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American Morning
Two More Suspects Arrested in British Terror Plot; U.S. Increases Security; Iran in Iraq: Hezbollah Training Shiite Militants
Aired July 02, 2007 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Breaking news. Two more suspects arrested in the U.K. terror plot, and two suspects now linked to the Glasgow airport attack and the failed London car bombs.
On the trail of terror on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And good morning, and thanks very much for joining us.
It is Monday, the 2nd of July. I'm John Roberts, reporting live from London.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry in New York.
Welcome to a split edition of AMERICAN MORNING. We're following the very latest developments. And boy, they're coming fast and furious out of the U.K. this morning on this terror plot.
ROBERTS: Oh, they certainly are, Kiran.
Our location is just right outside of the British parliament. We're on Abbington Green.
Today is when Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to go and speak with members of parliament and the House of Commons, and as well, his home secretary is going to speak to tell them what is going on with this terror investigation.
But there's all kind of breaking news to report to you this morning. And let's get right to that.
CNN's international security correspondent, Paula Newton, is at Scotland yard for new developments now.
Good morning to you, Paula.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: And good morning, John.
Seven people now under arrest in connection with the events here in London and Glasgow. Two more arrests coming just a few hours ago. That also happened in Scotland. The picture that we have of this right now is quite interesting and different than what we knew yesterday. Sources close to this investigation tell CNN that the two people that they believe are responsible for planting those car bombs in London here on Friday are the same two people who attempted that suicide attack at Glasgow airport.
This is highly significant, and from police's perspective a little bit more comforting in the sense they do believe now that the core members of this group are in custody. That is not to say we won't have more arrests down the line. It is very common, John, in these investigations, and what we've seen before is that they bring in perhaps more people than that will be charged, bring them in for questioning as they continue to search all of those premises for more evidence -- John.
ROBERTS: Well, the operating theory early this morning, Paula, was that maybe there was one or two more suspects out there. Do they really think even though they're leaving the door open that there could be more detainments, more arrests, that they have got everyone who was involved in the core of this, particularly now given this new theory that the two men who crashed that Jeep Cherokee into the Glasgow airport on Saturday afternoon were the ones who set the bombs here in London the day before?
NEWTON: During these kinds of investigations, John, they are rather safe than sorry. Because those new anti-terror laws give them the power to detain people up to 20 days without charge, they do it. If they feel that they are getting more evidence and they need to verify exactly what information someone may have, even if they don't charge them, they bring them in.
What sources close to the investigation tell us is they do believe that the core group, the most threatening part of this entire investigation, they believe they have it under control and those people are in custody. Very interesting, John, this morning as well, the new development that CNN has learned two of the seven suspects are doctors, medical doctors.
At least one of them already practicing here in Britain. And this, John, means that police are looking at a whole new line of inquiry, determining whether or not this was actually a network of medical professionals from overseas that had come here to perpetrate these attacks -- John.
ROBERTS: Difficult to fathom that development. But Paula Newton at Scotland Yard this morning. Paula on top of the story.
Thanks very much. We'll get back to you a little bit later on -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Thanks so much, John.
Well, responding to the failed terror attacks overseas, federal, state and local law enforcement in this country have stepped up security at airports, mass transit systems, and in many other arenas ahead of the July 4th holiday weekend.
Joining us now to talk more about it is New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly.
Great to have you with us, Commissioner Kelly.
RAY KELLY, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: Good to be with you, Kiran.
CHETRY: Any intelligence on potential attacks targeting New York City?
KELLY: No, there's no indication and no specific information that New York is a target. New York is threatened, obviously, in a general sense. We know that to be the case, but no specific information now.
CHETRY: One of the things that we saw with the situation in London is how these car bombs are pretty easy to disguise. And they can be pulled up in front of buildings which are really considered soft targets.
What has New York City done to try to make sure to keep that car bomb threat to a minimum?
KELLY: Well, we've increased our checks of trucks and of cars throughout the city, but particularly here in Manhattan. We've' assigned our critical response vehicles, we call it, to locations such as Times Square, Herald Square, major transportation hubs, to clubs in the evening.
We certainly have done the normal things that we do in an increased tempo -- bag searches, for instance, in the subway system. We're the only municipality that does that.
We're focusing on the transit system as well. We've increased our surges (ph) officers that on an unannounced basis go to stations in large numbers. We do TOMS we call it, train order maintenance sweeps, where officers will get on subway trains and walk through the trains in large numbers.
So we've done a lot here. We check our garages on a regular basis, public parking garages. We use what we call CBRE teams, chemical, biological, radiological teams to inspect those locations.
CHETRY: And these are the types of things that you do on a day- to-day basis. Does your level of vigilance and activity change in light of things like this, when we hear about a foiled bomb plot in a place like London?
KELLY: Yes, it does. We increase the tempo. Obviously we want to give some comfort, some assurance to the public. We increase uniform presence, and obviously we'll respond to any specific information.
CHETRY: One of the other things that was being reported this morning is apparently -- at least some sources are saying there was a secret document sent to the Department of Homeland Security talking about al Qaeda wanting to launch a "spectacular terror attack" this summer.
When this type of information gets out, how do local cities respond?
KELLY: Well, I think first of all, the federal government has been very good about sharing information. A few years ago there was a concern about that. That's no longer the concern.
But when we get specific information, we respond to that information if it's more generalized and it's difficult to respond, other than doing the things that we normally do. As I said, sometimes you just increase the tempo, the number of officers that we have doing certain functions, but the functions will remain the same.
CHETRY: Also, your advice to New Yorkers and, of course, the hundreds of thousands of tourists that will be visiting our city in the five boroughs during the Fourth of July holiday?
KELLY: Go enjoy yourself. Obviously, we ask everyone to be vigilant, to give us a call if they see anything of a suspicious nature.
We say, look at your world through the prism of 9/11. Everybody's life has changed somewhat as a result of that. Be vigilant, but come and enjoy yourself.
CHETRY: Yes, I think people are certainly in the city, very vigilant.
KELLY: They are. You know, the number of tourists are greater than ever before.
CHETRY: All right. Commissioner Ray Kelly, always great to talk to you. Thanks.
KELLY: Good to see you, Kiran.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: Now a CNN exclusive out of Iraq.
The U.S. military says a Hezbollah operative, Ali Mussa Daqduq, captured in Iraq, is revealing how Iran is arming and training Iraqi Shiite militias fighting American troops.
CNN's Michael Ware broke this story, and he has exclusive details for us now from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. military in Iraq has arrested a senior Lebanese Hezbollah special operations commander inside Iraq and uncovered fresh evidence, perhaps its most compelling yet, of the involvement of Iranian armed forces inside Iraq, operations which the U.S. military says the Lebanese Hezbollah commander, an experienced guerrilla fighter with particular expertise in explosives, urban combat and kidnapping, was sent to Iraq to help Shia paramilitaries conduct against U.S. and British forces.
According to the U.S. military, that Lebanese commander and the Iraqi counterparts he had been training and guiding have all confessed under interrogation to their part in the attempt to kidnap five American soldiers in January this year in the southern city of Karbala, an attempt which ended in the execution of those troops. The military says documents and other evidence seized with the prisoners provided an extraordinary insight into the massive military program that Iran is running here in Iraq, assisting Shia paramilitaries.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Qods Force, along with Hezbollah instructors, train approximately 20 to 60 Iraqis at a time, sending them back to Iraq, organized into these special groups. They're being taught how to use EFPs, mortars, rockets, as well as intelligence, sniper and kidnapping operations.
WARE: Indeed, General Bergner (ph) in Baghdad said that responsibility for this goes all the way to the senior leadership of Iran, adding that it is almost impossible that the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself, does not know about the Qods Forces' involvement in Iraq.
Michael Ware, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Twelve minutes past the hour.
We're going to check in with Chad Myers.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: And we've got some more breaking news for you this morning.
We now know the name and the background of one of the people detained by British police in connection with these terror plots here in London.
Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, is here.
What do you got, Christiane?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, last hour we were saying we were trying to confirm the nationality of one of these people who were arrested. Notably, this guy who was arrested, along with a woman, on the M6 motorway last night. Now sources in Jordan are telling CNN's Nic Robertson that, in fact, this was somebody who was educated in Jordan, did his medical residency in Jordan -- a key U.S. ally, by the way -- between 2004 and 2005.
Palestinian in origin, but, remember, so much of the Jordanian population is Palestinian. We don't know whether he had come just for study or whether he was raised there.
Anyway, he and apparently his wife were the two who were arrested on the motorway last night by the police. The wife apparently a 27- year-old, and she was wearing traditional Muslim dress when they were arrested.
Again, we don't know what role or what part they may have played in any terrorist plot, because as Paula Newton and you have been reporting, the two who are believed to have done the actual plot are the same who did the Glasgow one and are in hospital.
ROBERTS: Which is why I specify that this is one of the people detained in connection with this plot.
The name?
AMANPOUR: The name is Dr. Mohammed Asha (ph). As I say, Jordanian educated, of Palestinian origin. And apparently, according to the sources, that he was educated at the Jubilee School in Amman, which is an exclusively program for gifted children. And he was allowed to practice here because of tests that he took when he came here about two years ago, was allowed limited access to practice medicine here because the tests that he took qualified him for at least some access to the medical profession.
ROBERTS: Now, this may suggest a whole new dimension to the terror threat against the U.K.?
AMANPOUR: You know, it's really coming clear, as Paula has been reporting and we've been saying through the morning, that at least a significant number of these people who were arrested, including the one who is in the hospital in Glasgow after the fire bomb of the car, these are medical professionals and doctors. So as Paula was saying, one of the lines of inquiry that the police here are following is that this could be some kind of medical network.
ROBERTS: Terrorism would seem to be so antithetical...
AMANPOUR: Yes.
ROBERTS: ... to the oaths that doctors take when they enter medicine.
AMANPOUR: Yes, indeed.
ROBERTS: How does that turn happen? I mean, we knew -- we know as well that it happened with Ayman al-Zawahiri, who's Osama bin Laden's right-hand guy. Bashar al-Assad is an ophthalmologist by training in Syria.
So how does that turn happen?
AMANPOUR: Well, I think we have to leave aside Bashar al-Assad, who's the president of Syria. But the others, who knows. I mean, it's this virulence that grows up in them. And this is the very thing that officials are trying to plum, what turns these people into terrorists.
ROBERTS: Christiane Amanpour, thanks for the update on that -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks a lot.
Well, an important reminder for families as we head into the holiday weekend. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for 16 to 21-year-olds. Well, now insurance companies are trying to help out by offering parents some high-tech help.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Greg Hunter is live in Atlanta to explain what it's all about.
Hi, Greg.
GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran.
Well, I know you have your cell phone on the desk right there, and that's important, because, you know, pretend you're the mother and I'm the teen driver that sometimes doesn't have very good judgment. Now, enter Mobile TEEN GPS. It's actually a GPS system that can track your car.
And so, say I'm in a parking lot. It's a closed course. We have this all rented out from Turner Field in Atlanta. And I'm in a parking lot doing, well, about 45 miles per hour.
That's kind of crazy. But you would end up getting a text message saying I broke a certain speed.
CHETRY: I just got it.
HUNTER: Eventually, you would be able to find out that I was in a parking lot.
What does the text say?
CHETRY: It says Greg is a very bad boy.
Is that what I was supposed to get?
HUNTER: Well, you know, it's a simulated message. But the kind of text that you get is immediately right away, it came to you, and it's the kind of technology that parents are using around the country to get their kids to drive better.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HUNTER (voice over): This teenage driver was talking on her cell without a seat belt when she drove off the road. A dashboard camera from DriveCam captured the moment. She wasn't injured, but it may have scared her into driving better.
Seventeen-year-old Katie Baldwin is getting a similar lesson. She is enrolled in American Family Insurance's TeenSafe Driver Program, which provides DriveCams in Wisconsin, Indiana and Minnesota. The DriveCams record teens continuously, catching them without seat belts, texting, and taking their eyes off the road.
KATIE BALDWIN, TEENAGE DRIVER: It feels like my parents are always there 24/7 with me, always watching how I'm driving and catching me at the worst moments.
HUNTER: Parents are notified via e-mail only when there are incidents and see the 10 seconds before and after, like this one, when Katie accidentally ran a red light and was almost hit by oncoming traffic. She says DriveCam has made her a safer driver.
BALDWIN: I've learned from it and been able to actually see what I did wrong.
HUNTER: Katie's dad, Dale, agrees.
DALE BALDWIN, FATHER OF TEENAGE DRIVER: There's a lot less goofing around in the car. There's a lot more paying attention to the road.
HUNTER: DriveCam is not the only high-tech method helping parents. Mobile TEEN GPS deploys GPS tracking units, so Angela Williamson, a Georgia mom, gets a text message when her 16-year-old son Sawyer drives faster than 45 miles per hour or strays beyond a certain area.
Sawyer says the GPS is like big brother.
(on camera): You don't like it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it makes me a better drive driver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER: Dave Flower, Mobile TEEN GPS, nobody got hurt in that story, but that's not always the case when teens are behind the wheel in the car.
DAVE FLOWER, V.P., MOBILE TEEN GPS: You're right, Greg. Almost 6,000 young inexperienced drivers exceed the speed limit and don't return home each year.
HUNTER: They're just not good drivers?
FLOWER: Inexperience, lack of judgment.
HUNTER: The cost for GPS? FLOWER: Four hundred dollars.
HUNTER: Four hundred bucks. It's maybe a good investment, hopefully will be catching on across the country -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Wow. So -- and the neat thing is, is you can set it to any speed so you get the text message when they hit a certain speed?
HUNTER: That's right. And you could log on as my mom and find out -- hey, you were driving in the parking lot 40 miles an hour or 50 miles an hour. What were you doing?
I'm telling you, it can pinpoint whether you leave the state, whether you go to the basketball game, whether you're out in front of some liquor store. It's really good technology.
CHETRY: Yes. I'm glad they didn't have it when I was a kid, but I'm definitely going to sign up for it when my little girl can drive.
Greg, really neat. Thank you.
Breaking news out of London now, where police say two more people have been arrested in the U.K. terror plots.
The latest now from CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen. That's when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Some breaking news out of England we're following.
Police arresting two more people this morning in terror plots there. They've now arrested a total of seven people. And for the first time, police are saying the people who carried out the airport attack in Glasgow are the same people who tried to detonate two car bombs, but failed in London.
We want to bring in CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen now with more details.
So now it's up to seven. It's clear that this was definitely a cell, or at least, you know, an organized group of people. And we're finding out a little bit of information, that two of them, one apparently a 26-year-old Jordanian physician who had recently moved to the U.K. along with his wife.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Yes. Well, it's interesting, A, that you've got doctors involved. And that may seen anomalous, but in fact I don't think it is.
Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, after all, is a surgeon, the number two in al Qaeda. And when you look at the kinds of jihadist terror attacks that have happened in the past, you find out that the people involved in them tend to be quite well educated.
I mean, Mohammed Atta, for instance, the leader of the 9/11 attacks, had a Ph.D. in urban preservation, ironically enough, and he spoke four languages. And it kind of makes sense.
If you're going to be a successful terrorist in the West, have some sort of technical background. I mean, that helps you making bombs. You also have to be able to speak English, obviously, if you're going to attack in Britain or the United States.
So, it might seen anomalous that people involved in this, allegedly involved in this are doctors, but, in fact, we've seen this happen in the past. And terrorism, you know, historically has been a sort of middle class endeavor. You know, even the Red Brigades in Italy -- or Germany and the (INAUDIBLE) in Italy in the '70s, et cetera.
CHETRY: If that's the case, why is there so much made about -- about the people who have not necessarily assimilated or live in less than desirable areas in places in Europe? There's a lot made about the Muslim ghettos, if you will, in places like France.
BERGEN: Yes. Well, certainly there was a riot in France. And those were really economic riots.
You know, I think part of it is this quest for identity. I mean, I'll give you an example.
Omar Sheikh, who was involved in the kidnapping and murder of Danny Pearl, the American journalist, he went to the London School of Economics. He was upper middle class, came from a prosperous background.
Why did he turn to this radical Islam? I think it's not just about class. It's about this quest for identity, and if you -- you know, there is an American dream that works pretty well in this country, particularly for American Muslims. There isn't really a British dream in the same way in Britain.
And so you're kind of -- you're not quite Pakistani, you're not quite British, and a small minority of people turn to this radical idea as a form of identity. But in this particular case we're looking at now, it turns out that these are not -- it looks like they're not homegrown terrorists, these are people who came to the United Kingdom perhaps to do these things.
CHETRY: Yes. And there's also some confirmation, I guess, according to our reporting, that this doctor, Mohammed Asha (ph), was actually a Palestinian. He was Palestinian.
BERGEN: Yes.
CHETRY: And then went to Jordan to complete his residency and his education.
It's interesting, though, because you said that it requires a certain amount of smarts to be successful. And we must remember that none of these attacks were really successful but by the definition of succeeding and carrying out large-scale terror that results in death and injury. HUNTER: The kinds of attacks they were going to do in London are complicated to do, to get that right. This is not a kind of classical explosion that you're creating. You're trying to create this fuel air vaporizing, and then light this thing on fire and you'll turn the car into a giant fireball.
That's not a particularly easy thing to do. You have to -- and so, you know, they -- they --obviously, luckily, they didn't work it out. But, I mean, I think they're ambitions were fairly large, even if their execution was, you know, pretty bad.
CHETRY: Peter Bergen, thank you.
BERGEN: Thank you.
CHETRY: Still ahead, how are the terror scare and subsequent arrests playing in the Muslim community? We're going to find out when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And good morning once again. It's Monday, July 2nd. I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.
ROBERTS: And I'm good morning to you, Kiran. I'm John Roberts here in London, following the breaking news in the terror plot here against the U.K. Welcome to a split edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
What's the reaction of the Muslim community in the U.K. to these attempted terror attacks and will there be a backlash against British Muslims?
Joining me now to talk more about that is Asghar Bukhari. He is with the Muslim Public Affairs Committee.
Before I ask you that, who do you think, Asghar, is behind these attacks, particularly given the idea that a couple of people who are in detention are doctors.
ASGHAR BUKHARI, SPOKESMAN, MUSLIM PUBLIC AFFAIRS CMTE.: I've heard they've been linked to al Qaeda, et cetera, and they may well be.
Personally, I kind of doubt it. I was talking to, you know, a few people about this. The fact that none of the bombs went off kind of says that they're amateurs.
Now, could it have been their own little cell influenced by the ideology of al Qaeda, but not connected to anything at all?
I mean, let's face it, you know, a doctor, intelligent person, one would think would become a doctor, and, yet, couldn't do a simple device the police are saying is simple to put together. So something about this is not right and whether they have real deep training with al Qaeda or anything like that, I would doubt.
ROBERTS: Whether you're linked to al Qaeda operationally or ideologically, is there really a difference?
BUKHARI: There is. One's got training and can do some real damage. The other, you know, may try to do some damage but, obviously, as you can see, as in this case, is far less of a danger.
I mean, it could have gone off, don't get me wrong, but they're at different levels.
ROBERTS: All right. So what do you expect is going to be the reaction by the Muslim community to this? We hear some backlash against these people in Glasgow, Muslims are angered because there were many of them in the terminal at the time, many of them could of died. What are you picking up?
BUKHARI: You're getting a whole wrath of emotions -- despair, frustration, anger. You're absolutely right, because we're kind of almost like the double victim here. A few guys do this and it impacts everyone. It impacts a billion Muslims around the world. It impacts everyone in Britain. All of a sudden you're on the train and if you're dressed slightly different, they're kind looking at you and saying, are you one of them? You know, our jobs, you know, you got the name Mohammed, are you really going to get the top jobs now? You know, these type of things always impact us, always in a negative fashion. So it's always a bad thing, and you kind of become a victim both ways.
ROBERTS: We saw that after the 7/7 attacks of 2005. In the wake of these attacks, members of the British government have reached out to people to say, you know, we want you to refrain from any reprisal attacks or anything negative about Muslims in this country.
But let me ask you this question, something people are asking is, why do these extremists hate Britain so much?
BUKHARI: I think the only reason why they're asking that is because the government -- although they did say that, which was commendable -- at the same time, told the British public it's nothing to do with foreign policy and it's everything to do with our way of life, which is, you know, it's rubbish. It's a foreign policy-driven issue. When they say people killed right around the world, a whole (INAUDIBLE), hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people repressed, extreme reaction is born because of that extreme situation. And that's not justifying, but that's giving you the cause, the root cause. If you know the root cause, then you can solve the problem. I often argue with other Muslim leaders, and say teach young Muslims democracy, because it gives them the other option to the bullet -- the ballot.
ROBERTS: So changing foreign policy issue, if you say that is what is behind it, is there any way to interrupt what seems to be a growing movement toward extremism?
BUKHARI: By home-grown terrorists, absolutely there is, and that is for the Muslim institutions, the Muslim leaders to start to teach every single Muslim that the bullet is not the way and the ballot is. You've got to give them an alternative. You've got to give them an effective alternative to their grievance. You can't say keep quiet, and don't talk about it and hide it. That's not going to happen. The more foreign policy worsens, the more they're become aware of it, and the more angry they're going become, so teach them democracy.
ROBERTS: It will be interesting to see how the new Brown government responds to all of this.
Asghar Bukhari, spokesman of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, thanks very much. Good to have you down here.
BUKHARI: Thank you.
CHETRY: There are new numbers out this morning and it's really shaking up the campaign for president, at least on the Democratic side.
Senator Barack Obama raised a record $31 million for his primary campaign between April and June -- they call that the second quarter -- compared to $21 million for Hillary Clinton.
So what does it mean to both campaigns? Joining us this morning, John Dickerson, chief political correspondent with slate.com. He joins us from Washington.
Hi, John.
JOHN DICKERSON, CHIEF POL. CORRESPONDENT, SLATE.COM: Hi.
ROBERTS: So it seems like Barack Obama really did just blow it up in terms of this type of stuff. I mean, he really shot for the moon here and far outperformed Hillary Clinton. What do you think?
DICKERSON: That's right. Well, if you're an Obama supporter you can debate with your friends which is better news, the fact that he got this big number, or these dollars, that are very helpful in things, putting ads on the air and paying staff, or the fact he got it from so very many people. He seems to have this talent that all politicians would like, which is bringing new people into the political process.
CHETRY: Hillary Clinton has a great machine behind her. They're veterans in terms of the campaign. Are they worried today about this difference in the money?
DICKERSON: Well, they would prefer all of us to be talking about her and not Barack Obama, so to that extent, yes, they are worried. But they have their own good story to tell. She raised plenty of money, and she's about to start a three-day swing through Iowa with Bill Clinton who they consider a very big asset for the campaign.
CHETRY: All right, let's switch over to the GOP side for a minute. And this was -- it was part of an article that was written I believe by "Time" magazine on Mitt Romney. An anecdote was thrown about Mitt Romney and his family taking a 12-hour road trip with their dog strapped to the roof of their car in a kennel. The dog then apparently -- they began seeing a brown substance running off the side of the car in the windows. And this sounds really great at this hour in the morning. They determined the dog had actually soiled himself possibly because he was fearful, and then he goes and takes the dog out, hoses down the kennel and puts him back and continues on the trip.
Apparently this is the No. 3 most blogged about topic behind the iPhone and the London terror scare this morning.
DICKERSON: Yes. The "Time" report actually picked up on something that was in "The Boston Globe" that was just telling this anecdote straight, and the "Time" writer said, wait a minute, what exactly happens when you do this to a dog? This is the kind of incredibly entertaining story that has, you know, liberals amused and chuckling, and that probably we would hope wouldn't actually change the way people vote.
To the extent it has any serious political impact, Romney is still introducing himself to voters and he would probably prefer the first story they hear be some gritty tale of his leadership instead of that he strapped a dog to his roof and zoomed down the highway for 12 hours.
CHETRY: I mean, and you know, and sometimes the strangest things are the littlest things have fall fallout. I mean, PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, they're not happy about this at all.
DICKERSON: Well, no, they're not happy, and other people who may not have a particular interest in animal rights would, nevertheless, think it's sort of odd behavior and it's the kind of thing that a campaign trying to get its message out and talk about other serious things that they have to deal with. And Governor Romney said, in slightly implausible argument, that the dog loved it and would climb up on to the roof of the car so now he'll to deal with that answer as well.
CHETRY: All right. John Dickerson, slate.com, always great to have you with us.
DICKERSON: Thank you.
CHETRY: Thank you.
(NEWSBREAK)
CHETRY: A bizarre twist in the Chris Benoit murder/suicide. How did a Wikipedia user know about his wife's death hours before police knew about it? We're going to have the latest on the investigation into the superstar wrestler and his family's deaths, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: British police have made rapid progress in unraveling the terror plot here. That's because of a gold mine of intelligence and forensic evidence that they have collected in both London and Glasgow. It appears that it was only by sheer luck and perhaps incompetence on the part of the bombers that there wasn't a significant loss of life here in London.
I went down to the target area outside of Tiger Tiger with John O'Connor, a former inspector with the London police's Famous Flying Squad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (on camera): When you look at the construction of this building with all of the glass in front, a car bomb this close to this building, what kind of damage could it have done had it actually exploded?
JOHN O'CONNOR, FMR, SCOTLAND YARD DETECTIVE: I think you're looking at significant casualties. But the worst part of it, in my view, if that bomb had gone off and people would have been evacuated from here and kept away from here, and moved down in that direction to Coxburg (ph) Street, and that's where they had another one down there.
ROBERTS: So if this was a coordinated attack it would have funneled all those people down in that area?
O'CONNOR: They would have gone down to Coxburg Street and then been blown up in Coxburg Street, but fortunately both devices failed to detonate.
ROBERTS: Today the explosives very rudimentary. One they will be sophisticated.
O'CONNOR: They could well be. They could well be. I mean, all they need for sophistication is semtex or RXD, and once they can detonate that successfully, that would send up, that would detonate the gasoline and it would detonate the gas canisters.
ROBERTS: What have investigators gotten their hands on this case? A couple of cars, they've got five people?
O'CONNOR: Yes, that's right. They've got three cars. They're going to have massive forensic evidence. They've got the full details of the bombmakers signature, how he made the bomb. They will know what went wrong with it, why it didn't work. They will be able to trace back the providence of the car, where that was acquired, what the history of that car is. There's such a wealth of intelligence and information that will come out of this.
ROBERTS: Really, England dodged a big bullet here.
O'CONNOR: Yes, they did. But I think they've got more to come, and I think the mere fact we've put the threat level up to the highest level indicates they are expecting more.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: John O'Connor, a former inspector with the London police, and now there are seven people in custody, two more arrested in Glasgow, Scotland, and we have learned one of the people detained in connection with this case, Mohammed Asha, a Jordanian-trained doctor who was here in Britain on a special type of visa that allows him to practice medicine on a limited form. He was arrested yesterday in Cheshire County. That's about 150 miles north of London, about 200 miles south of Glasgow, in the village of Sandbach (ph). That happened on Saturday. He was arrested alongside his wife, 26 years old, a suspect now in that case. The first name that we have -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, John, thanks so much.
And we've also following a strange turn in the deaths of professional wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife and their 7-year-old son.
CNN's Jacki Schechner joins us now, and she's looking into the mysterious postings about the deaths before police found the bodies. It has a lot of conspiracy theorists really up in arms on the Internet.
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This gets eerier and eerier, Kiran. The double murder/suicide was shocking enough to begin with, but then a possible clue turns up online and it gets even stranger.
Did someone know that Chris Benoit's wife was dead before anyone else did? And if so, why would that person put the information on the Internet?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCHECHNER (voice-over): The Wikipedia entry explaining why Chris Benoit missed a wrestling event was downright creepy saying, quote, "Due to personal reasons, stemming from the death of his wife, Nancy." That was at 12:01 a.m. Monday June 25th, but police did not find the Benoit bodies until 2:30 p.m. on Monday -- 14 hours later.
NICHOLAS THOMPSON, "WIRED" MAGAZINE: Well, the normal criticism of Wikipedia is that it's wrong. What's so interesting in this case is that Wikipedia was actually right. The wife was dead, and Wikipedia knew it before anybody else.
SCHECHNER: But how? Wikipedia traced the poster's address back to Stanford, Connecticut, where World Wresting Entertainment is based.
The poster fessed up days later, but says he is not affiliated with WWE, and now regrets his actions, saying the post a rumors he saw on Web site.
Hundreds of thousands of volunteers add information to Wikipedia every day. It relies on the posters to be honest and accurate. And on the whole, industry experts say, it works.
THOMPSON: The key thing to remember in Wikipedia is that if you're in a situation where you absolutely have to be spot-on correct, don't trust it. There is lots of false information and bad information. However, for most of what you do in your day-to-day life, Wikipedia is amazing.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SCHECHNER: Now, while the poster did not divulge his identification, police have been in touch with him, and he is cooperating. But this whole turn of events reiterates the fact even if you think you're anonymous online, you are probably not. Almost everything is traceable.
CHETRY: How did Wikipedia manage to trace that poster down?
SCHECHNER: Well, what they did is they traced the IP address. Every computer has a unique address. And they managed to trace it down. They found out it was in Stanford, Connecticut. They ended up turning the information over the police, because there's a barrier there, and there's only so far that they can go. So it's up to the police to then trace it from there, but they did narrow it down to Stanford and then handed the information over.
CHETRY: And that also drove the conspiracy theorists even more crazy, because that's the -- Stanford, Connecticut is the headquarters of WWE, where the McMahons have their empire.
SCHECHNER: Right. Well, what people were saying was even if this guy didn't work for the WWE maybe he was an intern, was somehow connected, maybe the rumors were flying, so that definitely fueled the speculation.
CHETRY: Jacki, thank you.
SCHECHNER: Sure.
CHETRY: CNN NEWSROOM is just minutes away. Tony Harris is at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead.
Hi, Tony.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Kiran. Good morning to you.
We're keeping you up to date on fast-moving developments in the U.K. terror story. The Glasgow Airport attack suspects, police believe, they are also behind two unexploded car bombs in London last week.
Several Kansas counties under a Kansas under flash flood warning this hour.
And serious head injury. A girl leans back on an amusement park tea cup ride. She is slammed by the handle of another tea cup. Betty is with me in the NEWSROOM. We get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN.
Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: All right, we'll see you then, Tony. Thanks.
(NEWSBREAK)
CHETRY: Well, they just won a national cheerleading contest and were planning a summer of fun before heading off to different colleges around the country. Well, now a circle of friends is coping with an unimaginable loss. We're going to talk with them next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's a story that has resonated far beyond the Upstate New York town of Fairport. A group of friends, cheerleaders many of them, recent high school graduates killed in a head-on crash last week.
Well, over the weekend, I spent some time with their friends who relived the horror of that night and also shared their memories of better times.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (on camera): Such a cute picture.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-huh. I took it, actually.
CHETRY: You did? Where were you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Meredith's birthday party. We went line dancing.
CHETRY (voice-over): It was a school year filled with fun, laughter and triumph. These best friends, most of them teammates on the Fairport high school cheerleading squad, had won the American Open Championship. Their future never brighter, before a tragic night last week.
They were heading to vacation in the Finger Lakes just days after graduation.
(on camera): And you were actually driving right behind them, Riley.
RILEY HALL, FRIEND OF CAR CRASH VICTIMS: Yes.
CHETRY: What do you remember about that night?
HALL: We were just all screaming in my car, is that a truck? Is that truck? And then I slammed on my brakes. We ran to the car, but, like, we couldn't even get close to it, the fire was so big.
CHETRY (voice-over): Their five friends swerved into the lane of an oncoming tractor-trailer. Bailey, Sara, Hannah, Meredith, and Katie, all died in the crash.
SARA DASTIN, FRIEND OF CAR CRASH VICTIMS: There's no way to describe how -- what the feelings and emotions you go through when you're told that your best friends aren't coming back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As their coach, there is always something that I do to fix things. If we have problems, they look at me and say, what do we do, and I say I'll fix it. And I can't this time.
CHETRY (on camera): Is there a different amount of closeness that comes from being on the squad together?
DASTIN: You just knew that you had 32 best friends on your team, so it was just really comforting to know that we could all lean on each other when we needed to.
CHETRY (voice-over): And they need to, now more than ever. What helps is remembering their friends.
(on camera): Who is the one you said was extremely competitive, had to win?
GROUP: Meredith.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is so full of life. She just wanted to experience everything, no matter how crazy the idea was. She just wanted to do something.
CHETRY (voice-over): Bailey.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just remember her joking around a lot, loving to get everyone laughing.
CHETRY: Sara.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She always called herself bossy, or the boss, because she thought -- she liked to have control, but in a good way.
CHETRY: Hannah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That girl never stopped smiling. Her smile went so far in life. She touched so many hearts, people she didn't even know.
CHETRY: And Katie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know I could trust her with all of my secrets. And any time I needed her I knew to go to Katie because she was just always there for you.
CHETRY (on camera): What is helping you guys right now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being together.
CHETRY (voice-over): And also what they consider a sign from their friends that they're OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... an angel.
CHETRY (on camera): Oh, my gosh. You're right, it does look like an angle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sends chills through my body and it just like tells us that they're looking down on us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And again, there is a look at the photo, one of their friends took this the day after the crash. He said he was looking up at the sky, and he noticed the formation looked like an angel, an angel with the wing spread, and a lot of them have chosen to make that their cell phone screen saver, and they say it really gives them comfort, and that they believe it's a sign that their friends are in heaven and doing OK.
Well, here's a quick look what CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.
HARRIS: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM: U.K. terror. Security sources believe two suspects in the Glasgow Airport attack may be behind - unexploded car bombs in London.
The U.S. putting more air marshals on overseas flights.
President Bush in talks today with Russia President Putin at the family estate in Maine.
More storms and flooding in Kansas and Oklahoma.
NEWSROOM just minutes away at the top of the hour on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And before we leave you here on AMERICAN MORNING, we want to get you up to date on the latest with this U.K. terror plot, a lot of new information coming in, including some of the identifications and the news that there are now seven suspects under arrest in this -- John.
ROBERTS: That's right, Kiran. Now this morning, because developments in this case are happening so quickly, as we saw after the 7/7 bombing in 2005. In Glasgow, Scotland today, a 25-year-old and 28-year-old man also arrested in connection with this. We don't know if they are actually connected to the plot, might just have some information of it, but they are some of these characters that police want to talk to find out more.
We also have the name of one of the people who was detained. It Saturday on the M-6, which is the main motorway that runs between London and Glasgow. It's a 26-year-old doctor trained in Jordan named Mohammed Asha. We understand his father may be coming out later on today, Kiran, to say something about his arrest.
CHETRY: Yes, they're calling it a dramatic raid that took place. The 26-year-old Mohammed Asha, as well as a 27-year-old woman that they say they believe to be his wife, she was found in traditional Muslim dress.
Also one other interesting note, for the first time police are saying that people who carried out the attack at the airport in Glasgow are also actually the same people who attempted to detonate those two car bombs in London.
ROBERTS: Yes, this is a big piece of the case here, a potential big break to let them know how big this might have been, the fact that they planted the bombs here in London, then raced to Glasgow, and then were either trying to just do that attack on Glasgow and kill themselves in it, or perhaps they were trying to get out of town somehow. Those are all things that they're going to be looking at.
By the way, CNN will continue to follow this story very closely, but that's it for us, for this morning from here in London, Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes, we want to say thanks so much for joining us. CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris and Betty Nguyen begins right now.
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