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Two U.S. Warships Fired on in Jordanian Port of Aqaba; BTK Killer Sentenced

Aired August 19, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A story breaking in the Middle East right now. Two U.S. warships fired on in the Jordanian port of Aqaba. Rockets barely missing one of them. Some leads already developing in this fast moving investigation. Live reports from the region and the Pentagon just ahead.
Emotions running high in Gaza again this morning, as Israeli troops force Jewish settlers out of another synagogue.

And the chilling scene in Wichita -- explanations, promises, even thank yous, as Dennis Rader speaks in court. We're live from Kansas with more on the BTK sentencing 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.

O'BRIEN: Good morning to you.

I'm Miles O'Brien.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad.

Closing out the week with another busy news morning.

O'BRIEN: Yes. We begin in Jordan this morning.

Two U.S. ships were apparently fired on in the port of Aqaba. The Jordanian government says three rockets were launched from a warehouse in Aqaba. One slammed into the Israel resort of Eilat. The U.S. Navy says it only knows of one rocket fired in Aqaba, toward its ships. That one crossed the bow of the USS Ashland and then it crashed into another warehouse.

Paula Hancocks live in Jerusalem.

She's been tracking this story from there for us -- Paula, what's the latest?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Well, the latest is that Jordanian officials have told CNN that there was a warehouse just nearby this area that had been rented just recently by four individuals of Iraqi and Egyptian nationality. This is where these three rockets were fired from, they say. The one went, as you say, just over the top of one of those U.S. Navy ships, which was in the port. There were two vessels in the port at that particular moment. And it slammed into a warehouse just nearby.

Then another rocket hit a military hospital just nearby, as well. And then the third rocket hit the southern Israel town of Eilat, just outside the perimeter fence of the airport there. No casualties in that particular rocket.

We are hearing from officials that one Jordanian soldier was killed and one other was seriously injured.

Now, we know from the ships themselves, there were absolutely no casualties from U.S. Marines. They were in the area for training purposes. It was natural for them to be there. They were doing training exercises with Jordanian Navy.

As soon as these attacks happened, the two vessels, the USS Ashland and then its sister ship, went straight out to open water to make sure that they would not come under any more attack.

Now, there is speculation -- and this is just speculation in the Israeli media at the moment, Israeli radio saying that they're not sure that the actual third rocket attack, which hit the southern Israeli town, was meant for Israel at all.

Aqaba and Eilat are extremely close. There are probably only about five miles in between them, across the Red Sea water. And so it is thought at this point that maybe this other rocket was not meant for Israel, but, in fact, all three of those rockets were meant for the Navy ships -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Paula Hancocks in Jerusalem.

Thank you very much.

David Ensor watching things for us at the Pentagon -- David, there are reports there were Katyusha rockets, which I think have a range of about 10 to 12 miles or so. So I guess there might be an assumption here this is out of a single location.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right, Miles.

The Navy is saying, is calling them mortar rockets and saying, as Paula mentioned, that one of them was a near miss on one of the two U.S. Navy ships that was in the port of Aqaba at the time. This was, of course, as she mentioned, a training exercise for the U.S. Navy. It was going on with Jordanian units.

This is where they did hit. The warehouse in Aqaba, which was damaged by one of the rocket mortars that the Navy is talking about -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Now, the two vessels that were in port, the USS Ashland and the USS Kearsarge, these are amphibious assault vessels. They carry Marine expeditionary units. This is just a file picture that we have of the Ashland, by the way. They carry Marine expeditionary units into theater and this was, as you say, part of a training program, right? ENSOR: That's right. The ships, one of them, at least, carries about 2,000 men. The other a little bit less. And they carry, in other words, basically troops that were to be involved in training with the Jordanians. So this was a very normal exercise and this kind of port visit is very common for the U.S. Navy. These kinds of attacks are much less common, of course -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Much less common. Of course we all remember the USS Cole, October of 2000, 17 sailors killed then. That was a suicide attack. A lot has changed in the way the U.S. Navy does business in the Middle East since then.

ENSOR: That's right. The security around ships has been tightened up considerably. It would not have been possible to attack these ships in the way, with small rubber boats armed with explosives, that was done against the USS Cole. And that is perhaps why these apparent terrorists tried to do it from long range with a mortar rocket -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: David Ensor at the Pentagon.

Thank you very much -- Carol.

COSTELLO: In Gaza, a skeleton force of Israeli troops patrolling settlements. It's a temporary break from the evacuation mission in order to observe the Jewish Sabbath. So far, 17 of 21 settlements have been completely evacuated and you can see them there in blue. The remaining settlements are indicated in yellow. So not much more to go.

Earlier this morning, Israeli troops finished evacuating the settlement of Gadid. They had to use bulldozers to break through flaming barricades to enter the settlement. But once inside, troops found relatively little resistance. The few remaining families left quietly, as did about 85 protesters who were holed up in that synagogue. They did agree to leave, but insisted on being led or carried out as a protest.

There is other news this morning, as well.

Let's check in with Kelly now -- good morning.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again.

And good morning, everyone.

Now in the news, Pope Benedict XVI is condemning the horrors of the Holocaust. The pope giving an address to members of the Jewish community earlier today, becoming only the second pope in recent history to visit a synagogue. It is all part of his trip back home to Germany for World Youth Day. The pope is expected to meet with leaders from the Protestant churches later today.

A Moroccan man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for belonging to a terror group. It is the second trial for Mounir El- Motassadeq. He was accused of helping some of the hijackers on September 11, but the court acquitted him on charges of accessory to murder in those attacks. Defense lawyers say they will appeal the conviction.

In Kansas, the first full day of school for some high schoolers after a fellow student fell victim to a horrific attack. A teenage girl is dead after being attacked by a Siberian tiger at an animal sanctuary in southeast Kansas. Haley Hilderbrand had been posing for pictures with the animal. Reports say the tiger, similar to the one shown here, was being restrained by its handlers, but attacked the girl anyway.

And people in southern Wisconsin are cleaning up from a deadly tornado. Check out these pictures we showed you last hour. One person was reportedly killed, several others injured. Dozens of homes damaged. State officials are expected to take a closer look today.

And -- Chad, as we talked about in the last half hour, they're going to have at least clear weather on this day, right?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it should be OK. And what they're going to do, they're going to look to see how torn apart those buildings were to see basically was it an F2 or an F3. It was at least that, to pick up that roof and move it like it was. And to trip branches off of trees, you need that kind of wind, 150, 170 miles per hour.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, the BTK killer's sentencing. It was such a dramatic moment in court yesterday. Hearing from the victims' families was overwhelmingly emotional. And then the amazing, rambling statement from Rader himself. We'll give you an update live from Wichita in just a bit.

COSTELLO: Yes, and that would be sickening.

Also, there is a batch of bad heroin going around here in New York City. These two girls died from that bad batch of heroin, along with about four others. Well, there has been an arrest in the case. Kelly Wallace will have an update for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: This morning, the BTK killer will begin serving his sentence at El Dorado State Prison in Kansas. Dennis Rader received 10 consecutive life terms for his murders spanning more than three decades.

KAKE TV Anchor Larry Hatteberg was inside the courtroom, as he has been all throughout this. He's been covering the BTK since the first murders in 1974, communicated with him over the years.

He joins us from Wichita.

Larry, let's begin where we began yesterday.

What was it like being in court yesterday?

It seems like each day is packed with greater emotion.

LARRY HATTEBERG, KAKE TV ANCHOR: That's right, and just when you think you've heard it all, Miles, Dennis Rader does something to just make you shake your head. And his rambling statement when he got up to address the court yesterday was one of those days in which everybody just shook their head.

What I was struck by yesterday is Dennis Rader craves control. He wants to be in control of everything. But yesterday it was the families who actually took control in that courtroom and Dennis Rader, as we all saw on television, he is the one who lost control.

O'BRIEN: Let's listen to one of the family members, Beverly Plapp. Her sister was killed by Dennis Rader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEVERLY PLAPP, SISTER OF VICTIM: I want him to suffer as much as he made his victims suffer. But then, when I think about that, in his sick, perverted way, he'd probably find that as some kind of pleasure or reward. This man needs to be thrown in a deep dark hole and left to rot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: And I think that's probably -- many people would say that's an appropriate punishment in this case. For these families, we talked to some family members last hour, there was a sense of -- the term they used was empowerment in being able to look him in the eye and say this. Whether it registered or not is another matter, I guess.

HATTEBERG: That's right. And we'll never know that. But what we saw yesterday in Dennis Rader, Dennis Rader yesterday lost control and he became a parody of himself, as we all saw on national television, that rambling statement that he gave, that it was, in some part, incoherent. And I thought it was so interesting that he didn't try to apologize to the families until about the last two sentences. And then he tried to apologize to the families. Of course, the families of the victims will never accept that.

O'BRIEN: Well, and I think the apology was lame, at best.

HATTEBERG: Right.

O'BRIEN: Let's listen to a little bit -- I thought what was perhaps most offensive to the families and to those of us just watching was this attempt to link him to his victims.

HATTEBERG: Right.

O'BRIEN: Let's listen to a little bit of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DENNIS RADER, CONFESSED SERIAL KILLER: She spent time at her grandparents' farm. Well, I did, too, as a kid. I have many, many, many fond memories of that, and I took (UNINTELLIGIBLE). She went to Valley Center. I was at Valley Center High School for two years and walked the halls, probably in the same line. We shred maybe the same teachers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: What as the point of that?

HATTEBERG: Well, he craves the attention. He wants to link himself with the families, perhaps so that the rest of us will feel a little bit of empathy for him. But that did not happen in the courtroom yesterday.

The families found that to be a personal affront when he tried to do that link. And as I turned around and I was looking at some of the family members, they were rolling their eyes, they were gripping the chair, the handles of the chair there. They just could not believe that this man was up to the last moment trying to control everything. But he did not. It was the families who remained in control.

O'BRIEN: And at this point, it's very difficult for us sitting here to have any sense of what is real and what is put on in this case.

Was that, you know, some sort of acting, do you think?

HATTEBERG: Well, yes. I mean he's been an actor all of his life. His entire life was a stage play. His family was a prop. His job was a prop. He had to have those props in order to look normal so that he could do what he really wanted to do, and that was to kill people. He was a killing machine.

But he had to have these other props so that everything would look normal in his life. He's been an actor all his life and I think yesterday he tried to -- he tried to, just before the final curtain call, he tried to take the Academy Award.

O'BRIEN: Now, a final thought here. The district attorney has taken efforts here to ensure that he doesn't profit from this -- books, movies and all that sort of thing.

HATTEBERG: Right.

O'BRIEN: But it seems to me money isn't what motivates him. Attention is what motivates him.

Will...

HATTEBERG: Right. And...

O'BRIEN: Will there be steps taken to stop that, so he doesn't get this attention that he craves? HATTEBERG: Well, already the Department of Corrections in Sedgwick County have said that there will be no on camera interviews ever of Dennis Rader. None of us in the media will ever be able to put a camera in front of Dennis Rader and do an interview with him. That, for Dennis Rader, is terrible punishment.

Also, they have asked that he has no access to any kind of magazine where there's pictures of women or children ever. They've asked the court to make sure that the prison system makes sure that he doesn't have that. That's another form of punishment for him.

He will not be able to call out of the prison unless the person who he's going to call wants him to call. That will be another form of punishment because he's been able to call from the Sedgwick County Jail pretty much anybody who he wants to call.

So they are taking steps to make sure that Dennis Rader receives no more attention.

O'BRIEN: Well, we're glad to hear that.

KAKE Anchor Larry Hatteberg.

Thanks for joining us this morning.

HATTEBERG: Sure.

O'BRIEN: We're told Dennis Rader will arrive at his home for, well, the remainder of his life, in just a few moments. We'll bring that to you as it happens -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Miles.

Still to come, a story that's caused heartache for two seemingly perfect families in New York City. Two coeds dead of an apparent heroin overdose. It's a story raising new questions about kids and drugs.

That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Live pictures now. Dennis Rader being transported, as we speak, to a temporary facility where will stay for the next month or so until he is processed on to a prison where he will spend the remainder of his days.

As you know, he was sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms yesterday. He's a 60-year-old man and we believe he's in one of these two cars. We should be seeing him get out of the vehicle in just a moment.

But the only possibility of parole will occur in 40 years. Dennis Rader at that time would be 100 years old, if he were to live that long. That would be the first opportunity for parole. So that's as good as saying a life sentence as I think he can probably get in this case.

As you know, and as we've been telling you all along, Kansas currently does have a death penalty, but because these crimes were committed prior to the change in that law, he was not subjected to that punishment, and, as a result, will spend his days in prison.

We were just talking with Larry Hatteberg just a few minutes ago, the anchor who over the years who has been leading the coverage of this for KAKE Television in Wichita. We were talking about some of the constraints that will be placed on Rader so that he is not afforded an opportunity to aggrandize himself any further. No on camera interviews, for example.

We're told he's in the maroon car, that car that is farther away from you in this picture. And they're, I think, headed over to a gate or a Sally port to process and get in. And I believe that's what we're seeing continue right now.

You know, lots of questions about what -- how Dennis Rader would be viewed in prison. As a 60-year-old man, coming to prison, he will be significantly older -- and he is in the back of the vehicle there. There, I think you can see him there, as they heard toward the sally port and into this facility where he is on his way to be processed. I think that's the last view we're probably going to get of Dennis Rader for quite some time.

And I think we can probably all say good riddance to him at that moment -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, I would have to agree with that, Miles.

The families of two New York City coeds just 18 years old are mourning over their deaths. The apparent cause has stunned both families. They may have overdosed on heroin and cocaine.

Police are investigating whether the girls and four others were killed by a deadly batch of heroin available on the streets.

Kelly Wallace joins us now with more.

WALLACE: Carol, what jumps out at you about this story, these were good students, ambitious, close to their families. Their families no idea that the girls were doing drugs, trying drugs, no idea whatsoever. And now, one of the families, the family of 18-year- old Mellie Carballo, wants to send a message, a serious message, to get out now, to make sure what happened to Mellie doesn't happen to anyone else.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): Mellie Carballo, just 18, dreamed of becoming a super model and a surgeon. A young woman with a knack for fashion and a major in psychology, who lived at home in Manhattan with her family, sharing a room since the time she was born with her 21- year-old sister, Celeste. CELESTE CARBALLO, MELLIE CARBALLO'S SISTER: I guess it hasn't really registered that she's not here anymore. It's going to very difficult.

WALLACE: It was just one week ago when Mellie and her friend, Maria Pesantez, an NYU sophomore, were found unconscious inside an apartment on New York's Lower East Side. Police believe they may have overdosed on heroin and cocaine. Celeste says she had no idea her sister was using or experimenting with drugs.

C. CARBALLO: The way she was, her personality had never changed or anything. She was the same Mellie that I've always known until Friday.

WALLACE: Maria Carballo said she's determined to make sure this kind of tragedy does not happen again.

MARIELLE CARBALLO, MELLIE CARBALLO'S MOTHER: Right now I can be crying in my bed in silence on my daughter's death. But I feel that it's, I have to be here to prevent another mother from crying. This could be anybody's daughter.

WALLACE: Marielle says tougher laws are needed to keep drug dealers behind bars. Mellie and Maria had been with two ex-cons, both with drug convictions, the day they were found unconscious.

M. CARBALLO: I need to help those children who are out there right now and who might be vulnerable in the hands of the predators. The drug dealers who are there waiting for those children, or these young men and women, in a moment of weakness.

WALLACE: Nationwide, experts say the biggest growth in heroin use in the last five years was among 16 to 25 year olds. Celeste thanks more awareness of the problem and the consequences is needed.

C. CARBALLO: I feel like a lot of people probably think that oh, you know, this is what happens to kids who hang out on the street, this is what happens to kids from, I don't know...

WALLACE (on camera): Broken homes.

C. CARBALLO: Broken homes, parents who split, low income families. You know, all sorts of stereotypes, basically. And how does it happen to a girl from a family who's given her everything?

WALLACE (voice-over): As the family prepared for Mellie's funeral, Celeste remembered how Mellie said she wanted "Wedding Song" by Bob Dylan to be played at her wedding. And so it was played at her funeral, as her family said good-bye.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WALLACE: Oh, it is so sad. It's hard not to have tears in your eyes.

I want to give some information, though. Police still investigating the series of events that led to Mellie and Maria's deaths. We are told that on Thursday, officers arrested the man who lives in the apartment where the girls were found.

COSTELLO: The ex-con?

WALLACE: Right. He's been charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance. The other man they were with, we know, is already in police custody on a parole violation.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about this deadly batch of heroin, because was it a particularly strong strain? Did it have something else in it?

WALLACE: It's because they found a number of people all in the same area. I believe it's six people over a five day period of time in the Lower East Side, all, I believe, potentially were using heroin and cocaine. So there is a concern that this was sort of a deadly strain, was it cut in a certain way, is it a poison included in it? They don't know. And that's why they are investigating now.

COSTELLO: A sad story.

So talk to your children.

WALLACE: Yes.

COSTELLO: Talk to them. Talk to them.

WALLACE: Get the message out.

COSTELLO: Yes.

WALLACE: Get the message out. It is not cool to do heroin.

COSTELLO: No.

Thank you, Kelly.

WALLACE: Sure.

COSTELLO: Miles.

O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, before Cindy Sheehan, there was Leila Lipscomb (ph). She demanded answers about her son's death in Michael Moore's movie, "Fahrenheit 911." But her views on the war have changed since then. We'll talk to her about that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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