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American Morning
President Acknowledges CIA Opened Secret Prisons; Paris Hilton Arrested in Los Angeles
Aired September 07, 2006 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Henry at the White House, where the president has finally acknowledged the CIA opened secret prisons. He also revealed that 14 Al Qaeda members have been moved to GITMO. Now Congress has to figure out how to prosecute them.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, where the Pentagon has issued strict new rules against harsh interrogations. But they don't apply to the CIA. I'll have details just ahead.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It could be a big break. Phoenix police say their search for a sexual predator and a serial killer has led to an arrest.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And a big celebrity in trouble. Paris Hilton has been arrested in Los Angeles. It happened overnight. We'll tell you what happened.
M. O'BRIEN: And you can call her mama bear now. We'll have the first video of the panda bear Lun-Lun's teensy weensy, four ounce, stick of butter cub. That's ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you.
I'm Miles O'Brien.
S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.
President Bush has some specific ideas on what to do with those detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He unveiled some of them during Wednesday's terror speech, when he also disclosed the existence of secret CIA prisons.
Now, it's all been handed to Congress, up to Congress to act. Don't expect that debate, though, to be quick or to be quiet.
We've got both the political and security angles covered for you this morning.
Ed Henry at the White House, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.
Let's begin with Ed -- good morning.
HENRY: Good morning, Soledad. That debate begins raging this morning, when a House committee holds a hearing to start combing through the president's plan and some other competing proposals.
But Democrats are already questioning the timing of this, on the eve of the mid-term elections. They say the president is basically demanding pass my bill fast or you're coddling terrorists.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
HENRY (voice-over): President Bush decided to finally acknowledge the existence of secret CIA prisons around the world, just days before the fifth anniversary of 9/11 and two months before the midterm elections.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This program has helped us to take potential mass murderers off the streets before they were able to kill.
HENRY: The president revealed that 14 senior members of Al Qaeda previously in CIA custody have been transferred to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay for prosecution.
Among the 14 terrorists in custody are Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks; Abu Zubaydah, a field commander for Osama bin Laden; and Ramzi Binalshibh, a would-be 9/11 hijacker.
Amid international outrage about the so-called black prisons in Europe and elsewhere, the president insisted the techniques used on the detainees were tough, but legal.
BUSH: I want to be absolutely clear with our people and the world -- the United States does not torture. It's against our laws and it's against our values. I have not authorized it, and I will not authorize it.
HENRY: And the president claimed the intelligence gleaned from the CIA program thwarted terror plots in the U.S. United Kingdom and Asia.
BUSH: Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that Al Qaeda and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland.
HENRY: But Democrats immediately asked why the president was revealing this now, in part three of a series of speeches, framing a seminal issue in the midterms -- the war on terror. And Democrats demanded to know why it took so long for the administration to embrace the Geneva Conventions.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Their bull in a china shop approach -- ignore the Constitution, ignore the rule of law -- has made us worse off than we would have been had they gone to Congress originally. The detainees are suing. Their status is in limbo. We're worse off than we were.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HENRY: And the president will keep the heat on Democrats later this morning with his fourth speech on the war on terror just in the last week. The president will focus on security flaws that led to 9/11 and also talk about controversial post-9/11 changes like the Patriot Act, that he says have stopped other attacks -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Ed Henry for us this morning at the White House.
Ed, thanks.
CNN is going to have live coverage of the president's speech in Atlanta today.
That comes your way at 10:20 a.m. Eastern time.
Now, let's turn to the Pentagon and Jamie McIntyre about those new rules governing how those detainees are going to be treated -- hey, Jamie, good morning.
MCINTYRE: Good morning, Soledad.
You know, at the Pentagon, the big debate was whether to embrace the Geneva Conventions or replace them. In the end, they decided to embrace them in two documents.
The first one is a directive that applies to all Pentagon personnel and it says simply that all detainees shall be treated humanely and in accordance with U.S. law, the law of war and applicable U.S. policy.
Now, of course, the devil is always in the details and in this case, the details are spelled out in another document, "The Army Field Manual," which attempts to lay out in plain English exactly how prisoners can be interrogated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GENERAL. JOHN KIMMONS, ARMY INTELLIGENCE: The new field manual incorporates a single standard for humane treatment, as was alluded to, for all detainees regardless of their status, under all circumstances, in conjunction with all interrogation techniques that are contained within it. And there are no others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: Now, that was good news to human rights groups who say the Pentagon policy basically conforms with international law. But they complained that when President Bush revealed the CIA doesn't have to follow those rules and can use what he called alternative techniques, they say the secrecy involved in that just invites abuse -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: So, what are the specific changes, Jamie?
MCINTYRE: Well, you know, "The Army Field Manual" lays out a specific way that people can be interrogated. And it includes some techniques such as of good cop/bad cop, or pretending that you're not an interrogator, all things that are fairly humane. And it also spells out some specific things that you can't do, inspired by some of the abuses of the past, including forced nudity or forced sexual acts; the use of hoods or duct tape on the eyes to deprive the senses; beatings; electric shock or the infliction of pain; water-boarding, that you know, simulated drowning technique; hypothermia; heat distress; mock executions; withholding of food or water or medicine; and the use of military dogs except for security.
Now those -- that's not an all inclusive list, but they felt it was important to spell those out because there had been abuses of those kinds of things in the past, although not necessarily by interrogators; sometimes just by soldiers.
S. O'BRIEN: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon for us.
Thanks, Jamie.
In a few minutes, Jeff Toobin is going to help us sort out some of the legal implications of this issue -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: In Phoenix, a developing story. A possible break in the Baseline killer case. Just about two hours ago, police announced they have arrested a man who faces charges in one of the serial attacks. The Baseline killer wanted for eight killings, several sexual assaults and other crimes.
Chris
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CHRISTOPHER SIGN, KNXD CORRESPONDENT: This appears to be a very significant break in the case in the search for the Baseline killer, a serial killer that's been stalking Phoenix residents for more than a year now.
One hundred and fifty Phoenix police detectives assigned to this case, working around the clock. And it appears as though, with this arrest, a 40-year-old man arrested, they at least have a strong lead in the case.
Listen as Phoenix police describe what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. ANDY HILL, PHOENIX POLICE: We did develop probable cause to make an arrest, which we did about 5:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon. A traffic stop was conducted by our special assignment unit at 28th Street and Pinchot. And a 40-year-old male was taken into custody. He has been charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of kidnapping, in reference to a sexual assault case that took place last year.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SIGN: Phoenix police searching this home after they arrested the man, who was coming home for work, they say, and he was pulling into his driveway when the SWAT team surrounded him. The 40-year-old male's name is not being released. His photo is not being released.
But we can tell you a sketch has been put out from previous stories. This is what the Baseline killer looks like -- tied to 23 crimes, including eight murders around the entire city of Phoenix dating back to August of last year.
It is, of course, a developing story. We expect more information this afternoon.
In Phoenix, Christopher Sign, CNN.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, a crucial milestone in Iraq. Coalition forces formally handing over control of Iraqi forces to the Iraqi government. Meanwhile, 19 people killed in morning attacks in Baghdad, the worst targeting Iraqi police near a gas station.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the political ropes, expected to announce his resignation shortly. Word is he won't leave office for a year. No exact date given.
Israel ending the blockade on Lebanese air and seaports. Israeli troops will hand over control to -- a post to U.N. forces. The blockade ends three weeks after the U.N. brokered a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
A fire on a Russian nuclear submarine kills two sailors. It happened in the Barents Sea, caused by a short-circuit, we're told. No risk of a radioactive leak, according to the Navy.
In India, rescue workers desperately trying to free 53 miners trapped in a coal mine in the eastern part of that country. Four were able to run-out after the initial explosion. So far, rescuers have not made contact with those who are still trapped.
The family of crocodile hunter Steve Irwin says a private funeral will be held within the next week. A public memorial will come perhaps a week later. Irwin was killed by a stingray on Monday.
NASA will decide later today whether to launch the Space Shuttle Atlantis tomorrow. Engineers trying to decide if it is safe to fly with a bulky fuel cell. There's no time to fix it before the launch window closes tomorrow. After that, the next window opens at the end of October.
Let's get a check of the forecast.
Chad Myers with that -- hello, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Miles.
What time would launch be tomorrow?
M. O'BRIEN: 11:46 Eastern.
MYERS: See. And that's pretty good. The earlier you get in the day, the calmer that weather will be, because thunderstorms will be popping up everywhere in the afternoon.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. They like those earlier launches, for sure.
MYERS: Yes, they sure do.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Big baby news to tell you about. In Atlanta this morning, the zoo there celebrating the arrival of its first panda cub.
Listen.
(VIDEO FOOTAGE FROM ATLANTA ZOO)
S. O'BRIEN: Hear that squeaking here? That's the actual little baby panda cub. We could kind of see it if the mother would move. There you go.
M. O'BRIEN: I don't speak panda.
S. O'BRIEN: Look, look, look.
M. O'BRIEN: There he is. There he is.
S. O'BRIEN: There he is right there -- or she.
M. O'BRIEN: He's just trying to -- he, she.
S. O'BRIEN: The mother's name is Lun-Lun. She was in labor for 35 hours, the longest reported labor for a panda. And as is typical, they're going to wait 100 days before they give the baby a name. And it's hard to tell, too, if the baby is a baby panda boy or a baby panda girl.
M. O'BRIEN: They -- will they know that after 100 days? They should by then, right?
S. O'BRIEN: I don't know. I don't know exactly when they know that.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, I guess they have to know before they name...
S. O'BRIEN: And did you know that 50 percent of pandas will give birth to twins? And twins can be one delivered and then a little bit of a wait and then the next one delivered.
M. O'BRIEN: How long a wait?
S. O'BRIEN: I don't know.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh.
S. O'BRIEN: They're watching the panda, though, to see if she's going to deliver another panda.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, so it could still happen?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: It still could happen?
S. O'BRIEN: Um-hmm.
M. O'BRIEN: Wow!
We'll be watching that.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it's kind of cool.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you.
Still to come, trying terrorists -- it could try the patience of lawyers and judges, all kinds of secret and perhaps embarrassing information would come into play as evidence. We'll talk with our legal analyst, Jeff Toobin, about that.
S. O'BRIEN: And Paris Hilton -- she's always stirring things up in Hollywood. Last night, though, she wasn't arguing or fighting with starlets or dancing on bars. She was mixing it up with the cops. We'll tell you what happened.
M. O'BRIEN: And our "30 and 40 and 50" series continues.
Today, we're talking about menopause, when younger women should start paying attention and when middle-aged women should consider hormones. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: President Bush says 14 terror suspects, including the alleged mastermind of 9/11, have been transferred from secret prisons overseas to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: With these prosecutions, we will send a clear message to those who kill Americans, no longer how long it takes, we will find you and we will bring you to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: The president needs Congress, though, to help set up the rules for putting the top al Qaeda figures on trial.
Joining us to take a look at the legal issues involved, CNN's senior legal analyst, Jeff Toobin -- good morning.
Nice to see you.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
S. O'BRIEN: At a time of war, why does the president need to get the stamp of approval from Congress?
TOOBIN: Because the Supreme Court told him. I mean today -- yesterday's speech was really the result of a multi-year constitutional brawl between the Supreme Court and the president.
The Supreme Court now has twice said to President Bush, your procedures are inadequate. And last June, they said you can't impose these rules unilaterally. You have to get Congress to set up the system. Yesterday was the president's proposal to Congress.
S. O'BRIEN: So less about the rules and more about Congress's involvement?
TOOBIN: Correct. Yesterday -- last June, the decision -- the main part of the decision was Congress has to pass the rules. It has to be a regular law.
S. O'BRIEN: Now that these high value people have been moved to Guantanamo, the 14 we were just talking about, the evidence that was gathered against them in these secret prisons that the president has just admitted to in a speech yesterday, can that be used in their trials later at Guantanamo?
TOOBIN: It appears -- President Bush used the artful phrase "there were some alternative methods of interrogation." We don't know precisely what those were. But one of the controversial aspects of his proposal is that evidence collected with these aggressive techniques -- torture or not, you can debate what term is appropriate -- that probably will be admissible in these military tribunals, if his proposal goes through Congress.
S. O'BRIEN: What's the difference between a military tribunal -- I guess what would the value be for having a military tribunal as opposed to, sort of, you know, in a court system?
TOOBIN: Well, the -- it's much less protective of individual rights. It's similar to a court martial but even less proceed -- less...
S. O'BRIEN: A higher burden of proof?
TOOBIN: No, the same burden of proof, proof beyond a reasonable doubt, both sides represented by counsel. But it's similar to a court martial in that you have a military judge, a military jury, public proceedings.
What's different from a court martial is that according to the president's proposal, secret evidence can be used, evidence that the defendants can't see. And that's very controversial. A proposal in Congress, from Senators Graham, Warner and McCain, says no secret evidence. So that's something that's going to have to be worked out.
S. O'BRIEN: And, to some degree, that's that critical line, because you have -- you know, how do you keep evidence from defendants who are terrorists and so therefore the evidence actually could be used later in later terrorist activities and, at the same time, uphold sort of what is a pillar of our legal system?
TOOBIN: It's a really hard problem, because, you know, even in ordinary criminal cases -- in the "Scooter Libby" case, there are elaborate procedures about how to use classified evidence in a public proceeding.
How do you do it when the terrorists want this information very badly? Yet how do you make it look like -- not look like a kangaroo court, where someone is convicted on evidence they don't even see?
S. O'BRIEN: Realistically, when could trials start taking place?
TOOBIN: A long time. This is going to...
S. O'BRIEN: Meaning a year?
TOOBIN: A year at the earliest. I mean, remember, this isn't just the 14, this is the 445 people in Guantanamo Bay. All of them will be tried under this system. So imagine how long it will take to do 100 trials.
Basically, I think, President Bush's successor is really going to have to deal with Guantanamo Bay more than the president will, because this procedure will not really be in place for quite some time.
S. O'BRIEN: I know I'm asking -- a quick final question to look into like a crystal ball.
Would that be something that you would see on TV? I mean would the military tribunal be aired and...
TOOBIN: I doubt it. I don't think so. I mean they will be open to the public. Like, in federal courts, they're public, but there are no cameras in the courtroom. I anticipate that would be the same rule for these trials.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin.
Thanks, Jeff, for answering all my questions.
TOOBIN: OK.
S. O'BRIEN: Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, the first public words from a girl who escaped after eight years in captivity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATASCHA KAMPUSCH (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I tried to scream out, but -- but no sound came out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: More on her gut wrenching story just ahead.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: This morning in our health series for people in their 30s and their 40s and their 50s, we're talking about menopause. It's normal and inevitable for women.
As CNN's Judy Fortin tells us, it's more than just about hot flashes, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY HBO)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, HOST: But did you see those commercials with those women going through menopause?
They look they're about to slit their own throats.
And you try to say to people, you know, is it hot in here?
And they always go no.
JUDY FORTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whoopi Goldberg jokes at menopause in her latest HBO special. But any woman who's been through it knows that hot flashes aren't so funny when you're experiencing them.
DR. CARLA ROBERTS, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Hot flashes actually, when a woman is standing around doing her normal business and all of a sudden she feels this huge surge of heat coming over her.
FORTIN: Women may not like hearing this, but it's in your late 30s that you start down the road of menopause. That's because the ovaries are producing fewer eggs and fewer hormones.
But it's in your 40s when a woman usually gets hit full force.
Nancy Walsh noticed them in her late 40s, but didn't think much of it. Strictly speaking, Nancy was in pre-menopause.
NANCY WALSH, NOTICED MENOPAUSE SYMPTOMS: It came on rather slowly for me and it was the hot flashes that it started with and they were very intermittent. Like I might only have one in a day. And then, as time went by, they became closer and closer together.
FORTIN: The most common symptoms of peri-menopause are changes in your monthly cycle -- hot flashes and night sweats, mood swings, insomnia and memory loss. The intensity of these symptoms can vary among women. It's in your early 50s when you actually hit menopause.
ROBERTS: Menopause, in the strictest definition, is the day that you have gone 12 months without having a period, consecutive months without having a period.
FORTIN: Now, a woman is considered post-menopausal. But women like Nancy still can suffer the same symptoms before. If the post- menopausal symptoms are so severe that they affect your lifestyle, you may want to consider hormone replacement therapy. Talk to your doctor about the risks and use hormone therapy for the shortest time possible. If the symptoms are less severe, there are other options, like exercise and diet.
ROBERTS: Some women have seen tremendous results by merely incorporating more soy, tofu, soy milk, soy-related products. So soy enriched products and calcium enriched soy produces into their diet.
FORTIN: Just know that you're not alone.
WALSH: The only piece of advice I would give for women who are going through menopause is to try to relax. It will go away. It will end. Just like some of the more challenging times of your life.
FORTIN: Judy Fortin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come, we'll get a look at right inside some of those Hezbollah bunkers in Southern Lebanon. Where were those rockets being fired from?
We'll see.
And the race against time for the Israeli troops. As they withdraw, they're trying to destroy much of that.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Bob Franken in Washington.
Some alleged terrorist leaders are learning the importance of location, location, location.
More on that when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
We're glad you're with us.
Carol Costello has a look at the headlines for us -- hello, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.
Good morning to all of you.
Happening this morning, a milestone in Iraq. Coalition forces formally handing over control of Iraqi forces to the Iraqi government, at least on paper.
In the meantime, more deadly attacks in Baghdad.
CNN's Michael Holmes has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After a comparatively slow start to the day, things certainly returned to a normal pattern here. A string of bombings, mortar attacks, a drive-by shooting, all happening here today.
In the worst attack, 10 people killed, at least 17 wounded, many of them police officers, in a suicide car bombing here in the capital. And around the capital, there was another car bomb hear a police patrol, the same area as yesterday. Casualties there, in central Baghdad, a car bomb outside a fueling station. Two police killed in a drive by shooting, and roadside bombs and mortar attacks rounding out this laundry list of deaths.
Now, on the political front, Major General William Caldwell calls it "gigantic" -- in many ways, it is significant in a ceremonial or formality sense. This is the formal hand over of the command structure of Iraq's armed forces to Iraqis.
But let's put it in context.
How many forces are ready to come under that command structure?
Well, as it turns out, not many. It includes the Navy and the Air Force. The Air Force just 800 members. The ministry of defense didn't know how many people were in the Navy. We estimate it at about 600 men. And just one Army division is ready to come under Iraqi control. That's all that's ready at the moment. The country has 10 divisions, so in essence, 90 percent of the military not ready to come under that command structure.
Major General Caldwell, however, says that divisions could be handed over at the rate of one or two a month in the months ahead. That's by no means certain, but certainly you could say that a process is at least under way.
Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(NEWSBREAK) (WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: In fact, it's always something if you're commuting this morning. Take a look at pictures from the capital beltway in Maryland. It's closed now. You can see there, some kind of incident going on right under that bridge. It's the College Park area. The police, we're told, have drawn their guns as part of a felony traffic stop, started just before 8:00 this morning. That's about 45 minutes ago or so.
Apparently, there was a stolen car that was pulled over. The suspects in that car refusing to get out. That's what the police are telling local affiliates there.
A helicopter shot is what we're seeing right here, and you can see state police cars and the Prince George's County Police cars around that stopped vehicle as well. If the chopper could pull out a little more, you'll be able to see -- look at that, the start of the traffic in the capital beltway. What a mess. That's just the very start of it, but boy, it is just completely a mess. It's backed up because it's closed now. They opted to shut the beltway down, and the outer loop's closed at Kenilworth Avenue, which is exit 23. So huge, huge mess. And around the corner it keeps going for a really, really, really long way. It's going to be quite a while, since it looks as if those suspects are still inside that vehicle. That's what's happening in D.C.
M. O'BRIEN: Going to be a lot of people late for work today, that is for sure.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, they will.
M. O'BRIEN: If you're listening on XM, just stay tuned. We're with you. We'll keep you posted.
S. O'BRIEN: President Bush is heading to Atlanta this morning for another in a series of speeches in the war on terror today. It's going to be speech No. 4, if you're counting. Congress, though, focusing more on yesterday's speech, speech No. 3, in which the president unveiled a plan to deal with the detainees in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken is live in Washington for us this morning.
Good morning, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Did we mention that the election is exactly two months away from right now? Whether that affects the timing, the president had some very important announcements. He acknowledged the existence of heretofore secret CIA prisons at locations around the world, and also said that. for the moment at least, he has emptied the occupants and sent them to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): As tight as the security at Guantanamo Bay has been, it's possibly even more ridged now that it's the new home for the suspected terrorists the United States considers the most highly valued, the most vicious of all.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: We have largely completed our questioning of the men, and to start the process for bringing them to trial, we must bring them into the open.
FRANKEN: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged planner of the 9/11 attacks, and 13 others had been secreted away in CIA prisons. Their trials at Guantanamo have been put on hold by the Supreme Court after one of the other defendants, Salim Ahmad Hamdan, successfully challenged the military commissions designed by the Bush administration.
Now the administration is trying to make adjustments. The Pentagon has announced new directives that prohibit coercive interrogations.
LT. GEN. JOHN KIMMONS, ARMY DEP. CHIEF OF STAFF, INTEL: The new field manual incorporates a single standard for humane treatment as resoluted to for all detainees.
FRANKEN: Administration critics say this is a step in the right direction, finally.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: If the administration had listened to their top military lawyers, they never would have used the harsh interrogation techniques which have so undermined the credibility of our nation.
FRANKEN: Meanwhile, Congress is struggling to meet the court's other mandate, to explicitly authorize these special courts, and agree on rules and regulations for them. The administration is making proposals that are very tightly drawn, and Hamdan's lawyer charges they're window dressing.
LT. CMDR. CHARLES SWIFT, HAMDAN'S MILITARY LAWYER: They send in the exact same procedures that the Supreme Court struck down in Hamdan, and now ask Congress to rubber stamp it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: What the president did not announce is that he would be closing down those secret CIA prisons, nor that he would be ending, for the CIA, the techniques for interrogation that the president called, quote, "alternate techniques." The question for Congress is whether the evidence that was gathered using those alternate techniques can be used in the trials of the people sent to Guantanamo Bay -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: And that's a very big question. Bob Franken for us this morning. Bob, thanks. CNN's going to have live coverage of the president's speech in Atlanta today. The speech expected to focus on security gaps as we approach the fifth anniversary of 9/11. You can see that at 10:20 a.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN.
M. O'BRIEN: In less than three hours, Israel will end its air- and-sea blockade of Lebanon. As international forces move into Lebanon, Israeli troops are in a race against time to destroy Hezbollah bunkers.
CNN's Chris Lawrence got a first-hand look at the action. He joins us now from Jerusalem.
Hello, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
Yes, the Israeli troops that I spent the day with know their days in south Lebanon are numbered and they're very concerned about what happens after they leave.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Israeli troops are on the clock...
(GUNSHOTS)
LAWRENCE: ... intent on destroying what Hezbollah left behind.
These are some of the last soldiers south Lebanon. The Israel government says it could pull them all out by the end of next week, leaving demolition teams little time to blow up these bunkers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's why we're working around the clock to find everything.
LAWRENCE: Lieutenant Gabi Graban (ph) takes us into south Lebanon with his Golani demolition unit. They discover one Hezbollah bunker after another. Graban shows us how the bunkers are covered by what looks like rocks and dirt, making them impossible to see from the air.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the only way to find them is sending the infantry inside, going from room to room.
LAWRENCE: We follow it down to a bunker at least 50 meters long. It's so cramped you can't stand until you get to the bedroom, where a bottle of Pepsi and canned food have been left behind. Graban says fighters could have lived here for months.
GRABAN: Because this is very deep into the ground. I mean, this way, they could just stay inside, even if there's bombing right above. It could stand.
LAWRENCE: On the other end, there's a ladder, a second route back and forth to the surface. And no more than 100 meters away, yet another bunker.
(on camera): This one contained nothing but ammunition. You can see, there are more tubes rather than actual mortars, meaning some of these were already able to be fired off into Israel. But more than at least 100 were just left behind. And the Israel army has wired this entire room and it's ready to be destroyed.
(voice-over): These are just some of the weapons the IDF says its removed before we got there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fear is that if we -- anything we leave here is going to use them the minute we leave. And them being here so close, using these things against us, for sure, could be devastating consequences.
LAWRENCE: We hike another half kilometer, deep into the bushes, where the IDF discovers its most important and disturbing find, a rocket launcher half buried with two Katyushas still in the chamber. Hezbollah launched 4,000 of these rockets into northern Israel, destroying hundreds of homes and killing dozens of people. Now the IDF sees Hezbollah's vantage point, with Israeli towns just a few hundred meters away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if Hezbollah walks around here and looks down at the homes of Israeli people, just gives you the idea of what can happen here if they're here and we're not.
LAWRENCE: The unit leaves Lebanon with that thought, hoping their work and U.N. peacekeepers will eliminate Hezbollah's access to these weapons, but not entirely sure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: To give you an idea just how deeply Hezbollah was dug in near the border, the Golani unit says the discovered ten other bunkers just like the ones that we saw. Some of them had kitchens, bathrooms and electricity -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: It's fascinating, Chris. Were there any remnants, any signs, of Hezbollah -- of some of the militants as they did their task, as they went into these bunkers?
LAWRENCE: There were no signs of any actual Hezbollah fighters in these -- in this area, although it looks like -- it appears that they left rather quickly. We found food that was half eaten, we found a lot of I.D.s, people that left their I.D.s behind. So it appears they cleared out of that area in quite a bit of a hurry.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, Chris Lawrence in Jerusalem, thank you very much.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, held hostage in a basement for eight years. How do you put your life back together? We have a teenager's real-life story, just ahead. M. O'BRIEN: Pakistan signs a deal with the Taliban, but does it mean that the hunt for Osama bin Laden is over?
S. O'BRIEN: And the new diagnosis for cancer. Could you be at risk and not even know it? The story's in our "House Call" this morning. That's ahead. Stay with us.
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M. O'BRIEN: An Austrian teenager who vanished on her way to school eight years ago is speaking out about her horrifying ordeal. Natascha Kampusch was just 10 years old when she was kidnapped and taken hostage. She escaped last month. In her first TV interview, she Natascha describes her eight-year nightmare, and she says being underground left her angry and distraught.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATASCHA KAMPUSCH, KIDNAPPING SURVIVOR (through translator): He grabbed me. I tried to scream out, but no sound came out, not a thing. Yes, I was despairing, very angry. I was so angry with myself that I hadn't changed over to the other side of the street, that I hadn't gone to school with my mother in her car. It was very -- it was just awful.
I used to get claustrophobia in the small space. I used to throw water bottles against the walls or I'd bang on them with my fists so someone could hear me, I don't know. I just don't know. It was absolutely awful. And I'm sure if he hadn't taken me up into the house at some point, where I had a bit more room to move, I think I might have gone mad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Natascha's captor, a pedophile, killed himself hours after she escaped. Soledad?
S. O'BRIEN: John Roberts is filling in for Anderson Cooper. He's got a look at what's coming up tonight on "A.C. 360." Hey, John.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, mistaken identity in the hunt for the Taliban's top man. The State Department's Web site offers a reward, but apparently it's using the wrong photo. Is the government working with bad information? We're keeping them honest, tonight, 10:00 Eastern -- Soledad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, John.
Coming up this morning, we're "Minding Your Business."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
S. O'BRIEN: Let's update you on what's happening in College Park, Maryland. We told you about the traffic backup there on the capital beltway because of a vehicle that appears to have been stolen. Our affiliate WTTG in College Park, Maryland showing us these pictures. You can see they've got the suspect on the back of one of the police cars there. To your left, if the camera would pan down and to the left a bit, you'd see the vehicle. We told you that they had this car, now believed to be stolen, and that the suspect in the vehicle refused to get out.
So apparently now they've gotten in. They've gotten the guys out. They're on the back of the car. Oh, here we go, look. That's sort of the goldish, tannish sedan. They pulled the suspect out. Ooh, dragged him right across the highway there, and you'll see him throw him onto the back of this truck, as they start to frisk the guy.
This has been having huge implications for folks who are trying to make their daily commute in. That looks like it's the stolen car right there, and they're now going through it, pulling the second suspect out. And they continue to surround the car and search inside as well, as they put that guy under arrest. So this is what's been happening. We told you we'd update you. For those of you following us on XM this morning. Boy, you're not going to move for a while, and now at least a little progress, as they've gotten the suspects out of the vehicle.
M. O'BRIEN: Hopefully, they'll clear that up soon and you'll be on your way to work.
S. O'BRIEN: Hopefully.
M. O'BRIEN: But you do have a good excuse with the boss. Don't worry about that.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
M. O'BRIEN: Back with more in a moment.
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