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Inside the Madrassa; On the Front Lines in Iraq; Ramadi is Key Location for al Qaeda in Iraq; Interview with Pittsburgh's 26-Year-Old Mayor

Aired September 12, 2006 - 13:59   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: In the West, young Muslims who are ready and willing to fight and die in holy war are called radicals, extremists. President Bush even uses the word "fascist."
In Pakistan they're called students. Their schools are called madrassas. Ad their zeal is strictly by the book.

CNN's Nic Robertson saw for himself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's late, 10:00 at night. We're uncertain about what we're witnessing. Are these devoted and peace-loving students of Islam? Or is it a school where students gravitate to terrorism?

We are in Lahore, Pakistan. Dozens of children, some only five, are painstakingly memorizing every word of the Koran, every word. It can take years.

(on camera): These children begin their studies at about 6:00 o'clock in the morning. They get a break for breakfast around 8:00 a.m. Then they go back to their books. They get a break for lunch, then studying again all afternoon. A long break in the early evening, and then back to their books again.

(voice-over): But is this about love, love of Islam or hate, hate for the U.S. and the West?

(on camera): Extremists could try to recruit young men from here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My students never do bomb blasts.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): School like this are called madrassas. There are 15,000 in Pakistan.

This man, Mullah Abdul Rashid Ghazi, runs some of the largest anywhere. He says he met Osama bin Laden and describes himself as being ideologically close to the world's most wanted terrorist. In fact, he says jihad, war with oneself and one's enemies, a holy war, is part of the Koran, so he must teach it.

ABDUL RASHID GHAZI, PAKISTANI MULLAH: We have been asked by the government many times that you should stop teaching the jihad. So we tell them that we can't stop it because we cannot make any amendment in Islam. ROBERTSON: In the 1980s the madrassas launched graduates of holy war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. In the 1990s madrassas produced leaders and soldiers for the Taliban. And since 9/11, they have incubated a growing hatred for the West, declaring the war on terror a campaign against all Muslims.

GHAZI: If you talk about Afghanistan, yes, we say that American army can be attacked in Afghanistan and in Iraq, American army, because they are aggressive.

ROBERTSON: This young man took four years to memorize the Koran. For him, it was especially difficult. He doesn't understand a word of it because he doesn't speak Arabic, but he does understand the promised rewards.

JABER ISMAIL, AMERICAN MADRASSA STUDENT: If a person that memorizes the Koran, you know, he can take six people to heaven like this.

ROBERTSON: Jaber Ismail is American. Five years ago, two months after 9/11, he and his parents moved here from California to get a religious education. And now, he may never get to go back to U.S. Twice he has tried to go home, but he says the U.S. is keeping him out, and says U.S. officials suspect he has been in a terrorist training camp here.

His cousin has already been convicted by a U.S. court.

ISMAIL: I don't think they believe me, you know.

ROBERTSON: Why not?

ISMAIL: Because they said I have to do a lie detector test and I was thinking like, you know, I was born in the United States. Why do I have to take a lie detector test to enter my own country.

ROBERTSON (on camera): As we're leaving his village, I must admit to being a little bit confused. Is it as simple as Jaber Ismail says, that he came here to study the Koran, didn't get tempted into terror training? It is very, very hard to discern fact from fiction.

(voice-over): After all, last summer the investigations of the London subway and bus bombings found some of to bombers had visited Pakistan shortly before the attack. Pakistan and the madrassas were implicated. And Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf tried to crack down on the madrassas, but many defied him.

GHAZI: We are against Musharraf. I mean, we say that he is a dictator. He is an agent. He's an agent of the United States.

ROBERTSON: And yet, despite growing Western suspicions that madrassas turn young innocence into easy converts for terrorism, madrassas have never been more popular. Mullah Ghazi says anger at the U.S. and the West is great for his schools.

GHAZI: Forty percent increase in the number of students and the number of people who are donating.

ROBERTSON: That is why we are not sure what we saw in the class this day. Devoted and focused students who love the Koran and Islam or if the day's lessons focus on the jihad chapter. Were we seeing the groundwork of recruitment for the next generation of holy warriors angry at the U.S.?

Nic Robertson, CNN, Lahore, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: So reading, writing jihad. While madrassas turn out students schooled in anti-Western hatred, President Bush and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah team up to counter it with a new exchange program.

As many as 15,000 Saudi students will enroll at U.S. colleges this academic year. That is five times the number who are already here. It's a good deal for the students. The Saudi royal family's footing the bill for full scholarships. It's a good deal for schools competing for those tuition dollars.

And it's a good deal for the future, says the State Department. They say it's a way to build strong ties with budding Saudi leaders.

And tonight at 10:00, live from Afghanistan, Anderson Cooper is on patrol with the U.S. Army on the front lines of the war on terror. And he wants to hear from you. All you have to do is go to CNN.com and submit your questions about Afghanistan and Pakistan. Anderson will be joined by Nic Robertson and Peter Bergen to answer those questions.

That's "AC 360," a special report live from Afghanistan tonight at 10:00 Eastern. And you'll see it only here on CNN.

Our Baghdad bureau chief, Cal Perry, has captured some stunning images from the war in Iraq. He's also working on a "CNN PRESENTS" in which he's going to take us inside a combat hospital.

Cal joins us now from Baghdad.

Cal, let me ask you about it. This CASH hospital, what exactly does it show us, especially when it comes to the loss there in Iraq?

CAL PERRY, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Betty, it shows us what we don't usually see in our news coverage that gets beamed back to the United States. I mea, as journalists, we often go out with U.S. troops, we see them on the front lines, we film them in combat. And oftentimes we film them being wounded.

What we haven't seen is what happens after they're wounded, how they're treated, the doctors that work on those wounds, the type of wounds that they receive. So far in Iraq, the U.S. has crossed the 20,000 casualty number. With less than 3,000 killed, that means over 17,000 Americans have been wounded in this war. Almost 10,000 of those have been unable to return to -- unable to return to the field. These are really horrific wounds. We're talking about amputations.

The first day I was at the CASH with cameraman Dominic Swan (ph), a U.S. soldier came in, he was pronounced dead right in front of us. A second U.S. soldier from an IED blast -- IEDs are sort of the typical weapon used by insurgents -- the second U.S. soldier came in with his left leg blown off. Doctors had to pronounce his buddy dead and in the same room had to turn to this other U.S. soldier and save his life, and they did.

Ninety-four percent of people that come into this combat hospital, the busiest in the country, leave alive. It's a staggering, staggering statistic -- Betty.

NGUYEN: It really is. You know, it's one thing to hear the numbers, but Cal, when you see the faces, when you see the people there working on the people in dire need, what was it like trying to shoot your stories in a situation that just was so overwhelming?

PERRY: Well, it was difficult for a variety of reasons. I mean, as journalists, we obviously try to separate ourselves from the story. We try to stay completely independent.

I am at the end of the day an American, and Memorial Day comes to mind. On Memorial Day, the doctors were talking about how they wished they were at home, they wished they were at baseball games, at barbecues.

On that day, eight U.S. soldiers came in. They were all incredibly wounded. Between the eight U.S. soldiers, there was literally something like six legs between the eight.

This was also the day where CBS's News' Kimberly Dozier came in. They all had their lives saved.

It was an emotional scene because the unit that brought in the wounded was in the lobby. So doctors, on the one hand, are trying to treat the wounded, and they're also trying to give comfort to the soldiers and the units that bring in these wounded, and it's something they do every single day.

These doctors also treat everybody. Anybody that comes through the door. They kept saying over and over, "We're doctors first, we're soldiers second."

We saw them treat Iraqi civilians. We saw them treat Iraqi army officers. We even saw them treat insurgents, insurgents that were brought in by the U.S. to be treated, to have their lives saved, and then be later interrogated. And they do give everybody the same treatment.

NGUYEN: That's so riveting.

Tell me, when is this documentary going to air?

PERRY: On November 11th, Betty. November 11th it will air.

And for Dominic Swan (ph) and I, it's really -- we want people to just meet what we believe are really incredible U.S. soldiers, doctors here, that are doing something under exceptional circumstances every day.

NGUYEN: Extraordinary work.

Cal Perry, thank you for that. Looking forward to it on November 11th.

Well, it is a hotbed of al Qaeda activity and home to the man who replaced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Next to Baghdad, Ramadi may be Iraq's most dangerous city.

CNN's Michael Ware was embedded with U.S. troops there, and today he's back in Baghdad with more on the mission.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Bush has highlighted Iraq as the centerpiece of the global war on terror. The realities here on the ground have revealed a gaping black hole in the president's worldwide campaign.

President Bush referred specifically to the western Iraqi province of Al Anbar and its capital, Ramadi, where he says recent al Qaeda documents and the statements of Osama bin Laden himself show al Qaeda's plan to use that part of Iraq to form the toe hole from which to build their broader international Islamic caliphate state. However, we see that in Ramadi the battle with al Qaeda, the true front line here in Iraq, continues as much as it ever has.

In fact, U.S. military intelligence and American commanders on the ground can point to al Qaeda in Iraq's key headquarters, transiting areas, logistics and staging bases, and planning centers, yet they do not have the troops to go in and disrupt that al Qaeda base.

So what we are seeing here in Iraq is that whilst it remains at the heart of the battle against al Qaeda, American forces here are simply ill equipped to strike at the heart of the organization led by Osama bin Laden.

This is Michael Ware, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And Ramadi is part of what's been called Iraq's wild west, Anbar Province. It's one of the fiercest and deadliest fronts, and it's only getting worse.

Our Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon with more on this -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, the intelligence chief for the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq has now issued a very sober assessment of the security situation in Anbar Province. Of course, Ramadi and Falluja being the basic heartland of the insurgency in Iraq and of al Qaeda in Iraq.

That assessment has provoked a very unusual reaction. It's a classified assessment, but it is being acknowledged all the way from Iraq to the White House podium.

White House spokesman Tony Snow saying earlier today that the president is ready to hear whatever tough news there is about Iraq, and even if he does still get a request for more troops from the field, that he will act upon that request.

Here's a bit of what Tony Snow had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: You don't want anybody BS-ing you. He doesn't want anybody lying to him. He doesn't want anybody shaving the truth to him.

He has made it absolutely clear to generals that the job is to win. And the first thing you have to do is, to the best of your ability, cut through that fog of war and tell him what the situation is, and what they need to get the job done. And that continues to be the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Tony Snow talking about this new classified assessment of the security situation in Iraq, saying that the president is ready to hear whatever tough news is out there.

Now, the top commander, the top Marine commander out in Iraq, has just completed a news briefing via telephone about this situation. And he has told reporters that he feels, actually, the U.S. does have enough troops in western Iraq, about 30,000 troops. And what he says is that's just about right for the security situation right now, because even if the U.S. put more troops into Anbar Province, it wouldn't substantially change the long-term situation. That that is still going to have to be the responsibility of Iraqi security forces and that there will have to fundamentally, Betty, be economic, political and progress with the Iraqi government there for there to be a real change in the security situation -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Well, let's talk about the Iraqi security forces in relationship to the violence. We understand it is growing, those security forces, and by December there's going to be, what, some 325,000 ready and in place?

So is that going to make a difference, and why isn't it making a difference if they're growing in numbers?

STARR: Well, that -- that, of course, reflects what the expected figure will be across the country. But, you know, having those forces in the field, that's not like having the U.S. military or a fully- trained, long-term, standing military force in the field.

What the U.S. knows is that those Iraqi security forces still have a pretty spotted record on their performance and what they are able to independently do in the field. And, of course, fundamentally now, with the rise in sectarian violence, with the rise in Sunni- versus-Shia violence, it's the police forces that are really on the front line in these towns and communities and small villages across Iraq. And a lot of these police forces, according to U.S. commanders, still really have a long way to go.

One of the major priorities over the next several months is going to be getting those police forces trained up and really operating across Iraq. Fundamentally getting security, street by street, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, across Iraq is going to be the long-term answer, commanders say.

NGUYEN: Yes, and it's going to take some time.

CNN's Barbara Starr.

Thank you for that, Barbara.

STARR: Sure.

NGUYEN: Well, how deep is voter dissatisfaction? Today's primary elections could be a preview of the fight for the control of Congress this fall.

That's coming up in the NEWSROOM.

And we asked, and you answered. Does America's safety depend on winning the war in Iraq? We'll read what some of you wrote in response to the day's "Hit Send Request."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: We have some breaking news to tell you about out of California. The Port of Los Angeles has received a bomb threat by phone on Pier 400, which is a very large area.

We're looking at some live pictures thanks to our affiliate KABC. It's a large area, as I mentioned, about 500 acres, and houses their containers, of which you're seeing right there.

Here's what we know.

Pier 400 has been evacuated due to this threat that was phoned in. And authorities there have also set up a 150-yard safety zone from the terminal so that no vessels can come within that area.

And, of course, as you can see, their teams are on the ground. They're also using bomb-sniffing dogs. You see one of them right there to determine exactly if there is a bomb on site.

Again, a bomb threat has been phoned in to the Los Angeles -- the pier of Los Angeles involving Pier 400. And that pier has been evacuated.

We'll keep monitoring this story and tell you any developments should they arise.

In the meantime, it is primary election day in nine states and the nation's capital. One more chance to see just how disgruntled the voters really are.

Let's take a closer look at what's at stake with CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider in Washington.

I know one of the key races to watch is in Rhode Island, Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, that's right, the Rhode Island Republican primary. There aren't many Republicans in Rhode Island, but they're voting today in a primary.

The incumbent senator's Lincoln Chafee. He's facing a very strong challenge from a conservative candidate named Steve Laffey.

Well, Lincoln Chafee is one of the Republicans who is most moderate, even liberal. He voted against Bush's tax cuts, he voted against the Iraq war. In fact, he voted against Bush in 2004. He voted for John Kerry.

But Steve Laffey, the conservative, is not running as a Bush loyalist. The White House, the Republican establishment, the party are all supporting Chafee, the incumbent, because they don't think Laffey can win if he wins the nomination.

So Laffey is running an anti-Washington campaign, mostly targeted at spending. He argues that the Republican Congress spending is out of control and he wants to change things if he makes it to Washington.

NGUYEN: And speaking of spending, the National Republican Party says it's going to pull out of that race, pull the funding out of there if Laffey wins?

SCHNEIDER: Exactly. They say they don't think Laffey can win in heavily Democratic Rhode Island. So they've already announced that they're going to pull out of Rhode Island if Laffey wins the primary.

NGUYEN: All right. Let's take a look at Arizona. I know illegal immigration is a hot issue there.

SCHNEIDER: Yes. I was in that district, as well as Rhode Island. That's the eighth district of Arizona.

That's where an insurgent candidate is doing very well, Randy Graf, who is an anti-illegal immigration contender. He ran once before against the incumbent congressman, Jim Colby, who is retiring.

Graf is right now ahead in the polls. He's running a very strong campaign, has the support of the Minutemen there. And the Republican Party nationally is not supporting him. The Republican Senatorial Committee is running ads on behalf of one of his opponents, Steve Huffman, who they think has a better chance to win.

Both of these insurgent candidates, conservatives, Rhode Island and Arizona, neither has the support of the official Republican Party. But they are running on two big issues to conservatives. One, control of spending. Two, they disagree with President Bush in his comprehensive immigration reform proposal.

NGUYEN: Well, don't you find it interesting that the National Republican Party is supporting the moderates in both of these races?

SCHNEIDER: It's pure political pragmatism. They don't think that the conservative insurgent is likely to win. They think they could lose the House district in Arizona, they could lose the Senate seat in Rhode Island.

It's pure pragmatism. They put pragmatism, I suppose, over principle, although the conservatives themselves have differences with President Bush.

But it does show a lot of unhappiness out there among the conservative ranks with the National Republican Party and even sometimes President Bush on issues like spending and immigration. And that anger and unhappiness is welling up, and we may see it come out today in the primary results.

NGUYEN: And that kind of insight, Bill Schneider, is why you're a part of the best political team on television.

SCHNEIDER: Thank you.

NGUYEN: All right. See you later. Thank you, Bill.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

NGUYEN: Well, Apple is branching out. And if you get your music via iTunes, you can soon get your movies -- yes, movies there, too. And some of them -- well, some of those movies, not all of them.

CNN Business Correspondent Maggie Lake has details on the changes announced just last hour.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

NGUYEN: Want to take you now back live to some pictures of the Port of Los Angeles. We got some word a little bit earlier.

This is Pier 400. You can see all the people there, the crews, working the scene. And here's what we know. Pier 400 has been evacuated due to a bomb threat there.

We have on the phone Lieutenant P.J. Jacqueline to talk to us about exactly what has happened and what is transpiring now.

Lieutenant, tell me, first of all, about this call you received.

LT. P.J. JACQUELINE, PORT OF LOS ANGELES: We were initially notified by the Los Angeles Port Police. The notification they were given was that an individual had called the International Longshoremen Workers Union and stated that there was a bomb on the facility.

NGUYEN: OK. In this facility, it's Pier 400, to be exact. Tell us exactly what is housed at Pier 400.

JACQUELINE: Pier 400 is a container terminal. So they handle containerized cargo that comes in and out obviously on container ships.

NGUYEN: Was there any indication from this phone call if it was in a container, where exactly this bomb may be?

JACQUELINE: No, we were not given that indication.

NGUYEN: OK. And you don't know -- do you have any -- any idea where the call was originating from? Have you tracked it down to maybe a city, a state, or anything like that?

JACQUELINE: We've not been given any of that information yet.

NGUYEN: All right. So the pier has been evacuated. How many people work at that pier, and what kind of evacuations are we talking about?

JACQUELINE: I'm not exactly sure of the specific number, but the evacuation was of all nonessential personnel who were working on the facility at the time.

NGUYEN: OK. So there still are some people there, then?

JACQUELINE: Yes, primarily the facility security personnel who are in the process of checking the facility to look for any specific packages.

NGUYEN: This seems like quite an endeavor, because we're looking at some live pictures from our affiliate KABC, and you can see container after container after container. And, of course, there are bomb-sniffing dogs on the scene which we're looking at right now. But to find something like this, if indeed there is even a bomb there, seems like it might take some time.

JACQUELINE: It is a large facility, and there are a lot of containers.

NGUYEN: And do you expect this search to last for quite some time today?

JACQUELINE: I don't know. We don't have an estimate yet of how long it's going to take to actually clear the facility itself. We're still, obviously, working on that, as you see in the live footage there.

NGUYEN: And as for vessels headed to that pier, what have they been told to do? JACQUELINE: There was one ship that was headed towards the pier, and they were directed to Anchor (ph) so that they would not actually tie up at the pier itself.

NGUYEN: So this isn't going to tie up any transport or anything like that? You were able just to reroute?

JACQUELINE: The one ship that was headed for the pier, they -- as I said, they have been set to Anchor (ph). And once they are given the all-clear, they will then be allowed to tie up. And as you can probably see from your footage there, at some point there are three ships currently alongside the pier, and they were instructed to stop their cargo operations, and they have done so.

NGUYEN: OK. Three ships alongside the pier, the pier in question. Have the people on board those ships been asked to evacuate as well just as a precaution?

JACQUELINE: No, they've actually remained on board, and they are going to conduct their security procedures on board to make sure that there's nothing suspicious there as well.

NGUYEN: All right.

Lieutenant P.J. Jacqueline joining us, U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson.

Again, you're looking at live pictures from KABC. You see a lot of people on hand there. There has been a bomb threat called in to the Port of Los Angeles dealing with Pier 400 specifically. It's a very large pier, about 500 acres. And as you can see in that video, or those live pictures just moments ago, bomb-sniffing dogs are on the scene.

We'll stay and monitor this and bring you any developments should they arise.

In the meantime, stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

OK. Imagine this, being told you're in charge of one of America's largest cities, and you didn't even run for mayor. A young man gets a tough job in some even tougher times.

The new 26-year-old mayor of Pittsburgh is in the CNN NEWSROOM just ahead.

And we asked and you answered. Does America's safety depend on winning the war in Iraq? We'll read what some of you wrote in after you hit send in the "Request of the Day."

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right, we're going to take you back live to now Pier 400 at the port of Los Angeles. Actually, this is the tape that our KBC affiliate is sending in to us.

We told you we were monitoring the situation, and here's what we know. The U.S. Coast Guard has given the all clear. As we told you a little earlier, a bomb threat was phoned in dealing with Pier 400, a very large area, but suspicious packages actually were found, but determined not to be a threat. And again the all-clear has been given to Pier 400 after receiving bomb threat a little bit earlier today.

Now earlier we asked you to hit send and respond to this question. Does America's safety depend on winning in Iraq?

Here's what a few of you had to say. Kara in Massachusetts says, "To say that our safety directly depends on success in Iraq is absurd! We have plenty of enemies who have nothing to do with Iraq and they jeopardize our safety with or without success in Iraq."

C.D. Lee writes, "Yes, we should stay the course. I am not a Republican, but I agree with the president."

Clint says, "I agree with President Bush. It's crucial that we attack terrorism wherever it may exist, including Iraq. We have killed many terrorists in Iraq that may have committed atrocities in America."

And finally Mary writes, "I do not agree with George W. Bush regarding fighting in Iraq. If we had never gone there, the terrorists would not be there... He is obsessed with going to Iraq and stubborn to a fault."

Do you agree? Disagree? Hit send and tell us.

Does America's safety depend on winning the war in Iraq? Hit send. The address, CNNnewsroom@CNN.com. We'll have some of your responses throughout the afternoon.

It's been called the forgotten war, but the battle for Afghanistan is fresh in our minds once again. The Taliban may be ousted, but it's not out of the picture. CNN's Anderson Cooper is in Afghanistan five years after the U.S. invasion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A few minutes after we landed in Kabul, there was a suicide attack. When we got to the scene, they were hosing down the street. I didn't understand why at first but then I saw. There were chunks of flesh all over the ground.

There are moments here it feels like Iraq. The hotel where we stay, there are guards and bomb shacks. All of us have to wear bulletproof vests. When we drove outside Kabul, we hired a half dozen armed guards. When we stopped for lunch, one of them carried his rocket-propelled grenade to the table just in case.

No matter how much time you spend here, you only feel like you're getting glimpses, a furtive glance at what life is really like. Women in burkas pass you buy, avoiding your glances, refusing to talk. There have been elections and progress, openness unheard of under the Taliban. You can buy CDs and perfume. There's even a Western-style mall where young men dress up in their finest clothes.

None of it seems stable, however. None of it seems permanent. In Jalalabad, we found what was once Osama bin Laden's home, a headquarters for al Qaeda. Now it's empty. Mud walls, dirt floors, all of it fading into dust.

At times, it feels like this is a land of dust. The old, the young, generations have come and gone, countless wars, endless conflicts, in the end, they, us, everyone, everything blows away with the wind. In the end, in Afghanistan, only these mountains, this land, remains.

Anderson Cooper, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: All this week, CNN continues its year-long look into the future. Your future. With this week's fifth anniversary of the September 11th attack on our country, many Americans still carry with them the fear of what's next.

CNN's Miles O'Brien gives us a forecast of what's to come and how we can prepare and protect ourselves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's definitely in the back of my mind all the time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're always going to have terrorism, no matter how peaceful the world claims to be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It could be anywhere. I think that's the scariest thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I worry about my grandchildren's futures.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe not our lifetime, but sometime it will happen again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think you'll ever again feel real, real safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten years from now what will it be like? I have no idea.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brian Michael Jenkins with the Rand Corporation says al Qaeda remains America's biggest threat.

BRIAN MICHAEL JENKINS, RAND CORPORATION: Their ability to communicate, to radicalize, to recruit has not diminished. We haven't dented their determination.

O'BRIEN: There is no doubt they are determined to try something even bigger, more shocking than 9/11. And while they wait and plan, they are fighting a relentless campaign against the U.S. in Iraq, turning that country into a terror training camp.

JENKINS: What you see today in Baghdad is going to be the model of terrorist attacks that we see worldwide in the next five to ten years.

O'BRIEN: So how do we win? Well, if the objective of terrorists is to scare us, victory may be as simple as living our lives without fear.

JENKINS: Education and engagement will go a long way to reducing the alarm that terrorists hope to create. If we provoke cynicism in our society, then we will weaken and destroy ourselves. I believe that no foreign problem can bring this country down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Voters in nine states and Washington, D.C., are choosing candidates for November elections. They're also give the rest of us another sneak peek at what could happen two months from now. The primary drawing the most attention is in Rhode Island. Moderate Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee faces a tough challenge from conservative Stephen Laffey. He's the mayor of Cranston. The GOP has thrown its weight and money behind Chafee, believing Laffey can't win in November. Now a correction for you to an earlier statement on this program. In 2004, Chafee did not vote for President Bush. Instead he wrote in the name of the president's father.

An hour and a half after being told the mayor of his own hometown had died, a young man in Pittsburgh gets the biggest job of his life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I, Luke Ravenstahl.

LUKE RAVENSTAHL, MAYOR, PITTSBURGH: I, Luke Ravenstahl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do solemnly swear.

RAVENSTAHL: Do solemnly swear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That I will support.

RAVENSTAHL: That I will support.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The constitution of the United States.

RAVENSTAHL: The constitution of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And of this state.

RAVENSTAHL: And of this state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The charter of the city.

RAVENSTAHL: The charter of the city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I will faithfully discharge.

RAVENSTAHL: And I will faithfully discharge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The duties of office.

RAVENSTAHL: The duties of office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the best much my ability.

RAVENSTAHL: To the best of my ability.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good luck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Well, at the tender age of 26, Pittsburgh city council president Luke Ravenstahl becomes the top man at city hall. He took the oath of office after Mayor Bob O'Connor died of a brain tumor September 1st. Now, the challenge has begun for a young man leading a city reeling from the loss and then trying to make an economic comeback.

Mayor Ravenstahl joins me now from Pittsburgh. Hi there, mayor.

RAVENSTAHL: Hi. How are you?

NGUYEN: I'm doing great. You know, many 26-year-olds haven't even really decided firmly on what they want to do. Now you're in the seat of mayor of a city that has some 300,000 residents. What kind of pressures are weighing on you right now?

RAVENSTAHL: Well, it's an opportunity that I'm excited about. And certainly with the passing of Mayor O'Connor, who was a great friend of mine, who was a mentor of mine, it's certainly not the way I would have liked to have taken office. But I'm prepared to do the job as mayor of the city of Pittsburgh. It's exciting for me to have this opportunity to lead our great city, to bigger and better things. Mayor O'Connor has, in his short six months in office, done some great things. And I look forward to continuing his model to make Pittsburgh once again one of the greatest cities in the world to live.

NGUYEN: I know you really looked up to him. And after his funeral, you had this to say in a speech. You said, "Today I humbly stand before you as the mayor of Pittsburgh. It is a position I did not seek, but it is a responsibility I embrace. It is a duty to which I commit myself completely." But I have to ask you, as president of the city council, you didn't have to take the job. It's something that you chose to do. Why?

RAVENSTAHL: Well because I love public service, Betty. And it's something that is in my blood. And this is an opportunity that presented itself to me, again, something I did not seek out, but I believe we have a tremendous opportunity to lead this city into the 21st century.

Pittsburgh has a great story to tell. And to be reflected as a young mayor, I think it's important we now can talk nationwide about Pittsburgh moving forward, some of the great things that are happening here. And to be a young voice in that process is something that I look forward to. It will be a challenge, but something I think I'm ready for.

NGUYEN: There's been a little bit of debate over whether you're going to carry out O'Connor's term, which expires in 2009 or if you're going to face the electorate next year. What's the latest on that?

RAVENSTAHL: There has been no decision yet. My position from the beginning has been that the voters of the city of Pittsburgh deserve an answer to that question as quickly as possible. It makes no difference to me whether the election is in 2007 or in 2009, but I have directed the city law department to seek out the answer as quickly as possible.

Ultimately, it will probably end up in the court system, and a judge will decide. We need to get that answer as quickly as possible. We've gone through a lot of turmoil here over the past couple of weeks, obviously, with the passing of the mayor. The residents deserve an answer so that we know how the city will move forward.

NGUYEN: Well, as you move toward, at least in the interim, let me ask you this. I know you're going to use some of the tools that O'Connor gave you, but at the same time, you've got to stand your ground and make your own way in this and try to get residents to see past your age. How do you plan on doing that?

RAVENSTAHL: Well, just being myself, to be honest with you, Betty. That's something I've done since the beginning of my term as city council member and then as city council president, now as mayor.

To me, age is just a number. I just ask residents of the city to give me a chance. I am confident that my leadership abilities will shine through, that you'll see that I have the ability to govern and some things that obviously Mayor O'Connor had started, that I plan to continue as well as some wrinkles that will be unique to my administration.

NGUYEN: Are they giving you a chance, though? I mean, what's the reaction been?

RAVENSTAHL: The reaction has been overwhelming and very supportive. I'll give you a quick story. As we went last Thursday from Mayor O'Connor's -- from the church where Mayor O'Connor had the funeral service to the burial site, there was a procession. And on that procession here in Pittsburgh, there were thousands and thousands of Pittsburghers, obviously wishing the mayor's family well, sending out their condolences.

But at the same time, wishing me good luck. I can't tell you how many people have come up to me. Pittsburgh embraces the role of an underdog. And as a 26-year-old mayor, some people may view me as an underdog, and I think it's an opportunity that I have, and I can't say enough about the residents of the city of Pittsburgh and their words of encouragement over the past couple weeks.

NGUYEN: Well, best of luck to you, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. Thanks so much for spending some time with us today.

RAVENSTAHL: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Political barbs thrown back and forth. Democrats are not happy with everything the president said in his address to the nation last night. Live to the White House next where a briefing with the president's press secretary just wrapped up. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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NGUYEN: Reaction to the president's speech on the anniversary of 9/11. An accusation of trying to tap into Americans' emotions. For that, we go to CNN's Elaine Quijano, just out of a briefing at the White House. A lot of that briefing dealt with last night's speech.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. Good afternoon to you, Betty. One day after that day of collective mourning, the partisanship is certainly back in full display here in Washington. The latest debate centering around whether or not the president's primetime address last night was political.

Now, senior aides here have billed the speech as a reflective one, one that they said would look back and look forward as well. But they also said that it was not going to be political. So when the president last night very forcefully reiterated his national security strategies, including a discussion of his Iraq policy, that really set Democrats off. Democrats today are arguing that that went too far.

In fact, earlier this morning, the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid, said that the idea that the president would take this speech from a commemorative address to one with political overtones, essentially, was too much. Here's what the senator had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D), MINORITY LEADER: The president, in his address to the nation, spoke for himself, for his administration, and not for the nation. No bullhorn, only the bully pulpit of his office, which he used to defend an unpopular war in Iraq and to launch clumsily disguised barbs at those who disagree with his policies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow just a short time ago forcefully rejected the notion that this speech was political. He says that it delivered what it promised, and he also defended the White House's arguments to the broadcast television networks for taking that address live.

Here's what Tony Snow had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I told the networks that the president was not going to be calling out Democrats, that he was not going to be making specific legislative proposals, but he was going to take a look backward and forward in the war on terror. I told them what kind of speech he was going to give. And so no. I -- you're accusing me of false advertising without having been in on the conversation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: So the rhetoric certainly back up to what it was after that day of relatively somber commemorations around the country, observing the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attack. We can only expect, Betty, that with, in fact, the two months left until the congressional midterm elections, that this rhetoric is going to continue in the days and weeks ahead -- Betty.

NGUYEN: CNN's Elaine Quijano at the White House. Elaine, thank you.

Well, the death of a wildlife crusader. Now is revenge being taken against the wildlife? That's ahead from the "NEWSROOM."

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NGUYEN: Well, they don't know whether it's revenge or just coincidence, but wildlife officials in Australia say ten stingrays have been found dead since the death of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin. Two of the rays were found with their tails cut off. Irwin died last week, as you know, after a stingray's barb pierced his chest. A spokesman for Irwin's Wildlife Warriors conservation group is urging Irwin's fans not to hunt or hurt the typically shy and non- threatening creatures.

NASA calls it extravehicular activity. OK. The rest of us just call it a space walk. See the heavy lefting high above the earth. A live update on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

And as we go to break, a look at how the markets are doing today on Wall Street.

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