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CNN Tonight

Mystery of Flight 370

Aired April 15, 2014 - 21:00   ET

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

BILL WEIR, CNN HOST: Good evening. I'm Bill Weir. And this is CNN Tonight.

It's 40 days since Flight 370 vanished, four weeks since Vladimir Putin bloodlessly scooped Crimea into Russia's grip, and a year since the bombing at the Boston Marathon.

So what do we learned at our skies, our safety, ourselves? And we're looking at the calendar today and realized how quickly conventional wisdom can change.

April 14th 2013, one year and one day ago, a Boeing jet goes down in Indian Ocean, but the most noble thing about the Lion Air crash is that everyone survived, one more example of the safety of modern air travel, right?

A year and a day ago, Russia and United States were squabbling over sanctions in human rights violations, but many thought it was just Putin's macho blaster after all he was preparing to host the world (ph) at the Olympic games as economy needed to be firmly global. Certainly, who would learn to play nice?

And one year and one day ago, the biggest threat in Boston seemed to be the run over heartbreak heal. Will changes awfully pass and to help us keep up with this unfolding stories. I'll talk to two young women who can teach us something tonight. One as to many become the face of protest in Ukraine. The other miraculous who escaped physical wounds with the bombs of Boston but she's running this year to honor a friend who lost a leg and to escape the demons of survivor's guilt.

But, per tradition, let us begin with the very latest on the search for Flight 370. After a disappointing first search day, the U.S. navy's Bluefin-21 is back in the water right now and expected to be mapping the ocean floor for another 12 hours or so.

CNN's Michael Holmes is live in Perth, Joe Johns is in Kuala Lumpur, but let us begin down under. It is 9 a.m. there Michael. What's the very latest?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. It is indeed (inaudible) Bill. Yeah, after yesterday, after completing around six hours of its mission, the Bluefin-21 went below its programmed operating depth of 4500 meters. I didn't think it was that deep down there and a built-in safety feature might have come back to the surface. They did get data when they were down there, that six hours of data. They have examined it and that they say it really turned up nothing. But it was the first time out and they did say that it did perform technically well. They're going to try to reprogram that now so that the software allows it to go even deeper. Now, they've made that discovery about how deep it is down there.

As you pointed out, they go at about seven hours to go on this current run on the ocean floor. They need to come back up again and the data will be downloaded and it'll go down again. This is a process that could potentially go anywhere from six weeks to two months as they comb that search area. Bill.

WEIR: And some about the oil slick there Michael. There were two liters being tested trying to figure out if its jet fuel, if it's something else, when can we expect those results?

HOLMES: Yeah, probably in the next day or two. It was couple of days ago that we had the briefing, and Angus Houston, the man at the head of this search effort told us about that that they found this oil slick. They picked up two liters of it. They've got to get it back here to Perth to analyze and we're going to keep in mind though that this search area is over 2,000 kilometers west of here. What they've done is they put that sample on a helicopter. They are flying it to a ship and then that ship is going to get closer to land, then the helicopter brings it all the rest of the oil then they're going to have a look at that.

They've got samples of oil from Malaysian airlines to make a comparison to see if that oil could have come from the engines of 370 or it could be hydraulic fluid or of course it could be nothing at all. We'll probably know in the next day or so, Bill.

WEIR: OK. And what about the air searches. What are the assets above and we're hearing that some may be scaled back. Why?

HOLMES: Yeah. Angus Houston, again, he said that a couple of days ago too. He said that in the next two days, he expected that air and sea surface search to be scaled back. Why? Well, they just haven't found anything, Bill. And time is marching on. However, we know that today, the planes are up and, in fact, more than a dozen planes are out in that area and also 11 ships still trying to find some surface debris by due (ph) expected to be scaled back in the days ahead though, quite simply because they've not found anything. Bill.

WEIR: OK. Michael Holmes, appreciate your reporting in Perth.

Let's turn now live to Joe Johns in Kuala Lumpur. Joe, good to be with you. Tell me about the Malaysian (inaudible) in announcing some sort of an investigative committee.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Right. This is an investigative committee to look into all aspects of the MH370 situation from start to finish, from A to Z, and it is a clear indication that this government has questions which requires some thoughtful and thorough answers. A committee somewhat in some ways very much like say the 9/11 commission or the space shuttle commission. So, they'll be looking into all aspects of Flight MH370. Bill. WEIR: Yeah. We've been saying, you know, for 40 days now that when it comes to this kind of search, this kind of mystery, this is the Malaysian's first (inaudible) rhetorically and we got a sense of that from Malaysian transportation minister. Well, actually invoked September 11th today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HISHAMMUDDIN HUSSEIN, MALAYSIAN ACTING TRANSPORTATION MINISTER: We did not go through the twin tower incident. Our Ministry of Defense was not attacked like Pentagon was. Putrajaya was not attacked but we need to consider that as a possible future threat and that needs to be addressed and the SOPs that is with the air force where they have to be relooked at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEIR: Is that the closest we've heard -- as closest thing to I guess in Malaysian Mea culpa?

JOHNS: Yeah. I don't think so actually. I have to say, he made those remarks at the huge defense services expo here in Kuala Lumpur. Defense services people from all over the world. I ran in to some U.S. military people there. And his point is that Malaysia simply needs to upgrade all of its capabilities and capacities whether it has to be -- to do with air surveillance, undersea surveillance, or what have you, and it also sounded like he was talking about the needing a little bit more on the air defense side. Bill.

WEIR: OK. Joe Johns in Kuala Lumpur. I'm much obliged to you.

Let's bring in two people we have been following. The twists and turns with this from the very beginning. David Soucie, author of "Why Planes Crash," Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of DOT and now an attorney for victims of transportation accidents. We meet again, both of you, thanks for being here.

David, what are your thoughts on the Bluefin? This thing is slower than most riding land Mars (ph) and had to bail out yesterday. What are your thoughts on the long-term prognosis with this plane?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: You know, the thing that I'm getting from the fact that they only have one Bluefin and that that Bluefin went out and came back. They must really have a good idea as to where this -- where they believe this to be. That's what I'm getting from that. But it didn't. You know, at Flight 447, they weren't quite sure, they're scanning the area, but somehow, I just have that feeling. If they were guessing at where this thing was, they would have brought in more resources, I would think.

So the fact that they've got one tells me that there's a one place they're looking. That's what they're trying to get to.

WEIR: Does that make sense to you Mary? I mean, why not have the other Bluefin in the water? MARY SCHIAVO, FMR. INSPECTOR GENERAL, U.S. DOT: Yeah. Yeah, like David, investigators don't believe in coincidences and it was very coincidental or not, very intentional that when the Ocean Shield went out, I mean, boom, it went right to the area and it got pings. I mean, I think it was the first day that they got the two hours of the pings. And so, somehow, in the vast Indian Ocean and with nothing evident for pings with -- from the Inmarsat satellite, they sent the Ocean Shield out and picked up pings.

And I was impressed. That's pretty good. So, with David, they seem to be able to zero in on exactly where they think this thing is.

WEIR: Yeah. David, what do you think about the oil slick? If it is in fact -- first of all, can you fingerprint oil?

SOUCIE: Yeah. Basically, you can, at least by model or maybe by engine. I'll assume with that (ph). Like the Rolls-Royce Trent engine, it uses a very specific kind of oil. It's not even unique. It's not even widely used among other aircraft engines. But, the nice thing about this that I heard that Malaysia sent a sample of the engine oil from what they used in that aircraft. So, what that means is not just to took it off the shelf, that means there's constant engine oil monitoring on these engines.

WEIR: Also, they have a sample from the actual oil well of that -- yeah. Or ...

SOUCIE: Exactly. Yeah. So, the carbon level -- it does -- it depends on the consistency of what they got if it was only in one area or if it wasn't.

WEIR: Yeah.

SOUCIE: If it was all in one area and they get a good sample, you could actually tell the aging of the oil. How long it's been on the engine, how much carbon is in that oil.

WEIR: Right.

SOUCIE: So there's a lot they can learn from that.

WEIR: But, let's say, I hope again -- so, it comes back positive that this was 370 oil, Mary, what does that mean 40 days later after, you know, a typhoon in this area in terms of location. Does it help?

SCHIAVO: Well, what -- yeah. It helps because I think that is 40 days later and they still were able to -- or when they picked it up, it was almost 40 days that there's still oil escaping from whatever is down below. For example, and then I would just say that aircraft investigators conference down in Cape Canaveral and they have the wreckage from one of the space shuttles and they still have pings (ph) under some of the parts that they've picked up. It's still licking. So what that would suggest to me is that if they picked up a fresh sample on the surface right near where they think the pings came from, something is still licking. WEIR: Interesting. So you could follow it down to the bottom. And in the air search, David, is that still a worthwhile endeavor at this point?

SOUCIE: If it were me making those decisions which obviously it's not, but I would -- I'd start thinking about the fact that, "What are we going to learn from that?" I think the primary reason for the debris search initially why it was so intense is because we needed to find out where the impact point was.

So again, it goes back to the fact that they must be very sure the fact that it's there, because if not, they wouldn't be considering that or they're still going to look for other points. Because if they find the debris now, it's going to tell them the whole lot, most of the clues either entails why this happened or at the bottom of the ocean if that's the aircraft. So I would focus that way as well.

WEIR: Interesting. And Mary, finally, we got 14 nations involves in the crash in terms of passengers there. You had search and rescue efforts, 26 countries that are involved. So, who gets the black box when they find it, hopefully?

SCHIAVO: Well, there's the international treaty, International Civil Aviation Organization rules, that's an offshoot of the UN, it's technically Malaysia's. And by the way, when all is set and done, it's - technically, the airlines insurer that technically owns it. But Malaysia gets to decide and work on it and -- oh, yeah, I mean, in the end in the litigation, you actually have to go back and get a court order and you have to get a court order you can be able to use it and it does belong to the airlines insurer who pays for the wreckage.

But, Malaysia technically does, but I think their delegation, they sent someone to the UK to talk to ICAO about the progress in the investigation from here on and their public statements that they can't do it. I mean, I'm not too concern that they will, you know, keep it or try to do it themselves. I think they've been pretty open about the fact that they can't and they'll call in one or all four of the countries that can, Australia, United States, the UK or France, it will be one of those four or all of those four and I think they will especially since they've already made public statements.

WEIR: OK. Mary Schiavo, David Soucie, thanks once again for all your insight and we're of course waiting for the Bluefin's underwater search ongoing now, the analysis of that oil slick. Is the investigation finally catching wind? We'll ask a man who has been investigating aviation accidents since 1982 when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WEIR: We do have some breaking news at of South Korea at this hour. A passenger ship with 450 people on board is sinking off the Southwest coast of that country with a rescue operation underway. Most of the passengers are reported to be high school students on a field trip, according to the official news agency in South Korea. Of course, we will provide more details as soon as we get them. And staying in international waters news, back to the search for Flight 370. Deep under the waves that Bluefin-21 is searching, it looks like a torpedo, really a big microphone listening underneath. But up above 14 planes, 11 ships are headed to the search area.

David Soucie, Mary Schiavo are back with us. And joining us now Colonel J.F. Joseph, retired airline pilot. And Chris Reddy, a Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Gentlemen, thanks for joining the panel tonight.

J.F., you've been investigating this -- since the early 80s, you worked on the Air France investigation, so you're new to the speculation-palooza we have here. What is your theory on what happens to Flight 370?

COL. J. F. JOSEPH, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): Well, I still think the facts are somewhat limited, however, to me, it disappears. There are some type of catastrophic event and incapacitation of flight crew. I think the basic elements of what we know, thus far, simply pointing in that direction.

WEIR: So, it's not maybe a fire and they were not unconscious and it flew on its own, the ghost flight as some call it.

JOSEPH: It would be something similar to that. The catastrophic events as we see in aviation, nothing bad happens until something bad happens. And tragically, when they do, they happen very, very quickly and often times instrumentable (ph) in terms of what the outcome will be due to the challenges that are presented to the flight crew.

WEIR: Given your investigative experience, give us day 40 sort of report card on what you've seen on this search.

JOSEPH: Well, I think certainly, I think the NQ is being (ph) in (inaudible) the Australians -- the folks giving the information that they have a hope at against hope that the information they're getting, they're getting from honest (ph) brokers. They're pointed in the right direction. I think they have honed in on the primary area where the aircraft probably is located. As Mary indicated earlier, I think they have somewhat pinpointed at least in terms of the size and scope of the debris field and area where it could possibly be located.

With the assets available, I do feel confident, and once we get down there that we're going to have a good outcome on this in terms of retrieving the black box. Ultimately, that's how we're going to solve this mystery.

WEIR: Chris, I understand you specialized in oil slicks of all sorts at Woods Hole there. We were talking with David about the way they identify this, talk us through that possibilities that this could lead to 370.

CHRIS REDDY, SR. SCIENTIST, WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INST.: Well, the first thing is whether or not the slick that you see is actually oil. It's quite possible that it could be just natural plant debris that's sitting on the ocean. So, anything now would be speculation. The first thing you'd' want to do is actually just collect the sample of the sea surface, almost like cleaning the pool of leaves and you can get back to the lab and get a little bit of understanding of whether or not what you're seeing is a slick that may come from the jet fuel or some other fuel product that was on the plane.

WEIR: OK. Stay with me everybody, please. We're going to take a little break. And when we come back, we'll talk about the story of the co-pilot's cell phone. Can we believe his device actually made contact for the tower on the ground? And if he did, what is that all mean?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WEIR: Welcome back to CNN Tonight. I'm Bill Weir.

Investigators is still trying to figure out whether the co-pilot's cell phone is an important clue to what happened to Flight 370. That phone was on and made contact with the cell tower in Malaysia about the time the plane disappeared from radar. So what is that tell us? Right back with me now, Retired Airline Pilot Colonel J. F. Joseph, Mary Schiavo also Woods Holes Senior Scientist, Chris Reddy.

Jim, tell me about this. And first of all, you're a pilot, you flew for many years. Is it rare for that pilot's phone to be on, even given the recent rule change here in the States?

JOSEPH: Well, actually it's not odd that it was on and there's many times I can tell you that rolling down the runway, you hear a telephone go off, somebody's cell phone go off, they just simply forgot to turn it off. So it does happen. It's not unusual. And it obviously can become distracting. But certainly, it does happen and I don't see anything sinister with to that that it could've been left on accidentally.

WEIR: Right. But about the altitude you'd have to be at and just the physics of the plane for it to make contact. And what, you know, how low would the 370 have to have been to make contact like that?

JOSEPH: Well, I'm not an expert on data link communications, but I will tell you that I'm aware of the signals up to 30,000 feet, text messages being transmitted and phones going off, receiving data once an aircraft slowed down about a 150 nauts on an approach. So there are -- I think a number of variables, a number of inputs that allow those type of communication links that happen. But in truth, I simply can't speak to the specific to this (inaudible) happen and how the communications may have been linked in the towers with the cell phone.

WEIR: Yeah. Mary what about your experience investigating. I know -- of course on 9/11, several passengers calls went through. What do you make of that detail?

SCHIAVO: Well, you know, in past cases that I've worked on, I have experienced from two different camps, obviously on September 11, not just Flight 93, which persons have heard about and heard some of the transmissions of the calls. But literally, on all four flights, passengers and flight attendants were able to get calls out. Some are on the air phone and some are on cell phones and it was kind of hit or miss, who could get a signal and who couldn't.

And by the way, we didn't hear publicly, you didn't hear about all the calls. There were many other attempted calls or people left messages, people didn't get through, somebody who wasn't home. So they were quite a number. Remember, there are only 243 people on the plane and we've probably had couple of dozen attempts to where they went through. The flip side is I've also worked cases where people have had problems on planes. Now, be at small planes, people have had problems on planes by losing their communications and have an onboard crisis and then resorted to their cell phone to try to call.

So, I've seen it both from a criminal perspective and from a civil perspective. And that could've happened here too. Perhaps, they needed to try to get a call out and flew low to get at the tower.

WEIR: Right, right. But you'd think that there would be -- it just smells like incomplete information, because if he's got phone made contact ...

SCHIAVO: Absolutely.

WEIR: ... 239 other passengers there, somebody else's must have been on.

SCHIAVO: You got it. And it sounds like they have not nearly completed enough investigation because they have to research each and one of those cell phones and then look also the other way. Each in every cell phone tower that they would've passed over, what pings did they get from cell phones on those towers?

WEIR: And Chris, I wanted to ask you about the crisis management, that's your experience. We'll all clean up these (inaudible), but we're out of time. I'm sure we'll have room for it later in the week if you'll comeback. But to Mary and ...

REDDY: Sure.

WEIR: ... J.F. and all of you, thank you so much. And well, so much to the world has been focused of course on the search for the plane.

Urgent and dangerous situation in Eastern Europe could break out in the Civil War. That was the warning from the very top of the Russian Government, Vladimir Putin invoking the word Civil War today.

And when we come back, we'll explain what's happening there and why you should care.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WEIR: Vladimir Putin with his steely bond villain gaze is a pension for shirtless feats of manliness. The Russian President has been an easy punch line of the last decade or so.

For the last couple of months, the chuckles have died and US-Russia relations have gone cold. Sure, not 1980s cold but getting there. And stuff happened today that cranked the thermostat down even further. We'll give you details in a sec.

But first, a little reminder of what the world is worried about. Tonight, Ukraine, no V anymore since 91 when the Soviet Union troubled and got this country the size of Texas broke free. The V is gone. So of course it's a young democracy with a very fragile economy and of course it is the center of a tug-of-war between Europe on the western side, Russia on the east.

Now, recall last fall, Ukraine's President a buddy of Vlad Putin's rejected big trade deal with Europe and all hell broke lose there. Protesters took it to the streets. And even though they were bloodied by the troops, they managed to run him out of the country. He split for Russia. And when the victorious citizens went to his house, they discovered the president have been looting the treasury to buy himself pirate ship themed restaurants among other swag.

Now, back in Moscow, Putin is watching all of this and thinking, "Europe is getting too close for comfort. Ukraine belongs to the motherland. We don't want NATO troops on our black seed border." So thanks to the help of all those Russian loving folks down in that peninsula, Crimea, they annexed it. Russia just took it without firing a shot last month. And it went so well he started eyeing other neighborhoods.

And as Ukrainian friendlies has started taking over police stations and military basis just like they did in Crimea. And until today, the locals have not made much of a move to fight back because they don't want to give Putin an excuse to send in the big guns.

But with America and Europe's blessing, Ukrainian troops began rolling into those eastern cities today, but rather than strike fear, they seemed to mostly be getting stuck in the mud and getting hackled by much shorter Russian friendlies because the guys and the member's only jackets know that Russia has 40,000 troops at their back just over the border.

So it is reasonable to worry that we are one drunken gunshot away from a civil war with Russian back in one side Europe and America on the other side.

We're going to talk to an American General about the implications of this in a moment.

But first, let's start a little chat with a woman who became the voice of western loving Ukrainians with one viral YouTube video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YULIA MARUSHEVSKA, POLITICAL ACTIVIST, YOUTUBE "I AM A UKRAINIAN": I am a Ukrainian in the native of Kiev. I ask you now to help us. We held this freedom inside our hearts. We have this freedom in our minds. And now, I ask you to view this freedom in our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEIR: That is Yulia Marushevska, she is a PhD candidate and became the face of a revolution with that viral video "I am a Ukrainian". It's been viewed by people over seven million times and she joins us now from Boston.

Yulia, thank you for being with us. Welcome to America. It seemed a few months ago that you had won. The man you wanted out was gone and there was celebration, how would you describe your feelings now with 40,000 troops on your eastern border?

MARUSHEVSKA: I am extremely worried about my country, about Ukraine, about my people. I feel I think the same as a lot of Ukrainians. We feel betrayed because when we gave out the third biggest nuclear weapon in the world just to keep peace in the whole world. And to the country which took a commitment to protect our borders, now this country's a main aggressor and it's really a betrayal because we were brotherhood countries, brotherhood nations and now we have to fight and to fight for our -- just to fight to possibility ...

WEIR: Right.

MARUSHEVSKA: ... to -- and that's very painful.

WEIR: Right.

MARUSHEVSKA: But I feel determined about that.

WEIR: You must ..

MARUSHEVSKA: I feel that we will never give up because that's our country and that's our future and we will have this prosperous future because we give too much. These people who died on Maidan, they could never die in vain. We will do everything we can to protect our independence and to have our future as we wanted to have.

WEIR: But Yulia, what about the possibilities of a civil war. We get the sense that much of the eastern half of your country loves Russia and would rather be part of Russia, is that true? What is the real breakdown? What's the real split.

MARUSHEVSKA: You know, a lot of stereotypes about Ukraine in the world media but it's better for you to talk to you underground journalists who saw everything on their eyes.

Our country isn't split; we have lived for 30 year -- for all the years after independence peacefully. I'm from Kiev where most of the people are talking -- are speaking Russian. We are a bilingual society. We speak two languages without any problems and we respect nationalities.

Crimean Tatars who are the minority, they are dreaming to be a part of Ukraine. They are afraid of all these Russian persecutions and it's not -- we are not divided. We are -- we want thing, we want to live in a safe and prosper home. It doesn't matter what language are you talking or are you speaking. It's better -- the only which is matter, if you want to -- if you love Ukraine and if you want to be a part of Ukraine and believe me these people want because after -- like I read the statistics in New York Times and it was written that only six percent of the people on the east of Ukraine want to be a part of Russia.

WEIR: Six percent. Interesting.

MARUSHEVSKA: Six percent. Six.

WEIR: Well, Yulia, we want to move on but I have to thank you for your passion. You have values that all of our audience can relate to and we appreciate you taking the time to articulate. I hope you'll come back.

MARUSHEVSKA: I'm very grateful for your time and I just want you to know that we are fighting. We are standing now not only for Ukraine but for values of freedom and human rights. Thank you for your time.

WEIR: Of course. Yulia thank you.

And to talk about the stakes here, the military implications, General Mark Kimmitt, Former Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs.

General, thanks for being with us. She makes passion a case. Of course the public's will to get into a military intervention in Ukraine is almost nil right now but talk us through what has to happen for us to get involved in some way in this crisis.

GEN. MARK KIMMITT, (RET.), FMR. DIRECTOR, PLANS AND STRATEGY, CENTRAL COMMAND: Well, first of all, I think the great betrayal is not that the Russians have abandoned the Ukrainians but the west have abandoned the Ukrainians.

The fact is we're seeing Russian meddling going on inside Ukraine intentionally to try to separate this. This is part as it's been said many times this week, part of the great chess board where Putin is trying to push out its borders to protect them against Europe.

And it's -- you could almost hear the echoes of Czechoslovakia 75 years ago when the west failed to do anything until Chamberlain came back with what he believe was peace in hard times -- peace in hard times during the Munich conference. And we know the delaying of strength and the waffling of countries only leads to more provocation. Weakness leads to provocation, strength leads to deterrence.

WEIR: So there's four parties that are going to meet on Thursday. The United States, the EU, also Russia and Ukraine. Putin has invoked he's on the phone with Angela Merkel today from Germany and said they're in the brink of civil war. Do you see a scenario where this becomes a proxy war?

KIMMITT: Well, first of all the system to civil war in any sense of the imagination, this isn't as Yulia pointed out very correctly Ukrainians on Ukrainians, these are Russian provocateurs that trying to create the conditions so that the Russians may intend to come in and occupy some of its land.

I mean the word Ukraine means border, just like in Serbo-Croat, the Krajina was the border area. This is he's buffer zone, Putin's buffer zone between Russia and the west. And he wants to restore that buffer zone, he doesn't want Europe up on the gates of Russia, it's that simple. And the fact that the Europeans and the Americans are afraid to stand up to Putin, I think in fact is going to cause things to be far worst than better.

WEIR: So what would be a smart move on your estimation? Would you give them weapons? They don't have the bodies, first of all.

KIMMITT: Well, look, let's be candid and this isn't fun to say, but we stood for 45 years on the inter-German border defending Europe against the communist block. We still have 30,000 Americans in Korea, stopping the North Koreans from invading the South.

There's no reason why a reasonable preventive deployment of European and American troops in the Ukraine wouldn't be seen by Putin as a sign of deterrence and sign of strength. Instead, what we show is weakness, we show vacillation and we -- the first thing that we do is take "the military option off the table".

Look, we got to understand when democracies show weakness, the demagogues step in and that's exactly what's happening here.

WEIR: OK, General, it sounds like you're endorsing boots on the ground in this crisis. But let's switch to another one, this is breaking news we got just today on a completely different topic. I don't know if you've seen this new video that has surfaced showing a large gathering of Al-Qaeda leaders in Yemen. This includes Nasir al- Wuhayshi, the number two leader of Al-Qaeda globally.

Now, either the U.S. didn't know about this or couldn't get a drone there in time. What do you make of this and what does it say about the state of Al-Qaeda today?

KIMMITT: Well, this administration first of all try to tell us that Al-Qaeda was destroyed, then they said no, it's just Al-Qaeda core in Pakistan. We've got to be worried about these affiliates. What I remain most concerned about and I've spent most of my time over the last year in that region to include Yemen is that we're starting to see a coalescing of the small franchises into a more organized base. That is not only a threat to Yemen, not only a threat to places such as Iraq in Northern Syria. But sooner or later if they continue to get better, stronger and more organized will be a direct threat to the United States of America.

WEIR: And how did this bubble up without our knowledge?

KIMMITT: Well, I can't answer that question because I don't know the intelligence that's been provided this administration, whether this has been known or not known, so we can only speculate that while this has remained classified, I don't think it's remained a secret to those that have the proper clearances.

The questions isn't why didn't we know, the question is what are we going to do about it.

WEIR: And what would be you guess be on what our next step is on now? The United States's next step? I keep saying the royal we as a proud American and I'll get in trouble for that.

KIMMITT: Sure.

WEIR: But what should the U.S. do?

KIMMITT: Well, what the U.S. is doing, first of all it is conducting limited strikes through the drone operations, but what it's also doing is strengthening the capabilities of those local forces, whether they're Yemeni, whether they are Iraqi, whether they're Lebanese to confront this.

But frankly, a lot of this is emanating from the cancer in Northern Syria. And until the situation in Syria is confronted and dealt with, this cancer of Al-Qaeda is simply going to metastasize more and more throughout that region.

WEIR: Another story that doesn't get enough play what's happening in Syria. General Mark Kimmitt, we really appreciate your time and your ...

KIMMITT: Sure.

WEIR: ... insight tonight, hope to see you again. And we'll have an update on Flight 370's search, coming up.

Also, breaking news out of Boston tonight where police detonated an unattended bag near the marathon finish line. A backpack blown up by a robot, without further incident a second bag was being worn by an individual who was confronted by officers and later escorted from the area, obviously taking no chances today on the anniversary.

We're going to bring you further word as soon as we get it. And also talk about -- imagine running your first Boston marathon next week. The emotion of that having survived last years bombing, we going to talk to a woman caught up in a horror and now she is not only running for her life but the life of her best friend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WEIR: That was the scene in Boston this afternoon, solemn flag raising ceremony on the spot where one year ago today there were explosions and screams and deadly violence that brought that city's marathon to a sudden and shocking stop.

Today, a day to reflect and remember the dead and wounded. Monday will a day for rebirth, thousands of runners taken to the streets to that city once again, each of them an inspiration.

Now, if you like, I mean when you're watching marathon every year, I'm going to run that one next year. And this time last year, Sabrina Dello Russo was with one of her best friends, Roseann Sdoia, and they say we're going to run next year. They had no idea how their lives were about to change after they made that promise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEIR: It's been a few years since Roseann and Sabrina become BFFs.

SABRINA DELLO RUSSO, BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING SURVIVOR: I was like, "How's the hand?" And she's like "Oh, my god, Sabrina I didn't ...

WEIR: They would go to Sox games together and run 5K's together.

DELLO RUSSO: It was great day, it was so fine.

WEIR: And of course they always spend the event of the year together.

DELLO RUSSO: Marathon Monday in Boston is the best day of the year.

WEIR: It's like New Year's Eve in the middle of a spring.

DELLO RUSSO: It's New Year's Eve in the middle of spring in the middle of the day. My friends and I take the day off every year we go to the same bar. That's me.

WEIR: That's you standing behind the mailbox.

DELLO RUSSO: Yeah, that's Roseann and that.

WEIR: That's -- that's the bomber.

They had no idea they pick the worse possible spot to cheer friend racing past at around 2:49 p.m.

DELLO RUSSO: The bag was like right here. So Roseann was in this area and I was just propped up on the fence like this I was holding on like this. And they found out. So I got blown back, so probably like to this area on my back. And when I came to or when the smoke cleared I got on my hands and knees and I was doing this in front the mailbox. Looking for my phone but I just remember thinking I need to find my friends. I'm here with my friend where, where did they go?

They look like a war scene they really did. That's the only way I can describe it. A lot of smoke, a lot of burning smells, debris everywhere, limbs not attached ...

WEIR: Lord.

DELLO RUSSO: ... anymore which is really difficult. Those are the things that I can never ever get out of my mind.

WEIR: Sabrina walked away, shook up, ears ringing but virtually unscaved. There would be real pain though and it came hours later when she found Roseann at the hospital and learned her friend that lost a leg, pain in the form of survival's guilt.

DELLO RUSSO: I was with her that day we spent the day together. It was our plan. She was literally one person over from me. And I feel that I want to share her pain, you know, I want to share or if I can't take it away I want to -- I just wish that it didn't happen. I wish that there was something that I could have done.

WEIR: Is it a sense that you wish you -- you were suffering as badly as she?

DELLO RUSSO: Yeah.

WEIR: It is? Really? So you ...

DELLO RUSSO: I feel guilty that I was right next to her and nothing happened. Nothing happened to me.

WEIR: Well, nothing you can see but obviously the wound is.

DELLO RUSSO: Yes.

WEIR: Emotional.

DELLO RUSSO: It is emotional it didn't turn off or it taken months and months a year to realize that I'll make sure we're lucky to be alive and I'm extremely lucky to still have my friends here with me.

WEIR: Sabrina became obsessed with coverage of the Tsarnaev man hunt and even attended the arraignment of the surviving suspect.

What did you think when you saw him in person?

DELLO RUSSO: I wasn't angry. I don't feel like a connection to him at all. What I thought was he looked really, really young. He looks like a child.

WEIR: So you're not filled with hatred toward this person?

DELLO RUSSO: No, I honestly I don't. I'm -- what's that going to solve to feel anger or hatred towards anyone? Roseann's leg isn't coming back. And dwelling on what happen isn't going to make anything better. We have the rest of our lives to live and be happy.

WEIR: Which will include running her first marathon on Monday to honor Roseann and even raise little money to help her friend buy a spare of prosthesis.

DELLO RUSSO: They've always wanted to run. I was given an opportunity to run as a survivor and a little afraid.

WEIR: Are you?

DELLO RUSSO: Yeah, I am.

WEIR: Of another attack or something?

DELLO RUSSO: Yes, I am.

WEIR: Really.

DELLO RUSSO: I think about it and I trust the security but it always in the back of my mind. But I also always get through every single day knowing that I was already in a terrorist attack. And what are the odds that that's going to happen again? So I also like to think wherever I am everybody else is safe because ... WEIR: There you go. I want to hang out with you.

DELLO RUSSO: I like to think I'm much better positive person because I almost died. And I should be hurt and I wasn't and I'm lucky to be alive and I truly feel that everyday is a blessing. And that might sound like a cliche, but to me it's not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEIR: Not a cliche at all, Sabrina. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WEIR: And we're now getting some dramatic pictures of that breaking news out of South Korean tonight, a passenger ship with 450 onboard sinking off the Southwest Korean coast with a rescue operation underway. Among the passengers 320 students traveling with several teachers to a resort island, around 20 crew members onboard. The coast guard confirms to CNN that 56 passengers have been rescued. Look at that reminisce into the Costa Concordia off the coast Italy remember from years back there. And we will update this story as it and get the details.

Also, before we leave you an update on Flight 370 40 days since it vanish. The Bluefin-21 in the middle day two search on the floor of Southern Indian Ocean and Don Lemon will have many more details in his special report which starts top of the hour. I'm Bill Wier this is CNN.