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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

U.N. Says Rockets Hidden Inside U.N. School in Gaza; New Explosions in Gaza; Hamas Fighting Propaganda War; President Obama Announces New Sanctions Against Russian Arms, Energy and Finances Sectors; MH17 Crash Site Still Not Secure: Investigators Prevented from Reaching Area for Third Straight Day; Global Task Force Created to Improve Aviation Security in Compact Zones After MH17 Crash; Making Airlines Safer: Push for Missile Defense Systems on Commercial Planes; American Doctor Battling Ebola in Liberia; Apparent Stowaway Found Dead in Wheel Well of U.S. Air Force Plane

Aired July 29, 2014 - 21:00   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, AC360 HOST: That new explosions being heard there all of it after punishing 24 hours in the three week long war. Take a look at what we have seen in the last 24 hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Out of this side of the building -- you ever have seen the site.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Some of the images we've seen in the last 24 hours, hour after hour, could be seeing more of it. Hamas today turned down a ceasefire plan in Israel, has been preparing its people for a protractive battle. Covering all of it tonight including the breaking news Martin Savidge monitoring late developments from Jerusalem.

So the U.N. has just announced that a new cache of rockets have been found in a U.N. school in Gaza. The school wasn't open. It wasn't in session? Was it empty of students? What more do you know?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Anderson. this is the third time that such a discovery has been made inside of a U.N. facility inside of Gaza since this conflict began. And according to the United Nations, they were doing a routine inspection on one of their schools. And as you point out the U.N. says this school was closed for the summer and it wasn't being used to shelter civilians. But while going through that building, they found a stock pile of rockets. Now they won't say exactly whose rockets they belong to, whether it's Hamas, whether it's some other militant group aligned with Hamas in Gaza. They wouldn't say how many rockets had been found. But they did issue a very strong statement. They said we condemn the group or groups who endangers civilians by placing these munitions in our schools.

The other thing they didn't say is what has happened to those rockets. So are they going to be handed over to some kind of authority besides Hamas? You just don't know. At this particular time, they say any idea of trying to diffuse them is just -- can't be contemplated given the violence that's going on inside the area. So the United Nations clearly is saying, "Look, this only gives justification to any one who wants to look at these schools and say they could be being used by Hamas to either hide munitions or in some way to stop the degradation of their weaponry. I mean, it's really not going to help Hamas in any way, shape or form. It seems to prove what Israel says that they hide behind the people or hide behind civilian buildings to try to protect their weapons to use against Israel.

COOPER: In terms of a ceasefire, anything new to report, I mean even though there are talks supposedly going on behind the scenes?

SAVIDGE: Well yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot of skepticism. It clearly seems that despite the outside world wanting to see a cessation of hostilities that inside here, the two main combatants, Israel and Hamas, aren't necessarily on a mindset when they are ready to draw the line and say let's stop. Both sides have agreed to one point and that is it cannot go back to what it was before. In other words, the week before this whole conflict began, they've had these cycles of every couple of years being involved in some kind of military operations.

So it seems that Hamas today coming out and saying there's no middle ground here. We will push forward. And there must be a lifting of the embargo. Israel is saying, "Look, we're ready for a ceasefire right now, but there can't be any conditions on that, that's a big divide because one has a condition, the other is saying our condition is no condition. So right now it does not appear that the two sides were in a mindset to even pause what is going on inside of Gaza.

COOPER: All right Martin, appreciate the update from Jerusalem. As you have been seeing there, these last several days we saw at the top Karl Penhaul is in Gaza City. Tom's ducking nearby explosions. He's also been responding -- reporting on the rising human toll. Nearly 1,200 Gazans killed according to Palestinian Health Ministry. Three Israelis civilians had been killed as well along with about 50 Israeli troops. And Hamas has certainly tried to kill many more troops and civilians, what Karl Penhaul reports on now though is not the story of all those casualties. It's the story of one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENHAUL: You'll never get to meet little Mohammed but his friend next door wants to tell you a bit about him. Top of the class at math, Barcelona football star Lionel Messi was his hero. He would always say Messi was an amazing player. He loved football. He worshipped Messi she says. (Inaudible) is 12 years old. Glass sprayed on me, it was so loud, so terrifying I can't even describe it she says.

Mohammed was just yards from his front door. Witnesses say he and the other kids were playing toy guns. They call it doom-doom. The plastic pistol now broken, the children all dead. (Inaudible) reels off their names.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign Language). PENHAUL: It's the sight he should never have seen. I saw a boy cut up right there. Over there a man, he looked dead and I saw a boy who is dead too, he says. Just 8 years old, he mans up and describes the explosion. A bloody hand mark in a doorway, a lucky escape for them but not for their grandfather, they say he died buying them holiday candy.

I saw grandpa. His head was cut, his arms and legs were cut. He was all cut up, they say. Witnesses young and old say they heard a drone and then a sound of a missile fired onto their street. While we were there we saw a militant rocket launched about a mile away. The warring factions blame each other. We've heard their excuses before. But there's no excuse for this or this.

Just look at the whole of this shrapnel has blasted in this car door. Imagine the damage that that would do to a child's body. As I sit on the pavement with (inaudible), the ambulance arrived with young Mohammed's body. I want to go and see my cousin he says. Sorry, he may never even have met Mohammed but it's already time to say goodbye. Karl Penhaul, CNN, Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Three weeks into the war, more than 12,000 fatalities later, there seems no clear sign whether Israel intends to wind down. Military operations are embarking on a much longer running course of action. Earlier tonight I spoke with Mark Regev, Chief Spokesman for Israel's Prime Minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Mr. Regev, the last 24 hours we have seen the heaviest bombardment in the last three weeks. Why the intensity at this point? Has the scope of the operation expanded?

MARK REGEV, CHIEF SPOKESMAN, ISRAEL'S PRIME MINISTER: Not the scope. The goal remains the same to stop those rockets coming in on Israeli cities and to prevent Hamas terrorists from infiltrating across the border through those tunnels trying to kill our people. We had a chance yesterday to de-escalate. We tried that very seriously. Unfortunately, Hamas was not interested and just increase its attacks upon us. And today, we're responding in time -- in kind.

COOPER: Yesterday though you talked about -- I mean, it's not just about the tunnels, not just about the rockets. You talked about a demilitarized Gaza. I just don't understand how you're able -- you think you can achieve a demilitarized Gaza without occupying, without actually having boots on the ground there.

REGEV: First of all, it's not going to be easy. But if I can give the parameters I'd put it this way. First of all we are through our military activity and through the fact that they are using a lot of ammunitions firing at us when this is over Hamas' stocks of weapons will be considerably depleted. I mean, the Israeli military is acting as we speak to dismantle that very formidable Hamas terrorist machine. That's one part of it. The second part is that we are hopeful when this is over, that Hamas leadership will understand that the (inaudible) rockets that Israel with impunity. And thirdly, and this is the most important element that we want to make sure that Hamas cannot rearm because that's what happened after the previous rounds. And if Hamas can rearm, then you're back to square one and we have to do all this in a year and no one wants to revisit this sort of conflict. And so preventing Hamas from rearming is making sure that those countries who support Hamas and there aren't many, there's only basically three, that's Iran, Qatar and Turkey. But we have to make sure that those countries first of all don't ship weapons to Hamas. And that if they do so, those weapons are intercepted along the way before they reach the Gaza Strip.

COOPER: Today, we saw a strike hitting Gaza's only power plant. The head of the power plant says he believes it was an Israeli tank shell or shells that hit the plant. Can you say definitively that Israel is not responsible for that strike?

REGEV: Yes, all the information I have says Israel is not responsible. First of all, the head of the power plant is working for the Hamas-controlled government. And I don't think he can say anything else. He can only blame Israel. But we did not target that power station. And I can tell you we also checked to make sure it wasn't error in firing. We spoke to all the relevant units both ground forces and the air force, and no one was aware that they targeted the plant.

And I'd remind you Anderson, it's important to remember, about 10 percent of all Hamas rockets that firing out of the Gaza Strip fall -- they've misfunctionally fallen in the Gaza Strip. That's what happened yesterday at the hospital in Shifa.

COOPER: There's some confusion obviously on the part of the Palestinians. But have you heard anything concrete about a renewed ceasefire? Are there talks going on behind the scenes?

REGEV: There are talks going on in parallel to the military operation against terrorists targeting Gaza. The phones have been ringing and conversations are happening. And if it's possible to find a diplomatic solution that will be a good thing. Probably, the military operation and the increased pressure on Hamas from our forces can augment, it can help move forward a diplomatic solution.

COOPER: Mark Regev, I appreciate your time, thank you.

REGEV: Thanks for having me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: On next, the war for public opinion, how Hamas uses television to stay in power.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Again tonight, breaking news out of Gaza, the UN inspectors in covering weapons of one to its schools there, the third such discovery in recent weeks and take a look at this video, Al Arabiya put it together. It's time lapse of Israeli strikes on Beit Hanoun in Gaza. The entire neighborhood, strike by strike, essentially level to the ground. Residents were given a warning to leave beforehand, obviously have no homes to go back to, tonight, let's watch.

The various times in the upper left hand corner, Greenwich Mean Times.

The entire operation took about an hour and there is a before and after -- the before obviously at the top of your screen, what that neighborhood look like afterward. Much of Gaza is in darkness.

Tonight, the result of massive explosions at Gaza's only power plant, Israel denying responsibility for striking the plant and it's a target they have hit in pass military campaigns in years passed.

Also under attack the headquarters of Al-Aqsa radio and television, especially the TV outlet, which is a key vehicle for Hamas to get its message out.

Al-Aqsa TV is presented as a combination of news and entertainment. But the theme of Hamas rising up against Israel is in near constant undercurrent. In this video, Hamas fighters triumphantly tunnel into Israel. Attack Israeli targets then sneak back into the tunnels and return home as heroes.

The station is used to broadcast messages directly from Hamas leadership. In the first day of the conflict, the group spokesman encouraged Gaza residents to act as human shield, saying, "Do not comply with the war of rumors and psychological warfare, the design as the enemy was waging upon you."

Al-Aqsa's news anchors also told the party line. "How many children has Hamas killed? Zero," the anchor says. "How many women has Hamas killed? Zero. How many has Israel killed? Over 400. How many did they hit? Thousands." Saying later, "All the martyrs are civilians, all of them."

Al-Aqsa begun to broadcast in Gaza in 2006, shortly after Hamas won a landslide victory in Palestinian elections.

In 2007, they garnered international scrutiny with this children's program featuring a Mickey Mouse like character named Farfur, who was killed by an Israeli interrogator.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Foreign language).

Beyond the clear Hamas propaganda, Al-Aqsa TV also broadcast from the field. They're often first on the scene of air strikes, broadcasting some of the most searing images of this conflict. The Israeli say images like these are themselves propaganda, an effort by Hamas to garner sympathy around the world.

And part of the reason Israel targeted Al-Aqsa's headquarters, saying in part, Al-Aqsa was used to "insight Palestinians against Israel" and to "transmit orders and messages to Hamas operatives." Let's dig deeper now in the war from months in Gaza and around the world with Mouin Rabbani, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies.

Mr. Rabbani, Al-Aqsa TV and radio station that were targeted yesterday, Israelis accuse Hamas of using Al-Aqsa as a propaganda arm in their propaganda war. Is that a fair assessment? To you, what is the significance of Al-Aqsa to Hamas?

MOUIN RABBANI, INSTITUTE FOR PALESTINE STUDIES: Well what the Israeli claim was that Al-Aqsa TV is fulfilling an operational goal for Hamas' military campaign.

COOPER: Right, they said that it transmits orders -- they said that it transmits orders and messages to Hamas operatives. That was the quote.

RABBANI: So there is a question, why did they wait 'till the 22nd day of their offensive to target it? And perhaps more importantly, they targeted the building that they new was empty because Al-Aqsa was still on air, was uninterrupted because it's broadcasting apparently from an underground location that can't be located by the Israeli military.

COOPER: Do you see it though as a propaganda arm of Hamas?

RABBANI: Well certainly, I mean, Al-Aqsa Television is in fact the -- let's say the official television arm of the Hamas movement. And you could look at the similar -- the relationship between Al-Aqsa Television in Lebanon and (inaudible), are hard to say that it's serves primarily a political and mobilizational purposes, concerns of operational instructions and so on.

The Hamas military wing has its own communication standards for those things. And I think any military analysts would find the accusations rather absurd.

COOPER: When you hear the Israelis saying, they want a demilitarized Gaza that it's not just the tunnels and the rockets, but a demilitarize Gaza. Is that possible, is that feasible?

RABBANI: Well it's feasible only under one or two circumstances. The first is that Israel would demilitarize Gaza Strip by force. And I don't see Israel prepared to pay the price in the lives of its soldiers in order to fully reoccupy the -- over a period of at least many months in order to achieve that purpose. And the only other method by which they could do so would be to obtain the consent of Hamas to demilitarize, much like happen for example with the IRA in Northern Ireland. But that would require a political agreement with certain basic conditions of Israel fulfilling for example the conditions of a two state settlements amending the occupation.

And I think as Secretary of the State John Kerry has found out very clearly over the past year, that simply not something that this is really government disregard to do.

COOPER: Mouin Rabbani, I appreciate you being on, thank you.

RABBANI: Thank you.

COOPER: For more of the story, you can go to cnn.com.

Coming up, President Obama announcing new sanctions against Russia, isolating them, more than it's been anytime since the end of the Cold War. Is this part of a new cold war? And that's one of the questions, what the president said about that today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: President Obama says, "If Russia continues on its current path, the cost will continue to grow." To that end, the President today announced new sanctions aimed to Russian weapons, energy and money or what the President calls Russia's continue to unwillingness to recognize Ukraine sovereignty.

CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. with Europe ratchets up the pressure on Russia.

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, CURRENT AND 44TH PRESIDENT OF AMERICA: The United States is imposing new sanctions on key sectors of the Russian economy, energy, arms, and finance.

We're blocking the exports of specific goods and technologies to the Russian energy sector. We're expanding our sanctions to more Russian banks and defense companies. And we're formally suspending credit that encourages exports to Russia and financing for economic development projects in Russia.

KOSINSKI: The administration today, clear in its condemnation of Russia's actions.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: They have displayed an appalling disregard for human decency.

KOSINSKI: As Russia continues, even now to move heavy weaponry over the border into Ukraine and fire on Ukraine from Russia. So sort of getting physically involved in the military conflict which the U.S. has said, it's absolutely not on the table, the economic pressure is the west's only weapon.

Europe today banned all arms trading with Russia, so that only applies to new deals and Russia and Europe don't generally trade all that much in military equipment.

Like the U.S., Europe has now frozen out certain banks, Putin cronies and Russia's access to technology benefiting its oil companies.

OBAMA: Russia's action in Ukraine and the sanctions that we've already imposed have made a weak Russian economy even weaker. KOSINSKI: The White House is also adding pressure by accusing Russia of violating a Reagan- Gorbachev era arms control treaty that bans mid-range ballistic missiles. President Obama has written a letter to Vladimir Putin about it.

The White House says that the timing has nothing to do with Ukraine but admits there are worries about those weapons being used or falling into the wrong hands. Despite all of these, just 12 days after the downing of a passenger plane by pro-Russian separatists, there is still talk of diplomacy.

OBAMA: It's not a new cold war, what it is, is a very specific issue related to Russia's unwillingness to recognize that Ukraine can chart its own path.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: This week, the administration laid out its long list of effect that it feels sanctions have had on the Russian economy. A capital flight is a big one, all these investment money leaving Russia. But keep in mind, the desired effect of all of these sanctions over a period of months now is to change Putin's strategy and so far that has not changed at all.

Michelle Kosinski, CNN, the White House.

COOPER: The question is, will these sanctions make a difference? Will they be awake (inaudible) anyway for Vladimir Putin?

Joining me now, our CNN senior political analyst, David Gergen, a former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief, Jill Dougherty.

Jill, do you think this sanction is going to have an effect?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: No. I really don't. I mean, ultimately I think Vladimir Putin is going to try to find ways of getting around them. You know, just this week, he had a meeting with leaders of defense industry in Russia and they are looking at ways of replacing technology that is imported from abroad. They are doing other things in order to try to mitigate the results and the effects of those sanctions.

And then also I think it goes deeper, I really do believe that Vladimir Putin thinks that this goes way beyond Ukraine at this point. I'd think that he believes that the west really does -- want to try to bring him down ultimately. And so I think he's digging in and, you know, it will hurt their economy, Anderson, I mean, there's no question about that. But whether that will change his mind, I think there's a disconnect there.

COOPER: David, do you agree? I mean, does it hurt Vladimir Putin?

DAVID GERGEN, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, I think these sanctions are very good news. We finally see a stiffening of the western spine, something has been terribly absent here in the weeks behind us. Do -- Well, they turn Putin around, probably not in the short run. But if you think about it, these sanctions overtime could cost investors in Russia, a trillion dollars, according to some estimates.

We in the United States can now tip Russia into a recession, there will be a blow back for Europe. But those things may not turn Putin around fully but they may stay his hand on expansion and then make it into the negotiating table. And he has to know if once we commit like this, we could step up the sanction. We haven't played the big card yet, we haven't gone to the nuclear option and that is to cutoff their oil exports, the way we did with Iran. That really crippled Iran and got them to the negotiating table. Not successfully yet, but they're at the table.

But -- So, he has to know, we're not backing down on this, is the best I can tell.

COOPER: And Jill, I mean it is important to know that growth has pretty much stalled in Russia in recent years.

DOUGHERTY: Yes, oh definitely. I mean, the economy really does have problems. It's projected zero growth, there are other effects, no one really wants to invest at this point, there is extreme nervousness. And then from the inside, there are indications that some people in the industry leading industry, people in Russia are concerned about this as well.

But again, we get back to that the truth really is it is going to hurt but Vladimir Putin's mentality at this point appears to be full-steam ahead and the Russian people until they start really feeling the effects of this seemed to be supporting him for the most part.

GERGEN: But Anderson, the other part is that the other good news is that Ukrainian forces are now in the outcast against the separatists. They have - They make ground here and so Putin is going to have a hard choice. If they continue in these sanctions are put into place, does he really want to get more deeply involved? Does he really want to send Russian troops in, the risk is gone up for him now.

COOPER: David Gergen, I appreciate it. Jill Dougherty, we'll see. Thanks very much.

Up next, 12 days after the downing of Flight 17, crash investigators still cannot get to the site fighting the war zone, as David just mentioned, is escalating while crucial evidence may be lost with each passing day. We'll have live report ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, it's too soon to know what impact of any of the expanded sanctions against Russia will have on the ground in Eastern Ukraine. In the meantime though, the fighting as you heard earlier is only getting worst. The record to Flight 17 lies in the middle of now a raging war zone. As we reported, a team of investigators had to turn back again today before reaching the site.

Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman for the OSCE was with the team. He told me earlier that everyday that goes by means the loss of possibly crucial evidence. It's been 12 days since the plane was shot down.

Joining me now is aviation analyst Richard Quest and safety analyst David Soucie, also the author of "Why Planes Crash".

David, I mean this long to have -- I mean again for me the priority is human remains, you have these human remains out there. Michael Bociurkiw himself has said who has seen remains now for days out there, they finally have people who can deal with the remains, who can collect them, they have people from the Netherlands, from Australia, that they can't even get out there. There's a very real possibility that some of these remains just may disappear.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Yes, that's right. It could very well, could be just from predatory animals, things like that. I hate to say it that way. But the fact is, that these are exposed to that and there has to be done right now. It had to be done there for the last 10 days now. We've sent some satellite images over to Michael and he's looked at those images. There's areas that we clearly see that there's deceased left there, that there still have not been investigated, no one's been there to look at him, and they know where to go, they're just -- and have everything they need to do to give the dignity to these people that deserved, but they can't get there.

COOPER: Richard, the U.N. International Civil Aviation Organization Authority, they met to discuss the issue of flying over war zones, what happened, if anything?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're in a very difficult position because the governments don't want to give up sovereignty, the airlines want to try and get some (inaudible). So they did what they always do in these situations, they've set up a task force commission ...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: OK.

QUEST: And this task force is going to report in the next six weeks to the IKO (ph) Council. And there's to be a high level meeting of all governments, all 150 odd governments in February of next year.

And the real issue is how to exchange information between all the different bodies. I happened to think they may be missing the point. I happened to think the real question is not so much how do you share information, but how you actually deal with those countries that either will not or cannot close their air space, either for political, military, or other reasons. That's the real issue. But (IKO) is concerned Anderson that they do not tread on sovereign toes that they're going to have to do this much more convoluted way.

COOPER: David, can regulation be done when it comes to sharing information?

SOUCIE: It can and it has been. It's been done between manufacturers before. I worked on this information sharing project between Airbus and Boeing not too many years ago. And it's in place and it's working very well in manufacturing side. The challenge now is not just this information sharing, it's the responsibility of risk assessment.

Risk assessment is dependent on good information, solid information. And as Richard pointed out, the states that cannot or will not report that they do have risks for whatever reason they can't do it. And so, who is going to step in? The airlines certainly can't. They can't go in and figure out what the military is doing on every single country that they fly over, that's impractical and impossible. So, this is a great dilemma. It really needs to be addressed.

QUEST: Let's expand our illusion in that. So, we're not just talking MH 17 here. We're talking about what happened in Tel Aviv last week. Well, you have the FAA saying no, the Europeans saying maybe, some flying, some not flying.

We have the situation over Iraq at the moment, Emirates, the largest by someone measure airline in the world says it's no longer going to fly over Iraq, it's moving its routes elsewhere.

Other airlines are saying, no, it's safe to fly over Iraq. It leaves the traveling public with this single question, is it safe or not? And the regulators frankly are just bashing this around hoping that somehow they're going to read the consensus when it frankly, probably none exists.

COOPER: In terms of the crash site, at this stage though, I mean and again, there's more investigators on the ground than ever before. But this is not going to be any investigation the likes of which we have seen or that international investigators would like to have, I mean at best, the photograph things, maybe they'll take some pieces of wreckage, they'll try to bring them to other locations for examination. But that's about it, right?

SOUCIE: Yes, that's about it. The big thing with this investigation is as Miles and I have always been talking about, this will may just be our first digital investigation. The first one that we've had to actually do with photographs and georeference photographs that were on site at the time because that's the only history we have. That's the only documentation, or archive we have of what actually was on the ground at that time.

COOPER: David Soucie, Richard Quest, thank you. The downing of Flight 17 has reignited calls for making commercial airliners safer and some of them coming from airline industry insiders MH17 was flying over an unrestricted flight zone and we know that. Who should make the call on where commercial planes fly?

We were just talking about that with Richard and what about arming commercial airliners the anti-missile system, both questions being debated. Jason Carroll takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Top airline industry leaders from around the world gathering for the United Nation Civil Aviation Meeting in Montreal today, this as there are growing calls for improved airline safety in the wake of the downing of Malaysia Air Flight 17.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world's airlines are angry.

CARROLL: In response to that anger, the group is reexamining a number of safety issues with questions being raised such as where is it safer commercial aircraft to fly. Should passenger jets be equipped with missile defense systems?

Israel's El Al Airline installed such as system following an incident in 2002. Two shoulder launch missiles nearly hit an Israeli charter jet flying at low altitude (inaudible) Mombasa, Kenya.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: That this is the first clear overt and virtually successful attack on civil aviation.

CARROLL: Soon came calls for U.S. carriers to adapt similar anti- missile measures. In 2003, here was the Commercial Airline Missile Defense Act. That proposed legislation called for the Pentagon to equip planes with anti-missile technology at an estimated cost of $1 million per plane. With nearly 7,000 planes in service, that would have run upwards of $7 billion, a cost that was just too high.

New York Senator Charles Schumer supported the idea then.

CHARLES SCHUMER, NEW YORK SENATOR: The danger to that with the shoulder-held missiles is right now.

CARROLL: Ten years later, his support has not changed. Aviation experts say the $1 million cost of installing a plane with anti- missile technology is comparable to outfitting a plane with an in- flight entertainment system.

SCHUMER: We can't let this happen to one American passenger plane.

CARROLL: Schumer points to technology from defense contractor Northrop Grumman called the Guardian.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The system sensors automatically detect it and track it.

CARROLL: Aviation experts say that technology may be fine for low- flying aircraft, but it's not developed enough to address what happened to Malaysia Air Flight 17, which was traveling at some 33,000 feet, instead, they say there is an easier solution.

BILL SWEETMAN, AVIATION EXPERT: I think it's sensible to restrict commercial operations into areas that there's a trouble (inaudible).

TED POSTOL, NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERT: Now this constitutes a problem for airlines because they are always trying to save fuel costs.

CARROLL: With airlines like Delta spending more on in-flight entertainment and Southwest spending more on leg room, the public may ultimately decide if airline should pay more to make them feel safer. Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

COOPER: Just ahead, how the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history just got even scarier.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... fever, sore throat, chills, muscle aches and nausea. Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Two other Americans infected with Ebola are fighting for their lives tonight. Nancy Writebol of North Carolina and Dr. Kent Brantly of Texas were both working on the front lines of the outbreak in Monroe via Liberia's capital when they got sick. Missionary work drew them to Africa. Dr. Brantly's wife and children were with him in Liberia. They returned to Texas before he showed any symptoms of Ebola. They are on a 21-day fever watch according to CDC. Kent Smith is a friend of the family. He joins me tonight.

Kent, I understand you've been in contact with Dr. Brantly's family. What have they have been able to tell you?

KENT SMITH, FRIEND OF DR. KENT BRANTLY: Well I just exchanged a couple of brief emails with his wife today basically to tell her how much I and the rest of the church family here at the Southside Church of Christ love them and are concerned about them. And to, you know, ask if there was anything that they needed and she said she did want to deliver a message, but she was trying to figure out exactly what she wanted to say and she'd get back to me. So that's about the extent of my communication with her.

COOPER: Well, what can you tell us about Dr. Brantly? I mean, the work, you know, his willingness to be there or to do this work is extraordinary.

SMITH: Well, and he's really -- that's a good word, he's an extraordinary guy. He is very gentle and soft spoken and as you might expect from somebody who became a doctor, he's intelligent. He always had thoughtful and insightful comments to make during our discussions at church. But really if I had to pick one word to describe him above anything else, it would be selfless. He really does care about other people more than he cares about himself. And that is a good explanation for why he chose to go into this work.

COOPER: He was in Liberia before the Ebola outbreak. I understand he decided that it was important that he leave his current post and help out with this outbreak.

SMITH: Right, he and his wife started sending our church about five years ago when he was doing to his residency at one of the local hospitals and made it pretty clear from the very beginning that their intention after his residency was to find a medical mission work that they could participate in. They eventually decided that Liberia was the place they wanted to do that and they went over there last fall. And that was before the Ebola outbreak took place. My understanding is that when Ebola started to become a serious problem there, he volunteered to give up is original assignment at that hospital and be the one that coordinated the Ebola treatment facility. COOPER: I mean, I'm so in awe of, you know, doctors and nurses who risk their lives in order to help people afflicted with this virus that people didn't even know where it comes from and these are true heroes.

SMITH: Well, I'd agree with you, but that's really the kind of guy he is. As I said before, he cares about other people more than he cares about himself. And he's the kind of guy that says if there's somebody that needs help and I'm here and I'm able to help, then I'm going to help.

COOPER: Well Kent ,I appreciate you taking some time to talk to us. Thank you so much.

SMITH: All right, thank you.

COOPER: What a sad case. Coming up a shocking discovery on a U.S. Air Force plane, a dead body apparently a young stowaway. The plane to the part of the world that's in the middle of that Ebola outbreak, details next.

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COOPER: The body of a young man, apparent stowaway, was found in the wheel well of U.S. Air Force plane in Germany, the Pentagon announced today. The plane made multiple stops over multiple days on a journey around Africa before it returned to base. But no one is sure where or when the adolescent male had got on the plane. Tom Foreman reports.

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When the Air Force C130J landed at Ramstein Air Force base in Germany, the ground crew discovered a terrible surprise.

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: The body of an apparent stowaway was found trapped in a compartment above the aircraft's rear landing gear. The deceased was an adolescent black male, possibly of African origin. At this point, it is unknown where or when the deceased entered the landing gear wheel well.

FOREMAN: Even the young man's nationality is a mystery heightening concerns about the serious security breach even further. Official say the plane left on July 19th for an eight-day mission visiting Italy, Senegal, Mali, Chad and Tunisia, although they wouldn't say in which order. This much is known. Military flights in some parts of Africa are routinely exposed to far less than ideal security. This video was shot when a U.S. plane made an emergency landing in Uganda just last week and was swarmed by local folks. The latest incident is eerily similar to one in which a Somali American teenager survived after stowing away in the wheel well of a commercial plane that flew from California to Hawaii and complicating the latest incident even further, the outbreak of deadly Ebola that is ravaging some African communities, again raising strong concerns about security.

KIRBY: Laboratory results that were taken from samples from the body confirmed negative test results for communicable diseases and the cause of death as well as the other circumstances surrounding this incident remains under investigation.

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FOREMAN: Military officials say the young man's presence made no difference in the handling of the plane and he wasn't even spotted during the initial post flight inspection. But was only discovered when maintenance crews went over the plane more thoroughly later on. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

COOPER: That does it for us tonight in this special expanded edition of 360. Thanks for watching. You can always find more online at ac360.com. Just always remember to set your DVR so you can watch 360 whenever you'd like. We're back again at 11 p.m. eastern tonight. Right now, Don Lemon with the very latest on CNN Tonight. Don.