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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
London Terror Attacks; Hurricane Dennis
Aired July 08, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening. I'm Anderson Cooper, live in London, a city rocked yesterday by four explosions, a city bruised and battered, a city tonight back on its feet. Four deadly explosions. The death toll has been rising, more than 50 are killed. That is confirmed. The death toll is expected to rise as the investigation into who set these bombs and how they went off continues.
We have extensive coverage from here in London tonight, but we are also following another major story, Hurricane Dennis. Take a look at these images, Dennis hitting Cuba, an enormous hurricane on track to strike the Florida Keys and the Gulf coast this weekend, a category 4 storm at this moment, winds between 131 and 155 miles per hour. Extensive coverage on Hurricane Dennis tonight, as well as a live report from the badly hit island of Cuba, from Havana.
First, though, take a look at these images, a whole different scene -- London at night, this grand old city, a city not brought down to its knees, a city not brought down by a few bombers, a city whose dignity and determination is intact this evening, despite a mounting death toll and the knowledge that there may be sleeper cells at work in this city right now.
Yesterday, after four bombs exploded, time seemed to stand still. Take a look at some of the images we saw yesterday, the images of people's faces frozen, no matter where you looked in the crowd, people stunned by what had happened, a woman with burns on her face, wearing a special mask-shaped bandage, being helped by a stranger who didn't even know her name -- all the eyes in this picture, the same stunned look of disbelief. And here, as happened countless of times, a Londoner who cannot bear to keep her eyes any -- open any longer.
Nevertheless, this city is back on its feet. This city this morning woke determined to get back to work, determined to make this city great once again.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Gingerly, London commuters returned to the tube, filing back into a transit system rocked by deadly bombs less than 24 hours earlier. The most current numbers, more than 50 confirmed dead. Some are yet to be identified and others still to be recovered. Seven hundred commuters were wounded.
Authorities have begun investigations at all the bomb sites, except the one near King's Cross station, where at least 21 people died. The station is not yet safe for investigators. In hospital beds across the city, the injured, some with lost limbs, recovered and welcomed visitors, including the queen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEEN ELIZABETH: I want to express my admiration to the people of our capital city, who, in the aftermath of yesterday's bombings, are calmly determined to resume their normal lives.
COOPER: Joining her, Prince Charles and his new wife, Camilla.
PRINCE CHARLES: (INAUDIBLE) one of the things that many of us have dreaded happening for a long time. And finally (INAUDIBLE) they got through. What I can never get over is the incredible resilience of the British people.
COOPER: In Scotland, Prime Minister Tony Blair prepared to return home from the G8 summit.
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: In the end, we are convinced the politics that we represent will win and will triumph over terrorism. Thank you.
COOPER: President Bush left Gleneagles, too, returning to Washington, where he signed the book of condolences at the British embassy.
GEORGE WALKER BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To those who suffer loss of life, we pray for God's blessings. For those who are injured, we pray for fast healing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, the investigation into who committed these atrocities continues. We learned more today about the bombings. Still, many questions left unanswered. But our colleague, CNN's Christiane Amanpour, who has been covering this story relentlessly from the -- the first bombings, has been following the activities today. Christiane, what do we now know? What did we learn today?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the police -- and it was Sir Ian Blair, the commissioner of the metropolitan police, has said that what they do know for sure is that these bombs were small. They were able to be fit into backpack-size containers, and they were less than 10 pounds. They also say their investigations have found that these bombs in the trains were placed on the floor of the train carriages.
What they've said they do not know is whether this was a suicide bombing. They say up until now, there is no evidence to suggest that these were suicide bombings. They have found no evidence up until now. But of course, their investigations do continue. They tell us also that they think it is likely that, potentially, a cell is still active in Britain and that people here should be very, very vigilant.
They say that they are sifting through every inch of wreckage that they can sift through. They're searching for hours over the many, many, many hours of CCTV footage in all of these tube stations and in many, many parts of London. It's very heavily surveyed, if you like, by CCTV cameras, and they're looking into -- into that.
The police also confirmed that they had considered shutting down the entire mobile phone network, the cell phone network, because they thought that might be used to detonate further bombs. They thought about doing that. They could have done it. They thought -- they, in the end, didn't do it because they didn't want to unduly increase the panic and discomfort for Londoners.
They're also saying that, as I say, they're looking into the causes and they're trying to figure out exactly who did it here. The death toll is likely to rise because at King's Cross station, we saw the highest number of deaths, 21 confirmed so far. There are still bodies trapped underground, and still people are not able to get them, to recover them, because, they tell us, it's kind of unstable in that part of the subway where those carriages are stuck.
And on one other issue, there have been reports that timers or fragments of timers have been discovered. The police would not go into confirming or denying any of that information -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes. Christiane, I found it strange today, as you walk around the streets -- I mean, you don't get a sense of what has happened underneath the ground. And when you're at King's Cross station and you realize that underneath the ground there is still a train carriage there, still has bodies likely inside it, and authorities have not even been able to get to it because the wreckage is so dense.
AMANPOUR: That's right, and it is -- it is an incredible thought because it's right below where we are. And this tube station, obviously, is still not working. But people are going to work on the tube stations. Many people made a point of it today to get back on the underground system, to get back onto the double-decker buses. And so, you know, there is that sense of aboveground defiance among the survivors, but a very sad knowledge that this death toll is going to climb. And of course, it has been the worst attack on London since World War II.
COOPER: And we have seen so much grit and determination to keep moving forward today. It has been really an extraordinary day here in London. Christiane Amanpour, thank you very much for joining us tonight, continuing to work the story, as she has been, really, from the get-go on this.
We're going to come back to London, to this side of the story, but we want to follow Hurricane Dennis. We want to bring you back to the United States, Hurricane Dennis hitting Havana hard, hitting the island of Cuba hard, heading toward the United States, the Florida Keys, the Gulf coast of Florida around Pensacola. We're going to be tracking the storm in just a moment.
But we want to get a live report from Havana. CNN's Lucia Newman is standing by. Lucia, what's the situation now? LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, I don't know if you can see, but it's extremely windy here in Havana. Speaking to you from the corner of 23rd Street, which is one of the main thoroughfares. People are rushing to get home now because they have been told the hurricane is going to come directly or very near to Havana city itself, and authorities here saying that it's a very, very, very dangerous situation indeed.
The hurricane-force winds here have caused destruction everywhere on this island where they have passed. We know in Cienfuegos province, the power lines are all down. The television towers have also been down. At least 10 people have been killed so far, Anderson, this news given by President Fidel Castro in person on Cuban television just a short while ago.
Now, this is only the third time in 200 years that a hurricane, especially a hurricane of this strength, hit this Caribbean island in the month of July, and it's taken, really, a lot of people by surprise. At least 600,000 of them, Anderson, have been evacuated from low-lying areas and from homes that are considered too flimsy to resist this kind of a storm.
And I think, Anderson, it's very important that our viewers appreciate the following. We're only 90 miles away from Florida. In Florida, people are boarding up their homes. They're taking all the measures necessary to try and save their property. But here in Cuba, there just isn't that kind of infrastructure. So while authorities are getting people out of harm's way, when it comes to preserving the things that they own, there isn't such a thing as a Home Depot or a hardware store. You can't even buy a little bit of tape to put on your windows. So people are really bracing themselves for some major damage to what little they have, Anderson.
COOPER: Lucia, where is the storm now? I mean, has the worst passed for Havana? Has the worst passed for the island, or is the worst still to come?
NEWMAN: No. Absolutely not. It's around the middle. It's going from south towards the north, towards the northwest, towards Havana and Matanzas province, which also means it will probably hit Varadero, the main -- the main holiday resort area, where thousands of tourists are also bracing themselves there. So we still have many, many more hours to come. In about three or four hours, we should be seeing the worst of it here in Havana itself, Anderson.
COOPER: Lucia Newman, reporting from Havana. Stay safe, Lucia. Appreciate that report. We'll check in with you a little bit later. This thing is moving fast. We're going to continue to follow it throughout this hour.
We're also going to take a trip to a wind tunnel a little bit later on, to give a sense of what we might expect in the United States. Could be tomorrow, probably now they're saying on Sunday. Dave Mattingly is going to give us a look at that wind tunnel, exactly what those high winds are going to look like. We're talking about the 135-mile-an-hour winds that we have seen. We're also going to show a satellite image. The outer edge of the category 4 hurricane -- it has reached the Florida Keys. The rest of the storm still slammed into Cuba. It continues to be a fast-moving storm.
Want to check in with Max Mayfield, the man we have turned to often in these situations, a man we've come to know and rely on for in-depth analysis of these. Max, what does the storm look like now? How strong is it? And is it building or weakening?
MAX MAYFIELD, DIR., NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Anderson, it definitely is weakening here as it moves over Cuba, as all hurricanes do when they move over land. But what's happening, that low-level circulation may be, indeed, weakening. And I don't want to minimize that because it's still a powerful category 3 hurricane. But this hurricane is so powerful in the mid to upper levels that as soon as it moves back out over the Gulf of Mexico, we're confident that it will regain much of that strength again.
COOPER: So you think it's going to regain it over the Gulf of Mexico? Where -- do you have a sense of where it's going to hit? How accurate can you be at this point?
MAYFIELD: Yes, well, first of all, for Lucia Newman there in Havana, you know, it's still -- you know, it's about 70 miles east southeast. Here's the donut around the eye. That's where the really strong winds are. And it's headed -- you know, another few hours, and it will be over Havana, which is right there.
Then after it emerges from the north coast of Cuba, it will skirt just west of the lower (ph) Florida Keys and then head up, basically, in the same area where Hurricane Ivan hit last year. Now, we have a hurricane watch in effect now from the Steinhatchie River in Florida over to the mouth of the Pearl River. So there's still some uncertainty there on exactly where it'll make landfall.
This is a fairly large hurricane that will impact a large area. People there on the eastern Gulf of Mexico need to pay very close attention and heed the advice of their local officials.
COOPER: Max Mayfield with the -- director of the National Hurricane Center, As always, Max, good to talk to you. I'm sure we'll be talking to you a lot in the coming 24, 48 hours. I hope to be in the region myself in some 24 hours from now, so I'm sure I'll be talking to you from there.
We should point out also the governors of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana have all declared states of emergency. Some evacuations are under way. Likely we will see more of that, if Max is correct and this storm builds as it goes across the Gulf of Mexico.
Coming up, a lot more, though, from London. We're going to continue following Dennis a little bit later, but we're going to look at London. Could it be a breeding ground for British terrorists, British Muslims attacking their own country? We're going to take a close-up look at that with CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen. He's written a fascinating piece in "The New York Times" today all about that. Also what about the bombs? How were they built? How did they explode? You heard Christiane Amanpour saying they were about 10 pounds each, very small. Could suicide bombers have been involved, as well? We're going to take a close-up look at that -- that investigation. Also tonight, cheating death once again. You are not going to believe this man. He survived the blasts here in London. He also survived the blast in Bali, and he was in Sri Lanka in the tsunami this past December. I'm going to talk with the ultimate survivor. Stay with us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEEN ELIZABETH: Those who perpetrate these brutal acts against innocent people should know that they will not change our way of life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bus explosion went off, a big, massive thump, the sound of metal ripping, glass going off, things coming back down onto the ground, which must have been the roof of the bus. And almost immediately after that, panic and mayhem, people screaming, running, people covered in blood. Just complete and utter panic for those few moments.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, the United Kingdom is, of course, one of the closest allies to the United States in the war on terror, but some are saying it may now be a breeding ground for terrorists, home-grown terrorists, British citizens, in many cases, who are deciding to harm their homeland.
Peter Bergen has been looking into this, and it raises some very troubling questions for United States security, as well. Peter joins me tonight from Washington. Peter, it's good to talk to you. You wrote a fascinating piece in "The New York Times" today. Why has Britain become, in many respects, a breeding ground for terrorists, for al Qaeda supporters and militants?
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, I think there are several reasons for that. First of all, Britain has very -- relatively speaking, some pretty liberal asylum laws that have allowed all sorts of militants, whether they're Arabs or from other parts of the world, to live in England, which is a good thing, generally speaking. But some of those militants have taken advantage of these asylum rules, taken advantage of the welfare laws. A lot of the militants are actually collecting English welfare at the same time that they're critiquing the English state.
We've also got a lot of quite young Muslims. The age profile of Muslims in Britain is the youngest age profile of any group. A lot of unemployment, 22 percent unemployment for a Muslim man between the age 16 and 24. I think "The Guardian" newspaper did a poll recently, and 13 percent of British Muslims were in favor of the notion of an attack against the United States by al Qaeda or an affiliated group, which is a pretty astonishing result.
And so that's the kind of broader background. And we've seen, you know, the outcomes. Richard Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber," was a British citizen. Omar Saeed, who killed Danny Pearl in Pakistan in 2002, the American journalist, is a British citizen. We've had British citizens arrested last year with ammonium nitrate, planning attacks in Britain and also attacks in the United States, scoping out financial institutions in the United States, in Europe...
COOPER: But it seems to defy logic. I mean, they live here in the United Kingdom. They have access to all that great Britain offers, I mean, all the technology, all the advances, and yet they seem to have grown this hatred of the country they live in. I mean, it's hard to sort of wrap one's mind around.
BERGEN: Well, if you think back to the 9/11, Anderson, you know, most of the pilots, generally speaking, lived in Hamburg, in Germany. Again, you know, living in Hamburg seemed to have radicalized them, rather than the reverse, this feeling of alienation, kind of all getting together and radicalizing themselves in small groups. And I think that is a process that's also happening in Britain.
And it's not just Britain, by the way, it's also in Spain, we saw with the Madrid attacks. We've seen similar cells in Milan. And I think, in terms of American national security, What's happening in Europe is far more important than anywhere else. After all, if you've got a European passport, you can come to the United States fairly easily.
COOPER: Well, I -- you know, I hadn't even thought of that, and I read that in your article in "The New York Times" today. And I mean, it's such a salient point. If you have this EU passport, really, you don't even have to talk to a consular officer as you enter the United States.
BERGEN: Yes. I'm not suggesting we end that. I mean, obviously, we don't want to alienate all our European friends by insisting they all have face-to-face interviews with embassy officials before they get a visa. That would be unmanageable. But I think there might be some fixes in the program, perhaps putting Department of Homeland Security officials in embassies in Europe to look at, you know, certain profiling of people who would have a face-to-face interview. That might be one sort of one minor fix that might make a difference.
COOPER: Peter, it's always good to talk to you. Thanks very much.
I should also point out that the head of the metropolitan police here in London earlier today said that, without a doubt, there is at least one active sleeper cell right now in London. It is a chilling thought as we stand here, live in London, this remarkable old city. Coming up next on 360, we're going to back to take a look at Hurricane Dennis. We're going to take you inside a wind tunnel. What does it feel like to stand in 135-mile-per-hour winds? Well, David Mattingly finds out firsthand.
Also tonight, we're going to talk -- well, we've called him the ultimate survivor. He survived the Bali bombing, also the London blasts, and he was in Sri Lanka during the tsunami. A remarkable story.
Also, a little bit later on, my reporter's notebook, what it is like in London today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday, I was a bit angry. Today, I don't really feel much at all. I said this before (ph). I don't really think that I'm going to try and understand their agenda because I don't really feel that they have much of an agenda. They're just evil, evil people.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And welcome back. I'm Anderson Cooper, live in London. We're going to have a lot more about the ongoing investigation into exactly who planted the four bombs which rocked this city yesterday. A lot more from London in just a moment.
But we want to turn to Hurricane Dennis. You know, you hear a lot about 135-mile-an-hour winds, 140-mile-an-hour winds. Unfortunately, I know a little bit of what it's like to stand in those winds, but we wanted to give you at home the sense of what it really feels like. We're going to take you into a wind tunnel, where CNN's David Mattingly experienced some extraordinarily high winds. You're going to see firsthand what it is really like. The pictures you're seeing right now are from Cuba, and the people there know all too well what it is like because they are getting hit hard right now. Hurricane Dennis is moving over the island, not moving as quickly as some there would like it. There have been at least 10 deaths.
Let's take a look what it's like inside a wind tunnel. CNN's David Mattingly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the wind tunnel at the University of Maryland, where, normally, they test airplanes, automobiles and boats. But today, we have a different kind of demonstration in mind. We're going to see what it's like to stare into the path, into the face of an oncoming hurricane.
This is 40 miles an hour, roughly what you'd experience in a bad storm, either from the sea or a thunderstorm on land. But now we're going to take it up a few notches. This is 50 miles an hour, and still we are not close to hurricane strength. It's now starting to whip around me pretty hard. I am held here by this harness. Otherwise, I'd probably be flying to the back of the room. My mouth is completely dry. It's very hard to talk right now. As you can see, I can still take a few steps, but it's getting increasingly difficult.
This is 60 miles an hour. This is tropical storm power, still not hurricane strength. I can't hear myself talk. I can feel the wind pulling at the skin on my face.
Up a little higher. Let's go to hurricane strength. This is 65 miles an hour. I can feel the skin on my face starting to move. Getting difficult to breathe now.
Let's go faster. This is now 70 miles an hour, still not hurricane strength. It's very difficult to keep a train of thought. I can't hear a word I'm saying.
This is 75 miles an hour. This is a category 1 hurricane. Other than very small steps, it would be almost impossible to walk in this kind of sustained wind. (INAUDIBLE) beginning to see the skin rippling back on my face.
Let's take it up a little higher. This is 80 miles an hour. At this speed, you begin to see a tremendous amount of damage to the trees. Also at this speed, tree limbs become dangerous projectiles.
This now is 85 miles an hour. Getting difficult to breathe. I can't hear a word I'm saying. This now is 90 miles an hour. We're going to have to stop now.
Now that the wind is dying down, I feel like a linebacker has been lifted off my chest. And this, again, is a controlled environment, nothing at all like you would experience in a real hurricane.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Do you ever wonder how we get people to do this kind of stuff? David Mattingly there. You know, as you saw, he could sustain winds about 90 miles an hour. They had to stop it, really, after that. Think about what the people in Cuba are facing right now, 135- mile-per-hour winds, and they do not have the same kind of protections that we have in terms of the construction materials. That island is getting hit and hit hard right now.
And Hurricane Dennis, though it is weakening a little bit right now, as you heard from Max Mayfield a little bit earlier, it is still heading toward the United States, and he says it's likely to increase speed, get stronger, maybe back up to a cat, 4 as it plows into the United States, as it moves over the Gulf of Mexico. We're going to continue to follow. We're going to have a little bit more about it later on in this hour.
But coming up next, we are going to look in depth at the investigation as it currently stands. We learned some tantalizing details about the bombs themselves today. There is still a lot left to be learned. We're going to bring you up to date and try to answer some questions about how these bombs went off, how they were planted. And we don't know who planted them, but that is certainly part of the investigation. We are also going to zero in on the bombs themselves. We're going to talk to a bomb expert formerly with the New York Police Department, a forensic expert. What can we learn from the bombs themselves? There's some fascinating science involved in all of this.
Also ahead tonight, the ultimate survivor, a man who not only survived the blasts yesterday here in Britain -- he was down in one of those subway cars -- he also survived the Bali bombing, an al Qaeda- linked bombing. He also survived the tsunami Sri Lanka. The ultimate survivor coming up next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And welcome back to London. This is a special edition of 360, live from London. I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks very much for watching.
For the next several minutes, we're going to be looking in-depth at the investigation into these four deadly bombings that occurred yesterday. First, we want to take you back to yesterday, show you exactly where the blasts occurred and what we know about them.
The first blast, 8:51 local time, a.m., in the morning, Liverpool Street subway station. Seven people died in that blast. At 8:56, in another underground train, between King's Cross and Russell Square, another blast; 21 people died in that blast, the worst of all of them. Then, 9:17, a third bomb in a train just pulling into the Edgware Road station. Seven people there died. And finally, 9:47, a fourth bomb goes off aboard a double-decker bus at Tavistock Place; 13 people were killed in that blast. More than 50 people dead. The death toll likely to grow.
We want to get the latest now on the investigation. CNN's Matthew Chance has been looking into this in-depth over the last several, 24 hours or so, especially in the last several hours. Let's take a look at his piece.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): London is a city under watch, blanketed by nearly 2,000 security cameras -- every train station, every street corner, it seems, routinely videotaped.
Now, every face is a suspect.
Finding the bombers will be a painstaking search, but thousands of hours of these images are being closely examined, say police, to find and prosecute those responsible.
ANDY HAYMAN, LONDON METRO POLICE: We have the most experienced anti-terrorist officers on this case, and we have the best community here in London to help work with us to achieve that aim.
CHANCE: But with multiple bomb sites, three trains and a bus, this will be a complex and lengthy investigation. So far, only a few fragments have emerged from the chaos. Police say initial forensic evidence suggests each of the four bombs contained less than 10 pounds of explosives, small enough to be carried in a backpack. They also believe the devices were placed on the floors or the seats of the trains and the bus, but there is no evidence so far, they say, of a suicide bomber, or of who carried out the well-planned and coordinated attacks.
IAN BLAIR, LONDON METRO POLICE COMMISSIONER: There is, likely, it would still be a cell. Whether these people are still in the United Kingdom is a question, and we will remain vigilant. We must remain vigilant. This is a national issue. It's not just for London and the Metropolitan Police Service.
CHANCE: And the specter of this man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been raised, not by the British police, but by a U.S. intelligence official to CNN. At this point, it's still just speculation, but Iraq's most prominent insurgent may be extending his reach, says one U.S. official, into Europe.
Terrorism analysts say the forensic search will now focus on how the bombs were made and what that says about who made them.
PAUL SLAUGHTER, TERRORISM ANALYST: What they're looking for is the evidence to actually put it on individuals, whether it's one person or two or three people. So, they'll be going through all the devices, trying to find out the fingerprint of the actual bomb makers. And once they've got that, then hopefully there will be sufficient evidence to try and trace them, and then to prosecute them.
CHANCE: But in the end, the best intelligence, say police, will come from the general public. Information on suspicious activity and tips that may help bring the London bombers to justice.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Matthew Chance joins us now. You know, Matthew, I don't think a lot of people realize how many security cameras there are all over London.
CHANCE: That's right. This is a country that is very, very under watch, a city that's very much under watch. It seems there's a security camera on every building, on every street corner, on every train station. So, the police have a lot of material they're going to get through. They've got to get through thousands of hours of this security video. They said they're going to watch every single frame of it, to look for any clue they can to bring these people responsible to justice.
COOPER: And they're not ruling out at this point the idea that it might be a suicide bomber? I mean, they've said there is no evidence of it at this point, but they cannot rule it out?
CHANCE: Well, they seem to be erring on the side of it not being a suicide bomber. There was a press conference, a news conference today with the police commissioner of London, Ian Blair. He said that they have got no evidence whatsoever at this stage that it was a suicide bomber, and indeed they said the devices seemed to have been placed on the floors of the buses and the train carriages. So the indication at the moment is it's not, although they're not ruling anything out at this stage, because it's such an early stage in the investigation.
COOPER: And as we pointed out earlier, there was even one train carriage that they have not even been able to get to, because the tunnel itself is insecure. Matthew Chance, appreciate the report. Thank you very much.
There's a lot experts can learn from examining the bombs themselves, from examining little microscopic things that a non-expert wouldn't even notice. Our next guest knows all about this. He was the former commander of the New York City Police Department Bomb Squad, a man we're very happy to have with us tonight, Mike White. I appreciate you being with us. What can you learn from these bombs?
MIKE WHITE, FORMER NYPD BOMB SQUAD COMMANDER: Well, there's a whole host of evidence that can be gleaned from the scene. It's a tremendous effort. And I first, of course, want to say that my heart goes out to the authorities that are performing this investigation over there. I know the tremendous task that they have in front of them, but they will spare no effort to get it done. And...
COOPER: What are they -- I'm sorry, go ahead.
WHITE: In sifting through the massive amount of rubbles at the four scenes that they have, they're going to specifically look for everything in a standard post-blast crime scene investigation that will be exclusively focusing for all sorts of trace investigation materials, including components and parts left over from the actual explosive device itself.
COOPER: And is it true that every bomb or bomber has a signature?
WHITE: Well, I'd say a generic term, and many of the entertaining crime scene places will say that that's a trueness, a true statement, but it's not really true. If you have a particular explosive device designed, sometimes what we've seen is in the past, they will have workshops where several guys will be making very similar devices, and they'll appear to have the same signature, but, in fact, they were made by different persons. So unless there's something that is absolutely unique, it would be difficult to say there's a signature. There may be similarities, but it's hard to say they were exactly done by the same person.
COOPER: We heard today from authorities here that each device was about 10 pounds. That seems extraordinarily small. Does that surprise you? Does that sound about right?
WHITE: No, it doesn't surprise me. In fact, it shows some of the good points of the efforts of the counterterrorism authorities in the U.K. They do not have -- they don't have availability of large amounts of good commercial or military high explosives. So what we have seen is that they are resorting to making improvised or homemade explosives. And these homemade explosives are usually very unstable, and they're only made in small amounts.
COOPER: And how easy is it to make some of these devices?
WHITE: Well, the devices don't have to be complex. In fact, you know, I can't say that this is a less than fully professional group. They were proficient enough to kill over 50 and injure scores more. So it's not rocket scientists, and here in the United States, you know, anybody with access to the Internet can come up with any type of formulas, recipes, or how to build a bomb information. So it's not that difficult to actually build a bomb, unfortunately.
COOPER: It's sad to say. Mike White, appreciate you joining us. Former commander of the New York City Bomb Squad.
Coming up next on this special edition of 360, we're going to take you back to Havana to take a look at where Hurricane Dennis is right now; 135 mile an hour winds hitting that island hard. At least 10 dead. We'll get a live report from Lucia Newman.
Also ahead tonight, what it feels like to actually be in London, on this day, this day after those four deadly bomb blasts? I'll have my reporter's notebook. And a little later, a very lucky man, a man who has survived a deadly blast in Bali, survived the bombings here in London yesterday, and even the tsunami in Sri Lanka. We'll have his story ahead. Stay with us.
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COOPER: And welcome back. I'm Anderson Cooper live in London. We're going to have more on the investigations into the bombings yesterday in a little bit, but we want to look at the progress that Hurricane Dennis has made thus far, where it is right now, over the island of Cuba, hitting Cuba hard, 135 mile an hour winds. These are some of the recent pictures. That island, as you can tell, is getting hit awfully hard. The government there has said at least 10 people have died so far.
CNN bureau chief Lucia Newman has been down there, was reporting just a few moments ago about the bad wind conditions. A lot of people just not -- didn't have the supplies to steady their houses. Their houses are not made of quality construction materials. So they're getting hit very hard indeed. Some parts of the island, of course, have been evacuated. We're going to continue to follow the story from there.
Let's check in with CNN's Jacqui Jeras, who's at the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. Jacqui, how bad the storm right now, and where is it going to hit in the U.S.?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's weakened a little bit, so that's some good news. It's down to 125 miles per hour, still a category 3 storm, but it was category 4 when it made landfall around Cienfuegos earlier this afternoon. The center of circulation, the eye of it right now is about 65 miles east-southeast of Havana, so we're having a difficult time getting a hold of Lucia Newman right now. She's getting within the worst of the conditions, and that is going to be lasting several hours. They're just starting to get the first side of the storm now.
The hurricane force winds extend out 65 miles from the center of the storm, so they're on that leading edge right now. And that is going to be lasting a while.
It's on a northwesterly track. It will likely continue to weaken a little bit, but then, it will be re-emerging back out over open water into the Gulf of Mexico, and will likely strengthen once again.
So here are your official statistics. If you're not interested where it is in Cuba and you want to know where it is in relation to the United States, about 135 miles southeast of Key West. Keys are starting to feel the effects of that already, with some very strong, gusty winds and also the scattered showers and thunderstorms. Maximum winds at 125. We're getting gusts up to 160 miles per hour.
Here's where the forecast track is. We have got the hurricane warnings in effect for the lower Keys, from the Seven-Mile Bridge on westward, and we have watches in effect all across much of the coastline here and into the Gulf of Mexico from near the New Orleans area pretty much through the Panhandle of Florida.
Forecast track has it moving into this area sometime likely on Sunday afternoon. If it turns a little bit and pushes a little farther to the east, it is going to happen earlier. If it pushes a little farther west of the forecast track, it is going to happen a little later. So there is still a lot of uncertainty here.
Likely going to stay a major hurricane. Category 3 or more is what we consider a major hurricane. What does that mean to you? Winds of 111 to 130 miles per hour, storm surge of 9 to 12 feet, and can be doing some very significant damage.
There you can see the showers and thunderstorms already across South Florida. We had a gust in Miami of 51 miles per hour, right now in Key West around 44 miles per hour -- Anderson.
COOPER: You know, Jacqui, I'm glad you reminded us how strong a category 3 hurricane is, because a lot of people think, oh, it's been downgraded, you know, from category 4 to category 3 -- 111 mile an hour winds and upward, that's nothing to scoff about.
JERAS: Not at all.
COOPER: So we'll continue to follow it. Jacqui, appreciate it.
We're also going to try to keep -- get back in touch with Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman. We never like it when we lose a video image. That is not a good sign. We're going to try to get at least a phone contact from her, just to check in on her, make sure she's OK, because those winds are very strong right now where she is in Havana. When we come up next, from London, more on the investigations, and my reporter's notebook. What it feels like walking the streets of London, riding in the subway, today of all days in London. We'll be right back.
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COOPER: There are dozens and dozens of security...
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COOPER: Welcome back to London. I'm Anderson Cooper. We have been reporting in this hour on the investigations into the yesterday's bombings. When we come on a big story like this, often the television pictures don't really give a sense of what it like -- what it feels like to be here. I've been taking around a little home video camera of mine to a lot of these stories that I've been going on recently and filing a reporter's notebook, trying to give you a sense of just what it feels like, images you may not see anywhere else.
This is my "Reporter's Notebook" from today in London.
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COOPER (voice-over): It's a strange feeling in London today. Feeling of seeing something all too familiar. The signs for loved ones gone missing. Store-bought flowers stuck in a roadside fence. Pain-soaked messages. The ritual of remembrance of terror.
For you, from my heart and my tears to all the lost loved ones, sorry.
Private moments, public pain. A Muslim woman places flowers on a makeshift memorial. Photographers pounce when she starts to pray.
Outside the King's Cross station, where at least 21 people were murdered, I ran into this exchange student. He says he took the photo on the front page of the paper, they paid him about $1,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this train, 20 people died. It's not a good thing to get the money.
COOPER: Now he feels guilty.
(on camera): There's still a crime scene beneath our feet here at the King's Cross station. There's a train car that's still destroyed. The police haven't been able to even reach. Who knows how many bodies are still inside it.
(voice-over): Police are pouring over thousands of images taken by closed circuit cameras. The chances are good the killers were recorded.
(on camera): At a subway station, there are cameras everywhere. I mean, you can see dozens of them. There are two right up there. And then right across the street here at the McDonald's, you can see two more on the corner. And there are probably dozens more that you can't even see.
So, there's a very good likelihood that somewhere on some of these closed circuit television cameras, police will be able to see who it was who it was who planted these bombs.
(voice-over): On the subway, a lone guitarist plays for pence. The tune may be soothing, but it's hard not to feel tense. The passengers are quiet. Eyes dart about.
On a passing bus, an ad for a movie promises outright terror. Real life has already delivered more than enough.
(on camera): There's a real sense of resolve here in London. It's become almost a cliche. I've heard that word so many times today. You hear it on talk radio. You hear people saying it in the street.
They want to get back on the buses. I mean, there are people still on these buses. They want to get back on the subways, they want to show terrorists that they have not been defeated.
(voice-over): Yesterday, this great, grand city was wounded. Today, this great, grand city is back on its feet.
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COOPER: Back on its feet, indeed. We're going to have a story coming up next, right after the break, of people searching for their missing loved ones. There are still people unaccounted for. Many questions to be answered.
But, first, let's take a look at what's coming up next on Paula Zahn. Hey, Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Anderson. I guess that headline probably said it best, "bloodied, but unbowed."
Tonight, will lightning or hurricane strike twice? We'll meet a Florida couple who spent the past year rebuilding their home after it was destroyed by a hurricane. And now Dennis is threatening them one more time.
And as we continue our special coverage of the London terror attacks, investigators are focusing on one suspect. It's a familiar name, a man who has been responsible for a reign of terror throughout Iraq. Find out who it is at the top of the hour and more on the latest on the investigation.
Anderson, it just is still fascinates me the calm that you have seen in the city. I guess a city that is all too familiar with terror.
COOPER: It certainly is. And the resolve and the strength and the determination. It is a privilege to be here in this city on this very difficult day. Paula, we'll watch your program in a few minutes from now.
But coming up next, right after the break, people searching for their missing loved ones. We've seen it before. We're seeing it again right now. Take a look. We'll be right back.
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COOPER: Welcome back to London. There are families at this late hour, it is nearly 1:00 am here in London, families unable to sleep because their loved ones are still missing after the four deadly blasts rocked this city yesterday. Shiulie Ghosh from ITN has their story.
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SHIULIE GHOSH, ITN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are just some of the faces missing. Phillips Russell, last seen near Tavistock Square, Ben Azmazaka (ph) who used Russell Square tube station every day, Merriam Hyman (ph), last heard from at King's Cross station, Laura Webb (ph) who was in the Edgware Road area, Anthony Fatih Williams (ph) on his way to work at Liverpool Street station and Jamie Gordon, known to be on board a bus near Houston.
Yvonne Nash has been looking for Jamie since the attacks yesterday morning. Together for seven years, they were planning to marry. Now she's desperately clinging to the hope he's still alive.
YVONNE NASH, GIRLFRIEND OF JAMIE GORDON: Just devastating. Because we can't find out where he is, if he's dead or alive.
GHOSH: Throughout the day, she has made one emotional appeal for information after another. She told me she won't rest until she knows the truth, even if the news is bad.
NASH: What we know for certain is that he made a telephone call at 9:42 to his office to say that he was on a bus going from Houston to King's Cross. Obviously, five minutes later, there was an explosion on a bus in the area. And it's just shocking that over 24 hours after the event, we still haven't been contacted by the authorities.
I'm told that he's a level one priority, but we've heard absolutely nothing.
Hello, I've got a reference, November 385.
GHOSH: The police have issued a special help line number for relatives, but Yvonne been calling repeatedly with no success. Such is the chaos, on one occasion she phoned, they couldn't even find his records.
NASH: Yeah. That's right. They can't find his file now.
GHOSH: Yvonne and her friends have contacted police stations and hospitals all over London. And posters of Jamie have been put up, but no one is able to give her the information she wants and she's far from alone.
Gous Ali is searching for news of his partner, Neetu Jain who had been evacuated from Houston and boarded a bus instead. He hasn't heard from her since.
GOUS ALI, PARTNER OF NEETU JAIN: Just the worst scenario, really nightmare of not knowing. I think it must be even worse for her family, her parents. I'm trying find it OK, because I'm trying to stay strong for everybody and trying to get information from the various people. But I'm struggling now. And I'm getting weaker at every hour that goes by.
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COOPER: It is so sad, indeed.
You know, we continue to be shocked, but we probably shouldn't be -- although, we probably always will be, that the things that surround us, the things which seem so solid really are as thin as tissue paper. All it takes is a bullet or a bomb to make us realize that something, which seems so solid, can suddenly evaporate, just like a puff of smoke.
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COOPER (voice-over): There you are, riding a double decker bus, a hulking outsized great brood of a big, friendly beast, large enough to whisk dozens of people around town without showing any strain at all. There you are, you're bumping along, lost in the newspaper, oblivious to your surroundings, ignoring the others sitting around you, and the streets and buildings going by. Turning pages, glancing at your watch.
And then, an explosion.
Whatever was solid suddenly becomes vapor, acrid, sour, dark blistering and burning fumes that make it impossible to see, impossible to swallow, impossible to breathe. No time has gone by at all, really, less than a twitch of a secondhand. But in that no time at all, the world has changed, very probably for a long time to come.
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COOPER: And tonight, the world certainly has changed. And it no doubt will continue to tomorrow as well. Thanks for joining us for this special edition of 360 from London.
Our prime-time coverage continues now with Paula Zahn -- Paula.
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