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CNN Live At Daybreak

Two U.S. Military Transport Planes in Afghanistan Came Under Fire; Defense Secretary Rumsfeld Joining NATO Counterparts For Two- Day Conference in Brussels

Aired December 18, 2001 - 07:03   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with a check of the latest developments. Two U.S. military transport planes in Afghanistan came under fire today from ground to air missiles. The planes were not hit in the separate incidents south of Kandahar.

A cave by cave search in the Tora Bora region turns up many rounds of ammunition, but no sign of Osama bin Laden. Radio transmissions that some had linked to bin Laden last week aren't being heard as often. A Pentagon spokesman says it's because more al Qaeda fighters are dead or have abandoned their positions.

A U.S. flag found in the rubble of ground zero is now flying high above Kandahar Airport. The flag was raised by U.S. marines today. Family members of the World Trade Center victims and police officers and firefighters who worked the scene inscribed their names on the flag. The stars carry the names of police officers who lost their lives September 11 and the sailors who died on the USS Cole.

And what will become of John Walker? The Bush administration is discussing whether the captured American Taliban fighter will be tried within the military or civil justice system. It's also possible Walker may not be tried at all. If he offers significant information he could become a witness for the government, terrifying against al Qaeda leaders.

More now on the two U.S. C-130 transports that came under missile fire over the desert in southern Afghanistan.

CNN's Mike Chinoy has the details from Kandahar.

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And a marine spokesman has just told us that a few hours ago two U.S. military C-130 transport planes were fired at in separate incidents. The incidents took place south of Kandahar over the desert. In each case what the military believes were Stinger anti-aircraft missiles were fired at the two U.S. aircraft. Each aircraft shot off flares and took evasive action. Neither of them was hit. The marines say they are "going to deal with the threat accordingly." They will give no further details on how they intend to do that or any further details on who may have been behind this.

LIN: We will keep an eye on that story this morning, so stay right there for further developments. Again, no one was hurt in those attacks.

And we move on now with the rest of the news of the day. Osama bin Laden is still on the run, but U.S. officials say they are confident they'll find him.

CNN's Natalie Pawelski is at the Pentagon this morning -- Natalie, they're confident they're going to find him but they have yet to. So what is the plan?

NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, for days now the word has been that Osama bin Laden was pinned down and surrounded. But now we're hearing a different story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN STUFFLEBEEM, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: I'm not sure how close we ever really have been. We have nailed it down to an area. Indicators were there. And now indicators are not there. So maybe he still is there. Maybe he was killed or maybe he's left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAWELSKI: Also either gone or killed, the Pentagon figures, al Qaeda forces that were fighting from these caves in Tora Bora, now abandoned, still filled with munitions. There are reports of some al Qaeda crossing the mountains into Pakistan. The Pentagon says U.S. special forces in the area will not pursue any fleeing fighters across the border.

As for the head of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, local officials in Afghanistan say they know where he is, about 100 miles outside of Kandahar, and they say ethnic Pashtun fighters are getting ready to attack. But the Pentagon says Omar's whereabouts are still in question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STUFFLEBEEM: Commander Omar is certainly an individual that we would like to have. We don't know where he is. There is no credible evidence that he has left Afghanistan. There are some indications he may still be in the area around Kandahar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAWELSKI: Another big name in this war, American Taliban fighter John Walker, is now being held on a U.S. military vessel in the Arabian Sea together with an Australian national and three non-Afghan Arabs, all caught fighting with the Taliban.

And the Pentagon has released the names of three marines injured in a mine clearing operation at Kandahar Airport on Sunday. They are Sergeant Adrian Aranda of El Paso, Texas, Corporal Christopher Chandler of Aurora, Colorado -- he had to have his foot amputated -- and Lance Corporal Nicholas Sovereign of Battle Creek, Nebraska.

The Pentagon says none of the injuries are life threatening and all three marines have been evacuated to military facilities outside of Afghanistan -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much.

Natalie Pawelski reporting live this morning from the Pentagon.

And we've got more news here about Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He is joining his NATO counterparts for a two day conference in Brussels beginning today.

As CNN military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre reports, the progress of the anti-terror war is high on the agenda.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rumsfeld arrived in Brussels with a caution that while the Taliban have been toppled from power and al Qaeda forces are on the run, the war is by no means over.

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There are still a lot of Taliban in the country and there still armed. And it's going to take time and energy and effort, and people will be killed in the process of trying to find them and capture them or have them surrender.

MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld told reporters traveling with him to Brussels that 30 or 31 al Qaeda or Taliban have been captured over the last 24 hours, as fighting continues in the White Mountains near Tora Bora.

The U.S. continues to bomb fleeing forces from the air and U.S. special forces and Afghan troops are searching caves and tunnels for the elusive Osama bin Laden.

QUESTION: Did bin Laden escape from the Tora Bora area?

RUMSFELD: That presumes he was there.

QUESTION: Yes, it does.

RUMSFELD: Since we did not know that with precision, and we don't know if he's there now, it would be difficult to answer the question.

QUESTION: Are you saying you don't know where he is?

RUMSFELD: I am saying that it is a question mark as to his exact location. There are people who continue to speculate that he may be in that area or may have been in that area, or that he may be somewhere else.

My feeling is until we catch him, which we will, we won't know precisely where he was when we catch him.

MCINTYRE: What U.S. troops have found is more intelligence about al Qaeda, including large caches of Chinese ammunition, raising the question of how it got there. The U.S. is still trying to sort out who has been captured and who has been killed, and who may have gotten out of Afghanistan. At the airport in Kandahar, U.S. marines are building a detention facility where some prisoners will be held until the U.S. can interrogate them.

(on camera): One thing the United States wants to know is whether any opposition groups helped Taliban or al Qaeda leaders escape either as part of a surrender deal, or in return for bribes. Rumsfeld warned if any new officials of the Afghan government were involved in letting terrorists or their backers get away, the U.S. would not, in his words, ``be terribly friendly to their aspirations.''

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, Americans seem to feel more confident about how the war against terrorism is going. A new CNN/"USA Today" poll finds nearly seven in 10 Americans very satisfied with the progress in Afghanistan, and that has nearly doubled since the beginning of November.

But will the U.S. capture of kill Osama bin Laden? Well, 43 percent say that's very likely compared to 34 percent in the last week of November. The percentage of people believing bin Laden will elude the U.S. has remained about the same. Fear of terrorism seems to have subsided a bit, as well. Sixty-two percent say acts of terrorism are likely in the next several weeks, down from 74 percent last month.

Well, we want to ask you is al Qaeda finished? Go to our home page at cnn.com, AOL keyword CNN, to take part in today's quick vote and then quick on results to see the voting totals.

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