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American Morning

London Terror Investigation; Heavenly Rendezvous; Holloway Search

Aired July 28, 2005 - 9:01   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 the London terror case. Police round up nine men linked to last week's failed bombing attack. We're live with the latest from London.
The Space Shuttle Discovery hooks up with the International Space Station. The hatch is open now. NASA, however, grounding all future shuttle flights. What's behind the decision and what lies ahead?

The government releases documents on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' past. What do they tell us? And will they affect his confirmation? A closer look on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everybody.

M. O'BRIEN: Good to have you with us. Let's go back up to space just quickly. I wanted to show you this.

S. O'BRIEN: You love space, don't you?

M. O'BRIEN: Say hi to the crew. They're up there in the space station, destiny lab. Look, they've got the video cameras out. They're actually taking pictures to memorialize the event there.

That's how a lot of people do that, Soledad.

And a few words to each other. They ring the bell. They actually have a ship's bell. I missed that.

S. O'BRIEN: To ring for what?

M. O'BRIEN: Whenever a new crew member comes aboard, they ring the bell, ding, ding, just like you would on a naval ship. One of the early crew members a Navy guy. And so he put that on there.

In any case, they're on board and they're off to the races, doing what they need to do to re-supply the station. And we're watching it, of course.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, that is a really neat shot. Lots, of course, to talk about with the space shuttle.

Also, lots of developments as well in the London terror investigation. In fact, let's begin there this morning. Police today, earlier, arrested nine men, although none of them are believed to be the suspects from last week's attempted bombings. Three women have also been arrested on suspicion of harboring offenders.

Meanwhile, London Police Commissioner Ian Blair says it is possible that the three most wanted suspects could strike again.

And then look at these images. These are new. An x-ray photo of a nail bomb that was found in the trunk of a car that belonged to one of the July 7 -- that's the first bombing -- it belonged to one of the car -- belonged to one of the July 7 bombers.

Let's get right to Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson. He's in front of Scotland Yard in London this morning.

All right, Nic. Lots to cover. The nail bombs connecting in any way the two sets of attacks, the July 7 and the July 21 attacks?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They really should be, because the police now have a set of bombs from that attack on the 7th of July, and they also have the bombs from last week. Now, those 7th of July bombs, they show the nails strapped to the outside of the bombs, designed to cause maximum injury to people standing around. As the bomb explodes, those nails fly off in all directions.

They were found in a car that all four bombers took to get to Luton Station the morning of the bombing before they traveled into the center of London to blow up their explosives. The police have recovered that. They have been able to analyze the explosives. Also, they have been able to analyze the explosives from the failed bombs last week.

Now, remember, in the last few days, the police showed those big tubs that they say the bombs were made in. So the police should be in a position to know now, was it the same bomb maker who made these bombs, or was it just the same explosives that were used?

The police say they know what went wrong in last week's bombs. Was it just that the detonators were put in incorrectly? Or was it a completely set of different chemicals cooked to a different recipe, or a different bomb cooked up to the same recipe?

So the police should have a lot of very clear answers. They should know now how they can tie those two groups together, or if they can tie those two groups together. And certainly, having those bombs and those pictures, certainly making it very clear for people in Britain now just what's behind these bombers, how deadly they are trying to be -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. I can imagine that people are really scared. I mean, that's a -- that's a very ominous looking x-ray shot, I've got to tell you, from here, Nic.

Look at that. I mean, for people who see that and were anywhere close to those bombs, that is pretty chilling, I think. Nic Robertson's got an update on the investigation.

Thanks, Nic. We'll check in with you a little bit later.

Time to check a look at the other stories that are making headlines with Carol Costello.

Good morning again.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News," we are expecting to hear more from leaders in Ireland about a groundbreaking statement from the Irish Republican Army. The IRA announced earlier that it is renouncing violence.

The group says its members will lay down their weapons but will not formally disband. The move is seen as crucial to reviving peace talks in northern Ireland. Again, we'll get more details on this at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

Pakistani officials have arrested another suspect believed to be linked to the killing of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl. Pearl was taken hostage in January of 2002. His killers later released a videotape of his murder. Four men have been convicted for his abduction and killing, one was sentenced to death.

Officials in India are starting to survey the damage after a record rainfall. More than 37 inches fell in Mumbai in the span of one day, 24 hours. There are reports that more than 500 people have died in the flooding and landslides triggered by these torrential rains.

Investigators in Aruba are getting closer to fully draining a pond as they search for more evidence in Natalee Holloway's disappearance. The pond is near the spot where two brothers say they last saw the Alabama teenager the night she disappeared. There are also reports that a private volunteer search team from Texas is heading back to the island to help with the case.

And some pretty amazing pictures here. No, not from space, but on Earth. It's known as Mexico's volcano of fire.

This is an eruption. It's shooting rock and ash almost 9,000 feet into the air. Luckily, no major damage reported, no one hurt. The 12,500-foot volcano has had several strong explosions in recent months, but officials say the activity is absolutely normal.

And I bet they can see that from space.

S. O'BRIEN: I bet they can.

M. O'BRIEN: I suspect so, yes. I don't know. I don't want to get too technical, but it depends on the orbital...

COSTELLO: Not you, Miles. (CROSSTALK)

M. O'BRIEN: The inclination of the orbit is important. And yes, I think they probably will. The short answer is they probably will.

COSTELLO: The short answer is, if they have the camera pointed the right way, they'll get a picture.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm sorry.

S. O'BRIEN: Don't you feel sorry for asking that question?

M. O'BRIEN: If they pass over it we will see it, for sure. And I'm very sorry. I'm very sorry. I shouldn't do that.

All right. Less than two hours ago, a heavenly rendezvous more than 220 miles above the planet Earth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The space shuttle has returned to the International Space Station for the first time since November 25, 2002. It takes several minutes to accomplish. Once again, the docking...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: That's the voice of Rob Navius (ph), public affairs officer in Houston. There's the scene a few moments ago. Greetings for the Discovery crew from those on board the International Space Station: Sergei Krikalev, a Russian cosmonaut; John Phillips, a U.S. astronaut.

Before docking this rare and interesting to look at maneuver, look at that pitch-over. Discovery rolled over so that photos could be taken by Krikalev and Phillips of the underside of the orbiter to make sure there is no serious damage to any of the heat shield tiles. And so far, we're told everything is just fine.

But lots of questions about the future of the shuttle program this morning, including the possibility this could be the shuttle's last flight. NASA has grounded all future launches for its entire shuttle fleet because of a falling piece of debris, foam debris from one of the external tanks of Tuesday's launch of Discovery. Now, it didn't hit the orbiter, we're glad to report, but, of course, hearkens back to Columbia two-and-a-half years ago.

Mike Cabbage is the aerospace editor for "The Orlando Sentinel." He is also the co-author of "Comm Check: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia," the definitive book on that event. He joins you now from Houston.

Mike, this is -- when you hear the whole thought of foam in that volume, that big a piece falling off the tank, it has to be terribly disappointing to people at NASA who have worked so hard to try to fix these problems. MICHAEL CABBAGE, "ORLANDO SENTINEL": No questions, Miles. In fact, I think it's hard to overstate just how big of a disappointment this is to NASA. After a couple of years of work and more than, you know, a couple of hundred million dollars, they still have the same problems that they had when Columbia launched. In fact, one of the areas where they saw foam come off on the launch earlier this week was one of the places that they redesigned after the Columbia accident.

M. O'BRIEN: You and I were there a couple of days ago, and it was -- I have to admit, the term that was used officially and unofficially was "giddy." It was a euphoric day, a beautiful day, seeing the shuttle fly once again. A lot of emotion packed into that.

And then to hear this the next day, what went through your mind?

CABBAGE: Well, I mean, it was ecstasy to agony for a lot of people in NASA who've worked on the program, the contractors who have worked on the program. This moment of glory that they had waited two- and-a-half years for, suddenly they find out that there's a foam strike -- or not a foam strike, but a foam event similar to the one that brought Columbia down. And it's -- everything is back almost to square zero.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm going to use a model here to just show people where this foam was. It was right up there -- we don't show the pipe here, but there's a pipe that runs along here. And there's a long wedge of foam that goes along with it. And that's what broke off, and fortunately, because it happened a little later in the ascent, the flight to space, the air flow is a little different then. And as a result, it blew harmlessly away, as opposed to right in the wing, as it did in the case of Columbia.

It's hard to overstate here how close a call this was, Mike.

CABBAGE: I think it was a very close call. In fact, Wayne Hale, who is the deputy shuttle program manager, said yesterday here at a news conference at Johnson Space Center that if this piece of debris had come off a little earlier in the flight, that it likely would have hit Columbia (sic). In fact, he said it could have been very bad.

So they dodged a bullet.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. And after all that has transpired, after all the work, after all the statements that no big pieces of foam will come off, NASA is left with this.

The big question, the question that is being asked today is, they're planning on retiring the shuttle in 2010 anyway. Will this accelerate the retirement? Could this possibly be the last flight?

CABBAGE: That's the $64,000 question, Miles. I think it's a little premature to start talking about retiring the shuttle early, but I do think it's a big question as far as when they're going to fly the shuttle again.

I don't see any way that the mission scheduled for September aboard Atlantis can fly right now. In fact, most people seem to think they're done for at least the rest of 2005.

They're going to have to go back and they're going to have to once again look at some of these same changes to foam that they looked at for the last two-and-a-half years after Columbia. And how long it takes them to resolve that issue remains to be seen.

M. O'BRIEN: Mike Cabbage there with some rockets behind him. No, none of them were just taking off. I think that was a semi truck.

Thank you for spending a little time with us. We appreciate it -- Soledad.

CABBAGE: My pleasure.

S. O'BRIEN: The timing certainly sounded -- looked like it was taking off right behind him.

Let's take another look at the weather this morning. Chad Myers is at the CNN center again.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, the battle that's brewing over Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. We'll take a close look at the documents that are raising some eyebrows on Capitol Hill.

S. O'BRIEN: And then a little bit later, a revealing look at the daily routine of everyday Iraqis. A Baghdad family tries to lead an ordinary life under pretty extraordinary circumstances. Their story is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: In Aruba, officials are still emptying a flood pond in search of clues in the Natalee Holloway case. At least three more pumps have been brought in to try to speed up the process.

Julia Renfro is editor-in-chief of "Aruba Today." It is the largest English language newspaper on the island. And she's in Palm Beach, Aruba, for us this morning.

Nice to see you, Julia. Thanks for being with us.

JULIA RENFRO, "ARUBA TODAY": Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: Day two at the pond. Anything that you've heard so far that would indicate anything found, any progress made?

RENFRO: Well, I just came from the pond. And they're still pumping away. And unfortunately, no, they have not found anything relating to the case.

S. O'BRIEN: You're obviously very familiar with this area. How likely do you feel it is that, in fact, they will be able to find a body or some worthwhile evidence in this pond? RENFRO: Well, I think it's very highly unlikely to find a body in the pond. It was very shallow several weeks ago. And after the hurricane passed by, it filled up. And right now they're busy pumping out that water.

I think that they're looking for other possible evidence since the witness who allegedly saw the three young men in that area. There's possibly some other type of evidence.

S. O'BRIEN: Why are they focused exactly on this pond when you consider that the witnesses is apparently a gardener who didn't say, "The pond, they were standing next to the pond, I saw them in the pond." He sort of described a general area. And there are lots of things in that general area.

RENFRO: Well, the reason why is because EquuSearch has searched that area very extensively, as well as the local authorities and the FBI with cadaver dogs. And, I mean, hundreds of people have left no stone unturned there. And the only place left in that area would be in the pond.

S. O'BRIEN: So you're saying it's less that it looks like there might be something there than there's no place else or coming to the end of really good clues?

RENFRO: Basically, unfortunately, that's the way it seems.

S. O'BRIEN: Joran van der Sloot's lawyers said that the DNA that was taken from their client, that they -- that they want it to be disallowed. And the prosecutors disagreed with -- agreed with that, rather. Why was that?

RENFRO: The reason why, the proper procedures weren't used in obtaining the DNA. And if the court tomorrow, the judges decide that the DNA will be thrown out, that doesn't necessarily mean that the DNA won't be used. It just means he will have to retake the sampling.

S. O'BRIEN: I see. So that's why they are sort of on the same page on that.

How about the FBI's role? Is the FBI getting the information that it needs, or is it being limited? You sort of hear both reports coming out of Aruba.

RENFRO: Well, it's our understanding here on Aruba that the FBI is very much involved. And not only here locally on the island, but as well in Virginia.

They have received all kinds of audiotapes and statements, et cetera. And it's really -- you'd really have to check with them to see if they're able to come to any conclusions on that information.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, I've got to ask you this about the pace of this investigation. This young woman has been missing for a long time now. And I think about if it were happening here in the U.S., a case -- very high-profile case, why are they just now getting around to digging up a pond? And why do they still have suspects who are wandering around in and out? I mean, to us here, it seems, at times, that this case is moving along at a snail's pace.

RENFRO: Well, and regarding the suspects that are still wandering around, the court made a decision that they did not have enough evidence to hold those two young men. And I'm not sure, but I would imagine it would be very similar in the United States, that if you don't have enough evidence to hold somebody, you have to release them.

S. O'BRIEN: It took a long time, though...

RENFRO: But they are...

S. O'BRIEN: I'm sorry for interrupting you. It took a long time, though, for them to go back and bring them in, even after they were apparently the last ones seen with this young lady.

I was sort of surprised when they decided to, you know, look in a body of water. You would think it would be something you would do early on in an investigation. That, you know, only now that they're getting around to that? It seems very slow, I think.

RENFRO: Well, Soledad, I think, basically, the situation we're in right now is nobody had ever put them in this area. Although it's very close to the Marriott, which was the last place that Joran was seen with Natalee, there was no specific reason to look into that pond.

And the F-16s have flown over the islands several times. They spent more than 24 hours here with their special cameras and radar. And there was really no reason to look in that particular pond.

There is a pond closer to the Marriott where Joran was last seen with Natalee. And that was pumped early on.

S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. Julia Renfro is the editor-in-chief of "Aruba Today."

Nice to talk to you. Thanks for talking to us.

RENFRO: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, a day in the life of a typical Baghdad family. We'll take an intimate look at why even the daily routine can be an exercise in courage. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: In Baghdad, two more Iraqi civilians were killed today when a bomb detonated under a train. As the unrelenting insurgent attacks go on, it's difficult to imagine how the common Iraqi family copes with the violence and the lack of basic services. To get some perspective, correspondent Aneesh Raman spent a day with a family in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A typical morning in a typical Baghdad household. Adel is up for work at 7:00. His routine six days a week.

He makes $180 a month as an accountant. In a country suffering from crippling unemployment, he is one of the lucky few.

His wife Intissar has already been awake for an hour making breakfast. The two married in 1993. A year later, they held their eldest boy, Farouq (ph), now 11, with Mohammed (ph) and Abdul (ph) soon to follow.

For mom, the days start with the worries about the basics.

INTISSAR, MOTHER (through translator): All Iraqis are suffering for water and electricity. And if it gets cut off, that means the day will be a hot day for me.

RAMAN: For dad, there's fear. The boys gather around as he heads for the office. Here, any good-bye, even the most routine, is never easy.

ADEL, FATHER (through translator): The first feeling when I go into the street, I think of what might happen, like explosions, car bombs, IEDs going off all of a sudden. You leave your home and might not be make.

RAMAN: But life goes on. Minds adapt. And for three brothers on summer break, the task is universal, playing in the small confines of the backyard.

(on camera): Every family in Iraq is dealing with the situation in different ways. But most try and find the time, as often as they can, to get away from it all at secluded parks like this one.

(voice-over): Given the violence, they don't go out often. But here, everything a kid could want, everything a Baghdad mother could as well.

INTISSAR (through translator): I'm so happy when I see my sons happy. They are growing up and seeing nothing except war and explosions. They always feel scared. We need to do something to make them forget.

RAMAN: The Salahs (ph) live just beyond Firdo Square, the place where Saddam's statute came crumbling down two years ago, along with his regime. That day they joined in the celebration.

ADEL (through translator): People thought it was a good thing. They wanted to get rid of the former regime. It's oppression. But failure has created reactions among the people. They had hopes but were disappointed.

RAMAN: Despite the hours Adel spends waiting in line for gas, despite Intissar's brother being wrongfully killed, she says, at a military checkpoint, there is a powerful will to keep going. It wasn't their war, but it is now.

ADEL (through translator): If we are afraid, life comes to a standstill. And we help enemies realize their objectives. They want to (INAUDIBLE) life. We make life. We have to go out to live a normal life.

RAMAN: In many respects, they are an average middle class family. But in one important way they are not. Adel is a Sunni, Intissar a Shiite, in a country where the two groups are struggling to unify. For both, the only thing that matters is that they're Iraqi.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: A widely-circulated study by a British research group estimates at least 25,000 Iraqis have died amid violence since the invasion in 2003.

Still to come on the program, military officials say U.S. troops could start pulling out of Iraq by next spring. We'll take a closer look at what it will take to make that happen. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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