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Postal Worker in D.C. Diagnosed with Inhaled Anthrax; Taliban Claim They Shot Down Two U.S. Choppers

Aired October 22, 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: Anthrax cases and the public health, a third case of the most dangerous form of anthrax has hospitalized a D.C. postal worker. And a CNN exclusive, pictures the Taliban claims show a helicopter shot down over Afghanistan. But the Pentagon says that's a lie.

And good morning. Thanks so much for being with us this morning. Welcome to a brand new week. It is Monday, October 22. From New York, I'm Paula Zahn.

Ahead this morning, on the ground in Afghanistan, a report from the front lines. Also, conflicting reports over Taliban claims they shot down not one but two U.S. helicopters. We're going to have live coverage of that story from CNN's Walter Rodgers in Islamabad, Pakistan and Bob Franken will be joining us from the Pentagon. Good morning, gentlemen. See you in a little bit.

Also this morning, the anthrax investigation. Correspondent Rea Blakey is in Washington at D.C. General Hospital, where hundreds more postal employees will be tested for anthrax exposure. And Jason Carroll is following that story from New York. Good morning to you, as well. See you in a little bit.

Let's get right to the latest developments right now. Those anthrax tests in the nation's capital are coming after it was revealed that one of their colleagues tested positive for the deadliest form, the inhaled form. We're also learning this morning of claims by the Taliban that they shot down two U.S. helicopters, killing several crew members. The Pentagon says that simply is not true.

And President Bush is meeting with Vladimir Putin. They agreed to fight global terrorism but have not agreed on President Bush's desire to withdraw from the anti-ballistic treaty.

Anthrax cases are still showing up. The latest involves a Washington, D.C. postal worker who was diagnosed with inhaled anthrax. It is the third confirmed case of the deadliest form of the bacteria.

CNN medical correspondent Rea Blakey joins us now live from D.C. General Hospital, where some 2,000 postal employees are now being tested -- good morning, Rea.

REA BLAKEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. In fact, those postal employees are told to report to the Brentwood Post Office Station, which is one of the main hubs in the Washington, D.C. area. However, the building itself is closed. Those employees will be transported from that facility to D.C. General here, where we're standing. At approximately nine o'clock the testing will begin.

There have been a number of employees who have come directly here to the hospital trying to jump ahead of the line. As you might imagine, it will probably take a considerable portion of the day to get all these people tested. However, many of them are eager to confirm or deny whether or not they themselves have experienced any exposure.

As you mentioned, there was a gentleman who was hospitalized at this time at Inova Fairfax hospital. authorities there will only confirm that there is, in fact, one case of inhaled anthrax at that facility and that the gentleman is in serious but stable condition.

We have other reports, however, that there are at least one other postal employee who may have experienced some other flu-like symptoms and a number of other people who might be monitored at this time. However, the hospital, again, not confirming that information, sticking strictly with the one individual that they know of in serious but stable condition. Again, the testing to begin approximately nine o'clock here, but once again, the Brentwood Post Office is closed. Another facility in the Washington area, near Baltimore-Washington International Airport, is also closed today, both based on this newest anthrax case -- Paula.

ZAHN: And Rea, let's clarify this again this morning. We know this one man is very sick with the inhaled kind of anthrax. They will also test for the less severe form as well, right?

BLAKEY: Absolutely. When they do these swabs, they're looking not only for exposure, but there will certainly be the preventive precaution at this point to provide medication, Cipro in particular, to any of the employees that request it. In fact, we are told from one of the employees who was here this morning bright and early, they've been told they cannot report back to work until they not only show proof of the testing, but also the possibility that they, too, have been placed on the medication, once again, as a precaution.

But the idea being that if, in fact, it's just exposure, it may not be nearly as desperate of a situation as someone who's facing inhaled anthrax, which, of course, is the most severe form.

Keep in mind, Paula, that this is somewhat uncharted waters. The United States has not seen a number of cases like this. This is fairly limited exposure that we're talking about in regards to specifically inhaled cases. And so the doctors are working through this rather meticulously. As I talk, the mayor's command, Mayor Anthony Williams is the mayor in Washington, his mobile command station is just pulling up behind us here, a very large vehicle. It's been at a number of sites around the area in the past few days trying to keep people consoled and comforted and, most importantly, informed as to their level of risk, which, for the average individual, is fairly low.

ZAHN: All right, Rea Blakey, so much for that update. We appreciate it.

Members of the House and Senate are coming back to Capitol Hill, but it is still not quite business as usual because of the anthrax scare. Congressional correspondent Kate Snow now joins us from Capitol Hill with the latest from there -- Kate, good morning.

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning. and there are some fears here, Paula, that perhaps there could be a link between what you were just discussing with Rea Blakey and what happened here on Capitol Hill last week. That's because the gentleman who works for that postal facility, that postal facility handles mail bound for the U.S. Capitol. We don't know if there's a link yet, but there could well be one.

This morning the United States Capitol Building itself, the building right behind me, is open to staff and employees who have identification. Over the weekend, some rather disturbing pictures of environmental teams geared up in their suits ready to go inside the Capitol itself. They were screening for the presence of anthrax.

And to date we are told that no more anthrax has been uncovered, no presence of anthrax inside the U.S. Capitol itself. That's why that building this morning open for business.

But there are four other sites on Capitol Hill that have now been identified has having presence of anthrax spores, two of those on the Senate side of the campus, which we knew about last week. One of them, though, we learned about over the weekend is the Ford House Office Building. That's a building that is on the House side of the Capitol complex and it houses the mailroom for any mail addressed to U.S. House members. Unclear how that mailroom was contaminated.

Despite all of that, though, authorities here on Capitol Hill deciding that they should go ahead and be back in business, back in session tomorrow.

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LT. DAN NICHOLS, CAPITOL POLICE: The House and Senate leaders have also declared that on Tuesday the House and Senate will be in session and ready for legislative business. What this means, ladies and gentlemen, is that the legislative business of the nation continues.

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SNOW: Environmental screenings continue in the House and Senate office buildings. Those buildings, which house staff members for all the members of Congress, will not likely be opened tomorrow. But, again, the U.S. Capitol itself, this building behind me, will be open so the members can come in and go into session.

There was some talk, Paula, at one point about trying to find alternate locations in case they couldn't get into the U.S. Capitol. So good news that they will be able to get back into the Capitol Building itself -- back to you.

ZAHN: But I understand, Kate, there's still some debate, if further testing yields some positive results of potentially moving off campus. Where could the House conceivably do business away from the Capitol?

SNOW: Well, they've been looking at possible sites, locations that would be large enough to house the entire, all the members of Congress. Of course, there are 432 right now members of the House, 100 senators, a lot of people to house. But it does look at this point anyway, Paula, that they can get into the Capitol Building. It's just the office buildings they won't be able to get into, and that'll mean a lot of staff members will have to work out of other facilities, probably like we saw last week, where they worked out of conference rooms, out of nearby hotels, some of them working out of their homes, as well.

ZAHN: All right, Kate, thanks so much.

There are some new developments to talk about in the anthrax investigation in New York, including an all clear given to Governor Pataki's Manhattan office.

CNN's Jason Carroll is in New York with the latest on that -- good morning, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Paula.

I can tell you that environmental tests were conducted at several media outlets, including right here at the "New York Post," and so far all of those tests have come back clear, and that's certainly some good news there; also, as you say, at Governor Pataki's office. His office will reopen today. It was closed last week after investigators found small traces of anthrax there. An environmental sweep was done of his office. One hundred and forty samples were taken there. So far all of those tests have come back negative.

Now we're going to switch to New Jersey, where some things are happening there. State and federal health officials are waiting for test results from the Trenton regional post office. Original tests there showed that there was widespread contamination at 13 work areas at that facility. The samples of the public areas, though, came up clear. There are two employees at that facility who do have confirmed cases of skin anthrax. Authorities believe that a tainted letter, one that was sent to NBC and to Senator Daschle's office, was processed through that facility.

Back here in New York, Paula, we have four cases of skin anthrax. We have the NBC employee, we have a 7-month-old baby boy who is the son of an ABC News producer, also an assistant at CBS and an assistant here at the "New York Post."

Now, when it comes to that 7-month-old baby boy, just recently the American Academy of Pediatrics held a conference, a conference on how to treat children who are the victims of bioterrorism. And they actually released a picture of this baby boy. We do want to warn you that this picture is rather graphic, but we do want to show it to you anyway. It clearly shows the affects of this debilitating disease, the effects that this disease had on this 7-month-old baby boy.

Initially his parents thought he had a spider bite, but it was later revealed he did, in fact, have the cutaneous form of anthrax. It is easily treatable with antibiotics. The baby is being treated with antibiotics. He is doing well. In fact, all of the victims who are suffering from the cutaneous form of anthrax are doing well. So that's certainly some good news there.

Also some good news for the City of New York, the Department of Defense has dispatched a rapid response team and what they're going to be doing is helping the city with all the testing that needs to be done and still needs to be done here in New York -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Jason Carroll, thanks so much.

We should remind you all that Governor Pataki will be our guest in the next hour and will be able to answer plenty more questions about the ongoing investigation here in New York.

Now, back to those pictures of U.S. aircraft parts coming from Afghanistan. The Taliban claim they shot down two U.S. choppers and say the parts they showed are from one of them. Well, CNN video clearly shows a label with the words "Loud Engineering." That California company's Web site says it makes parts for the CH-46 and the CH-47 helicopters.

CNN's Walter Rodgers is in Islamabad, Pakistan covering the air strikes in Afghanistan -- Walter, what's the latest from there? Good morning.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

What appears to be happening is the Taliban is eager to make the case that after two and a half weeks of U.S. bombing of Afghanistan, that the Taliban and its soldiers are not totally at the mercy of U.S. air strikes. Now, of course, the Pentagon has basically denied the Taliban claim that two U.S. helicopters were shot down over the weekend. So the Taliban, in what may be a propaganda campaign, invited the CNN news team in Afghanistan to Kandahar to view the undercarriage of what may have been a helicopter.

Now, where's the rest of the helicopter? Where's the smoking gun? We can't answer that because the Taliban said it would have been dangerous to take the CNN news team, which were all Afghan nationals, out to the place where they allegedly shot down the helicopter. They say it came down in a mine field. They also used the excuse that it was in an area which might come under attack from U.S. aircraft possibly overhead.

So is this a fraudulent set of wheels or does the Taliban really have something here? We don't know whether they're trying to boost their own morale, but remember that these people are the same people who were saying that 25 U.S. soldiers were killed over the weekend.

Again, the Pentagon continues to deny this.

Across the border here in Afghanistan -- in Pakistan, we are getting some details of the U.S. military deployments here. Pakistan has turned over or is letting the United States use three air bases. We understand U.S. helicopters and C-130s are on those Pakistani bases. A fourth base may also be turned over. Eyewitnesses say they've seen refuelings there, but the United States is apparently complying with the Pakistani request that no air strikes be launched against Afghanistan and against Muslims from Pakistani bases -- Paula.

ZAHN: Walter, if you would, just bring us quickly up to date on the overall reaction to this campaign by the Pakistani general public.

RODGERS: It's very difficult to gauge that. There was a demonstration in Rawalpindi about a half an hour from the capital Islamabad yesterday. They turned out 20,000 people on the streets and there was some fiery rhetoric, anti-American rhetoric at the time, accusing the United States of being the real terrorist in this part of the world by bombing Afghanistan.

The Pakistani government responded, by the way, by arresting some 50 of the demonstration organizers. The organizers said they could have turned out well over 20,000 if the Pakistani government hadn't blocked roads and prevented more people from coming in this direction.

What we really don't know is what the silent majority of Pakistanis think at this point and how big that Pakistani silent majority is. Most of the people here that are making the noise are a relatively small minority -- Paula.

ZAHN: OK, Walter, thanks so much.

We're going to turn now to the Pentagon for reaction there to those Taliban claims that Walt was just talking about.

And for that we go to CNN's Bob Franken -- Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, the Pentagon basically says the Taliban is lying about shooting down U.S. helicopters. Its main evidence is the Taliban government lies quite a bit during this conflict. The Pentagon says that, in fact, one case of one of the helicopters that Taliban forces claim that they shot that ultimately crashed in Pakistan, that it was really a mechanical difficulty which caused that having to do with dust and the motors and the rotor that caused it to come down, killing two enlisted men who were aboard that helicopter.

As for the video that the Taliban allowed a CNN crew to shoot, it did, in fact, have markings from Boeing and markings from Loud Engineering. Now, Loud Engineering does make wheel mechanisms for aircraft, including helicopters, but officials point out that some of these helicopters have been on the ground and remnants of them for literally decades, since there has been war for so long in Afghanistan, that the United States did supply some of the very rebels who were fighting the Soviet Union then but who are now people who are in the Taliban government.

So it is a case of which side do you believe? The Taliban government says it's the Pentagon that's withholding information. The Pentagon says it's the Taliban simply trying to build morale by claiming that, in fact, that it shot down two U.S. helicopters -- Paula.

ZAHN: Bob Franken, thanks.

When we come back, our Matthew Chance live with the Northern Alliance troops in Afghanistan

And a little bit later on, entertainers with a rocking response to pleas for help. We'll be right back with a lot more.

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