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CNN Live At Daybreak

More Arrests, Searches in London; Bombing Suspect; Shuttle Fleet Grounded; The War Within

Aired July 28, 2005 - 05:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Thursday, July 28. New developments in the fast-moving London terror probe. It happened overnight. More arrests, more searches. We will take you live to London in two minutes.
How disappointing can this be? One day after the latest shuttle launch, NASA puts the breaks on the shuttle fleet.

And going online, plugged in and turned on. We'll tell you what a new survey says about wired teens.

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you. We'll have more on the latest London arrests in just a minute.

Also ahead, more scary moments at the Boy Scout Jamboree. Hundreds of Boy Scouts fall victim to the heat.

And the silent disease afflicting some veterans of the war in Iraq. We'll show you what's being done to help them.

But first, "Now in the News."

The president wins one on the Hill, but barely. Five hours ago, the House approved a free trade agreement with Central America by a two-vote margin. CAFTA eliminates trade barriers with Central American companies and the Caribbean.

Do we have another case of mad cow disease in the United States? Federal health officials are asking a lab in England to check it out. Two cases of the disease were confirmed in Texas last month.

A desperate dash for food in India. Record rain levels have flooded the Mumbai region. More than 400 are dead. Many of the victims drowned or died in mudslides.

To the forecast center now and Chad.

Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

It has been a busy two days for British anti-terrorism forces, and overnight developing news. Police arrest nine men in London. That brings to 16 the number of arrests in two days.

Live now to our Mallika Kapur. She is right outside of Scotland Yard.

Bring us up to date, Mallika.

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, Scotland Yard has confirmed those arrests that you were just mentioning. They have confirmed they did arrest nine men in the Tooting area of south London much earlier this morning.

All the nine arrests taking place under the Terrorism Act of 2000. And the arrests were taking place between two properties.

Police authorities confirm that they arrested six men at one location in Tooting, south London, and three men at another location. All these men are being held in central London, where they are being -- being held for further questioning, police say.

Police are being very tight-lipped about the identity of these nine men who were arrested this morning, but they have confirmed that these suspects who are being held do not include the three people that they are still looking for. As you know, police have conducted a massive manhunt for the four people who are behind the botched bombings of July the 21st.

Yesterday they had a significant breakthrough in their investigation when they managed to arrest Yasin Hassan Omar in Birmingham early yesterday morning. He is the first one they have arrested who they believe was directly responsible for the botched bombings. He is the only person they have arrested in connection who they believe was directly responsible for that.

They are still looking for three other people who they believe had planted bombs on the train and the one bus system on July the 21st in London -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Mallika Kapur, live in London.

And we should mention that the police commissioner in Britain, Ian Blair, will be speaking shortly, or he may be already speaking. We're monitoring that. And if new information -- there you see it -- if new information comes out of this, of course we'll pass it along to you.

As Mallika mentioned, Yasin Hassan Omar, one of four suspects sought in last week's bombing attempts, is now in custody. He is the big catch. Police believe he's one of the men on those wanted leaflets distributed around the country.

Our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Six days on the run ending here in a nondescript subdivision in central England. The huge breakthrough came in a massive, early- morning raid, capturing Yasin Hassan Omar. He is the first suspect in last week's failed bombings to be arrested. The 24-year-old Somali put up a fight.

RUSS SMITH, SUPERINTENDENT, WEST MIDLANDS POLICE: He had to be incapacitated using a Taser gun because he struggled on arrest.

KIERON WALSH, NEIGHBOR: He was handcuffed, thrown in the car and (INAUDIBLE). They didn't exactly drag him out of the house, they just pulled him.

ROBERTSON: Neighbors say they have seen a strange and sudden increase in activity at the address in the last few weeks.

KATY STEWART, NEIGHBOR: They were drawn to my attention because four men and a car kept parking and coming and going outside my front window.

ROBERTSON (on camera): In the last two weeks?

STEWART: In the last two weeks.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Omar was taken to Paddington Green maximum security police station in Central London. News greeted happily by the British prime minister, who said the arrest was a positive development.

PETER CLARKE, ANTI-TERRORIST BRANCH: I must stress how important it is for the public to remain watchful and alert.

ROBERTSON: To that end, police again pleaded for help catching the other bombers, releasing a new photo of the man they identify as suspect number four. Police say it shows him escaping on a bus an hour and a half after his failed bombing.

In a raid in south London, police appeared to get one step closer to him. Residents say he lived exactly where the police were looking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's unbelievable.

MARISA BRITO, BLAIR HOUSE RESIDENT: We recognize the guy as living in this flat, but, you know, we're not -- we don't know (INAUDIBLE). Well, my father was looking through the news, and they said he was a suspect. But we don't know of what.

ROBERTSON: At the same address, police arrested three women for harboring suspects.

CLARKE: I must emphasize that until these men are arrested, they remain a threat.

ROBERTSON (on camera): The key question is: can the police convince Omar to talk? And if they can, does he know anything that can lead them to the other suspects?

Nic Robertson, CNN, Birmingham.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Now to the Shuttle Discovery. The crew is up and preparing to dock at the International Space Station just over two hours from now.

(MUSIC)

COSTELLO: In case you're wondering, that was NASA's wakeup call to the crew, Louis Armstrong crooning, "What a Wonderful World." But all is not so wonderful for the shuttle program, even as Discovery continues from its mission.

This is what it looks like from the shuttle right now, by the way. These are live pictures.

NASA has now grounded its space shuttle fleet because a big chunk of that insulating foam flew off Discovery during liftoff. Remember we've been telling you about that?

Miles O'Brien tells you more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Space Shuttle Discovery...

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A little more than two minutes after Discovery left the launch pad the foam fell once again, and so did hopes for the beleaguered shuttle program two-and-a-half years after the loss of Columbia and her crew of seven.

BILL PARSONS, SHUTTLE PROGRAM MANAGER: You have to admit when you're wrong. We -- you know, we were wrong. We needed to do some more work here. And so we're telling you right now, the bipod foam -- I mean the power end (ph) foam should not have come off. It came off.

We've got to go do something about that.

O'BRIEN: It was a large piece of insulating foam, but it was fortunate timing for the crew and NASA. At that point in the flight, the air flow did not send the debris toward the orbiter. The piece that shattered Columbia's heat shield and doomed the crew of seven fell off 40 seconds sooner, at just the moment when it would be blowing right into the leading edge of the wing.

While mission managers say Discovery is in good shape and separate damage to thermal tiles is minor, they are confident the crew is safe. Just the same, they will be double checking.

WAYNE HALE, SHUTTLE DEPUTY PROGRAM MANAGER: What we're going to do, I can guarantee you, is that we're going to look at the thermal protection system on the bottom of the orbiter very closely. And any damage will not detect -- will not escape our detection, any significant damage.

O'BRIEN: But NASA had vowed to stop large pieces of foam from falling off the external fuel tank, and redesigned several spots where it was more likely to happen. In this case, the foam fell off a long webbed-shape piece called the protuberance airload or PAL ramp. It is there to smooth out the air flow over some cables that run beside a liquid hydrogen pipe.

PARSONS: Right now, until we understand this problem, and until we're ready to say that we've fixed it and we can say that we're safe to go fly, we're not going to go fly. Now, you know, I don't know if that's a month. I don't know if that's, you know, three months. I don't know how long that is right now. And so we've got a lot of work to do in front of us.

O'BRIEN (on camera): So even as a shuttle is finally back in space, the fleet is grounded. And while it seems highly unlikely Discovery would need another shuttle to come and perform a rescue mission, if that were necessary NASA managers would be faced with a terrible decision. As it is, the most difficult decisions about the future of the program may come after Discovery is home.

Miles O'Brien, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So we want you to wrap your mind around that this morning. Now, keep in mind they've worked for, what, more than two years, Chad, trying to figure out why this foam detaches itself from the shuttle?

MYERS: Well, that was kind of...

COSTELLO: They spent millions of dollars, Chad.

MYERS: Exactly.

COSTELLO: And now the problem has resurfaced again?

MYERS: And in two-and-a-half years you would think that they could get enough super glue on that thing to keep it together. You know, so what do we got to do? Should we fix this thing? Should NASA fix it, or scrap it altogether and go with new technology?

Eighties technology? Should we keep getting it running? Should we keep spending all this money to get it running or just start from scratch?

DAYBREAK@CNN.com. Or any of your other views, of course, would be fine as well -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll take anything you have to say, because, frankly, you make us laugh, you make us mad, you make us happy. We love it. DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

Coming up, this year's Boy Scout Jamboree has been a difficult one. Just ahead, we'll see how the scouts and their leaders are coping with the heat, disappointment and tragedy this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He did not understand what was happening. I did not know what was happening to my husband.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Scars of war are not left behind when service members come home. We'll hear one soldier's story.

In the United States, it's hard to imagine a police officer without a gun. But in Britain, only about 10 percent of bobbies are armed. But with terror attacks on the rise, does that need to change?

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The international markets looking up this morning. Tokyo's Nikkei up higher by 23 points. The London FTSE up by almost 12. The German DAX is up by 21.

Going on right now in south London, searches at two addresses where nine men were arrested overnight under Britain's terrorism act. Authorities say the arrests are connected to last week's botched bombings in London.

U.S. and North Korean envoys had another one-on-one session today at those nuclear talks in Beijing. This is the fourth round of talks aimed at getting North Korea to drop its nuclear weapons ambitions.

In money news, Porsche is working on a new four-door sports car. It will be called the Panamera. A limited number of the cars will be made, which partly explains the price tag of between, Chad -- Chad, I know you love cars. The price tag, between $125,000 and $175,000.

MYERS: That's really funny, Carol, because I just said to my wife yesterday when they were bringing out the Cayman, they were brining out a new car between the Boxter and the Carrera. And I thought, you know what? They should make a four-door quattroporte kind of car the way Maserati did. And look at that, three days later they do it.

COSTELLO: Chad, you are brilliant.

MYERS: That is amazing. I should work for Porsche.

COSTELLO: You should -- is it Porsche or Porsche?

MYERS: It's Porsche.

COSTELLO: Is it Jaguar or Jaguar?

MYERS: It is Jaguar. COSTELLO: Right. The first one of these things should hit the market in 2009.

In culture, violent video games are being restricted in Illinois. A new state law bans the sale of violent or sexually explicit video games to anyone under the age of 18. Similar measures have been ruled unconstitutional in other areas across the country.

In sports, Sammy Sosa now the -- now all alone on the all-time homerun list. The Orioles outfielder hit number 587 last night, and he passed Frank Robinson -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

Two more American soldiers have been killed and a third soldier wounded in Iraq. The military says the patrol struck a bomb. As scary as being over there is, coming home from the front lines has proven equally traumatic for many U.S. troops.

CNN's Brian Todd has one soldier's heartbreaking story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Stefanie Pelkey says her husband Michael left for Iraq in March, 2003, a happy and proud feather just three weeks after their son Benjamin was born.

She says in the four months he was in Iraq with the Army's 1st Armored Division, he saw people killed and experienced the anxiety and fear so many soldiers go through. When he returned home, Captain Michael Pelkey was a different person.

STEFANIE PELKEY, WIDOW OF PTSD VICTIM: He did not understand what was happening. I did not know what was happening to my husband.

TODD: About six months after his return, Pelkey says her husband became more anxious and forgetful, felt chest pains and began sleeping with a loaded gun under his pillow.

At two bases where he was assigned, she says, long waiting lists and other gaps in the system kept him from getting adequate treatment.

Stefanie Pelkey says her husband then began having violent nightmares. The Pelkeys finally got a civilian doctor who diagnosed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. That was one week before Michael Pelkey put a gun to his chest and pulled the trigger.

PELKEY: He looked as if he were sleeping peacefully except for the wet spot on his chest. His pain was finally over. No, he wasn't in Iraq, but in his mind, he was there day in and day out.

TODD: Stefanie Pelkey has joined members of the U.S. military's medical branches on Capitol Hill, calling attention to the numbers of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with emotional scars.

COL. CHARLES HOGE, U.S. ARMY PSYCHIATRIST: Fifteen to 17 percent of service members surveyed three to 12 months post-deployment met the screening criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

TODD: Stefanie Pelkey and military officials say that, until recently, returning servicemen were given only a questionnaire to fill out regarding their emotional state with little follow-up.

But Pentagon officials say a program has been in place since January, three months after Michael Pelkey's death, to screen all troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan for Post-Traumatic Stress within six months after their return.

WILLIAM WINKENWERDER, ASSISTANT DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have a series of periodic screenings and assessments that are designed to identify mental health problems early so that they can be addressed. These screenings occur throughout a service member's career or their time -- their whole time in the military.

TODD (on camera): Stefanie Pelkey adds that since her husband's death mental health services at one base where they were assigned have improved, with better staffing and more streamlined diagnoses. But Pelkey and military officials say a huge problem that remains is the stigma that's attached to post-traumatic stress. Many returning service members are afraid to admit they might have a problem, and it's often not diagnosed until it's too late.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: President Bush will try again today to address the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree. The president had to postpone yesterday's speech because of thunderstorms, but while the scouts were waiting for the president to arrive, hundreds of them got sick.

We get details from A.J. Lagoe of CNN affiliate WRIC in Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

A.J. LAGOE, REPORTER, WRIC (voice-over): The chaos began late as folks began collapsing by the dozens due to the triple-digit heat and high humidity. Forty thousand-plus Boy Scouts, along with scouting leaders and parents, sat for hours in the blazing sun, waiting for the jamboree's opening ceremony to begin. Despite the best efforts to keep everyone hydrated, the ceremony site soon became a giant medical treatment zone.

As medics were scrambling everywhere, a local state of emergency was called as EMS strike teams from across the region were called in to help evacuate victims.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people that we're helping out are mostly just dehydrated.

LAGOE: But some of the victims obviously suffering from more severe symptoms, as area jurisdictions were asked to send all available ambulances and med flights ASAP. Even Army Black Hawk helicopters were called in to assist. A Boy Scout spokesperson now tells us all the patients treated have either been released or are in stable condition.

GREGG SHIELDS, NATIONAL BOY SCOUTS SPOKESMAN: We're deeply concerned for every person affected by the heat, and we sincerely hope they are back on their feet and back enjoying the jamboree soon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That report from A.J. Lagoe of CNN affiliate WRIC in Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia.

Now, these heat illnesses came just days after four scout leaders were electrocuted when a tent they were pitching touched a live power line. It's not been a happy jamboree, to say the least.

We want to talk more about heat-related illnesses, though, even though it seems like most of the country is out of the heat wave.

MYERS: A little bit. Right. We're out of the heat wave for now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: In other news "Across America" this morning, still missing in Philly. A $10,000 reward is being offered for information about Latoyia Figueroa. She's the pregnant woman who was last seen on July 18. She has a 7-year-old daughter. Friends and family say she would never leave her.

In Fresno, California, a death sentence in a bizarre case. Marcus Wesson was convicted last month of killing nine of his children. Some of the children were born in incestuous relationships Wesson had with his daughters. The judge handed down the death sentence after testimony from Wesson's family. If that sentence is overturned, Wesson also faces 102 years in prison for sexual abuse.

In Seattle, Ahmed Ressam faces 22 years in prison for plotting to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport. The Algerian was arrested after a U.S. border guard found explosives in his car in December of 1999. His arrest led the mayor of Seattle to cancel New Year's Eve celebrations at the famed Space Needle.

Here's what's all new in the next half-hour of DAYBREAK.

The cost of preventing terrorism. The death of an innocent man at the hands of police raises more and more questions. Alfons Von Marsh (ph) seeks some answers on the streets of London. Plus, the survey says your teenagers are plugged in and probably online a lot more than you might think. Daniel Sieberg takes us to a summer computer camp.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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