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American Morning

West Bank Bombing; Terrorist Behavior; Wiretap Flap

Aired December 29, 2005 - 06:31   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In the news this morning, a deadly attack in the West Bank. At least one person is dead after a suicide bomber blows himself up at an Israeli roadblock.
CNN's Guy Raz live in Jerusalem for us.

Guy, we have word this roadblock was set up at the last minute. So, did they get warning of the attack? Is that why it was set up?

GUY RAZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, that roadblock was actually set up just yesterday by the Israeli Army after Israeli military intelligence received word that suicide bombers may attempt to use that route to enter into Israel.

Now, what may have happened is that, when that suicide bomber arrived at that checkpoint, realizing he could not get into Israel, he detonated explosives right in front of that checkpoint, killing one Israeli soldiers and two Palestinians, wounding several others, both Israelis and Palestinians. An attack, it now appears, carried out by the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.

Meanwhile, Carol, there's other news happening in the region.

In southern Israel, Israeli artillery cannons have been mounted along the country's border with Gaza. Now, overnight, artillery cannons fired several shells into northern Gaza. The Israeli army saying it's enforcing a no-go zone, a fringe of a strip of land on Gaza's northern fringe, a strip of land the Israeli army says Palestinian militants have used to fire rockets into Israel over the past several weeks.

Now, over those weeks, Palestinian militants have managed to fire those rockets deeper into southern Israel. One of those rockets barely missing a kindergarten in the Israeli city of Ashkelon yesterday.

Now, when the Israeli government withdrew its settlers and soldiers from Gaza this past summer, ending its 38-year military occupation, the Israeli government had warned the Palestinian Authority that it would respond harshly to any attacks emanating from territory under the Palestinian Authority's control -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Guy Raz reporting live from Jerusalem this morning.

A disturbing report about 9/11 disaster funds. According to The Associated Press, many loans meant to help businesses bounce back were given away to companies totally unaffected by the terror attacks. Recipients include a perfume store in the Virgin Islands and a Utah dog boutique. A Senate committee now investigating.

A legal battle is being waged in New Orleans over 2,500 homes the city wants to tear down. The city claims it has the authority to demolish the buildings without the owners' consent because the buildings pose an imminent threat. Lawyers argue the mayor is overstepping his bounds and the inspection process is flawed. A hearing is set for next week.

A bank robber who was turned in by his own sons is set to be sentenced today. Remember we talked to his sons yesterday. They recognized their dad, 64-year-old William Alfred Ginglen from surveillance and from a description of the getaway car.

One of the sons is a police officer. Ginglen has pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $60,000 from seven banks. He's set to be sentenced in Springfield, Illinois, later today.

The Justice Department claims a group of voters in Mississippi have been discriminated against. Their absentee ballots thrown away, their voting status changed. What makes this case different? The voters are white.

The Justice Department is suing the local Democratic Party chair. This is the first time the Justice Department has ever claimed that whites were discriminated against at the polls because of their race -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN "Security Watch" now.

Airport security screeners may soon be asking a few things beyond whether you should take off your shoes or keep your boarding pass with you. The idea is to chat up passengers at the checkpoints to see if they're acting suspiciously. It sounds like common sense, but will it work?

Rafi Ron is the former director of security at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport.

Rafi, good to have you back with us.

RAFI RON, FMR. DIRECTOR OF SECURITY, BEN GURION INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: I'll tell you what, what I'd like to do is start off -- we have, of course, some still pictures of Mohammed Atta on September 11 as he passed through security in Portland, Maine. Now, as we look at that still image there, obviously just a very slight glimpse there. But when you look at all of those together, along with the other hijackers on that morning, what can you see in their manner that might be suspicious for a security screener?

RON: Well, of course, this is just a glimpse. It's a very short video of a few seconds. And the idea of detecting suspicious behavior in a few seconds is a little bit over-ambitious.

But I think that even in this -- this short video -- and I've been watching them very carefully -- the trained eye can see a few things. Some lack of orientation. Not necessarily of people like Mohammed Atta, but some of the people that followed.

And I believe that if some of these people would have had to go through a casual conversation with the law enforcement agent, it would have been rather difficult for them. And it may have led to their exposure.

O'BRIEN: So this kind of thing does work. And let's hearken back to 1999, the infamous millennium attack. The idea was to blow up parts of Los Angeles International Airport. But that plot was foiled when a Customs agent in the state of Washington started asking some questions.

Does that kind of prove that this can work in some instances?

RON: Yes, I think that this is one of the incidents where it has been proven how difficult it is for someone who is trying to conceal an explosive device or explosive materials or any other thing that's involved with terrorism, how difficult it is for him to go through a conversation or an interview with a law enforcement officer. But I think that we can see a lot of other examples.

We have the Richard Reid case, the shoe bomber who had great difficulties to reduce the level of suspicion that he drew in the process of checking into his flight in Charles de Gaulle, especially when he was interviewed by the security person on the ground.

O'BRIEN: Well, he was sent -- sent away, and then he ultimately still got on the plane. So there still are some holes there that need to be addressed.

I want to bring out an important point, though, for you, for you to address. The American Civil Liberties Union among the people concerned about this, because according to the director of their technology and liberty program, "When we begin to say to police officers" -- here referring to the TSA; of course they're not police officers, per se -- "that they're allowed to guess about who's dangerous, we are inviting the possibility of abuse."

Do you have some concern that there'll be some kind of racial profiling embedded in all of this?

RON: Yes, of course there is such a concern. But I think that the way to handle this concern is through good professional training, rather than just leave it, as we do today, in most cases, leave it to the individual to follow his intuition in the process. Because intuition is affected by prejudices much more than skills that are developed through professional training.

So I would certainly suggest that it is training that would reduce the level of racial profiling, rather than the other way around, as sometimes there's the impression that the ACLU is aiming at.

O'BRIEN: Rafi Ron of New Age Security Solutions. Thanks very much.

Be sure to stay with CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Carol.

COSTELLO: A new twist in the flap over a warrantless wiretap program, the program that was authorized by President Bush. The first in a series of challenges expected soon from a lawyer for a terror suspect questioning the program's legality. Details now from Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The first of the challenges could come within the next few weeks, when a lawyer for one man charged in a case, along with enemy combatant Jose Padilla, is expected to file a motion in Florida. But that is likely to be just the start.

Truck driver Iyman Faris is serving a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to plotting to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge as an al Qaeda agent. His attorney says he wants a federal court to force the Justice Department to disclose how the NSA program was used in that case.

Government officials familiar with the program have confirmed that NSA eavesdropping helped authorities move against Faris, so a civil suit against the president for illegal wiretapping could be in the works.

DAVID SMITH, ATTORNEY FOR IYMAN FARIS: I think there's a good likelihood. I mean, I believe that he would -- he would be happy to bring such a lawsuit. The question is whether there's a lawyer who wants to use him as the plaintiff in such a suit. And I think there probably is.

MESERVE: A White House spokesman says no one should be surprised that defense attorneys are looking at ways to represent their clients. Legal experts who agree with the White House that the NSA eavesdropping program was legal and constitutional do not believe that defense attorneys will succeed in undercutting the government's terrorism prosecutions, but the courts will have the final word.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, more on those shocking honor killings in Pakistan -- or so they're called. The man admitting how he killed his stepdaughter for what he thought was adultery, and then killing his three little girls to keep them from doing the same. The outrage from Pakistan ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Does Anderson have KISS on the bill too? No. No. Just down there, I think.

COSTELLO: And James Brown.

O'BRIEN: I feel good.

COSTELLO: Yes. Well, let's talk about that, because on New Year's Eve, you can join CNN's Anderson Cooper live in Times Square for the countdown to 2006 with music from the Godfather of Soul, as I said, James Brown, John Maris (ph), as Miles said, Harry Connick, Jr., Jacqui Jeras' favorite.

COSTELLO: In fact, I think she's coming to New York just to, like, be part of the celebration.

O'BRIEN: We might have to get her inside the perimeter. We might just have to do that for her.

COSTELLO: She would love that.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Tune in beginning at 11:00 Eastern Saturday night for the New Year's Eve celebration right here on CNN.

O'BRIEN: All right. Not a very merry Christmas or holiday season for Delta pilots. Fourteen percent give-back, that's big money.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fourteen percent, exactly. And then there's some other small ones as well.

This is the second double-digit pay cut Delta pilots have agreed to. This is a tentative agreement that the pilots have agreed to with the company Delta. A lot of you probably know it's lost billions of dollars in recent years, and this is meant to help them stave off an expected crash crunch.

Now, this is a tentative agreement. They hope to come to something more comprehensive by March. If they don't, then they'll go into arbitration.

Delta pilots, a very close vote here. A lot of people, a lot of union members are angry because the company hasn't said specifically what they're going to do to get in better financial shape with these cuts. Still, a very close vote here.

On average, Delta pilots make $170,000. This cut is going to bring them down to about $146,000. But still, the second cut that they've had to face, and it was a very close vote. There are 3,000 -- 6,000 union members, and the AP reporting that the vote was 3,001 in favor of this cut. So really right down the line.

O'BRIEN: Really?

LEE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Interesting.

All right. Credit card usage. Tell us about that.

LEE: Credit card use on its way up. According to Visa, latest numbers, consumers spent just over $232 billion this holiday season. That's up almost 18 percent from a year ago. And a lot of the increase coming from debit card use.

Debit card use up over 24 percent, versus 14 percent for charge cards. And I think this is good news, because people use their debit cards, it's more fiscally responsible. You're not spending money you don't have, you're not paying an interest rate. You're just taking it right on out of your checking or savings account. So good thing for American consumers to go that route.

COSTELLO: Absolutely.

LEE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: All right. Well, some would quibble with that, though, because if you have a dispute, the money is already taken out of your account.

LEE: True.

O'BRIEN: So it does -- there is...

LEE: True, but, you know, the Fed has been raising interest rates, credit cards moving in lockstep with that.

O'BRIEN: Right.

LEE: So with people trying to handle their budgets better, it is pretty fiscally responsible.

COSTELLO: It's always good when people don't use credit cards...

(CROSSTALK)

LEE: Exactly. We talk about that so often, so exactly.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Carrie.

In the headlines this morning, there's been a suicide bombing in downtown Baghdad. Emergency police now on the scene.

At least four people have been killed, including three police officers. Roads leading to the ministry have been blocked off, and troops are searching all cars and people in the area.

The White House already under fire for the National Security Agency's secret wiretap program. Well, now The Associated Press reports the NSA was placing tracking files on computers of people who visited its Web site. These cookies, as they're called, track what Web sites you go to. Federal rules ban their use. Since the story broke, the NSA has removed the files. A spokesman says they were inadvertently -- they were inadvertently there because of a recent software upgrade.

An update now on those devastating wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma. At least five are dead, more than 100 homes destroyed, and over 30,000 acres have burned in Oklahoma alone.

Several fires still burning. And forecasters say strong winds are expected again today.

Coming up in the next hour, we'll talk to a young man whose quick thinking saved his family's home and several of his neighbors.

In the meantime, in northern California, rivers are at a seven- year high. At least one death blamed on these conditions. And we're also hearing of numerous power outages.

Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, that brutal crime in Pakistan we've been talking about. A man confesses to killing his stepdaughter for committing adultery and then doing the same to his three daughters ages 4 to 8.

How common are these so-called honor killings? That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Nazir Ahmed offers no apologies for what he admits he did. On Friday, the Pakistani, in the Punjab province, slit the throat of his 25-year-old stepdaughter and then did the same to his younger daughters all because the elder girl was accused of adultery and he says he wanted to prevent the younger girls from doing the same.

It's outrageous from our perspective. They're called honor killings in some quarters.

On the phone from Karachi now to tell us a little bit more about it is Igbal Haider. She is the -- or he is the secretary-general of Pakistan's Human Rights Commission. This is separate from the Pakistani government.

Mr. Haider, good to have you with us.

Put this into some perspective for us. This is an outrageous crime from our perspective. Is it at all common there?

IGBAL HAIDER, PAKISTAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION: It's such an outrageous crime. And murder, this has been that even those who believe in honor, they must be shivering.

It is -- this level of barbarism and barbaric acts to kill four daughters (INAUDIBLE), I mean, it's unthinkable. I have heard of honor killing cases where girls being accused of adultery being murdered, but never such a -- if she had grown up she would have -- might have indulged in that same act like the elder daughter, I mean, it is -- unthinkable. I don't find words to express my horror and disgust on reading this story.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Haider, could you explain -- you say there are people who support honor killings. Who are they, and why do they support them?

HAIDER: This is only some of the tribal customs. Unfortunately, it is a mindset. It is a -- it is a -- it is there, but -- and we are fighting against it, struggling. And we have declared a war against honor killing, and we want to amend the laws, also. And we are pressurizing the government also to make sure that everybody who commits such a heinous crime is prosecuted. (INAUDIBLE) and prosecuted.

O'BRIEN: You say you want to amend the laws. Are there laws that will bring Nazir Ahmed to justice in Pakistan.

HAIDER: No, there is -- unfortunately, (INAUDIBLE) I would have to say that in the name of Islam, there was a law enforced on the people of Pakistan that if a murderer is forgiven by the family, then he can be acquitted on confrontation.

O'BRIEN: So this is...

HAIDER: Now, this sort of -- this murder is a crime against society, not only just against an individual.

O'BRIEN: Is this...

HAIDER: We want to repeal this law which is known as Kodu (ph) ordinances.

O'BRIEN: Is this law rooted in the Koran, then, in some way? Is it some sort of misreading of the Koran?

HAIDER: No, no, no. It's only the title (ph) which is in Koran. But the manner and the contents of this law are absolutely barbaric, discriminating, and unacceptable to any civilized society. Or, in the enlightened mind of religious scholars, also.

O'BRIEN: Igbal Haider -- I'm sorry, sir. We do have to go.

Igbal Haider is the secretary-general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Thank you for your time, sir -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And coming up, an old drug may offer new hope in the fight against breast cancer. A closer look at how many lives it could save.

That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: Remember the ice man of the Sierra Nevada, that frozen body found by some climbers a few months ago? Well, we know he was a World War II airman, but beyond that it is a mystery. Lots of false leads on that one.

Tonight, on CNN's "ANDERSON COOPER 360," he will take a closer look at that story and some other unsolved mysteries of 2005. Here's a preview with Thelma Gutierrez.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's the ultimate cold case dating back to World War II. Forensic detectives turn to the most advanced scientific methods to solve it.

This mystery began in October. Climbers discovered the body of a young Army airman at the base of a glacier 13,000 feet high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. His uniform and unopened parachute reveal he's been dead for more than a half-century.

After weeks of studying his remains, military scientists narrowed down the possibilities. More than two dozen training flights crashed in the Sierra during World War II. Scientists say this airman was one of four men who died there.

But who was he? Scientists found some clues.

He carried 51 cents in his pocket, a plastic hair comb, and three leather-bound address books. Forensic evidence also suggests he had straight teeth with a small gap and was between 5' 9' and 6'1". .

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Now, you can see all of Thelma's story tonight on "ANDERSON COOPER 360," 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Just some of the unsolved mysteries that they're going to be looking at.

Now, as we approach the top of the hour, let's check the forecast. Jacqui Jeras at the weather center.

Good morning, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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