Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

America Strikes Back: Latest Details on Anthrax Scare; More U.S. Raids on Afghanistan

Aired October 10, 2001 - 07:00   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: From the al Qaeda terrorist network, a warning to Americans. But is there a hidden message to other terrorists in this warning? We'll ask the secretary of state.

Also, the gunman behind the scarf, a CNN exclusive on the hunt for the unknown terrorist. That and more straight ahead.

Good morning. Thanks so much for being with us this morning. It is Wednesday, October 10. From New York, I'm Paula Zahn.

Joining me this morning from Atlanta, my colleagues Bill Hemmer and Miles O'Brien. Good morning, gentlemen.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, good morning to you, as well.

ZAHN: There's Bill.

HEMMER: A nice day it is.

ZAHN: Miles is out there someplace.

HEMMER: Yes. Miles is working across the room. He's not too far away. Paula, good morning.

Coming up this hour the latest developments in that Florida anthrax story. CNN's Susan Candiotti has confirmed that authorities have traced the origin of the anthrax. She'll join us live this morning in a few minutes time with that important development. Also this hour, the secretary of state, Colin Powell, will be with us live in an interview this morning and CNN's Mike Boettcher with stunning new information on the unknown terrorist. Is he the next U.S. target in Operation Enduring Freedom?

All that coming up shortly, though -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, thanks so much, Bill.

Let's check in with Susan Candiotti, who has some late details now on that anthrax scare -- Susan, what have you learned?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Investigators now believe, according to a source close to the investigation, that a strain of anthrax that killed a man in Florida was manufactured about a half century ago. Now, Paula, this would mean that the anthrax was, indeed, manmade and moves the case closer to a criminal investigation.

Investigators say that each strain of anthrax is unique, almost like a fingerprint. Now, the facility was not identified, but they did say that it was one located in Iowa that was active in the 1950s. The source did not know if that facility is still in operation.

Now what happened over the years and how that particular strain could have made its way to Florida remains a mystery. The source wanted to stress that not all of the tests have been complete and no final conclusions made. However, sources say this is the direction in which they are now leaning.

You'll recall that Robert Stevens died last week and that ever since at a -- he worked at American Media, which is a tabloid company and it publishes tabloid newspapers in south Florida, he died last week and the FBI has been scouring that particular building for a few days now and that they did find a trace of anthrax on a keyboard area in which he was working. He was employed as a photo editor.

They said that he had inhaled anthrax and have been trying to determine ever since where he might have picked this up -- at his home, in the office. No one knows for sure. You will also recall that one other south Florida man who also worked in that same company in the mailroom distributing mail also was exposed to anthrax but he is currently being treated for both pneumonia and for this exposure and he is in stable condition at this time -- Paula.

ZAHN: Susan, you say it remains a mystery how this anthrax got from Iowa to Florida. Have experts told you how you could effectively transport this stuff?

CANDIOTTI: No. No. That was not part of the conversation. But it's, you know, at the time years ago researchers, let's say for years and to this day, conducted research on, of course, on anthrax and other deadly bacteria. And so they were conducting tests at the time years ago on anthrax and ever since they have been keeping each strain of anthrax on file. And so that's part of what's happening now. As they look at this particular strain, they've been trying to match it to what researchers have on file. And apparently they have been able to trace it to this one facility in Iowa, where it was being manufactured back in the 1950s.

And so this is part of the work that they're doing, as all investigators do, like good detectives, to try to figure out precisely not only where it was made, but it could have gotten from one place to the other.

ZAHN: And Susan, do experts also tell you how long anthrax can remain potent?

CANDIOTTI: No. No. But I'm sure that as the morning goes on this is something that can be, that we can talk about with other experts in the field and experts in bioterrorism, for example.

ZAHN: All right, Susan Candiotti, thank you very much for bringing that breaking news to us this morning.

Right now we're going to go down to the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, where we find our correspondent Rhonda Rowland standing by. What's the latest from there -- good morning, Rhonda.

RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Paula.

The priority here at the CDC, of course, is disease prevention, disease control. So when officials here at the CDC were first contacted last week by the Florida health officials, the first priority was to ensure, to confirm that the first victim, Robert Stevens, was, indeed, infected with anthrax.

The second priority was to see if this anthrax was responsive to antibiotics and they found that yes, indeed, the strain was responsive to a range of antibiotics and that was good news because that meant it was potentially treatable.

Now, less than 24 hours after the CDC officials were contacted by Florida, a team of 15 disease detectives from the CDC were sent down to Florida. They took with them antibiotics from the national pharmaceutical stockpile. Now, this is a program that was started at the CDC two years ago to build up a huge supply of antibiotics, antidotes, other medical supplies such as equipment, and they're warehoused in centers around the country.

And when they first started putting this together, they realized that as a biological threat there were several agents that could be realistic threats such as anthrax, such as plague. And they're all treatable by antibiotics.

So one of the first priorities was to put antibiotics into the stockpile. So we are not sure which antibiotics or how many antibiotics were taken down to Florida, but CDC spokesperson tell us that it was sufficient to meet the needs. We're also told that all 700 people down in Florida who were either employees or who had contacts with American Media Incorporated who have been tested are also being given antibiotics. They are being given a 60 day course -- Paula.

ZAHN: Rhonda Rowland, thanks so much for that update.

Let's quickly go back to Atlanta, where Bill Hemmer has more for us this morning -- Bill.

HEMMER: Paula, thank you.

About seven minutes past the hour. Let's bring out viewers up to date on the latest we have at this time. U.S. planes have staged daylight raids on Afghanistan for a second straight day. The airport at Kandahar one of the targets said to be in the southern part of Afghanistan. Also, the Taliban saying terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden is alive and still in Afghanistan and because of the air raids, all restrictions on his activities have been removed.

A spokesman for bin Laden's al Qaeda organization predicting more attacks on the U.S. The administration has asked the tape of that statement not be broadcast because it may contain, they say, it may contain code words or body language. It could be a message to terrorists in other parts of the world.

In addition, that more U.S. raids on Afghanistan, the second daylight raid. Again, we talked about that live to Islamabad and CNN's Christiane Amanpour watching things from there -- Christiane, hello to you.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, indeed, we did speak to our sources inside Afghanistan this morning. As yet another daylight raid was under way in Afghanistan. The United States is claiming air superiority and thus enabling it to make round the clock its air campaign in Afghanistan, although here in Islamabad, where basically the only official Taliban spokesman that we can get to is the ambassador. And he, of course, claims that the Taliban's air defenses have not been knocked out. So obviously contradictory statements between the Taliban and what the United States are claiming. This is not unusual.

Also from Afghanistan, a Taliban spokesman has said to a news organization, as you mentioned, that all restrictions are now lifted on Osama bin Laden and furthermore saying that he is now free to conduct what he's called for, and that is his holy war.

Here, again, in Islamabad, we spoke to the ambassador and asked him about the al Qaeda organization and whether he and the Taliban considered it a terrorist organization.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL SALAM ZAEEF, TALIBAN AMBASSADOR TO PAKISTAN: As we do not have evidence so we do not consider al Qaeda as a terrorist organization. As a whole, we do not approve of any terrorist activities in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Now, the reason this statement is interesting is because on the one hand the Taliban are claiming that they do not approve of terrorism and they say that they don't think the al Qaeda network is a terrorist network. However, on the other hand, they are using a satellite network television organization based in Kabul, Al Jazeera, to enable al Qaeda's statements to be broadcast to the world, statements that clearly praise the terrorist attack on the United States and clearly call for more terrorism against the United States.

So a disconnect between what the Taliban is claiming about not supporting terrorism and what it is actually doing to facilitate the promotion of terrorism in Afghanistan.

Now, on the other hand, we're talking also to U.N. aid officials and they are saying that they are now going to try to resume land convoys into Afghanistan to take much needed supplies into Afghanistan. These were briefly disrupted in the first couple of days of the air campaign, but now they say they believe they will be able to get their land convoys in -- Bill.

HEMMER: Christiane, quickly here on another front, protesters in the streets, the various cities of Pakistan, an issue that is closely watched here in the U.S. Have there been more there?

AMANPOUR: Not in the usual places where we've been looking near the border today. There have been some in Karachi, the southern town. Again, these areas are areas where there's a large Afghan population, refugees from previous years of Afghan wars, and there are also ethnic Pashtun Pakistanis, those who are of the same ethnic tribe as the Taliban and who support it.

But it's been very, very much more muted today. People are clearly waiting for Friday, which is the traditional, as you know, the day of prayers and when the hard-line Islamic leaders call for protests. So that's what everybody here, the security forces are bracing for.

HEMMER: Possibly we will know more at the end of the week, two days time -- Christiane, thanks.

Along with the air attacks, the ground war grinds on in northern Afghanistan. Taliban and Northern Alliance forces facing off with artillery and machine guns along a front about 25 miles north of the capital city. That's where we find CNN's Matthew Chance live watching the movements of the Northern Alliance -- Matthew, hello to you.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Bill.

Well, as the United States continues its attacks against areas of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban and against suspected terrorist cells there, so, too, does the Northern Alliance continue its artillery barrage of front line Taliban positions. Over the course of today we've been hearing occasional sporadic artillery exchanges across the front lines from the Northern Alliance positions across into those positions north of the Afghan capital Kabul.

Still no word from commanders of the Northern Alliance, though, about exactly when they are likely to begin their much vaunted push towards the capital, Kabul. Many of the front line commanders that I've spoken to said that they're quite frustrated at this stage about the fact that the U.S. strikes, U.S. led strikes so far have focused not -- focused on infrastructure targets and military targets inside Taliban controlled territory well back from the front lines and not on those front line Taliban positions many of the commanders want to see attacked by the United States and their allies, on particularly a mountain which blocks their path on the road down to Kabul.

The Northern Alliance leadership does say they're very happy with the way the attacks have gone so far and they're continuing their discussions on a daily basis, they say, with Washington.

I just want to briefly touch on that Taliban press conference out of Pakistan. Also, denials from the Taliban that they've lost territory in recent weeks to the forces of the Northern Alliance. Denials also that there have been hundreds of their fighters defecting to the ranks of the opposition. Over the last couple of weeks, of course, we've been reporting both of those things according to reports that are handed down to us by Northern Alliance officials. We have asked to be taken to those front lines hundreds of kilometers from where we're standing right now. We've been asked to see the defectors. So far, though, Bill, we've been unable to confirm those reports.

At the same time, we can't confirm the Taliban reports either -- back to you.

HEMMER: Matthew, also some reports back here in the U.S. indicating the Northern Alliance troops have been given new uniforms and that apparently happened just within the last two days. Do you have more on that and from where these uniforms came?

CHANCE: I haven't seen any of the troops wearing those uniforms yet. What they look like largely are a pretty ragtag bunch of men, even though they're pretty hardened and skilled fighters who've had a lot of experience in this terrain. None of the fighters I've seen over the past few days or so have had anything approaching a new looking uniform.

There is word, though, from Russia, earlier on this month, in fact, that they were going to step up their supplies of military equipment, but noticeably, most notably ammunition and Kalashnikov assault rifles, things like that. But I haven't seen any new uniforms as such on the troops, Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Matthew. Stay safe. Matthew Chance live in northern Afghanistan -- now, Paula again in New York.

ZAHN: Thanks, Bill.

President Bush says the war on terrorism will go far beyond Osama bin Laden and he will repeat that point again today.

CNN White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace joins us now with some details -- good morning, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, President Bush will do that by traveling over to FBI headquarters later this morning to unveil a new most wanted list of suspected terrorists. Now, CNN has learned about 20 names will be on that list, some very familiar, including Osama bin Laden and his top associates in the al Qaeda organization. Also, a gentleman by the name of Iman Al-Zawahri of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.

But beyond that, there will be named people believed to be associated with previous terrorist attacks, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1996 bombing of Kobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 members of the United States Air Force, and then the suspects named in the 1998 embassy bombings in East Africa, in Kenya and Tanzania.

Again, the president to make the case that this campaign extends beyond one man, bin Laden, and one organization, al Qaeda, but is a campaign seeking to root out terrorism all around the world and going after all those states and organizations which harbor terrorists as well.

Meantime, Paula, President Bush starting his day bright and early this morning with a breakfast meeting with congressional leaders and no surprise here, but a likely topic of conversation will be trying to come up with a compromise over access to classified information. This after, as CNN first reported on Monday, President Bush decided to restrict access to that information to the four congressional leaders and the chair and vice chairs of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees after he was furious about leaks of sensitive information to reporters last week. And we saw the president yesterday in the Rose Garden publicly scolding law makers for leaking that information.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want Congress to hear loud and clear, it is unacceptable behavior to leak classified information when we have troops at risk. And I'm looking forward to reiterating that message. And we will work together. We've got a great relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And as you can imagine, President Bush's new policy angered Democrats and Republicans who say that Congress must have access to this information in order to do its oversight role during wartime. Paula, we understand a compromise likely to be in the works, in which case the president would allow that information to go to other committee chairs and vice chairs such as the Armed Services Committee, the Foreign Relations Committee. But he wants to sit down and look at these leaders face to face to make sure they get it and they will make sure this information remains secret -- Paula.

ZAHN: So, Kelly, does the administration have any idea exactly who leaked this information about the likelihood of more attacks on American soil?

WALLACE: Well, certainly that is a key question. Obviously the administration believing it comes from a member or members of Congress. But not really revealing it to reporters right now. And it appears it's all stemming from an article, Paula, that was in Friday's "Washington Post," but not what was in the article. Apparently one of the reporters for the "Washington Post" had access to a lot more information and the administration had to sort of really work with the "Washington Post" to say you cannot put that information in the paper based on national security reasons.

The paper decided not to put that information in that story, but clearly the president very, very angry. He called the congressional leaders on Friday to make his case, complain and convey his anger. And then obviously the new policy which CNN, of course, reported on Monday -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Kelly Wallace, thanks so much for that update.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com