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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Russians Grieve For Victims of Air Collision; Internet Gaming Draws Devoted Followers; Fosset Circles Globe in Balloon, May Glide into Stratosphere
Aired July 02, 2002 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone. I'm Anderson Cooper. Welcome to NEWSNIGHT.
Forgive me if I'm feeling a bit wistful tonight. You see, it's my last evening here on NEWSNIGHT. Aaron is back tomorrow and well darn it if I've come to love this little program, unpretentious yet thoughtful, bold yet not overpowering, serious yet with a twinkle in its eye. NEWSNIGHT is sort of like a fine, reasonably priced Chianti. This is after all basic (AUDIO GAP).
There's much to laugh about in tonight's program. That will come later. There is also much to think about. We will start, as always, with the latest news.
Tonight, we'll see how Americans are supposed to celebrate our national holiday with a terror threat hanging over our heads. We'll track the progress of a Chicago millionaire who only wanted to stay up in the air a day ago and now just wants to get down.
We will travel to a part of the world that frankly most of us had never heard of a day ago, Bashkortostan. Bashkortostan is a tiny region of Russia at the foothills of the Ural Mountains, not very wealthy but where dozens of families save for a once in a lifetime trip for their kids, a holiday in faraway Spain. As we know all too well by now, their flight crashed yesterday in southern Germany after a midair collision with another jet.
And that is where we begin the program tonight, as we did last night with the plane crash over Germany. Alessio Vinci is in Ueberlingen, Germany with the latest -- Alessio, the headline.
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Anderson. Well, German, Russian and U.S. investigators are concentrating their work in reconstructing the last few minutes before the two planes collided here 24 hours ago. In those few last minutes lay the answers to so many questions and primarily how and why were those two planes on a colliding course.
Investigators here hope to find those answers by analyzing the contents of the black boxes and the voice data recorders that were recovered yesterday on the crash site -- Anderson. COOPER: It is a tragedy, of course, that's nothing short of devastating for parents in one corner of Russia. Jill Dougherty is on the phone in Ufa, Russia -- Jill, a headline, please.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, here in Ufa, the capitol city of the republic where most of the children who died came from, parents are preparing to fly to Germany to the scene of the crash -- Anderson.
COOPER: A story that is a lot more upbeat to end the whip tonight, Jeff Flock on the balloon adventure of millionaire Steve Fossett. Jeff is at Mission Control in St. Louis -- Jeff, the headline.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, my headline tonight is that Steve Fossett announced today that he intends to become the first man to pilot a glider into the stratosphere and that he's going to do it this month. This, of course, was announced after he, today, became the first man to solo pilot his balloon all the way around the world. I truly don't know which is a bigger headline.
COOPER: All right, Jeff, we'll come back to you in a moment. We will come back to all of you in a moment. That's a fact. Also coming up tonight, preparing for the Fourth.
It would seem the government is telling us to party on, dude, and be paranoid at the same time. You try doing that. Mayor Anthony Williams of Washington will join us to talk about security in the capitol. We'll also look at the explosion of gaming online. Yes, it's true, there is something to do on the Internet besides visiting x- rated sites. Gaming is like Dungeons and Dragons from decades past all grown up with players from all over the world competing at the same time.
A fond farewell tonight to a baseball player who brought his own unique dignity to the game, Pete Gray. And for all of you out there demanding to know the very latest on the Olson Twins, and we get many e-mails every day about them, enough already, we will have an update for you close to the end of the program in our magazine roundup; all that is to come.
We begin, however, with the human dimensions of the midair collision over southern Germany last night. It became clear today this was a human tragedy all the way around, from air traffic controllers who let the two planes get so close, to the pilot who may have missed an early warning, to the school children who lost their lives.
President Bush offered his condolences today. Russian, German, and U.S. investigators are either on the scene or on the way there. We have two reports tonight; first, CNN's Alessio Vinci in Ueberlingen, Germany.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VINCI (voice over): German officials say it was a miracle nobody on the ground was killed by falling, burning debris from the two planes.
"It was awful" she said. "I thought the wall of flame was coming straight towards us."
More than 30,000 feet above when the Russian Tupolev and the DHL Boeing cargo plane collided in midair, 71 people died instantly, including 52 Russian children on their way to a vacation in Spain. Eyewitnesses described a night of terror.
"I looked out the window towards this direction" he says "and saw a big red fireball that was heading towards the ground very quickly."
Now there are many questions and no sure answers. How could two planes equipped with anti-collision devices hit each other on a clear night in empty skies? Why did the Russian pilot respond too late to repeated calls by Swiss air traffic controllers urging him to nosedive his plane? Which one of the two jets was off course and why?
German officials and investigators hope to find some answers in the flight recorders and black boxes recovered at the site.
KURT BODEWIG, GERMAN TRAFFIC MINISTER (through translator): We hope that we will be able to find out the exact sequence of events during this crash. I would like to make it clear once again here that this is not speculation but we are hoping to get recognizable facts from our examinations.
VINCI: The search site is huge, more than 30 square kilometers or 20 square miles filled with smoldering wreckage, pieces of plane small and large, a few red and white DHL envelopes, a shoe. Eight hundred policemen and rescue officials spent hours on the scene recovering body part after body part scattered over 57 different sites, putting out fires and searching for clues.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VINCI (on camera): The massive recovery operation has now been suspended for the night. It will resume in a few hours' time when it's dawn here. Anderson.
COOPER: Alessio, have they found the black boxes from both those aircraft?
VINCI: They found the black boxes of both planes and the data recorder, the data voice recorder of just the Tupolev. They're still searching for that device belonging to the Boeing 757. Investigators are confident that as soon as the recovery operation, the recovery operation resumes in a few hours' time, they will find that piece of equipment that they really desperately need to try to come to terms and try to find out exactly what happened last night here in those very few minutes preceding the collision. Anderson.
COOPER: You also mentioned in your story that 71 people were killed instantly in the air. Was anyone killed on the ground?
VINCI: No, that is exactly what investigators have been telling us all along. It was a miracle. I mean those two planes collided 30,000 feet in the sky. The debris, the burning debris came flying down, raining down on this small little town here in Germany in the middle of the night. It was really a miracle that nobody was hurt on the ground. It did hit a couple of buildings, a school, a farmhouse; however, fortunately if you want the only good news in this desperate situation here, no one hurt here.
COOPER: All right, Alessio Vinci in Ueberlingen, Germany thanks very much tonight. Now to Russia where relatives are making arrangements, if they can, to get to the crash site. Unlike most plane crashes that claim the lives of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles alike. This time they're the ones left to mourn their children. The best and the brightest were chosen especially for a summer trip to Spain. Here again, CNN's Jill Dougherty from Ufa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DOUGHERTY (voice over): This is where they came as soon as the news broke parents, grandparents, husbands, wives, the loved ones of those who perished when two planes collided. The 52 children who died were on their way to a vacation in Spain. Now, in their home city of Ufa, the small Republic of Bashkortostan, east of Moscow in the Ural Mountains, the families try to understand. The grandfather of a 14- year-old girl.
"She was the only child in the family" he says, "and her father loved her more than anybody. We will never manage to overcome this tragedy."
DOUGHERTY (on camera): The children who died on that flight were the best and the brightest of this republic, outstanding students, athletes, budding artists, all specially chosen for a trip abroad.
DOUGHERTY (voice over): Doctors and psychiatrists try to help.
"All the relatives were in complete shock" this doctor says. "We came here as soon as we heard about it."
At the airport in Ufa staff from Bashkirian Airlines man a hotline, checking lists to see whether someone was aboard. The company says part of the children's group did make it to Spain over the weekend on another airliner. The children who died missed their initial flight when they went to the wrong airport and had to leave Monday.
Bashkirian Airlines officials claim that contrary to initial reports, their pilots were experienced and spoke English. The plane, they say, met all European technical requirements. The families meanwhile are applying for visas to travel to Germany to the site where the plane went down.
"They just want to see the site of the crash" says the deputy prime minister. "The place their children died. They want to take at least a piece of soil that could contain even one drop of blood."
Three days of mourning have been declared in the republic, as the families prepare to bury their dead. Jill Dougherty CNN, Ufa, Russia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It has got to be one of the strangest finishing lines you can think of, 117 degrees east longitude, miles up in the sky. Millionaire Steve Fossett crossed it earlier today, becoming the first person to circle the globe alone in a balloon. Now this has been a decade-long quest for Fossett.
A number of attempts that his mission controller described today as somewhere between very scary and absolutely terrifying, and this latest attempt isn't quite over yet. The record isn't officially his until he's on the ground and in one piece.
We can be sure of one thing, if the temperatures in the balloon are as low as they say, the Bud Light he set aside for the landing will definitely be ice cold. Here's Jeff Flock.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE RITCHIE, MISSION CONTROL DIRECTOR: The official fax from the capsule has just come in, confirming that he's crossed so guys. Nice going Luke, come on.
FLOCK (voice over): With as much relief as elation, perhaps the most sought after achievement remaining in aviation falls.
RITCHIE: We're all proud of you.
STEVE FOSSETT, BALLOONIST (via speaker phone): OK, biggest day of my life. Thank you.
FLOCK: Says Steve Fossett on speaker phone still aloft.
FOSSETT: Well, it's a nervous relief and satisfaction because I've put everything into this, all of my efforts, all of my skills. I've taken the risk associated with this over this long period of time and finally after six flights, you know I've succeeded and it's a very satisfying experience.
FLOCK: But it's not over yet. At Mission Control at Washington University in St. Louis where he's alum, up goes the congratulatory banner, then out come the protractors, the team pouring over maps of the Australian coast, trying to vector Spirit of Freedom in to a soft place to land. Getting him safely on the ground impossible until dusk there when winds calm. Keys to success on this his sixth try?
Newcomer Belgian Meteorologist Luke Truleman (ph), who joined the team after guiding the first successful around-the-world balloon flight by two men in 1999.
And the hard-earned experience of people like Mission Control Director Joe Ritchie who had seen it all in the five failures, storms that battered the capsule, not enough fuel and oxygen, a harrowing ditching in the Coral Sea. That was enough drama for Ritchie, Fossett's long-time friend and partner in the Chicago futures pits, where Fossett made the fortune that bankrolled his dream.
RITCHIE: In an aviation flight, the best flight is not the most exciting, and this flight has been more boring than most.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FLOCK (on camera): And, Anderson, we should point out that up until now, Steve Fossett has been bankrolling his own adventures. This time, however, he had a sponsor. Now we don't like to draw a lot of attention to that. As you reported at the outset, he will be celebrating with Bud Light, so you can perhaps figure it out for yourself, back to you.
COOPER: So, Jeff, what is this new adventure now he plans to do and I mean doesn't this guy want to rest for a while?
FLOCK: Well it's funny. We talked to the folks behind us here. Perhaps you can see them back there, the folks from Mission Control. A lot of them said, what's he talking about?
And apparently, some of them know he is talking about taking a glider up into the stratosphere, which we have determined to be some 60,000 feet into the air, and become the first person to pilot it in the stratosphere, and he intends to do that, he says, this month.
COOPER: Wow, and any idea on how much that will cost?
FLOCK: Nobody knows how much any of this will cost. Steve and his folks here at Mission Control have always said it's not about money. We're not going to talk about the money, but I think it's fair to say, it's certainly been in the millions. He made a lot of money in the futures trading pits in Chicago and a lot of it has been spilled out here in the ocean and across the world trying to achieve this dream. Today, he achieved it.
COOPER: All right, Jeff Flock at Mission Control thanks very much. Jeff, you might be interested to know that actually Phileas Fogg called CNN a few hours ago and said he wasn't sure what the big deal is about landing. When he went around the world in 80 days, he had no problem landing, as you see there from this video, Phileas Fogg.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the story of an American Muslim who might have spied on Osama bin Laden. And next, security preparations for the Fourth of July, we'll talk with Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: A Federal Park Police spokeswoman in Washington today had three bits of advice for visitors coming to see the fireworks on the mall. Come early. Bring plenty of water and by the way, be our eyes and ears to catch terrorists. Safe to say this Fourth will not be like the last in a lot of ways.
Barricades have gone up all over the mall. Patrols have been tightened around the monuments. Visitors will be eyeballed and metal detected and some of them captured on camera, in addition to an undisclosed number of undercover officers, about 2,000 uniformed police will be in the crowd. It works out to about six officers an acre.
We will have a lot riding on how things go, but Washington's mayor has much other responsibility and a lot more to anticipate this year than last. Mayor Anthony Williams joins us tonight from the District, right next to the Washington Monument it looks like. Welcome. Thanks very much for being with us.
MAYOR ANTHONY WILLIAMS, WASHINGTON D.C.: A pleasure to be with you.
COOPER: How safe is Washington, D.C. on this Fourth of July?
WILLIAMS: I think Washington, D.C. has been and is safe. After all, CNN rated our emergency preparedness and rated us number seven in the country. We've been testing, doing tabletops, being prepared. I think the park spokesman was right. People are going to have to allot a lot more time, well at least a little more time for the festivities, but we think it's going to be a safe event and we're going to be able to handle the crowds. We expect hundreds of thousands of people down here.
COOPER: So for someone sitting at home wondering whether they should come, whether they should bring their families, you say no doubt in your mind?
WILLIAMS: I would say allow - I would allow a little more time. I think the big concern is going to be traffic, as it always is in our city and big cities like us, as well as getting in and out of the event, and we're working hard to make that as easy as possible.
We're keeping the major streets open. We're going to close 14th Street, which is right before me for people from around the country. That's our major corridor. We'll be closing that at nightfall, but keeping the major streets open, the major tunnels.
You'll be able to come onto the mall both through 24 entry points as well as through the Smithsonian, so we think we'll be able to handle it well. Again, it will be an enjoyable and a safe event.
COOPER: Is there fear at all about too much security, in a sense spoiling people's good time with you know too many precautions?
WILLIAMS: Oh good Lord Almighty, that's the story of my life. It's always trying to balance between security and openness. I mean we could be as secure as possible if we all moved into the desert and you know went down into a basement of some subterranean cavern. We can't do that, nor can we say well everything's fine. You know, everything is hunky dory. We can't do that either.
We've got to strike a balance and I think the kinds of things that we're doing here strike that balance and give people the assurance that they can have a good time but also have a safe time. COOPER: How has the city rebounded I mean since 9/11? How has tourism rebounded? I understand it's actually doing quite well, that hotels are quite full.
WILLIAMS: Tour hotels are coming up to about 90 percent occupancy. Tourists are coming back to our city and we're very, very proud of that. To give you an example, the Cherry Blossom Festival for visitors, that's around our Jefferson Memorial and in an exchange with Japan, we've got beautiful cherry trees around our Jefferson Memorial at the tidal basin.
Anyway, this year over last year, 20 percent increase in visitors, so people are coming back and I think they're coming back for two reasons. One, they think the city is a safe city, but I think there's also a defiance by Americans.
Americans know that we're in a new world. They know that there is this general specter of threat out there, but we're not going to let it change our lives, and I think that's a healthy thing.
COOPER: Mr. Mayor, I have to ask you, there was an article in the "Washington Post" the other day about your police force and I wonder how much confidence do you have in the D.C. Police and, in particular, in Police Chief Charles Ramsey?
WILLIAMS: I have total, I have total confidence in the chief, the article in the "Washington Post" about the clearance rate?
COOPER: Right.
WILLIAMS: If you don't measure something, if you don't reward people for something, you're not going to get results by your staff and your employees, and what we're trying to do is measure year by year a way to get our clearance rate up to where it should be, which is best in the country. But we're going to do that in steps, year by year, not by just having pipedreams and that's what I'm trying to do.
COOPER: I just...
WILLIAMS: And I have confidence in this chief. I think he's doing a great job. No one handles, for example, bigger events better than our chief. I don't think anyone handles relations with the community, contact with the community.
COOPER: I just want to point out for the audience who perhaps did not read the article, it basically said that from 2000 to 2001 the projected clearance rate for homicides was roughly 65 percent, but this year it's been lowered to an expectation of about 50.9 percent.
And the criticism is that you shouldn't be lowering the expectation just to make the clearance rate look better. How do you counter that?
WILLIAMS: Well no, but the expectation is still higher than where we are. It's just, I can sit here and say, oh, I want the clearance rate to increase by this huge amount. I've tried that but I think a more practical way is to say, look, year by year we're going to get to our goal and believe me, the consequences are higher for not reaching a goal once you've adjusted it.
COOPER: All right.
WILLIAMS: So there are going to be consequences if we don't reach the goal, but I'm confident this chief, Chief Ramsey, will meet the goal.
COOPER: And what are you going to be doing on the Fourth, mayor?
WILLIAMS: I'm going to be watching fireworks like everybody else.
COOPER: All right, so you would have no doubts bringing your family down to the Mall, down to watch the fireworks?
WILLIAMS: Absolutely not. I've been down here many, many times.
COOPER: All right, well, thank you very much for joining us.
WILLIAMS: Thank you.
COOPER: We wish you a great Fourth of July.
WILLIAMS: OK.
COOPER: And we appreciate you being with us.
WILLIAMS: OK.
COOPER: Thanks very much. Later on NEWSNIGHT, a look at the growing craze of massive multiplayer online gaming. And coming up, the story of an American Muslim and the chance to spy on Osama bin Laden.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: President Bush today extended his deep condolences for the loss of civilian life in Afghanistan. Even as he did, a joint U.S.-Afghan team was set to begin the investigation into how either a bomb or gunfire came to hit a wedding party outside Kandahar. CNN's Jamie McIntyre has the duty tonight. He joins us from the Pentagon -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, even as the facts are still somewhat in dispute, the U.S. military paid a visit to victims of the bombing incident or the air attack at the Kandahar Hospital. Some U.S. military personnel performing medical checkups and talking to some of the victims about what happened, asking them what kind of humanitarian assistance they might need. As you said, President Bush today extended his deep condolences for the innocent loss of life, he said no matter what the cause is determined to be.
Meanwhile, that inspection team that was supposed to be in about 24 hours ago, had to hold up, Pentagon sources say, in order for some local Afghan officials to join the group. They left from Kabul today to head to the area to try to get a firsthand look at what happened.
We've made a lot of the fact that there's two different versions of these stories but, in fact, the two versions are not inconsistent.
What we've come down to now is the AC-130 gunship aircrew says it fired at six separate locations across the country where they were receiving fire, and it's possible that in those six locations, there were some muzzle flashes that were from celebratory gunfire from a wedding. That's one of the things that they're looking into.
But at this point, it is all under investigation. The U.S. has pledged to do a full, fair and impartial investigation to figure out what happened, what went wrong and what can be done to prevent it in the future -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon tonight, thanks very much. A while back before September 11, there was an article in the "Atlantic Monthly" magazine about how tough a time the intelligence community was having trying to recruit people to penetrate al Qaeda. Few people looked the part, they said.
One source complained that they don't speak the language. They're not Muslim. They have no cover story and besides, nobody wants to volunteer for a job or a location where diarrhea is a way of life. Those were his words, not mine, but believe me, I know the sentiment. So what, then, to make of Aqil Collins? Here's CNN's David Ensor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He's a blue-eyed Mujahid, and American jihad fighter, who after a troubled youth in Hawaii and California, converted to Islam during a brief spell in prison, and then went to war for the cause.
Aqil Collins got himself equipped, went to Afghanistan in 1994 to train in guerrilla warfare tactics at a camp alongside some future terrorists, and later fought in Chechnya against the Russians losing part of a leg to a claymore mine.
AQIL COLLINS, AMERICAN MUJAHID: A while after that, they had to amputate because of complications.
ENSOR: The injury did not deter him. He went back to fight again in Chechnya, in Bosnia and in Kosovo. Aqil Collins sees himself as a Muslim freedom fighter but he draws the line at violence against innocence. He believes terrorists giving Islam a bad name must be stopped.
COLLINS: I don't see any contradictions between being a Muslim and you know fighting against terrorism because believing in the jihad, the true jihad doesn't mean that you support or engage in acts of terrorism. The true jihad doesn't mean that you support or engage in acts of terrorism. ENSOR: As a result, on his way out of Chechnya in 1996, he walked into the U.S. Embassy in nearby Azerbaijan to volunteer for the CIA. He thought they would send him back to the front lines, but the CIA turned him down, U.S. officials confirm, and suggested he try the FBI.
So, in the late '90s, while working as a security guard at a mosque in Phoenix, Arizona, he served as an FBI informer. Robert Pelton, author of "The World's Most Dangerous Places," traveled with Collins to Chechnya and regards him as a friend. Pelton says U.S. officials never took Collins seriously, never understood him.
ROBERT YOUNG PELTON, AUTHOR "THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS PLACES": When he was bounced over to the FBI I mean, my God, talk about a white bread organization. I don't know, they said well go into the mosque and look for terrorists you know.
It was like they assumed that because it's a mosque, there must be terrorists among them and he says "no man, you want to meet terrorists, you go to the camps where they're training terrorists, you know. You talk to the people who are terrorists." But I think they couldn't even believe that you could approach those people.
ENSOR: In 1998 while in London, Aqil Collins got what he saw as a unique chance to help U.S. intelligence penetrate the headquarters of the man who would later attack New York and Washington, the men around Osama bin Laden. The offer, he says, came from a young Arab.
COLLINS: Within the course of the conversation, he suggested that maybe, you know maybe bin Laden had use for somebody like me, and I came back to my handlers with the news. I thought they would be, you know, beyond excited. The reaction I got was the complete opposite. They told me that it would never happen, that I should break contact with the man who made the invitation.
ENSOR: But U.S. officials say they never felt they could trust Aqil Collins with a serious mission like infiltrating al Qaeda, even though he'd given good information on Muslim fundamentalists in Phoenix. One official said, quote, "He could be a loose cannon. His ego was tied up with his mercenary action-hero image."
(on camera): And you said yourself, you've written yourself, that you were a guy with a temper, that you -- impulsive sometimes.
COLLINS: I don't think that was the case, because, you know, up until that point, my track record with the FBI was solid. I mean, there was no other than, you know, my personal temper, maybe.
ENSOR (voice-over): And, in fact, Aqil Collins says he provided a lead to the FBI in Phoenix that should have been followed better and lead to the hijackers of 9/11, information about Hani Hanjour.
COLLINS: He was just a scrawny Arab guy, short, thin, he didn't appear to be that intelligent, or that religious, for that matter. And I had contact with him during just the course of everyday operations with the FBI. And of course I would report back to them about him and the others. ENSOR (on camera): What did they do with that information?
COLLINS: Well, it appears they didn't do anything with it.
ENSOR (voice-over): U.S. officials emphatically deny that Collins ever gave them any information about Hani Hanjour or about flight schools in Arizona. But they admit they did interview him about this man, Ahmed Omar Sheikh, now on trial in Pakistan charged with involvement in the kidnapping and murder of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl.
COLLINS: Omar, I knew him as just Omar. He was a Pakistani Muslim. He was in the training camp that I was in in Afghanistan in 1994.
ENSOR: Was Aqil Collins' offer an opportunity lost, a chance to infiltrate al Qaeda and maybe stop 9/11? Former FBI official Bob Blitzer has never met Collins, but he says choosing an agent to burrow into a terrorist group must be done with the utmost care.
BOB BLITZER, FORMER FBI COUNTERTERRORISM CHIEF: Mission control, I mean, it wouldn't work with him. Or are you going to fear that he's going to go off on his own and do something? You have to know that this person is giving us real, real information, and it's not just somebody coming in and trying to pull the wool over your eyes, for example, for payment.
ENSOR: Aqil Collins was paid for information by the FBI, but he says it was never about the money. Still, he's now written a book about his adventures and his disillusionment with the FBI.
COLLINS: When somebody comes to them that, you know, is cooperating with them voluntarily, because, you know, he thinks that we all share a common goal, I don't know, maybe they just don't know how to handle that kind of thing. It beats me.
PELTON: The FBI put an atom bomb in his file, and whatever that is, whether it's, you know, "unreliable" or "psychotic," whatever they want to put in there, he is either PNG, persona non grata, or a wild card. But those are the people that we need. I mean, who else is crazy enough to go into bin Laden's camp and pop them?
ENSOR: Aqil Collins realizes that by writing the book, he has blown his cover. But he hopes it may help the next American mujahid who knocks on the door of U.S. intelligence.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, still to come on NEWSNIGHT, we'll look back on the career of a famous ball player. And up next, another kind of game that has taken the world by storm.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: So we want to talk about some games that have millions of people around the world half-crazed. These people stay up all night following every twist and turn. They rattle off the details and characters driving the action. They even like these games more than they like comic books. And with this crowd, that is saying a lot.
People from all around the world play these games together at the same time. That's why they're called "massively multiplayer online games." In a moment, we'll meet the producer of Star Wars Galaxies, which could be the most massively massive game ever.
But first, we've asked Rachel Brady from the British network Gamer.tv to give us an explainer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RACHEL BRADY, GAMER.TV (voice-over): Dawn in the ancient mystical land of Britannia, Rune Lord General Crowe (ph) has spent all night fighting evil foes, and now it's nearly time for bed.
RICHARD BAILEY, GAMES FANATIC: Most evenings I play a few hours, but I have been known to play all night if I haven't got work the next day. And once or twice I've played for about 40 hours straight over the weekend.
BRADY: Rune Lord General Crowe, or Richard Bailey, to his fans, has been playing online games ever since he first got connected to the Internet in 1996.
BAILEY: Crowe is a grandmaster mage, in Alter Online (ph). He's the character I probably play the most.
BRADY: He's just one of the 12 million people across the world who spend their free time in virtual worlds created by these online games.
BAILEY: And the best thing about these games is the community. You don't really play them just because they're role playing games and you can level off and get powerful in them. You're playing them mainly because you meet other people. I've met people from Belgium, America. I once met a really quiet guy who turned out to be Japanese and didn't have very good English. "We fight now."
BRADY: Perhaps the most popular of these games, Everquest, was first made available to the public in February 1999, and now has over 400,000 hopelessly addicted subscribers.
JOHN SMEDLEY, SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT: Everquest is one of those games that just seems to have a life of its own. Our average gamer spends over 20 hours a week online, which is unheard-of in this space.
BRADY: Like many of its rivals, Everquest has been heavily influenced by role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons and populates its own persistent world of Nora (ph) with wizards, goblins, and giants. UNIDENTIFIED GAMER: In Everquest, I'd say the best thing that I've seen out of it that really hooked me into it was the graphics. The graphics, the realism of the story, the monsters.
UNIDENTIFIED GAMER: I'm a Darkil (ph) of Necromancer, 37th level on the Ralisek Deep (ph) Server.
UNIDENTIFIED GAMER: The best thing about playing Everquest is the fact that you can create a character and (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and especially (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and gather up to be, like, the ultimate gamer.
BRADY: This year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in L.A. showed just how many millions of dollars games companies are prepared to invest in these massively multiplayer games. Upcoming new releases include Star Wars Galaxies, where players will get to build droids, command storm troopers, or even wield a light saber in defense of the Rebel Alliance.
Just as fascinating for film fans is the game Lord of the Rings, recreating Tolkien's Middle Earth, complete with elves, orcs, and hobbits. Even existing games have been revitalized with new versions being released with better graphics and new story lines.
Perhaps an even bigger hit will emerge in the shape of The SIMS Online, based on arguably the most popular PC game of all time. Every home, every business, every nightclub, and every vacation spot in this alternative world will be built by other players eager to have you stop by.
UNIDENTIFIED GAMER: I'm really looking forward to the future of the MMRPGs that are coming out. It's really going to be like being in the movies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And that was Rachel Brady from Gamer.tv. We want to thank them for that report.
More now on the growth of online gaming with the producer of Star Wars Galaxy, Haden Blackman. He joins us now from San Francisco.
Thanks very much for being with us.
What exactly -- what is the appeal of these games?
HADEN BLACKMAN, PRODUCER, STAR WARS GALAXY: I think that one part is the social interaction. It's also that the games are so huge. There's so much to do and explore. In fact, these games are kind of open-ended. That's another huge appeal. So, you know, for me personally, it's the ability to do pretty much anything I want in the game, all within a setting that's familiar to me.
COOPER: Now, when you say social interaction, how does that work? I mean, you -- I -- you know, if I'm playing alone in my house, how am I socially interacting with other people? BLACKMAN: Well, you're playing, actually, online with thousands of people at once. So, you know, up to 3,000 to 5,000 people. And it's in some ways like a giant chat room, you know, a giant pretty chat room. So there is quite a bit of social interaction. In fact, it's one of the kind of, you know, key components of these types of games.
COOPER: And are you talking with these other people, or are you trying to kill them, or, I mean, just cast spells against them? How does it work?
BLACKMAN: Yes, it depends on the game. In general, you are conversing with pretty much everybody around you. You might need to trade with somebody else, you might need somebody to heal you in a game like Everquest. In some cases you will be fighting other players as well, which adds, you know, a slightly different competitive edge, it's not just the computer that you're fighting against.
But in general, it's a lot of, you know, chatting and talking about what you're going to do next and telling stories about the dragon that you just killed or the storm trooper that you just shot, in the case of Star Wars Galaxies.
COOPER: Now, in terms of producing these games, what kind of costs are we talking about? I mean, you've just produced this Star Wars Galaxies that's going to be coming out soon. I don't know if you can say, but, I mean, how much of that cost, cost the production company?
BLACKMAN: Right, it's in the millions when you consider both the development and also the cost of the servers. So we have to support these games with kind of back-in (ph) technology that can store all the information about all the different characters and actually run the game online. And when you combine the two, it's several million dollars' investment up front for the development and several million more for the cost of the servers.
COOPER: So in some cases it can cost as much as a major motion picture.
BLACKMAN: I don't know a major motion picture, but definitely, you know, $10 million or thereabouts is not unheard-of, so...
COOPER: And, and, and the growth of popularity, do you attribute that largely to the improving, the improving graphics? I mean, is that what it's drawing a lot of people to it now?
BLACKMAN: I think improving graphics, but also just an awareness, and then also the ability to capitalize off of licenses, like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, you know, bringing in different players who've never played a massive multiplayer game, but they're willing to try it because they want to live in the Star Wars universe.
COOPER: Now, you can actually watch other people play as well? I mean, the people that you're not playing with? BLACKMAN: Yes, I mean, they're running all around you, so you might be standing outside, you know, the Moss Eisley (ph) Cantina on Tatooine in Star Wars Galaxies, and there'll be a number of people milling about and doing their thing. So if you want to be an observer, that's certainly possible.
But we're trying to put you in this universe and let you take an active role in it. So we are encouraging people to participate in everything that goes on around them.
COOPER: And who's the audience? I mean, who, who, who is buying these games?
BLACKMAN: Well, for, you know, past MMOs like Everquest, it's generally, you know, kind of a hardcore gamer, somebody that's a PC gamer primarily. But as we're seeing with games like Galaxies, we are attracting a wider audience. And, you know, in particularly Star Wars fans that maybe haven't played a game like this before, don't consider themselves necessarily hardcore gamers, but they're definitely attracted to the opportunity to play, you know, games set in the Star Wars universe, so...
COOPER: And are they predominantly men or women?
BLACKMAN: Predominantly men, but we are trying to grow the female player population as well, and we're definitely focused on that with Star Wars Galaxies. We'd like to be able to attract as many women players as we can so that it's a kind of healthier, more well- rounded community.
COOPER: And, and I don't quite understand, but do you buy a -- the game itself, or are you paying some sort of service fee to just log onto it? How does it work?
BLACKMAN: Yes, consider it kind of like a cable service. So you go into a store and you buy an initial package, which would be, you know, the game itself, and then you install it on your computer, and then you pay a monthly fee like you do with -- to a cable company in order for continued service.
And that's basically paying for us to, you know, host the game on servers and provide new content and, you know, expand the game over time, which is another kind of focus of these games and another reason why I think people stick around and play them so long, is that we continually add new content and change the experience for you on a, you know, weekly or monthly basis.
COOPER: Have you ever stayed up 48 hours to play one of these games?
BLACKMAN: Have -- I personally never have stayed up 48 hours. I think my wife would kill me if I did that. But I have played long stretches, and there definitely is, you know, a desire to have a major time commitment for some MMOs. For Star Wars Galaxies, we are trying again to design it to attract more mainstream players, so we would like you to be able to jump on, play it for about an hour and a half, two hours, and then log off, you know.
I'm really hoping my dad will play this game, for example, and he likes Star Wars, but I don't think he'd be able to commit 12 hours a day to playing, so...
COOPER: So, I mean, you know, 15 years ago when I was in high school or middle school, I guess, and, you know, got into Dungeons and Dragons, I never really would have imagined that this kind of thing was the, was the next step. What is the next step after this? I mean, what's coming down the pike in terms, is this larger and larger online communities playing more and more impressive games?
BLACKMAN: I think so. I -- you know, if you compare Star Wars Galaxies as an example to, you know, previous games, we're geographically, you know, the geographic area that you can explore in the game, we're about eight to 10 times larger than, you know, previous MMOs.
So there's definitely, you know, more and more content that can be added. The quality of the graphics will continue to improve. And as, you know, we grow the market through games like Star Wars Galaxies, you know, we'll be attracting more people in the community. We'll grow, and we'll take on different dynamics. So, you know, we're really excited to see what happens, for example, when these Star Wars fans kind of, you know, meet up with the hardcore...
COOPER: Right.
BLACKMAN: ... MMO players online and what kind of community that evolves into it, because it will be different than the communities that we've seen in the past.
COOPER: We only have about 10 seconds left. Do you have any idea how many people are playing these games right now?
BLACKMAN: Oh, millions, as was said in the piece before, when you consider that they're played, you know, in all countries around the world, it's millions upon millions of people.
COOPER: I'm disappointed they're not all watching NEWSNIGHT. But thanks very much...
BLACKMAN: Thank you.
COOPER: ... Haden Blackman, for being here, thanks a lot.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the story of Pete Gray, a ball player who had just one season in the sun.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, we spent some time tonight looking at a man, Steve Fossett, who overcame a load of physical obstacles in a bid to make it into the history books. For a minute, we want to remember another man who did the same living out his dream just by playing ball as good as the rest of them. Pete Gray, the One-armed Bandit of the St. Louis Browns, who died over the weekend at the age of 87.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWSREEL ANNOUNCER (voice-over): The St. Louis Browns, 1944...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): When number 14 took the field, Pete Gray was home. For one glorious season, despite a physical handicap that would have stopped most people, Gray played outfield for the 1945 St. Louis Browns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWSREEL ANNOUNCER: Aided and abetted by the sensational Pete Gray, one-armed (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to the major leagues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Gray lost his right arm in a childhood accident. He taught himself to bat, catch, and throw lefty, removing his glove with lightning speed.
As World War II raged overseas, many ball players were called to serve. Pete Gray, however, suited up to play baseball, playing in 77 games.
He got 51 hits, scored 26 runs, and had an average of .218. But his fans quickly found out there was nothing average about Pete Gray.
Many saw the Pennsylvania native as an example of courage and athleticism. Others saw him as an oddity. He was frequently taunted for his handicap.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "A WINNER NEVER QUITS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: The day I cannot play a cripple is the day I hang up my glove.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: In 1986, his life story made the small screen, a made- for-television movie, "A Winner Never Quits." Now Gray's glove and his legacy are forever immortalized in Cooperstown.
Pete Gray, dead at age 87.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, the latest magazines to hit the newsstands, and we've taken on the onerous task of reading them so you don't have to. Martha Stewart is still living this month, the July issue of her magazine makes no mention of the financial morass she now finds herself in. Her calendar for July is very busy, though. July 8, she's going to spend the morning harvesting peas, and then meet with a financial planner. My advice, forget the peas, find a nice ceramic vase, fill it with money, and bury it.
The magazine also contains an article about how to find a financial planner, which is such an easy target I'm not even going to make a joke about it.
"Fortune" magazine devotes several pages to the Olson twins. They're 16 now. It seems like only yesterday these precocious pixies were making us smile, and, yes, at times, bringing a tear to our eye on "Full House" (ph).
The "Fortune" article is bound to make you depressed, because no matter how hard you or I work in our entire lifetimes, we will never earn as much as these girls have raked in on fourth-rate records and straight-to-video movies. Their company generated $500 million in retail sales last year alone. Who knew dirty old men have some -- have had such spending power?
Parents take note, you too can make money off your kids.
Speaking of which, have you seen this month's "Details" magazine? Check out the pictures of 9-year-old Richard Sandrak (ph). His father makes him work out two and a half hours a day. He's home-schooled, and is only fed homemade nutritional subs that -- supplements that taste like dog biscuits.
I kid you not. They live in California, of course. And dear old Dad plans for the kid to become an action movie star. Hollywood talent managers insist with ads like that, if action films don't work out, adult films are a definite possibility.
Next on NEWSNIGHT, a sad yet fond farewell.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Finally from us tonight, memories of me. You know, when Aaron told me I was going to fill in for him, he said something, and I'll never forget it, eight little words. He said, "Kid, you better not screw up my show." And he meant it.
In the last seven nights, sure, we've had some laughs, some gaffes. There've been dizzying highs and, yes, some gut-wrenching lows. The staff of little unimportant people here at NEWSNIGHT surprised me this afternoon, and they said to me, they said, "Anderson, we want to put together a little tribute to you." I mean, sure, it might have been my idea initially, but they warmed to it very quickly.
So here, with heartfelt love by the staff, are seven unforgettable nights of me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": With Aaron Brown still on vacation, Anderson Cooper sitting in on NEWSNIGHT from New York. Anderson, once again, in your ballpark..
UNIDENTIFIED MAKEUP WOMAN: Mr. Cooper's definitely very hard to work with. I mean, you -- I make him up every night, and you can't make eye contact with him. Can you imagine trying to make someone up, and you can't make eye contact with them?
COOPER: Gentle, gentle, please. Ah, not so rough!
They seem a little more like lifestyles of the celebrities and the sub-lebrities, the famous and the infamous. When we looked at what we're covering tonight, we realized we're dealing with a pretty eclectic group of characters.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I like when they do this, with Anderson Cooper on sports.
COOPER: All right, let's go, people, let's go.
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE": Now back to NEWSNIGHT with Anderson Cooper.
BILL HEMMER, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING": Anderson, thank you very much.
COOPER: Thanks very much for being with us, Kevin.
KEVIN MITNICK, FORMER HACKER: Hey, thank you, Aaron, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), it's an honor to be here.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I do this a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
COOPER: I'd just like to say thank you to the staff for making me feel so at home here. I don't really recall any of your names specifically, but you know who you are.
That is NEWSNIGHT for tonight. I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks a lot for watching. If you want to complain to Aaron, you're feel -- feel free to e-mail him at cnn-dot -- cnn.com/newsnight. I even forgot the e-mail.
I -- Aaron will be back here tomorrow for all of you who have been wanting to know, and I'll be at home eating bonbons and stewing in the juices of my own despair. Good night.
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