

M. O'BRIEN: Here in New York City, more than four million people ride the subways every morning. I think the numbers are about a couple hundred thousand in Los Angeles. Obviously, L.A. is the ultimate car town.

What do you think are the soft targets there, if not mass transit?

VILLARAIGOSA: Well, we have 2,000-some buses, and more than a million people ride those buses. So while they don't ride the subway, per se, in the numbers that they do in New York, we have the second largest bus system in the United States of America. That's about as soft a target as can you get.

As you know, one double-decker bus was blown up in London. And so those are soft targets. There are many, many others.

Obviously, we have to focus on our airport. It's a target of opportunity, and so we had to, you know, harden our assets there and ensure that we had heightened security there, and at the other airports that we own as well.

M. O'BRIEN: And, of course, we all remember that thwarted plot which focused on the Los Angeles Airport, the so-called millennium plot, which was nipped in the bud.

I'm curious. We just rolled some pictures while you were talking of you on the Los Angeles subway yesterday. What were riders telling you?

VILLARAIGOSA: Some of them knew about what happened in London. Others didn't. Most did, however.

They felt that it was good that I was on the train. It kind of reassured them.

What I wanted to do was to say to them that we had increased our security on the trains, that we prepared for any situation. That they should go about their lives, but be extra vigilant and cautious and report any suspicious activity.

M. O'BRIEN: Do you think that Los Angeles is a less likely target for the so-called 3/11 attacks, the kind of attacks that are modeled after the Madrid attacks and now London, because people don't use mass transit as much?

VILLARAIGOSA: Absolutely not, Miles. The Department of Homeland Security and others, security experts, have said that New York, Washington and Los Angeles are the three principal potential targets in the United States of America, and we treat this issue of homeland security as an absolute priority.

We're blessed with Chief Bratton, America's top cop. We have, you know, Sheriff Baca, a great public safety leader as well. We have two great departments, the LAPD and the L.A. Sheriff's Department, which work in tandem and almost seamlessly.

We have, I believe, the best fire department anywhere in the United States. We have a great emergency response system. And I, of course, am ultimately responsible, and so I had to get my feet wet almost immediately.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, welcome to office, Mr. Mayor. A couple weeks in, you're thinking about some important issues.

VILLARAIGOSA: A couple of days in.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, a couple of days in. I'm sorry, yes.

Antonio Villaraigosa is the newly installed mayor of Los Angeles. Welcome to the hot seat, sir.

VILLARAIGOSA: Thank you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning, we're waiting for comments from Tony Blair, the British prime minister. The wrap-up of the G8 summit, the final communique, ahead.

Also, in London, police still hunting for clues in those deadly attacks on Thursday. Coming up, we'll have details of the bombs that were used on the three subway trains and the bus.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: We are still awaiting word this morning from British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the G8 summit as they wrap up. We'll bring those final words to you when we get them this morning.

Also this morning, outrage about the London terror attacks. It's widespread. It's coming from the Arab world as well.

Octavia Nasr is CNN's senior editor for Arab affairs, and she's at the CNN Center this morning.

Octavia, good morning to you. Give me a sense of what specifically is being said, and the tone as well.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. EDITOR FOR ARAB AFFAIRS: Outrage is right. It seems that the Arab world has awakened to the reality of what these attacks are doing to them, to their image, to their religion. And all you hear about is outrage in print media, in the visual media, and even on the street -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: So, specifically, I want to run through some of the things that have been said. For example, this: "The U.S. and Britain are committing atrocities against our people everywhere, but we shouldn't respond to a crime with a crime."

Who did that come from?

NASR: And this comes from an Islamist person on Al Jazeera yesterday. Basically, he was saying that, if you want to perform jihad, go and perform it on the battlefield. Don't kill innocent civilians, unexpecting innocent civilians, because this is un-Islamic.

So it's very interesting to hear an Islamist person say that, and hear condemnation from groups such as Hamas, such as the Islamic Brotherhood. A very interesting twist in this whole story.

You know, we always ask about condemnation. Where's the condemnation from the Arab world? It seems that it took an act of terror like this one that we saw yesterday to bring everybody to the front to say enough is enough.

S. O'BRIEN: And in addition to that condemnation, also, I think, frustration really oozing into some of these e-mails. Let me read you the next one.

"One of the targeted areas today is Edgware Road, which is entirely accommodated by Muslims and Arabs. Do you know that no politicians, army troops or any important government employees use the underground or buses?"

NASR: Yes. Basically, this person is going on to say, what are you doing? Basically, the language that was used is, what the heck do you think you're doing? You're mixing things up. You don't have an ideology anymore.

So these people who are writing these emails or comments on chat boards, they're saying that they feel that they're victims on both ends. On the one end, they are being victimized by these attacks, by these terror attacks. On the other hand, they have to face the harassment and the new laws in order to fight terrorism, and they're going to be victims of those laws as well.

S. O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of how the assassination of Egypt's top envoy to Iraq has played a role in all of this? I mean, is it -- is it sort of spurring a backlash against al Qaeda and those who follow Qaeda?

NASR: It sure seems like it, Soledad. People are outraged at this point. They say this is an innocent man, he doesn't carry arms, he's not a military person, but he was kidnapped.

He just arrived in Baghdad in June -- basically, they're saying, to help the Iraqi people -- and they kidnap him and then they kill him. So, basically, you have an Arab and Muslim population that is going really nuts over what's going on.

They feel that they're totally lost in this big mess. So they feel that they don't have any control over the situation. And they really don't understand what's going on and they don't know how they're going to get out of it.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. I think that's true. The frustration really coming through loud and clear. Octavia Nasr for us this morning. Octavia, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Hurricane Dennis is bearing down on Cuba right now. Slowing down a little bit. Still, a very strong and dangerous hurricane, likely to pick up a little bit of speed and strength as it gets past that island of Cuba.

Chad Myers tracking its path and its strength. And his forecast is coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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