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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Strikes Back: Pentagon Awaits Damage Reports

Aired October 08, 2001 - 08:11   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The White House is staying in close contact with the Pentagon this morning. They, of course, will be getting damage assessments and setting up their next move.

Let's check in now with CNN's Bob Franken at the Pentagon and Major Garrett at the White House -- good morning, gentlemen.

Let's start with our national correspondent, Bob Franken -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And they are waiting for that damage assessment report, but everybody here says that by all indications, it was a successful first day or really a first night. And planning is already under way for the second night. We are several hours away from darkness in the region.

But day one started in daylight. As you can see that the various missiles -- there were 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles that were fired from four surface ships and from two submarines. You can see the ones on board -- one of the ships now being wheeled into place. Some of them had graffiti. This, of course, was a favorite commemorating the work of the New York Police Department. Graffiti on various military aircraft facilities has become sort of a tradition in wartime. You can see the planes ready to go.

And then at night, the action actually began with the firing of missiles, planes being catapulted in the darkness from the runways. You can see that. That's always one of the most spectacular sights you will ever see. There were aircraft carriers, the Enterprise and the Vinson, which have both been in the region were utilized.

And, of course, as far as aircraft is concerned, in addition to these strike aircraft, there are also the bombers -- B-1s flew in from Whiteman Air Base, which is near Kansas City. There were B-2s -- the B-1 is a stealth bomber -- B-2s and B-52s using a variety of smart bombs. They are the ones that are guided by satellite and laser, and what they now call the dumb bomb, the one that is nearly dropped where they're supposed to drop and do the damage that they're supposed to do. There are, in effect, carpet bombing runs in several areas, as they targeted terrorist camps, as they targeted headquarters, as they targeted key facilities for the Taliban government, airports, electrical grids, that type of thing.

And the Taliban government responded by saying that there were civilian casualties, that they had shot down one airplane, that they had shot down a helicopter, which brought a scornful response on CNN during an interview from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: It is false, what the Taliban have said. Indeed, much of what they have said over a period of time is false. These people are terrorists. They are harboring terrorists. They have been repressive to the Afghan people, and it's -- it's no surprise that the many Afghan people are opposed to Taliban and even many Taliban are opposed to the al-Qaeda organization that foreign terrorists -- that the Taliban leadership has been harboring.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And while the planning goes on here in the Pentagon, the military people in the field are the ones conducting this new wartime effort, and some of them are quite enthusiastic about their parts.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

VINNY, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE OFFENSIVE SYSTEMS COORDINATOR: I felt very proud. It's like being a football player at Super Bowl day, you know. You're there to do a job, and you want everybody to be there behind you. And we have public support, good leadership, good -- the illicit (ph) troops were there behind us waving flags, and it was a great feeling, which has been experiencing.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And, Paula, that was the combat operation, of course -- add to that the food drop -- 37,000 plus packets dropped on refugees. We were told that it was done very, very carefully, and they're hoping that there were no injuries as a result of the drops -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right. Thanks so much, Bob.

Let's now go over to Major Garrett, who is standing by at the White House with the latest on what we can expect from that sector of Washington today -- good morning, Major.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

President Bush will today, when he attends the swearing-in ceremony of former Republican governor, Tom Ridge, of Pennsylvania. He will head this new office of Homeland Security based on the White House -- a cabinet-level position the president will create today by executive order.

And at that swearing-in ceremony, the president will try to reassure the country that he acknowledged yesterday is rattled about the ongoing threat of terrorism. He will say the federal government, state and local authorities are doing everything that they can to combat and prevent future terrorism in the United States, and that Mr. Ridge will do everything he can to coordinate all 40 various federal agencies that have some role in Homeland Security. That's going to be a very difficult job. Senior administration officials also tell CNN that also today, officials will be working with Congress to expedite passage of the counterterrorism legislation and airline security legislation the president has put before Congress. One administration official telling CNN last night, now that we have this military campaign going, it's no time for delay. We need those pieces of legislation moved and moved quickly -- Paula.

ZAHN: But certainly, Major, the question is: How much authority will Tom Ridge actually have with this new job? That's still being debated, isn't it?

GARRETT: It's being debated. This executive order took several drafts to put together, exactly explaining his authority, how it would coordinate all of these various agencies. There are some in Congress who would like to see this be a Senate-confirmable position. The White House does not agree with that. They want this position to be put in place to give Mr. Ridge maximum authority through an executive order as soon as possible.

The one thing, though, that everyone agrees here in the White House: The days of bureaucratic infighting ended on September 11. All bureaucracy is now -- all those dedicated to intelligence gathering in law enforcement are exactly with one voice, acting as one team. And Mr. Ridge clearly has the ear of the president, and his job is to make sure, not only that they share information, but they do the right things with it -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Major, thanks so much. See you a little bit later on this morning.

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