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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Recovers: In Four-Nation Tour, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld Plans to Reinforce Coalition

Aired October 03, 2001 - 08:41   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Live pictures of the place they call ground zero and the recovery effort of the site where the World Trade Center twin towers stood continues this morning, moving ever so carefully, ever so slowly.

CNN's Martin Savage is in lower Manhattan and has the latest from there.

Hello, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. Miles.

It is another brutal day of searching amidst the ruins of the World Trade Center buildings, looking for more victims. Nineteen more bodies were removed from the rubble of the site, and that brings the official death toll to 363, many of those belonging to firefighters. Still the death toll is a fraction of the 5,219 that were reported missing since the September 11th attack. Police admit, though, that their list is compiled from six different sources, and as a result of that, there could be a number of names that are repeated.

Still, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is warning people, preparing them for the fact it is possible that a number of victims, many of those victims may never be found.

The mayor is also concerned about scam artists that is, trying to cash in on the grief of family members, by supposedly offering them to sell them pieces of the World Trade Center building as some sort of memorial. To combat that, the city will be giving the families wooden urns with ash collected from the World Trade Center site.

By the way, Rudy Giuliani will be on "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight at 9:00 Eastern Time.

Back here at ground zero, a special team of doctors remains on hand, keeping an eye on the search and recovery effort, looking for any signs of strain or mental breakdown. The searchers involved in that horrific job say looking for the dead can be almost unbearable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARI SAPKOWSKI: You come, and you smell, and you're dealing with it everyday. By now, I got used to it. Some guys, maybe not. When I first got here, I seen fireman just break down. I mean, it's a shame. I don't know, you got to take it day by day. That's all you can do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: It's expected that that task of looking for those killed in the attack could go on for months -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Martin, I know some of the family members have had an opportunity to get right there at ground zero and pay their last respects.

Have you had any opportunity to talk to them? I know they've tried to keep the media away, for understandable reasons.

SAVIDGE: No, we have not had a chance, Miles. And as you point out, the city has been very careful with that fact. They usually bring the family members in via boat, coming up the Hudson River, and then docking at a nearby marina over behind the World Financial Center. Obviously, this is a very private moment for them. The city has warned that no cameras whatsoever would be allowed. If any happened to slip in, those people would be immediately arrested. We respect the privacy of those families -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Martin Savidge, thank you very much.

In his four-nation tour, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld plans to reinforce the coalition the Bush administration has been building since the terrorist attacks.

We have reports on that mission now from two perspectives. Alessio Vinci is in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Katharine Callaway is at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

First, let's go to Alessio Vinci.

Alessio, I suppose it's difficult to overstate the strategic importance of Uzbekistan, given where it is and the bases it has from the Soviet days?

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is correct, Miles. Uzbekistan shares just a very small border with the north with Afghanistan, only 90 miles long, which is really short, comparing, for example, the long border that Tajikistan and Pakistan are sharing with Afghanistan.

However, as you mentioned, there are those very important former Soviet military bases throughout this country. Uzbekistan was a launching pad with a launching ground for the Soviet military in its attempt to invade Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989, and we can only assume the United States of America and its military would like to use those military bases for military operations should that be necessary.

We know that the Uzbek president, Islam Karimov, has agreed to open up Uzbeki air corridors through the U.S. military. What we don't know yet, however, is whether the U.S. military, first of all, will have to be here, or whether the U.S. has requested to the Uzbek leadership here to stage U.S. military underground. We don't know whether the Uzbek leadership here is willing to allow the U.S. military to be here on the ground. The people here are very concerned, the leadership here is very concerned to make open statements about its backings of the U.S. military campaign against fellow Muslims in Afghanistan. They're also fearing the fact that there is a very strong terrorist group called the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which has been trying to unseat Mr. Karimov and trying to install an Islamic regime here, a regime similar to the one in Afghanistan.

And Mr. Karimov and his top aide have been extremely very careful in not giving out any kind of information about what extent the Uzbekistan government here is willing to help the U.S. military -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: So, Alessio, it appears there may be some sort of natural alliance to form there.

I am curious, however, I know your travel may be somewhat limited right know; but have you had a opportunity to see those bases or at least find out what their condition is, given the fact there might be some crumbling infrastructure over there? Will they be useful ultimately for U.S. forces should they arrive?

VINCI: Well, our travels are not only limited, but they are very much restricted, and repeated attempts to get any kind of permission to travel to those military bases has been denied. So it is very difficult for us to really gauge an idea of how the military bases and the condition of those military bases. We have spoken with some reporters who have been driving by, and they have been seeing some former MiG 29s, the Soviet airplanes, on the runway, but they haven't seen anything as far as any kind of military movement. We know because Mr. Karimov said that on television a couple of days ago, that the Uzbeki military is on heightened alert, especially on the border between Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

However, we know, for example, that those military bases have runways that can be used by large planes, so it is, again, we can only speculate here at this point; we can speculate that perhaps the U.S. military would be able to use those military bases, if it is necessary -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Alessio Vinci in Tashkent, thank you very much.

Let's go halfway around the world now to Alabama, where we find Katharine Callaway. She is at Fort Rucker, where folks are training on helicopters, flying them at night, flying them in rough terrain. Potentially, if things head in that direction, headed to some rough terrain near Afghanistan -- Katharine.

KATHARINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Yes, this is Fort Rucker in South Alabama. Where all of the Army's aviators are trained, trained on helicopters, of course, a number of different types of helicopters.

And joining me now is the commander of the flight training. This is Colonel Michael Zonfrelli.

And, Colonel, tell bus how many students you are training here per year and what they are prepared on?

COL. MICHAEL ZONFRELLI, BRIGADE COMMANDER: Fort Rucker has the Army's most unique and challenging training mission, because all throughout the day, there's lot of conflicts, difficult operations ongoing. For instance, just on the flight training side, we train approximately 4,500 students per year. At any one time, there are 700 in class. To do that, we have to launch approximately 450 aircraft per day. We do that over three periods, a morning, an afternoon, and an evening period.

CALLAWAY: That is a lot of aircraft. You're talking about Chinooks, Kaiwas, you're we're talking about Blackhawks. And behind us we have hyped the Army's newest attack helicopter, which is the Apache Longbow. This has never seen combat action yet. It's equipped with radar capabilities. Although it hasn't seen combat action, you've been training on this for some time.

ZONFRELLI: Yes, the Army has been training on the Longbow for approximately five years. It started out in Mesa, Arizona. About two years ago, we brought it to Fort Rucker.

CALLAWAY: And you now have pilots in active duty now, who are trained, ready to fly the new Apache Longbow.

ZONFRELLI: Yes, and they're going to do just fine, because we have been training on helicopters for approximately 50 years, and we've used some of the time and combat-tested methodologies and procedures, and combined those with the improvements in technology to train them better than they were before.

CALLAWAY: All right, Commander, thank you.

And, Miles, pilots here will receive about 150 hours in the air of training, not to mention classrooms, and in simulators. We were able to go up in a Chinook this week and watch the soldiers learning how to move cargo, some 3,000 pounds. And sensitive training here, Miles, it can sometimes last up to a year.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Katharine Callaway in South Alabama, thank you very much for being with us this morning.

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