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Suspicious Package Outside Cowboys Stadium; Egypt's "Friday of Wrath"; U.S. Diplomatic Challenges; Egyptian Army Set to Take Over Security
Aired January 28, 2011 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And we continue to follow some breaking news out of Dallas, Texas, right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Our affiliates are reporting that there's a suspicious package just outside Cowboys Stadium. FAA is saying it was dropped into a ditch so cops are on the scene.
There's a quarantine around that package. As you know, the Super Bowl is going to be played in that stadium February 6th so there's great concern to what's happening here. So we're working it for you, we'll bring you as much information as we can.
Also this morning, as you know we've been talking about the riots erupting and intensifying in Egypt. You can see the protesters here as organizers are calling it "Friday of wrath."
They want 1 million people to pour into the streets and demand embattled President Hosni Mubarak step down. Today the government of this valued U.S. ally may be at risk as protests turn more angry and bloody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The police are not cracking down on -- not only cracking down on protesters rather, but our crews are actually telling us that international news operations are also being targeted. In fact, our crews are now unable to transmit live reports because satellite phones are being blocked and it's getting worse. Here's part of a report from our Ben Wedeman last hour.
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BEN WEDEMAN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Basically, right now I can smell the tear gas that's coming from the road behind me. There are hundreds of people on a bridge, main bridge over the Mile, hundreds of security forces trying to stop them.
Behind this building, there are several columns of black smoke coming up on one of the major thoroughfare of Cairo. It seems everywhere you look in the neighborhood there are demonstrations going on.
Now the Interior Ministry as it did the other day said it would not tolerate demonstrations. What we're seeing is they're using violence everywhere to put them down. I can tell you most of the protesters are not violent. They may throw rocks back after a while, but by and large the violence is all coming from the state.
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PHILLIPS: And Ben also told me that the police have turned on the media including his own crew.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEDEMAN: What we were doing is we were sort of right in the middle of the clash between protesters and policeman, uniform policeman and these plainclothes policeman in Arabic. They call them thugs. What happened was we were between the protesters and the police underneath an overpass. We hid behind the column and were shooting the events from them when a group of these plainclothes policemen sort of converged upon us.
And they try to basically - they grabbed the camera from Mary Rogers, our camerawoman and cracked the viewfinder off. You know, after quite a tussle with these guys and some of them are pretty big -- they took the camera away. I argued endlessly with the officers on the scene to give us back the camera to show that Egypt does have freedom of the press as they so often like to say.
But they would have none of it and our experience is not unique. I just spoke with somebody from German television. They had their camera smashed this morning. So it seems that the crackdown isn't just on the protestors. It's on the media as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILIPPS: And also, in the Port City of Alexandria, the crowd swell, the anger ignited. Our own senior international correspondent Nic Robertson was right there to tell us about it, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No sooner had the press ended at the mosque, which a few hundred yards in this direction than the crowds clashed immediately with the police. Hundreds of police had strong batons for firing tear gas in the crowds.
People have now rushed up saying they're going to go to the center of the city. There's a lot of chanting, anti-Mubarak chanting. Tear gas is in the air. I can feel it in my nose. That's another round of tear gas it sounds like being fired. The protesters here say they're worried about live rounds of ammunition, that shots may be fired at them.
This gentleman here - this gentleman here is saying that there's tear gas being fired. They fired inside the mosque is what this man is telling us here right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the crisis in Egypt creates a diplomatic quandary for Washington. Our next guest can definitely talk about that. Edward Djerejian is a former U.S. ambassador to Israel. He's now the director of the Baker Institute At Rice University, joining me live from Houston.
Ambassador, great to see you. I think one of the questions that haven't been asked enough, we've been talking so much about the protestors and the controversy taking place in Cairo, but what happens if Mubarak does fall?
EDWARD DJEREJIAN, DIRECTOR, BAKER INSTITUTE, RICE UNIVERSITY: Well, as you well know, Kyra, Egypt is really the linchpin of many of the foreign policy interests and relations we have in the Arab world and in the Middle East.
It straddles the Suez Canal, a major water way. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel so all the prospects for Israeli/Arab peace are anchored in that 1979 Treaty.
Egypt is the most populous Arab country. It's a major player in the region. So if there is instability in Egypt, it can have widespread ramifications or American foreign policy interest throughout the region.
PHILLIPS: And, Ambassador, stay with me right now because you can monitor these live pictures with us as well, possibly. I don't know if you've got a camera there in studio. Stay with me.
We're getting pictures fed into us. This is our Ben Wedeman live actually, apparently pictures of the military for the very first time. He was able to get a live satellite up. Let's go ahead and listen.
WEDEMAN: It indicates of course that the police can't handle the situation, from what I saw today. They're doing an absolutely miserable job using nothing more than just brutal force and violence to put down these protests, Hala?
PHILLIPS: OK. He's actually live for CNN International right now. That's why you're not hearing the talk with Hala Gorani and with Ben Wedeman. He's now tossed backed to Hala. She's asking him a question.
As soon as Ben starts talking again, we'll pick it up live because we're getting this of our international sister network CNN International. But what Ben is continuing to report is -- here we go.
WEDEMAN: Eeduced some of the tensions, it all depends upon the military itself is used. If the military is used to suppress these protests, then there could be a backlash against the military as well. So it's not clear even though we've seen two truckloads of the military coming in, it's not at all clear how they're going to be used.
But the military has always been hesitant to become involved in the suppression of popular discontent and that -- the fact that they're coming in now is significant. But, as I said, we don't, just for this live shot, the truck appeared, we don't know what's behind their presence in the streets now, but, as you can see, tear gas flying in.
I've got another rather interesting development to tell you. Apparently in one of the five-star hotels just down the street from us -- I'm sorry, Hala. This tear gas is getting to us here -- the security is confiscating the cameras of tourists.
Of course, for a country that depends so much on tourism for this kind of heavy-handed tactic to be used on a people against a major source of income for this country is also a worrying development to say the least - Hala.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So this is security personnel, these are I imagine Egyptian police, plainclothes officers, confiscating the cameras of ordinary tourists, so, what, they don't shoot scenes of violence and post them online?
WEDEMAN: That seems to be the case. There were Egyptian police who were manning the metal detectors at these hotels, but of course, they're not going to be able to post them online because the internet has been cut, cell phones have been cut.
You can't send an SMS. The only way to communicate is via landline. So what the thinking behind this decision to crack down on ordinary tourists is I honestly can't tell you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you yourself -- I Mary Rogers and you yourself were confronted by security officers and the CNN camera was confiscated as well. Tell us about that incident, as I know it's difficult. I know I'm seeing you wipe your eyes, Ben, because of the tear gas.
WEDEMAN: Yes. What I can tell you is that at about 1:00 local time the crew, Mary Rogers, Tommy Evans, and I were between a group of protesters and a very large group of policemen, plainclothes and otherwise, and they sort of -- about 12 of them gathered around us threatening to beat us with their clubs and sticks.
And they wanted to take the camera. We struggled with them to keep the camera, but they broke it. They broke it.
PHILLIPS: All right, that's our Ben Wedeman reporting live right now from kind of a makeshift bureau in Cairo. He's kind of hanging out the window and blinking a lot because he's got tear gas in his face.
All of our satellites had been cut off. He just happened to get up live at the moment. We wanted to take it. He was talking about the military now being brought in to go up against those protesters. We're going to follow that.
We also have Edward Drejejian, a former ambassador to Israel with us too. He's on standby. When I get right to Nic Robertson who's in Alexandria, and Nic, we're talking so much about Cairo. We're getting so many pictures from Cairo, but also we've seen your reports out of Alexandria, lots of protests going on. What have you observed? How violent is it getting there?
ROBERTSON (voice-over): The situation is escalating and deteriorating. The crowds are becoming more violent and angry between several up to 20,000 young men mostly on the street. I'm watching fires burning in the street, thick clouds of smoke billowing up from burning buildings.
We've heard automatic gunshots fired within the last half hour and we've also seen the body of one protester killed in the demonstrations carried past by the crowds. They're increasingly angry. They're carrying clubs. We hear tear gas cannons being fired into the crowds.
I'm looking, just barely 150 yard away from me, another building is beginning to go up in smoke. The situation here is the police on the retreat. We're seeing the police driving away from the crowds with their windows on their vehicles smashed out.
PHILLIPS: Nic, Ben Wedeman is reporting -- we happened to get a live shot with him. He's now that the military has been brought in. We saw some pictures actually for the first time. We've seen the riot police, the water cannons, the batons, but this was the first time we actually got live pictures of the military moving in. Have you been able to see if the military has moved within in Alexandria?
ROBERTSON: We haven't seen the military yet. They once talked about the army being called in. We're seeing quite an interesting dynamic between the police where the police have perhaps divided loyalties between should they support the crowd or should they do what they're being told by the president, which is get the protestors off the street?
We've literally seen the police being told by the protestors not to throw rocks. The police have been outnumbered and called back. What we've seen here is perhaps a weakening of the strength of the police on the street. Although we haven't seen the army here yet, it's under this type of circumstance, one could imagine that the president here is going to need the army to sit on the police who clearly in Alexandria cannot hold the line right now.
PHILLIPS: Got it. Our Nic Robertson there in Alexandria, Egypt, covering the continuing protests across that country. We're following every angle of this story for you, including live pictures that we were just able to get out of Cairo, Egypt.
Ben Wedeman actually has had a really tough time covering this story through the evening and the morning because the internet has literally been shut down, in addition to satellite. So he hasn't been able to get a live shot until just a few minutes ago he popped up and we took him live via CNN International.
He's got to kind of keep his head out of the window there. Apparently, he's had some issues with tear gas that's causing his eyes to water. So he's dog the best that he can to bring us these live reports. He's moving the camera around for us so we can get some sort of sense of what Cairo looks like right now.
But if you've been watching this breaking news, just bringing you up-to-date, to this point we can tell you tens of thousands of anti-government protesters have been confronted by police. They've been stoned by police. They've gotten the water cannons shot at them. We've seen the police go through the crowds with batons. For the most part, Ben Wedeman said, that this is what it looks like with protestors. They've been peaceful. They've been calm.
It's been the police that have been rushing at them. You can actually see here the call for more protestors to come out and be heard crossing the bridge over near where Ben Wedeman is set up there with his live shot. I don't know, do we have a connection to Ben, guys?
No, we don't. OK. We're trying to establish that. I tell you what, why don't we get back to -- we'll stay on these live pictures, whatever we get fed into us. Ambassador Djerejian, are you still with me?
DJEREJIAN: Yes, I am, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So is the ambassador still with me? Can you hear me, Ambassador?
DJEREJIAN: Yes.
PHILLIP: OK, great.
DJEREJIAN: Yes, I can, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Thank you so much. Just for our viewers, Ambassador Drejejian is a director of the Baker Institute At Rice University joining us live from Houston. There's a little bit of a delay so that's why you're seeing sort of a pause between our conversation.
But Ambassador, you just saw these live pictures. Ben Wedeman was able to get a live connection. He hadn't been able to do that for a number of hours because a lot of the social media and the satellites had been shut down by the government.
He was saying for the first time we were seeing live pictures of the military coming in. You know, there's a tremendous concern here about what could happen looking forward. We're seeing tens of thousands of protestors coming out. We're seeing that it's getting more violent.
They're saying they want Hosni Mubarak to go after 30 years of presidency. They say they're tired of the poverty, the unemployment, and the rising food prices there in that country. If indeed he does fall, what happens next?
There's tremendous concern that if it becomes an Islamic state that you will have that power joining in with al Qaeda and that democracy will not rule.
DJEREJIAN: Well, Kyra, if indeed the military has been called in to suppress the demonstrations, that's a very dangerous sign because it shows that the regime has definitely drawn the conclusion that the situation is indeed getting out of control and that it is bringing in the pillar of the regime.
Remember that Hosni Mubarak comes from the military. His predecessor, Anwar Sadat, came from the military since the coup in the 1950s. The military is really a strong pillar of the Egyptian regime. What is disturbing here is that in all of these demonstrations that you've been covering. We have not heard anything from the Egyptian government.
We have not heard any statement of intent in terms of hearing the concerns of the people for political, economic and social reforms. We have not heard any statements about the upcoming presidential elections this year.
In other words, the demonstrations are going on and there's no response from the government that, I'm listening, I'm hearing you, let us have -- let us go into a national discussion and let's see what can be done for political transition, that response to the needs of the people and to what the government wants to do.
But there's none of that. It's all being relegated to suppressing the demonstrations and from what you're reporting also the internet and social media coverage.
PHILIPPS: Ambassador, please stay with me. We've got to take a quick break, but our coverage continues of the chaos that's unfolding there in Egypt.
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PHILLIPS: All right, let's get straight back to Cairo, Ben Wedeman. We actually got connection with him via satellite. Ben, you were not able to go live for many hours because of a social media and satellites being shut down. How did you get this live shot up and running?
WEDEMAN: I think it's better not to tell you the tricks of the trade at the moment, given that the Egyptian authorities are really cracking down on everything, cutting cell phones, cutting the internet.
But actually Kyra, I don't know if you can see it clearly, on the right-hand side of the road down there is what looks like an army vehicle. What we saw just a little while ago were two other Army armored personnel carriers full of soldiers. Let me explain to you why this is important.
The Egyptian army has always been kept to a minimum when it comes to trying to impose public order. The last time they were brought into the streets was in 1985 when police, ironically, were rioting and looting parts of town. They brought the army in. This is the first time since 1985 that we see Egyptian army soldiers on the street.
Many people respect the army for its role in defending the country as opposed to cracking down on popular unrest. And certainly this represents something of a potentially important significance, although Egyptian officials who I have to tell you these days aren't exactly being very useful in providing information have said they may be being deployed simply to protect public buildings.
But we have no idea why they've been brought into the streets, but if the army has been brought into play that is quite significant. But, Kyra, in the meantime, if we just pan the camera over to the bridge, that's the Sixth October Bridge, the main bridge coming into the heart of Cairo.
What you see on the right-hand side, hundreds of protesters who have been trying to reach the heart of the city. They're being driven back by an armored personnel carrier that looks like it's just been hit by a molitof cocktail. You see the fire rising above it.
Now the crowd is running through the tear gas going in the direction of the armored personnel carrier. It's been a battle back and forth. Now you see the truck is retreating and another mollitof cocktail being thrown at it. This appears this is nothing short, Kyra, of a battle in this city between the government and thousands and thousands of unhappy Egyptians.
PHILLIPS: And, Ben, as we continue to watch these live pictures, you were telling me just about 30 minutes ago -- you've been covering this region for a long time -- you have never witness Ed anything like this.
I've been saying as many live shots I've passed to you in the last 13 years we've never witnessed anything like this. So what's your sense of what could happen here? I was talking with the ambassador who's still with us, monitoring these live pictures as well, he was just saying just the fact the military was being brought in is a huge sign that this is escalating and getting worse. And what happens, Ben, if indeed Mubarak falls?
WEDEMAN: Yes. We don't know what's going on in terms of what's going to happen next. But I can tell you I heard what sounded like several live rounds being fired on that bridge in the direction of the protestors. And when live rounds come out, it means that the situation is escalating seriously.
Nobody knows -- I went out to dinner with friends overlooking this river just near here on Monday night, and everything looked calm and quiet, not quiet. This is Cairo, but life looked normal. And in the space of, what, four days this city, this country, has been shaken by an earthquake, overrun by a tsunami, so to speak, of developments that nobody, nobody, anticipated.
So, given that, I would be wildly insane to try to predict what is going to happen next. But here you have a good shot of what appears to be a disabled army armored personnel carrier. So I don't think they're going to be able to do much in this situation.
PHILLIPS: What's interesting is that the reports that have been coming out have been censored in so many ways. So your live pictures, the fact that you're able to be on the streets and call into us, we're getting a much clearer of what's taking place.
Ben, you are really stressing the point that protesters have been peaceful, correct? And that it's the police that you have observed that have been rushing into the crowds and sort of taking charge and creating a lot of this violence, right?
WEDEMAN: By and large, what we've seen is that people will be protesting peacefully, chanting, singing, and whatnot. Then they're set upon by the police and by their plain clothed elements as well. But people have been telling me that the harder, the more vicious and violent, the government becomes with the protesters, the protesters are going to start to respond in kind.
What we saw on live TV is that they're starting to throw molitov cocktails back at the police. We know in the Sinai Peninsula some of the people there have used rocket-propelled grenades to fire at the police. So the great majority of the protestors are peaceful, but there's no guarantee that some of them aren't going to start to take matters into their own hands by using violence, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Ben Wedeman, live for us there in Cairo. We're going to keep checking in with you. Also, Ambassador Edward with us as well, joining us live out of Houston, he's the director of Baker Institute At Rice University.
We'll keep following the live pictures, staying on top of this story and talking about what it means for the U.S. and U.S./Egyptian relations. More from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right, live pictures out of Cairo, Egypt. If you're just tuning in, it's a story we've been following all week, and it's just getting more intense and more violent.
Tens of thousands of anti-government protestors being confronted by police, being stoned by police, water cannons, batons. We've seen it all. Our Ben Wedeman is on the ground, telling us that protestors have been peaceful, but they're showing up in great force and the Egyptian government just doesn't like it.
They want the president, Hosni Mubarak, to step down. They say they are tired of the neglect from the government, the rampant poverty, the unemployment, the rising food prices and they've had enough.
And we are seeing the violence escalate as well against those protestors. We've heard shots fired. Ben Wedeman reporting Molotov cocktails being thrown into the protesters. The military has now been brought in. This is all a tremendous concern to people who are observing what's happening there on the streets of Cairo.
And the question remains -- how involved will the U.S. government get with involved its strongest ally here in this region? What will President Obama say and do? He's come out and said that it's important that the people have mechanisms to express their grievances. He's also asked Mubarak's administration to refrain from using violence against the protestors. But, as you can see, as we continue to get in these live pictures via our various resources, that is not happening. The violence is continuing and unfortunately getting worse.
It's about 10:30 here on the East Coast now. 7:30 out West. We want to just show you some other stories making headlines right now.
President Obama is actually wrapping up his week with a speech on the importance of health care reform and his vision for America. He's speaking at the Families' USA's annual health action conference in D.C.
And former South African president Nelson Mandela doing better. He was released from a Johannesburg hospital today after being treated for a respiratory infection. Mandela is 92 years old.
And NASA is marking the 25th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger explosion. All seven crew members, as you may remember, were killed when the shuttle broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral. NASA officials gathered at Kennedy Space Center for that service. Challenger commander Dick Scobie's widow, June, is also among the speakers.
Well, as we told you, in Egypt, anger is boiling over and the violence continues to erupt, and the world is definitely watching. Major cities of a U.S. ally resembling war zones right now. And we're talking about Cairo, Alexandria. That's where our reporters have been joining us live. And then the government, apparently, clamping down even tougher now. We've seen the military move in, and also social media has been shut down. No Twitter, no Facebook, no YouTube.
And that's where CNN's Mohammed Jamjoon has been monitoring all of this for us. Still, it was interesting, we couldn't even get a live shot as you know. And Ben Wedeman said, "I'm not going to give away the tricks of the trade, but figured something out, and we're up live." So, we were able to see that the military moving in, we were able to see the violence that was taking place on the bridge there with the Molotov cocktails and the trucks charging the protestors there. But, still, online, what's going on?
MOHAMMED JAMJOON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. And what we're seeing now online is that social media has been shut down. The Internet has effectively been shut down in Egypt since last night. Whereas before people were galvanized to get out in the streets and to protest - it's really been one of the key ways there has been organization that's been going on in this movement, that has not been going on today.
But we did get some new pictures actually just a short while ago from a Swedish tourist who's in Cairo. He was able to load pictures onto Facebook. He got us some pictures from his hotel room, which is close to the bridge where there were demonstrators and armored personnel carriers. And you could also see several protestors there as well.
As far as Twitter goes, people are not tweeting outside of Egypt right now. We are seeing some people outside of Egypt and other places around the world tweeting about it, encouraging people to get out into the streets and encouraging the overthrow of the government. But basically, there's been a really clampdown, shutdown on what's going on in Egypt with regards to social media and the Internet.
PHILLIPS: And also, we're being told a curfew has been imposed. Apparently in less than 30 minutes, the government has said everybody off the streets, everybody inside. So, Mohammed, my guess is it's going to get even more chaotic.
Now, let's talk about who the protestors are. These are tens of thousands -- I'm sure even more. It's really hard to gauge the numbers, right? -- of people who are sick and tired, they say, of the poverty, the unemployment, the rising food prices, and they're clearly trying to send out a message.
JAMJOON: That's right, Kyra. These are predominantly middle- class young, educated protestors that are tired of the corruption that goes on in Egypt. They are tired the bad economy, they are tired of not having job opportunities. And you see it again and again the last few days as we've been following social media. Even though right now there's not one particular person for these protesters to rally behind -- there's a lot of disorganization as to what would happen if Mubarak was thrown out or left the presidency -- the fact of the matter is, these people, most of them, want Mubarak out. That's the most important thing to them. They want regime change above all else. Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And there is tremendous concern about that, Mohammed, that if Mubarak falls, could this become an Islamic state? If that happens, they could join forces with al Qaeda, and that would be obviously a tremendous concern to the United States.
JAMJOON: Great concern to the U.S. right now. Not just about Egypt, but what would happen if the regime fell, but also about a country like Yemen, which we were speaking about yesterday. These are countries where there is a lot of internal anger right now about the leadership. The people there are saying the leadership is corrupt. They're tired of the bad economic conditions, tired of not having jobs.
But the fact of the matter is, within these countries, there are Islamist movements. It's a great concern to the West as to if these regimes, if these leaders are forced out, what happens then? Nobody knows at this point, but everybody is quite concerned about it in the region and elsewhere. Kyra? PHILLIPS: And the country's leading pro-democracy advocate, Mohammed ElBaradei, apparently had a posse around him, a security force because it was getting violent. Got trapped inside a mosque. What do we know about that and his influence, his safety? Obviously, he plays a big part in these protests.
JAMJOON: Yes. As of right now, there's still a lot of contradictory information about what's going on precisely with ElBaradei. There were reports that he was trapped inside a mosque. There were reports earlier that he had possibly been detained. No confirmation from the Egyptian government specifically about those points.
But a lot of protestors that were out there, many of them said he would be a good choice to come in. He is the most prominent opposition person in Egypt right now. Nonetheless, no telling exactly right now what -- basically, if he's been detained, where he's being kept. Just some reports that he's being held in this mosque.
PHILLIPS: Got it. Mohammed Jamjoom, glad you're here with us, helping us sort out this story out of Egypt. Appreciate it.
We're going to have more from the CNN NEWSROOM, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, a recent scandal in the FBI revealed widespread cheating among agents and top supervisors on a written test about how the bureau conducts domestic investigations. And a government investigation led to the reassignment of two high ranking supervisors who received help on that test.
However, cheating is just one example of years of misconduct inside this agency. We're talking about FBI agents, elite protectors of American justice, hitting the strip clubs, driving drunk, checking out porn, acting like frat boys instead of G-men. A pattern of misconduct that our investigative unit uncovered in this exclusive investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the FBI we know and trust, agents who take down bank robbers...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shots are being fired.
PHILLIPS: ... the mob, Russian sleeper cells, agents who swear to uphold fidelity, bravery, integrity.
But what we found inside one of the most respected federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies doesn't always match that image.
(on camera): Why did you lie?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I panicked. I lied about speaking to somebody about a piece of information.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Ashamed that he was caught, fearful that he will be identified, the story of this former agent who illegally searched the FBI database for personal use, and then lied about it, is not unique.
Matter of fact, the FBI confirms about 1,000 cases of misconduct over the last three years.
(on camera): Many are highlighted right here in confidential summaries of disciplinary reports that we obtained, bad behavior that may have you wondering why many of these employees didn't lose their jobs.
(voice-over): These internal reports that include a sex tape, sleeping with informants, tapping into FBI databases for unauthorized searches, viewing pornography on bureau computers, even driving drunk.
We went to the president of the FBI Agents Association.
(on camera) It was pretty appalling, reading some of the acts of misconduct. Is that ever acceptable?
KONRAD MOTYKA, PRESIDENT, FBI AGENTS ASSOCIATION: No, it isn't acceptable. Specifically, demonstrable incorrect conduct or criminal conduct is not acceptable and never should be.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Here are just a few examples. An employee had a sexual relationship with a source over seven months. The punishment: 40-day suspension.
An employee who was drunk exploited his FBI employment at a strip club, falsely claiming he was conducting an official investigation. His punishment: suspended for 30 days.
A supervisor viewed pornographic movies in his office during work hours while sexually satisfying himself. Punishment: 35-day suspension.
And an employee in a leadership position misused a government database to check on two exotic dancers and then took them into an FBI office after hours. That penalty: 23-day suspension.
CANDACE WILL, ASSISTANT FBI DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY: People are human. They make mistakes.
PHILLIPS: Assistant FBI director Candace Will oversees the Office of Professional Responsibility, which handles disciplinary proceedings.
(voice-over) When you hear those type of allegations, suspension seem right to you versus being fired?
WILL: When I hear those types of allegations, I'm deeply aggrieved. I don't -- I don't want to hear about any of our employees doing anything like that. But again, I -- my job is to look at the full file in the case.
PHILLIPS: To some you could hear allegations like this and think, "Wow, it takes a lot of bad behavior to get fired from the FBI."
WILL: That is so not true. If I get any type of criticism on a routine basis, it is that I am the hammer. I don't -- I don't ever hear that I am light or that I take any zeetag (ph) ever.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Will says she receives about 500 cases of alleged misconduct a year. And about 70 percent result in some kind of discipline. Just a fraction, she says, of the 34,000 FBI employees.
WILL: The vast majority of our employees do not lie. The vast majority of our employees do not cheat. The vast majority of our employees do not steal.
PHILLIPS: But the internal reports we obtained do detail serious misconduct. Misuse of position. Fraud. Even abuse of a government credit card. In one case, an FBI employee used government databases to get details about celebrities the employee thought were, quote, "hot."
WILL: I have seen allegations in my office where I have been surprised by what I've read. I have seen allegations in my office where I've been very saddened by what I've read.
PHILLIPS: Like the FBI employee who leaked law enforcement sensitive information to his girlfriend who was a news reporter. And after breaking up, threatened her with the release of a sex tape the two had made.
(on camera) How could someone like that even work for the FBI in the first place?
WILL: Well, that someone is a former employee.
PHILLIPS: Director Will, why not a no-tolerance policy?
WILL: We do have a no-tolerance policy. We don't tolerate our employees engaging in misconduct. It doesn't mean that we fire everybody.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): But one sure way to get fired is to lie under oath.
(on camera) Why did you make the mistake? You took the oath. You knew what you were doing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you're a human being, and you make a mistake. You fail. You fear. It's a fit of panic. That's all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: If you're maybe wondering why these internal reports are e-mailed to employees in the first place, well, assistant FBI director Candice Will says she selects which cases of misconduct to highlight and disseminate throughout the FBI, hoping that employees will steer clear of any ethical pitfall and other violations.
We contin - continue, rather -- to follow the breaking news out of Cairo, Egypt right now where tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets. And you've seen the water cannons and police charging into the crowds, the batons and violence taking place. It just continues to grow. One area specifically, Alexandria, Egypt, and that's where our Nic Robertson joins us on the phone. Nic, is it picking up more momentum there?
ROBERTSON (via phone): There's certainly a lot more anger, certainly a lot more volatility. The situation on the streets more fluid, seems the crowds have beaten back the police through the afternoon. It's dusk now, and I'm watching plumes of black smoke rising up from at least half a dozen buildings in the center of the city.
One of those buildings we're told is a police station in the center of Alexandria. That has been burnt by the crowd. There doesn't seem to be anyone to hold back the anger of the crowds at the moment. We saw a protestor a little earlier being carried away. He had been killed in a confrontation with the police. The anger here are the regime absolutely seething. Just a very, very volatile situation as this city heads into nightfall, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And so we -- any -- Ben Wedeman was able to get up live for us, Nic. He hadn't been able to do that because of satellites being shut down and the Internet being shut down. But he was able to figure out how to do it. He said for the first time, they saw pictures of the military being brought in.
And we just got confirmation that president Hosni Mubarak has not only called for a curfew in less than ten minutes, but he's asked the army to take charge of security. Have you seen the military in any way, shape or form in Alexandria? And what's your take about how this is escalating and the fact that the army now has been brought in?
ROBERTSON: Well, Kyra, just as you were talking to me, I heard a gunshot not far away from here. We've heard automatic weapons fire. We haven't yet seen ourselves in the center of Alexandria the army on the streets. What we have seen are the protestors clashing with the police, and then the situation calming, the protestors calling for calm, going up to the police, patting the police on the back. The police not wanting it, appears to follow through with their orders to clear the protestors off the street, almost sort of sympathizing with the protestors' plight. Then when the tide turned against the police and the rocks were thrown, the police retreated.
So, what is fear on the street and the number of damaged police vehicles and the way that the police have pulled back from confrontations here is that the police don't appear -- that was a huge explosion there - the police don't appear to be able to control these crowds. So, it would appear to be no surprise there for President Mubarak is (INAUDIBLE) to tell the army to take control. The picture in the center of Alexandria right now is very volatile. As I said, that was a very large explosion. A secondary explosion there, not far from the hotel. Kyra? PHILLIPS: Nic, I had a chance to talk with Ben a lot about this. I want to address it to you as well, the fact that Egypt is a huge ally to the U.S. and vice versa.
We've heard a little bit from the president of the United States. He has said that it's important that the people have mechanisms in order to express their grievances. He's also made it clear that he wants Mubarak and his administration to refrain from using violence against the protestors. What could this mean for U.S./Egypt relations?
And also there's a concern that if Mubarak does fall, that there could be an Islamic state that grows, which could connect with al Qaeda and could really change the face of Middle East politics and of course, relations with the U.S.
ROBERTSON: I think from what I hear from talking to people here in Egypt is that certainly there would very likely be a change in the relationship with the United States, how they dealt with the United States, how they deal with regional issues, particularly the Israeli/Palestinian situation. I think from my conversations here with people, there isn't a sense that this would become an Islamic state.
You would certainly see the Muslim brotherhood become a much stronger political player here, perhaps the strongest individual political player at this time. They've had a strong underground movement here for many decades since they ultimately were allowed to thrive and then repressed by Hosni Mubarak's regime, which in some way has fueled support for them because they are one of the only large, organized voices of political dissent. So, if you're angry with the government, where can you go but to an organization such as this? That is one part of the community.
But far from everyone supports the Muslim brotherhood and their Islamic views. They are, they say, a peaceful Islamic group. Other regional leaders would fear they wouldn't be democratic. But it would likely bring a change of the regional political makeup that would change the dynamic here in the region. Particularly in terms of the Israeli/Palestinian situation, in a way that we just can't imagine perhaps at the moment, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Nic Wedeman - or Nic Robertson, calling in from Alexandria, Egypt. Nic, thanks so much.
We want to get to Ben Wedeman still while he's able to maintain that live signal out of Cairo. Ben, you're the one -- can you hear me okay, Ben? Still connected with us?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Put it on Egyptian TV.
PHILLIPS: OK, Ben Wedeman - OK, it looks like we lost connection with him. We'll try and get that rerouted. And you guys let me know if Ben is able to hear us. Basically, Ben was able to somehow maneuver a live shot when all of the satellites had been shut down. And the government has also come in and shut down access via the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, et cetera.
OK, we've got Ben connected with us once again. Ben, I was just telling our viewers how we weren't able to bring them live pictures because we weren't able to get a live signal. You have been able to achieve that. Bring us up to date. You were the first one to report shots of the military moving in. Now we're being told President Mubarak saying that the army is to take charge of security.
WEDEMAN: That's right. As commander in chief of the armed forces, he has now taken direct control or charge of security in Egypt. Now, we're hearing on Egyptian television that he will be speaking to the nation shortly. But I think a lot of them won't be listening because it looks like the crowd on this bridge behind me is getting bigger and bigger, despite the tear gas being fired in some profusion here.
The situation extremely fluid. We're hearing that the Jazeera office of the Jazeera Arabic news network has been raided by the Egyptian police. We're hearing that ordinary tourists are getting their cameras confiscated. As violence continues, I was looking out the back window of our office toward the east into the heart of Cairo. It looks like there are some buildings on fire. So, for many Egyptians some sort of restoration of calm couldn't come sooner. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: And Ben, what is your sense of what's going to happen next? You've watched this escalate the entire week. Today is by far been the worst since this all began. More protestors, more violence, not just the police moving into those crowds but now the military. What is the talk? what are your sources telling you with regard to the future of Mubarak's presidency?
WEDEMAN: Well, that's very much in question at the moment. Certainly this is by far the biggest challenge of his rule since he became the head of the Egyptian state in 1981. And over the last four days -- and it's incredible to think it's only been four days -- criticism of President Mubarak has been intense. Authorities - what appear to many Egyptians a passive, indifferent attitude to this escalating street protest that's going on. Many Egyptians saying, look, you know, we need to hear from the president. Where is this country going?
There were rumors he might for the first time in his entire ruleappoint a vice president. But all of it is so unclear, and it seems that the government of Egypt, like so many others, has been taken completely by storm. (AUDIO GAP) fast and furious the last four days, Kyra. So, I would be a fool to predict where this country is going. I have no idea.
PHILLIPS: It's definitely been unpredictable, that is for sure. Ben Wedeman continuing the coverage for us. Stay with us, please. We're going to continue to follow this breaking news. It's just about five minutes before the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Live pictures once again out of Cairo, Egypt. Just when we thought we weren't going to be able to bring you live pictures, our Ben Wedeman was able to somehow gerry-rig a way to get this feed up and running because the government has been moving in and shutting down everything on the Internet. No Facebook, no Twitter. And also no satellites.
As you can see, it's kind of coming in and out. We're going to try and stay with this.
But Ben Wedeman, bringing us up-to-date as we're moving into the evening. About two minutes away, apparently, from a curfew that has been called by President Hosni Mubarak. He is supposed to speak apparently within the next hour. For the first time, we're going to hear from the president as these protests have only increased and gotten more violent throughout the week. Today definitely the worst day when it came -- comes to violence. Tens of thousands of people on the streets. And we saw the police moving in with the water cannons and stoning protestors, using their batons.
Ben reporting to us that for the most part protestors had been peaceful. And then Ben was able to bring us the first shots of the military being brought in. Apparently, President Mubarak saying that the army is now going to take control of security. Not a good sign, as the violence continues here.
A lot of questions to be asked. What does this mean for the U.S. and Egypt? Strong allies. What does it mean for their relationship? What does it mean for the future of President Mubarak? And what does it mean for peace in the Middle East?
It's playing out right now through the evening there in Cairo. We're going to stay on this story and bring you all the various angles, and tell you why you should stay tuned in and care about what's happening right now in Cairo.
Carol Costello picks it up from here.
It's a busy Friday, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It sure is. Have a great day, Kyra. Thanks.
