Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Remembering 9/11; Obama Reveals Plan to Destroy ISIS; Oscar Pistorius Not Guilty of Murder

Aired September 11, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brian Hennessey.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Edward R. Hennessey Jr.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michelle Marie Henrique.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joseph Patrick Henry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: William L. Henry Jr.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: As you can hear, they're resuming with the reading of the names. Let's go live to the memorial site right now. Poppy Harlow is there. Doesn't get any easier, does it?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Doesn't get any easier for all of us who lived here 13 years ago today. I certainly did, so many of us on that beautiful crisp September day when this nation was attacked, nearly 300 lives taken, 343 firefighters died, many first responders gave their lives to try to save as many people as they could.

As we have been watching all morning, Carol, the families of a lot of them joining us, as they do every year here in New York, down at that memorial reading the names, every single name of a life lost on 9/11 will be read at that service.

Also six moments of silence observed, another one coming up here in just a few minutes. The stories vary depending on who you talked to. For some it is cathartic. Sarah Fisher was 4 years old when her father was killed on 9/11. She's 17 now. She is one of those reading names

This helps her feel closer to her dad. For others like the Aldermans who lost their 25-year-old son, Peter, who would have now been 38, they don't want to be down here, it's too hard for them. They do listen every year for his name to be read.

It's unimaginable for them it's been 13 years in time since this happened. Also, if we can pan up and show the shot of the incredible resolve that is in focus when you look at One World Trade Center that was rebuilt. It will reopen later this year.

That shows what this country, this city, these people stand for, that we cannot be defeated. Also some nice things to note. Today at 6:00 p.m. Eastern for the first time on a 9/11 anniversary, the memorial will be open for the public to go, to mourn, to remember. Earlier this morning, the 9/11 Museum opened extra early just for the family members to be there, if that is something that they wanted to do, Carol. So as we think about the horrific attack and how this city remains on alert for any potential terror attacks.

Today is about all of those people you're looking at, those first responders, those family members, the lives lost on that horrific day, and the evidence that we are stronger than the terrorists. No question about that.

COSTELLO: No question about that. I would imagine that authorities in New York are on high alert just in case anything might happen, correct?

HARLOW: They are. No direct threats at this point in time to New York City according to the police commissioner. They're on high alert. Thousands of officers out. Focusing on those potential targets like the bridges and tunnels, but they're on alert.

COSTELLO: All right. Let's head out to Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Momentarily at 10:03 Eastern Time, United Flight 93 crashed in a field outside of Pittsburgh saving many lives in the city of Washington. Let's listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Arthur Peterson. Gene Holdley Peterson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mark David Rothenberg. Christine Ann Schneider.

COSTELLO: Honoring those who died on that flight that crashed into that field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We know now that that plane was on its way to Washington, D.C. So the passengers aboard that plane, brave souls, Poppy Harlow. They saved a lot of lives that day. They gave their own. Poppy, can you hear me?

HARLOW: I can hear you now, Carol. I lost you for a moment. It's really hard to watch this and you think about someone -- not someone personally affected. I didn't lose anyone I knew that day. It's very, very hard. It just shows you how difficult it is for all those families.

You cannot imagine what they are going through. They go through it in their own way. A year later, 13 years later, it doesn't make a difference. But what is so nice is that all these people gather, whether it's in Pennsylvania, in Washington, D.C., here in New York City.

To honor those lives and to refocus on what this country stands for and that we cannot be defeated, even with the threats that face this country at this point in time. It's about the strength of our country and the strength of these families and we think about all of them today and all of those first responders.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Another reminder, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into that field in Pennsylvania. Forty passengers and crew members died aboard that plane. They died saving other Americans from certain death. It is hard to believe it's been 13 years since the United States was attacked on 9/11. Thirteen years later, the United States is still fighting terrorism. That was the main message last night as President Obama revealed his strategy to defeat and ultimately destroy ISIS.

Let's bring in CNN senior White House correspondent outside the White House this morning. Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It is worth pointing out on this anniversary of 9/11, the president said last night there is no threat against the U.S. homeland posed by that terrorist group.

But he also came out talking tough in that speech, announcing his decision to order airstrikes on ISIS in Syria. But still the questions have already begun on how he'll get this job done.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: My fellow Americans --

ACOSTA (voice-over): It was a cautious commander-in-chief no more, rolling the dice with an ambitious plan to wipe out ISIS.

OBAMA: Our objective is clear -- we will degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy.

ACOSTA: The president's biggest leap -- ramping up U.S. airstrikes on ISIS targets in both Iraq and Syria.

OBAMA: I've made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country wherever they are, a core principle of my presidency. If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.

ACOSTA: To help expand those airstrikes, the president is sending 475 more U.S. service members to Iraq, raising the total there to 1600. Add to that, a new mission to equip and train moderate Syrian rebels. To make that happen, the president has been working the phones to build a global coalition.

And officials say includes Saudi Arabia, which will host a training program for anti-ISIS fighters. But the president also insisted the war on ISIS will be different.

OBAMA: I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.

ACOSTA: But Mr. Obama's decision reopened old wounds as Republican Senator John McCain and the president's former press secretary and now CNN contributor, Jay Carney, clashed over whether the president is to blame.

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The fact that they didn't leave a residual force in Iraq, overruling all the military advisers is the reason we're facing ISIS today.

JAY CARNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think on the question of the residual force, there was another player in that, which was the Iraqi government, A, B, it was the fulfillment of the previous administration's withdraw plan.

MCCAIN: You're again saying facts that are patently false.

CARNEY: Senator, I can pause it with great respect for you that we disagree.

MCCAIN: No, you can't because you don't have the facts. You don't have the facts, Mr. Carney. That's the problem.

CARNEY: Senator, I understand that you present the facts that you believe are true based on the argument that you've made --

MCCAIN: Not that I believe are true, they are true.

CARNEY: -- for a long time, Sir, that we should leave troops in Iraq in perpetuity. That's not what this president believes. Obviously he was elected president to fulfill what he believed was right for our country and right for our national security.

ACOSTA: Looking forward, expect more debate over the Syrian rebels that will take the fight to ISIS on behalf of the U.S. Senior administration officials say they're being vetted, but Republicans were skeptical before the speech.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: As for a timeline for those airstrikes in Syria, senior administration officials would not offer one saying the White House is not going to telegraph those punches, but at the same time, Carol, there are other questions emerging such as which countries will be participating in those airstrikes in Iraq and in Syria along with the U.S.

Those questions will be asked up on Capitol Hill later today as administration officials are briefing lawmakers on the road ahead -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm sure you'll keep us posted. Jim Acosta reporting live from the White House today. Thank you so much.

Let's talk more about the president's strategy with CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour. Good morning, Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. I'm just curious, do you think ISIS was watching the president's speech?

AMANPOUR: You know, they are incredibly sophisticated on social media. Probably. Unfortunately, you know, I'm giggling. But really it's not funny at all because they have used elements of the president's speeches in the past to make these ghoulish, gruesome, horrible videos directly challenging President Obama.

Before they have attacked and brutally murdered American citizens, Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff. Yes, indeed, I'm sure they're watching. Some people are obviously going to be quite afraid of what might happen to those who are still captive.

COSTELLO: Do you think that ISIS is adjusting somehow? It's difficult to determine just how strong ISIS is as far as military might, per se.

AMANPOUR: Let me put it this way. I was told by an Iraqi official and international officials that, imagine this, that when they took Mosul in June or July, 2,000 or so ISIS fighters and something like 60,000 assembled forces of the Iraqi army simply fled, melted away, just decided they wouldn't fight.

So this has been the problem. It's a political problem that the Iraqis feel that they have nothing to fight for. That's a big challenge now for President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to make sure that this government actually can gather all the Iraqis together.

To feel that they're all enjoined in this fight and they all belong in Iraq. Obviously the other thing about ISIS is that it has this sort of megaphonic fear it telegraphs ahead of itself.

President Obama listed the catalogue of atrocities that ISIS has committed. That scares the living daylights out of people, many of whom would rather run away than stand and fight.

COSTELLO: Maybe the greatest strength is the war they're waging psychologically. I don't know. I also wanted to talk to you about this international coalition. Do you really think that any Middle Eastern country will help the United States with air strikes, for example?

AMANPOUR: Well, hard to tell exactly what they're being asked to do. By the way, I do think that the air strikes, according to all sorts of officials I speak to inside Iraq and actually in Syria feel that they have had a major impact already these air strikes.

But going forward again, the other major challenge is getting some of these countries, some of these Sunni countries, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, where Secretary of State Kerry is today, to cut off the funding for ISIS and for these extremist groups.

In this mess that has been Syria, the big vacuum that was left because the United States and west didn't engage with the moderate Syrian opposition, it allowed sympathetic extremists in the Arab world, in the Muslim world to send a lot of weapons and money to the extremists in Syria.

So that's going to be a huge challenge, also, to get these Arab countries, allies, after all, of the United States, to stop that and to cut that off.

COSTELLO: Christiane Amanpour, thanks for your insight, as always. I appreciate it.

AMANPOUR: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the judge in the Oscar Pistorius case says the blade runner is not guilty of murder, but he may still be in pretty pig trouble. Robyn Curnow live in South Africa with more. Good morning.

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What a day in court, that moment that not only Oscar Pistorius has been waiting for, but also Reeva Steenkamp's family. It was very tense, a very claustrophobic day in court, all squashed together. Literally hanging only to every word that the judge spoke through. It was a very, very powerful moment as she explained, he was not guilty of murder.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A blockbuster day in South Africa. Court has adjourned for the day in the Oscar Pistorius trial. The judge has ruled the Olympian cannot be found guilty of murder in the death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOKOZILE MASIPA, JUDGE: The accused, therefore, cannot be found guilty of murder. That, however, is not the end of the matter as culpable homicide is a competent verdict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That means there are still a number of other charges for the court to consider including what's called culpable homicide, which means you kill someone unintentionally and there are severe penalties for that.

Robyn Curnow live outside the courthouse in Pretoria, South Africa to tell us more. Hi, Robin.

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Essentially culpable homicide is manslaughter. It's about negligence. He's been found not guilty on murder which means that's about intention. He didn't intend to kill Reeva Steenkamp.

He didn't foresee she was in that bathroom. That's what the judge has said. However, it's certainly not like Oscar Pistorius is off scot- free. The culpable homicide conviction, which is likely to come out on Friday morning, the judge essentially spelled it out saying in no uncertain terms that he was negligent.

That he failed the tests of how a reasonable man would act under that circumstance. Essentially our legal analysts saying she just has to cross the Ts and dot the Is in terms of convicting him on culpable homicide. That does carry jail terms. It also can have community service in terms of sentencing, that's still unclear. It's at the judge's discretion. That's not going to take place in the next few weeks. That's still going to be another whole mini trial.

COSTELLO: Wow. I was just thinking this is a long, drawn-out process. You've been following it for an awfully long time and will continue to do so for us. Robyn Curnow reporting live from South Africa. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's been 13 years since the twin towers fell in Manhattan. We've seen some ominous signs of health issues who responded to the September 11 attacks. CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta here now with a preview of tonight's documentary "Terror in the Dust."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Workers are inspecting tons of debris from the World Trade Center tower.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying to locate anyone who might still be alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Continuing with some hope that perhaps survivors might be found.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the days and weeks after the towers fell, Ernie Valibona, who was then a vice cop and first responder to ground zero worked punishing hours sifting through mounds of rubble. He was on the overnight shift. Most of the time he was coated in dust.

ERNIE VALLEBUONA, GROUND ZERO FIRST RESPONDER: I was like raccoon, smoke and dust caked into your ice. Where your eyes would tear, there was trickles of clean skin where your tears went down your face.

GUPTA: His only protection from breathing in the toxic air, a bandana that hung loosely to cover his nose and mouth. A few years after the attack, 9/11 was slowly receding into the background of his life. Then in 2004 he got sick.

VALLEBUONA: I got very sick. I was getting cold sweats feeling I was a little hunched over. I thought it was definitely food poisoning.

GUPTA: An emergency room doctor agreed and sent him home. Four months later, he was doubled over again with a stabbing pain in his abdomen.

VALLEBUONA: One of the doctors came in and told me, Mr. Vallebuona, it looks to me like you have a large mass inside your abdomen and could very well be cancer. I was diagnosed there with stage three lymphoma. I believe I only had about a 30 percent chance of survival. GUPTA: Ernie's cancer was aggressive. By the time doctors discovered it, an 11-centimeter tumor, the size of a small grapefruit had formed in his abdomen. Lymphoma is not often diagnosed in someone so young. Rarely do doctors know what causes it. They do think environmental toxins may play a role.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Dr. Sanjay Gupta reporting. We are nearing that final moment of silence today, 10:28 Eastern will mark 13 years since the fall of the north tower at the World Trade Center site. Mourners at that time will stop reading the names of the victims. We will stop, too, so we can all pause to remember.

In the meantime, Poppy Harlow joins us again from near the memorial. Good morning, Poppy.

HARLOW: Good morning to you, Carol. As we've been discussing all morning, this is such an important time for all the family members of nearly 3,000 people who were murdered that day 13 years ago.

Some of the family members telling us it feels like yesterday. Time does not help, but today is a moment that they pause and they reflect. I do also want to talk about the security measures here because we've all been seeing more police on the ground here around Lower Manhattan.

There's no imminent threat to New York City. According to the New York City police commissioner. Again, this city is always on high alert, the bridges, the tunnels and this country especially with what we're facing now with ISIL.

I had a chance to talk to Jeh Johnson, the homeland security secretary, who was down here with us earlier this morning and I asked him to be clear, is there an imminent threat now? I want you to listen to his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEH JOHNSON, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We know of no specific intelligence of a plot by ISIL to attack our homeland. Again, that's not the end of the story. ISIL is a very dangerous organization that has demonstrated a willingness to kill Americans because they are Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Carol, as we talked after I was on camera with him, he said you have to listen very carefully to the words we use here. He talked about al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the threat they pose to United States. Clearly he, the administration officers here in New York City, although no imminent threat, they're on high alert at this point in time, Carol.

It's reflected in the poll numbers we've been talking about all morning, compared to 2011, 53 percent of Americans are concerned about a possible terror attack around the anniversary of 9/11. That compared to 39 percent back in 2011.

COSTELLO: And you're right. It's important to point out that there's no direct threat that authorities can detect coming from ISIS at this moment. We should all keep that in mind. We're approaching that moment of silence, the moment that the north tower fell. Let's pause.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You may be asleep in God's arms but you're awake in our hearts. We love you and miss you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our beloved Sean Gordon Corbett O'Neil, husband, son, father, brother, uncle and friend, we adore you, we treasure you, you are unforgettable. Our daughter, Shawn, is a beautiful reminder of your face every day. God bless you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)