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Cathedral Mass Held for Victims of Madrid Terror Attack; Intense Manhunt for Charles McCoy in Sniper Shootings Near Columbus

Aired March 16, 2004 - 14:00   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Miles is off today. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM Made in America starts right now.
We begin in Madrid, Spain this hour. Tears and tributes for the 201 people killed in last week's train bombings. CNN's Alessio Vinci outside the cathedral where a funeral mass is now taking place -- Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Kyra.

Well, actually I'm not outside the cathedral. I'm outside the Atocha Station where the vast majority of the victims died during last Thursday's attacks. We can take you live to some pictures that are taking place just now at the (unintelligible) cathedral not too far away from where I'm standing.

There is a mass going on right now in honor of victims of the terrorist attacks. This is the official mass. The city of Madrid is organizing the honor them and we understand that Queen Sophia of Spain has also arrived there. She's attending this mass.

Spain, of course, being a predominantly Catholic country, a lot of people here mourning the deaths trying to see some and to seek some spiritual comfort at this time. We also understand that there will be a state funeral next week. Let's pause for a second to listen to a few seconds of this mass.

Now, regarding the investigation, CNN has learned that at least six Moroccans have been identified as the culprits of the attacks. Of these six, we understand one is already in custody. He was arrested last Saturday before the elections took place here.

The reason why this man is in interesting is because Spanish investigators, first of all, link him to a former al Qaeda ringleader in Spain. This man is now also in prison as well as linking him to two brothers who have been arrested early this year in connection to the Casablanca bombings last May in which several people also were killed, so this is the first suspect that is in custody and we understand Spanish officials are still seeking the others.

There is also another arrest that was made public today. We understand from the Basque police in the city of San Sebastian has detained an Algerian. The reason why this Algerian is interesting to investigators is because he had been arrested a while back for making some noise in the streets and while he was interrogated by the police he had mentioned the fact that there will be a lot of death in Madrid at the Atocha Station -- back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Alessio Vinci live from Madrid thank you.

So, was it al Qaeda or not? Al Qaeda isn't what it used to be. That's for sure but the effects of a global crackdown, dozens of dreaded terrorists dead or jailed isn't quite what the civilized world might have hoped.

As we hear now from CNN's Kelli Arena the organization hasn't so much been crippled as it has been transformed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. counterterrorism officials agree investigators will probably establish a definitive al Qaeda connection to the Spain bombings but experts suggest the term al Qaeda is now just shorthand for a very complex global terror network.

M.J. GOHEL, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION: What we're dealing here with is an ideology. It's a global jihad movement composed of al Qaeda and many affiliated terrorist groups. All of these groups are autonomous.

ARENA: Terrorism experts have long said al Qaeda was made up of loosely affiliated groups but most attacks, including those on September 11th, could eventually be traced back to Osama bin Laden or other leaders.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some two-thirds of al Qaeda's key leaders have been captured or killed. The rest of them hear us breathing down their neck.

ARENA: In part, the U.S.-led war on terror has created a new enemy by splintering the organization.

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM EXPERT: This is not like the Gambino crime family, a Mafia family, where if you just arrest the leaders it goes out of business. This is more like a mass movement and you can arrest as many people as you want but it's very hard to arrest the movement of ideas.

ARENA: Counterterrorism officials say one of their biggest concerns is how U.S. actions, such as the war in Iraq, are motivating new recruits bound by a common goal to destroy western secular society.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: The attacks in Spain will also serve as a strong recruitment tool according to those experts. They say the fact that the bombings influenced the Spanish elections, combined with the fact that Spain says it will loosen its alliance with the United States, will show new recruits how influential attacks can be -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: Kelli Arena live from Washington thank you.

A timely find in Iraq, Iraqi police have prevented what could have been a copycat attack mimicking the Spain bombings. In Babil (ph) near Karbala they diffused five explosives found along a railway line. That line connects Baghdad to Basra. It is used often by the U.S.-led coalition to transport supplies.

Farther north, terror tactics seem to include drive-by shootings in Iraq. At least nine civilians are dead after a slew of attacks yesterday and today in Mosul.

Among the dead and injured five Southern Baptist missionaries, Larry and Jean Elliot, Karen Denise Watson, and David McDonnall were killed when automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades hit their car. McDonnall's wife, Kerri (ph) was also in the car. She's in critical condition.

Well the killing of foreign civilians in Iraq is especially troubling. Most of them are helping to rebuild that country. A little later we're going to hear from the International Missions Board and our own security analyst about the dangers that they all face.

Armed, dangerous and apparently on the run, police in Columbus, Ohio are searching for a suspect in connection with a string of highway shootings that's left one woman dead and a community on edge.

Our Sean Callebs is at the scene with more about the suspect -- Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're exactly right, Kyra.

Today, authorities have said that an arrest warrant has been issued for 28-year-old Charles McCoy. Now, officially he is charged with felonious assault. Authorities say that he fired a 9mm handgun twice into a house that was occupied.

Investigators aren't saying exactly how but they say that fragmentation from one of the bullets that were removed from that house matches at least eight different bullets from various shooting sites around the I-270 area just south of the city and that is what authorities are investigating.

They have launched an intensive manhunt for McCoy. At the same time, his mother has also filed a missing person's report. She says she last saw her son on Friday. She said that he was upset about a possible move, moving away from the area. He took $600 out of the bank. He has not been seen since. Authorities had also been trailing him and they too lost that trail on Friday.

Now here's what we know about the suspect. He is 5'7", weighs 185 pounds. Now the photograph that has been going out over the TV today he doesn't have a goatee but he has apparently grown a goatee since then.

Now also the home where he lived with his mother is only a matter of miles from the heart of the area where most of the shootings took place and that is significant because all along authorities have maintained they believe the individual responsible for the shootings lives in that area.

Now, authorities also say that McCoy has a history of mental instability. They say that he is suicidal with possible homicidal tendencies, so they are warning anybody who may come in contact with the suspect not to try and apprehend him but simply to call 911.

There have been 24 shootings, 24, since May of last year and here's some information that if indeed McCoy turns out to be the shooter is not going to settle well with people in this area.

McCoy has been pulled over twice for speeding since May of last year. He paid fines on two occasions and that's all that happened. The shootings have hit cars. They've hit trucks. They've hit buildings and there has been one fatality. Last November 25th, a 62- year-old woman, a passenger in a car, was shot. She died, Kyra, in the hospital the next day.

PHILLIPS: Sean Callebs live from Columbus, Ohio thanks Sean.

A vain and dangerous woman or a mom who believed her pregnancy was normal? The Utah woman accused of killing one of her unborn twins by refusing a C-section is heading back to court today.

Our Ted Rowlands is live in Salt Lake City -- Ted.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Melissa Ann Rowland is expected back in court here in Salt Lake City in the next couple of hours. It is expected that the district attorney will actually in this court hearing drop one charge against her and that is a child endangerment charge, which stems from the birth of her other child.

She was carrying twins. One of them was stillborn. The other was born alive, a little girl, but had alcohol and cocaine in its system according to the district attorney.

Originally she was charged with child endangerment there but their strategy now, according to a district attorney spokesperson, is to drop those charges and concentrate on the murder charge, which faces Melissa Ann Rowlands and which has created a lot of controversy around the county basically that prosecutors in this case say that she had used depraved indifference in her actions.

She went to three separate Salt Lake hospitals complaining that she hadn't felt her babies move. In each of those cases, according to the district attorney, doctors urged her to get a Cesarean Section immediately saying that her child's lives were in danger.

She apparently, according to the DA, told a nurse at one of the hospitals that she didn't want a C-section because she didn't want the scar and she reportedly said she didn't care if she lost one of the babies. She just didn't want a scar.

Now she has told a local newspaper here that she never said that and that she is being used as an example by the state. Mental health advocates are concerned. They say that the fact that she may have said that to a nurse means that she was unstable and is suffering from mental illness.

Her attorney says she has a history of mental illness but the district attorney here says it does not factor into this case and that she had an obligation to take care of those unborn children and when she was told that their lives were in jeopardy she had an obligation to go ahead with that operation and they are charging her with homicide.

She'll be back in court on a homicide charge March 22nd but, as I said, she'll be back in court here in a couple hours for those charges to be dropped. Meanwhile she is not making bail. It stands at $300,000 -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ted Rowlands thank you.

Other news across America now, a verdict in the popcorn butter trial, Missouri jurors awarded a former microwave popcorn factory worker $20 million. Eric Peoples says that breathing vapors from the artificial butter flavoring used at the plant permanently damaged his lungs. Now he needs a transplant. Twenty-nine other former workers are also planning to sue.

A laid off tractor factory worker gets a lucky break in Indiana. He won the $89 million Powerball lottery. Last week, Tim Rivers lost his job. Now he doesn't have to worry about paychecks. Selecting the cash option, Rivers will receive about $50 million. He plans to buy his wife a house so they can move out of that mobile home.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

PHILLIPS: Well on the attack in Iraq, unknown assailants fire on a group of American missionaries. Is there any way to keep that country safe for civilians? We're going to talk with a security expert and a member of the International Mission Board.

And later the race for the White House, Al Sharpton gives up his presidential bid but he still has some things to say. We'll show you who's listening.

And if you want to quit smoking, what role do your weight and your ethnic background play? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has details later on LIVE FROM.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And this just in, we are waiting to hear from the Federal Reserve on interest rates and we are being told now just coming in they are going to stay the same.

They're currently holding at a 45-year low but a critical piece of the recovery though is still missing and that is new jobs, something we've been talking quite a bit about. But right now Federal Reserve coming forward on interest rates, it's going to stay the same.

Well, as we told you earlier, four American relief workers who were working on a water purification project in Iraq were killed yesterday in a drive-by shooting in Mosul and today a lot of people are asking what American civilians are doing in Iraq, in particular Christian missionaries and relief workers? Why do they go? And are they a help, hindrance to coalition forces?

With us in Richmond, Virginia, Bill Bangham, he's the member of the International Missions Board and, in Washington, security and terrorism expert Kelly McCann.

Bill, we're going to start with you. First of all relief workers, missionaries, do they go through any type of training before heading off to a war torn country like Iraq?

BILL BANGHAM, INTL. MISSIONS BOARD: The training ours go through are primarily a cultural type training where they begin to understand the culture that they're going to be working in, some beginnings of language study that sort of thing. We do do a little bit with security because security is such an important issue for us.

PHILLIPS: And what type of training do you do with regard to security, I mean do relief workers and missionaries at all talk about weaponry or is that absolutely not an issue?

BANGHAM: No. These are people that really, I would say, look on themselves as going as neighbors to these people. They're people that have a sense of call to cross cultural situations and to see them in these situations you just, you see them come alive. They go to express God's love for the people of Iraq, so weaponry is not something that we deal with.

PHILLIPS: Well, what about a security detail or armed guards? I mean considering the atmosphere, considering that even soldiers with the special training to take on terrorist type activity, I mean these individuals are getting killed. Why not have a detail with relief workers and with missionaries?

BANGHAM: Going with armed guards or being armed yourself is kind of counterproductive to going as a neighbor and entering into the community that the Iraqi people live in and helping them with their problems. So, we don't do that at all.

PHILLIPS: How do you become a neighbor with a terrorist?

BANGHAM: Well, you've got to remember, Kyra, that the vast majority of people in Iraq are not terrorists. You know they're victimized as much as relief workers or others or soldiers in Iraq. So, you know, more concerned with dealing with the relationships, establishing the relationships, forming the relationships out of which communities can be rebuilt.

PHILLIPS: And there's been a number of missionaries and relief workers that have pulled out of Iraq specifically with your organization, the people that you know. Will they stay? Will they keep going?

BANGHAM: I think so. I think so, yes.

PHILLIPS: What about looking at what happened recently with the death of these relief workers, is this being talked about? Is this being addressed? Is it coming to the forefront on what fellow workers can do that this would not happen to them?

BANGHAM: It is. You know right now our people are dealing with grief. You know they've lost some comrades and colleagues and, you know, they're attempting to minister to each other and to the families dealing with this loss but, you know, we will look down the road in the future. As a matter of fact, we're continually looking towards the -- to the safety of our people in these situations.

PHILLIPS: What kind of changes do you plan on making?

BANGHAM: I don't know that I can answer that right now, Kyra. This is so fresh. You know we're still dealing with the reality of this violent attack that occurred yesterday.

PHILLIPS: Well, you definitely know that the people there within Iraq need you and need the help of your people. Bill, thank you so much.

I want to bring in Kelly McCann now and just touch a little bit on the security issues. When you listen to an interview like that Kelly, and you hear what Bill has to say, obviously very passionate about the work and very philosophical when it comes to the beliefs of a missionary or relief worker. They don't want to go in there with guns and weaponry. They just want to, you know, share the love and try to do some good.

But what's the realistic approach right now? I mean you have terrorists that have absolutely no respect for human life and it doesn't matter who you are. It's body count.

KELLY MCCANN, SECURITY TERRORISM EXPERT: Well, you have to pick the right neighborhood and the bottom line is that Iraq is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods that there is in the world right now.

I mean look just because someone has a really great objective and is not politically motivated or not politically charged, they're there totally for humanitarian reasons, doesn't mean that the people who are predators in Iraq right now won't target them in a second's notice.

I mean the bottom line is they look for vulnerabilities of those kind of people. It's inconsequential to those people, the attackers, who or what the westerner is doing there. They don't really care.

The bottom line is there has to be some basic tenets of security, even if it's self promoted surveillance detection or situational awareness, as you and I have spoken about, things like that. You just, you really do have to have people focused on that because no one goes to go God's work, any God's work to get killed -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Should missionaries, should relief workers who are there, like you say, doing God's work, their biggest weapon I guess you could say prayer, take on a security detail? Should they have armed guards looking at the realities, especially of what you know that's happening in Iraq?

MCCANN: I don't know that philosophically you'd ever branch into that. I don't think that. I think that they would think that that would put them too aloof from the population that they're trying to help.

But I do think also that they could sustain, all humanitarian associations and NGOs could really do better at training people in situational awareness, being able to identify pre-incident indicators so trouble can be avoided and an expectation of engagements. I mean just because you're there doing humanitarian things doesn't mean you're not going to be facing an engagement.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, an international police force, I guess international police monitors coming in now. Talk to us about these FTOs and what's taking place to try and improve security at this point.

MCCANN: High visibility policing is not existent right now in Baghdad or in any of the major population points, so the people don't have a lot of trust for the existing Iraqi police.

Now that's being changed by the deployment of officers who have been trained off site, Iraqi officers who have been trained off site from Iraq who are then going to be married up with American counterparts, field training officers, who will actually deploy with their Iraqi counterparts to make sure there are not abuses, et cetera, and they start to do that high visibility policing, community policing which will make a difference -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Kelly McCann, our security analyst, thanks Kelly.

MCCANN: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, straight ahead, it's important to you to buy American goods. You might not be able to though. Just ahead, one company's struggle to keep everything made in the USA.

And later, soldiers on the front lines of keeping the peace in a war-torn country, their unique view of Iraq just ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Intense Manhunt for Charles McCoy in Sniper Shootings Near Columbus>


Aired March 16, 2004 - 14:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Miles is off today. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM Made in America starts right now.
We begin in Madrid, Spain this hour. Tears and tributes for the 201 people killed in last week's train bombings. CNN's Alessio Vinci outside the cathedral where a funeral mass is now taking place -- Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Kyra.

Well, actually I'm not outside the cathedral. I'm outside the Atocha Station where the vast majority of the victims died during last Thursday's attacks. We can take you live to some pictures that are taking place just now at the (unintelligible) cathedral not too far away from where I'm standing.

There is a mass going on right now in honor of victims of the terrorist attacks. This is the official mass. The city of Madrid is organizing the honor them and we understand that Queen Sophia of Spain has also arrived there. She's attending this mass.

Spain, of course, being a predominantly Catholic country, a lot of people here mourning the deaths trying to see some and to seek some spiritual comfort at this time. We also understand that there will be a state funeral next week. Let's pause for a second to listen to a few seconds of this mass.

Now, regarding the investigation, CNN has learned that at least six Moroccans have been identified as the culprits of the attacks. Of these six, we understand one is already in custody. He was arrested last Saturday before the elections took place here.

The reason why this man is in interesting is because Spanish investigators, first of all, link him to a former al Qaeda ringleader in Spain. This man is now also in prison as well as linking him to two brothers who have been arrested early this year in connection to the Casablanca bombings last May in which several people also were killed, so this is the first suspect that is in custody and we understand Spanish officials are still seeking the others.

There is also another arrest that was made public today. We understand from the Basque police in the city of San Sebastian has detained an Algerian. The reason why this Algerian is interesting to investigators is because he had been arrested a while back for making some noise in the streets and while he was interrogated by the police he had mentioned the fact that there will be a lot of death in Madrid at the Atocha Station -- back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Alessio Vinci live from Madrid thank you.

So, was it al Qaeda or not? Al Qaeda isn't what it used to be. That's for sure but the effects of a global crackdown, dozens of dreaded terrorists dead or jailed isn't quite what the civilized world might have hoped.

As we hear now from CNN's Kelli Arena the organization hasn't so much been crippled as it has been transformed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. counterterrorism officials agree investigators will probably establish a definitive al Qaeda connection to the Spain bombings but experts suggest the term al Qaeda is now just shorthand for a very complex global terror network.

M.J. GOHEL, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION: What we're dealing here with is an ideology. It's a global jihad movement composed of al Qaeda and many affiliated terrorist groups. All of these groups are autonomous.

ARENA: Terrorism experts have long said al Qaeda was made up of loosely affiliated groups but most attacks, including those on September 11th, could eventually be traced back to Osama bin Laden or other leaders.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some two-thirds of al Qaeda's key leaders have been captured or killed. The rest of them hear us breathing down their neck.

ARENA: In part, the U.S.-led war on terror has created a new enemy by splintering the organization.

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM EXPERT: This is not like the Gambino crime family, a Mafia family, where if you just arrest the leaders it goes out of business. This is more like a mass movement and you can arrest as many people as you want but it's very hard to arrest the movement of ideas.

ARENA: Counterterrorism officials say one of their biggest concerns is how U.S. actions, such as the war in Iraq, are motivating new recruits bound by a common goal to destroy western secular society.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: The attacks in Spain will also serve as a strong recruitment tool according to those experts. They say the fact that the bombings influenced the Spanish elections, combined with the fact that Spain says it will loosen its alliance with the United States, will show new recruits how influential attacks can be -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: Kelli Arena live from Washington thank you.

A timely find in Iraq, Iraqi police have prevented what could have been a copycat attack mimicking the Spain bombings. In Babil (ph) near Karbala they diffused five explosives found along a railway line. That line connects Baghdad to Basra. It is used often by the U.S.-led coalition to transport supplies.

Farther north, terror tactics seem to include drive-by shootings in Iraq. At least nine civilians are dead after a slew of attacks yesterday and today in Mosul.

Among the dead and injured five Southern Baptist missionaries, Larry and Jean Elliot, Karen Denise Watson, and David McDonnall were killed when automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades hit their car. McDonnall's wife, Kerri (ph) was also in the car. She's in critical condition.

Well the killing of foreign civilians in Iraq is especially troubling. Most of them are helping to rebuild that country. A little later we're going to hear from the International Missions Board and our own security analyst about the dangers that they all face.

Armed, dangerous and apparently on the run, police in Columbus, Ohio are searching for a suspect in connection with a string of highway shootings that's left one woman dead and a community on edge.

Our Sean Callebs is at the scene with more about the suspect -- Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're exactly right, Kyra.

Today, authorities have said that an arrest warrant has been issued for 28-year-old Charles McCoy. Now, officially he is charged with felonious assault. Authorities say that he fired a 9mm handgun twice into a house that was occupied.

Investigators aren't saying exactly how but they say that fragmentation from one of the bullets that were removed from that house matches at least eight different bullets from various shooting sites around the I-270 area just south of the city and that is what authorities are investigating.

They have launched an intensive manhunt for McCoy. At the same time, his mother has also filed a missing person's report. She says she last saw her son on Friday. She said that he was upset about a possible move, moving away from the area. He took $600 out of the bank. He has not been seen since. Authorities had also been trailing him and they too lost that trail on Friday.

Now here's what we know about the suspect. He is 5'7", weighs 185 pounds. Now the photograph that has been going out over the TV today he doesn't have a goatee but he has apparently grown a goatee since then.

Now also the home where he lived with his mother is only a matter of miles from the heart of the area where most of the shootings took place and that is significant because all along authorities have maintained they believe the individual responsible for the shootings lives in that area.

Now, authorities also say that McCoy has a history of mental instability. They say that he is suicidal with possible homicidal tendencies, so they are warning anybody who may come in contact with the suspect not to try and apprehend him but simply to call 911.

There have been 24 shootings, 24, since May of last year and here's some information that if indeed McCoy turns out to be the shooter is not going to settle well with people in this area.

McCoy has been pulled over twice for speeding since May of last year. He paid fines on two occasions and that's all that happened. The shootings have hit cars. They've hit trucks. They've hit buildings and there has been one fatality. Last November 25th, a 62- year-old woman, a passenger in a car, was shot. She died, Kyra, in the hospital the next day.

PHILLIPS: Sean Callebs live from Columbus, Ohio thanks Sean.

A vain and dangerous woman or a mom who believed her pregnancy was normal? The Utah woman accused of killing one of her unborn twins by refusing a C-section is heading back to court today.

Our Ted Rowlands is live in Salt Lake City -- Ted.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Melissa Ann Rowland is expected back in court here in Salt Lake City in the next couple of hours. It is expected that the district attorney will actually in this court hearing drop one charge against her and that is a child endangerment charge, which stems from the birth of her other child.

She was carrying twins. One of them was stillborn. The other was born alive, a little girl, but had alcohol and cocaine in its system according to the district attorney.

Originally she was charged with child endangerment there but their strategy now, according to a district attorney spokesperson, is to drop those charges and concentrate on the murder charge, which faces Melissa Ann Rowlands and which has created a lot of controversy around the county basically that prosecutors in this case say that she had used depraved indifference in her actions.

She went to three separate Salt Lake hospitals complaining that she hadn't felt her babies move. In each of those cases, according to the district attorney, doctors urged her to get a Cesarean Section immediately saying that her child's lives were in danger.

She apparently, according to the DA, told a nurse at one of the hospitals that she didn't want a C-section because she didn't want the scar and she reportedly said she didn't care if she lost one of the babies. She just didn't want a scar.

Now she has told a local newspaper here that she never said that and that she is being used as an example by the state. Mental health advocates are concerned. They say that the fact that she may have said that to a nurse means that she was unstable and is suffering from mental illness.

Her attorney says she has a history of mental illness but the district attorney here says it does not factor into this case and that she had an obligation to take care of those unborn children and when she was told that their lives were in jeopardy she had an obligation to go ahead with that operation and they are charging her with homicide.

She'll be back in court on a homicide charge March 22nd but, as I said, she'll be back in court here in a couple hours for those charges to be dropped. Meanwhile she is not making bail. It stands at $300,000 -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ted Rowlands thank you.

Other news across America now, a verdict in the popcorn butter trial, Missouri jurors awarded a former microwave popcorn factory worker $20 million. Eric Peoples says that breathing vapors from the artificial butter flavoring used at the plant permanently damaged his lungs. Now he needs a transplant. Twenty-nine other former workers are also planning to sue.

A laid off tractor factory worker gets a lucky break in Indiana. He won the $89 million Powerball lottery. Last week, Tim Rivers lost his job. Now he doesn't have to worry about paychecks. Selecting the cash option, Rivers will receive about $50 million. He plans to buy his wife a house so they can move out of that mobile home.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

PHILLIPS: Well on the attack in Iraq, unknown assailants fire on a group of American missionaries. Is there any way to keep that country safe for civilians? We're going to talk with a security expert and a member of the International Mission Board.

And later the race for the White House, Al Sharpton gives up his presidential bid but he still has some things to say. We'll show you who's listening.

And if you want to quit smoking, what role do your weight and your ethnic background play? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has details later on LIVE FROM.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And this just in, we are waiting to hear from the Federal Reserve on interest rates and we are being told now just coming in they are going to stay the same.

They're currently holding at a 45-year low but a critical piece of the recovery though is still missing and that is new jobs, something we've been talking quite a bit about. But right now Federal Reserve coming forward on interest rates, it's going to stay the same.

Well, as we told you earlier, four American relief workers who were working on a water purification project in Iraq were killed yesterday in a drive-by shooting in Mosul and today a lot of people are asking what American civilians are doing in Iraq, in particular Christian missionaries and relief workers? Why do they go? And are they a help, hindrance to coalition forces?

With us in Richmond, Virginia, Bill Bangham, he's the member of the International Missions Board and, in Washington, security and terrorism expert Kelly McCann.

Bill, we're going to start with you. First of all relief workers, missionaries, do they go through any type of training before heading off to a war torn country like Iraq?

BILL BANGHAM, INTL. MISSIONS BOARD: The training ours go through are primarily a cultural type training where they begin to understand the culture that they're going to be working in, some beginnings of language study that sort of thing. We do do a little bit with security because security is such an important issue for us.

PHILLIPS: And what type of training do you do with regard to security, I mean do relief workers and missionaries at all talk about weaponry or is that absolutely not an issue?

BANGHAM: No. These are people that really, I would say, look on themselves as going as neighbors to these people. They're people that have a sense of call to cross cultural situations and to see them in these situations you just, you see them come alive. They go to express God's love for the people of Iraq, so weaponry is not something that we deal with.

PHILLIPS: Well, what about a security detail or armed guards? I mean considering the atmosphere, considering that even soldiers with the special training to take on terrorist type activity, I mean these individuals are getting killed. Why not have a detail with relief workers and with missionaries?

BANGHAM: Going with armed guards or being armed yourself is kind of counterproductive to going as a neighbor and entering into the community that the Iraqi people live in and helping them with their problems. So, we don't do that at all.

PHILLIPS: How do you become a neighbor with a terrorist?

BANGHAM: Well, you've got to remember, Kyra, that the vast majority of people in Iraq are not terrorists. You know they're victimized as much as relief workers or others or soldiers in Iraq. So, you know, more concerned with dealing with the relationships, establishing the relationships, forming the relationships out of which communities can be rebuilt.

PHILLIPS: And there's been a number of missionaries and relief workers that have pulled out of Iraq specifically with your organization, the people that you know. Will they stay? Will they keep going?

BANGHAM: I think so. I think so, yes.

PHILLIPS: What about looking at what happened recently with the death of these relief workers, is this being talked about? Is this being addressed? Is it coming to the forefront on what fellow workers can do that this would not happen to them?

BANGHAM: It is. You know right now our people are dealing with grief. You know they've lost some comrades and colleagues and, you know, they're attempting to minister to each other and to the families dealing with this loss but, you know, we will look down the road in the future. As a matter of fact, we're continually looking towards the -- to the safety of our people in these situations.

PHILLIPS: What kind of changes do you plan on making?

BANGHAM: I don't know that I can answer that right now, Kyra. This is so fresh. You know we're still dealing with the reality of this violent attack that occurred yesterday.

PHILLIPS: Well, you definitely know that the people there within Iraq need you and need the help of your people. Bill, thank you so much.

I want to bring in Kelly McCann now and just touch a little bit on the security issues. When you listen to an interview like that Kelly, and you hear what Bill has to say, obviously very passionate about the work and very philosophical when it comes to the beliefs of a missionary or relief worker. They don't want to go in there with guns and weaponry. They just want to, you know, share the love and try to do some good.

But what's the realistic approach right now? I mean you have terrorists that have absolutely no respect for human life and it doesn't matter who you are. It's body count.

KELLY MCCANN, SECURITY TERRORISM EXPERT: Well, you have to pick the right neighborhood and the bottom line is that Iraq is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods that there is in the world right now.

I mean look just because someone has a really great objective and is not politically motivated or not politically charged, they're there totally for humanitarian reasons, doesn't mean that the people who are predators in Iraq right now won't target them in a second's notice.

I mean the bottom line is they look for vulnerabilities of those kind of people. It's inconsequential to those people, the attackers, who or what the westerner is doing there. They don't really care.

The bottom line is there has to be some basic tenets of security, even if it's self promoted surveillance detection or situational awareness, as you and I have spoken about, things like that. You just, you really do have to have people focused on that because no one goes to go God's work, any God's work to get killed -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Should missionaries, should relief workers who are there, like you say, doing God's work, their biggest weapon I guess you could say prayer, take on a security detail? Should they have armed guards looking at the realities, especially of what you know that's happening in Iraq?

MCCANN: I don't know that philosophically you'd ever branch into that. I don't think that. I think that they would think that that would put them too aloof from the population that they're trying to help.

But I do think also that they could sustain, all humanitarian associations and NGOs could really do better at training people in situational awareness, being able to identify pre-incident indicators so trouble can be avoided and an expectation of engagements. I mean just because you're there doing humanitarian things doesn't mean you're not going to be facing an engagement.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, an international police force, I guess international police monitors coming in now. Talk to us about these FTOs and what's taking place to try and improve security at this point.

MCCANN: High visibility policing is not existent right now in Baghdad or in any of the major population points, so the people don't have a lot of trust for the existing Iraqi police.

Now that's being changed by the deployment of officers who have been trained off site, Iraqi officers who have been trained off site from Iraq who are then going to be married up with American counterparts, field training officers, who will actually deploy with their Iraqi counterparts to make sure there are not abuses, et cetera, and they start to do that high visibility policing, community policing which will make a difference -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Kelly McCann, our security analyst, thanks Kelly.

MCCANN: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, straight ahead, it's important to you to buy American goods. You might not be able to though. Just ahead, one company's struggle to keep everything made in the USA.

And later, soldiers on the front lines of keeping the peace in a war-torn country, their unique view of Iraq just ahead on LIVE FROM.

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