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Poignant Moments on the First Memorial Day Since 9/11; What did the FBI Know and When did it Know it?; Search for Victims in Oklahoma Suspended
Aired May 27, 2002 - 20:00 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, HOST: Hello, I'm Miles O'Brien at CNN Center in Atlanta. Happy Memorial Day to you. A somber Memorial Day it was, the first since 9/11. We'll have reports from the beaches of Normandy, from Afghanistan and from the Wall on the Mall that Washington -- the Vietnam memorial with some poignant moments there.
Also, what did the FBI know, when did it know it, why did two memos end up in one office and no one seemed to add up two and two? We'll also give you the latest on the barge collision in Oklahoma. The muddy waters of the Arkansas River, the search has been suspended for the night. One body has been identified. Lots of questions remain as to why the pilot of that barge blacked out. All that and much more coming up next.
ANNOUNCER: Surviving a disaster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RODNEY TIDWELL, BRIDGE ACCIDENT SURVIVOR: The last thing I remember was going off the bridge. Everything else is a blur and just bits and pieces is coming back to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'll go live to Oklahoma where officials search for answers to a bridge collapse and for bodies in the murky waters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The divers are explaining to us that they believe that there's additional vehicles as well as victims that are beneath that rubble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: A one-year-old baby is among those killed today, as violence flares once again in the Mid East. Our cameras will take you live to the scene of another suicide bombing in Israel.
Memorial Day observed from America, to Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COL. FRANCIS W. ERICKSON, U.S. ARMY: Today, you are honoring those who died while you were with them and they paid the ultimate sacrifice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'll go live from the front lines in the war against terror. CNN's live from Israel, Afghanistan, Washington, Columbia, Oklahoma and other date lines around the world. Here now, Miles O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: Good evening. In Oklahoma, they have suspended efforts to recover more bodies from that bridge collapse into the murky waters of the Arkansas River. Rescue divers say they can barely see their hands in front of their faces, much less the peerless tangle of steel and concrete that was the bridge, which carried Interstate 40 over the river. CNN's Jeff Flock is on the scene. He joins us now from Webbers Falls with the latest.
Hello, Jeff.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CORRESPONDENT: Miles, hello to you. Perched out along County Road 100, perhaps you see out there behind me. This is one of the roads where the traffic is being diverted off of Interstate 40 and here. As many as 20,000 cars go over that bridge each day, so a lot of traffic on this two-lane county road out behind me.
Now, let's take you out to the scene, show you the very latest pictures. This from a pool that was put together earlier. It's up close and personal of that site from a boat on the Arkansas River. What we can tell you is that diving operation, as you mentioned, Miles, has been suspended for this day, bad weather earlier, and then a lot of difficulty with the debris down there. They need to bring in an extra crane to help clear some of that debris before they want to put more divers down in the water.
Today, they pulled an additional victim out and an additional vehicle. That makes four victims, four vehicles so far pulled out. They don't know what else is down there because they've got two giant pieces of the roadway blocking whatever in terms of victims and vehicles that are down there.
I also talked to the National Transportation Safety Board's George Black today about where the investigation is focusing specifically on that towboat captain. They want to know what happened to him, why he got so far off course because as George Black says, bridges are typically engineered so that where the tows go through, there's protection. But this tow was so far off course that that didn't do any good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE BLACK, NTSB BOARD MEMBER: The area where the tow was supposed to be was protected in this matter. The tow was not supposed to be in this area, so there were less protection for the bridge columns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLOCK: Now, as to the most emotional interview of this day, a man named Rodney Tidwell. He was carrying a load of garden hoses to Reno, Nevada, heading westbound over the bridge, when as he -- in his own words puts it, "the road went out from under me." Let's listen to what happened to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIDWELL: I was driving a semi coming across 40 going west, and the first thing I let you know, I had my seat belt on for the first time yesterday. And the last thing I remember was going off the bridge. Everything else is a blur and just bits and pieces is coming back to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLOCK: No word on, he says, how he got out of that vehicle.
Now, one other thing we want to show you, and that is some of the backups on these county roads. This is County Road 100, the intersection of 100 and 64. These roads obviously not meant to take traffic meant for the interstate. So there are police officers, county sheriffs out there directing the traffic. And obviously, this is a big day. It's Memorial Day, so a lot of traffic out there on 40, or at least there would be were it not shut down now.
Miles, back to you.
O'BRIEN: Jeff, I'm not sure if you've had the chance to ask this question, but maybe you have. I'm curious how many people were on the bridge of that towboat and what is the regulation, is it just one person, the pilot. Shouldn't there be at least a first mate up there?
FLOCK: You mean the bridge of the boat as opposed to...
O'BRIEN: I'm sorry. Yes...
FLOCK: ... the bridge that was knocked out...
O'BRIEN: ... I was using a nautical term, the bridge of the vessel.
FLOCK: ... because they are two big questions. They don't know how many people were on the bridge that fell either, so how many victims are down there. But no, it appears that only the captain was on the bridge. And I think there's a minimum of five -- we haven't confirmed this - but there is a minimum of five crewmembers that need to be on the tow, but only the pilot was on the bridge. And that is not uncommon.
As to what happened, though, the towboat company says that he took and passed a drug and alcohol test. That has not been confirmed by the NTSB, but apparently, something else happened beyond drugs or alcohol.
O'BRIEN: But just quickly, the speed of this vessel was less than five miles an hour, is that correct?
FLOCK: It should be, although, you know, the water was rushing very quickly. You know there's been a lot of rain in that area, so the Arkansas was moving pretty rapidly. And of course, there was a big storm under way at the time.
O'BRIEN: All right. CNN's Jeff Flock watching that story for us in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma. Obviously, a developing story. Thank you very much, Jeff. We appreciate that.
In Israel tonight, it is a sadly familiar scene as workers clean up at the scene of yet another suicide bomber. This time the Palestinian terrorist took an Israeli woman and her one-year-old granddaughter with him. The attack happened at an outdoor mall near Tel Aviv, and that's where we find CNN's Martin Savidge this evening.
Hello, Marty.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Miles. Looking at it now, you might find it very hard to believe that this is the site of Israel's latest suicide attack. This area has been greatly cleared, and cleansed and hosed down. Here's one stark reminder. This is the skeletal remains of the awning that hung over. This is the exact spot where the suicide bomber detonated the device that ended up killing and maiming so many people.
Here's another stark reminder over here. This is obviously a child's high chair. It was a one-year-old little girl that lost her life in this attack as well as her grandmother, as you pointed out.
Over here, this is the ice cream shop where many people had bought the ice cream that they were enjoying at the time of the attack.
Down here is a vigil that's being maintained by young people. A number of them are soon heading off to military service. This is how it looks now. Let's show you how it looked immediately after the attack.
The attack came at 6:45 p.m. Israeli time tonight. That is a time when the outside of the mall and the inside of the mall for that matter would have been heavily attended by people. Many people believe that's why the suicide bomber chose this place and chose that time.
Authorities think he may have intended to go inside the mall, then, realized that there was additional security and decided to go for the easier target on the outside. Twenty-eight people were also wounded in the attack, a number of them seriously.
And one other thing to show you. This vigil we talked about here. It was held peacefully. There was singing. There was prayers by the young people. But immediately behind them, just actually a few feet away, showing you the dichotomy of reaction, a very angry, a very violent crowd shaking their fists, at a time shouting death to Arabs and screaming for war.
It is hope that this ice cream shop can be opened perhaps as early as tomorrow, sort of a quiet but determined defiance on the part of Israelis that life will go on - Miles.
O'BRIEN: Marty, Israel is obviously under a very high state of alert right now, security extremely tight, and yet these bombers continue to be able to operate with what seems to be impunity. Why?
All right. Apparently, we've lost Marty Savidge's audio. We apologize for that. We'll get that question answered some other time for you and we'll move on.
Meanwhile in Washington, there is an awful lot of talk about what the government knew and when it knew it in advance of the September 11 terror attacks. At the center of the storm, the Federal Bureau of Investigation facing a new round of scrutiny over warnings that went unheeded. CNN's Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena joins us now with more about the memos and specifically, the memos - the Zacarias Moussaoui memo, which came out of the Minnesota office of the FBI.
Kelli, what have you been able to piece together about how all these memos were transferred through that organization and where they ended up in Washington?
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the information on Zacarias Moussaoui was sent to the Radical Fundamentalist Unit. Now, that's a terrorist investigative unit, which is based at FBI headquarters here in Washington. Now, interestingly, that is also one of the units that received information from a Phoenix agent with suspicions that Osama bin Laden may have been sending Middle Eastern men to U.S. flight schools.
At this point, it's not clear whether or not that information was sent to the same people within the unit so that they were able to connect the dots. But we do know the same unit received information from two field offices on possible terrorist activity.
O'BRIEN: All right. So let's get this straight. We have the Phoenix memo and the so-called Rowley memo now, which came out of the Minnesota office.
ARENA: Right.
O'BRIEN: It's a 6,000-word document. It's quite weighty and quite scathing, but I'm curious. I know you've had a chance to go through it all. What is the most serious allegation that you see in there?
ARENA: Well, as you've said, in general, it is scathing, but perhaps one of the more startling charges is that an agent in headquarters, not only thwarted the Moussaoui investigation, but changed the application for a search warrant that would have allowed FBI access into Moussaoui's computer. Now, in her letter, Colleen Rowley says that the agent in headquarters - and I'm quoting here - "...deliberately further undercut the FISA effort by not adding the further intelligence information, which he had promised to add that supported Moussaoui's foreign power connection and making several changes in the wording of the information that had been provided by the Minneapolis agent."
Basically, bottom line here, she is accusing FBI headquarters of not pursuing a search warrant as aggressively as they should have and in fact, downplaying information that had been provided by Minneapolis.
O'BRIEN: Now, there's an unnamed midlevel person involved in this who she has some criticism for, but also does she levy some criticism at the top -- and to be fair, Mr. Mueller was only in office as head of the FBI for a short time prior to the 9/11 attacks. So I'm curious what...
ARENA: Right, exactly one week.
O'BRIEN: ... what is said about the leadership of the FBI and perhaps what has happened since 9/11?
ARENA: Well, as you said, I mean she's leveling criticism across the board here, but she is pretty blunt when it comes to dealing with higher ups at the Bureau. And in her letter, she says - we have another quote here - "...that I deep concerns that a delicate and subtle shading of facts by you and others at the highest level of FBI management has occurred and is occurring." That statement directed squarely at FBI director Robert Mueller. So she stops short of calling this a cover up, but she does say, hey, you know, I've heard the statements, the public statements, that are out there, and they're not measuring up with what we knew beforehand.
O'BRIEN: And what's interesting is there's no whistle blower of law for the FBI. It's kind of interesting - it's kind of -- to put her in a difficult position.
Let's talk about Congress for a moment. Obviously, a lot of implications, a lot of ramifications in Congress. Where's it going?
ARENA: Well, there is an investigation that's ongoing and Congress wants answers. It's still not clear exactly who received the information within those terrorism units and why it was handled the way it was. So members of Congress have asked Director Mueller for specific information. They want names. Who did the information go to? What was done with it once it was in that person's hands? And why, you know, were certain actions taken? It's very muddy right now. The members of Congress that I've been able to contact have said that they just don't have the clear answers that they need at this point to move forward.
And of course, we are going to hear from Director Mueller. We're expected to hear from him this week on some concrete changes, some more details of the reorganization that he is going to put in place over at the FBI as well. O'BRIEN: CNN's Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena joining us from Washington. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
ARENA: You're welcome, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's turn now to some talk about Memorial Day. President Bush is on the final stop of his weeklong European tour, just hours away from landmark NATO summit. He landed in Rome this afternoon. He met with Italy's prime minister. President Bush will soon join other members of NATO in a summit to grant Russia a nonvoting seat in the alliance. There's a little piece of history for you.
Earlier Mr. Bush was in France where he paid homage to U.S. war dead near Normandy's D-day beaches. He honored their sacrifices and pledged others are ready to do just the same for a different war. CNN's senior White House correspondent John King is with the president.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Retracing the costly steps of a battle long ago, remembering those who paid the price for freedom then and for those fighting a very different war now.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our wars have won for us every hour we live in freedom. Our wars have taken from us the men and women we honor today and every hour of the lifetimes they had hoped to live.
KING: The American Cemetery at Normandy was the backdrop for a president overseas on the Memorial Day holiday. The graves are marked with crosses and the Star of David, 9,386 in all, each with a story and a place in history.
BUSH: Private Jimmy Hall was seen carrying the body of his brother, Johnny saying, "He can't, he can't be dead. I promised mother I'd look after him."
KING: As he arrived, the president looked down on the rough water and rocky cliffs, then peered from the overlook at what the D- day battle maps called Omaha Beach.
Earlier, services at the Church of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, a simple memorial outside to the U.S. paratroopers who arrived June 6, 1944 to help end the Nazi siege. Some old enough to remember, some far too young, but told by a visiting president history is calling again today.
BUSH: This defense will require the sacrifice of our forefathers, but it's a sacrifice, I can promise you, we'll make.
KING: There was an unspoken message -- the country that twice helped liberate Europe is counting on its allies now. The French president said not to worry. JACQUES CHIRAC, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Whenever our central values are in jeopardy, you can count on us, just as we know that we can count on you.
KING: This memorial is to the more than 1,500 Americans listed as missing because their remains never were recovered or identified after one of history's most deadly and defining battles.
BUSH: Units of Army Rangers on shore in one of the history's bravest displays, scaled cliffs directly in the gunfire, never relenting even as comrades died all around them. When they had reached the top, the Rangers radioed back the code for success. Praise the Lord.
KING: John King, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, Memorial Day in the Afghan war zone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. JOHN KEANE, ARMY, VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: Fundamentally, what our soldiers are doing is they're willing to risk everything that they care about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'll go live to Afghanistan.
If you're traveling by plane to your summer vacation destination, be ready to whittle away some time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the word for the summer is probably delay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Our cameras take you live to one of the nation's busiest airports.
Speaking the language the Bush administration understands. Colombia's new president-elect vows to rid his country of drug traffickers and leftist guerrillas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The United States is our best partner to protect democracy, to protect human rights, to recover security for our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'll go live to Bogotá, Colombia when we continue, but first, time for your opinion. Does Memorial Day mean more to you after September 11? To take the quick vote, head to CNN.com. The AOL keyword is CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Some military families in southern California are observing this Memorial Day with celebrations. They welcomed home a Marine F-18 squadron from the U.S. aircraft carrier J.C. Stennis. The ship itself returns from action in the Afghan war.
The carrier was deployed last November and launched nearly 2,000 air strikes. Planes from the Stennis dropped 275,000 pounds of ordinance and attacks against al Qaeda and Taliban forces.
O'BRIEN: And welcome home to them.
For the servicemen and women still in the region, however, it was a somber Memorial Day, more in keeping with its origins. Americans in Afghanistan paused to honor comrades in arms who have fallen in the war against terrorism. CNN's Mike Boettcher joining us live from one of the key sites of Operation Enduring Freedom, the Bagram Air Base.
Hello, Mike.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Indeed, it was a subdued Memorial Day here at Bagram Air Base, as the troops considered the losses of September 11 and the subsequent losses in the war against terrorism. One of those who says he feels each loss very deeply is the future leader of the U.S. Army.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOETTCHER (voice-over): A long way from home on a holiday weekend back in America, a U.S. Army helicopter sets down in a hot, dusty and potentially lethal place, Afghanistan. Aboard is the man in line to be the next chief of staff of the Army, General John Keane. He has a reputation of being a soldier's soldier, and as he inspects his troops this Memorial Day weekend, his soldiers are on his mind.
Here in Afghanistan, more names have been added to the role of U.S. war dead.
(on-camera): You've had an illustrious 35-year career. You've had, I'm sure, lost a lot of friends over that time, a lot of men.
GEN. JOHN KEANE, ARMY, VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: Every single year for my 35 years, we've lost soldiers, and it's something that you never ever get used to. And we have -- have to honor them. We have to take time and set it aside and remember who they are and what they did for us. We've lost 46 in this war right here on terror, 26 of those are soldiers and it is so painful to let them go.
We lost 75 Army family in the Pentagon itself on the first day of the war. And after close to 60 funerals, you still have an ache in your heart with all of that. BOETTCHER (voice-over): At Bagram Air Base, small attempts at a holiday observance. There was a Memorial Day cookout and an international volleyball tournament of sorts. Teams from the Anti- terror Coalition, Polls, Americans, British, Italians and others, a holiday diversion, small attempts at normal life for soldiers, Marines, air men and sailors wearing many flags who have known nothing normal since September 11.
KEANE: I have been in awe of it all my life, and I am today as I'm out here visiting these soldiers because fundamentally what our soldiers are doing, they're willing to risk everything that they care about in life, everything. They risked the opportunity to have a full life, the opportunity to be a parent, to have friends. They risked the opportunity to have love in their life, to be loved. And they risk all of that, for what? What do they risk it for? They risk it for one and another and for the sake of mission. And you can't put a price tag on that kind of devotion.
BOETTCHER: A lot of important dates have passed since coalition forces landed here, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and now Memorial Day. Many here are missed all of them and know they will miss many more.
Will a nation aroused after September 11 but possessing a notoriously short attention span remember this sacrifice? General Keane believes it will.
KEANE: Patriotism is about commitment, and it's about resolve, and it's about sacrifice. It's about a willingness to commit to something that's larger than yourself and it's also about our capacity as a nation to face our fears. And the American people are displaying all of that in ways that I have not seen at any time in my adult life, and they are committed, and they are that resolve and they're willing to make those sacrifices, and they are facing their fears.
BOETTCHER: Here, there is only a semblance of a holiday. The war did not take a day off, and neither do the troops.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOETTCHER: At Bagram Air Base, there was a minute of silence to honor the war dead. But at the coalition base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, there was a more formal service. CNN's Lisa Rose Weaver was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A torch for each of the 51 coalition soldiers who died in Operation Enduring Freedom, most of them in Afghanistan marched into a small amphitheater at the Kandahar Airport. It's called Freedom Chapel now. Worship to god and country is joined by the memory of those who lost their lives. For this generation of soldier, Memorial Day has come closer to home.
ERICKSON: Today, you are honoring those who died while you were with them, and they paid the ultimate sacrifice. You need to think about that, because each and every day, each and every one of us is in harm's way. We are serving in defense of our country, and you are here, you've all volunteered, and you are here.
WEAVER: For some, the connection to death came closer than they ever thought, and not always from the front line. Unexploded ordinance also took its toll.
MAJ. RANDY BOLZ, U.S. ARMY: It really personalizes it for me. When we first got here, I saw some of the of EOD gentlemen that lost their lives in an explosion. That was the first week we were here. One of the gentlemen was from my hometown in Okolona, Kansas, and so I had some connection there and it really sunk home.
WEAVER: Four Canadians were also honored, killed by mistake as American forces fired on them near Kandahar, a gesture of inclusion to an American ceremony, in recognition of some 850 Canadians stationed here, the United States largest coalition partner at Kandahar.
KEANE: And I pray that every sailor, soldier, airman and Marine...
WEAVER: For the men and women here, their thoughts on this Memorial Day are very fresh indeed.
Lisa Rose Weaver, CNN, Kandahar Air Base.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOETTCHER: At the same time, they were honoring the dead in this campaign against terror in Afghanistan; they were planning for future operations. And as they say here, the war against terrorism continues - Miles.
O'BRIEN: Which leads to my question, Mike, just if you could bring us up to date on the hunt for these pockets of al Qaeda and Taliban, and where things stand on that effort, particularly in the hunt for Osama bin Laden?
BOETTCHER: Well, at the current time, there are small operations, mostly in the eastern part of Afghanistan seeking out al Qaeda and Taliban factions. There are no large operations right now, but there is planning under way. They say they will continue to look for these cells.
Yesterday, they reported capturing two midlevel Taliban at a compound. Last week, they arrested 50 people at a compound, a mix of al Qaeda and Taliban. So these operations continue in the mountain, but Miles, it's a very rugged terrain, but they are bit by bit, they say, closing in, they believe, on the remaining Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan - Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Mike Boettcher with some of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan at the Bagram Air Base. Thanks for being with us. We appreciate that.
Now, most people think of it as a holiday, a time for hot grills and cool swimming pools, but Memorial Day is an entirely different event for those who have lost loved ones in war, especially in this war.
Army Sergeant First Class Nathan Chapman was the first American killed in combat in Afghanistan. The Green Beret had volunteered for the mission that took his life in January. Today, he was remembered during a Memorial Day gathering of family and friends in Texas. His mother used the occasion to read a letter she received from him 13 years ago on his first combat mission in Panama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYNN CHAPMAN, MOTHER OF NATHAN CHAPMAN: People here are really friendly because they have been living in fear for so long. They definitely want us here. They try to give us food and gifts, but we can't accept them. I wouldn't take them anyway. They're so poor. A lot of them have no shoes to wear, and they all live in sheds not suitable to keep our lawn mower in.
I'm sure you know it's not like that all over the country, but where we are, it's bad. I'm sure you're worried, but don't be, the worst is over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Mrs. Chapman says she plans to include the letter in a scrapbook for her son's two young children. And we're back in just a moment.
ANNOUNCER: Next, rebounding from September 11.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of the busier hubs like Chicago and Dallas, we're seeing - Atlanta -- we're seeing at certain times of the day certain days of the week that the numbers are even higher than last year's.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'll go live to one of the nation's busiest airports where longer lines and longer delays are predicted. And later...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Different people that we had in the United States that were so young, so many of them were killed. They didn't know anything of what life was all about. They were just that young.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'll pay a visit to a small town that paid a big price during one of America's biggest World War II battles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. The holiday is over and the rush to return home is on for many of you. We'll go live to Washington's Reagan National Airport in a moment, but first, a news alert for you.
Workers have suspended the grim task of recovering more bodies from the rain swollen Arkansas River. Authorities say debris from the collapsed Interstate 40 Bridge in Eastern Oklahoma complicated their work. Divers have pulled four bodies from the river one day after a barge hit the bridge and knocked out a chunk of the roadway.
A baby girl is among the victims of the latest deadly bomb blast in Israel. This one happened just outside a mall in Tel Aviv. The one- year-old and her grandmother were killed. Dozens more were hurt. Hezbollah Television in Lebanon says the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade has claimed responsibility.
President Bush just a few hours away from an historic NATO Summit in Italy, his arrival in Rome caps a weeklong European trip, which culminates with a NATO Summit to grant Russia a non-voting seat in the alliance.
Earlier, the president marked Memorial Day near Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. He spoke at the American Cemetery where more than 9,000 men and women are buried. There, he drew a parallel between World War II and the current war against terrorism, saying a new generation is also ready to make sacrifices for peace.
The threat of terror hung over this Memorial Day holiday weekend as Americans traveled from here to there under heightened alert. Now comes a new report about what the airlines knew before September 11th.
CNN's Patty Davis was supposed to join us live from Washington's Reagan National Airport. Thunderstorms have forced her inside. She joins us from the Washington Bureau instead, Patty good to have you with us.
Tell us about this circular, which came out in 1998 mentioning the possibility of an al Qaeda sponsored hijacking. How specific was that circular, and do we have any evidence that the airlines did any specific to respond to it?
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good question. Now, Miles, the airlines did know as far back as you said as 1998 that Osama bin Laden did pose a threat. A government source says that three FAA bulletins in 1998 and then in 1999 urged a high degree of alertness against threats to U.S. civil aviation from bin Laden's terrorist network.
They included warnings of a hijacking threat against a metropolitan airport in the eastern United States. But what the bulletins did not say was that there was a possibility that there could be suicide hijackings, so airlines never changed their policy of cooperating with hijackers. That change in policy came only after September 11th. Now what airlines are - pilots are supposed to do is get on the ground as fast as possible, never open the cockpit door, and don't let the hijackers in. Don't cooperate.
Now as for the Memorial Day holiday, the FAA says there were no specific threats to U.S. aviation, but there is another type of threat on the horizon this summer and that is airline and airport delays.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIS (voice over): It's a summer ritual, vacation, but this year Christie Stallard, her five-year-old son and her boyfriend have chosen not to fly from Washington, D.C. to Connecticut. They're making the five to six-hour trek by car instead.
CHRISTIE STALLARD, TRAVELER: Drive versus fly, for me it's the convenience of driving, putting all the stuff into the car and the hassle of going to the airport, waiting in lines and checking it all.
DAVIS: Those who do choose to fly this summer are likely to see delays.
DAVID STEMPLER, AIR TRAVELERS ASSOCIATION: I think the word for the summer is probably delay, and what we're telling out passengers is prepare for the worst and just hope for the best.
DAVIS: While the number of passengers is still ten percent below pre-September 11th levels, the FAA says the number of flights has rebounded.
JANE GARVEY, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: Some of the busier hubs like Chicago and Dallas were seeing - Atlanta were seeing that certain times of the day, certain days of the week that the numbers are even higher than last year.
DAVIS: Longer lines and longer waits are predicted at airports as new federal screeners take over and have to learn the ropes.
STEMPLER: All of these people have to be trained and they're new at their job and I think that's going to be the cause of delay. So it's going to be like two steps forward and one step back.
DAVIS: CNN has learned that the airlines knew as far as five years ago that Osama bin Laden was threatening to hijack or bomb airplanes. Although there are no specific warnings about air travel this Memorial Day holiday, there is a sense of heightened alert within the aviation system. All the more reason not to fly, says Stallard. She was in the air on 9/11.
STALLARD: We actually flew over the World Trade Center and this with a five-year-old son. It's just a little bit more at ease driving.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIS (on camera): The FAA says it is confident that it can move traffic along this summer with new routes and more frequent weather forecasts. But it says that bad weather remains the wildcard. Miles.
O'BRIEN: Speaking of bad weather, Patty Davis from our Washington Bureau, not Reagan Airport because some delays are obviously in work there right now. Thank you very much, Patty.
DAVIS: That's right.
O'BRIEN: We appreciate that. From Arlington National Cemetery to the Vietnam Memorial emotions running strong this Memorial Day, especially in the wake of September 11th.
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ANNOUNCER: Memorial Day was first observed in the U.S. in 1868, to honor those who died fighting in the Civil War. The holiday now honors all American military personnel who died while serving their country. Since 1971, Memorial Day has been celebrated on the last Monday in May.
O'BRIEN: And, of course, this Memorial Day took on added significance being the first one since September 11th. CNN's Jonathan Aiken has more on the somber tributes from the nation's capitol.
JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Mournful taps at Arlington National Cemetery, the click heeled precision of the Black Guard, wreaths and silence at the Tomb of the Unknowns, at the Vietnam Memorial, as, usual a more personal remembrance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We also have two of our family on the Vietnam wall, and this was a special day for us.
AIKEN: Mementos mixed with the flowers and for some vets memories tinged with respect and sadness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first I do is give a salute to all these good soldiers, you know, who served their country and I get a little emotional sometimes, you know, but most of the time I smile and think of some of the good times we had when we were young soldiers.
AIKEN: Older soldiers now, the sons and daughters of the greatest generation, misunderstood in their youth, honored today for their service, and the heroism of their sons and daughters.
BOB DOLE, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Now we know. We know because of Johnny Spann, the brave CIA operative who died in a Taliban prison uprising. We know because of the heroes of Operation Anaconda. We know because of the heroes in Flight 93 in the Pentagon and the Twin Towers.
AIKEN: And new heroes, three names added to this granite honor role, 58,229 names long now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look at all the memorabilia that they have left, everything that it means to them and you look at people rubbing their hands on the wall and trying to remember what their loved ones were all about. AIKEN: Memorial Days at the wall have always been part tribute, part funeral, part reunion, a potent stew of emotions, stronger this year for what we've been through. Jonathan Aiken, CNN, Washington.
O'BRIEN: Up next, we'll move to another front in the war on terror. There's a new boss in Bogata and he wants more American help. We'll tell you why. A live report from Columbia is coming up in just two minutes so stay with us.
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O'BRIEN: After winning a landslide victory, Columbia's president- elect promises big changes. Voters in the revolution-torn South American country gave Alvaro Uribe a 53 percent to 32 percent win over his closest challenger. It means no run-off for one thing. CNN's Harris Whitbeck joins us live now from Bogotá, Harris, good to see you. The U.S. is welcoming this newly-elected candidate with open arms, why?
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Miles. The next resident of the Presidential Palace behind me, Alvaro Uribe, has certainly received a good welcome from the United States.
Last night, the U.S. Ambassador to Columbia, Anne Patterson, was one of the first people to show up to his campaign headquarters in a downtown hotel to congratulate him. Mr. Uribe has said all along that he needs U.S. help in his fight against leftist insurgence and also against rightist paramilitary organization the AUC.
ALVARO URIBE, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT-ELECT: The United States is our best partner to protect democracy, to protect human rights, to recover security for our people. This is a necessary partner to destroy drugs. If we don't destroy drugs, illegal drugs, we destroy this democracy.
WHITBECK: The leftist FARC has been operating in Columbia for about 40 years, Miles. It's a guerrilla organization that most recently has been financing its activities with drug trafficking, that according to both U.S. and Columbian government officials; $400 million a year is the money that the FARC makes off the drug trade. As President-Elect Uribe says, planes fly out of here carrying cocaine and other drugs and they fly back in carrying weapons. Miles.
O'BRIEN: Harris, give us a sense of what sort of U.S. help Mr. Uribe is looking for. Is he talking about U.S. troops, advisers, or just some cold hard cash?
WHITBECK: Well, he has asked for the expansion of Plan Columbia, which as you know is the $1.8 billion scheme to do away with the drug trade in Columbia. It was set in place by President Clinton in 2000. He wants that expanded. He wants more help in aerial interdiction to stop these planes coming in and out of Columbia, and he also wants Plan Columbia to be expanded to allow the use of U.S. resources in the fight against insurgence.
Mr. Uribe says that the drug trade is link immeasurably to the guerrillas, to the guerrilla war and he says that he needs those resources really so that he can use airplanes, helicopters to fight the guerrillas.
O'BRIEN: It is true that 80 percent of the cocaine that ends up in the streets of the U.S. originates from this country, correct?
WHITBECK: That's correct. That's correct, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, a point worth remembering. CNN's Harris Whitbeck in Bogotá, Columbia, thank you very much. Strong words from Pakistan's president about nuclear rival India, after another tense day of heavy shelling on the border between the two nations, that and the rest of our news alert after a brief break. Stay with us.
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O'BRIEN: Now a look at some of the other headlines this Memorial Day, fresh reports out of Israel, Israeli troops moving into the West Bank town of Jenin early Tuesday. The raid comes hours after a suicide bomber killed two Israelis near Tel Aviv.
Reuters reports clashes broke out with Palestinian gunmen. At least two helicopter gun ships were involved in the operation. The Israeli military offered no other details. The Jenin Refugee Camp was the scene of intense fighting, you'll recall, last month.
Back when the Republic of Georgia was part of the Soviet Union, you never would have expected to see U.S. military experts there. But today, U.S. personnel began teaching the Georgian army how to fight terrorists believed to have links with al Qaeda. The two-year program is beginning with training for officers. Later U.S. forces will work with the rank and file troops.
With tensions already at a fever pitch, Indian and Pakistani forces traded heavy artillery fire over the border between the two nuclear armed nations. In a nationally televised address, Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf said his government does not want war, but if one breaks out, Pakistan will respond in full, his words.
Both countries have a million troops facing off along the so- called line of control, dividing the disputed territory of Kashmir. Tempers are flaring in both countries, with protesters burning effigies of each other's leaders. India accuses Pakistan of supporting Islamic guerrillas raiding Indian-controlled Kashmir. Pakistan denies that. The Bush Administration has called on Pakistan to do more to stop the cross-border incursions.
Flames from wildfires in Arizona's Coronado National Forest are just half a mile from about 175 homes. The fire has burned more than 14,000 acres now. Crews are trying to prevent the flames from jumping the highway but no one is predicting when that fire will be under control.
Time for a break. When we return this Memorial Day, the town of Bedford, Virginia which gave much more than its fair share remembers those who lost their lives on D-Day. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Among the first wave of 160,000 allied troops at D- Day, 2,500 were killed and 7,500 were wounded.
O'BRIEN: Many cities and towns across America suffered great losses during World War II, to say the least. But Memorial Day is especially deeply felt in Bedford, Virginia. CNN National Correspondent Bruce Morton went there and he found many residents thinking about times of deadly conflicts past and present.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The generations meet at the D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia. Roy Stevens and Ray Nance are local D-Day veterans, part of A-Company 116th Infantry. Thirty-five Bedford men were in the first wave at Omaha Beach. Nineteen died in the first 15 minutes, two later, the highest per capita loss of any American town. We first met Ray and Roy at the Memorial's dedication almost a year ago.
NANCE: The people that we had in the United States were so young. So many of them were killed. They didn't know even what life was all about. They were just that young.
ROY STEVENS, D-DAY VETERAN: This is Ray and this is me.
MORTON: Roy Stevens would have landed with his twin brother Ray but Roy's landing boat hit one of those boat traps. He got to the beach four days later, heard that his brother had been wounded.
STEVENS: So when I went back over there, I was thinking that he's maybe in the hospital somewhere, you know, hurt. The first grave I came to was his. It was a (inaudible), and my buddy with me, he found his brother. This flag you see is the one that brought his body back in 1948.
MORTON: Roy who lost his hand years later in an accident, still has the purple hearts they both won. Now a year later, he and Ray Nance visit the Memorial often, the sound of make believe bullets echoing off the water. Some 350,000 people have visited since the dedication.
NANCE: And I come up here real often and it does bring it back.
MORTON: And of course, September 11th has happened since. America, the world, have changed, but maybe not for today's soldiers.
STEVENS: Young people today probably have the same fears. Maybe it would be good if they don't know what they run into, because they did, you got to go forward. You can't go backward.
MORTON: Ray Nance worries about his country.
NANCE: I feel that the country as a whole has changed a lot since D-Day. Well, they've grown lax, no carish kind of, you know, a lot of people and I just - it isn't good. I think our country is on the downslide.
MORTON: Roy, who speaks to students often, disagrees but concedes this is a different war.
STEVENS: This war now, if we don't know our enemy is, it's demoralizing really. You just can't trust. They may be partially right about that. We can't trust what's going on in America today, but we've got more good people than we have bad ones.
MORTON: The visitors come, the children stare and wonder and maybe want to climb in and join the landing.
STEVENS: It brings back a lot of memories even when (inaudible) doesn't it?
NANCE: Yes, it does.
MORTON: The old warriors remember that day more than half a century ago.
STEVENS: But I never thought eight, ten years ago that I'd be walking down here with you.
MORTON: And how do they feel about the young Americans fighting this new different war?
STEVENS: They're doing a good job. I think they're out there to protect us and I think it's great that America looks up and God bless America.
MORTON: Generations meet here to share a story, to mourn the many who did not come home, to honor and remember those who did. Bruce Morton, CNN, Bedford, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: And that's all the time we have on this Memorial Day. I'm Miles O'Brien at CNN Center in Atlanta. "LARRY KING LIVE" is next.
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