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CNN Live Saturday
The War on Terror: Security Analysis
Aired January 03, 2004 - 14:15 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A reminder after two days of cancellations, a British Airways flight 223 from London to Washington is now in the air. However, security concerns remain a big concern for world travel.
Our Kelly McCann is tracking developments all across the board for us and he joins us again from Washington.
Good to see you again, Kelly.
KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about the Egypt -- the charter Egypt Air flight that crashed this morning. Egyptian authorities are saying quite quickly that they believe that it was a technical problem. Is this a little early on in the investigation before they're ready to jump to conclusions?
MCCANN: Well, it may appear to be early, but I don't think that there was any intelligence pointing towards an event that might have happened in that region. That's one thing, of course, that they're basing it on.
And secondly, in doing a little bit of research on the events surrounding this, it seems that technical tracking data shows that there was some kind of malfunction about five minutes after takeoff. The crew then tried to turn back, evidently attempting to try to get back to home base, but the altitude was not great enough to allow the maneuver. And they think that's what caused the crash.
Now, obviously if a crew is frantically trying to do all of these things, the ability for them to communicate and maybe, in fact, the communications equipment could have been affected. So I think it's a little too early to tell, but certainly nobody wants to think that it's terrorism, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Overall travel across the globe certainly reached a high pitch in terms of security. All passengers are being asked to travel with patience, aren't they? Because this is going to be for the long haul, potentially?
MCCANN: Absolutely. A good book and a little bit of patience goes a long way in airports these days.
I mean, the bottom line is, is no one is undertaking any extra security just to annoy people. They're doing it for their own good. And I know that's easy to say when you're not flying. But the bottom line is, the cost of not taking extra security preventative measures would be too great, Fred. So I think people would be wise to just kind of keep their anxiety under control and know that the administration is doing everything it can to make sure they get to their destination safely.
WHITFIELD: At the root of the high level for air travel, is the ongoing war on terrorism.
Now let's talk about what's going on in the war on terrorism. Most recently, in the past 24 hours, at least three U.S. Soldiers have died from various attacks.
Let's talk about the tactics of the insurgents. Some are saying that we're starting to see some changes in their strategy. How are you evaluating them?
MCCANN: Well, if you remember, during the war, there was some purfity (ph) and treachery on the battlefield -- people that looked like they were trying to surrender and then would attack their captors. That kind of thing was engaged in by the fedayeen and other former regime loyalists, as we know them now.
There's a report out there that when an observation helicopter crashed, the security force that secured the site was attacked by what appeared to be journalists. These people appeared in black jackets with clearly lettered media or press on them. Now, there is confusion about that report, and it's not clear yet whether in fact they were journalists actually going to the site to actually report on it, and somehow the fire was taken from another area, or near them, and they were confused with the insurgents -- - or, in fact, they were the insurgents. So it remains a very conflicted environment.
WHITFIELD: All right. Kelly McCann, from Washington, thanks very much.
MCCANN: Pleasure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 3, 2004 - 14:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A reminder after two days of cancellations, a British Airways flight 223 from London to Washington is now in the air. However, security concerns remain a big concern for world travel.
Our Kelly McCann is tracking developments all across the board for us and he joins us again from Washington.
Good to see you again, Kelly.
KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about the Egypt -- the charter Egypt Air flight that crashed this morning. Egyptian authorities are saying quite quickly that they believe that it was a technical problem. Is this a little early on in the investigation before they're ready to jump to conclusions?
MCCANN: Well, it may appear to be early, but I don't think that there was any intelligence pointing towards an event that might have happened in that region. That's one thing, of course, that they're basing it on.
And secondly, in doing a little bit of research on the events surrounding this, it seems that technical tracking data shows that there was some kind of malfunction about five minutes after takeoff. The crew then tried to turn back, evidently attempting to try to get back to home base, but the altitude was not great enough to allow the maneuver. And they think that's what caused the crash.
Now, obviously if a crew is frantically trying to do all of these things, the ability for them to communicate and maybe, in fact, the communications equipment could have been affected. So I think it's a little too early to tell, but certainly nobody wants to think that it's terrorism, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Overall travel across the globe certainly reached a high pitch in terms of security. All passengers are being asked to travel with patience, aren't they? Because this is going to be for the long haul, potentially?
MCCANN: Absolutely. A good book and a little bit of patience goes a long way in airports these days.
I mean, the bottom line is, is no one is undertaking any extra security just to annoy people. They're doing it for their own good. And I know that's easy to say when you're not flying. But the bottom line is, the cost of not taking extra security preventative measures would be too great, Fred. So I think people would be wise to just kind of keep their anxiety under control and know that the administration is doing everything it can to make sure they get to their destination safely.
WHITFIELD: At the root of the high level for air travel, is the ongoing war on terrorism.
Now let's talk about what's going on in the war on terrorism. Most recently, in the past 24 hours, at least three U.S. Soldiers have died from various attacks.
Let's talk about the tactics of the insurgents. Some are saying that we're starting to see some changes in their strategy. How are you evaluating them?
MCCANN: Well, if you remember, during the war, there was some purfity (ph) and treachery on the battlefield -- people that looked like they were trying to surrender and then would attack their captors. That kind of thing was engaged in by the fedayeen and other former regime loyalists, as we know them now.
There's a report out there that when an observation helicopter crashed, the security force that secured the site was attacked by what appeared to be journalists. These people appeared in black jackets with clearly lettered media or press on them. Now, there is confusion about that report, and it's not clear yet whether in fact they were journalists actually going to the site to actually report on it, and somehow the fire was taken from another area, or near them, and they were confused with the insurgents -- - or, in fact, they were the insurgents. So it remains a very conflicted environment.
WHITFIELD: All right. Kelly McCann, from Washington, thanks very much.
MCCANN: Pleasure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
