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CNN LIVE SUNDAY

Fear Still Strong Five Years after 9/11; Iran Could Agree to U.N. Uranium Demand; Cheney Disagrees with Iraq War Critics

Aired September 10, 2006 - 18:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Remembering the date, remembering the disaster. As the nation prepares to mark five years since 9/11, the fear, anger and sadness is as strong as ever.
Hello, I'm Randi Kaye in tonight for Carol Lin. To our top story in just a moment, but first, the hour's headlines.

Iran could agree to United Nations demand to stop enriching uranium on a temporary basis. That's what diplomats tell the "Associated Press." Iranians are meeting in Vienna, with a European Union official.

The vice president disagreed with critics of the war in Iraq today. Dick Cheney says the world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power. On a Sunday talk show, Cheney said he thinks the U.S. still would have invaded Iraq if the CIA had reported there were no weapons of mass destruction.

Florence is at hurricane strength in the Atlantic right now, and still headed toward Bermuda. People there are getting ready for the worst, but they won't know until tomorrow whether they're in the storm's direct path.

It was felt throughout the southeast U.S. Experts say a magnitude 6.0 earthquake was centered a couple of hundred miles southwest of Tampa this morning. No reports of damage. It was too small to trigger a tsunami.

Australian media report the family of Steve Irwin held a private funeral yesterday. Those reports also say there are plans to bury the world famous crocodile hunter at the family-owned Australia Zoo. Irwin died last Monday after a stingray attack.

Just an hour ago, President Bush and Mrs. Bush floating two separate memorial wreaths in the reflecting pools at Ground Zero. One representing the North Tower, the other for the South Tower.

Five years since the last full day the World Trade Center towered over the New York City skyline. CNN's team coverage. Deborah Feyerick and Suzanne Malveaux are in New York. Gary Nurenberg live at the Pentagon. And Bob Franken reporting from rural western Pennsylvania. All those locations forever associated with September 11th. And all observing the date in similar, but very different ways.

The president and First Lady are leading the nation's sober tribute to the victims of 9/11. Live pictures now here inside St. Paul's Chapel, once in the shadow of the World Trade Center. The president and Mrs. Bush, New York Governor Pataki, New York City mayors past and present all attending a very special prayer service.

Let's check in now with CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Randi, this is really the first of many remembrances that the president and the First Lady will be attending. The first of course here in Ground Zero. This where it's just about 70 minutes ago, the president, the First Lady laying a wreath at what is called the footprint of the North Tower. That has is a small pool of water, which signifies the very center of where the North Tower existed. And then, of course, moving on to do the same at the South Tower, before their motorcade went to St. Paul's Chapel, really just adjacent to the Ground Zero location. That is where they lit candles for those who lost their lives.

And of course, those who have survived this tragedy, at that remembrance, that service, prayer service, about 400 people in attendance. Top officials from New York City, but also many families who were stricken directly by the September 11th attacks, who lost their loved ones. The president, nor the First Lady, made any remarks during this prayer service. Instead, of course, those remarks will come tomorrow.

Now the White House very sensitive about this delicate balancing act, trying to say that this is a time to remember, and to reflect, and not to politicize this event. But clearly, Randi, in the weeks to come, of course, leading up to this, the president and the White House have been fully engaged in a public relations campaign to make the case to try to convince the American people that they are safer five years later after the September 11th attacks. And that it is the Republican party that it is this White House that is responsible for doing a good job at national security

Democrats say that this is politicizing the issue. They say this whole war on terror specifically with the war in Iraq has been mishandled, misjudged, miscalculated. So you've got a lot of politics behind the scenes, as you know with two months from those midterm elections.

Now tomorrow, what we expect from the president is that he's going to be meeting with a group of firefighters. He's also going to dedicate a moment of silence, then move on to Pennsylvania and the Pentagon for further remembrances, and then of course a primetime speech at 9:00. Randi?

KAYE: Thank you, our Suzanne Malveaux, traveling with the president and the First Lady.

343 firefighters lost their lives on 9/11. Tomorrow, President Bush will pay tribute to them, as you just heard, as he visits New York City fire houses.

On the eve of the fifth anniversary, the city's former fire commissioner, Tom Von Essen is reviewing some painful memories of that day. He spoke with our Deborah Feyerick. Deb?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Randi, you know, we can tell you the site really here just behind me is still so raw and so empty, as if it's waiting, waiting for something to happen, waiting for something to make it right.

But ask anybody who was here on that day or anyone who was affected by that day, and it's unclear whether that day will ever come.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): These are the eyes of the man who narrowly escaped death on 9/11, only to see close friends die. These are the eyes of former fire commissioner Tom Von Essen.

TOM VON ESSEN, FDNY COMMISSIONER: I can't find anybody from five rescues and seven squads. It's just - it's devastating thing. I don't know what the fire department will recover, but I don't know how.

FEYERICK: Tell me about the search for the firefighters and what stands out most in your mind to this day?

ESSEN: The fathers that were looking for sons, guys that I grew up in the job with. And to see them lose their pride and joy, and to not even have their body to have a funeral, and say good-bye to them, but to be searching for them for months.

FEYERICK: The site that you see in front of you, describe if you were walking towards that site five years ago, what would you have seen?

ESSEN: It was just enormous pieces of twisted steel, and concrete, and dust everywhere. You know, in the beginning, we all thought that we were going to find lots of folks underneath pieces of steel, and heavy pieces of concrete, with a little bit of water and some air, and that we were going to rescue a lot of people. And after the first 24 hours, we didn't save anybody.

FEYERICK: You went to many of those funerals. I mean, after a while, what kind of a toll did that take?

ESSEN: Giving eulogies at 60 or 70 funerals, whatever it was, and looking at the young mothers in the first row and the parents of you know, men that you knew, that was absolutely the worst part of it.

FEYERICK: There was always a question about the radios. Do you wish there'd been different radios on that day, that things had just worked out better?

ESSEN: I've never felt that we lost a couple hundred lives more because of the radios. I do think that there are people that didn't get the word to get out. And better radios maybe would have gotten word to more people.

FEYERICK: What is the one word you would use to describe that day, one word that just sums it all up?

ESSEN: It was painful for me.

FEYERICK: What is the word you use today to describe how you feel now?

ESSEN: I go back to probably the same word, but these folks can never move on, because every day those buildings fall down. Every day they turn on the television, those buildings fall down.

FEYERICK: If there's one thing you can change from that day, what would it be?

ESSEN: I think I would send less people, less firefighters into the building.

FEYERICK: When you go to sleep at night, and you think of 9/11, what do you hope?

ESSEN: I hate to say it, but I hope that when there's another incident, that it's not here in New York City. I don't wish it on anybody, but I especially don't wish it on firefighters in New York City and the people in New York City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: A podium has been set up down below where family and friends will read the names of the people gone now for five years. Randi?

KAYE: It's been five years. Deb Feyerick for us live at Ground Zero. Thank you.

Praise, prayers, and solemn tributes in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania today. Residents are honoring those brave passengers on United Airlines flight 93, who fought back against the hijackers before their flight went down.

Our Bob Franken is there. Bob?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Randi, even though this is off the beaten track, it is not New York City. It is not Washington. It is rural Pennsylvania. People come here by the thousands. And they gather, as you can see, they're gathering behind me. Still, there is such a need here and around the country to come to grips with the magnitude of the tragedy of September 11th. And still trying to express feelings and that type of thing, that is going on here on the day before the fifth anniversary, as people come.

And as you pointed out a moment ago, they -- many of them went to church services at a chapel that has been established just a couple of miles from here. It is a memorial to September 11th. And they had a mass this morning at that chapel.

They also have nondenominational services. And all of that to come and pay homage to the heroes of United flight 93, who were able to take over the jet that was on its way to Washington, probably a half-hour or less from here.

The 9/11 Commission has said that it was a plan to fly into the White House or the Capitol. But instead, they were able to force it down here, over there into what had been an abandoned strip mine. It was covered over, but came down and almost vaporized. But it did not fly into Washington. And it was that heroism and that memorial that they're establishing here that brings so many people here.

Randi, they're talking about in this part of Pennsylvania, it's not that easy to get to. They're talking about 175,000 people a year coming here even before the formal memorial was built. Randi?

KAYE: Thank you. Our Bob Franken live in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The September 11th attacks claimed 184 victims in the nation's capital, when American Airlines flight 77 smashed into the Pentagon. Today, people around Washington are marking the fifth anniversary of that day. Our Gary Nurenberg joins us there now with more - Gary?

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Randi, just a few moments ago, we were treated to the beautiful voice of an opera singer, who is rehearsing for a ceremony that's going to be held later this evening at the Pentagon.

They're calling it an illumination ceremony, where 184 beams of light will penetrate the night sky, one for each victim of what happened here on 9/11.

That follows something they're calling the national Freedom Walk. Right now, there are people assembling on the national mall in Washington D.C., just over the Potomac River for this Freedom Walk that will kick off at about 6:30 tonight. We're told we have pictures of people getting together there now.

Once the walk is complete, they will march here to the Pentagon for a night time ceremony presided over by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

That's how this Sunday, September 10th is ending. But there were other remembrances throughout the day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NURENBERG (voice-over): In a roar reminiscent of the screaming engines on flight 77, hundreds of motorcyclists Sunday rode from Dulles Airport, where the flight began to the Pentagon, where it claimed 184 innocent lives, including...

ELAINE DONOVAN, WIDOW OF PENTAGON VICTIM: My husband, his name's Bill. And he was here at the Pentagon on 9/11, a commander in the Navy.

NURENBERG: Commander Donovan's name is on the memorial wall inside the Pentagon, as are those of all who died here that day. It is a somber place, where visitors leave with reminders of September 11th, etched on paper, etched on their faces, as they read those names, as they stand tearfully at the exact point the plane slammed into the building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the last visible scar of the attack on the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001. This stone is burned black from the fire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so sad to go in. And especially with it being the anniversary, and reading the inscriptions and all. It really makes you realize how important it is.

NURENBERG: Anniversaries remind most of us to think about what happened, but for those who lost loved ones here...

DONOVAN: Frankly, five years, 10 years, it doesn't matter for us. It's every day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NURENBERG: Perhaps as those families watch the thousands of people who are taking part in memorial services both today and tomorrow, they'll recall the worlds of St. Basal spoken centuries ago. "Do not measure your grief, your loss by itself. If you do, it may seem intolerable. But if you will see all of human affairs, you will find there is some measure of comfort to be derived from that."

That, at the very least, is what the organizers of these memorials, Randi, are hoping for.

KAYE: Sure, Gary Nurenberg, thank you very much.

9/11 still evokes strong feelings five years after the attacks. A CNN poll conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation shows 74 percent of those surveyed are angry about the attacks. 44 percent still feel fear. And 85 percent are sad about the events of that day.

And this programming note for the fifth anniversary of 9/11. Tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern, Paula Zahn is live from Ground Zero. At 9:00 Eastern, Wolf Blitzer leads our coverage of the president's address. "LARRY KING LIVE" follows from Ground Zero. And at 10:00 Eastern, "ANDERSON COOPER 360" is live from Afghanistan.

Also tomorrow, "CNN Pipeline" brings you all of CNN's original coverage from the September 11th attacks. That's in real time as it happened that deadly day. Go to cnn.com/pipeline to watch it as it unfolded. It's free, all day long, starting at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

The surf's up and Bermuda hunkers down. Hurricane Florence intensifies and aims straight toward the island. CNN is there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'd take a shower. And my shower would be -- look like a barbecue grill, solid black. And you wake up in the middle of the night with -- in a corner of your eyes. And would drip on your pillow would be like black liquid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Plus a toxic concoction. Some of those who survived 9/11 now suffering from its aftermath. A veritable ticking time bomb of sickness.

And his kidnapping triggered a war. Now the wife of a missing Israeli soldier comes to the United States for help. You're watching CNN SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: People on the island of Bermuda bracing for Hurricane Florence. Here's where the storm is right now. Let's get the latest from meteorologist Jacqui Jeras in the CNN Weather Center.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Randi. Well, it's about 185 miles away from the island of Bermuda at this hour, packing winds at 90 miles per hour. That makes it a Category 1 hurricane. You have to get up to 96 miles per hour for this to be considered a Category 2, which we think will probably happen before potential landfall, or at least at its closest approach of Bermuda.

The storm is moving northward right now. And it's a very large storm. So Bermuda has been slapped all afternoon long with tropical storm force winds. And we've seen plenty of gusts between 50 and 60 miles per hour over the last several hours.

If it continues to move due north and doesn't have any wobbles, and we often see wobbles in tropical systems like this, it would be staying just to the west of Bermuda, but it could see a direct hit, tough to tell with an island that's about 22 miles.

Let's go ahead and show you the forecast track of this system. And we're expecting it to continue to go, expecting it to continue to pull northward and then curve on up to the north and the east.

It will stay far away from the United States, but we will be feeling the impacts. In fact, some rough surf already beginning for tonight.

Also, there's going to be a high risk of rip currents all the way up and down the Eastern seaboard. Some beach erosion and coastal flooding can be expected. The strongest wave action we think to be affecting the U.S. will come into play Monday night into Tuesday, with six to 10-foot seas - Randi?

KAYE: All right, Jacqui. Thank you.

Bermuda residents being warned to urgently prepare for a strengthening Hurricane Florence. CNN's Karl Penhaul is live via broadband in Hamilton, Bermuda with the very latest.

And Karl, kit looks like you're getting blown around a bit already. KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Things are certainly picking up here, Randi. Have been during throughout the day. We've seen fans of rain coming in.

And as you can see behind me now, the surf is really picking up. Bermuda's International Airport has been closed now. 2,000 tourists, most of them Americans, are now trapped on this island. Meteorologists are predicting storm surges of up to 40 feet.

So now, residents and tourists alike have no option but to make their final preparations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL (voice-over): An American bride, races to tie the knot as storm clouds gather over Bermuda.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We pray that all of your days together will be blessed.

PENHAUL: Tiffany Manning and Tim Gauvin came from Boston to marry on this paradise island.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope you all have a very safe time, whenever Florence decides to visit us.

PENHAUL: They bumped up the wedding by a day to stay ahead of the storm.

More nervous about the marriage and the arrangements or more nervous about the storm?

TIM GAUVIN, GROOM: Probably the storm, people traveling in. We had a couple of people just get here, you know, in the knick of time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: Down here, Horseshoe Bay on the south side of the island, the surf's picking up and the rain's lashing down. Now Bermudians and tourists alike can only wait to see how big a punch Florence will pack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL (voice-over): These girls are skim boarding before the storm whips the waves into a dangerous froth. Island authorities are already issuing hurricane warnings.

ROSEANDA YOUNG, ACTING POLICE COMMISSIONER: Batten down as soon as you can finish before late Sunday afternoon. Stay inside and allow the emergency services to get through and do the work that's required.

PENHAUL: Bermuda's capitol, Hamilton, echoes to a pre-storm symphony of power tools and hammers. Hurricane Fabian hit Bermuda three years ago, killing four people and causing millions of dollars damage. PETER SMITH, WORKER: The insurance companies. So we have to show by example. We have to board up and don't take any chances.

RICHARD HARTLEY, WORKER: No, we don't think so. We're crossing our fingers.

PENHAUL: Back at the wedding, it's time for Tim to slip the ring on Tiffany's finger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Timothy, sir, you may kiss your bride. Give 'em a big hand.

PENHAUL: Ready for a honeymoon, hunkering down for a hurricane.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: Now the last time Bermuda was pummeled by a hurricane was in 2003. That was Hurricane Fabian. It hit Bermuda as a Category 3 storm. It killed four people and caused millions of dollars of damage.

The authorities on the island say they hope they're better prepared this time. But when the storm comes ashore around 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, we're going to be in a better position to tell. Randi?

KAYE: Karl Penhaul, stay safe, please. Thank you.

Coming up, it became the frontline of terror after 9/11. Now CNN revisits Afghanistan five years later. You might be surprised how the country has changed.

Plus, a mother's heartache after losing her son on flight 93. Alice Hoaglund looks back and ahead. CNN speaks to her one on one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Words of warning in Afghanistan. A U.S. military spokesman today said a suicide bomber cell is targeting U.S. and coalition troops in Kabul. The announcement comes just two days after a suicide car bomber struck a coalition convoy near the U.S. embassy in Kabul.

While the security concerns remain, there are some signs of progress inside Afghanistan. Earlier today, president Hamid Karzai helped cut the ribbon at the opening of a new $25 million Coca-Cola bottling plant in Kabul. Five years after the 9/11 attacks, however, Afghanistan remains a country in transition. CNN's Nic Robertson has more from Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Women still wear burkas. Some men still choose to grow beards. There is still a very religious element in Afghanistan, but many things have changed for people.

Just looking behind me over here, there's a construction site. It was never that way under the Taliban. This is a new hotel that I'm standing on here. Something new is being built over there. And I look at the gardens over there. There's men working in the fields. They're making the gardens look pretty. They're watering the fields there. That wasn't happening under the Taliban.

The city feels different. It's brighter, cleaner. But there are no doubt about it, there are still some very serious issues of security deteriorating for a start.

There was a suicide attack that killed a (INAUDIBLE) governor, killed his secretary, killed his bodyguard as well in the attack in Gardez. Three policemen were also wounded in that attack.

And there was another suicide attack on Friday in Kabul, the most deadly since the Taliban were forced from power, is a significant increase. More than doubling on the number of suicide attacks last year, which last year was up significantly on the year before.

On the eve of 9/11, Kabul is a far brighter place than it was five years ago under the Taliban. But there's no doubt in the past year or so, the issues facing the government here of President Hamid Karzai have grown. And security is worse. The situation for the people, though, compared to five years ago, is better.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: He was a hero of 9/11. Mark Bingham fought to save flight 93 from crashing. Now five years later, his mother looks back. She speaks to CNN one on one.

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there's no question that people have very high rates of respiratory illnesses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The aftermath of 9/11, those who survived and saved others at Ground Zero, now dying from disease and illness. But why? A CNN special report, that's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: President and Mrs. Bush paying solemn tribute to the victims of 9/11 today. Just last hour, they placed two separate wreaths at ground zero, each marking the spots where the World Trade Centers twin towers once stood. In Pennsylvania, similar tributes for the victims killed on United flight 93. As you recall, the passengers on that flight fought against the hijackers before their plane crashed into a remote field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

9/11 made us all question the safety of America's skies, especially Alice Hoaglund. She's the mother of one of the heroic passengers killed on flight 93. Five years after the attack, she's disturbed by what she calls loose airline restrictions and lax passenger screening. CNN's Kareen Wynter brings us her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALICE HOAGLAND, LOST SON ON FLIGHT 93: It was riveting and horrifying and it's a day that we're never going to get over.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The morning of September 11th, 2001, started out like any other day for Alice Hoagland and her family. Hoagland was a flight attendant for a major airline at the time. She wasn't flying that morning, but her son, 31- year-old Mark Bingham, was on board United flight 93, headed to San Francisco. What happened in the skies that day would change her life and the course of history.

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: That is the World Trade Center and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers.

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: A plane it is described as probably being a jumbo jet-sized plane, crashed into the Pentagon.

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: United Airlines Flight 93 leaving Newark on the way to San Francisco believed to have crashed in Pennsylvania.

WYNTER: Hoagland's son, Mark, was hailed as one of many heroes on that doomed aircraft, who tried to regain control of the hijacked plane. Hoagland says as a flight attendant, she never felt completely safe off the ground. She was afraid of terrorism, but she never imagined she'd lose a loved one to it.

HOAGLAND: Whether or not I imagined it, the problem is real. The specter of terrorism is real. It was then and we really haven't solved the problems. It is extremely frustrating to see how little progress has been made.

WYNTER: Hoagland no longer works for the airline industry. She's lobbied for bills in Congress that specifically address the issues of terrorism and airline security. Five years after the worst terrorist attack in this country, she wonders how much safer we are today.

HOAGLAND: Cargo security and checked bag security and even carry- on bag security is still mighty, mighty poor. We cannot afford to have those kinds of deficiencies in security. There are lots of holes, lots of loopholes.

WYNTER: HOAGLAND often thinks about her son's short life and wonders what he'd be like today and whether her sister, Candace, a flight attendant for a major airline, could meet the same fate.

HOAGLAND: Went with me into training and she still flies, brave woman. I worry for her every day she flies. I do not think that the airlines have our best interests at heart. WYNTER: Hoagland is no longer a frequent flyer, but there's one trip she takes cross-country each year from her California home to the crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where she lost her only son and a big part of her own life.

HOAGLAND: I'm extremely sad. I'm extremely depressed a lot of the time. I try to be upbeat because there's so much work to be done. But if we allow ourselves to wallow and indulge in the depression and the grief that we feel, we won't get the job done.

WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Gatos, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Once they fought fires or they fought crime. Now many 9/11 emergency responders say they're fighting for their lives. They believe toxins turned up in the World Trade Center collapse are to blame.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: On September 11th, five years ago, as word spread America was under attack, hundreds of emergency responders rushed to the World Trade Center. Among them, NYPD Detectives John Walcott, and Rich Volpe, who arrived at ground zero, right after the second tower fell.

RICH VOLPE, FMR NYPD DETECTIVE: I remember you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, number one. I remember constantly coughing and constantly gagging.

KAYE: Rich and John were used to life-threatening situations. They'd been partners in narcotics for more than a decade. Now retired, they're no longer fighting to keep drugs off the street. They're fighting to stay alive.

JOHN WALCOTT, FMR NYPD DETECTIVE: Right now, I'm borrowing time. Five percent only live as long as I have.

KAYE: John is battling leukemia, Rich, severe asthma and double kidney failure.

VOLPE: Right now, I'm below 40 percent function in both of my kidneys.

KAYE: Both blame their illnesses on exposure to toxins like benzene, dioxin and asbestos at ground zero. But could exposure, even over a period of months make them so sick so fast? After all, both were diagnosed within just two years of the attack, or is it possible they, and thousands of others, who claimed ground zero made them sick, too, were pre-disposed to these illnesses?

Dr. Stephen Levin heads the largest screening program for 9/11 responders at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. The program has screened more than 16,000 first responders, half of whom are in need of treatment. DR. STEPHEN LEVIN, MOUNT SINAI MEDICAL CENTER: There's no question that people have developed high rates of respiratory illnesses and by that I mean new onset sinusitis, among people who never had sinus problems before and people who have developed asthma, who never had asthma before in their lives.

KAYE: People like Rudy Washington, who gets regular exams at Mt. Sinai. As Mayor Rudy Giuliani's deputy, he worked seven days a week at ground zero, coordinating rescue and recovery efforts. This is the first time he's agreed to be interviewed about his illness. Since 9/11, Rudy's developed chronic asthma, and life-threatening respiratory problems, also mysterious spots and scarring on his lungs.

RUDY WASHINGTON, FMR NYC DEPUTY MAYOR: After day two, three, you know whatever exposure you had was done, it was a fait accompli. After the second day or so, we were taken in with smoke, basically from the fire, the real heavy contamination, where you had asbestos, fiberglass and all of that stuff, now which shows up on my lungs.

KAYE: Before 9/11, Rudy says he never missed a day of work, but in the years since, he's become a regular at the ER, hardly able to breathe, but still, Rudy considers himself lucky. So far, no sign of cancer. Attorney David Worby says he has more than 8,000 clients who got sick at ground zero, including John Walcott and Rich Volpe.

DAVID WORBY, ATTORNEY: 00,000 pounds of asbestos, 200,000 pounds of lead, (INAUDIBLE) burning jet fuel, 125,000 gallons of burned transformer oils. It was the worst toxic waste site ever.

KAYE: Worby says more than 350 of his clients have cancer. 1,000 have severe respiratory ailments. More than 60 of them are already dead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: So is there a connection to the debris of 9/11 and cancer? Or is it mere coincidence many survivors are being diagnosed with the disease? The second part of this CNN special report is coming up.

The service of prayer and remembrance at St. Paul's chapel in New York is just wrapping up. Live pictures for you now. The president is preparing for a day of remembrance all day tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Ground zero toxins, did they make thousands of rescuers sick or were those people pre-disposed to their illnesses? Tough questions as we return now to our special report on this fifth anniversary.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: When al Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center September 11th, 2001, more than 50,000 rescue workers poured through the rubble, searching for survivors, clinging to hope, then cleaning up. Thousands of those people got sick. Some of them are dying, many already dead. Was it the exposure to deadly toxins released when the towers collapsed? Or could it be coincidence that the victims were pre-disposed to the cancers and respiratory illnesses that are killing them? Consider this -- when the towers fell, all of the material used to build them and everything inside them turned to dust, which was inhaled by everyone at the scene including NYPD detectives Rich Volpe and John Walcott, partners for 11 years. Rich's kidneys are failing. John has developed leukemia. At any point were you given a mass to wear?

VOLPE: Eventually we were, yeah.

KAYE: How long is eventually?

VOLPE: I would say the first two weeks we didn't have anything.

WALCOTT: It took about three weeks to get a mask and a couple weeks later they told us it was the wrong filters and then they started issuing a mask months and months later.

KAYE: New York City declined an interview, citing pending lawsuits but issued this statement to CNN. "Safety protocols were quickly implemented, including the requirement that respirators be worn and the city, its contractors and OSHA, supplied more than 300,000 respirators to workers," But many workers, due to the heat and trouble communicating, chose not to wear the respirators and the soot that was in the air, rescuers brought it home with them.

WALCOTT: We'd take a shower and my shower would be, look like a barbecue grill, solid black and you wake up in the middle of the night with, in the corner of your eyes a drip on your pillow would be like black liquid and you know, same thing, you clean your ears out and just chunks and chunks of black would come out. Your teeth, when you scrub your teeth and you spit in the sink and it would just be literally like a barbecue grill.

KAYE: At Mt. Sinai screening center, Dr. Stephen Levin says it's still too soon to know if there is a connection between ground zero and cancer. How do you explain cancer showing up in World Trade Center workers and rescue crews?

LEVIN: Many, many of the people who responded were construction workers. Before 9/11, many construction workers had exposures to asbestos and other cancer-causing agents. So it comes as no great surprise that cancer will occur in such a group. This is true of the firefighters as well.

KAYE: But how does one explain Red Cross volunteers, utility workers and others, who may not have been readily exposed to cancer- causing materials before 9/11, also getting sick?

WORBY: I want to meet these scientists. I want to meet the doctors at Mt. Sinai. I want to put them in the room and show them the number of bladder cancers, tonsil cancers, throat cancers, stomach cancers, lung cancers.

KAYE: Attorney David Worby did his own research. He says more than 60 of his clients have died from cancer after working at ground zero and suggest the unique combination of toxic materials could speed up the formation of cancer. But Dr. Levin doesn't buy it.

LEVIN: Cancers that are occurring now are unlikely to be related to the World Trade Center exposures, but we can't say with 100 percent certainty that none is.

KAYE: Based on your expertise, how long after exposure do you think it would take for someone to develop cancer?

LEVIN: There's generally a minimum of 15 years that has to pass from the exposure to a cancer-causing agent to the time you can really diagnose that cancer and frankly in most cancer types, that latency period, that delay is more often 20 and 25 years. Is it possible that we could be seeing something in the World Trade Center mix of exposures that could accelerate that? It would really violate our understanding of the biology of cancer but we can't close our minds to the possibility.

KAYE: What do you think? Dr. Levin does say leukemia, which John Walcott has, can show up within five years of exposure, but he wonders if John may have developed leukemia, even if he had never worked at ground zero and because Mt. Sinai is still waiting on federal funds to study this possible link, it may be years before doctors know whether or not any direct correlation between cancer and ground zero can be made.

VOLPE: I have one question for him. Where am I going to be in 20 years when you're done with these, you know, whatever kind of studies you want to do, where am I going to be? Where is John going to be? Where are the people that are walking around that are sick, where are they going to be? Some people don't have 20 years.

KAYE: While he weights for answers, Rich remains focused on staying strong. Now, only able to lift a third of what he used to, but he's eating well and praying a healthy kidney comes his way. And John? After six months of chemotherapy, he has hope. His leukemia is in remission. The days of coaching high school hockey are over. He's too weak. So instead, he skates the ice with his daughter. In the face of death, family is top priority.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And a new study published just this week will likely sharpen the debate. Researchers at New York's Mt. Sinai Medical Center say nearly 70 percent of those 9/11 first responders have trouble breathing and many will probably be sick for the rest of their lives.

As America remembers the grim anniversary of 9/11, signs of patriotism blanket New York City, literally. An enormous American flag measuring 90 by 60 feet was unveiled on the George Washington Bridge, and around the city, an assortment of quilts honor the victims of 9/11.

His kidnapping sparked a conflict. The fighting's over, but still no sign of Israeli soldier Ehud Goldwasser. Coming up I'll speak with his wife who is in the U.S. tonight looking for help. Stay with us.

And right there, you're looking at a live picture of the president at ground zero. He has just visited a fire house nearby, which he will spend the day tomorrow doing just the same. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Drawing hope from crisis, the theme of an emotional speech today by Karnit Goldwasser, the wife of one of the Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah militants two months ago. She spoke at the national synagogue in Washington. Her husband, Ehud Goldwasser, was kidnapped July 12th during a cross-border raid and taken into Lebanon. A second Israeli soldier, Eldad Regev seen here on the left, was also captured. Neither man has been heard from since then. Earlier today, I talked with Karnit Goldwasser about the ongoing crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: I do wish we were talking under different circumstances, but we're happy to be speaking with you. Can you tell me if you've had any news at all about your husband?

KARNIT GOLDWASSER, WIFE OF KIDNAPPED SOLDIER: No. Unfortunately, since July 12th, the day that my husband and (INAUDIBLE) were kidnapped, we didn't hear anything from them. We didn't get any sign of life from them; no one saw them. No one I can speak with, nothing.

KAYE: During this visit to the United States, what is it exactly that you hope to accomplish and that you think you can accomplish?

GOLDWASSER: We came, my father, me and many of the family here to the states to put the face behind the story and also to let them stay in the front page to let the whole world know that terror, which was in our background, can be in your background and it was in your background. 9/11 is tomorrow and we the family fear (INAUDIBLE) We are also a victim of terror, exactly as the American people.

KAYE: I understand that you gave a letter and a bible to the Red Cross to deliver to Hezbollah to give to your husband. Have you had any follow-up on that? Do you know if that was delivered?

GOLDWASSER: I know that the message that we sent with the Red Cross, the Red Cross message, which is written in English, without an envelope, it's a formal message, is still waiting in the office of the Red Cross in Beirut and we are still waiting for the Hezbollah to accept the call of the Red Cross to come and to take the message to my husband and to (INAUDIBLE).

KAYE: I know you're trying to appeal to people here in the United States and get governments around the world to try and help. You're also talking to women, trying to get to the wives of Hezbollah, of the Hezbollah group. What do you hope to accomplish just by having one woman talk to another woman that way? GOLDWASSER: As a wife, I know that all women all over the world especially also the Hezbollah women will understand me and will know what's going through, what I'm going through. When I got married, when I met my husband, it was nine years ago. When I met him, we became partners, I know that from that day, I'm not going to sleep alone and since July 12th, I'm going to sleep alone and I wake up alone. And I know that they will understand me when I'm asking for help. I'm asking them to help me to say to their husband, to send me something from my husband, because we are all women and we know what we are going through.

KAYE: How far do you think Israel should go? Should Israel release prisoners in order to get your husband back?

GOLDWASSER: I'm not a politician. I'm just his wife and as a wife, I know that for me, I will do anything to bring back my husband and I think all women, all wives all over the world think exactly like me, because I got married last October, I'm going to have my first anniversary, and I want my husband back to celebrate it with me. So I will do anything to bring back my husband.

KAYE: We hope that he does come home soon and safely to you, Karnit Goldwasser, thanks for your time tonight.

GOLDWASSER: Thank you.

KAYE: There is much more ahead on CNN this evening. Coming up next at 7:00 Eastern, "CNN PRESENTS: In the Footsteps of bin Laden." Thanks for watching.

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