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CNN Live At Daybreak

Reports Out of Pakistan U.S. Chopper is Down

Aired November 06, 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 Pakistan, a phrase U.S. military commanders fear -- chopper down. We have live reports just ahead.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the States, a breach at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport raises questions once again about keeping you secure in the nation's skies.

ZAHN: And at the renowned Mayo Clinic, a new DNA test for identifying the killer bacteria anthrax. But are federal health officials convinced it will work?

O'BRIEN: And in the Big Apple, replacing Rudy -- election day New York City.

ZAHN: Good morning. Thanks so much for being with us this morning. Welcome. It is Tuesday, November 6. From New York, I'm Paula Zahn.

O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us. A busy morning ahead.

ZAHN: Welcome to you, as well.

We are covering the war on terrorism from many fronts this morning. There is new word of a chopper crash in Pakistan involving U.S. military. We will be live in Islamabad with the latest, and we've got reaction from the Pentagon as well.

O'BRIEN: And coming up this hour as well, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger plus a man with a humorous outlook on the world, cartoonist Bob Mankoff (ph).

ZAHN: First, though, we want to get the very latest headlines right now. For that, we go to Bill Hemmer in Atlanta, who has our war alert.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, good morning to you. Here's what's happening right now.

Reports this morning say a U.S. helicopter crashed Sunday night in southwestern Pakistan not far from the Afghan border. Pakistani officials said there were casualties, but they did not know if there were injuries or deaths. U.S. officials say they have no information on a chopper crash. A live report coming up moments from now from Pakistan. Stay tuned for that.

From the White House, President Bush about to speak to a 17 nation anti-terrorism conference under way in Warsaw, Poland. CNN will carry that address live.

The FBI claiming there is no indication a man who tried to board a jet liner in Chicago with nine knives and other weapons is linked to terrorist activity. Subash Gurung passed through a security checkpoint with several weapons, but was stopped by United Airlines personnel at the boarding gate. He's being held now on federal charges. Seven checkpoint screeners, employees of a private firm, have been suspended. Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta is recommending that United be fined and that Congress act quickly on an airline security bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORMAN MINETA, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: The O'Hare incident and others like it underscore the urgency with which Congress must agree on the measures called for under the president's aviation security package. The federal government must take direct control of the security system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: And Bush this morning is having breakfast with congressional leaders and airline security expected to be one primary topic of discussion during that.

On the anthrax front, officials expect results today of anthrax testing at an offsite mail facility of the Treasury Department. It was closed Friday night after an employee found a suspicious letter postmarked Trenton, New Jersey. All three letters laced with anthrax in the U.S. have been postmarked there in Trenton, New Jersey.

The Mayo Clinic says it's developed a new DNA test which promises quicker detection of anthrax in both humans and in the environment. The CDC says it has not validated the accuracy of that test, though, and it's not recommending its use at this time.

On the economic front now, Federal Reserve policymakers meet today and expected to cut interest rates for the tenth time this year in an effort to give the weak economy a bit of a boost. The federal funds rate, an overnight bank lending rate, has been cut from six percent to 2.5 percent so far this year. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan makes that decision 2:15 Eastern time today when he gets together with the rest of the Fed board there.

Across the U.S., it's election day today. Voters choosing governors in two different states and mayors in dozens of cities. There are gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia. And the contest for mayor of New York being closely watched. Also cities like Cincinnati and the City of Atlanta holding mayoral elections today.

More coming up bottom of the hour. But for now back to New York and more with Paula -- Paula. ZAHN: Thanks, Bill.

Details are still sketchy, but our correspondents are attempting to find out more about reports out of Pakistan that a U.S. chopper is down.

Bill Delaney is in Islamabad, Pakistan, where he has been talking with officials there. Bob Franken is at the Pentagon.

Let's start in Islamabad this morning -- good morning, Bill.

BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, thank you. Good morning to you, Paula.

Proceeding with a degree of caution here, U.S. officials will neither confirm nor deny this. And at the foreign ministry here in Pakistan just in the past hour, officials there saying they have no independent confirmation of this either.

But usually reliable Pakistani officials and many local sources tell us that in western Pakistan around midnight Sunday, Pakistani time, a U.S. helicopter crashed in the desert, in the mountainous desert of the province of Baluchistan. A large explosion seen by eyewitnesses. We have been told by a number of sources, a number of local sources in western Pakistan.

A lot of activity around this crash. Sources in western Pakistan saying they believe a crash of this magnitude must have had casualties, but we have no confirmation, no independent confirmation that there were casualties.

Now, this helicopter was headed for Dalbidan Air Base (ph), which is one of four air bases being used by the U.S. military in western Pakistan. Pakistani officials have repeatedly stressed that no military operations are originating at these air bases, only logistical support. Logistical support, Paula, generally meaning search and rescue operations. But why this helicopter was returning to Dalbidan Air Base at that time and why it had problems not clear as we try to pull together these sketchy reports of the U.S. helicopter crash Sunday night in western Pakistan -- back to you, Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Bill.

Bob Franken has also been checking out this information with the Department of Defense about reports of American casualties related to this reported chopper incident. He joins us from the Pentagon now.

You have heard what Pakistan officials are saying. What are U.S. officials telling us this morning -- good morning, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're telling us, Paula, they know nothing about it and urging us to tread very carefully here. I have spoken with several officials both here at the Pentagon and with CENTCOM, the central command, which is headquartered in Tampa but is the military command which, of course, is running the entire Afghanistan campaign. They say they know nothing about a helicopter crash on Sunday night. In addition, they say they're almost certain they would know, that there are very, very rigid rules that something of this magnitude goes, to use the word they used, "up channel," that is to say, they would know about it within an hour. And, of course, it's been several hours. This comes from both the people at CENTCOM, central command, and here at the Pentagon.

They also point out that there was a helicopter crash on Friday night, not Sunday, on Friday night in Afghanistan. That's been reported. One went down in bad weather, according to the Pentagon, and that there were four casualties aboard that one, casualties meaning injuries. But that was on Friday night, not Sunday night.

So the Pentagon is not officially denying this report, but they're saying it's highly unlikely. They continue to check to try and find something out, but they said it is something they would know about and they don't know about -- Paula.

ZAHN: So help us cut through the confusion here this morning. Are you inclined to accept this report from United States officials or from these Pakistani officials who Bill Delaney said had generally been reliable?

FRANKEN: I guess I'm inclined to let the Pentagon continue to investigate. We've, of course, over the past several weeks, heard them cast doubt on some casualty reports in the bombing only to have them find out later that the reports that had come out had been, in fact, accurate.

But, they say that the Taliban people who oftentimes put out these reports will oftentimes put out reports that prove not to be true, according to the Pentagon. But the Pentagon says it will continue to check. CENTCOM says it will continue to check. But they think they would be -- let's put it this way, they would be extremely surprised to find out that it was true.

ZAHN: We'll be counting on you to keep us up to date on that investigation.

Bob Franken, thanks so much.

O'BRIEN: federal officials say an armed man who nearly boarded a flight in Chicago does not appear to have any connection to terrorism. But the fact he cleared security carrying knives, tear gas and a stun gun is setting off some alarms.

CNN Chicago bureau chief Jeff Flock is at O'Hare with the latest -- good morning, Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles.

Indeed, setting off alarms now, at least, although perhaps it didn't over the weekend. We are live here where it all took place over the weekend. Perhaps you see the United security checkpoint off in the distance there. This is where the breach in security took place over this past weekend.

You know, it's very difficult to get a picture of that security checkpoint now because you need a ticket to get back in there and our cameras, it's difficult to do so. But we've got some pictures that show that checkpoint and we can tell you this morning the security procedures have been already changed.

Now, anything suspicious set off at that first security checkpoint, anything suspicious and you get a full search of both your person as well as any bags that you may be carrying with you.

In addition, the transportation secretary now calling on United Airlines to perhaps be fined substantially for that breach in security.

It has all to do with what took place, as we said, on Saturday with a 27-year-old former college student from Nepal. His name, Subash Gurung...

O'BRIEN: Jeff Flock, I'm sorry. We're going to have to interrupt.

Let's go to Paula and the president ultimately.

ZAHN: And we are awaiting the president's remarks. He's about to speak to a 17 nation anti-terrorism conference that's now under way in Warsaw, Poland. We will be following this whole address from start to finish.

It appears as though the president is waiting for his cue because he's being linked up with the conference in Poland. Bear with us as we await the start of his remarks.

We have been given a very small preview of what the president is expected to touch upon in the speech. Among the themes is that, of course, that all nations have to be patient as America and its allies conducts this campaign. He will also maker reference to the 50 years of repression that the country of Poland has suffered from.

Let's pause for a second and await the president's remarks.

All right, we continue to wait for the president to start his address. He is attempting to reach out to world leaders at a time when some of them and their citizens are expressing doubts and impatience about the military campaign in Afghanistan. He is expected to meet French President Jacques Chirac later this morning and he's likely to sit down with the Serbian prime minister a little bit later on today, as well.

Now, he has received some fresh words of caution from the president of Algeria, who has pledged support for the campaign but says that the military operation in Afghanistan must minimize civilian deaths. This is one of the themes the president is expected to touch upon today.

He is expected to allay some of those concerns and we actually have a quote from the speech where he says, "Our efforts are directed at terrorists and military targets because unlike our enemies we value human life."

Let's go back to the president and then see where he is in the standby here.

Miles, I think this might be a good time for us to try to vamp until the president starts here.

O'BRIEN: Well, yes. You know, I think...

ZAHN: But this is a very important precedent for the president to set.

O'BRIEN: I think, you know, one of the underlying issues here is the administration is obviously sensitive to the concern that maybe the war over Afghanistan is probably going better than the propaganda campaign, which is part of the ongoing effort, the war of public opinion, if you will. And when you look at some of the broadcasts which come out of the Middle East, Al Jazeera, for example, the attempt to try to counter that and try to give the Islamic world some sense of what the U.S. mission here is really at the root of all of this.

ZAHN: But one of the first indications I think that the administration is really poised to much more aggressively counter these remarks is shortly after Osama bin Laden's latest statement, the administration actually had someone in place to speak to Al Jazeera at the time...

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

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