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Saudis Lead Airstrikes Against Rebels; Germanwings Crash; Amanda Knox Awaiting Verdict; Two Missing after NY Building Explosion. 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 27, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:33:21] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A coalition of Middle Eastern forces pounding Yemen from the air overnight. The Saudis and their allies delivering a second round of air strikes the Iranian-backed rebels. The Saudi ambassador for the U.S. says the strikes are necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADEL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will take whatever measures are necessary in order to protect its security. There are two things Wolf over which we do not negotiate: our faith and our security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: With the potential for a civil war in the horizon, the Saudis and the Egyptians are now threatening to send in ground troops. Senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is following the latest developments from Kabul -- Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, last night the second night of air strikes seemed to have targeted Houthi strongholds to the north of the capital Sana'a, an area known as Sada'a where Houthis say (inaudible) targets they claimed four civilians were killed when a market was set (inaudible) and also a civilian house near a leadership area resulting in the deaths of six civilians being killed there as well. That's their claims on the ground.

But obviously anger amongst those who are pro-Houthi clearly growing at this continued wave of Saudi strikes they say backed up by other Gulf countries in the air as well. But the key question will this eventually lead to some sort of ground incursion here by the Saudis and potentially the Egyptian military.

Many I think observing this say it is very hard to see how the Saudis can try and influence the ground situation in Yemen effectively and reinstall who they consider to be the President of Yemen Hadi, without actually having some sort of presence certainly in the southern city they're in where perhaps they then wish to begin that process. But all eyes Anderson, now certainly on this Arab League summit in

Sharm-el Sheik in the days ahead. That this is where this Arab coalition, the Sunni coalition will predominantly put the emphasis on getting together a wide sort of joint reaction strike force to intervene around the region there.

[10:35:08] Anderson, it troublingly looks increasingly like we're seeing emboldened Sunni coalition here with military force. In this instance moving into Yemen against the Houthi-Shia force there to try and reinstall the government of their choosing. But that will just inflame that Sunni-Shia tension across the Middle East right now -- Anderson.

COOPER: Yes. I mean, Nick, we are looking at a potential really of a major conflagration in Yemen.

WALSH: Well, certainly this could -- I think many fear it will be a tipping point for something large. Obviously, Yemen has had its own problems. They haven't always really been on sectarian lines. But the choice here for the Saudis looking at their significantly more troubled southern neighbor and deciding they wanted to intervene. And presumably then thinking that the Iranian-backed Houthis that sheer intervention that kicking out President Hadi was just one step too much.

The question you have to ask now is does this calm down or are we looking at Iran who say this is a dangerous step, them upping their intervention on the side of the Houthis and then the Saudis and Egyptians following through on talk of a ground presence there.

That could take the strife of Yemen, troubling as it is, with al Qaeda based there wanting to attack the United states. The tribal strife Yemen is feeling on a much more broad regional level with potentially much more significant impact on the conflict in Syria, Iraq and other areas too. A deeply troubling new chapter we could be heading into now -- Anderson.

COOPER: Nick Paton Walsh, I appreciate the update. Nick -- thanks very much.

Still to come a search of the pilot's -- excuse me -- the co-pilot's home turns up new clues, new questions, and why was the co-pilot even aboard Flight 9525?

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[10:40:09] COOPER: I want to bring you up to the minute on information on the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525. This morning we learned that a police search of the co-pilot's home shows he should not have been in the cockpit. Torn up doctor's notes show that co- pilot was hiding an illness from the airlines and was not supposed to work.

The medical leave included Tuesday, the very day that he plowed the plane into the French Alps and killed 149 people aboard. Lufthansa has taken immediate action to adopt new rules that could have prevented the tragedy. Prosecutors say the co-pilot seized control of the flight by locking out the pilot, as you know, when he left to use the bathroom.

The new rule, in effect right now, will require two authorized people to be in the cockpit at all times. A number of others carriers in Europe have made that change as well.

As officials combed through the co-pilot's house for clues we want to remember that there are two different investigations going on right now: a criminal probe led by a prosecutor, and an accident investigation by French aviation authorities.

I want to bring in CNN's senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann. He's live this morning from Paris. Jim -- what's the latest?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, basically the latest from the prosecutor down in Marseille is that he sent a couple of police officers over to Germany to bring back the kind of evidence that we have been talking about.

The prosecutor's looking at this as involuntary manslaughter. And he said yesterday that he might change that to manslaughter, homicide essentially, and the area where the crash took place is being treated as a crime scene. So they're basically looking at this as a criminal action. He's looking at it as a criminal action.

The other investigation which is probably going to be much slower is the VEA investigation. This is the accident investigating board that is similar to the NTSB, the National Transport Safety Board. And they're going to look at all the details of the last minutes of the flight. They're going to be looking at kind of recommendations they could make to promote safety in airlines and whatnot. They're going to thinking of it more of a long term -- they're thinking more of the long term look.

The prosecutor is looking at just assigning any kind criminal responsibility in this case. And once he gets that evidence that we have been talking about all day long, I think he is going to have sufficient evidence to come to some kinds of conclusions. And what those conclusions will be, I don't know but one of the other things that could happen here is the prosecutor could delve into Lufthansa's actions in all of this. Taking a look at what the airline knew and when they knew it.

COOPER: Right. Whether the airline knew about the medical condition, or how severe it may have been. Still a lot to know and it will be interesting to see how much information the prosecutors are willing put forward to the public particularly about the nature of the medical condition.

Jim Bittermann, I appreciate the update today from Paris.

The crash is raising a lot of questions, a lot of -- you have been tweeting us your questions. You can tweet us using #Germanwingsqs and our panel is going to weigh. Tom Fuentes joins us now, CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director; David Soucie CNN safety analyst and former FAA safety inspector; and Rene Marsh CNN aviation and government regulation correspondent

I do have a number of questions that we've received from Twitter and I want to read out. First one -- are pilots seen by doctors are approved by airlines, mental evaluations or are they sent directly to employers when in physicians' like this. Rene do we know the answer to that?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: They're asking are they reviewed or do they have to go and see a doctor before they're hired?

COOPER: Are pilots seen by doctors that are approved by the airlines -- I guess the question -- it's different in the United States and it may be in German.

In Germany, according to Fred Pleitgen who I talked to a short time ago, it is not necessary that this co-pilot would have seen a doctor that was part of an insurance program of the company that would be much more of a public insurance program?

MARSH: Well, what we do know is that first-off, when it comes to the hiring process, yes, in order to get the medical certificate, the FAA makes it very clear what the requirements are as far as medical testing. And we also know that even once you are hired, and you do become a pilot depending on your age, every six to 12 month, you are required to go in and get this medical physical check to essentially make sure that you are still physically able to do the job.

During that medical checkup, the doctor will ask various questions to gauge if you are not only physically sound, but also mentally sound. But again, as we have been saying, Anderson, this is really the honor system here in which you have to --

COOPER: Self-report.

MARSH: Self-report, exactly.

COOPER: Right. David Soucie, would you know more about the doctor situation?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Yes, there's two different two things. And I think the point here is was this note issued by an FAA- certified -- or excuse me -- civil aviation certified doctor.

[10:45:07] COOPER: Right.

SOUCIE: And yes they are designees of the administrator of that civil authority. So the doctors that do the annual checks that Rene was just mentioning they are designees of the administrator.

COOPER: These are made in the United States?

SOUCIE: No, there as well. COOPER: There as well -- OK.

SOUCIE: So now, he could have gone to a doctor outside of that. They haven't been clear as to where this note came from.

COOPER: Right. I mean if he was trying to hide the condition from his employer --

SOUCIE: He would have gone to an outside doctor.

COOPER: -- he would have gone to an outside doctor because he wouldn't want --

SOUCIE: But that is typical, you don't go to the medical examiner for the aviation medical examiner for the routine colds or coughs or whatever else it might be.

COOPER: Right.

Another question, why don't all airplanes have plane phones or panic buttons, you know, break in case of emergency that sends out a distress signal -- David Soucie?

SOUCIE: Well, part of it is --

COOPER: -- which I guess the question in this is -- which may be accessible to the flight crew as opposed to pilots?

SOUCIE: Yes, because in the cockpit there are seven ways to do that and they do that all the time -- continually.

COOPER: And there is even a way of flying the plane that can give an indication to the ground control that there is something wrong with the plane.

SOUCIE: That's right. And some airplanes -- many of the newer airplanes actually continuously report from back there, and they can put in maintenance discrepancies if one of the seatbacks does not work for example.

COOPER: Though frankly even in this case, I mean had there been a panic button or something that the flight crew, the flight attendant, the pilot who was locked outside could have alerted ground staff, it wouldn't have made any difference.

SOUCIE: It would not have. In MH-370 it might have because then we could have tracked it at that point. But in this case, no I don't see where it would have helped anything at all.

COOPER: So there is no way really though for the flight crew, for the flight attendant, for a pilot that's locked out contact ground staff if they wanted to.

SOUCIE: Not since those satellites phones we used to have in the back of the seat. Not since those have been removed. There really isn't that I am aware of. COOPER: OK. Another question from Twitter -- wouldn't it be a good

idea to have mandatory live streaming video from the cockpit. Again, David Soucie, this is something you and I have talked about a lot. This is something that was a point of great contention with the pilot unions.

SOUCIE: Yes. And I think before we got to that and say that that is a critical thing that has to be done to the airplanes, we really have to make sure that we have standardized the way that we implement the existing rules. For example the rule of two right now that (inaudible) is learning -- and actually has issued.

That rule of two is something that we have had in the United States since that time. Since we've had the rule of having two people up front, there's been no pilot suicides or anything under those carriers that have implemented it.

COOPER: But in terms of streaming video -- because I have gotten a lot of questions about this on Twitter from viewers, if, you know, there's such an emphasis put on the search for the black boxes, and the search for the voice recorder, and that takes time and it's sometimes a difficult search. It sometimes takes a long time to actually track them down. If there was streaming video, whether it was watched in real-time or whether it was just recorded somewhere, that would be a faster way for the authorities if it worked, if it's technologically possible -- a faster way for authorities to take a look at what happened in the cockpit.

SOUCIE: They would know what happened. Remember that all of these things we talk about the black box, the video, all of these things that we're talking about are accident investigation tools. They are not operational tools which takes priority in the budget, of course. They are not safety issues, and this is not something that improves safety. It something that makes the accident investigation more smooth or it makes --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Although you have to also make the argument that if it was streamed in realtime, and able to be watched in realtime if a plane was hijacked, if there was something wrong, at least the people in the control tower would know -- have a greater sense.

SOUCIE: They can't mitigate it. They would know but -- so therefore it is not truly a safety prevention.

COOPER: David Soucie thanks. Rene Marsh, Tom Fuentes, as well.

As we go to break new pictures of flowers at the victims' memorial near the staging area in the French Alps.

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COOPER: We should soon know the fate of Amanda Knox. Italy's highest court is set to issue a final ruling today on her conviction in the killing of her British roommate. For years Knox has been fighting to clear her name. She spoke candidly with CNN after re-trial was announced in 2013.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANDA KNOX, ACCUSED OF KILLING ROOMMATE: The physical evidence that the prosecution was putting forth as damning against me was proven to be wrong. And for all of their theories about my personality and my behavior, there is nothing that links me to this murder. I am not present at the crime scene. I am just not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Barbie Nadeau is in Rome for us with the latest. What are you hearing, Barbie?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a waiting game right now with the jury has been, the judges have been deliberating for several hours, and we expect the verdict to come within the next few hours. Of course, Amanda Knox is not here. She is in Seattle, and we have just learned that Raffaele Sollecito who was here this morning has decided to go back maybe to (inaudible). He's not in Rome right now either so he won't be hear the jury's decision when it comes down.

They can do really two things. They can uphold the convictions and then this game is over. They will -- Raffaele Sollecito will have to start serving his sentence. And the wheels of extradition will start for Amanda Knox. The first thing that would happen is an Interpol arrest warrant that would affect her if she was in say Canada or Mexico. It wouldn't affect her in the United States, but there is a valid extradition treaty between the United States and Italy. So the wheels would start for that.

This court could also choose to throw out the conviction and order yet another trial. That's certainly within the realm of possibility and certainly normal for cases like this here in Italy -- Anderson.

COOPER: Do we know how long if she was found guilty and they begin extradition proceedings. Is it guaranteed that the U.S. would eventually hand her over?

NADEAU: Well, you know, that is the million dollar question. There is a valid extradition treaty, so you know, she would have to find a legal loophole, but you know, when you talk about the things like double jeopardy even though in the United States, it really does not affect the system as it works here. It's a three-tier system of structure that is very different from the United States. But by signing an extradition treaty, the United States effectively says we understand your system, we respect it.

[10:55:09]People -- prisoners are handed back and forth between Italy and the United States often. This is not an anomaly. Certainly the extradition treaty is tested time and time again.

You know, it could take years though, because presumably Amanda Knox would fight extradition. She would have, I would imagine a very good team of lawyers fighting that. Ultimately though she could appeal it, at the end of the day, if the United States decides to choose her back, she really doesn't have any choice but to be sent back to Italy to serve the 28 years and 6 month sentence, Anderson.

COOPER: All right. We'll watch later today. Barbie Nadeau -- thank you very much.

We want to take you now to New York City's lower east side. Two people are missing following that huge explosion that leveled a building yesterday. CNN's Miguel Marquez is there. Miguel -- what is the latest there?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is the head of Comed (inaudible) is here on the scene now, looking through things. He said they hope to have a better sense of what happened after their inspectors left the building that exploded here on 2nd Avenue.

You can see the buildings, and what you can't see is actually the buildings. There is a huge gaping hole down 2nd Avenue now, and you can look all of the way up to the windows, you can see the adjacent buildings there that have been badly damaged as well, and several buildings of this neighborhood have now been evacuated -- Red Cross saying that 84 people have registered with them, 86 adults, and 1 baby. They expect that there are many, many more that will register with them by this afternoon.

I want to show you, pardon, sorry, just want to show you what it looks like from the sidewalk side here. If you know New York, this is sort of caddie corner to stomp where that has been playing here on 2nd Avenue here for many, many years. This is 2nd avenue, it looks absolutely bizarre to see.

Two people missing still as far as we know. There were reports that there may have been others, those who have not proved to be true so far, but firefighters you can see, still getting the water onto this fire that started as an explosion, and then a collapse and then just a massive fire that took two buildings out, and has damaged several other buildings -- Anderson.

COOPER: An incredible site. Miguel, thank you very much.

Thanks very much for joining me today. I'm Anderson Cooper.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts after a short break.

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