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Live From...
British Arrest Al-Masri; U.S. Halts in Najaf with Possible Deal Brokered
Aired May 27, 2004 - 12:57 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, CNN ANCHOR: Terror indictment. Authorities say this Muslim cleric was trying to set up a jihad training camp in the U.S.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Troublemaker turned dealmaker? A renegade Iraqi cleric says he will end a deadly standoff with conditions.
O'BRIEN: Is America any safer from terrorists since 9/11? We're in-depth this hour.
PHILLIPS: Easing the pain at the pump. A car designed to get more than 2000 miles to the gallon, will you be able to drive it home?
O'BRIEN: That's a long way from my pickup truck. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.
PHILLIPS: I'm Kyra Philips. CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.
O'BRIEN: And we begin this hour with a tale of two clerics. In London a one-radical whom the U.S. accuses of trying to set up a terror camp in Oregon is in custody pending probable extradition, but the Shiite cleric whose personal army has been waging war with U.S. forces in Iraq has apparently agreed to back off and so have U.S. forces.
CNN's Jane Arraf tells us all about that from the holy city of Najaf.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(AUDIO GAP)
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: ... military officials say they're cautiously optimistic that an agreement will take hold to dissolve the Mehdi Army here in Najaf.
They say that indication (ph), they haven't had an attack on this base in almost two days, an occurrence so usual, they're taking it as possible evidence that Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia leader is serious about making peace with other religious and with the coalition.
Under a proposed agreement, Sadr would allow Iraqi police to come in and maintain security in Najaf followed by other forces, and eventually civil defense and Iraqi police forces. As for the U.S.-led coalition, and specifically the U.S. military, they could eventually withdraw to bases around Najaf, withdrawing from this place in the middle of the city that they're in now.
Officials say they would expect to see weapons be turned in to Iraqi police stations as a key sign that this is indeed a serious development in the ongoing search to end fighting in Najaf.
Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Najaf.
O'BRIEN: Other news in and about Iraq to tell you about. Hussein al-Shahristani says, thanks but no thanks. The nuclear scientist and one-time political prisoner says he doesn't want to be prime minister or anything else for that matter in the interim government being chosen by a U.N. envoy. The buzz around Baghdad had made him a shoo-in.
A British reinforcement team on the way on the way. London's MOD, ministry of defense, that is, has approved a request from British commanders in southern Iraq for more troops, roughly 8000 U.K. troops are there now. The new lot should number about 370 infantry forces and royal engineers.
PHILLIPS: Now to Abu Hamza al-Masri, held in London, wanted in Washington, alleged to be a friend of al Qaeda and holy war. Reported plans for a terror compound in the Pacific Northwest aren't even the serious charges facing al-Masri in the States, assuming he is extradited from Britain, which is likely, but not guaranteed. CNN's Deborah Feyerick is following the case from New York -- Deb.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, Abu Hamza was arrested in London. He appeared before a British magistrate just a short time ago. He refused to stand. His lawyer said that he would not give consent to be brought to the United States. Abu Hamza in custody, bail has been denied. There will be a hearing for that next week.
Now in the past, Abu Hamza has publicly denied being involved in terrorism. But the 11-count indictment filed here in New York charges otherwise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: These charges are related to Hamza's alleged attempts in late19'99 and early 2000 to set up a training camp for violent jihad in Bly, Oregon, here in the United States. Hamza is also charged with providing material support to al Qaeda for facilitating violent jihad in Afghanistan, as well as conspiracy to provide goods and services to the Taliban.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now with respect to the terror training camp, the indictment alleges that in October 1999 a co-conspirator contacted Abu Hamza and told him that he and others were stockpiles weapons and ammunition in the United States. Now Abu Hamza preached at the London mosque attended by 9/11 conspirators Zacarias Moussaoui, as well as shoe bomber Richard Reid.
He was banned from preaching at that mosque. He took his sermon outdoors. He's accused of inciting young men to wage holy war wherever it is they live. Now Scotland Yard tells CNN that they did search Abu Hamza's London home this morning. They did confiscate some of the belongings. Britain right now is trying to strip him of his citizenship -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Deb, has the interrogation process begun and is he giving information to authorities?
FEYERICK: It does not appear that he's giving any information to authorities. He plans to fight the extradition, he also plans to fight being stripped of his British citizenship. That is something that's going on right now, actually.
PHILLIPS: Deborah Feyerick, thanks so much.
Well, the young American named yesterday in an FBI bolo, be on the lookout, is a home-schooled Islamic convert who once serve a two- day jail term for battery. Adam Gadahn is the only U.S. native among seven suspected al Qaeda operatives whom the feds are eagerly hoping to track down and question. His rap sheet began with a 1997 run-in at his adopted mosque in Orange County, California. He is believed to have left the state, maybe the country, soon after. Yesterday, Gadahn's father talked with reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP GADAHN, ADAM GADAHN'S FATHER: I knew he'd been out of the country and -- but I thought he was settling down. I didn't imagine that he was -- would be involved in anything like what they're thinking he might be. But I'm not sure that the FBI really thinks that. I really don't know much because I haven't seen him for several years. And he just -- he's sort of detached. He went off and did his own thing. And that's just kind of the way he is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The FBI contends that Gadahn, now 25, was an al Qaeda translator and attended al Qaeda training camps.
PHILLIPS: Other news around the world now. Was it a terror attack in the making? Police in Bratislava, Slovakia, refuse to speculate about the source of two bags found near the site of tomorrow's NATO meeting. Hundreds of lawmakers from Europe and North America are expected to be there. Police, acting on a tip, found the bags under a trash can near the site of the NATO meeting.
The former Boston archbishop who resigned during the sex abuse scandal got a new job today. The pope has appointed Cardinal Bernard Law head of a basilica in Rome. Law, who travels frequently to Rome, has been named archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica, it's largely ceremonial post often given to retired church officials.
And a bit of post-Cold War irony as former nuclear adversaries unite in a common goal. The U.S. and Russia sign an agreement today to prevent highly-enriched uranium from falling into the hands of terrorists. The Global Threat Reduction Initiative will collect uranium from 20 reactors in 17 countries and transport it to Russia for processing. The U.S. will fund the $450 million project.
O'BRIEN: Now to the Caribbean and the island of Hispaniola shared by the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. They're also sharing a catastrophe still unfolding. At least 500 reported dead so far in massive flooding over the weekend. The toll expected to go much higher CNN's Susan Candiotti joins us via videophone from Santo Domingo -- Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Yes, the president of the Dominican Republic has called for a national day of mourning this day in light of this tragedy.
(AUDIO GAP)
CANDIOTTI: ... fly over the most badly stricken area, a little town called (UNINTELLIGIBLE) along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. We have updated numbers, 329 confirmed dead in the Dominican Republic, 375 missing. And part of the problem here is that a lot of the victims are apparently illegal Haitian migrants living in the Dominican Republic and many of their family members are afraid to come forward.
We can tell you as well that emergency supplies continue to go in, about a dozen flights a day to both countries, primarily bringing in the essentials, drinking water, food, and clothing for these people.
For the most part it does appear as though the water has receded. But the dry river beds that you see now were anything but on Sunday as the storm swept through, carrying away everything in its path, leaving unfortunately a lot of bodies half buried in the thick mud. And because some of the bodies were not able to be identified, officials say they had to bury them in common graves. Others who could be were returned to their families.
Mud is everywhere. You see thick layers of it throughout the city in homes that did survive the storm. They fill the houses, people are trying to draw water from common wells to clean things up while they wait for that drinking water to come in.
On the Haitian side, again, relief being brought in primarily from the U.S.-led international force, made up mostly of Marines and Canadians, bringing in supplies. The problem here continues to be, Miles, an area that is prone to flooding because of deforestation. Erosion has existed here for years. And many people who can only afford to build, in effect, huts to live in, made of tin and wood. And so naturally, when these heavy storms come through, they are swept away -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: The mudslides are a real problem there, aren't they, it's heavily deforested, has been over the years, hasn't it, Susan? CANDIOTTI: That's right. And so every time you've got these storms that come through, including, for example, Hurricane Gheorges back in...
(AUDIO GAP)
CANDIOTTI: ... again, the same problem. But not only hurricanes, whenever they have heavy rains come through that causes these heavy mudslides. And unfortunately, sadly there is a death toll each and every time that happens.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Susan Candiotti, in Santo Domingo, thanks very much.
O'BRIEN: Terror warnings, terror threats, is America safer from terror attacks than it was before 9/11? We'll talk about it with an expert whose answer might surprise you.
Kobe Bryant, borrowing a page from the O.J. Simpson playbook. We'll explain that one just ahead as LIVE FROM... continues.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At these prices, it's going to cost about $6.50 per gallon. Look at the speed the thing's going 'round.
O'BRIEN: All right. Richard Quest with a rather small vehicle there. From gas to petrol, why the Brits have an even bigger pain in the pump than Americans do.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: It's a classic defense strategy, accuse police of botching the investigation. Well, that's part of the focus of a one- day hearing in the Kobe Bryant case. It's a move that has ties to the O.J. Simpson trial. Adrian Baschuk joins us now from Eagle, Colorado, to explain.
What was it like in the courtroom, Adrian?
ADRIAN BASCHUK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, even more surprising than the O.J. Simpson case being reflected on hear in the courtroom is the Watergate scandal. The defense is using the Watergate scandal as its point man, arguing the accuser's AT&T text message records need to be released.
They say that there may be key evidence in them. They cited the Supreme Court overrode Nixon's executive privilege to keep his tapes private and said that they need to be made public. However, an attorney for AT&T, representing one of the accuser's friends, testified, saying that it would be a federal offense for them to release those records, citing the Electronic Communication Privacy Act.
The defense went on to say, quote, "that it would be irrational for the judge not to release these records because their defendant is facing life in prison and there may be potentially damaging evidence on those text messages" -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Adrian, the Lakers play tonight. Is Kobe going to be in the game?
BASCHUK: Well, hard to say. He has made every game after a court appearance. It's a 2 1/2-hour commute door-to-door from the Eagle County Courthouse behind me to the Staples Center. He would need to leave her by 4:30 Pacific time. The game starts an hour earlier than usual. Incidentally, the very last hearing that Judge Terry Ruckriegle held, he wrapped up the proceedings at exactly 4:34. So the odds could be in his favor -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Adrian Baschuk, from Eagle, Colorado, thanks.
O'BRIEN: At long last, jury selection should wrap up today in the Scott Peterson double murder trial. The process began nine weeks ago. The stage now set for opening arguments slated for June 1. Twelve jurors, six alternates will hear the case. Peterson faces death or life without parole if convicted of murdering his pregnant wife Laci and their unborn son.
University of Colorado football coach Gary Barnett has his job back. Just minutes ago, the school took him off the sidelines. In February, Barnett made some very controversial comments about women who say they were sexually abused by C.U. football players or recruits. Barnett returns as the university puts stricter oversight in place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETSY HOFFMAN, PRESIDENT, UNIV. OF COLORADO: The organizational and structural actions we are announcing today are serious, sweeping, and will alter the relationship athletics department with the rest of the university. We believe the new structure and procedures are unprecedented among major universities. They're aimed at insuring accountability, maintaining a climate that is supportive of women, ensuring integrity and ethical behavior, rebuilding public confidence, integrating the athletics department fully into the campus and academic environment, and assuring fiscal responsibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Last week, a special investigating commission concluded that sex and alcohol were used as recruiting tools, but did not find evidence that it was sanctioned by C.U. officials.
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead...
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: Well, your health up in smoke maybe. Our program's up in smoke, why not your health? New information about the link between lighting up and a new form of cancer. We'll puff on that one later.
PHILLIPS: Talk about your concept car. How does getting a couple thousand miles to the gallon, sound? Won't happen in your pickup, Miles. We'll take a test drive right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, gas may be 2 bucks a gallon or more, but chances are you have a road trip in your future. We are on the cusp of Memorial Day weekend, the beginning of the great American road trip season. The sad truth is, 13,000 of us will likely die on America's roads by Labor Day.
CNN's Julie Vallese reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Slatterys of Nebraska are lucky to be alive this summer. They were on vacation last year when...
TONI SLATTERY, CAR ACCIDENT SURVIVOR: My SUV fishtailed out of control on a gravel road, hit a corner post and rolled four or five times. When we came to a stop, the first thing I heard was the voice of my oldest daughter asking, are we dead?
VALLESE: The family was fine and they had properly installed child seats to thank.
SUSAN PIKRALLIDAS, V.P., AAA PUBLIC AFFAIRS: Statistics over the past five years tell us out of the 25 deadliest days in America, 20 of them fell during the 101 days from the Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day.
VALLESE: A five-year study by a national coalition of driving safety groups using government data found higher mileage, more children in cars and a peak in teens driving with schools out among the reasons for the increase in crashes.
PAUL BURRIS, PARTNERS FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: One of the things that we want people to know, that we want people across this country to know and understand today is that it can happen to you, and it can happen to your family.
VALLESE: But the report also says while Americans are at risk, drivers can reduce the danger by making sure seat belts and child seats are properly used, avoiding distractions, getting plenty of rest, avoiding alcohol when driving and obeying speed limits.
(on camera): The Department of Transportation is predicting more than 500 people will die during each holiday weekend of Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day.
(voice-over): Consonia Taylor (ph) could have been a summer statistic. She was hit by a drunk driver when she was eight months pregnant last July. Consonia was wearing her seat belt, but says she is lucky to be alive. So much so, her son's middle name is Miracle. He'll celebrate his first birthday in July.
In Washington, I'm Julie Vallese. (END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, in California, controversy's brewing over beer, or more specifically, beer bottles. Research shows that more than 1 1/2 billion beer bottles end up in state landfills each year instead of at the recycling plant. At 4 cents a bottle in redemption fees, that's about 70 million bucks getting pitched in the trash. California officials hope to give restaurant owners a kick in the "glass" by showing how much recycling can pay off in the long run.
(MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Top stories at this hour, Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al- Masri facing a death sentence possibly in the U.S. The hard-liner faces an 11-count federal indictment. The U.S. seeking extradition from Great Britain where he was arrested today. Abu Hamza accused of trying to build a terror training camp in Oregon, also accused of taking hostages in Yemen in 1998.
Standing down in Najaf, the U.S.-led coalition no longer on the offensive against the Mehdi Army. It's a response to a letter from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who promises to withdraw his militia from the holy city.
And it looked like rerun of "Miami Vice" off South Florida yesterday, save for the tropical-toned sports jackets though. A high- speed boat chase there, the arrest of six alleged drug smugglers, and in the dramatic finish seen here, the feds confiscated more than two tons of cocaine.
PHILLIPS: Now to the war on terror and the possible threat inside U.S. borders. The government warning of a possible al Qaeda strike on the homeland this summer. The question is, is the nation any safer than it was before 9/11? Ken Robinson is CNN's military intelligence analyst, he was also a principal planner for what is now the National Exercise Program.
And we'll talk about TOPOFF (ph) in a minute, Ken. But let's just get down to the question of, are we safer? You say no, we're just more prepared.
KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: I think it's hard to measure are we safer because terrorists get a vote. They get to plan the time and the location and the nature of the attack. And it's hard for us to anticipate from the multiple types of options they have.
But the nation is most certainly more prepared. It has done an enormous amount of planning since 9/11, since the lessons learned from 9/11, the 9/11 Commission, and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. There's a multitude of new programs that are out there that we can talk about.
PHILLIPS: Well, you gave me a lot homework to study last night with regard to homeland security. We can't hit all of it. But let's knock off five very important points. We've talked about border and transportation security. Big improvements there. Critical infrastructure. We think of the Twin Towers, of course, we think of this and how something like that is being prevented. Let's talk more about that.
ROBINSON: Well, critical infrastructure is -- it's -- a lot of times it's not just something that belongs to the government. There's a shared responsibility with banking industry, with the insurance industry, with transportation, with water purification. So it involves state, local leaders. It involves commercial entities. And so the United States government has created a lot of programs by which they help those entities prepare for a catastrophic event and they share information with them to try to provide warning for them in the event of heightened security.
PHILLIPS: And speaking of following the money trail and where the money has gone, the most money has gone into chemical and biological threats. You call it this high impact, low probability. Why has the most money gone into this area?
ROBINSON: Well, they spent about $8.2 billion in training state and local leaders and providing equipment for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high explosive training, to give them equipment to give them command and control procedures, to provide exercise for them.
And what that does is that enables the cities, because all terrorism is local, to prepare for these events and to be able to have the command and control to mitigate the activity, to mitigate the results of it. It doesn't necessarily prevent, but it prepares them to be able to take care of citizens.
PHILLIPS: A lot of money also has been put into training first responders, more police, more firefighters. Let's talk about the National Exercise Program where all those individuals have been incorporated and if it's been effective, the first time versus the second time. What do you think?
ROBINSON: Well, I'm biased in this regard. I participated in Top-Off 2000, which was the largest terrorism exercise in the history of the United States at that time. And since then, there was another Top-Off exercise that incorporated the lessons learned from 9/11.
Now this exercise, the National Exercise Program and Top-Off is a biannual exercise where the president of the United States and the senior members of his cabinet also participate. So you have both the state, local, and federal partners, all on the same sheet of music, work through the responses that they have to a catastrophic terrorism event.
And from this, there's been enormous amounts of lessons learned on how to command and control, how distribute assets properly, and how to mitigate again the impact of a terrorist event to continue with the continuity of government, to get operations back, going to get infrastructure up and running again, and to save lives. PHILLIPS: I notice there are a lot of new plans and systems and networks that have been created since 9/11. This one, HSIN, Homeland Security Information Network. I guess yesterday, when the attorney general came forward and talked about the seven al Qaeda suspects, that he needs help in finding. Is that part of this new network, the sharing of information?
ROBINSON: It is. And it's one of the things that we saw. They identified Adam Gadahn, who's a 25-year-old American citizen, in the bottom left of those photographs. Long hair and a beard, who's the Caucasian. Anderson Cooper's going to be talking more about that tonight on his program.
And this individual is wanted right now because he may have information that may lead to potential planning for future attacks. And this homeland security information sharing is one of the major lessons learned from 9/11 where they provide information to the local, state, and federal government simultaneously.
If you recall, one of the hijackers from the 9/11 attacks had been stopped by law enforcement for a traffic violation. Had there been a system in place at that time, that individual could have been apprehended and could have been questioned. And who knows what the results of that might have been? But it's certainly better today that it was prior to 9/11.
PHILLIPS: We've talked about exercises, we've talked the flow of information. Let's talk about organizations coming together in new ways. Specifically, FBI, EPA, CDC. Biowatch. Tell us about that.
ROBINSON: Well, this is a great program that they've started where they're working in concert with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease and Control. And they have apparatuses now out in the major urban areas of the United States and they're sampling the environment, they're smelling the area, and they're trying to detect the employment of a biological agent.
One of the most important things -- you know if you have a bomb go off, everyone sees the smoke and they hear the sound. If a chemical agent is dispersing you immediately see first noticeable effects, like a subway attack of sarin like occurred in Tokyo.
But with a biological agent, it's incipient. And sometimes those results aren't seen for three or four days. So event recognition, the fact that you realize you're under attack, is critically important to the United States, and can be the difference between hundreds of people dying, thousands of people dying, or larger.
And so this system is designed to try to detect and prevent and identify, so they can employ the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile. The National Pharmaceutical Stockpile is a group of antidotes that are prepared in the event of an actual bioterrorism event. And they are controlled at the national level.
PHILLIPS: CNN's military intelligence analyst, Ken Robinson. Thanks, Ken. ROBINSON: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 27, 2004 - 12:57 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Terror indictment. Authorities say this Muslim cleric was trying to set up a jihad training camp in the U.S.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Troublemaker turned dealmaker? A renegade Iraqi cleric says he will end a deadly standoff with conditions.
O'BRIEN: Is America any safer from terrorists since 9/11? We're in-depth this hour.
PHILLIPS: Easing the pain at the pump. A car designed to get more than 2000 miles to the gallon, will you be able to drive it home?
O'BRIEN: That's a long way from my pickup truck. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.
PHILLIPS: I'm Kyra Philips. CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.
O'BRIEN: And we begin this hour with a tale of two clerics. In London a one-radical whom the U.S. accuses of trying to set up a terror camp in Oregon is in custody pending probable extradition, but the Shiite cleric whose personal army has been waging war with U.S. forces in Iraq has apparently agreed to back off and so have U.S. forces.
CNN's Jane Arraf tells us all about that from the holy city of Najaf.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(AUDIO GAP)
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: ... military officials say they're cautiously optimistic that an agreement will take hold to dissolve the Mehdi Army here in Najaf.
They say that indication (ph), they haven't had an attack on this base in almost two days, an occurrence so usual, they're taking it as possible evidence that Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia leader is serious about making peace with other religious and with the coalition.
Under a proposed agreement, Sadr would allow Iraqi police to come in and maintain security in Najaf followed by other forces, and eventually civil defense and Iraqi police forces. As for the U.S.-led coalition, and specifically the U.S. military, they could eventually withdraw to bases around Najaf, withdrawing from this place in the middle of the city that they're in now.
Officials say they would expect to see weapons be turned in to Iraqi police stations as a key sign that this is indeed a serious development in the ongoing search to end fighting in Najaf.
Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Najaf.
O'BRIEN: Other news in and about Iraq to tell you about. Hussein al-Shahristani says, thanks but no thanks. The nuclear scientist and one-time political prisoner says he doesn't want to be prime minister or anything else for that matter in the interim government being chosen by a U.N. envoy. The buzz around Baghdad had made him a shoo-in.
A British reinforcement team on the way on the way. London's MOD, ministry of defense, that is, has approved a request from British commanders in southern Iraq for more troops, roughly 8000 U.K. troops are there now. The new lot should number about 370 infantry forces and royal engineers.
PHILLIPS: Now to Abu Hamza al-Masri, held in London, wanted in Washington, alleged to be a friend of al Qaeda and holy war. Reported plans for a terror compound in the Pacific Northwest aren't even the serious charges facing al-Masri in the States, assuming he is extradited from Britain, which is likely, but not guaranteed. CNN's Deborah Feyerick is following the case from New York -- Deb.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, Abu Hamza was arrested in London. He appeared before a British magistrate just a short time ago. He refused to stand. His lawyer said that he would not give consent to be brought to the United States. Abu Hamza in custody, bail has been denied. There will be a hearing for that next week.
Now in the past, Abu Hamza has publicly denied being involved in terrorism. But the 11-count indictment filed here in New York charges otherwise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: These charges are related to Hamza's alleged attempts in late19'99 and early 2000 to set up a training camp for violent jihad in Bly, Oregon, here in the United States. Hamza is also charged with providing material support to al Qaeda for facilitating violent jihad in Afghanistan, as well as conspiracy to provide goods and services to the Taliban.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now with respect to the terror training camp, the indictment alleges that in October 1999 a co-conspirator contacted Abu Hamza and told him that he and others were stockpiles weapons and ammunition in the United States. Now Abu Hamza preached at the London mosque attended by 9/11 conspirators Zacarias Moussaoui, as well as shoe bomber Richard Reid.
He was banned from preaching at that mosque. He took his sermon outdoors. He's accused of inciting young men to wage holy war wherever it is they live. Now Scotland Yard tells CNN that they did search Abu Hamza's London home this morning. They did confiscate some of the belongings. Britain right now is trying to strip him of his citizenship -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Deb, has the interrogation process begun and is he giving information to authorities?
FEYERICK: It does not appear that he's giving any information to authorities. He plans to fight the extradition, he also plans to fight being stripped of his British citizenship. That is something that's going on right now, actually.
PHILLIPS: Deborah Feyerick, thanks so much.
Well, the young American named yesterday in an FBI bolo, be on the lookout, is a home-schooled Islamic convert who once serve a two- day jail term for battery. Adam Gadahn is the only U.S. native among seven suspected al Qaeda operatives whom the feds are eagerly hoping to track down and question. His rap sheet began with a 1997 run-in at his adopted mosque in Orange County, California. He is believed to have left the state, maybe the country, soon after. Yesterday, Gadahn's father talked with reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP GADAHN, ADAM GADAHN'S FATHER: I knew he'd been out of the country and -- but I thought he was settling down. I didn't imagine that he was -- would be involved in anything like what they're thinking he might be. But I'm not sure that the FBI really thinks that. I really don't know much because I haven't seen him for several years. And he just -- he's sort of detached. He went off and did his own thing. And that's just kind of the way he is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The FBI contends that Gadahn, now 25, was an al Qaeda translator and attended al Qaeda training camps.
PHILLIPS: Other news around the world now. Was it a terror attack in the making? Police in Bratislava, Slovakia, refuse to speculate about the source of two bags found near the site of tomorrow's NATO meeting. Hundreds of lawmakers from Europe and North America are expected to be there. Police, acting on a tip, found the bags under a trash can near the site of the NATO meeting.
The former Boston archbishop who resigned during the sex abuse scandal got a new job today. The pope has appointed Cardinal Bernard Law head of a basilica in Rome. Law, who travels frequently to Rome, has been named archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica, it's largely ceremonial post often given to retired church officials.
And a bit of post-Cold War irony as former nuclear adversaries unite in a common goal. The U.S. and Russia sign an agreement today to prevent highly-enriched uranium from falling into the hands of terrorists. The Global Threat Reduction Initiative will collect uranium from 20 reactors in 17 countries and transport it to Russia for processing. The U.S. will fund the $450 million project.
O'BRIEN: Now to the Caribbean and the island of Hispaniola shared by the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. They're also sharing a catastrophe still unfolding. At least 500 reported dead so far in massive flooding over the weekend. The toll expected to go much higher CNN's Susan Candiotti joins us via videophone from Santo Domingo -- Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Yes, the president of the Dominican Republic has called for a national day of mourning this day in light of this tragedy.
(AUDIO GAP)
CANDIOTTI: ... fly over the most badly stricken area, a little town called (UNINTELLIGIBLE) along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. We have updated numbers, 329 confirmed dead in the Dominican Republic, 375 missing. And part of the problem here is that a lot of the victims are apparently illegal Haitian migrants living in the Dominican Republic and many of their family members are afraid to come forward.
We can tell you as well that emergency supplies continue to go in, about a dozen flights a day to both countries, primarily bringing in the essentials, drinking water, food, and clothing for these people.
For the most part it does appear as though the water has receded. But the dry river beds that you see now were anything but on Sunday as the storm swept through, carrying away everything in its path, leaving unfortunately a lot of bodies half buried in the thick mud. And because some of the bodies were not able to be identified, officials say they had to bury them in common graves. Others who could be were returned to their families.
Mud is everywhere. You see thick layers of it throughout the city in homes that did survive the storm. They fill the houses, people are trying to draw water from common wells to clean things up while they wait for that drinking water to come in.
On the Haitian side, again, relief being brought in primarily from the U.S.-led international force, made up mostly of Marines and Canadians, bringing in supplies. The problem here continues to be, Miles, an area that is prone to flooding because of deforestation. Erosion has existed here for years. And many people who can only afford to build, in effect, huts to live in, made of tin and wood. And so naturally, when these heavy storms come through, they are swept away -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: The mudslides are a real problem there, aren't they, it's heavily deforested, has been over the years, hasn't it, Susan? CANDIOTTI: That's right. And so every time you've got these storms that come through, including, for example, Hurricane Gheorges back in...
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CANDIOTTI: ... again, the same problem. But not only hurricanes, whenever they have heavy rains come through that causes these heavy mudslides. And unfortunately, sadly there is a death toll each and every time that happens.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Susan Candiotti, in Santo Domingo, thanks very much.
O'BRIEN: Terror warnings, terror threats, is America safer from terror attacks than it was before 9/11? We'll talk about it with an expert whose answer might surprise you.
Kobe Bryant, borrowing a page from the O.J. Simpson playbook. We'll explain that one just ahead as LIVE FROM... continues.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At these prices, it's going to cost about $6.50 per gallon. Look at the speed the thing's going 'round.
O'BRIEN: All right. Richard Quest with a rather small vehicle there. From gas to petrol, why the Brits have an even bigger pain in the pump than Americans do.
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PHILLIPS: It's a classic defense strategy, accuse police of botching the investigation. Well, that's part of the focus of a one- day hearing in the Kobe Bryant case. It's a move that has ties to the O.J. Simpson trial. Adrian Baschuk joins us now from Eagle, Colorado, to explain.
What was it like in the courtroom, Adrian?
ADRIAN BASCHUK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, even more surprising than the O.J. Simpson case being reflected on hear in the courtroom is the Watergate scandal. The defense is using the Watergate scandal as its point man, arguing the accuser's AT&T text message records need to be released.
They say that there may be key evidence in them. They cited the Supreme Court overrode Nixon's executive privilege to keep his tapes private and said that they need to be made public. However, an attorney for AT&T, representing one of the accuser's friends, testified, saying that it would be a federal offense for them to release those records, citing the Electronic Communication Privacy Act.
The defense went on to say, quote, "that it would be irrational for the judge not to release these records because their defendant is facing life in prison and there may be potentially damaging evidence on those text messages" -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Adrian, the Lakers play tonight. Is Kobe going to be in the game?
BASCHUK: Well, hard to say. He has made every game after a court appearance. It's a 2 1/2-hour commute door-to-door from the Eagle County Courthouse behind me to the Staples Center. He would need to leave her by 4:30 Pacific time. The game starts an hour earlier than usual. Incidentally, the very last hearing that Judge Terry Ruckriegle held, he wrapped up the proceedings at exactly 4:34. So the odds could be in his favor -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Adrian Baschuk, from Eagle, Colorado, thanks.
O'BRIEN: At long last, jury selection should wrap up today in the Scott Peterson double murder trial. The process began nine weeks ago. The stage now set for opening arguments slated for June 1. Twelve jurors, six alternates will hear the case. Peterson faces death or life without parole if convicted of murdering his pregnant wife Laci and their unborn son.
University of Colorado football coach Gary Barnett has his job back. Just minutes ago, the school took him off the sidelines. In February, Barnett made some very controversial comments about women who say they were sexually abused by C.U. football players or recruits. Barnett returns as the university puts stricter oversight in place.
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BETSY HOFFMAN, PRESIDENT, UNIV. OF COLORADO: The organizational and structural actions we are announcing today are serious, sweeping, and will alter the relationship athletics department with the rest of the university. We believe the new structure and procedures are unprecedented among major universities. They're aimed at insuring accountability, maintaining a climate that is supportive of women, ensuring integrity and ethical behavior, rebuilding public confidence, integrating the athletics department fully into the campus and academic environment, and assuring fiscal responsibility.
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O'BRIEN: Last week, a special investigating commission concluded that sex and alcohol were used as recruiting tools, but did not find evidence that it was sanctioned by C.U. officials.
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead...
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: Well, your health up in smoke maybe. Our program's up in smoke, why not your health? New information about the link between lighting up and a new form of cancer. We'll puff on that one later.
PHILLIPS: Talk about your concept car. How does getting a couple thousand miles to the gallon, sound? Won't happen in your pickup, Miles. We'll take a test drive right after this.
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O'BRIEN: Well, gas may be 2 bucks a gallon or more, but chances are you have a road trip in your future. We are on the cusp of Memorial Day weekend, the beginning of the great American road trip season. The sad truth is, 13,000 of us will likely die on America's roads by Labor Day.
CNN's Julie Vallese reports.
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JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Slatterys of Nebraska are lucky to be alive this summer. They were on vacation last year when...
TONI SLATTERY, CAR ACCIDENT SURVIVOR: My SUV fishtailed out of control on a gravel road, hit a corner post and rolled four or five times. When we came to a stop, the first thing I heard was the voice of my oldest daughter asking, are we dead?
VALLESE: The family was fine and they had properly installed child seats to thank.
SUSAN PIKRALLIDAS, V.P., AAA PUBLIC AFFAIRS: Statistics over the past five years tell us out of the 25 deadliest days in America, 20 of them fell during the 101 days from the Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day.
VALLESE: A five-year study by a national coalition of driving safety groups using government data found higher mileage, more children in cars and a peak in teens driving with schools out among the reasons for the increase in crashes.
PAUL BURRIS, PARTNERS FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: One of the things that we want people to know, that we want people across this country to know and understand today is that it can happen to you, and it can happen to your family.
VALLESE: But the report also says while Americans are at risk, drivers can reduce the danger by making sure seat belts and child seats are properly used, avoiding distractions, getting plenty of rest, avoiding alcohol when driving and obeying speed limits.
(on camera): The Department of Transportation is predicting more than 500 people will die during each holiday weekend of Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day.
(voice-over): Consonia Taylor (ph) could have been a summer statistic. She was hit by a drunk driver when she was eight months pregnant last July. Consonia was wearing her seat belt, but says she is lucky to be alive. So much so, her son's middle name is Miracle. He'll celebrate his first birthday in July.
In Washington, I'm Julie Vallese. (END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, in California, controversy's brewing over beer, or more specifically, beer bottles. Research shows that more than 1 1/2 billion beer bottles end up in state landfills each year instead of at the recycling plant. At 4 cents a bottle in redemption fees, that's about 70 million bucks getting pitched in the trash. California officials hope to give restaurant owners a kick in the "glass" by showing how much recycling can pay off in the long run.
(MARKET REPORT)
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O'BRIEN: Top stories at this hour, Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al- Masri facing a death sentence possibly in the U.S. The hard-liner faces an 11-count federal indictment. The U.S. seeking extradition from Great Britain where he was arrested today. Abu Hamza accused of trying to build a terror training camp in Oregon, also accused of taking hostages in Yemen in 1998.
Standing down in Najaf, the U.S.-led coalition no longer on the offensive against the Mehdi Army. It's a response to a letter from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who promises to withdraw his militia from the holy city.
And it looked like rerun of "Miami Vice" off South Florida yesterday, save for the tropical-toned sports jackets though. A high- speed boat chase there, the arrest of six alleged drug smugglers, and in the dramatic finish seen here, the feds confiscated more than two tons of cocaine.
PHILLIPS: Now to the war on terror and the possible threat inside U.S. borders. The government warning of a possible al Qaeda strike on the homeland this summer. The question is, is the nation any safer than it was before 9/11? Ken Robinson is CNN's military intelligence analyst, he was also a principal planner for what is now the National Exercise Program.
And we'll talk about TOPOFF (ph) in a minute, Ken. But let's just get down to the question of, are we safer? You say no, we're just more prepared.
KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: I think it's hard to measure are we safer because terrorists get a vote. They get to plan the time and the location and the nature of the attack. And it's hard for us to anticipate from the multiple types of options they have.
But the nation is most certainly more prepared. It has done an enormous amount of planning since 9/11, since the lessons learned from 9/11, the 9/11 Commission, and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. There's a multitude of new programs that are out there that we can talk about.
PHILLIPS: Well, you gave me a lot homework to study last night with regard to homeland security. We can't hit all of it. But let's knock off five very important points. We've talked about border and transportation security. Big improvements there. Critical infrastructure. We think of the Twin Towers, of course, we think of this and how something like that is being prevented. Let's talk more about that.
ROBINSON: Well, critical infrastructure is -- it's -- a lot of times it's not just something that belongs to the government. There's a shared responsibility with banking industry, with the insurance industry, with transportation, with water purification. So it involves state, local leaders. It involves commercial entities. And so the United States government has created a lot of programs by which they help those entities prepare for a catastrophic event and they share information with them to try to provide warning for them in the event of heightened security.
PHILLIPS: And speaking of following the money trail and where the money has gone, the most money has gone into chemical and biological threats. You call it this high impact, low probability. Why has the most money gone into this area?
ROBINSON: Well, they spent about $8.2 billion in training state and local leaders and providing equipment for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high explosive training, to give them equipment to give them command and control procedures, to provide exercise for them.
And what that does is that enables the cities, because all terrorism is local, to prepare for these events and to be able to have the command and control to mitigate the activity, to mitigate the results of it. It doesn't necessarily prevent, but it prepares them to be able to take care of citizens.
PHILLIPS: A lot of money also has been put into training first responders, more police, more firefighters. Let's talk about the National Exercise Program where all those individuals have been incorporated and if it's been effective, the first time versus the second time. What do you think?
ROBINSON: Well, I'm biased in this regard. I participated in Top-Off 2000, which was the largest terrorism exercise in the history of the United States at that time. And since then, there was another Top-Off exercise that incorporated the lessons learned from 9/11.
Now this exercise, the National Exercise Program and Top-Off is a biannual exercise where the president of the United States and the senior members of his cabinet also participate. So you have both the state, local, and federal partners, all on the same sheet of music, work through the responses that they have to a catastrophic terrorism event.
And from this, there's been enormous amounts of lessons learned on how to command and control, how distribute assets properly, and how to mitigate again the impact of a terrorist event to continue with the continuity of government, to get operations back, going to get infrastructure up and running again, and to save lives. PHILLIPS: I notice there are a lot of new plans and systems and networks that have been created since 9/11. This one, HSIN, Homeland Security Information Network. I guess yesterday, when the attorney general came forward and talked about the seven al Qaeda suspects, that he needs help in finding. Is that part of this new network, the sharing of information?
ROBINSON: It is. And it's one of the things that we saw. They identified Adam Gadahn, who's a 25-year-old American citizen, in the bottom left of those photographs. Long hair and a beard, who's the Caucasian. Anderson Cooper's going to be talking more about that tonight on his program.
And this individual is wanted right now because he may have information that may lead to potential planning for future attacks. And this homeland security information sharing is one of the major lessons learned from 9/11 where they provide information to the local, state, and federal government simultaneously.
If you recall, one of the hijackers from the 9/11 attacks had been stopped by law enforcement for a traffic violation. Had there been a system in place at that time, that individual could have been apprehended and could have been questioned. And who knows what the results of that might have been? But it's certainly better today that it was prior to 9/11.
PHILLIPS: We've talked about exercises, we've talked the flow of information. Let's talk about organizations coming together in new ways. Specifically, FBI, EPA, CDC. Biowatch. Tell us about that.
ROBINSON: Well, this is a great program that they've started where they're working in concert with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease and Control. And they have apparatuses now out in the major urban areas of the United States and they're sampling the environment, they're smelling the area, and they're trying to detect the employment of a biological agent.
One of the most important things -- you know if you have a bomb go off, everyone sees the smoke and they hear the sound. If a chemical agent is dispersing you immediately see first noticeable effects, like a subway attack of sarin like occurred in Tokyo.
But with a biological agent, it's incipient. And sometimes those results aren't seen for three or four days. So event recognition, the fact that you realize you're under attack, is critically important to the United States, and can be the difference between hundreds of people dying, thousands of people dying, or larger.
And so this system is designed to try to detect and prevent and identify, so they can employ the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile. The National Pharmaceutical Stockpile is a group of antidotes that are prepared in the event of an actual bioterrorism event. And they are controlled at the national level.
PHILLIPS: CNN's military intelligence analyst, Ken Robinson. Thanks, Ken. ROBINSON: Thank you.
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