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Live From...

Al Qaeda Originally Planned Larger U.S. Strike; Marion Jones Denies Steroid Use

Aired June 16, 2004 - 13:58   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.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Atta himself planned to crash his aircraft into the streets of New York if he could not hit the World Trade Center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Chilling details about the 9/11 attacks and the even bigger plot terrorists had in mind for that day.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Portrait of the enemy. Clearer pictures emerging of the inner workings of al Qaeda and the terror group's lack of cooperation with Iraq.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Deborah Feyerick in Little Lake Harbor, New Jersey. The family of American captive Paul Johnson speaks out exclusively to CNN.

PHILLIPS: Living proof that karma exists. A kidney donor's amazing run of good fortune.

From the CCN Center in Atlanta, hello, everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips.

And I'm Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.

PHILLIPS: We begin this hour very near to the end of the road for the independent commission investigating September 11. The panel's final public hearing under way in Washington, a little more than a month before its deadline, postponed from May, for a final report. Live pictures now. As it has in its past, it's issuing more of its partial conclusions and among them, no apparent ties between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda. We get the details now from CNN's Sean Callebs. He's in our D.C. bureau -- Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, exactly. As punishing as the 9/11 attacks were, information coming out today, as well, detailed a plan that was much more extensive, involving 10 aircraft and targeting both coasts. Although the report states there is no credible evidence that Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda cooperated on the attacks against the United States.

Now during testimony today, investigators said that Osama bin Laden approached Iraqi authorities and wanted assistance with weapons and training. But it ended there. Here are other key points coming out in the first of the final two days of public hearings. The original plot was much more involved and ambitious and was hatched back in 1996. It called for targets in the U.S., as well as Southeast Asia. The blueprint for the attack came from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is now in U.S. custody. Bin laden and Mohammed had wanted to originally use 10 aircraft and wreak havoc on both coasts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIETRICH SNELL, SENIOR COUNSEL: KSM maintains that his initial proposal involved hijacking 10 planes to attack targets on both the East and West Coasts of the United States. He claims that in addition to targets actually hit on 9/11, these hijacked planes were to be crashed into CIA and FBI headquarters, unidentified nuclear power plants, and the tallest buildings in California and Washington State.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: OK. It goes on from there. The centerpiece also called for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to take over the tenth plane himself. The plan was to kill all male passengers on board, contact the media, then touch down at a terminal, denounce the United States, then free all the women and children. There was apparently a certain amount of dissent as well over whether to target the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

The pilot of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, Ziad Jarrah, nearly backed out. Mohammed considered replacing Jarrah with Zacarias Moussaoui, who was taking flight lessons in Minnesota.

Now also the full circle on the alleged Iraqi connection, the U.S. authorities have said Atta could have met with Iraqi intelligence officials in Prague. Well, in the hearing today, photos at ATMs and Atta's cell phone records show that he was in the United States at that time -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Sean, we also learned this plot costing only $400,000 to $500,000. What else do we know about the money trail?

CALLEBS: Amazing, the money did not come -- the money to finance all of this, the planning, the attack, did not come from Osama bin Laden's personal fortune, which had been estimated somewhere around $300 million. Apparently his family cut him out and provides him $1 million a year. The money came from fundraising. Only, as you mentioned, $400,000 to $500,000, the lion's share of that was used to bring all of the hijackers to the United States, and of course, pay for the flight lessons, house and feed the hijackers as well. But only $400,000 to $500,000.

PHILLIPS: Sean Callebs, live in D.C., thanks.

O'BRIEN: Two years and nine months after 9/11, aviation security remain an work in progress. Case in point, registered traveler, an idea born in the very origins of the Transportation Security Administration, it lets frequent flyers bypass some of the more time- consuming and intrusive security checks if they register some personal information, including continuing fingerprint and eyeball scans with the feds. The info is checked against criminal and terrorist databases. And if nothing comes up, the flyer gets a partial pass at airport checkpoints. The key word here is partial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK HATFIELD, TSA SPOKESMAN: We're not relaxing any of the standards. We will still have primary screening for registered travelers. But it will significantly reduce the added time that secondary screening takes and reduce the chance that they'll be taken over to the corral for secondary screening. It is very important. It also has this biometric identification component to it, which we're really excited about because that holds a lot of promise for aviation security. It has further applications for identifying airport workers, crews, law enforcement officers. So this is really a platform that we're building that can be expanded both for the registered travelers and beyond that in aviation security applications elsewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: The program being tested at five airports this summer, beginning with Minneapolis -St. Paul International.

PHILLIPS: Just 14 days to the handover of sovereignty in Iraq. And the death toll for coalition forces continues to climb. Two U.S. soldiers were killed when insurgents targeted their base with a rocket near Balad (ph), just north of Baghdad today. Twenty-one other people were wounded in that attack. Eight hundred and thirty-six U.S. soldiers have now died since the war in Iraq began.

O'BRIEN: There's no letup in the repeated sabotage of Iraqi pipelines. Insurgent attacks in northern and southern Iraq have brought oil exports to a virtual standstill. Half of a key southern line is expected to reopen today. And in the latest attack against prominent Iraqis, the man in charge of securing pipelines in the north was assassinated in Kirkuk today. Ghazi Talabani was headed for work when gunmen attacked his car. Our Brent Sadler is in Basra looking at the effects of these pipeline attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is now the front line of Iraq's war on oil. Overnight, insurgents were able to destroy part of a strategic pipeline carrying crude oil from Basra to offshore terminals at the northern end of the Persian Gulf. If we walk around here, it stinks because of the heavy odors of crude oil that's created a large sea around here.

If we pan off my location, you'll see half a meter deep, several feet deep, at least, a lake of crude oil that's burst from this underground piping. This is the crude oil that should now have been sent to ships, waiting to take on oil on those offshore terminals. Iraq's oil exports from the south now completely at a standstill.

Now this is actually the place where the explosion went off. As we walk around, there's pumping machinery. They're trying to push back the oil that was in the pipeline that burst out in this area so that they can effect repairs. But before they can do that, they have to put sand -- piles and piles of sand, tons of it, around the actual leak, which you can see down here, and that's oozing from the burst pipe. If you could see those bubbles. They first have to isolate that area with an earthen berm, and then get engineers to repair it. That's going to take several days.

Now there has been an escalation in attacks on Iraq's oil infrastructure over the past several weeks. And northern supplies have been cut to a trickle. And now, with the complete standstill of crude exports from the south, it is a very serious situation, undermining not only coalition efforts to secure this strategic, vital industry, but also undermining the coalition efforts to stabilize Iraq in the crucial period before the handover of sovereignty.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Basra.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: A new poll shows two-thirds of Iraqis believe conditions will improve when the interim government takes control on June 30 and then Iraqi forces will be able to maintain security without U.S. troops. The poll obtained by the Associated Press was conducted by the Coalition Provisional Authority.

PHILLIPS: A pawn in a quarrel he did not start. The situation of American hostage Paul Johnson in Saudi Arabia seems more perilous today. In a videotape posted on the Web yesterday, Johnson's captors threaten to kill him in 72 hours. Earlier today, in a CNN exclusive, our Deborah Feyerick sat down with his family. She joins us now from Little Lake Harbor, New Jersey to tell us what they had to say -- Deb.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, Paul Johnson's sister says she is numb, still trying to make sense of his abduction. Johnson's son pleaded with his father's kidnappers, saying his father is an honorable man who has nothing but respect for the Saudi people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL JOHNSON III, SON OF KIDNAP VICTIM: I just want him brought home safely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're doing everything we can to bring him home. Everybody's trying to help. We appreciate that.

JOHNSON: I just plead with the Saudis to please do whatever you take. If you got to -- I'm -- we're all human. Just, please -- he's done a lot for your country. I respect your country. I respect everything that everybody's done. And I just want to see my father brought home safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Johnson's sister also said that she has watched other American captive like Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg, she has watched their families suffer, never imagining for a minute that she, one day, would be in the same position -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Deborah Feyerick, thank you very much.

Well, it's understandably a very anxious time for the Johnson family. We will bring you Deborah Feyerick's entire interview with them coming up at 3:00 p.m. Eastern right here at LIVE FROM...

O'BRIEN: Religion and politics. How faith is shaping voter attitudes and the candidates' campaigns in the race for the White House.

And Olympic champion, an Athens hopeful, Marion Jones, expected to make what she's calling a major announcement this hour. We're watching that one closely for you.

And if you thought your week was getting monotonous, it's just one big vicious circle for these world record hopefuls. We're watching the wheels go round and round. We'll tell you about some people with a lot of time on their hands when LIVE FROM... continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: More information now coming into CNN regarding that controversial shooting with the U.S. soldier in Iraq. Our Barbara Starr LIVE FROM... the Pentagon with an update -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Kyra. Well, U.S. military officials confirm to CNN that murder charges are being preferred or filed, if you will, against a U.S. Army captain, a member of the 1st Armored Division in Iraq in relation to the death of an Iraqi man back on May 21 in the city of Kufa in southern Iraq.

This incident involves a firefight which emerged between U.S. forces, the 1st Armored Division, and militia forces believed loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr. A car with two men inside got into a firefight at a U.S. military checkpoint. Both men wounded. One of the men, one of the Iraqi men, it was later found to be that he was, in the words of the military, quote, "shot at close range by a U.S. soldier." When that came to light, the Army's Criminal Investigative Division immediately launched a criminal investigation into the matter.

And we have now learned today that, indeed, murder charges are being filed or proffered, in military parlance, against a U.S. Army captain. We don't know the circumstances of the shooting, other than Army criminal investigators believe there is sufficient evidence now to bring murder charges against this military officer in the U.S. Army -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara, out of curiosity, just to kind of put it in perspective, is this the first case of its kind for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and also Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq?

STARR: There have been of course any number of questionable cases where the Army's Criminal Investigative Division or command has looked into them, and people indeed -- you know, as we know in Abu Ghraib, they are facing a number of criminal abuse charges. There have been any number of criminal cases.

In the case of homicide or murder, if you will, the one that is -- everyone is still waiting to find out what the Army will decide, is the December 2002, over two years -- almost two years old now, a homicide of two detainees in Afghanistan in U.S. detention. The death certificates on both of those men are listed as homicides. Those investigations still ongoing, for more than a year-and-a-half now, almost two years, while the Army decides whether to bring charges in those two cases -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr, LIVE FROM... the Pentagon, thank you.

O'BRIEN: Olympic track star Marion Jones has been trying to put some distance between herself an and a growing steroid scandal centered at a San Francisco Bay Area laboratory. The one-time Athlete of the Year appeared at a news conference in San Francisco just moments ago. Rusty Dornin is there, she has some details for us.

Hello, Rusty.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, Marion Jones is still answering questions from reporters. She's been mounting a campaign in recent weeks, trying to dispel the rumors that she has taken any kind of steroid. She of course has been also at the center of this controversy involving a San Francisco area lab by the name of BALCO.

Four men were indicted for distribution of steroids from that lab. People like Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, also, Marion Jones, have testified before a grand jury. And she said she just wanted the truth to be heard.

She said the truth is my friend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARION JONES, OLYMPIC ATHLETE: I have never, ever failed a drug test. I have taken over 160 drug tests. I have taken tests before, during, and after the 2000 Olympics, and have never failed a test. USADA has no information that shows that I have ever failed a test because, simply, I have never failed a test. And no information exists anywhere to even suggest that I have ever failed a test.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: She said she wanted to tell the world about this. She was tired of hiding behind attorneys and quoted unnamed sources and that sort of thing. She does say that the USADA has asked her, again, for more follow-up questions. She apparently asked them for a three- hour meeting, where she said she answered all of their questions truthfully.

She's also asking for some grand jury testimony to be released to the U.S. anti-doping agency in hopes of dispelling these rumors. She's accused the agency of being a kangaroo court in this case and hopes that there are not going to be any more problems arising from this.

Miles, she is still, right now, answering questions from reporters. It's going to be interesting to see what comes of this. Meantime, it was released, the man who was indicted in relation with the San Francisco labs, accused of distributing these steroids. He has written, through his attorney, letters to the president and to John Ashcroft, telling them that if they will give him a plea bargain, that he will tell everything he knows about this steroid scandal, and, quote, "clean up the Olympics." And he wants it to happen, before, of course, the Olympic games -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. Interesting, he wrote that to the president of the United States, just to be clear on that, right?

DORNIN: Yes, wrote it to the president and some other federal officials.

O'BRIEN: All right. Just one thing quickly here, Marion Jones, what sort of deadlines is she facing about making the team here? Will they bend the rules here while this is all sorted out? Or is she facing imminent -- imminently being dropped from the team?

DORNIN: The threat has been -- I'm not sure of the timing on this, Miles, but I know that there's a threat by the USADA. Her boyfriend actually, Tim Montgomery, you know, the sprinter, also received a letter saying there's a possibility he could be banned from the games if there's any proof about this doping scandal. So she is trying to ward off any problems, or any possible bans that could come up in relationship to her participation in the games.

O'BRIEN: All right, Rusty Dornin, thanks for watching that for us, appreciate it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Cyclist extraordinaire Lance Armstrong is again denying reports that he used performance enhancing drugs. The five- time Tour de France champ denies claims in a book that he asked a former staffer to dispose of used syringes and asked to borrow makeup to conceal needle marks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANCE ARMSTRONG, TOUR DE FRANCE CHAMPION: But we sort of reached a point where we really can't tolerate it anymore, and we're sick and tied of these allegations. And we're going to do everything we can to fight them. They're absolutely untrue. We filed action in England, we filed action in France, against everybody involved. And enough is enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Lance Armstrong says that he never failed a drug test.

O'BRIEN: Everything from commandeering Russian nukes to attacking air conditioning systems, all plots considered by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. New information emerging about the inner workings of the terror group a little later on LIVE FROM... And before 9/11, it was the most devastating day in New York City's history. We'll revisit June 15, 1904.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is LIVE FROM...

I'm Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's what's all new this half hour. Training for terror, new information emerging about who al Qaeda was and was not connected to. Some of it might surprise you.

O'BRIEN: And commander-in-chief rallying the troops. President Bush gives a pep talk just two weeks before American forces hand Iraq back to the Iraqis.

But first, the top stories we're following for you at this hour.

U.S. troops under fire in Iraq. A rocket slammed into a U.S. logistics base near Balad, which is about 50 miles north of Baghdad. Two soldiers killed, 21 others injured. The attack comes exactly two weeks before the scheduled power transfer.

A U.S. Army captain in Iraq is charged with murder. The charges stem from a shoot-out at a checkpoint near Kufa last month in which an Iraqi man was killed. The military is investigating two other shootings in Iraq as well.

And what do you think about the ink? Larry Stewart, no relation to Martha Stewart, appeared as a government witness during the domestic diva's trial. He testified about ink on a worksheet kept by Stewart's stockbroker and was later charged with two counts of perjury. Today he pleaded not guilty. He's due to stand trial in September.

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 June 16, 2004 - 13:58   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Atta himself planned to crash his aircraft into the streets of New York if he could not hit the World Trade Center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Chilling details about the 9/11 attacks and the even bigger plot terrorists had in mind for that day.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Portrait of the enemy. Clearer pictures emerging of the inner workings of al Qaeda and the terror group's lack of cooperation with Iraq.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Deborah Feyerick in Little Lake Harbor, New Jersey. The family of American captive Paul Johnson speaks out exclusively to CNN.

PHILLIPS: Living proof that karma exists. A kidney donor's amazing run of good fortune.

From the CCN Center in Atlanta, hello, everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips.

And I'm Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.

PHILLIPS: We begin this hour very near to the end of the road for the independent commission investigating September 11. The panel's final public hearing under way in Washington, a little more than a month before its deadline, postponed from May, for a final report. Live pictures now. As it has in its past, it's issuing more of its partial conclusions and among them, no apparent ties between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda. We get the details now from CNN's Sean Callebs. He's in our D.C. bureau -- Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, exactly. As punishing as the 9/11 attacks were, information coming out today, as well, detailed a plan that was much more extensive, involving 10 aircraft and targeting both coasts. Although the report states there is no credible evidence that Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda cooperated on the attacks against the United States.

Now during testimony today, investigators said that Osama bin Laden approached Iraqi authorities and wanted assistance with weapons and training. But it ended there. Here are other key points coming out in the first of the final two days of public hearings. The original plot was much more involved and ambitious and was hatched back in 1996. It called for targets in the U.S., as well as Southeast Asia. The blueprint for the attack came from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is now in U.S. custody. Bin laden and Mohammed had wanted to originally use 10 aircraft and wreak havoc on both coasts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIETRICH SNELL, SENIOR COUNSEL: KSM maintains that his initial proposal involved hijacking 10 planes to attack targets on both the East and West Coasts of the United States. He claims that in addition to targets actually hit on 9/11, these hijacked planes were to be crashed into CIA and FBI headquarters, unidentified nuclear power plants, and the tallest buildings in California and Washington State.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: OK. It goes on from there. The centerpiece also called for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to take over the tenth plane himself. The plan was to kill all male passengers on board, contact the media, then touch down at a terminal, denounce the United States, then free all the women and children. There was apparently a certain amount of dissent as well over whether to target the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

The pilot of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, Ziad Jarrah, nearly backed out. Mohammed considered replacing Jarrah with Zacarias Moussaoui, who was taking flight lessons in Minnesota.

Now also the full circle on the alleged Iraqi connection, the U.S. authorities have said Atta could have met with Iraqi intelligence officials in Prague. Well, in the hearing today, photos at ATMs and Atta's cell phone records show that he was in the United States at that time -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Sean, we also learned this plot costing only $400,000 to $500,000. What else do we know about the money trail?

CALLEBS: Amazing, the money did not come -- the money to finance all of this, the planning, the attack, did not come from Osama bin Laden's personal fortune, which had been estimated somewhere around $300 million. Apparently his family cut him out and provides him $1 million a year. The money came from fundraising. Only, as you mentioned, $400,000 to $500,000, the lion's share of that was used to bring all of the hijackers to the United States, and of course, pay for the flight lessons, house and feed the hijackers as well. But only $400,000 to $500,000.

PHILLIPS: Sean Callebs, live in D.C., thanks.

O'BRIEN: Two years and nine months after 9/11, aviation security remain an work in progress. Case in point, registered traveler, an idea born in the very origins of the Transportation Security Administration, it lets frequent flyers bypass some of the more time- consuming and intrusive security checks if they register some personal information, including continuing fingerprint and eyeball scans with the feds. The info is checked against criminal and terrorist databases. And if nothing comes up, the flyer gets a partial pass at airport checkpoints. The key word here is partial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK HATFIELD, TSA SPOKESMAN: We're not relaxing any of the standards. We will still have primary screening for registered travelers. But it will significantly reduce the added time that secondary screening takes and reduce the chance that they'll be taken over to the corral for secondary screening. It is very important. It also has this biometric identification component to it, which we're really excited about because that holds a lot of promise for aviation security. It has further applications for identifying airport workers, crews, law enforcement officers. So this is really a platform that we're building that can be expanded both for the registered travelers and beyond that in aviation security applications elsewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: The program being tested at five airports this summer, beginning with Minneapolis -St. Paul International.

PHILLIPS: Just 14 days to the handover of sovereignty in Iraq. And the death toll for coalition forces continues to climb. Two U.S. soldiers were killed when insurgents targeted their base with a rocket near Balad (ph), just north of Baghdad today. Twenty-one other people were wounded in that attack. Eight hundred and thirty-six U.S. soldiers have now died since the war in Iraq began.

O'BRIEN: There's no letup in the repeated sabotage of Iraqi pipelines. Insurgent attacks in northern and southern Iraq have brought oil exports to a virtual standstill. Half of a key southern line is expected to reopen today. And in the latest attack against prominent Iraqis, the man in charge of securing pipelines in the north was assassinated in Kirkuk today. Ghazi Talabani was headed for work when gunmen attacked his car. Our Brent Sadler is in Basra looking at the effects of these pipeline attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is now the front line of Iraq's war on oil. Overnight, insurgents were able to destroy part of a strategic pipeline carrying crude oil from Basra to offshore terminals at the northern end of the Persian Gulf. If we walk around here, it stinks because of the heavy odors of crude oil that's created a large sea around here.

If we pan off my location, you'll see half a meter deep, several feet deep, at least, a lake of crude oil that's burst from this underground piping. This is the crude oil that should now have been sent to ships, waiting to take on oil on those offshore terminals. Iraq's oil exports from the south now completely at a standstill.

Now this is actually the place where the explosion went off. As we walk around, there's pumping machinery. They're trying to push back the oil that was in the pipeline that burst out in this area so that they can effect repairs. But before they can do that, they have to put sand -- piles and piles of sand, tons of it, around the actual leak, which you can see down here, and that's oozing from the burst pipe. If you could see those bubbles. They first have to isolate that area with an earthen berm, and then get engineers to repair it. That's going to take several days.

Now there has been an escalation in attacks on Iraq's oil infrastructure over the past several weeks. And northern supplies have been cut to a trickle. And now, with the complete standstill of crude exports from the south, it is a very serious situation, undermining not only coalition efforts to secure this strategic, vital industry, but also undermining the coalition efforts to stabilize Iraq in the crucial period before the handover of sovereignty.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Basra.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: A new poll shows two-thirds of Iraqis believe conditions will improve when the interim government takes control on June 30 and then Iraqi forces will be able to maintain security without U.S. troops. The poll obtained by the Associated Press was conducted by the Coalition Provisional Authority.

PHILLIPS: A pawn in a quarrel he did not start. The situation of American hostage Paul Johnson in Saudi Arabia seems more perilous today. In a videotape posted on the Web yesterday, Johnson's captors threaten to kill him in 72 hours. Earlier today, in a CNN exclusive, our Deborah Feyerick sat down with his family. She joins us now from Little Lake Harbor, New Jersey to tell us what they had to say -- Deb.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, Paul Johnson's sister says she is numb, still trying to make sense of his abduction. Johnson's son pleaded with his father's kidnappers, saying his father is an honorable man who has nothing but respect for the Saudi people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL JOHNSON III, SON OF KIDNAP VICTIM: I just want him brought home safely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're doing everything we can to bring him home. Everybody's trying to help. We appreciate that.

JOHNSON: I just plead with the Saudis to please do whatever you take. If you got to -- I'm -- we're all human. Just, please -- he's done a lot for your country. I respect your country. I respect everything that everybody's done. And I just want to see my father brought home safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Johnson's sister also said that she has watched other American captive like Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg, she has watched their families suffer, never imagining for a minute that she, one day, would be in the same position -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Deborah Feyerick, thank you very much.

Well, it's understandably a very anxious time for the Johnson family. We will bring you Deborah Feyerick's entire interview with them coming up at 3:00 p.m. Eastern right here at LIVE FROM...

O'BRIEN: Religion and politics. How faith is shaping voter attitudes and the candidates' campaigns in the race for the White House.

And Olympic champion, an Athens hopeful, Marion Jones, expected to make what she's calling a major announcement this hour. We're watching that one closely for you.

And if you thought your week was getting monotonous, it's just one big vicious circle for these world record hopefuls. We're watching the wheels go round and round. We'll tell you about some people with a lot of time on their hands when LIVE FROM... continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: More information now coming into CNN regarding that controversial shooting with the U.S. soldier in Iraq. Our Barbara Starr LIVE FROM... the Pentagon with an update -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Kyra. Well, U.S. military officials confirm to CNN that murder charges are being preferred or filed, if you will, against a U.S. Army captain, a member of the 1st Armored Division in Iraq in relation to the death of an Iraqi man back on May 21 in the city of Kufa in southern Iraq.

This incident involves a firefight which emerged between U.S. forces, the 1st Armored Division, and militia forces believed loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr. A car with two men inside got into a firefight at a U.S. military checkpoint. Both men wounded. One of the men, one of the Iraqi men, it was later found to be that he was, in the words of the military, quote, "shot at close range by a U.S. soldier." When that came to light, the Army's Criminal Investigative Division immediately launched a criminal investigation into the matter.

And we have now learned today that, indeed, murder charges are being filed or proffered, in military parlance, against a U.S. Army captain. We don't know the circumstances of the shooting, other than Army criminal investigators believe there is sufficient evidence now to bring murder charges against this military officer in the U.S. Army -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara, out of curiosity, just to kind of put it in perspective, is this the first case of its kind for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and also Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq?

STARR: There have been of course any number of questionable cases where the Army's Criminal Investigative Division or command has looked into them, and people indeed -- you know, as we know in Abu Ghraib, they are facing a number of criminal abuse charges. There have been any number of criminal cases.

In the case of homicide or murder, if you will, the one that is -- everyone is still waiting to find out what the Army will decide, is the December 2002, over two years -- almost two years old now, a homicide of two detainees in Afghanistan in U.S. detention. The death certificates on both of those men are listed as homicides. Those investigations still ongoing, for more than a year-and-a-half now, almost two years, while the Army decides whether to bring charges in those two cases -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr, LIVE FROM... the Pentagon, thank you.

O'BRIEN: Olympic track star Marion Jones has been trying to put some distance between herself an and a growing steroid scandal centered at a San Francisco Bay Area laboratory. The one-time Athlete of the Year appeared at a news conference in San Francisco just moments ago. Rusty Dornin is there, she has some details for us.

Hello, Rusty.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, Marion Jones is still answering questions from reporters. She's been mounting a campaign in recent weeks, trying to dispel the rumors that she has taken any kind of steroid. She of course has been also at the center of this controversy involving a San Francisco area lab by the name of BALCO.

Four men were indicted for distribution of steroids from that lab. People like Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, also, Marion Jones, have testified before a grand jury. And she said she just wanted the truth to be heard.

She said the truth is my friend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARION JONES, OLYMPIC ATHLETE: I have never, ever failed a drug test. I have taken over 160 drug tests. I have taken tests before, during, and after the 2000 Olympics, and have never failed a test. USADA has no information that shows that I have ever failed a test because, simply, I have never failed a test. And no information exists anywhere to even suggest that I have ever failed a test.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: She said she wanted to tell the world about this. She was tired of hiding behind attorneys and quoted unnamed sources and that sort of thing. She does say that the USADA has asked her, again, for more follow-up questions. She apparently asked them for a three- hour meeting, where she said she answered all of their questions truthfully.

She's also asking for some grand jury testimony to be released to the U.S. anti-doping agency in hopes of dispelling these rumors. She's accused the agency of being a kangaroo court in this case and hopes that there are not going to be any more problems arising from this.

Miles, she is still, right now, answering questions from reporters. It's going to be interesting to see what comes of this. Meantime, it was released, the man who was indicted in relation with the San Francisco labs, accused of distributing these steroids. He has written, through his attorney, letters to the president and to John Ashcroft, telling them that if they will give him a plea bargain, that he will tell everything he knows about this steroid scandal, and, quote, "clean up the Olympics." And he wants it to happen, before, of course, the Olympic games -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. Interesting, he wrote that to the president of the United States, just to be clear on that, right?

DORNIN: Yes, wrote it to the president and some other federal officials.

O'BRIEN: All right. Just one thing quickly here, Marion Jones, what sort of deadlines is she facing about making the team here? Will they bend the rules here while this is all sorted out? Or is she facing imminent -- imminently being dropped from the team?

DORNIN: The threat has been -- I'm not sure of the timing on this, Miles, but I know that there's a threat by the USADA. Her boyfriend actually, Tim Montgomery, you know, the sprinter, also received a letter saying there's a possibility he could be banned from the games if there's any proof about this doping scandal. So she is trying to ward off any problems, or any possible bans that could come up in relationship to her participation in the games.

O'BRIEN: All right, Rusty Dornin, thanks for watching that for us, appreciate it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Cyclist extraordinaire Lance Armstrong is again denying reports that he used performance enhancing drugs. The five- time Tour de France champ denies claims in a book that he asked a former staffer to dispose of used syringes and asked to borrow makeup to conceal needle marks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANCE ARMSTRONG, TOUR DE FRANCE CHAMPION: But we sort of reached a point where we really can't tolerate it anymore, and we're sick and tied of these allegations. And we're going to do everything we can to fight them. They're absolutely untrue. We filed action in England, we filed action in France, against everybody involved. And enough is enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Lance Armstrong says that he never failed a drug test.

O'BRIEN: Everything from commandeering Russian nukes to attacking air conditioning systems, all plots considered by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. New information emerging about the inner workings of the terror group a little later on LIVE FROM... And before 9/11, it was the most devastating day in New York City's history. We'll revisit June 15, 1904.

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O'BRIEN: Welcome back. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is LIVE FROM...

I'm Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's what's all new this half hour. Training for terror, new information emerging about who al Qaeda was and was not connected to. Some of it might surprise you.

O'BRIEN: And commander-in-chief rallying the troops. President Bush gives a pep talk just two weeks before American forces hand Iraq back to the Iraqis.

But first, the top stories we're following for you at this hour.

U.S. troops under fire in Iraq. A rocket slammed into a U.S. logistics base near Balad, which is about 50 miles north of Baghdad. Two soldiers killed, 21 others injured. The attack comes exactly two weeks before the scheduled power transfer.

A U.S. Army captain in Iraq is charged with murder. The charges stem from a shoot-out at a checkpoint near Kufa last month in which an Iraqi man was killed. The military is investigating two other shootings in Iraq as well.

And what do you think about the ink? Larry Stewart, no relation to Martha Stewart, appeared as a government witness during the domestic diva's trial. He testified about ink on a worksheet kept by Stewart's stockbroker and was later charged with two counts of perjury. Today he pleaded not guilty. He's due to stand trial in September.

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