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CNN Live At Daybreak

Race for New York City Mayor Has Added Significance; Word of Crash of a U.S. Helicopter in Pakistan

Aired November 06, 2001 - 05:00   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: At the peak of his popularity, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani faces the end of a second term. Republican Michael Bloomberg is Giuliani's pick to succeed him. Mark Green, though, has the backing of a former president. The polls open in about an hour. We will take a profile of the race.

The Pentagon shows off its latest work as word comes in about a U.S. helicopter downed in Pakistan. And we'll at a largely silent group of people who may have the most at stake from the war against the Taliban -- the moderate Muslim majority.

And good morning. It is Tuesday, November 6, 2001. I'm at CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Daryn Kagan. Leon Harris is on assignment but were going to hear from him a little bit later this hour so all you Leon fans just hang with us. We'll give you your fix in just a moment.

Let's start off with giving you the latest developments. Pakistani officials telling CNN that a U.S. helicopter crashed in a southwestern province of the country on Sunday night. Details are still sketchy. Pakistani officials say there were casualties. Not known yet if those casualties are injuries or deaths.

The U.S. is neither confirming nor denying the report. A Pentagon spokesman says that air strikes have virtually destroyed the al Qaeda terrorist network's known infrastructure. Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem says that al Qaeda is not free to operate in Afghanistan at this point.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is back in Washington after his Central Asian tour. Rumsfeld says the U.S. has more than doubled the number of its special forces troops on the ground in Afghanistan this past week. Rumsfeld also reports two Predator spy drones crashed over Afghanistan due to ice and not to Taliban anti-aircraft fire.

Federal authorities say there is no indication that a man who tried to board a flight at Chicago's O'Hare Airport with weapons was involved in terrorist activity. The man was arrested over the weekend after the knives, tear gas and a stun gun were found either on him or in his carryon luggage.

Well, this is the first Tuesday in November and that means election day in America. It's an off year election and normally there would be no races of national interest. But because of what happened eight weeks ago today, the race for New York City mayor has added significance.

Let's check in with CNN's Gary Tuchman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the last day of the campaign they broke bread. MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI (R), NEW YORK CITY: Eggplant parmigan.

TUCHMAN: And pasta. The current mayor of New York City with Michael Bloomberg, the man he's endorsed to be the next mayor.

GIULIANI: I think he'll be a really great mayor and he has, he's the right person at the right time. TUCHMAN: On the campaign's last day, they shared a stage, the former president of the United States and Mark Green, the man he's endorsed to be New York's next mayor.

PRES. WILLIAM J. CLINTON: I'm telling you he's a good man who will do a good job as mayor of the City of New York.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Go Green, go!

TUCHMAN: Mark Green currently holds the office of New York City Public Advocate.

MARK GREEN (D), MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I have a record and a history of bringing people together that my Republican rival, Michael Bloomberg, can only dream about.

TUCHMAN: The Democrat has spent his whole professional life in public service.

MAURICE CARROLL, QUINNIPIAC COLLEGE: Green knows his way around the government so he would presumably be a guy who would know how to pick people and how to push the buttons that make the government work.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), MAYORAL CANDIDATE:

Hello. Hi, I'm Mike Bloomberg.

TUCHMAN: Republican Michael Bloomberg founded a financial news empire named after him.

CARROLL: Bloomberg knows business. He's an accomplished, tested, very successful businessman. He presumably knows how to make organizations work.

TUCHMAN: Bloomberg will second that.

BLOOMBERG: If the voters are kind enough to pick me, I cannot fail them and I will not fail them.

TUCHMAN: Both candidates are dealing with an unfathomable wild card -- the World Trade Center disaster. Rudy Giuliani's handling of the crisis combined with his endorsement has helped propel Bloomberg into a virtual tie with Green in the polls.

CARROLL: Well, Giuliani's a larger than life guy. He was a larger than life guy years ago. He just is larger than life and the largeness has grown since the World Trade Center thing.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Because of September 11, the candidate who wins will face challenges of a magnitude never encountered by any other American mayor, except, of course, by the man who continues to overshadow them, Rudy Giuliani.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Of course, democracy taking place in other American cities today. Other big city mayor races to look at, some cities such as Boston and Pittsburgh. Incumbents there are expected to win their reelection easily. In other cities the races are more wide open.

Here in Atlanta, three candidates are running to replace an outgoing mayor. Former City Administrator Shirley Franklin, City Council President Robb Pitts and former Council Member Gloria Bromell- Tinubu are on the ballot. There are similarities in Cincinnati between the incumbent, Charlie Luken, and the challenger, Curtis Fuller. Both are registered Democrats and both were news anchors at the same local television station. But Fuller, who's an African- American, has criticized Luken for imposing a September curfew after a white police officer was acquitted in the fatal shooting of a young black man.

And there are two races for governor to look at. Democrat Jim McGreevey of New Jersey and Mark Warner of Virginia are favored over their Republican opponents. And there are many state legislative elections today, as well, Democrats saying that if they can pick up two more state legislators, they will control more of them than Republicans for the first time in five years.

One chamber the Democrats could win is in New Jersey. Analysts say the state senate is firmly in Republican hands, but Democrats could take control of the state assembly.

There are two special elections in the Washington State House, where no party holds a majority right now. All 100 seats are up for grabs in the Virginia State House, where Republicans hold a five seat edge as of today. A shift in power in Virginia is unlikely.

We want to get back to our international news and our top story, and that is word that we're getting of a crash of a U.S. helicopter in the southern part of Pakistan.

And for that let's go to Islamabad and our Bill Delaney -- Bill, what can you tell us about this crash?

BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, thank you, Daryn. Not much more than what you've already reported. Details still pretty sketchy here. But Pakistani officials now telling us a helicopter, a U.S. helicopter crashed in a western province of Pakistan the night of November 4 -- that was Sunday night -- crashing about 35 miles or 60 kilometers from the Afghan border. There were casualties. Pakistan officials do not tell us whether there were deaths.

Now, the helicopter on its way to Dalbadeen Air Base (ph), one of four air bases being used by the U.S. military in western Pakistan, although Pakistani officials have stressed again and again that they ware not providing any kind of military launching pad from Pakistan, that these air bases used by the U.S. military are only supposed to be used for logistical support.

Now, does that mean that this helicopter had gone into Afghanistan on some sort of a rescue mission? We don't know. Was the helicopter hit possibly by hostile fire? We don't know that either, Daryn.

Now, last Friday a U.S. helicopter did go down in Afghanistan. It was trying to rescue a U.S. soldier there who had become ill. That helicopter, in that helicopter crash, four Americans were injured, one seriously. Another helicopter eventually went in and did rescue that U.S. soldier.

Now, as for the Taliban, they have an ambassador, they have an office here, an embassy here in Islamabad. The Taliban saying it was not a helicopter that crashed in western Pakistan, but a B-52 -- back to you, Daryn.

KAGAN: So, Bill, the Taliban still has that embassy even though Pakistan has cut off diplomatic relations with the Taliban?

DELANEY: Well, actually, Pakistan has maintained diplomatic relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan, the only country that has. They've cut off all support to the Taliban, but they have maintained a diplomatic link, which is why pretty much daily here we have a press conference from the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan and that's where we're getting their account of all this, saying that a B-52 is what crashed in western Pakistan.

KAGAN: All right, well, thank you for that clarification. What about weather in that area on Sunday night? Are you familiar with that?

DELANEY: We have not been able to sort out what the weather was like. This is a desert and mountain area of western Pakistan, the province of Baluchistan. Not clear to us what the weather was at the specific time of the crash, although certainly in this region and in regions of Afghanistan, this is a time of year when dust storms are possible. Even here in Islamabad, Daryn, the wind will suddenly kick up out of nowhere late in the afternoon these days.

So we don't know if weather was a factor. It could have been. It could have been weather. It could also have been hostile fire. These are a lot of the questions still unresolved as we try to get more information about what happened.

What we do know, a helicopter has crashed and there were American casualties.

KAGAN: Bill Delaney in Islamabad, thank you.

Bill Delaney, thank you very much.

Let's get an American perspective of what we know of this report we're getting about the crash of this U.S. helicopter and go to the Pentagon.

And our Jeff Levine standing by for that -- Jeff, any word from the Pentagon about this crash?

JEFF LEVINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, we have talked to a Pentagon official about these stories and the spokesperson says that they're "probably not a story." The spokesperson talked to central command about an hour ago. That's the major command operation in the United States. Talked it over with military officials down there. They have no verification that a helicopter went down.

All the situation is, as far as the spokesperson is concerned, is a rumor unsubstantiated.

There was a wire report, a press report that what happened was a shoot down, that the helicopter was shot down. But again, the spokesperson says that is not necessarily the case.

The bottom line, this report cannot be confirmed or denied but Pentagon officials are highly skeptical about it. They say they're going to have to wait and see. One caveat is that it is very early in the morning here and all the information perhaps has not filtered in.

But, again, Daryn, they'/re not hearing anything. They're not hearing anything definitive and one would think that if there were a loss of life, if four people were lost in a helicopter crash that central command would know and that the Pentagon spokespeople would know. The bottom line is there is a question, perhaps, but as far as the Pentagon spokesperson is concerned, nothing has happened as yet.

KAGAN: Jeff Levine at the Pentagon.

Jeff, thank you very much.

Other news today, actually we want to check in in northern Afghanistan. That's where our Satinder Bindra is standing by. And the Northern Alliance making claims that it is advancing against Taliban forces -- Satinder, what can you tell us about that?

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Yes, certainly the Northern Alliance are making these claims, this after weeks of military inaction, at least on the ground. This morning the Northern Alliance claiming they've captured the southern district of Zari and Zari lies just south of Mazir-i-Sharif. The Northern Alliance also claiming they've captured several Taliban soldiers. We cannot independently confirm this. What we can confirm, Daryn, is that fighting close to Mazir-i-Sharif has been intensifying over the past few days.

Just a few days ago the Northern Alliance say they captured the district of Okubruch (ph), again, south of Mazir-i-Sharif. The latest there is the Taliban have now recaptured parts of Okubruch. There is intense fighting going on near the city of Kisindi (ph). Kisindi, Daryn, is also just south of Mazir-i-Sharif.

In the meantime, signs of intensifying cooperation between Northern Alliance forces and the United States. Just two days ago a U.S. helicopter with clear U.S. markings on one of its sides landed here in Kojabahodeen (ph). Initially, Northern Alliance commanders here denied that any U.S. helicopters had landed here and now they concede it did.

Elsewhere here, lots of United States troops, perhaps about 100 of them on the ground. They are spotters for U.S. bombers. They can guide them as to where they should drop their munitions. The U.S., Daryn, is also looking to get some air fields in the neighboring country of Tajikistan so that the bombing campaign perhaps can be intensified in the days and weeks ahead -- back to you now.

KAGAN: Satinder, what can you tell us about the leadership void in the Northern Alliance given the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud that took place right before the attacks here in the U.S. in early September? Who's running the Northern Alliance and can his void be filled?

BINDRA: Certainly, Daryn, the death of Commander Massoud has been felt by everyone here. But even in death, Commander Massoud is proving to be a unifying force. People are rallying behind the current leadership, saying that Commander Massoud's message of fighting the Taliban should go on.

General Fahim (ph) has succeeded Commander Massoud and he says his troops will continue to fight. Of course, there is a big element now that is coming up. There's snow on the mountains here. Winter is fast approaching and that's one thing the Northern Alliance perhaps are not well equipped to deal with. While going around on a tour here, we noticed that several of them were living in tents. These tents are leaking, as well.

So clearly, to answer your question, the leadership gap perhaps has not bee filed. There's nobody here who can replace Commander Massoud. But certainly the new leadership saying that the fight should go on -- back to you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Satinder Bindra in northern Afghanistan.

Satinder, thank you.

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