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American Morning

A Packed City Bus Blows Up in Iraq; Air Marshals Shoot an Unarmed Man Who Claims to Have Bomb

Aired December 08, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien. A developing story in Iraq. A packed city bus blows up, more than two dozen are killed in the suicide attack. We'll go live to Baghdad.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello, in for Soledad this morning. Air marshals shoot an unarmed man who claimed to have a bomb. But no bomb was found. Did they act too quickly? We'll take you live to Miami for the latest.

O'BRIEN: And it's getting extremely cold outside. Falling temperatures, moving east, snow on the way as well. We have your forecast ahead, this AMERICAN MORNING.

COSTELLO: And good morning, everyone. And we begin with that shooting at the Miami Airport, people still talking about it this morning and wondering why exactly it happened, how exactly it happened.

O'BRIEN: Yes, good morning to you. Soledad is off this morning. Carol Costello here.

What we know today about the shooting at the Miami Airport, no terrorist connection. No bomb. Air marshals did what they were supposed to do. And an unarmed man is dead. So what's left? A lot of questions as to whether procedures will have to be changed as an outgrowth of this.

Kathleen Koch joining us from Miami with more on all of this.

Kathleen, good morning.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

And of course, Miami-Dade Police are investigating yesterday's incident, and whether or not that use of deadly force was appropriate. As you described, the incident happened when American Airlines flight 924 from Miami to Orlando, passengers just boarded, when according to federal air marshals what happened was one of the passengers went running down the aisle, apparently waiving his arms. They pursued him. He did follow their instructions to leave the aircraft, but he was on the jetway and carrying a backpack wearing it on the front of him, when he would not comply with their request for him to put down that backpack. And then at the point that he reached -- began to reach into the back pack, began to act aggressively toward the air marshals, he was shot dead. Now passengers who were on the aircraft, passengers we have heard interviews with that were conducted by local stations, they say they did not hear this passenger, Ricardo Rigoberto Alpizar, making any threats. The did not hear him mention a bomb. They did hear him say he needed to get off the plane, and they did hear his wife say he may be mentally ill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY GARDNER, PASSENGER ON FLIGHT: I heard her say, he's bipolar, he doesn't have his medicine. I heard the shots. She screamed, my husband, my husband! And they detained her. They would not let her go. So apparently marshals came on the plane. I couldn't see it. I was three rows behind first class. First class saw the whole thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now out of an abundance of caution, law-enforcement officials confiscated Alpizar's luggage, his backpack, they blew them open on the tarmac, and found no explosives. So again, Miles, the question is was this use of force necessary? But federal authorities believe when it comes to a bomb on a plane, you just don't take any chances.

O'BRIEN: Kathleen Koch in Miami, thank you very much. Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the latest news about your security. Coming up this hour, we'll talk live with a spokesman for the Federal Air Marshals Office -- Carol.

COSTELLO: A developing story to tell you about out of Iraq. Carnage in Baghdad on a bus packed with passengers. A suicide bomber killing at least 30 people, wounding another 25.

Aneesh Raman live in Baghdad to tell us more.

Hello, Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.

The attack happened some four hours ago in the southern part of the capital, a suicide bomber boarding a crowded passenger bus heading from the capital southeast to the Shia city of Nasiriyah. He then detonated. And as you say, at least 30 people now confirmed dead, 25 others wounded.

You're looking at video of the aftermath of this scene. The bus now complete charred debris carnage on the streets of southern Baghdad. It comes just two days, Carol, after dual suicide bombers detonated an Iraqi police academy. That attack killed at least 40 Iraqis.

All of this of course with the general election just one week away, a time period that U.S. and Iraqi officials had said we could see a rise in insurgent attacks. Now the U.S. military also announcing today the death of a U.S. soldier, three others wounded, as the four were on patrol in eastern Baghdad. It happened after a roadside bomb detonated. These IEDs, Carol, the biggest killer of U.S. forces here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, I want to talk about the new video that surfaced of Westerners being held captive in Baghdad. How is this video different from the last?

RAMAN: Well, this video, unlike the previous one, shows only two of the four Western aide workers. It does not show the two Canadians. Instead, it only shows American Tom Fox and the British National that insurgent group Swords of Justice have had in captive -- had taken captive for over a week now. In the video, you see these two hostages in orange jumpsuits talking to the camera, saying that for their release they need the U.S. and British governments to bring out troops sort of quickly as possible. The group also extending the deadline for those demands by 48 hours, Carol. The deadline was yesterday at midnight.

COSTELLO: Aneesh Raman reporting live from Baghdad this morning. Thanks.

O'BRIEN: President Bush has been working hard trying to turn public opinion on Iraq. Might be working. He's picking up points in a new poll. Elaine Quijano live at the White House with details.

Good morning, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles. And that new poll has mixed news for the Bush administration. I'll just tell you about it. It's a CBS/"New York Times" survey, which essentially says that his overall approval rating is up from about a month ago. It was at about 35 percent. Now up according to that poll to 40 percent. There you see the numbers.

Now, that same survey, though, shows a lot of people still do not think President Bush has a plan for victory in Iraq. That is why in the coming days, we're going to continue seeing President Bush as he did yesterday come out and try to highlight signs of progress in Iraq. That's what he tried to do in his speech yesterday before the Council on Foreign Relations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They've gone from living under the boot of a brutal tyrant to liberation, to free elections, to a democratic constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, President Bush, interestingly, cited Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman in reiterating the administration's belief that to pull out U.S. forces from Iraq too soon would be a mistake. So what's next for President Bush? On Monday, he is set to deliver another speech on Iraq. That one, Miles, we're told will focus on the political progress that the administration says is being made in that country -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano at the White House, thank you very much.

A little later this hour, we'll talk with Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, who is, of course, against the war and would like to see the troops out sooner rather than later. Are more troops headed for Afghanistan meanwhile? NATO ministers approved a new plan just a few minutes ago. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took part in the new plan. She is in Brussels this morning as she continues her tour of Europe. NATO's plan for extra international troops could mean some of the 18,000 U.S. forces may be coming home from Afghanistan.

Rice is also taking questions about secret prisons and torture tactics once again. Some of the foreign ministers say they're very satisfied with her answers so far.

COSTELLO: All right, let's talk about the weather now, because unless you live in Hawaii, and let's imagine that for a minute, shall we...

O'BRIEN: That was nice.

COSTELLO: OK, that's all the time you have. Because we have to talk about the cold. It's really cold in parts of the country this morning. In the Midwest, single-digit temperatures are getting commuters -- actually greeting commuters with a cold slap in the face. Sean Callebs live in Chicago at O'Hare International Airport.

Good morning.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

I had to break this hat out for the first time this year. Temperatures here somewhere between seven, eight degrees Fahrenheit. It is December, it is Chicago here at O'Hare Airport. People in this area are as used to as anybody in the nation can be. But when it gets this bone chilling, it really has a dramatic effect. It's not just here. Even to the West of Denver, I left that area yesterday, and they showed some people skiing on one of the mountains out there, and they said it was negative 25 without the windchill factor. I find that hard to believe, but still, extremely, extremely cold.

Not only here but all the way down into the heart of Texas. We know that Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport had to postpone a number of its flights yesterday, almost a quarter of its flights because of these chilling conditions. And parts of the country are also going to get some snow today, Pittsburgh, Cleveland.

And if you look at Syracuse, New York, it simply got dumped on yesterday. For Syracuse, used to this kind of weather but it is the first real slap in the face for of the much of the nation. It's a big deep freeze, and could have a dramatic effect on the heating bills too throughout the nation. We'll get the first look at those painful bills after the first of the year once they're able to tabulate how December has played out. But certainly it is cold. I can confirm that out here at this hour -- Carol.

COSTELLO: You know in Connecticut, the utility company there is already warning if the cold snap lasts for much longer, like weeks, we could have short power outages, because they'd have to divvy up the heat. So not only the bills, but you have to worry about that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Coming up, more on that shooting by air marshals in Miami. We're going to talk to a couple passengers who were onboard the plane right behind first class, where it all went down. They will tell you what they saw.

O'BRIEN: Also, the top Democrat, Howard Dean, will join us live. He said the U.S. couldn't win the war in Iraq, and compared it all to Vietnam. Is he in step with the party faithful?

COSTELLO: Also coming up next, Andy is "Minding Your Business." Is there is a big tax break heading your way? That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Take a look at that live picture out of Central Park. They call it Strawberry Fields. Of course this is near where the statute of John Lennon is. And you can see people are already, you know, laying flowers. They were there last night, but they had to get out by 1:00 a.m. this morning. It was 25 years ago today Beatles fans devastated by the news John Lennon had been gunned down in New York. And, gosh, I guess hundreds of people were holding a vigil in the park last night, and I guess more will be there today for the anniversary.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE; Right, and that's just across the street from the apartment building where he lived for years and years.

COSTELLO: The Dakota.

SERWER: That's right the Dakota, Central Park West.

COSTELLO: Sad stuff. I just can't believe it's been 25 years since -- I remember it as clear as day, can't you?

SERWER: Yes, I can. Very much so.

COSTELLO: All right, well, let's talk business now, because after all, you're going to tell us about a break for taxpayers. We like that.

SERWER: Yes, exactly. We're talking about the alternative minimum tax, which is the bane of millions of taxpayers existence. This, of course, is a stealth tax that affects millions of Americans. Enacted in 1969, what happened here is that it was supposed to only hit rich people, but they never changed the level. In other words, say it was at $75,000, they never raised it to adjust for inflation. So now 30 million Americans are subject to this tax.

Now the House yesterday voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill that would exempt 17 million taxpayers next year from this bill. They're going to lose a little tax revenue you can see there, as in $31 billion. But, hey, listen, it's not a fair tax.

And you can see here that you've got to pay it if the liability is higher than the regular tax code, and also it disallows many deductions and exemptions. Republicans and Democrats were both involved. Interim House Majority Leader Roy Blunt of Missouri and other Republicans were at the floor of this legislation. And of course it has to be approved.

There's Roy Blunt. He's the acting House majority leader. And, of course, it's not a law yet, but we can only hope...

COSTELLO: Well, is there an income level we can look at for the tax payers that will possibly get a break in 2006?

SERWER: You know, I'd like to say there's an easy answer, but there isn't. It's very complicated. You have to go through both taxes to figure out whether you'd be subject to it. So you can't even tell people what -- that's part of the problem.

COSTELLO: Fabulous. You're not getting -- thank you, Andy -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. I think I have to change seats here, so let me sit down. There we go.

SERWER: Nice. Well done.

O'BRIEN: Yes, nice to see you. Yes, thank you.

We all remember those images of the helicopters immediately after Hurricane Katrina hovering over New Orleans. Now, imagine all of that, and we're talking to the pilots all throughout that as they explain what they saw, imagine all those choppers without pilots. Sounds like science fiction? Not so.

Here's CNN's Daniel Sieberg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hurricane Katrina left unusual challenges for the people trying to put things back together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm ready to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And let's go out over the motel roof to get the seam. All right, that's good. Hold there.

SIEBERG: Scientists are used this robotic helicopter to see things they've never seen before, like what happened in Biloxi when the storm tossed a casino barge more than half a mile before slamming it into a motel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we're able to give them is zoom in, very high-resolution photographs that can't be gotten from somebody on the ground and can't be done from a manned helicopter.

SIEBERG: Professor Robin Murphy used robots on the ground to search in New York after the 9/11 attacks. They may help engineers discover why some buildings collapsed and others hold up after any type of disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So they'll be looking at two things. One is what did they learn in terms of the structure. How did it hold up? Did it fail in unpredictable ways?

SIEBERG: Chandler Griffin built and piloted the aircraft on this Gulf Coast mission.

CHANDLER GRIFFIN: We are carrying a still camera that has a video downlink as well, so that we can actually see through our eyepieces what the still camera is seeing, so we can frame the shot. And then we have remote controls to trigger the camera.

SIEBERG: This technology allowed Scott Nacheman, a former firefighter to view the images from 900 miles away.

SCOTT NACHEMAN, STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: In terms of feasibility, I don't see any reason why this equipment couldn't be used for initial life-safety evaluation as well, looking at locations where people may be trapped.

SIEBERG: The National Science Foundation is funding the work of this flying camera, and there's hope that some may be in the field by next hurricane season.

Daniel Sieberg, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: All right, those small helicopters were first used to assess damage in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Charlie last year. I think there are a lot of helicopter pilots that are nervous about this one.

COSTELLO: Maybe so.

O'BRIEN: Yet another robotic alternative to getting in the...

COSTELLO: Seems the way it world is going, doesn't it?

O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, we're going to talk to two of the witnesses in the air-marshal shooting in Miami. They were actually onboard the plane, right behind first class, where it all went down, and they have many interesting things to tell you about what they saw and what they heard. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Back to the shooting now in Miami: 119 passengers and crew were on board flight 94 when they saw Rigoberto Alpizar run down the aisle madly waving his arms. Undercover air marshals chasing after him, and then shots on the jetway. As you might imagine it was a terrifying experience.

Mike Beshears was onboard that flight. He is Winter Garden, Florida. Mary Gardner is in Orlando.

Welcome to you both.

GARDNER: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

MIKE BESHEARS, FLT. 924 PASSENGER: Good morning.

COSTELLO: We appreciate your being here.

Mike, I want you to take us through it. You were onboard the plane, and were you seated when you saw this all going down?

BESHEARS: Yes, I was. I was in row 9C, which is an aisle seat, first row behind first class.

COSTELLO: And This is pretty much where it really got heated, but take us through what exactly you saw from the time you noticed something was awry.

BESHEARS: The gentleman ran up the aisle and -- clutching a bag, and he exited the plane. His wife was shortly behind him. I don't know if she ever exited the plane but she returned headed back toward her seat saying, my husband's sick and I need to get my bags. And after she passed back toward her seat, it was moments that a number of shots rang out, at least five, up to six shots rang out, and I saw the flight attendants returning running down first class toward coach, and we were all told get down, get down. So of course we began to get down in front of our seats, and the gentleman's wife had made it back up, and about the time she got to the row in which we were crouched, the flight attendant, I have to commend her on the way she handled the situation, she actually intercepted the lady and took her down in the aisle with myself and a guy I refer to as "Doc" from across the aisle.

COSTELLO: OK, stop right there, Mike, because I want to get Mary's perspective on this, because you were sitting near first class as well. Apparently this man stopped and said something to the air marshals in first class. Did you hear any of that?

GARDNER: I was not in first class, but I seen them before we boarded the plane. They were definitely suspicious. The lady, the wife received a phone call right before we went on the air -- I mean, right on the airline, and she was frantic. She was nervous. And we knew there was something going on back in the cabin. And apparently they had an uproar. They had a fight, and there was some sort of energy happened. And I identified with -- because there was an airline pilot sitting right next to me. He showed me that there was an air marshal on the plane right there. So we were kind of comforted. I was telling the passengers around there's an air marshal right there. And then it all erupted.

COSTELLO: So let me interrupt you for just a second. Let me interrupt you for a second, because I think this is an important point. So the air marshals knew previous to when the man ran down the aisle that something was up with this cup until.

GARDNER: Absolutely. They were very nervous. She was very shaky. Lot of anxiety. And you could tell that they were -- there was something going on that just was not right, and the pilot told me, he said, he's got it. Look, there's a marshal right there, they know what's going on. We're covered. So we all felt, you know, fine and then, of course, everything happened.

COSTELLO: OK, Mike, I want to go back to you then since you were closer to first class. Air marshals said this man told them that he had a bomb. Did you hear any of this? And at what point did the air marshals draw their weapons?

BESHEARS: I heard this gentleman saying nothing. He just was in a hurry and exited the plane. Shortly after he exited and his wife was returning to her seat, I didn't know this gentleman was an air marshal, but had on a Hawaiian shirt, and I saw him rapidly exit the aircraft toward the jetway.

COSTELLO: So you didn't hear anything.

BESHEARS: Moments after that the shots rung out.

I'm sorry?

COSTELLO: Were they speaking english?

BESHEARS: I didn't hear any conversation. I did hear some yelling from the jetway, but I couldn't interpret or make out what the words were, just previous to the shots.

COSTELLO: Mary, there were a lot of passengers onboard, and I know that you told me that they comforted you and said that the air marshals were aware of the situation. But I was wondering, did any passengers at any point become afraid enough or agitated enough to jump up and stop this man?

GARDNER: No. It happened so quickly. When he ran through the cabin, everyone was shocked. You're sitting there with your -- ready to get on the airline. But no, nobody did anything, and everybody was very calm, and I thought all of the flight attendants were very, very calm, and there was a sense of calm afterwards. Everyone just hushed and sat down and didn't move. So it was most nerve wracking actually when the police came on.

COSTELLO: I know, because they made you sit on the plane for quite some time while they searched everyone and they had to search your luggage, I would assume.

GARDNER: And pointed their guns. Yes, they pointed their guns. It was terrifying.

COSTELLO: So, Mike, knowing everything that went down, and what you know now, do you think that the air marshals acted appropriately, and do you feel safe the next time you fly?

BESHEARS: You know, being a Christian, you hate to see any type of tragedy of this nature, but with what might have been taking place on the jetway, I have to have the faith and confidence in those guys, if they were acting in my best interest and they had to do that in order to protect me and the rest of the passengers on the flight.

COSTELLO: Mary, do you feel the same way?

GARDNER: I feel exactly the same way, and I can tell you this, that people were praying on that plane. As soon as that all went down, everybody agreed afterwards oh, my gosh, I was just praying. Everybody was praying. So I agree with Mike, definitely. Everybody was saying, what do you do without faith?

COSTELLO: Yes. Thank you both so much. Mike Beshears and Mary Gardner joining us live this morning -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow.

GARDNER: Thank you, Carol.

BESHEARS: Fascinating interview, fascinating, very interesting to hear the details.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, the head of the Democratic Party, Howard Dean, will join us live. Republicans are criticizing him for saying the U.S. cannot win the war in Iraq. Does he stand by his words? And what do other Democrats think? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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