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American Morning

Seven Terror Suspects in Federal Custody; How Safe Are We?; Senate Rejects Troop Withdrawal Proposals

Aired June 23, 2006 - 09:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get to our top story this morning, those seven terror suspects who are in federal custody right now. They're accused of a plot targeting the Sears Tower in Chicago. Several buildings in Miami also mentioned, including the FBI headquarters there.
Homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve's gotten her hands on the actual indictments this morning. Jeanne, good morning.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

The indictment charges that, at least as early as November of 2005, members of this group conspired to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda by agreeing to work under al Qaeda's direction and control. It named seven men and says they all swore an oath of loyalty to al Qaeda.

An individual identified as Narsil Batist (ph), known also as Brother Naz (ph) or Prince Manna (ph), is alleged to have recruited these individuals and trained them for a mission to wage war against the United States government, which included a plot to bomb the Sears Tower.

The indictment alleges that beginning on December of 2005, Narsil and others met with an individual who they believed to be a member of al Qaeda. In December, Batist told the informant they wanted to wage war against the United States to, quote, "kill all the devils we can" in a mission that would be, quote, "just as good or greater than 9/11, beginning with the destruction of the Sears Tower."

Members of the group told this person, who they believed to be al Qaeda, that they needed to wage the war -- what they needed to wage the war -- including boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios and vehicles. They also asked for cameras to do surveillance and eventually provided to the informant surveillance photographs of the FBI building in Miami, the James Lawrence King federal building, federal courthouse buildings, the federal detention center, and the Miami Police Department -- all of those in Miami-Dade County in Florida. The indictment says they discussed bombing FBI buildings in five cities.

In May, the court document says, Batist told the informant he was experiencing delays, but he wanted to continue his mission and maintain his relationship.

Of course, we'll hear more about this later when we have a press conference with the attorney general, Alberto Gonzalez. Back to you.

O'BRIEN: Certainly hoping for more details. Jeanne Meserve for us this morning. Jeanne, thanks.

The Sears Tower named as a possible target. No extra security there, though, today. Chicago police say actual arrests made extra security unnecessary.

This is how people in Chicago are reacting to the news today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty shocking to think about what is going on when you're going on and living your life and enjoying your life and people. But I'm pretty impressed that it was found before anything happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have been warned for so long that something is going to happen -- and I do believe something will happen, whether it's from outside or inside, I think something will happen. It doesn't shake me because I don't think there's a safer place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Honestly, I'm not sure any government can keep us safe. There's too many people out there trying to do what they want to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: We're going to continue to keep our eye on the security situation across the country today.

Later we're expecting more details on the terror arrest. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and top FBI officials will discuss the plot at a news conference that we're expecting in Washington, D.C., at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time -- about 90 minutes away.

Then at 11:30 a.m., the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami scheduled to hold its own news conference on the terror raids. Be sure to stay tuned for CNN for live coverage.

Carol?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Also in our "Security Watch" this morning, details coming out this morning of another secret surveillance program. The CIA and Treasury Department watching people's bank transactions, looking to stop the funding of terrorists. The Treasury Department says it's been a very effective tool. But even people involved agree there is potential for abuse. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken, live at the White House with more details for us.

Who is overseeing this program, Bob?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a combination of agencies -- the CIA is involved, the Treasury Department is involved. We've known for some time, Carol -- the government has been quite public about the fact it has been trying to go into terrorist operations by crippling them financially, getting information about their financial transactions, putting a hold on them, that type of thing.

But now we have specifics -- specifics about an organization that you've never heard of, called the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication -- SWIFT, as it is known in the financial world. It is one that involves 7800 financial institutions, millions of transactions a day. Its database was tapped into by the government shortly after the September 11 attacks, in spite of the fact there have been legal reservations about this from many sides, including officials of SWIFT itself. However, they were assured always, in the words now of the Treasury secretary, John Snow, that this was not, quote, "data mining or trolling through the private financial records of Americans."

Nevertheless, many people to this day feel that there's a potential for abuse there because of the massive amount of financial information that would be available. Officials here saying it is not a fishing expedition. They are also, however, saying that it is regrettable that this has come out, even though we have known that this type of program had to be underway, given the types of prosecutions that have occurred since September 11.

Carol?

COSTELLO: I was just going to ask you that, because I know the NSA was involved in this right after September 11; is it still?

FRANKEN: The National Security Agency was dealing with telephone communications. This is financial records. As you know, there's an awful lot of clearinghouse information that goes back and forth. This was the financial aspect of this. The other was signals intelligence.

COSTELLO: Bob Franken, reporting live for us at the White House this morning.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

O'BRIEN: Iraq's new government is trying to curb violence in Baghdad. An expanded curfew is in place right now, keeping all people off the streets until 6:00 a.m. on Saturday. The curfew came shortly after Iraqi police were involved in a battle between Shiite militia and unknown gunmen. The U.S. military also mobilized during that gun battle, with American helicopter gunships flying overhead.

As expected, the Senate rejected those two Democratic proposals to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq. Now, Republicans and Democrats have staked out the war positions, or so they are called, they are going to run on in November. Congressional correspondent Dana Bash, live on Capitol Hill for us this morning.

Dana, good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

You know, within minutes of senators casting those votes, we saw campaign press releases, television ads, both parties already trying to use the war debate as ammunition in the election-year battle over Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The yeas are 13, the nays are 86 --

BASH (voice-over): First, an overwhelming defeat for Senator John Kerry's call to bring combat troops home by July of next year.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D) MASSACHUSETTS: Let me say it plainly: redeploying United States troops is necessary for success in Iraq and it is necessary to be able to fight a more effective war on terror.

BASH: Kerry declared the 13 Democratic votes he got a dramatic step forward.

The Democratic counterproposal urged the president to start pulling combat troops out this year, but no date certain for total withdrawal.

SEN. JACK REED (D) RHODE ISLAND: This is not some arbitrary, fixed time cable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The yeas are 39, the nays are 60 --

BASH: That failed, too, but nearly all Democratic senators voted yes, a fact they raced to the cameras to point out, hoping to change the story line of the debate from Democrats are divided, to Democrats are united.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D) MICHIGAN: When you get 80 percent of the Democrats agreeing on the specifics of a policy, folks, you've got a strong consensus of Democrats.

BASH: The election-year Senate debate sets the stage for how both parties hope to turn Iraq to their political advantage. For Republicans, the same strategy they believe worked in the last election -- warn that Democrats demanding any withdrawal are handing a victory to terrorists and would make Americans less secure.

SEN. JON KYL (R) ARIZONA: Of what importance is it, given the fact that they are there now, mutilating and killing American soldiers and Iraqi citizens? What do the terrorists have in mind, if we pull out?

BASH: Democrats tested their campaign tactics, too. Paint Republicans, who say stay the course, complicit in a war policy Americans increasingly call misguided. The Democratic leader quoted Teddy Roosevelt.

SEN. HARRY REID (D) NEVADA: That we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but it is morally treasonable to the American people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: The White House is working to keep anxious Republicans from turning against the war and, by extension, turning against President Bush. There was actually, Soledad, only one moderate Republican who voted for any Democratic proposal. That appears to show, at least for now, the White House strategy that effort is working.

Soledad?

O'BRIEN: Dana Bash on the Capitol Hill for us. Dana, thanks.

Carol?

COSTELLO: Some nasty weather out there, and Chad is keeping an eye on it. Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Chad.

Bruce Springsteen has a new sound -- it's new for him, at least, but the roots, of course, go way back. We talked exclusively last night, right before his concert at the Garden.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, MUSICIAN: We have this big, brassy, music hall, tavern-style street-type...

O'BRIEN: Fun, chaotic...

SPRINGSTEEN: -- very big band. The idea, what I wanted to capture, was the vitality of the people that built the place. I said, I want this something like, if we were playing it in a music hall in 1899, you know, in some mining town, it would be immediately understood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: My full interview with The Boss about music and politics and much more is coming up at 9:40 a.m. Eastern.

COSTELLO: I'm ashamed, but, what did he look like in person? Was he absolutely gorgeous.

O'BRIEN: He looks all right. I'll tell you that. He looks all right.

COSTELLO: I suspected that.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, more on those terror raids in Miami. How significant are the arrests? We'll ask a former assistant director with the FBI.

O'BRIEN: Also the man known as Dr. Death makes a new bid for freedom. We'll tell you how Jack Kevorkian's latest court appearance went.

Those stories ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: CNN has details now of the indictment against a suspected homegrown terror ring. Seven men under arrest. Their base in a Miami warehouse has been searched. Today at court, at least one of them will be charged with conspiracy to wage war against the United States. They're described as sort of a religious sect that identifies with al Qaeda.

CNN security analyst Pat D'Amuro is formerly the assistant director of the FBI, in charge of the New York office. Nice to see you. Thanks for being with us.

You've had a chance to look at this indictment. What sticks out to you? What do you find remarkable in it?

PAT D'AMURO, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Well, they're actually charging the individuals with material support...

O'BRIEN: What does that mean?

D'AMURO: ... to commit a terrorist act. Well, it's individuals that were actually conspiring to conduct a terrorist attack inside the United States. They were talking about attacking the Sears Tower, FBI offices, possibly courthouses. They obviously were dealing with somebody -- we don't know yet if it was an undercover FBI agent or a cooperating witness that was actually talking to them about conducting these attacks. They pledged their allegiance to bin Laden.

O'BRIEN: Does it surprise you that, in all the information we've seen, there's been no evidence of bomb making materials removed, that they didn't bring a bomb squad, they didn't bring bomb-sniffing dogs, they didn't bring a fingerprinting lab to that warehouse in Miami that seems to be the headquarters.

D'AMURO: That was the clue last night when we were watching it, that there were no bomb squads on scene, there were no dogs. So we knew the bureau was telling us early on that they did not have explosive material, they did not have weapons. And as we can see from the indictment, they were talking about trying to obtain that material from somebody that was cooperating with the FBI.

O'BRIEN: In this indictment, do you get the sense that these guys are the real deal, really aligned with or trying to be aligned with al Qaeda? Or sort of neophytes who are talking about -- you know, kind of wannabes who -- or I guess maybe that's sort of a wide range and there's something in between? D'AMURO: Sure. Well, we really don't know. We'll see more as this unfolds. I mean, it does look like they're a gang that maybe couldn't shoot straight, but we don't know that yet. And when people are planning to conduct a terrorist attack, the FBI is not going to sit back and wait to see whether or not they're for real.

O'BRIEN: Right. You don't want to learn that. Interesting. In a way, I think that al Qaeda has really tried to get Americans on board. It would certainly make things easier. You wouldn't have to worry about the visa issues, you wouldn't have to worry about sticking out in a community. How big of a problem is homegrown terror right now?

D'AMURO: Well, it is a problem. And the FBI has been on top of this for years. It's actually been brewing in this country for years before even 9/11, with various different blocs, Muslim groups, other hate groups, other terrorist organizations, domestic, indigenous to the United States. So this isn't a surprise that it's happening.

But I think you're going to see this happen more and more often. They're a little bit more difficult to detect, but that's one of the reasons the FBI has undergone such a massive approach at trying to reach out for the public. That if somebody in the public sees something like this -- and this may very well be how this case started, that somebody reported this to the FBI because they saw this type of activity in that particular area. The FBI has gone out, numerous communities reaching out, telling people we're here. Contact the JTTF if you see something, and let us know what's going on in your communities.

O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of the funding cuts and how they play into all of this. I mean, these guys, from what we can tell, were targeting the Sears Tower. They weren't targeting something local and small and a local landmark. They were going for a big city, from Miami to a big city and they were targeting their big landmark.

D'AMURO: Yes. Well, the Sears Tower has been threatened before. Reports of threats coming into the Sears Tower before. One of the individuals I'm sure you'll see is coming from Chicago, and that's one of the reasons that he wanted to go back to that particular area. We'll learn more about that threat as this unfolds, and more about why he wanted to conduct that attack as more and more information becomes known to the public.

O'BRIEN: I guess. What are you listening for in these press conferences, these various news conferences that we're going to have today, that we're going to hear?

D'AMURO: Well, I think what you're going to hear is that the FBI and the Department of Justice took every action they felt necessary to prevent the potential for a terrorist attack to happen. And I think they're going to tell you that they did not have the explosive material, and some people are going to say maybe this gang really couldn't carry out a terrorist attack. That's irrelevant. It is relevant because it's a crime to talk about conducting those attacks here and conspiring to conduct those attacks. O'BRIEN: CNN security analyst Pat D'Amuro. Thank you very much. Appreciate your insight on that. You want to visit our Web site at cnn.com for the full text of this terror indictment. Pretty interesting what they lay out there.

Also, we're expecting to get more details on these arrests as the morning goes on. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and top FBI officials will be discussing the plot at a news conference in Washington, D.C. at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time. And then an hour later at 11:30 a.m., the U.S. attorney's office in Miami is scheduled to hold its own news conference on the terror raids. You want to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Coming up, CNN contributor and radio talk show host Bill Bennett will join us live. We'll get his take on that secret government program keeping tabs on the bank records of thousands of Americans.

And later, Soledad's exclusive interview with The Boss. Bruce Springsteen opens up about his new album and more, why politics are such a big part of his music. Stay with AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Details now of another secret surveillance program are now coming to light, as we've been talking about this morning. This time, the government is focusing on the personal financial records of thousands of Americans. Let's check in with CNN contributor and radio host Bill Bennett and see what his listeners are saying about the story this morning. His show is called "Bill Bennett's Morning in America." He's just off the air and he joins us from his studios in Alexandria, Virginia.

Hey, Bill. Good morning.

BILL BENNETT, RADIO HOST: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: What is everybody talking about?

BENNETT: They were talking about that, for sure. We started with the Miami story, of course, of this plot -- supposed plot -- to blow up the World Trade Center. The people were angry about that, bothered by it -- a little afraid. A lot of talk about our kids, the next generation, we have working kids in cities like Chicago and New York, fear for them. So that was quite apparent.

But the fury this morning was about the "New York Times," and it wasn't fury about people having their bank records looked at. It was hundreds of people calling and saying, Look, we're in a war on terror. This program, the SWIFT program, at the Treasury Department, apparently doing a lot of good. We captured this guy who was responsible for the bombings in Bali because of this program. And it also led to the arrests of some of the people last July 7, and people are wondering about the "New York Times" and other outlets as to when they will stop interfering with these intelligence programs. O'BRIEN: So you think a lot of the rage from your listeners is directed at the "New York Times" for sort of outing this previously secret program?

BENNETT: Yes; the question as posed by one of our listeners was this -- here's the government. Now, we know the government may overclassify. We know the government keeps secrets it shouldn't, but this is a government that we've elected. They are responsible and accountable to us. And they are our first line of defense, through the military and through intelligence operations, in the war on terror. They said the "New York Times" cloaks itself in the First Amendment, but it's a profit-making media behemoth which is out to make headlines and make profits. And the government is entitled to have its views respected over that of the editors of the "New York Times."

So this thing continues to build. We had Pete Hoekstra on, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who is extremely frustrated about this. Something is going to happen before long. I know we've had hearings on this, but people don't appreciate just how angry a lot of the public is, in what they feel is an interference with the program. Here you have the Miami story, where the FBI, Soledad, penetrated this group. This depends upon having intelligence that remains secret, and if it is always being spilled out in the papers, people are worried, we're going to be putting ourselves and our kids in jeopardy.

O'BRIEN: I guess the "New York Times" was sort of arguing that the public had a right to know, when you're talking about all these public records. Did you have no even small percentage of your listeners who said, Listen, as a person whose records may have been trolled through, I'm uncomfortable with this program that heretofore was secret?

BENNETT: Yes, of course, we had a couple. We have a whole wide range of point of views. But I'm giving you the preponderance of the callers this morning. People have been searched at the airports. They are used to this. They are used to having some measure of privacy being given away, not given away, being qualified, in this war. When we're talking about the major transactions, people were not so worried about it. Someone cited Alexander Solzhenitsyn's speech at Harvard, your alma mater -- you may not remember the speech -- but it was a very important speech.

O'BRIEN: So don't remember the speech, but now it's coming back to me, Bill. Remind me what he said.

BENNETT: It was 1978, before you were born.

He said, Sometimes the public doesn't have a right to know. There are things that we shouldn't know. There are things we need to leave secret so that we can be protected. I mean the assumption that the government is always in the wrong and that it always -- we always have to spill the beans on the government is not a correct one, either, and particularly in a time of war, people are putting more confidence in the government than the "New York Times." O'BRIEN: I think you're right. I think it's going to lead somewhere, as you mentioned those hearings. I think it's something you're going to be talking about a lot more.

Bill Bennett, thanks. Have a great weekend. Okay?

BENNETT: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Carol?

BENNETT: You, too, Soledad. Thanks so much.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You were born before 1978.

O'BRIEN: No, I was not. I think he said I wasn't born yet, and I'm sticking with that story.

COSTELLO: Good job.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Bill.

COSTELLO: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, a vicious take down on the basketball court. Did you see this? Is this a crime, though? Is it? We'll hear from both the player who was knocked out and his father.

Plus, more on those Miami terror raids. We'll take you live to the neighborhood where the suspects allegedly plotted these attacks and find out how the raids went down. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Look at the Sears Tower this morning. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello, sitting in for Miles this morning. Happy Friday.

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