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American Morning

Huge Bomb Blast Kills Americans in Kabul; New Al Qaeda Video

Aired September 08, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A huge bomb blast targets and kills Americans in Kabul, the latest sign of escalating violence in Afghanistan.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A new al Qaeda video. It's actually an old tape just seen and it appears to be a taunt to us all as we appreciate the fifth anniversary of 9/11.

S. O'BRIEN: And chilling orders from Al Qaeda in Iraq. Followers told to kill at least one American in the next 15 days.

M. O'BRIEN: And the shuttle countdown is on. For now, the crew headed to the orbiter as we speak. But there is a show stopper potentially lurking in the fuel tank. We'll have details for you coming up on this AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning.

Welcome everybody.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: Good to have you with us this morning.

A videotaped taunt from al Qaeda is at the top of our news this morning.

The tape is old, but had never been previously seen and has been airing on the Al Jazeera Arabic language network.

CNN's Kelli Arena with more.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Miles, you know, even though the images on this tape are more than five years old, they are definitely disturbing. Analysts say that it's an attempt by al Qaeda to relive its success on September 11, in an effort to attract new recruits.

Now, on the tape, Osama bin Laden asks supporters to pray for the hijackers and their mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): And I strongly advise you to increase your prayers for them and beseech Allah, the exalted, in your prayer, to grant them success, make firm their foothold and strengthen their hearts. He is the custodian of that and able to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: we also hear martyrdom messages from hijackers Hamza al- Ghamdi and Wail al-Sheri, with video of the destruction that they caused on September 11 superimposed behind them.

Now, al-Sheri was on American Airlines Flight 11. Al-Ghamdi was on United Airlines Flight 175. Those are the planes that hit the Twin Towers in New York City. 9/11 planner Ramzi Binalshibh is also seen on the tape, with Osama bin Laden. Actually, this is the first time that we see these two men together. Binalshibh is now at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, where he was transferred just this week from a secret CIA prison -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Kelli, a lot of tapes have been released recently.

ARENA: That's right.

M. O'BRIEN: We've been talking -- every time one of these tapes comes out we talk about the possibility it may lead or be some kind of message for another attack.

ARENA: Um-hmm.

M. O'BRIEN: What's the thought on that?

ARENA: Well, you know, Miles, you're right. I mean these tapes have been coming, you know, tapes and messages, very fast and furious. And that is leading some to speculate that an attack could be imminent.

But yesterday I had an opportunity to speak with FBI Director Robert Mueller. And he says that there's just no intelligence to suggest that any attack against the U.S. is being planned at this time.

As I said, it's always, you know, a possibility. But in looking at this tape, I haven't heard anybody say that there's anything here that suggests this is a signal or that -- you know, a ghost signal -- or that something is up.

M. O'BRIEN: Kelli Arena in Washington.

Thank you.

ARENA: You're welcome, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: The violence rages on in Iraq, as well, today. An American soldier was killed, his vehicle hit by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad. Meanwhile, a bomb blast in central Baghdad has killed at least three people. Police were among those who were injured, plus six unidentified bodies were found throughout the capital today. Police say the hands were bound and the bodies showed signs of torture.

There has also been a death threat made to every American in Iraq. It comes from the Al Qaeda in Iraq leader.

CNN's Michael Holmes has details for us this morning.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a chilling message from the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq urging his followers to kill at least one American in the next two weeks, using a sniper rifle, exclusive, or, in his words, "whatever the battle may require."

That's according to an audiotape aired on Thursday on Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera identifying the man on the tape as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, a pseudonym adopted by Abu Ayyub Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant believed to be an expert at making car bombs and the man who took over from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by the Americans in June.

Part of the tape says this: "Do not let your souls or your enemies rest until each one of you kills one American within a period that does not exceed 15 days, with a sniper's gunshot or incendiary device or Molotov cocktail or suicide car bomb, whatever the battle may require."

As we said, a chilling message there from the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, a man who is still the subject of an intense manhunt.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.

S. O'BRIEN: In the Afghanistan capital today, evidence of a growing insurgency. A suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a U.S. convoy, killed two American service members, wounded two others. Several Afghan bystanders were also killed or wounded.

It happened just outside the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy.

CNN's Anderson Cooper is in Kabul.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just about half an hour after we landed here in Kabul, there was a suicide attack very close to the airport. That's what's left of the vehicle that was packed with explosives.

What we know is that it hit an American military convoy that was traveling down this main road in downtown Kabul. Three vehicles were in the convoy. Two American soldiers we know have been killed. One has been wounded. There are unconfirmed reports of a number of Afghan fatalities. We don't -- we don't have confirmation of that yet.

We did see a number of Afghan civilians being treated at the scene and they have left the scene already.

This is a real sign of the resurgence of the Taliban and al Qaeda here in Afghanistan. Also a sign, experts say, that the Taliban is increasingly adapting al Qaeda tactics. In 2001, there was only one suicide bombing in all of Afghanistan. This year alone, there have been more than 40 and this is the second suicide attack in Kabul this week.

S. O'BRIEN: Anderson is reporting from Afghanistan to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. And, of course, "ANDERSON COOPER 360" airs weeknights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

M. O'BRIEN: The space shuttle's troublesome engine cutoff sensors -- go with them as is? Or drain the shuttle's fuel tanks and try another day?

That's where we are with Atlantis at this hour.

CNN's Daniel Sieberg is at the Cape with more -- hello, Daniel.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.

Yes, there are two parallel tracks happening right now.

On the one hand, NASA preparing with the scheduled launch for 11:41 a.m. this morning. They're also working this problem, as you mentioned, with the eco-sensor.

Just a few minutes ago, the crew drove past us in their AstroVan. Before that, we saw them suit up. They walked out, waved to the crowd. They had gone through some of their suit-up preparations. They will go through more as they make their way toward Launch Pad 39B to go up there and get into the orbiter.

So at this point, they are proceeding with many of the traditional or sort of the typical things that happens at this hour on the way to the launch itself.

But as you pointed out, they are also working this concern with an eco-sensor, an engine cutoff sensor.

Just to give you an idea of what we're talking about, I've got a model of the Shuttle Atlantis and the external fuel tank. The super cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, it was tanked very early this morning. And there are four sensors at the base of the tank for the liquid hydrogen and four for the liquid oxygen; not unlike the fuel gauge in your car, meant to tell the orbiter or the crew when the tank is empty.

In this case, what they were doing when it was tanking is they wanted to test it out by trying to fool it. So while there was actually fuel in there, they tried to trick it into thinking that it was dry or empty. Well, the reading came back on one of them that there was something in there, that the tank was actually being filled.

So that was several hours ago that this concern popped up. They have since been working that, trying to determine if they can fly with three of four -- trying to decide, really, if they can fly with three of the four sensors working or whether they will have to stand down for 24 hours, de-tank -- scrub, essentially -- for today and see if the problem pops up tomorrow morning.

Their launch window is closing very quickly. They've really only got tomorrow before they have to pick up again either at the end of September or possibly October. So there's certainly some pressure.

But at this point, Miles, we're awaiting official word. We did hear that there was a likely chance that they would delay, but we're awaiting official word on whether this is going to be, in a sense, a show stopper. Just the latest in a string of problems for Shuttle Atlantis in the last couple of weeks.

M. O'BRIEN: Just to put it in perspective, there are four of these sensors, to provide some redundancy. The computer checks them and in this case it would take more than one failure for there to be a problem. But the problem is really bad, because what would happen was the engines could go dry or run-dry. And that could cause a catastrophic failure, right?

SIEBERG: Exactly. There are sort of two different problems. One is that the sensors say that the fuel tank is dry, or empty. And that could possibly cause the fuel tank to jettison or the engines to quit early. On the other hand, it could also say it's full when the tank is, in fact, empty.

So there's sort of two problems (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

M. O'BRIEN: Which is -- and that's the failure that they saw this morning, was that it -- they told it it was dry and it said it was wet, which would mean the engines would keep firing and would run- dry. And that could -- that could be a real problem.

SIEBERG: Absolutely. And it's the same type of problem that popped up a year ago and they were worried about that back then. It's something they've had to work through since that time and they had hoped to not have that problem come up again.

We're seeing some live pictures now of the astronauts getting off the AstroBus, the silver AstroBus there. These are six astronauts, five men and one woman. There are going to be making that trek up to the closeout crew room, closeout room, where they will continue with their suit preparations.

And, Miles, we'll just have to stay on top of it here and let you know what happens.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

So the crew proceeds, heads to the 195-foot level. And somewhere at the Kennedy Space Center, not far from where Daniel is, a lot of engineers are scratching their heads, trying to figure out what to do next.

We'll keep you posted -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning, is this the Baseline killer, responsible for a string of sexual attacks and killings in Phoenix, Arizona?

Police are investigating 42-year-old Mark Goudeau. He was arrested yesterday. Here is a police sketch of the Baseline killer. Right now, Goudeau is accused of attacking two sisters back in September of 2005.

Jurors in North Dakota will begin hearing testimony on Monday to decide whether Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr. Should be put to death for his conviction of the killing of college student Dru Sjodin. It's the first death penalty case in North Dakota in nearly a century.

In New York, an unprecedented settlement in the works with James Frey, the author of "A Million Little Pieces." Under the proposed settlement, readers will get their money back. You would have to prove you bought the book and sign a sworn statement that you thought it was a memoir. Frey, you'll remember, was criticized for passing off made up events as real in his book.

In Chicago, a 79-year-old grandmother is charged with robbing a bank. Authorities said she walked up to the teller, asked for $30,000.

Dane Placo (ph) from affiliate WFLD has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DANE PLACO, WFLD CORRESPONDENT: Seventy-nine-year-old Melvena Cooke is shielded by her daughter as she leaves federal court. Cooke is charged with robbing the Bank of America branch at Dearborn and Washington on Tuesday. The FBI says surveillance photos inside the bank show Cooke approached a teller. They say she demanded $30,000 cash and opened a plastic bag to reveal what looked like a gun.

The teller sounded a silent alarm, then walked away from her station, prompting Cooke to walk out of the bank.

Employees flagged down a police officer who found Cooke inside a nearby Walgreen's. Inside her bag, they say, was a plastic toy gun.

Cooke lives with her daughter in the Hyde Park neighborhood and was reportedly behind on her rent. In a very unusual move for a bank robbery charge, the federal judge allowed Cooke to be released on a signature bond, meaning she didn't have to post any money, indicating she is not considered a threat.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: That was Dane Placo-reporting for us from affiliate WFLD in Chicago.

The FBI says if, in fact, she is convicted, she will be the oldest bank robber in Chicago history.

Time for a check of the forecast.

Chad has got that -- good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT) M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, that new al Qaeda tape. It may answer some questions about the 9/11 plot and it could be a preview of a new terror message from al Qaeda.

And new designs for rebuilding at ground zero. Five years after the attacks, we look at the site and we find out why there are a lot of plans, but not much construction.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: An update now on a developing story we're following for you, that deadly attack in Kabul that killed two U.S. soldiers, wounded others.

CNN's Anderson Cooper is in Kabul this morning, where a briefing has just wrapped up -- Anderson, what's the latest?

COOPER: Soledad, what we have learned today, according to intelligence sources, there was this suicide bombing that we saw earlier today, very close to the U.S. Embassy. Two U.S. soldiers were killed. Two U.S. soldiers were also wounded and a number of Afghans.

I just attended a briefing. An intelligence source saying that they believe that there may be another cell operating right now in Kabul, looking for a target of opportunity, another vehicle-borne IED looking to cause mayhem in advance of the 9/11 anniversary.

Also, for the first time, intelligence sources saying they believe that Mullah Omar, the man who was the leader of the Taliban, the man who has last been seen in December of 2001, that blind cleric, they believe he is living, in fact, inside Pakistan, in the city of Quetta or in the surrounding area. They don't have an exact location on him, but the intelligence, they say, is very strong, with great certainty, they say, Mullah Omar is, in fact, living in Quetta or in the surrounding area.

If this is true, of course, it would be an important fact, especially this week, in which Pakistan has begun-signing a cease-fire agreement in north Waziristan, just one of several cease-fire agreements that they have signed or are already planning to sign -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Anderson Cooper in Kabul for us this morning.

Anderson, thanks.

Of course, you're there to be reporting live for his show on Monday night, the five year anniversary of 9/11. "A.C. 360," of course, can be seen every weeknight.

Let's get right to Ed O'Connell.

He headed military operations against al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

He's now with the Rand Corporation.

Mr. O'Connell, good morning.

Nice to see you.

Thanks for talking with us.

ED O'CONNELL, SENIOR ANALYST, RAND CORPORATION: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: You just heard Anderson's report just a moment ago. The situation on the ground, clearly, we can tell, after weeks of reports like this, is deteriorating.

Why exactly is that?

O'CONNELL: Well, I think what's happening is you've got a resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Only 100 miles and now you see within Kabul, as Anderson's report showed us.

You also have the battle for Baghdad. A lot of this is because we haven't put sufficient pressure on deterring the foot soldiers of the al Qaeda from around the world.

So I think we need to do a better job in tamping down these folks, infiltrating them, preventing them from even being engaged in the fight. And once they are engaged in the fight, we have to do a better job of disengaging them through innovative methods, alternative strategies and indirect approaches.

So we really have got to get our thinking caps on as a nation here now recently.

S. O'BRIEN: Before we get to talking about specifics of doing a better job, let's talk a little bit about Kabul and why that's significant, so close to -- the attack so close to the capital, so close to U.S. forces. I mean it really is sending a message that's different, actually, than some of these other car bombings.

O'CONNELL: No, that's right. And so what you see is a replication of what we have going on in Baghdad right now for so long. Look, I mean they know that the media is centered in Kabul and it's actually been a while -- they're sort of eating away from the edges to Kabul right now. And so they know that they can leverage the media in Kabul. And it's taken a while, but now you're starting to see inroads into Kabul, which is a very dangerous predicament for us.

S. O'BRIEN: So when you say a better job needs to be done, what specifically? More troops on the ground there? What strategy are you saying?

O'CONNELL: Well, no. Here's what I'm saying, is that both in Iraq and Afghanistan, we cannot fight the enemy that we are fighting with conventional, traditional means. We have to fight them unconventionally -- sabotage, subversion, preventive information operations, disengaging the people that are in our custody through innovative methods, infiltrating the enemy better.

How many defections have we seen, for example, from either the Taliban or the insurgency in Baghdad?

So we've got to do a much better job at these sort of unconventional methods.

Traditional methods aren't going to cut it for us.

S. O'BRIEN: A lot of those unconventional methods, though, sound like they are more long range then short-term.

How do you do a better job of protecting people right now, whether you're talking about U.S. soldiers or you're talking about the people who live in Afghanistan? How do you do a better job protecting them right now?

O'CONNELL: Yes, that's a good point.

You've got to mix sort of the short-term with the long-term.

We have to do a better job of protecting the population. Any time there are lines of people downtown, any time there are these targets of opportunity, either police milling around the police precinct headquarters. We can't just protect ourselves with electronic counter-measures and up-armoring. We have to protect the people.

Until now, we haven't really done a very good job of that, so other hostile actors are walking in our -- sort of lead through the vacuum.

So I think you're right, we have to do a much better job of protecting the population. And if we have large numbers of people either on pilgrimages or walking through commercial districts in Kabul, we have to make sure that we visibly protect them.

S. O'BRIEN: Ed O'Connell is an analyst for the Rand Corporation.

Thanks for talking with us.

We appreciate it.

O'CONNELL: Thanks, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: We should mention that you can catch a special encore presentation of "CNN PRESENTS: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF BIN LADEN," this Saturday and Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come, five years later, the designs are done.

But why has nothing been built?

Ground zero -- the false starts and the delicate steps.

And the Shuttle Atlantis all fueled up. But is it ready?

Take a look at these live pictures. If we can, we can show them.

The crew is at the ready room on their way to get in there. And they call it the white room. They're getting ready to suit-up and get on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

But, engineers in another area, not on TV, are trying to figure out a problem that could be a show stopper. We'll tell you about it.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: New York City officials are unveiling their designs for rebuilding ground zero. But even if all goes well, the site's not going to be ready to go until at least 2011.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Alina Cho took a tour of the excavated site with the governor of New York -- good morning.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I talked to a lot of people, Soledad.

Yes, good morning to you.

For all the talk of rebuilding at ground zero -- and there has been a lot of it -- many people agree, five years later, they are not as far along as they thought they would be.

There has been some progress, but there have also been monumental delays.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CHO (voice-over): On September 11, New Yorkers will see the return of the Twin Towers of Light, a 9/11 anniversary tradition. But five years after the attacks, the beams of light are also a symbol of what has not been done at ground zero -- no buildings, no memorials, just a 16-acre construction site.

ANTHONY GARDNER, COALITION OF 9/11 FAMILIES: I'm not surprised because I've been involved in this process from the beginning and I've seen how the political and economic agendas of our leaders, of Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg, have really prevented this process from moving forward.

CHO: Anthony Gardner lost his brother Harvey on 9/11. He says politicians are too worried about public perception of the rebuilding and not worried enough about the details, and that, he said, has caused even more delays.

Example? July 4, 2004, a symbolic ceremony marking the groundbreaking for the Freedom Tower.

GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: Today, in less than three years, we have more than just plans on paper.

CHO: But those plans New York's governor talked about were almost immediately scrapped.

PATAKI: The Freedom Tower, which is under construction over there, had to have the design changed because of heightened security standards. But because of that, it's not just going to be the tallest building ever built in our country's history, it will be the most secure.

CHO: The Freedom Tower, which will be 1,776-feet-tall, is now slated to be finished not in 2008, but in 2011, three years late.

What about the rest of the 16 acres?

A memorial is set to open in 2009. But a fight over how the names of the victims will be listed could cause delays.

LARRY SILVERSTEIN, DEVELOPER, FREEDOM TOWERS: You could see the model of the Freedom Tower.

CHO: Developer Larry Silverstein is in charge of building the Freedom Tower and other office buildings at ground zero. After several changes, the final plans for Towers 2, 3 and 4 were unveiled on Thursday.

Silverstein says there's a lot going on at the site you don't see.

(on camera): There are people who come down here five years later and they look at this and they say, I don't know, it doesn't look like much has been done.

SILVERSTEIN: It appears that way. And it is -- it is frustrating. The reality is that we're right on the precipice of moving forward in a very significant way.

CHO (voice-over): Silverstein and the governor contend this is sacred ground and any construction here must be done respectfully.

Anthony Gardner says he's willing to wait if it means getting it done right.

GARDNER: It's about legacy, it's about our national heritage, it's about honoring life.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

CHO: Now, the truth is there has been work done at ground zero that many people wouldn't notice. Developer Larry Silverstein told me construction crews are about to begin the painstaking work of excavating 600,000 cubic yards of dirt from the east part of the so- called bathtub, those 16 acres. And that alone will take up to two years. And only then will they begin building Towers 2, 3 and 4.

And, Soledad, Silverstein said 2011, 2012, that's when ground zero will look far different, in his words, spectacular (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

S. O'BRIEN: Without any problems.

CHO: Any delays.

The big question is, you know, whether they can stay on schedule. And even Silverstein and the governor, even, said listen, I would love to be cutting the ribbon on a building that is 1,776-feet-tall today. But the truth is we had security concerns, highlighted security concerns, and other concerns. We had to change the plans. We are now on track. The plans are in place. The funding is in place. Now we'll see if they stay on schedule.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, exactly. We'll see in 2012 if it's going off without a hitch.

CHO: That's right.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Alina, thanks.

CHO: Sure.

S. O'BRIEN: It's really interesting to see that site.

We want to remind everybody to join us on Monday morning, the fifth anniversary of September 11, those attacks. We're going to be covering 9/11. It's called "The World Remembers."

We've got a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING, as well, with a minute by minute account of what happened on that terrible day.

We begin at 6:00 a.m. Eastern.

We hope you'll join us then.

M. O'BRIEN: We're going to take our viewers on that special program through that morning, as we say, minute by minute, talking to some of the key players who were there and involved in that story one way or another. And as the time passes through the morning, we'll sort of hold up a mirror to what happened five years ago.

Still to come on the program, will it stay or will it go?

The very latest on the oft delayed Shuttle Atlantis mission.

And speaking of space, the final frontier.

Trekkies everywhere are celebrating today. Some plan on being beamed up. Well, actually, they'll use an elevator.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Our top story this morning, two U.S. soldiers killed this morning in a suicide attack in Afghanistan. The massive blast came only about 50 yards from the U.S. embassy in Kabul. As many as four bystanders were also killed by the suicide car bomb.

Brazen attacks like that one in Kabul today now have NATOs top military commander asking for more ammunition. He says more planes, more attack helicopters all needed to take on these surprisingly strong Taliban fighters.

Let's more from CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): NATO's top general says his troops in Afghanistan are being tested by a stubborn Taliban resistance, which is showing a surprising willingness to stand and fight, instead of taking pot shots and running away as NATO expected.

GEN. JAMES JONES, SUPREME NATO COMMANDER: Certainly, the tenacity of the resistance is a little bit of a surprise. And the southern region has turned out to be more than we expected but certainly by no means, unmanageable.

MCINTYRE: Jones said NATO it would stir up a hornet's nest when it began its southern offensive this summer, but the Taliban flushed with drug cash from a bumper harvest of opium are well armed and inflicting heavy casualties. At least 35 British and Canadian troops have died in the past five weeks and a town in the south has fallen to Taliban control.

Meanwhile, NATO commanders have only 85 percent of the troops and equipment they were promised. NATO has failed to come up with a squadron of attack helicopters and several C-130 transport planes that General Jones says his ground commander needs for additional flexibility on the battlefield.

Currently there are about 19,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, of which about 1,000 are American and 6,000 are in the south. In addition, the U.S. has another 20,000 troops under American command. General Jones says the need for reinforcements is urgent but not dire.

JONES: So it's not a reinforcement in a desperate sense, but it is prudent military advice that adds a certain measure of guarantee and cushion to the forces that are already performing very well on the scene.

MCINTYRE (on camera): General Jones says he did not use the word reinforcements because that connotes a sense a panic and desperation, he says, is uncalled for. He insists NATO troops will prevail, and called Afghanistan, in his words, a success story in the making.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon. (NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, a Marine and a mystery. A friend reports him missing, but authorities say it all might be a ruse. We'll tell you why. Details ahead.

Ray Nagin promised a whirlwind of rebirth for the Big Easy in his first 100 days in his second term, but has the mayor met his pledge? We'll have look at that, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Space shuttle Atlantis fuels up. The crew's strapping in. These are live pictures from the flight deck of Atlantis, and there you see pilot Mike Ferguson in the foreground, one of the suit technicians, they call them cape crusaders, helping strap him in there.

Engineers are pondering what to do about a faulty fuel gauge in the shuttle's external fuel tank. Earlier this morning, the gauge flunked an important test, and it's a key piece of equipment, has a lot of redundancy, but still very important, and that may force NASA to wait another day to launch Atlantis, on the first space station construction flight since the loss of Columbia nearly four years ago now, three and a half years at least. We're joined by a former station keeper, astronaut Mike Fincke. He's at the cape.

Mike, good to have you with us this morning.

MIKE FINCKE, ASTRONAUT: Good morning, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The fuel cell we talking about appears to be not be a problem this morning. Now we've moved on to something else, this engine cutoff sensor. What's the thinking there at the Cape right now about the possibility of waiting another day?

FINCKE: Well, Miles, we've fortunately had seen this problem before. So we've done a lot of analyses in the past. You recall in 2005 with the return to flight STS-114, we ran into a similar, if not the same problem. Now the ecosensors are the lowest of low- temperature technology, if you will, and it's really tricky, because it's -- liquid hydrogen is so cold and liquid oxygen so cold. So we're working on seeing what we can do about it and possibly launching today or tomorrow.

M. O'BRIEN: It depends. You sort of might have to bend a few rules potentially? Because the rule says if one fails, you're supposed to drain the tank, fill it up again and it either works or if it's the same failure, you're OK to go?

FINCKE: Exactly. And we do have these rules in place for safety, and the engine cutoff sensors are really important, because we don't want to be running those engines without any fuel going through them. M. O'BRIEN: All right. And this possible short circuit in the fuel cell that we've caused a little bit of a delay, that hasn't cropped up at all?

FINCKE: Well, we -- it's a problem. It's still there. But we're running the cooling pump for one of our fuel cells with two phases instead of three phases of A/C electricity. In a house, we normally have two phases, and that's good enough, and we're just down one phase. We now understand, we think, why that problem is, and that it shouldn't affect the other phases, because if we do affect the other phases, we shut down the pump, we shut down the fuel cell, and all of a sudden we're down a lot of electricity.

M. O'BRIEN: NASA is asking a lot of the space shuttle right now. As you see these live pictures. Looks like a beautiful day there, by the way. Trying to go through an aggressive series of missions before the shuttle retires in 2010, to complete the space station. And I wonder, you know, it's a million parts, it's a complicated machine, and it's an aging system. Are we asking too much of the shuttle?

FINCKE: Well, Miles, the good news is that we've put a lot of thought into this, and we have the A team on everything. We have a well-experienced workforce, and we have a lot of good safety rules in effect and a great safety culture now. So NASA, I think, will rise to the occasion. I think we're up for it, and I think when 2010 rolls around, we'll have that space station finished.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, but isn't there a lot of pressure there built in to this whole scenario? You know, you have a date certain for retirement, you have a goal of building the space station? Won't that inevitably lead to decisions where NASA cuts corners?

FINCKE: Miles, we certainly hope not. We do have that pressure. We do have the schedule pressure on us. However, it's up to us to know when to hold them and when to fold them, when to succumb to that pressure and when we can actually make calculated risks based on solid engineering analyses. All the way from the administrator to the engineer on the floor, we're working together to make sure that we make the right decisions.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, this piece that the Atlantis is going to bring up, Brent Jet (ph) and crew, this $300 million erector set piece with folding out solar rays, you've been up in the space station, how significant is that piece in the whole continuum here?

FINCKE: Well, this is really about power. The -- one of the things that the American side brings to the international partnership of the International Space Station is electricity. We have the best solar cells in the whole world, and off the world, too. And this will, in essence, in essence this particular mission will double our power, and in total, we will have four of these solar array pairs up when the space station is complete. We have one right now. This will double it, and then we have two more to go.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, final thought. Let's shift gears ever so slightly. Let's go boldly where none have gone before. It's the 40th anniversary of Star Trek today. The first episode aired September 8, 1966. I know you're a huge Trekkie. Cue the music, and actually appeared in the final episode of one of the descendants of the original "Star Trek." What are your thoughts, though, in all somewhat seriousness about the Hollywood version of space versus the reality. Now sometimes people kind of wonder why NASA hasn't caught up to "Star Trek?"

FINCKE: Well, science fiction puts in to form the dreams that we have as human beings, and our job at NASA is to take those, that fiction, and to make it into reality. And NASA is doing a pretty good job of that. We sent people to the moon. We're building space stations. All of these things that were just imaginary 50 years ago, and even 40 years ago when "Star Trek" first appeared.

So to the crew of "Star Trek," thanks for inspiring the rest of us so NASA can take the ball and run with it.

M. O'BRIEN: Mike Fincke at the Cape, thanks for being with us -- Soledad -- Soledad. You got to do that, right? Can you do that?

S. O'BRIEN: This is just in to CNN. President Bush has been giving a series of talk answer the war on terror, is now going to deliver a primetime address to the nation on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. The Oval Office address is going to begin at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. It's expected to last somewhere between 15 and 18 minutes. That will be the president delivering that on Tuesday evening, rather Monday evening, the fifth anniversary of 9/11.

Take a look at what's happening this weekend. Betty Nguyen is at the CNN Center with an update for us.

Hey, Betty, good morning.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there Soledad.

You know, you talk about the president's speech on Monday. Can you believe five years since 9/11 now, with the anniversary just days away. It is hard to believe so much time has passed since those terror attacks. And for many of the rescue workers first on the scene at Ground Zero, it seems like yesterday. So we will show you how they are holding up today.

Also, a cancer patient makes his pitch, literally. We will introduce to Jeff Newbower (ph), a brave young man not letting a deadly form of a disease stop him of a lifelong dream.

Plus...

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NGUYEN: Now that's some flow. It is schoolhouse rock 2006. ABCs, 1, 2, 3s and getting more bounce to the ounce. We have a lesson in flowcabulary, as they call it, where hip-hop meets the three r's.

And of course we've have all the top stories, in-depth coverage and any breaking news. That's starting at 7:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN, right here Saturday morning.

Flowcabulary, Soledad, something we need to get hip to.

S. O'BRIEN: I'm just too old for that.

All right. Betty, thanks.

NGUYEN: Have a good one.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks. You, too.

Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: How's your flowcabulary.

SERWER: Oh, my flow is flowing, Soledad.

taking from the rich giving to the poor. We're going tell you about a cutting-edge philanthropic organization called Robin Hood that has rallied some of the nation's wealthiest citizens. That's coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

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S. O'BRIEN: We'll take a look at our top stories just ahead.

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