Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Rocket Attacks; Synagogue Visit; Ten Life Sentences

Aired August 19, 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 a story we've been following for you all morning from the Middle East. Now a claim of responsibility for rockets fired today from Jordan's port of Aqaba. One, maybe two U.S. warships appear to be the targets. We're live with more on the investigation.
In Gaza, observations of the Sabbath putting a temporary end to evacuations in the Jewish settlements there, but not before more emotional scenes this morning.

And new pictures just in of BTK killer Dennis Rader beginning his life in prison on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. I think they're saying good-bye there. Was that one of the guards?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: He looks sad.

O'BRIEN: Yes. He was waving, because this is our last morning in this studio.

Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien.

COSTELLO: We're moving to Time Warner, to the big Time Warner on the street.

O'BRIEN: Up a few blocks, and it will be nice to actually see the staff I work with occasionally.

COSTELLO: Yes, because everyone else behind the scenes is in that other building, except for the lovely people out here. But...

O'BRIEN: Well, they count. Yes.

COSTELLO: They do.

O'BRIEN: Anyway...

COSTELLO: I think we should move on now.

O'BRIEN: We should, yes.

COSTELLO: I'm Carol Costello, in for Soledad this morning.

More information coming into us about those rocket attacks.

O'BRIEN: A group with links to al Qaeda claims it fired a rocket on Israel today. A pair of U.S. Navy ships also came under fire in Jordan. The USS Ashland and the USS Kearsarge apparently attacked while moored in the port of Aqaba.

A rocket flew across the bow of the Ashland and slammed into a Jordanian military warehouse. A hospital was also hit. And a third rocket reached the Israeli city of Eilat, which is very close.

Paula Hancocks live now in Jerusalem with the latest on these developments -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Well, Jordanian officials tell CNN that the three rockets came from a warehouse just very close to those ships where they were in the port of Aqaba in Jordan. This is where the three were launched, and that particular warehouse had been rented very recently by four individuals who we're being told were of Iraqi and Egyptian decent.

The investigation focusing on those four, in particular, at the moment. The area has been cordoned off.

Now, one of those rockets, as you say, flew over the top of one of the U.S. Navy ships that was docked in the area. Two Navy ships were in the area at the time. They were docked there for routine reasons. They had been having military practice, military coordinations with their Jordanian counterparts.

Now, the one rocket hit a warehouse, and one Jordanian soldier was killed, one seriously injured. The other rocket hit just near a military hospital. And then that third rocket, as you say, hit the town of Eilat, which is in southern Israel.

Now, it was about just 15 yards away from the perimeter fence of the actual airport in Eilat, very close to the center of town. It's on the Red Sea. It's a Red Sea resort, and it would have been filed with thousands of Israelis at the moment. It is the school holidays and it is very popular with the Israelis. Hundreds of hotels in that particular area.

No casualties from that particular rocket attack, though. But as you say, we have had that claim of responsibility.

An al Qaeda-linked group has claimed responsibility, saying, "We bombed them in Taba, we attacked them today in Eilat. And we will in Tel Aviv, as well."

Now, Taba, this is referring to last October, when there was an attack on the Hilton Taba which killed about 34 people in that particular attack. Now, Taba is very close, indeed, to Eilat, just about a 20-second walk across the Egyptian border.

Aqaba is only about five miles across the border from Eilat as well. All very close geographically -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Paula Hancocks in Jerusalem. Thank you -- Carol. COSTELLO: Today Pope Benedict XVI is following in his predecessor's footsteps by reaching out to the Jewish community. Pope Benedict visited a synagogue in Cologne, German, earlier this morning. He is only the second pope in modern history to do so.

Alessio Vinci live in Cologne this morning.

Alessio, how was the pope received?

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Well, you know, from the very beginning, Pope Benedict said that his number one job was going to be the dialogue with other religions. And tomorrow he is actually going to meet with representatives of the Muslim community, as well as representatives of other Christian denominations here in Cologne.

But today a very historical day. The pope became the only second modern pope to enter a synagogue. But he is the first German pope in a German synagogue. And that, of course, is a major significant move here in this country.

The synagogue was destroyed during -- before World War II, and the Jewish community, 40,000 strong, was largely wiped out. That synagogue, of course, was partly revealed, and the pope today said that -- one more time, said that "The terrible events of World War II, must awaken our conscious."

The pope also received a standing ovation. And while he said that progress had been made, much more remains to be done, of course.

It was John Paul II, his predecessor, who entered a synagogue for the first time in Rome, and then eventually apologized for what was believed to be or what the Jews perceive as the silence of the Catholic Church towards -- towards the holocaust, during the holocaust time. So this is what happened today, significant here in Cologne regarding the pope.

Now, of course, at the same time, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims continue to come here to Cologne. World Youth Day celebrations continue.

Saturday and Sunday is a big weekend here, with the pope celebrating an open air mass on Sunday and holding a vigil with most of the pilgrims here in -- here in -- here in Cologne. And we'll see how he will be able to interact with all these young people. And it will be a big test for him.

Back to you.

COSTELLO: Alessio Vinci, live in Germany this morning.

There are other headlines to check out this morning. Kelly Wallace is here.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello again, Carol.

And good morning, everyone. And here are some of those other stories "Now in the News."

Israeli forces trying to clear out as many settlements as possible before the Jewish Sabbath begins. Earlier, Israeli troops had to use bulldozers to break through flaming barricades to enter Gadid, a settlement in Gaza. Once inside, they confronted about 85 people holed up in a synagogue. All were apparently carried out.

The couple accused in the shooting outside of a Tennessee courthouse are expected at a extradition hearing at this hour in Ohio. George and Jennifer Hyatte decided last week to fight their return to Tennessee. They are expected to face murder charges in Tennessee in the shooting of a corrections officer. The pair fled after the shooting, sparking a massive manhunt until they were captured.

Military mom Cindy Sheehan says she'll try to come back to Texas, if she can. After nearly two weeks protesting outside President Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch, Sheehan left Thursday for Los Angeles. Her mother has apparently suffered a stroke. Sheehan says her supporters will continue the protest in her absence.

And perhaps some skittish passengers on board an American Airlines flight arriving in Las Vegas. Take a look at this bumpy ride.

Flight 1893 is coming in for a landing. You see it there. But take a look at that, the wing scraping against the runway. Luckily, the pilot able to complete the landing without any further problems. No one was hurt.

Chad, those passengers are breathing a big sigh of relief, indeed.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And I just looked, all day yesterday, looking for a big cross wind that maybe he was flying against. He had 25-mile-per-hour gusts, and sometimes if that's directly across the plane at the very wrong moment, you never know.

And good morning, everybody.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Chad Myers. Thank you very much.

The BTK serial killer, Dennis Rader, is now in a maximum security prison in Kansas. Rader will begin serving 10 consecutive life terms after his sentence, after a day of shocking and heart-wrenching testimony from victims' families.

Chris Lawrence live in Wichita.

Chris, what are the family members saying about the sentence today?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're somewhat satisfied, but really only because what they really want to do to him just isn't even legal in this country. But what they got a chance to do was to look BTK in the eye and tell them how they feel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice over): They lost their loved ones years ago. Thursday, the relatives of BTK's victims confronted the killer.

JEFF DAVIS, VICTIM'S SON: Sitting here before us is a depraved predator, a rabid animal that has murdered people, poisoned countless lives and terrorized this community for 30 years, all the while relishing every minute of it.

LAWRENCE: Rader called his victims "projects," but he killed real people.

STEPHANIE CLYNE, VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: My mother begged for her life yet, he showed no remorse.

LAWRENCE: He murdered spouses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dennis Rader killed my wife in 1986.

LAWRENCE: And he strangled sisters.

BEVERLY PLAPP, VICTIM'S SISTER: There are not words to make you understand what losing Nancy has meant to me.

LAWRENCE: And for the first time Thursday, the armor cracked and Rader cried.

DENNIS RADER, BTK KILLER: Nancy Fox, she was a wonderful person. And I did -- I did track her just like a predator. She was a wonderful young lady.

LAWRENCE: At times, Rader rambled on, thanking people as if he were accepting an Academy Award.

RADER: Hestor Clark (ph), he has been my main man. He's a good man. I appreciate that.

LAWRENCE: He compared his victims to members of his own family.

RADER: She would have been a lot like my daughter at that age.

LAWRENCE: And in his own warped way, apologized to the people he murdered.

RADER: They trusted me that I was going to tie them up, take their money and leave. And then I killed them.

LAWRENCE: Dennis Rader called himself a Christian. To the families of the people he killed, he is a monster.

PLAPP: On the day he dies, Nancy and all of his victims will be waiting with God and watching him as he burns in hell.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LAWRENCE: There you go. If the families could hand out that punishment.

Rader won't be up for parole until he is 100 years old, meaning that he's never going to walk out of that prison alive. While he's there, the prosecutor doesn't want him to be able to watch or hear any news reports about the murders. She feels that part of his allure was being able to carry out these fantasies and send messages to people. He was addicted to the sex and the torture and the fame.

She's asked the judge to impose restrictions so he doesn't have access to any materials that he could write about these fantasies or draw them. And that would include paper, pencils, crayons. That all will be decided over the next few weeks -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Chris.

Just ahead we'll talk with a forensic psychiatrist with insights into the mind of serial killer Dennis Rader -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Also to come, a follow-up to the controversy over proposed changes to airport security. Find out why the nation's largest flight attendant's union thinks the ideas are a huge mistake.

O'BRIEN: And later, a summer camp that is unlike any other. We'll meet a woman who is making an "Extra Effort" to help kids cope with the loss of a parent.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The BTK killer, Dennis Rader, will serve the maximum sentence for 10 brutal murders in Wichita, Kansas. This morning he was sent to a maximum security prison to begin serving 10 consecutive life terms.

This is probably the last time we'll see him on television. He's not supposed to appear on television, part of the terms of his confinement. And that's probably a good idea.

Before receiving his sentence, Rader made a bizarre and rambling statement to the court and family members of victims. What did that statement reveal about the mind of Rader and why he committed these crimes?

Dr. Keith Ablow is a forensic psychiatrist. He is the author of "Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson." Dr. Ablow joining us now.

Good to have you with us.

DR. KEITH ABLOW, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: Thanks. Good to be here.

O'BRIEN: Let's share with viewers just a moment, a little bit of this rambling diatribe, if we could. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RADER: Even though I'm a criminal, I think you have to appreciate the police department. They've done a lot of work. Even though it took a long time, they gathered evidence. They had the evidence. When they got the key suspect they zeroed in on him very rapidly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That last part, "When they got the key suspect they zeroed in on him," talking about himself in the third person and then complimenting the police.

What is that all about?

ABLOW: Well, number one, it's about narcissism. All right? Complimenting the police as if he's received the Academy Award and he'd like to say the producer did a good job, too, right? But, the other...

O'BRIEN: Wow. Thanking the little people.

ABLOW: The little people.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Wow.

ABLOW: The other thing is that this man has played a role of one kind of or another his whole existence. And so for him, they got his suspect. But he doesn't relate that to himself.

He stepped out of himself. The only thing that is real for him is the sexual gratification he feels when he kills.

O'BRIEN: So everything else in this world is about making that moment, that killing moment occur?

ABLOW: Absolutely. I mean, this is a guy who says, look, you know, the legal team and the guards have become my family.

Well, that tells you what he thinks of his family. Not much. These people aren't his brothers and sisters. They're just the legal team and the guards. But he's able to shift gears like that like a chameleon.

O'BRIEN: Now he said in advance, bring your Kleenex. And he got choked up. I wasn't buying it. Were you? Was that for real or was that all part of the act?

ABLOW: No, I think that's part of the act. I mean, perhaps he felt some disdain at being incarcerated, and being caught, but those are just manufactured tears, I would think.

The real question here is, how did this guy get created? All right? We know what he did, but he tells you, he says, "This is sexually gratifying for me." And why is it? O'BRIEN: I haven't heard so much about his background and where that might have come from. Do we know much about where this might have happened in his childhood, say?

ABLOW: Well, we don't know. And that's what intrigues me, the why question, right? But when a man tells you that it is sexually gratifying for him to watch someone extinguished, he gives you just the beginning of an open door onto his soul, because why would it be that his sexual drive would come to be connected...

O'BRIEN: Where was that link made? Somewhere.

ABLOW: Yes. Where did Dennis Rader die in childhood? And why is it connected to sex?

O'BRIEN: You know, I almost don't want to know, in a way. But as a doctor you want to know, right? Because that's your job, right?

ABLOW: Well, and we really both want to know, because at that point, he stops being a monster. And as in every case I looked at, you throw up your hands and you say, oh, my, just another crushed kid? That's what we have here, a pathologic crushed child? That's what he is. We just don't know the story.

O'BRIEN: Another thing that was interesting, he picked apart the prosecution's case, what he deemed were inaccuracies. Is that also part of this whole narcissism and ultimately being the one in control here?

ABLOW: It's a control issue. That's obsessiveness. And that tells you how his world works.

It's just as important to him whether the newspapers had it exactly right about whether he bound someone hands or didn't as the fact that he's talking about his victims. He has no empathic insight into the emotional importance of anything.

He thinks that his victims or their families would take it as some sort of consolation that he was just like them. It's horrific, of course. And it's not what they want to hear, but he doesn't know that.

O'BRIEN: Just the opposite.

You wrote a book on Scott Peterson.

ABLOW: Right.

O'BRIEN: Is there any commonality between these two characters?

ABLOW: Well, there is. There is this wholesale lack of empathy.

In both cases, you have essentially walking dead people. It's the myth of the vampire, someone who is emotionally extinguished and dead who is going to take your life, too. And that's what these people feast upon. Both of them have a complete inability to resonate with the suffering of others. When Scott Peterson killed Laci, I promise you he felt no more than when Dennis Rader killed those people.

O'BRIEN: What is the perfect punishment for a Dennis Rader?

ABLOW: The perfect punishment for Dennis Rader is obscurity, at this point. If you want to punish him, right -- and we do, of course -- but the perfect punishment is obscurity, because -- and the other punishment, I guess, would be a healing punishment.

If you brought Dennis Rader back to whatever events in his upbringing really caused him to break down, that would be the pain, the most pain you'll see from him.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. Forensic psychiatrist Keith Ablow. Thanks very much for being with us.

ABLOW: Pleasure. Thanks.

O'BRIEN: Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come, flight attendants come out against those proposed changes to airport security. Find out why.

That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Each week our "Extra Effort" segment pays tribute to those going the extra mile for others. This morning, it's a woman who knows the pain of losing a parent all too well. So she's devoted her life to helping children cope with that enormous loss and survive.

Kathleen Koch has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It may look like any other summer camp, but what these children have in common is loss.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My dad died of a seizure. And he was asleep.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he told us about my mom. And we were all very sad.

LYNNE HUGHES, FOUNDER, COMFORT ZONE CAMP: Welcome, everybody.

KOCH: Forty-one-year-old Lynne Hughes founded Comfort Zone Camp in 1999 to teach children who've lost a loved one that they're not alone. Both her parents died when she was just a girl.

HUGHES: There was no resources. And you were doing really well if you went back to acting like it didn't happen to you and putting on that happy face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three, go!

KOCH: There is plenty of laughter at the camp. There are also tears, listening and sharing.

HUGHES: For me, it's extremely rewarding to see the kids come and to see them go from hesitant on a Friday to taking risks and sharing and literally witnessing them heal, not completely, but a piece. A piece of their healing takes place.

SCOOTER DAVIDSON, CAMPER: Just being around people that have the same problem you do is really nice and comforting. So it's, like, been awesome.

CHARLES DAVIDSON, FATHER OF CAMPER: They know exactly where you're coming from. That makes a big difference. And, to me, that's a real soothing, healing balm that is spread on a very sore wound.

KOCH: Charlotte Wilkerson, whose husband died last year, says Hughes' camp has changed her family's life.

CHARLOTTE WILKERSON, MOTHER OF CAMPER: I think the greatest gift that I've received from the camp is our family was always one of laughter. And when my husband had passed away, there was no more laughter. There was no more joy in our house. And now there's laughter again.

KOCH: Hughes' bereavement camps are free. They've helped more than 1,800 children over the last six years. Hughes has now written a book with teenagers from the camp. By teaching others how to cope, she heals, too.

HUGHES: I'm a big believer every time you tell your story you heal, and every time you hear somebody else's story you heal. So it's just -- you know, for me, personally, it just takes me to new levels of healing that big hole inside of me, the hole that keeps shrinking.

KOCH: Kathleen Koch, CNN, Mechanicsville, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And you can find out more about Lynne Hughes' bereavement camp at comfortzonecamp.org.

O'BRIEN: Still to come, a claim of responsibility in those rocket attacks near the Red Sea. A closer look at that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Ah, we'll miss those pigeons, won't we?

COSTELLO: You know...

O'BRIEN: Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING, our last morning on this set. I'm Miles O'Brien.

COSTELLO: That's right. We get to go to a new set on Monday, and it's beautiful.

O'BRIEN: New pigeons.

COSTELLO: New pigeons, that's right.

I'm Carol Costello, in for Soledad.

Coming up, more on those rocket attacks from Jordan's port of Aqaba this morning.

O'BRIEN: Two U.S. Navy ships were in the area. Probably the target of at least two of those rockets, maybe one. We're not quite sure yet.

We'll talk to a former Navy captain in a few moments about the ship's defenses. How much can they really do to protect themselves when they're docked in port?

But, before we do that, let's get the headlines. Kelly Wallace in with that.

Kelly, good morning.

WALLACE: Hello. Hello again. Good morning to you.

Good morning again, everyone.

"Now in the News" -- and we're beginning with this just in to CNN -- a school van has crashed in Florida. And we are just getting these pictures in.

A crash apparently taking place in southern Florida, in Boca Raton. Emergency officials are on the scene there. We're getting word of 16 people in that van. Some of the students are said to be mentally challenged.

You see there are some emergency vehicles on the scene there. We will give you more details as they come here at AMERICAN MORNING.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com