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Your World Today
More Than 60 Killed in Baghdad & Diwaniya, Iraq; Obama in Kenya; NTSB Officials Hold News Conference on Kentucky Plane Crash; Ehud Olmert Discusses Cease-fire
Aired August 28, 2006 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A day after Iraq's prime minister says the violence is abating, dozens die in more attacks and fighting in Iraq.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: One year after Hurricane Katrina the U.S. remembers as concerns mount about a new tropical storm.
FRAZIER: A hero's welcome. Kenya's adopted son visiting from America.
We'll have the whole story coming up
MCEDWARDS: Also, dressing it up. This year's Emmy nominees hit the red carpet, and we've got all the fashionable details.
Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.
I'm Colleen McEdwards.
FRAZIER: And I'm Stephen Frazier.
From Baghdad to Kenya, and Los Angeles, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
We'll begin in Iraq, where bombings and street gun battles are following a particularly bloody weekend, just as the prime minister says violence is actually on the decline.
MCEDWARDS: That's right. Three months into Iraq's unity government, eliminating the insurgency and disbanding the militia seems as big a challenge now as it ever was.
But let's begin with an update on the violence that has killed dozens of people this day alone. Iraqi soldiers fought fierce battles with Shia militia south of Baghdad, while the capital itself saw one of the worst attacks since a major security crackdown several weeks ago.
Michael Holmes joins us now from Baghdad with more on this.
Michael, what's happening?
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Colleen, that security crackdown, Operation Together Forward, is being concentrated here in Baghdad. What we saw today was a quite extraordinary situation develop in a place called Diwaniya.
That's a Shia area, about 160 kilometers south of Baghdad. It's an area heavy with militia presence, especially the fear of Mehdi militia. That's a group controlled by the radical Baghdad cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Diwaniya something of a stronghold for him and his militia, and it has been exerting its influence there.
Some confusion over how this exactly started. It appears that the -- the Iraqi army arrested one of Muqtada al-Sadr's men over suspicion of planting a bomb. The Mehdi army then asked for him to be released. When it didn't happen, attacks began at police stations.
The Iraqi army was involved. And then it really began to become a pitched battle. It's been comparatively quiet there until now.
Now, the latest info we have is that the Iraqi army says it is almost bringing the security situation under control. An official said that the Defense Ministry has sent more Iraqi troops to Diwaniya to deal with the situation. That same official telling us the death toll now at 61. That includes 23 Iraqi soldiers and, according to him, 38 gunmen.
Now, that's a bit of a bloody nose for the Iraqi military. They have been held at bay now for getting on for 18 hours or more as this battle continues.
Now, you also mentioned what's been going on here in Baghdad, too, another bloody day here as well. There was a car bombing at the Interior Ministry, just outside the Interior Ministry. It was a large bomb, too. Eleven people dead, more than 60 wounded. It appears police, of course, were the target and they were among the dead.
Now, in addition, eight U.S. soldiers have been killed over the past few days as well. Four of them in one bombing, two in another bombing. The others were small arms fire. We were with one of the units that suffered one of those IED explosions yesterday, and two people were killed. It was a large IED, a pressure plate device that blew up a very heavy armored vehicle -- Colleen.
MCEDWARDS: You know, we reminded our viewers before we went to you, Michael, that this is coming of course at a time where there have been several statements suggesting that the violence is abating.
So what is -- what is the real situation, when you look at it big picture?
HOLMES: Yes. Over the last month, this month -- last month was a record month for deaths. But then this Operation Together Forward started here in Baghdad, involving the U.S. military and the Iraqi military, going into problematic suburbs and house by house, essentially, trying to scare off the insurgents, get their weapons together.
Now, that's worked in those areas where the military has gone in. But there were no pitched battles there. The insurgents simply left. And the fear is that they're going to come back in. As I say, I was with the U.S. military in one of these suburbs this weekend. We're doing a patrol in the back streets, we turn around a corner, there was a body, a man with his hands bound, shot in the head.
Sectarian violence still happening in these areas. So the great fear is that, while, yes, there's been a drop in those areas, it will rise again when the military presence is reduced -- Colleen.
MCEDWARDS: Absolutely.
Michael Holmes, thanks very much.
Michael in Baghdad for us -- Stephen.
FRAZIER: Colleen, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says there should be one law, one authority and one gun in Lebanon. He made his statement during his stop in Beirut, a visit that's part of a Middle East tour to shore up support for the U.N. resolution that stopped the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Annan also said that Israel must end the blockade of Lebanon and that Hezbollah must release the captured Israeli soldiers that triggered all the fighting. He also talked about establishing a weapons-free zone in southern Lebanon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOFI ANNAN, SECRETARY-GENERAL, UNITED NATIONS: The cessation of hostilities has on the whole been holding remarkably well. Israeli forces have been withdrawing from positions it occupied, while the Lebanese army has been deploying to the south. UNIFIL is there to assist the Lebanese armed forces exercise its full authority in the south.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRAZIER: The secretary general will travel next to Israel to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
MCEDWARDS: Well, now to Turkey, where a series of explosions has rocked several cities to tell you about there. The latest happened in the resort town of Antalya, in a market area near several restaurants. You see the chaos here.
Police say at least three people were killed, 18 people wounded. Earlier, three blasts happened in the popular resort town of Marmaris. Authorities say a bomb under a seat in a minibus exploded, wounding at least 21 people, including 10 Britons. At least two other explosions in garbage bins around the same time went off, but it did not hurt anyone.
Another blast came in the country's financial hub, Istanbul. Police say a bomb in a package left near a school wounded six people.
Well, the arrival of a U.S. senator in Kenya this weekend was accompanied by -- I guess you could call it an unusual level of fanfare.
FRAZIER: Oh, they were treating him like a rock star. Barack Obama came to Africa both as an advocate for HIV testing and some other issues, but also as a son visiting his father's homeland.
Jeff Koinange has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If Barack Obama was expecting a quiet family reunion in his ancestral hometown, he was seriously mistaken. From Obama T-shirts to photo ops to signing of his 11-year-old autobiography, now a bestseller, all in its first few minutes here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up, guys. Back up.
KOINANGE: And the balance of bodyguards more visible here due to the sudden rock star status.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS: This is obviously a wonderful event for me, the opportunity to come back to the land where my father was born.
KOINANGE: And with that, the senator's convoy was off. Thousands lined the streets just to catch a glimpse of the man many here consider their son and brother, even though he was born in the U.S. All the way to his first stop the crowd kept growing and singing.
These men sang, "Clear the way, Obama is coming."
While these women chimed in with, "God has returned our son."
This was the first time the crowds had seen Obama, and even for a politician used to crowds, Obama mania here seemed a bit overwhelming.
But he quickly composed himself, greeting them in the native tong of his father, a goat herder-turned-Harvard-educated economist.
OBAMA: I just wanted to say very quickly that I am so proud to be back home and to see all of...
(APPLAUSE)
KOINANGE (on camera): It was at his first stop that Obama probably got his biggest welcome. Thousands of locals turning up just to see him take an HIV test.
OBAMA: I just want everybody to remember that if a U.S. senator from the United States can get tested and his wife can be tested, that everybody in this crowd can get tested, an everybody in the city can get tested, and everybody in country can get rested.
(APPLAUSE) KOINANGE: Applause now, but this is a country where many avoid getting tested out of fear of testing positive for AIDS. More than two million people in this country have died of AIDS, and at least three million are carrying the virus, and probably many more.
And just like that, he followed through on his word and waited the 20 minutes for the results before addressing the masses.
OBAMA: I want to make sure that everybody is encouraged to make the time to get tested.
KOINANGE: Next stop, the recently named Senator Barack Obama secondary school in his father's village an hour away. The students ecstatic, singing "Senator Obama, you have achieved fame and fortune; you are our inspiration." Where he unveiled a plaque.
But the best, no doubt, came last, Obama reuniting with his grandmother for first time in 14 years, and introducing his children.
A favorite son, now a hero, trying to make a difference on both sides of the Atlantic.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan.
We're going to break into our international coverage to go live to Lexington, Kentucky. The latest from the NTSB on the crash of the Comair flight.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
DEBBIE HERSMAN, NTSB: Flight 5191. I am Debbie Hersman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.
(CROSSTALK)
HERSMAN: I'd like to begin by telling you a little bit about what we did at our organizational meeting last night.
We met with all parties. We met with the investigators that are in town. And we established the parties to the investigation. We also formed our teams, and I will describe to you a little bit about what are teams are going to be doing today.
Our teams out working now. We're going to have another meeting tonight at 7:00. We'll be able to provide you more information and updates on the work that our team did throughout the day today. We will do that later today. We will do that this evening after our briefing.
We have a number of parties to the investigation. The Federal Aviation Administration is a party. General Electric, the manufacturer of the engines, is a party.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is the accredited rep. They're being advised by Bombardier, the manufacturer of the aircraft.
Comair, the operator, is a party. The pilots, the mechanics, air traffic controllers and the flight attendants are also represented as parties. The Blue Grass Airport is an additional party to the investigation.
We established a number of teams last night. And we have -- we have a large number of people who are actually not on scene today but working at the airport.
We've got a team of operations and human factors, investigators who with their team are at the airport. They're actually in a truck, in a high truck. They are going to be on the airport property. They're going to be sitting up at a level as if you could see from the cockpit.
They're going to be looking at the runway markings, the taxiway markings. They're going to be looking at what could be seen from the cockpit.
They're also going to put together a similar exercise tomorrow morning, or whenever the conditions are appropriate. We're trying to simulate the conditions as they were yesterday morning at around 6:00 a.m. so we can check the lighting, we can see what the visibility might be. And again, we'll look at the markings and the conditions and try to see what the pilot saw.
Our air traffic control group is interviewing the controller that was on duty during the accident today. Our air traffic control group is also going to be obtaining a number of records and information about what was -- what was -- what the procedures were, what the staffing requirements were, and other things associated with air traffic control.
Last night we had a discussion. They were able to pull the tower tapes, and the tower tapes confirmed the information that we had in our edition of the cockpit voice recorder, and that was that the planning discussions between the air traffic controllers and the flight crew were about a takeoff from runway 22.
Our airport and survival factors teams are going to be pulling information about any (INAUDIBLE) that have been issued, any improvements that have been done at the airport. They're going to be looking at the runway lighting, the runway marking, the signage, and they're going to be looking at the procedures at the airport.
They're going to be looking to see if there were any closures or any information that we ought to know about. In addition, they're going to be looking at survival factor issues, they're going to be looking at the aircraft, and they're going to be looking at the response that occurred post-accident.
Our structures and our systems team have a very difficult job ahead of them. As many of you all know, there was extensive fire and a lot of damage on the scene. And so they are working hard to try to connect the physical evidence on scene with the evidence that we have on the flight data recorder. And that information will be able to tell them what the aircraft was doing and the position that it was in.
Our structures team is responsible for a site survey. Together with some of local, state and federal officials, they're conducting a GPS survey to document all of the debris, all of the pieces of the aircraft, and the placement of everything. They will then develop a detailed map, and that will be something that will help us with this investigation. That is something that they're continuing to work on today, they worked on all day yesterday.
It's their responsibility to document what happened to this aircraft and how it broke apart and where it broke apart. Our systems team is going to document what they can, and they are going to also be using the information from the flight data recorder.
Our power plants team is going to be looking at the engines. From the information that they have from the flight data recorder and what they could see on scene, the engines are intact even though there was burn damage. But they appear to be good working order at the time of the accident.
Our vehicle performance team is very interested in the ground track of the aircraft. They are taking some measurements, and they're also on the airport property. They're looking at runway 26, and they're looking at all of the physical marks.
They're looking at the depth of the marks that are on the ground. They're looking at the height of where the aircraft might have impacted trees. And they are going to try to determine the aircraft performance and the trajectory of the airplane.
We also have a weather team. And our weather team is pulling data not only from Blue Grass Airport, but from other sources to try to determine the conditions at the time of the accident.
We have convened our FDR and our CVR teams. The flight data recorder team and the cockpit voice recorder team all arrived in Washington this morning. They went to the NTSB headquarters and began work in our lab at about 11:00 this morning to try to pull the data.
And as I mentioned yesterday, we were able to recover both the CVR and the FDR. Both were in good condition. We have about 32 minutes of audio from the CVR. The CVR team is going to work in Washington to try to transcribe that recording today. We may have more information at our progress meeting tonight about the CVR.
The FDR also was in good condition. Fairly new, it had several hundred parameters of usable data. And our team in Washington is also going to be trying to pull that down and figure out what that tells us about what was going on at the time of the accident.
I went back to the scene today. As you know, last night the coroner confirmed they had removed all the bodies from the aircraft.
Our teams are continuing to work on scene today to do documentation. Our systems, our structures team are out there. The debris field is still being documented, so there's some scatter -- lot of burn damage on the ground and to the aircraft. There's a number of tree strikes.
There's still a significant amount of work that needs to be done.
We continue to meet with the family members. I provided a briefing to the family members before I came here. And we will be working to try to make sure that they are able to recover the effects on scene. We have a company that's going to be working to collect those and make sure that they're returned.
I would like to give you a few bullets from the cockpit voice recorder. This is just preliminary information from our audition of the CVR. They are transcribing the CVR, and we'll have more detailed information on that. But I'll give you a few highlights from the cockpit voice recorder.
The preflight preparations in the cockpit were normal. No problems with the air worthiness of the aircraft were noted by the crew.
Air traffic control and the flight crew planned for a takeoff from runway 22. As you know, the FDR and the evidence on scene indicates the crew took off from runway 26.
And finally, the takeoff roll began and the aircraft continued to accelerate until the recording stopped.
That's all the information that we're going to be releasing at this press briefings. I'd be glad to answer questions. We do expect to have a significant amount of information this evening after our teams come back from completing their work today.
QUESTION: Ms. Hersman, you told us what happened, but you haven't told us how this could happen. Is -- have you formed and your team formed a notion as to how a plane can be told to take off on the long runway and wind uptaking off from the short runway?
HERSMAN: The NTSB is on scene to gather facts. We're going to be gathering evidence, documenting the scene, conducting interviews. All of that information, factual information will be collected.
We will not determine probable cause while we're on scene. And we will not be making any recommendations.
We don't perform analysis while we're on scene. We are here to gather facts. We will continue to share those facts with you, but we will not perform any analysis.
(CROSSTALK)
HERSMAN: Can you tell us if there's any indication that he tried to lift off? And do you have any indication yet from the FDR about how high the plane may actually have gotten? HERSMAN: The question was if we have any information from the FDR of whether or not the plane lifted off, and the answer is, at this point, I do not have that information. That is what our team, our FDR team in Washington may be able to pull off and provide for us. We will find that out.
HERSMAN: While we're still on the subject of the boxes, I know you've given us bullets from the CVR. Can you even in a general way characterize any of the following. Was there any obvious confusion? Was there any obvious distraction? Were the communications clear (INAUDIBLE)?
HERSMAN: No, I cannot. We will talk about the CVR once the team has had an opportunity to try to transcribe it.
Now, I asked the team before I came this morning -- I had a conversation with them and asked them if they would be able to complete the transcription today. And the answer was no. And so we may be able to get some additional from the CVR tonight. And if we can, we will provide that to you.
QUESTION: Can you tell us how (OFF-MIKE)?
HERSMAN: That is also information that our operations and human factor teams are collecting. We'll be looking at everything with these pilots from the time that they got their license, the tests that they took, the -- the experience that they have, the training that they received, any proficiency checks. All of that will be a part of our investigation.
QUESTION: How about their schedule and when they arrived last night? How much rest did they have before this flight?
HERSMAN: Absolutely. The history of the crew and the amount of rest that they get is traditionally a part of our investigation.
We generally look back at least 72 hours, if not -- if not longer. We'll try to determine how much rest the crew had, how much they were working, and what they might have been doing in their off- duty time.
QUESTION: Prior to August 20th -- or post August 20th, rather, were there any other complaints by any other pilots of confusion between 22 and 26 because of the work that had been done (OFF-MIKE)?
HERSMAN: That's something we're looking at. We have a number of ways to be able to find out if there was any other incidents.
There's a reporting system that we can use, and we will be looking at that. We've actually already started querying the ASRS system. There are a number of other efforts that we're undertaking to try to determine what was known and if there were any other situations that might have presented like this one -- Matt (ph).
QUESTION: Haven't those two runways recently been reconfigured and the lighting recently reconfigured in the last few days? HERSMAN: We're looking into reports about any work that had been done at the airport, what might have been approved, what might have been proposed, and what might have been completed. There were also some NOTAMs that have been issued. And we will be pulling all of those -- anything...
QUESTION: What's a NOTAM?
HERSMAN: A notice -- notice to airmen . Anything that might have changed, configuration or appearances at the airport. There was a recent NOTAM on lighting on one of the runways that was cancelled on Friday.
And so we're looking at that. But that is not all we're looking at. We're looking at anything that could present in this accident.
QUESTION: Was there any communication from the tower after the wrong turn was made on the 26?
HERSMAN: I don't have that information, but we perhaps might have it this evening.
QUESTION: Was there any conversation about the illumination of 26?
HERSMAN: I'm sorry?
QUESTION: Was there any conversation about whether or not 26 was illuminated at the time?
HERSMAN: Are you asking between the...
QUESTION: Between the tower and the cockpit.
HERSMAN: I don't have that information at this time. There's nothing on the air traffic control tapes about runway 26. And there is nothing on the cockpit voice recorder referencing runway 26. All the conversations on the CVR and on the FAA tower tapes reference runway 22.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: What about from the airport's standpoint? Are there lights on 26? Do they function? And if there are lights (INAUDIBLE). But if so, were they on?
HERSMAN: We, too, have heard a lot of information about the lights on runway 26. The most recent that we have is there are lights on 26 and they were out of service at the time of the accident yesterday.
We are seeking to determine exactly what the status of those lights are, what their function was, who had access to them. And all of those questions are what our investigators are trying to find the answers to today.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
HERSMAN: That's a question that is central to our investigation and one we're going to try to answer.
QUESTION: Are all the lights on 26 inoperative, or just some of them?
HERSMAN: It's my understanding that all of the lights on runway 26 were out of service.
QUESTION: And what about runway 22? Were those on or off at the time of the accident?
HERSMAN: That I don't have the answer to, but we will -- we're seeking to determine the answer to that. There were aircraft that took off before. We're checking -- you know, that is part of our interview process.
QUESTION: Was there anybody on the flight crew -- did anybody on the flight crew or the ground realize there was a problem prior to the crash?
HERSMAN: I can't answer that question at this point in time, but we may have more information after the teams finish their readouts today.
QUESTION: Is the tower responsible for making a...
KAGAN: All right. We lost the picture there, but we did get a lot of information out of Lexington, Kentucky, and the NTSB talking about the investigation going into the crash of this Comair flight. They're going to look at a lot of things, including who the air traffic controller was on duty at the time of the crash, lighting, markings, signage, as well.
Our Jason Carroll is in Kentucky, listening as well to this news conference.
Jason, I thought it was really interesting. They're talking about the two different runways, a short runway which the airplane took off from, and the much longer runway.
We're going the get to Jason in a moment since we have our picture back.
Let's listen in.
HERSMAN: ... same time of day and see what was known.
QUESTION: Was the control tower fully staffed at the time?
HERSMAN: The information that we have is that there was one person in the control tower, and that was consistent with normal operations at that control tower. That was not unusual.
(CROSSTALK) QUESTION: Was there anything in the way, parking garage, possibly?
HERSMAN: I have not been to the tower, so I cannot tell you the answer to that question.
QUESTION: Are toxicology reports standard for crewmembers?
HERSMAN: Toxicology reports are standard in accident investigations. There are federal regulations that require testing within a certain period of time. They generally look for alcohol and six of the illicit drugs.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Were there any other pilots in the cockpit? Was there anyone riding in the jump seat as a passenger?
HERSMAN: That has been what we have been told, that there was a jump seat passenger. We have three crew listed and 47 passengers listed. The jump seater would have been considered one of the 47 passengers.
QUESTION: Is today's weather hampering the investigation at all?
HERSMAN: This morning our teams were out there. I was on scene this morning. But the weather does delay the work that can be done on scene. One of issues that we have to be careful about is safety on scene for everyone who's out there as well.
And we'll -- we'll take every effort to protect the integrity of the scene. If we need to tarp things, we're doing that. And our team will continue working as best they can.
QUESTION: How familiar was this pilot with this airport?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
HERSMAN: Our team is documenting everything from the -- from the -- from the runway, all the way to the final rest. And there are a number of witness marks. Whether it's tree strikes, ground scars, they're looking at all of that. And they will document if there was anything that would show us what the a aircraft was doing.
That is what our vehicle performance person is doing all day today. That is what they are looking at.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
HERSMAN: We may have more information about that tonight after he's able to give us a report on what he's -- what he's seen today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to take two more questions. Two more questions.
QUESTION: Based on the wreckage, can you give us any indication about escape routes for the passengers? Were there any -- you know, as far as doors, exits, anything based on the wreckage of the fuselage?
HERSMAN: As you know, there was only one survivor. The one survivor was the first officer, who was pulled from the wreckage by three -- three individuals. And -- and the scene is very damaged. There was significant burn damage, significant fire damage.
We are -- we're certainly looking at survivability, I think the coroner is going to make his determinations on that issue.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) flying the plane, was the first officer in command or was it the captain, do you know?
HERSMAN: I don't know the answer to that, but I suspect I could provide that for you this evening.
Thank you all very much. We're going to have our organizational meeting at 7:00. We may not be briefing until 9:00 p.m. or later.
KAGAN: So it sounds like it's going to be a late night in Lexington, Kentucky. But they expect more and more information to become available as the day comes on. They're looking at what more and more looks like was a confusion in which runway this Delta plane was supposed to take for takeoff. The short one, which it ended up on, 26, which you see there; or the long one, 22. It would appear by what they've been able to hear from cockpit voice recorder, the crew believes every indication was that they were taking Runway 22. And yet it was Runway 26 that clearly was not long enough for them to get this plane off the ground.
Our Jason Caroll is standing by in Lexington with more -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, obviously, still waiting to hear a lot more from investigators. But as you may have heard there during the press conference, it was very clear that the crew had a conversation with the tower before takeoff, instructing them to take off on Runway 22, again which is the longer runway. Still unclear at this point why the crew ended up on the shorter runway, which was Runway 26. There should have been instruments onboard indicating that they were on the wrong runway. Why they were not able to read those, at this point, again, unclear.
At this point, they will also be interviewing the one person that was inside the air traffic control tower, the air traffic controller. It's going to be interesting to hear what he has to say, what he can add to this investigation, as well. Because it makes you wonder if, at any point once he gave the OK and cleared the aircraft to take off on the proper runway, why then was he not able to look out and notice that they were, in fact, on the wrong runway?
So still a lot of information that has to be gathered here. Perhaps by this evening, we're going to get even more information from the investigators with NTSB -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Yes, and Jason, you know, this is interesting, I'm looking on the wires. The Associated Press is reporting that the airport director there says there was an airport repaving project just in the past week that changed the route that commercial planes took to get to the main runway. So that could have also caused some confusion. And then you also heard the woman from NTSB talk about that the lights apparently weren't working correctly on the runway that the plane was supposed to take.
CARROLL: And just to add to that, as well, when you speak to representatives at Comair, they describe the captain, as well as the first officer, as being experienced pilots. But you also have to wonder, while they're looking at their investigation, these pilots were obviously experienced, but you have to wonder how familiar they were with the airport here, how familiar they were with the runways here. That obviously is going to be key to the investigation, as well.
KAGAN: Absolutely. Jason, stay with us. Chad wants to jump in here. Chad, you have something to say about the runways and the confusion that could have popped up?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, I got a bunch of e- mails this morning. I was reading them from AMERICAN MORNING. Why didn't they number them something different, 52, 22? It's all about the degrees of heading that the runway is. Runway 22 is actually at 220 degrees to the north -- let's say north is zero, east is 90, south is 180, west is 270. So 22 goes southwest, where 26 or 260 is actually almost most due east to west. That's why the numbers are so similar. And that's why you see the two rather than -- and many times you don't get runways that are that close of an acute angle. They're almost crossed, and there's no mistaking those.
KAGAN: Right. Also the weather in the morning was not bad.
MYERS: Was not bad. A little bit of haze. Visibility was pretty good. But they're going to try to replicate all of that, all the darkness, they're going to replicate the haze and replicate the angle where the pilots were sitting, whether they could see the ground numbers or not.
KAGAN: Jason, a couple of people, they want to talk to the NTSB. The woman mentioned the air traffic controller who was on duty, but also, clearly, the one survivor, the co-pilot. He apparently would have some answers.
CARROLL: Absolutely.
KAGAN: But he is in no condition to talk right now.
CARROLL: That is correct. The first officer, Jim Polehinke, still in critical condition. So investigators are unable to speak with him at this point. And just also to just touch on a little bit more of what Chad was talking about, in terms of the naming of the runways and naming them for the direction that they face, there should be instruments onboard as well, correct, that indicate which direction the aircraft is headed in. And so, again, you have to wonder were these instruments being looked at, were they working properly? A lot of different factors here. Perhaps it's just too early at this point, without getting some more information from the NTSB, to figure out exactly why, after giving clearance to go on the correct runway, the longer runway, why the crew ended up on the shorter runway.
KAGAN: Meanwhile this crash, I would imagine, is having a huge impact on the small city of Lexington.
CARROLL: Oh, without question. So many people in this community knew some of those who were onboard. You heard the story a little earlier about John Hooker and his new bride. The two of them had just been married yesterday, or the day before the crash. And so 300 people attended this wedding, a lot of people in town for that wedding. The two newlyweds hop on board, headed for their honeymoon in California, and something like this happens. It's devastating.
KAGAN: Absolutely. And as the passenger list becomes available, I'm sure we're going to learn more and more stories of lives ended too soon. Jason, thank you. Jason Carroll, live from Lexington, Kentucky.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: Ernesto is causing some serious headaches for NASA, as well. Ahead of the storm, the agency is scrubbing tomorrow's launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis. NASA wants to launch before September 7th. Liftoff after that would interference with a Russian Soyuz flight to the International Space Station which is set for mid-September.
Let's look at the aftermath of another storm, Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana leaders are talking today about Gulf Coast reconstruction and storm preparedness. Governor Kathleen Blanco wants to be sure that anyone in the path of the storm has a place to find refuge.
And with that, we will go ahead and rejoin our international coverage on YOUR WORLD TODAY.
MCEDWARDS: ... with more. And Jim, Kofi Annan clearly said what expects needs to be done in terms of the implantation here. But do we know anything more about the specifics?
JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I think today, here you've got Kofi Annan starting a sweeping Middle East tour that will eventually take him to Iran, it will take him to Syria, to Israel and other places. But starting in Lebanon, the message to the Lebanese people was, you know, you have to reclaim your sovereignty, this is your last, best chance. Well, the secretary-general then went just a few minutes ago to the southern suburbs to view firsthand with his own eyes the damage there.
Take a look at the scenes in the southern suburbs as the secretary-general and his motorcade tried to make their way through there. They were met by a frenzied crowd of Hezbollah supporters. This is the Hezbollah stronghold in the southern suburbs. Women in chadors rushed the vehicles in the motorcade; holding up pictures of Hassan Nasrallah; booing the secretary-general; booing the Prime Minister Fouad Siniora; holding up posters of Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state, in a caricature as a vampire; venting their anger at the message here that was largely for Hezbollah to disarm.And clearly, a message not going over well at all.
You can get an idea from those pictures that show the scene around there, security moving in all around the secretary-general and the prime minister. But earlier, Kofi Annan said that he was telling Israel to hand over the prisoners its holding. He had a similar message for Lebanon and Hezbollah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: I also renew my call for the abducted soldiers to be freed and, as a fair step, to be transferred under the auspices of ICRC, either to the government of Lebanon or to a third party. And we, the U.N., will be prepared to play a role, if we are required to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: Now Annan pledged that he was going to renew the call for Israel to lift the air-and-sea blockade that is crippling the economy of this country, the return to normal. But he also said to reclaim its sovereignty, Lebanon to prevent the flow of arms, of rockets, from Syria to Hezbollah in the south of Lebanon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNAN: Lebanon has too much conflict, there are too many arms in the country already. You don't need any more. And we all -- not only does Lebanon have to protect its borders, but all nations have to respect the Security Council resolution that has imposed an embargo on arms shipments into Lebanon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: Now you get an idea, too, back in the southern suburbs, when Kofi Annan tried to get out of the car, his security men had to bring him back in. Once again being booed by Hezbollah supporters. Just a sign of some of the resentment that is being held by Hezbollah. It's important to remember, Hezbollah is one of the last -- it is the last militia that remains armed in Lebanon, that permits this group to act independently of the government. And you can see very clearly there its supporters do not want to see Hezbollah give up its arms, even in context of national dialogue.
Back to you, Colleen.
MCEDWARDS: Yes, I'm glad you came back to those pictures, Jim, because I wanted to ask you about that. I mean, you really get a sense there of the level of the emotion that still runs.
And I'm Just curious what people say when you're out talking to people, not just supporters of Hezbollah, but are people any more optimistic now that the cease-fire, though tense, is holding? CLANCY: Well, they're optimistic that it's holding for now. And let's just say for now. Look, when we see those pictures of what was going on in the southern suburbs you have to put it in context. This is the Hezbollah stronghold. They were aware that the secretary- general was going to be going there. They were aware that television cameras were going to be there. This is a very vocal show of support. But the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, as popular as he is among some Shia, he is growing more unpopular with others who feel that he is dragging Lebanon toward a continuous cycle of conflict, rebuilding the country repeatedly. The rest of the country see that as a suicide mission, and they don't want to be dragged along.
MCEDWARDS: Jim Clancy, in Beirut. Thanks very much, Jim. Appreciate it.
FRAZIER: Well, what would make a young woman mourn the death of the person who kidnapped her?
MCEDWARDS: This is a complicated psychological story, and we're going the take a look at it when YOUR WORLD TODAY returns. A young teenager speaking out about nearly 10 years in captivity.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MCEDWARDS: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY.
FRAZIER: Seen live in more than 200 countries across the globe. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.
The Austrian teenager who spent eight years in captivity in a small dungeon says her captor was a part of her life, and that now she is mourning his him in certain ways. Eighteen-year-old Natascha Kampusch's kidnapper committed suicide last week, threw himself under a train after she got out of the underground room where she was held and escaped.
In a statement read by her psychiatrist, Natascha talked about her almost decade-long life in captivity. And among other things, she said that while her daily life was filled with anguish due to her solitude, she did not feel she had missed something.
MCEDWARDS: All right, well, let's take a closer look at this statement from Natascha and the connection between her and her captor, many people are calling it, Stockholm Syndrome, to be sure. And for more on that, we're joined by Dr. Paul Ragan, a military psychologist with Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Dr. Ragan, thanks a lot for being here.
It's heartbreaking to read her say all of this in her own words.
DR. PAUL RAGAN, VANDERBILT UNIV.: It is very much. But I think we can understand the first quotation as a young lady who's really in an acute stage. This is less than a week since her escape, really trying to put the best face on her ordeal.
MCEDWARDS: Well, let me just jump in. You mentioned the first quotation, and let's just make sure we get the full quotation here...
RAGAN: Yes, yes -- go ahead.
MCEDWARDS: She says, "Of course it is true my youth was different from many other people. But generally I don't have the feeling I missed anything. I spared myself many things. I did not start smoking or drinking, and I did not hang out in bad company."
RAGAN: I think for this young lady at this stage for her to be able to realize all that she lost would be so devastating, so overwhelming, I think the technical term is this is a certain degree of rationalization. But I think she's trying to put the best face on the situation.
MCEDWARDS: And that would be completely natural, wouldn't it?
RAGAN: Oh, absolutely. I mean, this is someone who has been utterly isolated, I think she is really hanging on as hard as she can to those positives so that she's not overwhelmed by the realizations.
MCEDWARDS: Right.
I would like to bring our viewers another quote from her statement. In this one she says about the relationship: "He was not my master. I was just as strong. But, to give you a metaphor, he carried me in his arms, but also trampled me underfoot." And she then goes on to say, "He took on the wrong person. He and I both knew that."
Sort of a sense here of strength, I thought.
RAGAN: The thing about it is, is that in the Stockholm Syndrome, or it's been called sort of the capture bond, in which the captive really identifies to some degree with their captor, and this is clearly for purposes of psychological survival. And in that quotation, she's clearly struggling with both the positive and negative aspects, this sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
MCEDWARDS: So what's the trajectory of Stockholm Syndrome, if I can put it that way? What's the typical arch? We don't know all of the details here, I realize. But we talk about grief, where people sort of go through anger and then acceptance. When people come out of this state, what sort of an arch do they go on?
RAGAN: Well, that's a very good question. In this case, it's not a typical Stockholm Syndrome, that is a relatively brief capture in an adult; for example, in the original bank robbery in Stockholm. But in this particular case, she really broke her attachment bond to her parents. She probably wondered why she couldn't be rescued, and made a very, very powerful attachment.
We have to remember humans are attachment animals, and that's why she's mourning his loss, the death of this man.
So the Austrian authorities, I think, are really on top of this. They're saying that they're going to be around for 12 months. So I think her -- the arch is going to be many, weeks of adjusting and I think that her recovery, her treatment in recovery is probably not going to be measured in months, but years.
MCEDWARDS: Dr. Paul Ragan, we have to leave it there. Thank you so much, appreciate it.
RAGAN: Thank you, Colleen.
FRAZIER: We'd like to take our viewers now to a speech in progress, now under way as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert addresses a group of mayors who's gathered for a conference in Haifa. He's defending his administration's prosecution of the war, describing what they have done to Hezbollah. Let's listen now.
EHUD OLMERT, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): ... What the Israeli air force said the six-day war and against the Syrians in the operation peace for the Galilee. Their points were knocked out and they began homeless and they wandered, like nomads. The Lebanese army is now deploying into the south along our international border.
In order to prevent Hezbollah from reinitiating the threat against us for the first time since the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war 35 years ago, a strong multinational force based on the armies of Europe is getting organized in order to enter Lebanon and help it to obstruct the Hezbollah.
1701, United Nations resolution is the most important achievement of Israel in the international arena and its implementation will ensure that our position on our northern border will be incomparably better than it was on the 12th of July. This wasn't a war just against the Hezbollah. The Hezbollah was equipped with the most sophisticated equipment, with missiles, with night-vision equipment, with all sorts of missiles Iran and Syria activated or possible mechanisms against full backing and were the actual base for the threat that has been tackled by the state of Israel in the last month.
It's absolutely clear that Hezbollah has been whip[ed and the president of the U.S., Israel's great friend, George W. Bush has said this, by saying a couple of days ago that very shortly it will come -- it will become clear how much Israel had been victorious and how greatly the Hezbollah had been defeated together with those who had supported it.
Shortly there be a settlement in -- an arrangement in Lebanon which will lead to the removal of the immediate threat from Israel. This is not something that's absolute -- an absolute certainty. It's a likelihood. We have to remain on the alert. And we have to be prepared to use force in order to defend ourselves if so required if the diplomatic settlement through. We have achieved this because we did not flinch from using the requisite force, but we acted with restraint and responsibly to the extent possible. We were able to instruct the army to act unflinching, unhesitatingly when necessary and we also knew when...
FRAZIER: And we're going to fade down now as we see the image here of Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister, speaking to mayors there defending his administration's prosecution of the war against Hezbollah at a time when he and his political party are in political danger now because of that very effect. And we'll be back with more of YOUR WORLD TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MCEDWARDS: And that's YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Colleen McEdwards. LIVE FROM is next for our viewers in United States.
FRAZIER: And for viewers everywhere else, YOUR WORLD TODAY will continue with us. I'm Stephen Frazier, thanks for joining.
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