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Remembering 9/11; Muslim Center at Ground Zero Sparks Debate Among Family of 9/11 Victims; Al Qaeda, Taliban Execute Political Volunteers to Intimidate Political Candidates in Afghanistan

Aired September 11, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Remembering 9/11 nine years later. At Ground Zero, the names of more than 2,700 victims were read by family members and the people building the permanent 9/11 memorial.

At the Pentagon, President Obama spoke about unity and tolerance. He laid a wreath to honor the victims. And first lady Michelle Obama and former first lady Laura Bush were both in Shanksville, Pennsylvania to pay tribute to the victims of United Airlines Flight 93. The two spoke about the heroism of the plane's passengers.

So here is just a glimpse of today's events. In New York this morning at a park near Ground Zero, 9/11 family members teamed up with those building the new memorial there. Together they read aloud the names of more than 2,700 people killed on that tragic day. The president spoke at the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We gather to remember at this sacred hour on hallowed ground at places where we feel such grief and where our healing goes on. We gather here at the Pentagon where the names of the lost are forever etched in stone. We gather in a gentle Pennsylvania field where a plane went down and a tower of voices will rise and echo through the ages.

We gather where the Twin Towers fell, a site where the work goes on so that next year on the 10th anniversary, the waters will flow in steady tribute to the nearly 3,000 innocent lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Following his remarks, President Obama took part in the wreath-laying ceremony at the Pentagon memorial.

And now to Pennsylvania where we saw that rare joint appearance of first ladies. Michelle Obama along with former first lady Laura Bush celebrating the memory of the 40 people killed on flight 93.

CNN's Sandra Endo is at the Shanksville memorial. Sandra, give me an idea of what's been transpiring there even after the first ladies spoke.

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, earlier this morning at the memorial service, one by one the names of the 40 victims on board United Flight 93 were read out loud and a bell rang in each of their memories. This land is now owned by the National Park Service.

They have been giving out these ribbons for people to write their well wishes on. You can see people have tied them along the fence leaving signs and mementos, flowers, pictures, waving the national flag as well. And reading some of these really heartfelt messages to the victims of this crash. Some of them are really heartfelt. Others simply say simple messages like "thank you for the courage to act." And it was that courage that former first lady Laura Bush and first lady Michelle Obama talked about this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: I come here today not just as first lady on behalf of my husband and a grateful nation. I come as an American filled with a sense of awe at the heroism of my fellow citizens. I come as a wife, a daughter and a sister, heartbroken at the loss so many of you have endured. I come as a mother thinking about what my daughters and what all of our sons and daughters can learn from the 40 men and women whose memories we honor today.

LAURA BUSH, FMR. FIRST LADY: This peaceful place was not chosen by the terrorists. They had other targets for their violence and hate. This spot was chosen by the passengers of Flight 93 who spared our country from even greater horrors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENDO: And this is the field just beyond the fence here where the plane actually landed nine years ago. Today, you can see it's fenced off right now because construction is under way for a permanent memorial here. They are hoping that the first phase of that will be completed by this time next year. Fred?

WHITFIELD: And that will, of course, mark the 10th anniversary of that tragic day. Thanks so much, Sandra Endo, there in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Coming up in about 10 minutes, after years of disagreement there are signs of progress for the planned memorial at Ground Zero. We'll show you the plans and talk with those involved.

And quite the contrast of what unfolded just hours after the somber ceremonies near Ground Zero. This afternoon the focus in New York has shifted to the controversy surrounding plans for an Islamic center near Ground Zero. Rallies both for and against the proposed center have been taking place in lower Manhattan as the nation commemorates 9/11.

CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti got a bird's eye view of both as they were under way. Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. As always, there were strongly held views being heard from both sides. Both rallies are allowed. Both rallies showed passion and both rallies were kept separate from each other, separated by police. And in between and in front of the proposed Islamic center site, completely empty. Just a handful of police officers walking in front of it.

Those who are in support of the Islamic center and mosque being located a couple blocks from Ground Zero, that rally stretched about two blocks long and it ended about an hour ago. Their main message that there should be freedom of religion and tolerance. Those who are protesting the creation of an Islamic center and mosque, that rally is still going on.

And one of the key arguments there is that because the Muslim terrorists that were behind the 9/11 attacks are, in fact, Muslims, that it would be inappropriate to locate an Islamic center so close to Ground Zero. In their view two blocks is too close.

What's interesting in particular is when you walk away from both rallies, you see impromptu debates cropping up on many street corners. Some of them are quite calm but others are boisterous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe in the same document.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just said you believe in the constitution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do believe in the Constitution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then you said you don't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) people were disintegrated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: by terrorists. You can't blame Muslims.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not blaming Muslims. But if they had the respect they claim they had.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why should they apologize for the actions of radicals?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would rather see no church than a mosque where people are going to pray to god.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: At the end of the day, of course, the question is - is there a solution to all of this? Is there an answer in sight? It doesn't seem like there is this day except both sides clearly had their opinions heard. Back to you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Susan Candiotti, thanks so much, in lower Manhattan. Appreciate that.

All right. Meantime, officials in California are demanding answers as to why a gas transmission line exploded in a residential neighborhood. Four people are dead and two are missing. An entire neighborhood of San Bruno, California, has been laid to waste. We'll have the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: On to the tragedy in San Bruno. Four people are dead, two others are unaccounted for. Today, California Senator Barbara Boxer got a firsthand look at the devastation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: It's a heartbreaker. When you see that huge piece of pipeline that just blew away from the rest of the pipeline, it's just sitting there all charred. It's huge.

And when you realize that some of this pipe was laid in 1948, others in the '50s, it raises a lot of questions that we certainly are going to deal with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Dan Simon is in San Bruno today with the latest on the investigation. Dan, it will still be days, right, before some residents can actually check on their properties?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. You're dealing with a lot of frustrated residents. Because we don't know when they will be able to go back inside. We know there's going to be a community meeting at 2:00 local time where I'm sure some of them will voice their frustration.

Fred, let me tell you where we are. We're in the parking lot of a shopping mall. You can see behind me this is sort of a place where people are dropping off donations for people who have been left out of their homes or people who may have lost their homes.

You know, everybody who has been to that explosion site, we had a chance to go there on the very first day. You heard Barbara Boxer say this, almost describing something that's unbelievable. I mean, we were there and when you see that big pipe there, sitting there in the middle of the street, it really leaves an impression on you. Because that was three feet beneath the concrete and it just sort of blew up and took the houses along with it.

One thing that we're trying to get answers to today is how something like this could happen. Was there a gas leak going on there for several weeks as some neighbors have maintained? We put that question to PG&E today. This is what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS JOHNS, PRESIDENT, PG&E: We are about two-thirds of the way through reviewing all the phone records because as you can imagine, we serve five million electric customers, four million gas customers. There are a lot of calls. As of now right now, we have not been able to confirm any calls in that area, in that vicinity, happening within the first nine days of September.

But we will continue to do that. And I know that the National Transportation Safety Board will look through those same kinds of things and basically audit our records on that. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: To put what he's saying in context, that's about neighbors allegedly calling PG&E to complain about a smell of gas. PG&E says they are going through their phone records to determine if, in fact, those calls were placed and to determine if, in fact, utility crews actually were in the area working on the pipeline or investigating it as some neighbors have alleged.

Fred, as you mentioned two people still unaccounted for. So at this point authorities fear that the death toll is climbing that six people may have died in the explosion. Fred?

WHITFIELD: And so, Dan, we are looking at images where we saw like a search dog that's taped from previously. But I'm wondering how are they going about looking for at least the two unaccounted for?

SIMON: Well, that's exactly it. They are not only looking for those two, but maybe some others that they don't know about. So cadaver dogs have been in that vicinity really for the last couple of days. It really just became safe last night to go through much of that wreckage. It was still considered to be quite a dangerous situation.

Now they feel they have things under control and are able to go through all the homes and really do a methodical search to make sure there aren't more victims inside.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dan Simon, thank you so much in San Bruno, California. Appreciate that.

All right. Meantime, firefighters in Colorado are reporting some progress in battling a huge wildfire there.

CNN affiliate KMGH in Denver says fire managers are confident that they have stopped the fire from spreading. And right now, the fire is burning on a 10-square-mile area in Canyons, west of Boulder. The fire has destroyed at least 160 homes. That number is huge. Firefighters say they hope to have the fire fully contained by Monday. So it means they need the elements to cooperate in a big way.

Jacqui Jeras in the weather center, are they going to get it?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, they are. In fact, for the most part today, we got a few things in the weather that's helping. A couple of things unfortunately that are hurting them. But the wind has been such an issue and what really made that fire spread so quickly and unfortunately burned some of those homes.

Today we are looking at temperatures in the low to mid 70s for you there, outside of Boulder. So that's the good news and the winds are much calmer. They are out of the west at about five to seven miles per hour. And you can see the Sunday forecast showing you pretty calm conditions here as well. So that's the good news.

The bad news though is it's still very, very dry. The relative humidity is down to like 10 to 15 percent. So that is critically low and that's one that they're going to have to deal with. But firefighters have been building lines to try and stop that fire from advancing and they have also been doing dumps from the air, using fire retardants as well as water to try to put that out. 56 percent contained. So that's a lot of progress. And like Fredricka mentioned, they hope to have that done by Monday.

Now, we have a cold front making its way across the U.S. and the high pressure which is keeping them dry is pushing that frontal system towards the east. Today we are getting showers and thundershowers around the Great Lakes towards the deep south. And tomorrow we'll watch for them up and down that Eastern seaboard. Do expect to have some travel delays by air.

Here you can see some of the stronger thunderstorms moving across the mid south as well as the deep south. We're not really expecting a lot in terms of severe thunderstorms, but torrential downs and a lot of lightning. Lightning certainly can be deadly. So be aware of that especially if you have outdoor plans.

Temperatures behind this front are a fair amount cooler. We're going to see cooler, dryer air. That will be nice relief for some of you like St. Louis, 83. 89 in Atlanta. Temperatures in the northeast, much cooler though because you are going to have rain in addition to that. So you will be lucky to get to 70 in Boston. About 72 degrees in Washington, D.C., the later in the day you get, the better off your conditions are going to be.

All right. Things are getting pretty active here in the tropics. We've got tropical storm Igor. 70 miles per hour winds out in the middle of nowhere. But it is expected to take a westerly track and intensify, likely to become a hurricane a little bit later today. It could even happen with the 5:00 advisory.

And Fredricka, that usually comes in a little bit early. So hopefully on my next weather hit, in less than a half hour we'll have updated information on that. We have two other waves we're watching.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness, which could potentially -

JERAS: Turn into named storms, too.

WHITFIELD: Half glass full.

JERAS: Don't miss the weather report.

WHITFIELD: That's (INAUDIBLE) the day. All right. Thanks so much, Jacqui.

All right. Well, after years of political in-fighting, a 9/11 memorial at New York's ground zero is finally taking shape. Deb Feyerick takes us on a tour of the site, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now. The family of American hiker Sarah Shourd thought she was getting out of an Iranian prison today after more than a year in captivity. An Iranian government official announced the plan to release her earlier this week. But prosecutors now say the judicial process has not been completed. Shourd is one of three American hikers who were detained and accused of being spies.

And a massive manhunt is underway in northern Mexico after 85 inmates climbed over a prison wall. The prison is just across the border from McAllen, Texas. Mexican news agency is reporting that the two guards are also missing. 44 other guards were detained on suspicion of corruption.

And a Kansas City man is facing multiple charges for hijacking a city bus and leading police on a chase through downtown. The driver and passengers got off the bus before the suspect actually drove away. The "Kansas City Star" reports the man is charged with burglary, robbery and eluding a police officer. He was arrested after the bus crashed and caught fire.

A planned memorial at the Ground Zero site has hit numerous political roadblocks, but now there are signs of progress. CNN's Deb Feyerick got a tour of the site.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You can envision it. You can envision where the tower stood just by looking here.

(voice-over): And it's not enough just to look at Ground Zero. You also need to listen.

Now every day, thousands of workers here rebuild.

JOE DANIELS, PRES., NATL. SEPT. 11 MEMORIAL & MUSEUM: Everything west of where we are standing right now is the memorial site. It's eight of the 16 acres, so 50 percent of the entire site is for the memorial and museum.

FEYERICK: Joe Daniels heads up the 9/11 memorial and museum. He was here that day and will never forget what he witnessed.

DANIELS: 1,100 of the victims were never identified. The crushing force of collapse, those families never got human remains back. This is a place where the entire world is going to come to pay their respects.

FEYERICK: After years of very public battles and stalled negotiations, the memorial is being built on the footprints of the two towers. Two granite reflecting pools, each with a massive man-made waterfall flowing into a deeper pool. What it's creator Michael Arad calls a bottomless abyss.

MICHAEL ARAD, MEMORIAL DESIGNER: We have thousands of gallons streaming in there every minute. This emptiness remains.

FEYERICK: Arad was 32, working for the city, when the towers fell. His design beat out 5,000 others.

ARAD: I think it was, for me, a way of coming to terms with what I had seen that day.

FEYERICK: The victims' names will be etched at the top of the pools. Shadows by day, filled with light at night.

ARAD: I wanted to create a stoic, quiet and defiant memorial. Something that in the face of enormous tragedy that, you know, didn't scream in retaliation but stood quietly and silently and unyieldingly.

FEYERICK: And beneath the pools -

ARAD: It's seven stories below.

FEYERICK: What will become a museum.

(on camera): You will have faces of everybody?

ARAD: (INAUDIBLE) basically right there.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Key 9/11 items preserved for eternity like this stairwell used by hundreds of people as an escape route.

(on camera): That stairwell which nobody thought would be extraordinary, in fact, became a bridge to safety for so many people.

DANIELS: Exactly and it represents the story of survival.

FEYERICK: And this wall holding back the Hudson River. Had it been breached, lower Manhattan would have been under water.

DANIELS: This wall is incredibly strong and symbolic.

FEYERICK (on camera): What is this?

DANIELS: This is an individual steel column.

FEYERICK (voice-over): The stairs and other remnants would have been covered over or removed were it not for 9/11 family members like Anthony Gardener.

(on camera): How vital, as a historian, was it to you to preserve this?

ANTHONY GARDNER, 9/11 FAMILY MEMBER: It was everything. It's a tangible connection to the event, to the people who died.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Gardner is 34. A year younger than his brother Harvey, the day he died working on the 83rd floor of Tower one.

GARDNER: To me, it's a place of power, it's a place of connection to history and my brother.

DANIELS: You know, 9/11 we saw the worst of humanity, but in the seconds after it happened we started seeing the best of humanity and these artifacts are going to speak to that side of the story.

FEYERICK: Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Ground Zero.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And the Pentagon already has a permanent memorial in place. There are 184 bench-like structures. Take a look. Each one is dedicated to a victim of the attack. There is also a gray concrete wall that rises from three inches tall to 71 inches tall representing the youngest and the oldest victims at the Pentagon, three years old and 71 years old.

And work is under way on the permanent memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, for the victims of United Flight 93. You can see the construction site earlier this year. And here is what it was supposed to look like on the 10th anniversary next year. Just take a look at that image. The names of 40 passengers and crew will be inscribed on the main wall there. A larger wall is expected to be finished by 2014.

9/11 families deeply divided on the fate of an Islamic center and mosque proposed to be built near Ground Zero. Hear what they have to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It is the ninth anniversary of 9/11. Remembrance ceremonies were held this morning at the sites of the attacks in New York, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. President Obama attended the Pentagon service. The ceremony was only open to family members of the victims. President Obama laid a wreath at the 9/11 memorial there and talked about the lives lost on that tragic day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They were fathers and mothers raising their families, brothers and sisters pursuing their dreams, sons and daughters, their whole lives before them. They were civilians and service members. Some never saw the danger coming. Others saw the peril and rushed to save others up those stairwells into the flames, into the cockpit. They were white, black and brown, men and women, and some children, made up of all races, many faiths. They were Americans. And people from far corners of the world. They were snatched from us senselessly and much too soon. But they lived well and they live on in you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: On this anniversary of 9/11, a debate rages on, however, over plans to build an Islamic center and mosque near ground zero. The issue is an especially emotional one for 9/11 families. Many are split over the proposed proximity to ground zero. Here's CNN's Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROSALEEN TALLON, SISTER OF 9/11 VICTIM: It's not a small mosque. It's not far away from the site. It's right on top of where they were murdered.

ROBERT NELSON, BROTHER OF 9/11 VICTIM: In my mind this mosque is actually a good thing. I mean, we cannot fight all billion Muslims in the world.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Robert and Rosaleen Tallon share a deep pain here at the World Trade Center site, where both lost a brother in the attack nine years ago. Yet they split sharply over the planned Islamic community center that would include a mosque two blocks from here.

Robert lost his brother David who worked in Tower One yet he argues Muslims should be able to build a community center here.

NELSON: Have we forgotten what happened at 9/11?

CHERNOFF: He fears opponents of the plan, including many 9/11 families, are threatening the civil rights of Muslims.

NELSON: They are being hounded out, they are being shouted down. That's just not what America should stand for.

TALLON: But imagine, I would shout from the top of any tower to protect my city. I want to make sure that $100 million isn't coming from Saudi Arabia or the very hands that funded the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

CHERNOFF: Rosaleen Tallon lost her brother Sean, a firefighter who was based across the street in this fire house. She says she knows Sean would want her to speak out to defend the area that, in effect, became his gravesite. And she emphatically states she's doing so without any bias against Muslims.

TALLON: It's not against the Muslim people. But it is a sensitivity that putting a mosque here-where perhaps there may be some people sympathetic to what the terrorists did that day, I can't-that's not acceptable to me.

CHERNOFF: So when you hear them say, well, this is a community center. It's open to everybody, that doesn't do it for you?

TALLON: At the end of the day, though, it's an Islamic cultural center with a mosque. It's a big center and it will bring lots and lots of Muslim people gathered here so close to ground zero.

CHERNOFF: Americans who have shared unimaginable pain, who have cried on each other's shoulders, now in some cases are at odds over the nation's latest controversy -- an Islamic center near the site of their tragic loss. Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Do you feel safer from terrorism now compared to how you felt before 9/11? That's one of the questions in a new CNN Opinion Research poll; 36 percent say they feel safer, 37 percent say it's about the same. But just 27 percent say they feel less safe now. We also asked if you thought the U.S. would capture or kill Osama bin Laden. Only one third said it's likely that the Al Qaeda leader would be tracked down.

Afghanistan, dramatically different country since the 9/11 attacks. A democratically elected government is in place instead of Al Qaeda and Taliban rule. But nine years of war has not managed to extinguish the Taliban insurgency and militants are now boosting their battle against NATO forces by capitalizing on people's frustrations and fears there. Here is CNN's Atia Abawi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIA ABAWI, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Morning for five volunteers traveling in Afghanistan's western Herat Province, campaigning for a female parliamentary candidate. They were brutally murdered by insurgents. Fauzia Gilani says she is distressed by the murders but she will not let the insurgency win.

"These threats should never be an obstacle for us," she says. "This was a plot by the enemy against me to demoralize me. And they thought I would run away or withdraw."

Fear and intimidation is only part of the reason why many believe the Taliban and other insurgent groups currently have the momentum.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have any force in Afghanistan, political force, that could counter the Taliban.

ABAWI: The Taliban have become a viable alternative for many Afghans frustrated with their government and an international presence that has yet to deliver on all of the promises of security and prosperity. Many fear that in the end the international community will grow tired of the conflict and simply pack up and leave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the biggest fear among Afghan people that once again Afghanistan will be abandoned. And this is the reason why Taliban have been able to expand their territory in Afghanistan.

ABAWI: Afghanistan is considered one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world. With more people dying from poverty and hunger than the armed conflict, according to the United Nations. The latest scandal at the largest private bank in Afghanistan, Kabul Bank, where hundreds of millions of dollars was plundered by shareholders connected to high-ranking government officials, embodies Afghan's frustration.

All the while, a war is still raging. NATO is six months into an 18- month counterinsurgency plan aimed at turning the tide of this nearly nine-year war.

LT. GEN. NICK PARKER, DEPUTY COMMANDER, ISAF: It's been more complicated than we expected, not necessarily tougher. We always said the security fight was going to be tough. We have always said that, very sadly, violence levels will go up. It's inevitable.

ABAWI: 2010 is so far the deadliest year for nearly 155,000 coalition troops on the ground. As it was grimly predicted before a surge of new troops arrived and offenses launched in areas the coalition couldn't reach before. Commanders on the ground are careful not to overpromise.

PARKER: I view the future with optimism, but it's guarded optimism. We mustn't be over optimistic because that will send the wrong signals. This is a hard challenge and a complex challenge and we are about six months into it.

ABAWI: In the coming months the focus of ground operations and a rebuilding mission will be on the southern province of Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban. Success here is perhaps one of the last chances to keep support for the war alive among Afghans and the people back home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Failing in Afghanistan is not an option. Certainly the United States could abandon Afghanistan. But the problem is Al Qaeda and the Taliban will not abandon their fight against the United States.

ABAWI: And that's the reality Afghans are faced with. Atia Abawi, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Still ahead, my discussion with international journalists about how the U.S. is perceived abroad in the wake of a Florida pastor's threat to burn Korans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at top stories now.

Officials toured a San Bruno, California neighborhood today that was devastated by a natural gas explosion and fires. Four people are dead, two others are still unaccounted for. We are awaiting a news conference by neighborhood residents. We'll keep you posted on what they will be saying. And, of course, the progress of the investigation, too, into the cause of the blast.

The family of American hiker Sarah Shourd thought she was getting out of an Iranian prison today after more than a year in captivity. An Iranian government official announced the plan to release her earlier this week. But prosecutors now say all the legal questions have not been answered. Shourd is one of three American hikers who were detained and accused of being spies.

The Koran burning sign has been taken down at a Florida church where they had planned to burn copies of the Islamic holy book today. In a television interview Pastor Terry Jones said his church would not burn any books today, or ever.

But the much publicized plan to burn the Koran did spark anti-American protest around the world. This one was in London today. They were also protests in Afghanistan where the U.S. has around 100,000 troops. There were fear that the Koran burning could endanger the lives of those troops.

So we wanted to get an idea of the sentiment was around the world. Each year CNN actually offers journalism fellowships to journalists from other countries. The fellows spend three weeks in our Atlanta headquarters. I actually talked with three of these foreign journalists, these fellows, about the perception of Americans abroad when it comes to American tolerance or intolerance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD (on camera): So, Paula, with your station in South Africa, ETV, was this a conversation that editorially the body of journalists felt they had to have, or was this a conversation that came because viewers had made it very clear what their thoughts were about this threat?

PAULA CHOWLES, ETV, SOUTH AFRICA: Well, our television station is clear about our responsibility as journalists and networks. Sometimes you find yourself in a precarious situation where we might give a soap box or platform to someone with an extreme view. That doesn't necessarily represent the majority of the organization.

What the situation has maybe done, what Terry Jones has maybe done, is bring the Christians a sense of what it's like to be a Muslim in the greater world. For us, we don't often want to give extremists the soapbox, the platform to air their fundamentalist views, to skew the perceptions all Muslims are like this, all Christians are like this.

So, we have this precarious difficult decision to make. I can give you an example of the kind of dilemma we were confronted with during the "Draw Mohammed Day" that was quite a worldwide thing. One of our local cartoonists for the newspapers, drew Mohammed. We covered the story because he had received threats, but we didn't show the cartoon.

So, also the question is, especially for a visual medium, is the actual burning essential to the story, or is the debate, and the questions of why and what's going on more essential?

WHITFIELD: So all week long, though, am I getting that from your stations there has been significant coverage of this event, regardless of whether it were to happen or not, just the dialogue has taken place, that elicited a response from the president of the United States, from the Defense Department, from General Petraeus.

How were those elements handled throughout the week at your station, Anna?

ANNA KERDENSTAM, TV4 SWEDEN: Well, there has been a discussion about whether we are giving also this too much space, because it this-well, in Sweden he is often referred to as a lunatic in many cases. And why are we giving him this much space? Why are we giving this story so much space? I think it boils down to, well, because it causes such a debate, and it involves so many different layers of people talking about the freedom of speech, for instance.

WHITFIELD: I wonder, Olaf, if there is a perception abroad whether it be in Israel, where it be in South Africa, or perhaps in your country of Sweden, whether there is a view that because of this pastor, or because of the debate or controversy over the Islamic center that there is intolerance. There is a view that Americans are intolerant of certain persuasions, certain religions. Is that something that has provoked conversation?

YOAV EVEN, CHANNEL 2 ISRAEL: No, no. I think you allow your citizens to burn your own flag. This is hard to believe. If burning the American flag is legal in the United States, burning the Koran is also legal. And I can understand it. It is illegal in Israel if someone burns Koran, a New Testament, or a Torah book, in Israel he might spend the next three years in jail.

So probably it won't happen in Israel, but there is a dilemma. Is this news? If my 10-year-old neighbor burns a Koran book, is this news? Of course not. So why if a crazy guy does it, it's news? It's a big dilemma.

WHITFIELD: But it is something that you all will cover?

EVEN: Because it's international news that you cover all the time.

WHITFIELD: So it's a domino effect you are saying?

EVEN: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: Had there not been coverage perhaps in the United States.

EVEN: We wouldn't touch it.

WHITFIELD: Then perhaps there wouldn't be the ripple effect of it being covered in other countries.

KERDENSTAM: Maybe it's the discussion around it that's the story, that's also an important story because it's an alarm clock for us all. I mean, where are we going? How are the extremists working? We have to take a stand.

WHITFIELD: OK.

KERDENSTAM: Even in Sweden the Muslim society, in general, has taken a stand against -- of course, the Muslim society and also the Christian society has taken this.

WHITFIELD: OK, I will let that be the last word. Anna Kerdenstam, with Sweden's TV4, Paula Chowles with South Africa's ETV, and Joav Evan with Israel's Channel 2.

Thanks so much to all three of you as you visit here in the United States on this fellowship program. Appreciate your time.

EVAN: Thank you very much.

KERDENSTAM: Thank you.

CHOWLES: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: CNN launched this journalism fellowship program back in 1989. To dated CNN has hosted more than 700 international journalists from nearly 120 countries.

All right. Well, she is one of Hollywood's big office draws. Her love life makes tabloids rich but the A-list actress takes you up close and personal to a place most of us would perhaps not know a whole lot about.

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WHITFIELD: Time for a "CNN Equals Politics" update. We're keeping an eye on all the latest headlines on the CNN.com political ticker. CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser has a look at what's crossing right now.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good afternoon, Fred. A lot going on with the campaign trail today. Let's start with candidates campaigning for Tuesday's primaries. This is the last weekend for them to get out there and talk to voters. Seven states, plus the District of Columbia, hold contests on Wednesday. It's the last big round of primaries before the midterm elections.

The second thing going on right now o the CNN political ticker, on CNNpolitics.com, one of the primaries, the one in Delaware is probably the one that is grabbing the most national attention. It is because Mike Castle the moderate Republican, there, who is running for his party's senate nomination; he is getting challenged by Christine O'Donnell, who is backed by a lot of Tea Party activists and the Tea Party Express. This is really becoming a down and out and a tough contest. Well, Christine O'Donnell got two major endorsements from the National Rifle Association and from the Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, a leading conservative who has backed a lot of conservative candidates successfully in the primary.

We are keeping an eye on Delaware. We'll see if the Tea Party and Tea Party Express, in particular, has another victory come Tuesday, or if the more moderate Republican wins out.

Also on the CNN Political Ticker, right now, unity maybe in Florida on the Republican side? We sent our Peter Hanby (ph) to a big Republican Party dinner last night in Florida. Remember it was a pretty nasty gubernatorial primary between Rick Scott, the multimillionaire, former health care executive, and Bill McCullum, who is the state attorney general and a former long-time congressman. Scott won the primary. McCullum still hasn't endorsed him. There was a unity party dinner last night. They were all singing "Kumbaya," but remember maybe not everybody's on board. We'll keep a close eye on that governor's contest in Florida.

That is all that is going on right now. But there is a lot more. Check it out. CNNpolitics.com, the CNN Political Ticker, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Paul. Appreciate that.

OK, say the name Angelina Jolie and you probably think of Hollywood movies or tabloid stories. Well, she's also a U.N. goodwill ambassador traveling in Pakistan. Jolie recently spoke with CNN's Doctor Sanjay Gupta.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Often, and you may have found this, as well, in your travels, that we tend to think of these places as, over there, somewhere else, not here. When you go, and I was there as well, I mean, you meet people. There are real faces and stories behind these crazy high numbers.

ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS, UNHCR GOODWILL AMBASSADOR: You go to these places and you always say the same things to the viewer, which is that they would be so moved if they were here, and it is so true. And if they met all these children who are so resilient and are still children, and so full of life, love and hope. It's always so moving.

This was unique for me. Because I met this beautiful older couple, who are in their 70s. They'd worked their whole lives. The man had been in the Pakistani military twice and he had then lived off a pension. With that small pension he had built this home and his family and for his grandchildren. It was very modest to begin with, but he had something. Now they are both dealing with a lot of sickness.

And, you know, as you see in the tape, the woman is so embarrassed with her situation. She and the man spoke of the fact that he never felt in his lifetime he's ever going to be able to recuperate what he's lost, that he would never ever have again nice things. That he would never have a nice bed, a nice house. And they have lived in this place since 1972 and raised their children and grandchildren there. In a moment, in a few hours, it was completely gone.

They're really good people and really just kind, wonderful, hard- working older people who will pass away most likely in this mud- covered area, which is so covered with dirt. There is feces in the river nearby. And it is so covered in flies. It doesn't have the dignity that they deserve to live in, that anyone deserves to live in.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So to find out how you can make a difference and help provide relief for flood victims in Pakistan, visit our Impact Your World page, CNN.com/impact.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Don Lemon is coming up next in the CNN NEWSROOM. Next hour, the children of 9/11. Find out what helped them through their grieving process.

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