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Pakistan Arrests Seven More Al Qaeda Operatives
Aired August 03, 2004 - 14:28 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.
PHILLIPS: Breaking story continuing to develop out of Lakeway, Texas -- that's just outside of Austin, Texas. These pictures coming to us via KXAN out of Austin -- a small plane crash just outside of the Austin area. Six people, we are now told, reported dead in this crash. It happened just behind this private community, this home in this private community.
John Clabes with the FAA joins us now by phone to give us a little more information. John, what can you tell us?
VOICE OF JOHN CLABES, FAA SPOKESMAN: Well, the details are pretty sketchy right now. The accident happened at 12:04. We believe the aircraft was landing. We have six confirmed dead. We believe all of those were in the aircraft. We understand that no one in the house was hurt or burned. The aircraft hit the house, exploded; the house is now burning.
We don't know what kind of an aircraft it was. We don't know where it was coming from or going to, and our details are pretty sketchy right now. We'll have something later on.
PHILLIPS: Do you know if this was a hired, a private aircraft that was hired out or a commercial aircraft?
CLABES: No, ma'am, we don't know very much about it right now. We'll have it pretty soon. But right now, we don't even have the tail number on the aircraft or where it was going or where it was coming from. All we know is that it hit a house near the Lakeway Airport, which is 20 miles northwest of Austin.
PHILLIPS: OK, so they were en route to that airport when... where is this private community in relation to the airport? You said it's about...
JOHN CLABES, FAA SPOKESMAN: I assume it must be near the Lakeway Airport. We believe the aircraft is landing but we're not sure yet.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Did you not hear about this until the crash? Did you have any type of -- were you trailing this aircraft at all? Was it even on the FAA radar?
CLABES: I have no other details. I'm sorry. It's a little early to get them yet, and we're working it now. The people in Austin, the flight standards people in Austin in our operations center in Ft. Worth. The NTSB out of Ft. Worth will be going to the accident site, of course, along with our inspectors. PHILLIPS: All right. John Clabes with the FAA, thanks so much. Not a lot of information there, but what we can tell you is we will continue to follow this developing story.
A small plane crash outside of Austin, Texas. These pictures coming to us via KXAN, our affiliate out of Austin. A small aircraft trying, or attempting to make a landing at Lakeway Airport not far from this small village of the hills which is a private, gated community.
Six people, we are told now, reported dead in that aircraft. The aircraft actually hit the top of this home, hit the roof and exploded. The pieces of the aircraft you can see on the other side of the house.
We're told that nobody was injured inside that home. However the six people onboard that aircraft now being reported dead.
We will continue to follow up on this story bring you more information as we get it.
Now other stories in the news right now.
Homeland Defense Secretary Tom Ridge acknowledged al Qaeda surveillance that led to the current orange alert for U.S. financial sectors that took place before the 9/11 attacks. But he says some of the information was updated earlier this year.
The latest on the terror alert in depth next.
At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, a preliminary hearing for an infamous figure in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. A military investigator testified today that Army Private Lynndie England initially told investigators photos of her with naked Iraqi prisoners were taken just for fun.
CNN's Bob Franken will have a live report in the next hour.
The north Atlantic season's first hurricane is threatening empty, fragile beaches of North Carolina's Outer Banks. Alex is a category 2 storm packing 100 miles an hour winds. It's centered near Cape Hatteras.
CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras, also our Chad Myers will update us next hour.
We're keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Information from suspected al Qaeda operatives helped to trigger the security alerts in U.S. financial centers. And officials are trying to learn more about how al Qaeda passes that information. While they say some of the information seized was old, that risk is still very real.
CNN's Ash-har Quraishi reports now from Islamabad.
ASH-HAR QURAISHI: Pakistani intelligence sources say that at least seven more suspected al Qaeda operatives have been arrested here in Pakistan over the last few days. One of the suspects picked up in an eastern city of Lahor as he was trying to board an international flight there.
Now we're told by officials that he was carrying coded messages on computer disks. We're also told he's believed to be an associate of a man identified by U.S. officials as Mohammad Naeem Nuarhan (ph).
Now, Nuarhan (ph) was the computer expert, they say, that was arrested here in Pakistan back on July 13th. Much of the information from his computer is what led to the terror alert being raised in New York, Washington and New Jersey, very specific information relating to financial targets in those areas.
Now, still interrogators and officials tell us they are trying to find more information as to a timetable to these attacks that were planned in the United States by al Qaeda, but they say they are learning a lot about how al Qaeda is passing on it's information, using couriers, relaying those from courier to courier eventually leading up to these computer experts who are trying to get this information out in coded ways.
Now the key right now, they say, is trying to find a timetable for these attacks and also trying to find out how much of this communication has gotten out of Pakistan. But right now, they say that they have taken into custody more suspects and hoping that they will be able to find more information about the terror threats against the United States.
Ash-har Quraishi, CNN, Islamabad.
PHILLIPS: Well, the heightened security alert in some U.S. financial centers has people working all over the country to improve safety. Chris Tatum of CNN affiliate WBMA shows how a small company in Alabama is boosting security on Wall Street.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS TATUM, WBMA CORRESPONDENT: Darlene Lynn (ph) knows she can't smooth the world's cultural differences. Instead she buffs out the rough spots on barricades meant to keep them from clashing.
DARLENE LYNN, EMPLOYEE, ALLEN ORNAMENTAL METALS: It is an honor to get to do this, but it's also a little scary when you realize what you are doing it for.
TATUM: She works at Allen Ornamental Metals in Talladega, must make 15 barricades to protect the New York Stock Exchange. You might say she is building stronger walls for Wall Street just in time for the latest terror threat.
Well, you sometimes, I think, tend to forget in the South, particularly in Alabama the threat that is actually out there.
TATUM (on camera): For security reasons, workers can't tell us a lot about the building process. But they insist these are not your average barricades. They are not just nice to look at, they're built to save lives.
JOHN ALLEN, OWNER, ALLEN ORNAMENTAL METALS: I had a meeting with my staff this morning.
TATUM (voice-over): Company owner John Allen estimates it takes two to three weeks to build just one, expects to ship the first five next week.
ALLEN: If our company didn't deliver what these people have ordered, it would be an absolute tragedy if something, in fact, happened.
TATUM: He still needs 10 to fill this order, expects more orders soon. His employees don't mind the pressure, though. They say they're always glad to go the extra mile for America.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: That was Chris Tatum of CNN affiliate WBMA, reporting. Thanks so much, Chris.
Well he is the rising superstar in the Democratic Party. We're talking about Barack Obama. Can the Republicans find anyone to run against him?
It's happening now. We're going to go live to Chicago.
Plus who or what will get you fired up to go vote this November?
And later, things you can learn by watching TV -- helped one boy fight off a shark.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: The Democratic national convention is history and the Republicans take their turn starting August 30th. But the numbers show it may all just be a big exercise in futility. The point is to attract voters.
Frank Newport joins us from Princeton, New Jersey with the latest Gallup polls.
Frank, let's start with the bounce that hasn't happened for John Kerry. Why not?
FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP: Well, there may be a lot of reasons. There may be structural reasons, Kyra, which means that voters are paying more attention.
They are more polarized this year, therefore they're not going to bounce for Bush either; or it could be very specific to the convention itself. It just didn't hit the home run the Democrats had wanted to.
Now, here's some examples. We've been pouring over the numbers from our weekend CNN-"USA Today" Gallup polled after the convention. And we asked Americans from what they had read or heard or seen about Kerry's speech, how would they rate it. And we combined the people who said excellent and good, the top two categories -- 52 percent said it was excellent or good.
Pretty good ratings overall but nothing extraordinary because if you look at Gore's speech when we asked the same question, after his speech at the Democratic convention in 2000, Bush's in 2000, even going all the way back to Bob Dole at the Republican convention in '96. Same rough kind of number.
There were a slightly higher number who said Kerry's speech was excellent. But I think these top two boxes show us that basically his speech was good, acceptable, but it was nothing extraordinary -- clearly nothing as high rated as Clinton's was, for example, back in '92.
One other point here, the convention, we think, looking at the data, actually had the impact of enthusiastically motivating the Republican base actually more than the Democratic base.
Now look at this carefully. I think it is quite interesting. The blue bar Democrats, the red Republicans. This more enthusiastic than usual, back in March. They were tied.
Right prior to the Democratic convention, mid-July, look in the middle there. Democrats became kind of a pre-bounce enthusiastic. They went up to 68. See the blue bar there. Then on the right-hand side after the convention this weekend, the Democrats went up about five more points. But look at the Republicans. They jumped up 11 points in enthusiasm after their opponent's convention.
So, it suggests to us that one of the impacts of watching the Democrats for Republicans was to energize them, that is the GOP -- Kyra?
PHILLIPS: What are these other negative factors that could have hurt the Kerry campaign coming out of the convention?
NEWPORT: Well, let's look at a couple of other numbers.
John Kerry's image is not all that bad. In fact, it's more positive than Bush's is. Bush has more negative baggage having been president three and a half years.
Here it was before the convention, 55 to 37 favorable/unfavorable.
Look after the convention, no change.
There is a two-point gain for Kerry in favorable, no change in unfavorable. So whatever else, the net-net on the image of the candidate of the moment last week didn't change at all during the convention.
One interesting point, finally, you all the, Kyra, attention on the shove it comment from Teresa Heinz Kerry, publicity that was quite interesting to watch as it unfolded on the media. Her image was unknown, to some degree, before the convention. On the left there, half of Americans didn't know who she was, couldn't rate her. That certainly came down. She became very well known in the last week.
Look on the right side. She gained in favorables. She went from 31 to 42, but she also gained in unfavorables, up to 31 percent.
So kind of as a sidebar, she is certainly a much better known potential first lady, but she has acquired some negatives along with her positives -- Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right. Frank Newport, thanks so much.
Well the Democratic convention may not have given much bounce to the Kerry campaign, but it sure gave a boost to one U.S. Senate candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA (D), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Go in to any inner city neighborhood and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach our kids to learn. They know that parents have to teach, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well the Illinois Republican party is now scrambling to find someone to run against Barack Obama, who is unopposed after GOP candidate Jack Ryan withdrew from the race over sex club allegations.
Who might step in to the contest at this late date? John Kass, columnist for the "Chicago Tribune" joins us to talk possibilities.
John, you have been a busy guy following all this revolution, I guess you could say, among the Republicans.
JOHN KASS, COLUMNIST, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": Well either a revolution or evolution. I think they are falling apart, and they have been for months. Right now they're embarrassing themselves in front of the country. They have no candidate.
They are looking, what -- they are looking for Alan Keyes from Maryland as a candidate?
PHILLIPS: I know, first we're talking about Ditka right, now we're moving over in to Alan Keyes.
KASS: Right.
PHILLIPS: I think folks are taking Alan Keyes maybe a little more seriously. Let's talk about him. Why Alan Keyes? What would he have? From the stories that you've written, from what you know about Alan Keyes. I mean, let's introduce him a little bit.
KASS: Well, Alan Keyes is a conservative. He's a talk show host, which means he has a record of probably, you know, out there things that he's said, just like some columnists, which is why talk show hosts and columnists should not run for public office.
He's a conservative, and he's black. And he'll be -- he may be facing Barack Obama who is a liberal and who is black in Illinois.
PHILLIPS: I want to talk about Barack Obama a little bit more. But you know all the dirt that's going on. Let's go behind the scenes for a minute because while we've heard so much about Barack Obama, this fresh face, this saintly candidate -- and we'll get there in a minute -- behind the scenes, I mean I guess instead of revolution I should have said maybe a revolt that's happening among the Republicans.
KASS: Well, what's happening is that the Republican Party is bankrupt politically in Illinois, politically and almost financially and organizationally. Basically what happened is this.
Barack Obama came out there on national TV and became the face of Illinois politics, OK. But that's not the real face of Illinois politics. That's just the cover.
The face of Illinois politics is jowlier, usually has a cigar, a pinky ring. You've got indictments of the former governor, George Ryan, and his money people on the Republican side.
On the Democratic side, you've got indictments of Mayor Richard Daley's close friends the Duffs, who've got $100 million in city contracts slated for minorities, even though Daley, since he drinks with them, though, they are not black.
You've got all -- and you've a combination in Illinois, which is what I call it the Illinois combine, Democrats and Republicans basically working together. Their ideals are really not -- they are not ideals.
It's all about who got the asphalt contract, who got the road building contract. And there's really not much of a difference between them in terms of boodle, so what happened is, now that George Ryan got indicted, the conservatives started fighting back and trying to reform their own party and were rebuffed.
PHILLIPS: John, while I was sitting here listening to you, this reminds me of working in New Orleans, I mean when you talk about corrupt politics. OK, I don't want to blast New Orleans; I love New Orleans, but let's be real here.
KASS: I love Chicago, too, but I think we have better steak. New Orleans had better seafood. But I think the politics are just as corrupt. PHILLIPS: All right, well let's talk about that corruption. I mean, Barack Obama, I mean, this is someone that's got pretty much of a clean slate. I mean, everybody was saying after the DNC, wow, kind of where did this guy come from? He seems so saintly. Does he have any skeletons in his closet?
KASS: Do you expect the birds to land on his hands? Is it like St. Francis of Obama or something?
PHILLIPS: Exactly, I'm ready to buy holy water...
KASS: Exactly.
PHILLIPS: ... and start bowing down to this man.
But seriously, I mean, is he a saint? Let's look at his track record for a minute. Let's look at his voting record. I mean it looks like this guy could come in, shake things up, and he could be the answer to wiping out a lot of the corruption.
KASS: Well, I don't know about that. You see the thing is that any big political machine in New York, Chicago -- Illinois, Louisiana, wherever, the Senator can get out there -- what does a Senator do? Votes on tax policy, on war, basically, but there's one important thing that I don't think the national media really focuses on. And that is that the senator, senior senator of the president's party is given the job of recommending independent United States attorneys, OK -- or United States attorneys, excuse me -- the federal prosecutors who go after political corruption.
All these machines basically have controlled their process through friends in the Republican or Democratic parties for years. In Illinois what happened was that Peter Fitzgerald came in, pulled Patrick Fitzgerald out of New York and other people, and they are going hunting after political corruption.
That caused Peter Fitzgerald to become a pariah in this state among the combine boys on either side. And we'll have to see. Some day Barack Obama may have the chance to recommend a United States attorney for Chicago, and then you'll see if he's independent or not. They might just yank his chain.
PHILLIPS: That's true. Will he go up against the politicians there. That's when you'll start to see some mudslinging.
KASS: The other thing about Obama is that the governor, Governor Blagojevich, who is, you know, some of his people are being investigated now for a scandal on hospital expansion. He doesn't want Barack Obama in Illinois to run for governor. And Mayor Richard Daley definitely doesn't want Barack Obama around Chicago. He wants him out in Washington.
What do they get, six or 10 jobs or something like that, a staff of 10, 12, whatever, that's not a serious threat as long as he's out. And they want him out in Washington. They don't want him back here in Illinois. PHILLIPS: John Kass, we'll be reading your columns, checking in. I'm looking for the next investigative report on behalf of you.
Thanks, John.
Well, a real life case of fear factor off the coast of Texas. It's boy versus shark and the boy who lived to tell about it.
And why having a new baby really pays in Australia.
Plus the more the merrier says Fidel Castro when it comes to screening Michael Moore's new movie.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: The film "Fahrenheit 9/11" is a box office hit in communist Cuba. That As CNN Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman reports, that message the Cuban people are getting from it isn't exactly what the government intended.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): It's the movie Bush bashers all over the world love to see. And nowhere in the world is that easier than in Cuba, the only country in the world where the communist state has organized screenings of "Fahrenheit 9/11" in cinemas nationwide.
The pirated version is also shown on state-run television after a predictable introduction. These curious Cubans went to Havana's Charles Chaplan theater to see the controversial film.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Bush is no good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It gives you an idea of the peril the world is in led by a man with such a small brain.
NEWMAN: That's certainly the message Cuba's government wants to get across. But it's getting more than it bargained for.
(on camera) And that's because Fahrenheit 9/11 is presenting another unintended message. And that is that unlike in Cuba, in the United States someone can make a box office hit that not only criticizes but at times even ridicules the president without going to jail for it.
(voice-over) Many said what most impressed them was that "Fahrenheit 9/11" could be made at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The film shows that the alternative media, in other words, independent media, is possible in the United States.
NEWMAN: This mother and daughter say such a bold film could not be made here. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): No, it can't because people are afraid. Everyone here is afraid, fear that is unnecessary because when I have something to say, I say it.
NEWMAN: Not so for Cuban dissident film makers who, unlike Michael Moore, are definitely out of work in this country where opinions that damage the credibility of the state are outlawed.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well you can't find a much more bitter rivalry than the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Now there's word they might be teaming up. What's that all about?
Mary Snow knows she is at the New York Stock Exchange right now -- Mary?
MARY SNOW, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: And Kyra, bitter just begins to describe it, but these bitter enemies on the field may soon be business partners.
"The New York Post" is reporting that management for both teams looking in to a plan to merge the Yankee's owned Yes Cable Network and the Red Sox owned New England Sports Network.
Now, the talks are said to be in a preliminary stage, but both sides would like to create a big, regional powerhouse networks. Combining the networks could give both teams more leverage for cable operators and also could bump up advertising.
I don't think it's going to do anything about their rivalry, though -- Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right. What about those oil prices hitting an all-time high?
SNOW: Yes, they climbed once again today above the $44 a barrel record, the highest level since crude futures began trading 21 years ago. Part of the problem, OPEC is pointing out that it has nothing in reserve that can be brought to the market quickly enough to cool off surging demands. Fears over possible terror attacks, though, are also helping fuel the rally.
On Wall Street, stocks are slipping on the oil news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average now down 64 points. The Nasdaq down more than 1.5 percent.
And that is the latest from Wall Street. Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Mary, thanks so much.
Well not being nice could cost you at work. Isn't that the truth? Why it pays to treat your co-workers well.
And a battle of wills, boy versus shark. Wait until you hear how he survived.
And "Live From New York" -- it's Bill Clinton? Saturday Night Live is calling.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: In the news now, a plane crash in Texas killed six people. The small plane slammed into a house outside of Austin. Authorities are at the scene as the investigation gets under way. An FAA official says the plane may have been on its way to a nearby airport.
U.S. Officials say al Qaeda reconnaissance that prompted increased security measures was several years old in some cases. But homeland security officials say that some of the information was updated this year.
We'll have a live report on the threat alert just ahead.
Army Private First Class Lynndie England is going through a preliminary hearing over alleged abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. England, now about seven months pregnant, has been seen posing in photos with naked Iraqi prisoners. A military investigator says that England and other guards didn't think the photos were a big deal.
A surveillance tape from a Utah convenience store may show Mark Hacking, the man arrested yesterday and charged with killing his wife. Police think the video may show Hacking around the time Lori Hacking disappeared. Mark Hacking told police his wife never came home from jogging.
Aired August 3, 2004 - 14:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PHILLIPS: Breaking story continuing to develop out of Lakeway, Texas -- that's just outside of Austin, Texas. These pictures coming to us via KXAN out of Austin -- a small plane crash just outside of the Austin area. Six people, we are now told, reported dead in this crash. It happened just behind this private community, this home in this private community.
John Clabes with the FAA joins us now by phone to give us a little more information. John, what can you tell us?
VOICE OF JOHN CLABES, FAA SPOKESMAN: Well, the details are pretty sketchy right now. The accident happened at 12:04. We believe the aircraft was landing. We have six confirmed dead. We believe all of those were in the aircraft. We understand that no one in the house was hurt or burned. The aircraft hit the house, exploded; the house is now burning.
We don't know what kind of an aircraft it was. We don't know where it was coming from or going to, and our details are pretty sketchy right now. We'll have something later on.
PHILLIPS: Do you know if this was a hired, a private aircraft that was hired out or a commercial aircraft?
CLABES: No, ma'am, we don't know very much about it right now. We'll have it pretty soon. But right now, we don't even have the tail number on the aircraft or where it was going or where it was coming from. All we know is that it hit a house near the Lakeway Airport, which is 20 miles northwest of Austin.
PHILLIPS: OK, so they were en route to that airport when... where is this private community in relation to the airport? You said it's about...
JOHN CLABES, FAA SPOKESMAN: I assume it must be near the Lakeway Airport. We believe the aircraft is landing but we're not sure yet.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Did you not hear about this until the crash? Did you have any type of -- were you trailing this aircraft at all? Was it even on the FAA radar?
CLABES: I have no other details. I'm sorry. It's a little early to get them yet, and we're working it now. The people in Austin, the flight standards people in Austin in our operations center in Ft. Worth. The NTSB out of Ft. Worth will be going to the accident site, of course, along with our inspectors. PHILLIPS: All right. John Clabes with the FAA, thanks so much. Not a lot of information there, but what we can tell you is we will continue to follow this developing story.
A small plane crash outside of Austin, Texas. These pictures coming to us via KXAN, our affiliate out of Austin. A small aircraft trying, or attempting to make a landing at Lakeway Airport not far from this small village of the hills which is a private, gated community.
Six people, we are told now, reported dead in that aircraft. The aircraft actually hit the top of this home, hit the roof and exploded. The pieces of the aircraft you can see on the other side of the house.
We're told that nobody was injured inside that home. However the six people onboard that aircraft now being reported dead.
We will continue to follow up on this story bring you more information as we get it.
Now other stories in the news right now.
Homeland Defense Secretary Tom Ridge acknowledged al Qaeda surveillance that led to the current orange alert for U.S. financial sectors that took place before the 9/11 attacks. But he says some of the information was updated earlier this year.
The latest on the terror alert in depth next.
At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, a preliminary hearing for an infamous figure in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. A military investigator testified today that Army Private Lynndie England initially told investigators photos of her with naked Iraqi prisoners were taken just for fun.
CNN's Bob Franken will have a live report in the next hour.
The north Atlantic season's first hurricane is threatening empty, fragile beaches of North Carolina's Outer Banks. Alex is a category 2 storm packing 100 miles an hour winds. It's centered near Cape Hatteras.
CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras, also our Chad Myers will update us next hour.
We're keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Information from suspected al Qaeda operatives helped to trigger the security alerts in U.S. financial centers. And officials are trying to learn more about how al Qaeda passes that information. While they say some of the information seized was old, that risk is still very real.
CNN's Ash-har Quraishi reports now from Islamabad.
ASH-HAR QURAISHI: Pakistani intelligence sources say that at least seven more suspected al Qaeda operatives have been arrested here in Pakistan over the last few days. One of the suspects picked up in an eastern city of Lahor as he was trying to board an international flight there.
Now we're told by officials that he was carrying coded messages on computer disks. We're also told he's believed to be an associate of a man identified by U.S. officials as Mohammad Naeem Nuarhan (ph).
Now, Nuarhan (ph) was the computer expert, they say, that was arrested here in Pakistan back on July 13th. Much of the information from his computer is what led to the terror alert being raised in New York, Washington and New Jersey, very specific information relating to financial targets in those areas.
Now, still interrogators and officials tell us they are trying to find more information as to a timetable to these attacks that were planned in the United States by al Qaeda, but they say they are learning a lot about how al Qaeda is passing on it's information, using couriers, relaying those from courier to courier eventually leading up to these computer experts who are trying to get this information out in coded ways.
Now the key right now, they say, is trying to find a timetable for these attacks and also trying to find out how much of this communication has gotten out of Pakistan. But right now, they say that they have taken into custody more suspects and hoping that they will be able to find more information about the terror threats against the United States.
Ash-har Quraishi, CNN, Islamabad.
PHILLIPS: Well, the heightened security alert in some U.S. financial centers has people working all over the country to improve safety. Chris Tatum of CNN affiliate WBMA shows how a small company in Alabama is boosting security on Wall Street.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS TATUM, WBMA CORRESPONDENT: Darlene Lynn (ph) knows she can't smooth the world's cultural differences. Instead she buffs out the rough spots on barricades meant to keep them from clashing.
DARLENE LYNN, EMPLOYEE, ALLEN ORNAMENTAL METALS: It is an honor to get to do this, but it's also a little scary when you realize what you are doing it for.
TATUM: She works at Allen Ornamental Metals in Talladega, must make 15 barricades to protect the New York Stock Exchange. You might say she is building stronger walls for Wall Street just in time for the latest terror threat.
Well, you sometimes, I think, tend to forget in the South, particularly in Alabama the threat that is actually out there.
TATUM (on camera): For security reasons, workers can't tell us a lot about the building process. But they insist these are not your average barricades. They are not just nice to look at, they're built to save lives.
JOHN ALLEN, OWNER, ALLEN ORNAMENTAL METALS: I had a meeting with my staff this morning.
TATUM (voice-over): Company owner John Allen estimates it takes two to three weeks to build just one, expects to ship the first five next week.
ALLEN: If our company didn't deliver what these people have ordered, it would be an absolute tragedy if something, in fact, happened.
TATUM: He still needs 10 to fill this order, expects more orders soon. His employees don't mind the pressure, though. They say they're always glad to go the extra mile for America.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: That was Chris Tatum of CNN affiliate WBMA, reporting. Thanks so much, Chris.
Well he is the rising superstar in the Democratic Party. We're talking about Barack Obama. Can the Republicans find anyone to run against him?
It's happening now. We're going to go live to Chicago.
Plus who or what will get you fired up to go vote this November?
And later, things you can learn by watching TV -- helped one boy fight off a shark.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: The Democratic national convention is history and the Republicans take their turn starting August 30th. But the numbers show it may all just be a big exercise in futility. The point is to attract voters.
Frank Newport joins us from Princeton, New Jersey with the latest Gallup polls.
Frank, let's start with the bounce that hasn't happened for John Kerry. Why not?
FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP: Well, there may be a lot of reasons. There may be structural reasons, Kyra, which means that voters are paying more attention.
They are more polarized this year, therefore they're not going to bounce for Bush either; or it could be very specific to the convention itself. It just didn't hit the home run the Democrats had wanted to.
Now, here's some examples. We've been pouring over the numbers from our weekend CNN-"USA Today" Gallup polled after the convention. And we asked Americans from what they had read or heard or seen about Kerry's speech, how would they rate it. And we combined the people who said excellent and good, the top two categories -- 52 percent said it was excellent or good.
Pretty good ratings overall but nothing extraordinary because if you look at Gore's speech when we asked the same question, after his speech at the Democratic convention in 2000, Bush's in 2000, even going all the way back to Bob Dole at the Republican convention in '96. Same rough kind of number.
There were a slightly higher number who said Kerry's speech was excellent. But I think these top two boxes show us that basically his speech was good, acceptable, but it was nothing extraordinary -- clearly nothing as high rated as Clinton's was, for example, back in '92.
One other point here, the convention, we think, looking at the data, actually had the impact of enthusiastically motivating the Republican base actually more than the Democratic base.
Now look at this carefully. I think it is quite interesting. The blue bar Democrats, the red Republicans. This more enthusiastic than usual, back in March. They were tied.
Right prior to the Democratic convention, mid-July, look in the middle there. Democrats became kind of a pre-bounce enthusiastic. They went up to 68. See the blue bar there. Then on the right-hand side after the convention this weekend, the Democrats went up about five more points. But look at the Republicans. They jumped up 11 points in enthusiasm after their opponent's convention.
So, it suggests to us that one of the impacts of watching the Democrats for Republicans was to energize them, that is the GOP -- Kyra?
PHILLIPS: What are these other negative factors that could have hurt the Kerry campaign coming out of the convention?
NEWPORT: Well, let's look at a couple of other numbers.
John Kerry's image is not all that bad. In fact, it's more positive than Bush's is. Bush has more negative baggage having been president three and a half years.
Here it was before the convention, 55 to 37 favorable/unfavorable.
Look after the convention, no change.
There is a two-point gain for Kerry in favorable, no change in unfavorable. So whatever else, the net-net on the image of the candidate of the moment last week didn't change at all during the convention.
One interesting point, finally, you all the, Kyra, attention on the shove it comment from Teresa Heinz Kerry, publicity that was quite interesting to watch as it unfolded on the media. Her image was unknown, to some degree, before the convention. On the left there, half of Americans didn't know who she was, couldn't rate her. That certainly came down. She became very well known in the last week.
Look on the right side. She gained in favorables. She went from 31 to 42, but she also gained in unfavorables, up to 31 percent.
So kind of as a sidebar, she is certainly a much better known potential first lady, but she has acquired some negatives along with her positives -- Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right. Frank Newport, thanks so much.
Well the Democratic convention may not have given much bounce to the Kerry campaign, but it sure gave a boost to one U.S. Senate candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA (D), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Go in to any inner city neighborhood and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach our kids to learn. They know that parents have to teach, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well the Illinois Republican party is now scrambling to find someone to run against Barack Obama, who is unopposed after GOP candidate Jack Ryan withdrew from the race over sex club allegations.
Who might step in to the contest at this late date? John Kass, columnist for the "Chicago Tribune" joins us to talk possibilities.
John, you have been a busy guy following all this revolution, I guess you could say, among the Republicans.
JOHN KASS, COLUMNIST, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": Well either a revolution or evolution. I think they are falling apart, and they have been for months. Right now they're embarrassing themselves in front of the country. They have no candidate.
They are looking, what -- they are looking for Alan Keyes from Maryland as a candidate?
PHILLIPS: I know, first we're talking about Ditka right, now we're moving over in to Alan Keyes.
KASS: Right.
PHILLIPS: I think folks are taking Alan Keyes maybe a little more seriously. Let's talk about him. Why Alan Keyes? What would he have? From the stories that you've written, from what you know about Alan Keyes. I mean, let's introduce him a little bit.
KASS: Well, Alan Keyes is a conservative. He's a talk show host, which means he has a record of probably, you know, out there things that he's said, just like some columnists, which is why talk show hosts and columnists should not run for public office.
He's a conservative, and he's black. And he'll be -- he may be facing Barack Obama who is a liberal and who is black in Illinois.
PHILLIPS: I want to talk about Barack Obama a little bit more. But you know all the dirt that's going on. Let's go behind the scenes for a minute because while we've heard so much about Barack Obama, this fresh face, this saintly candidate -- and we'll get there in a minute -- behind the scenes, I mean I guess instead of revolution I should have said maybe a revolt that's happening among the Republicans.
KASS: Well, what's happening is that the Republican Party is bankrupt politically in Illinois, politically and almost financially and organizationally. Basically what happened is this.
Barack Obama came out there on national TV and became the face of Illinois politics, OK. But that's not the real face of Illinois politics. That's just the cover.
The face of Illinois politics is jowlier, usually has a cigar, a pinky ring. You've got indictments of the former governor, George Ryan, and his money people on the Republican side.
On the Democratic side, you've got indictments of Mayor Richard Daley's close friends the Duffs, who've got $100 million in city contracts slated for minorities, even though Daley, since he drinks with them, though, they are not black.
You've got all -- and you've a combination in Illinois, which is what I call it the Illinois combine, Democrats and Republicans basically working together. Their ideals are really not -- they are not ideals.
It's all about who got the asphalt contract, who got the road building contract. And there's really not much of a difference between them in terms of boodle, so what happened is, now that George Ryan got indicted, the conservatives started fighting back and trying to reform their own party and were rebuffed.
PHILLIPS: John, while I was sitting here listening to you, this reminds me of working in New Orleans, I mean when you talk about corrupt politics. OK, I don't want to blast New Orleans; I love New Orleans, but let's be real here.
KASS: I love Chicago, too, but I think we have better steak. New Orleans had better seafood. But I think the politics are just as corrupt. PHILLIPS: All right, well let's talk about that corruption. I mean, Barack Obama, I mean, this is someone that's got pretty much of a clean slate. I mean, everybody was saying after the DNC, wow, kind of where did this guy come from? He seems so saintly. Does he have any skeletons in his closet?
KASS: Do you expect the birds to land on his hands? Is it like St. Francis of Obama or something?
PHILLIPS: Exactly, I'm ready to buy holy water...
KASS: Exactly.
PHILLIPS: ... and start bowing down to this man.
But seriously, I mean, is he a saint? Let's look at his track record for a minute. Let's look at his voting record. I mean it looks like this guy could come in, shake things up, and he could be the answer to wiping out a lot of the corruption.
KASS: Well, I don't know about that. You see the thing is that any big political machine in New York, Chicago -- Illinois, Louisiana, wherever, the Senator can get out there -- what does a Senator do? Votes on tax policy, on war, basically, but there's one important thing that I don't think the national media really focuses on. And that is that the senator, senior senator of the president's party is given the job of recommending independent United States attorneys, OK -- or United States attorneys, excuse me -- the federal prosecutors who go after political corruption.
All these machines basically have controlled their process through friends in the Republican or Democratic parties for years. In Illinois what happened was that Peter Fitzgerald came in, pulled Patrick Fitzgerald out of New York and other people, and they are going hunting after political corruption.
That caused Peter Fitzgerald to become a pariah in this state among the combine boys on either side. And we'll have to see. Some day Barack Obama may have the chance to recommend a United States attorney for Chicago, and then you'll see if he's independent or not. They might just yank his chain.
PHILLIPS: That's true. Will he go up against the politicians there. That's when you'll start to see some mudslinging.
KASS: The other thing about Obama is that the governor, Governor Blagojevich, who is, you know, some of his people are being investigated now for a scandal on hospital expansion. He doesn't want Barack Obama in Illinois to run for governor. And Mayor Richard Daley definitely doesn't want Barack Obama around Chicago. He wants him out in Washington.
What do they get, six or 10 jobs or something like that, a staff of 10, 12, whatever, that's not a serious threat as long as he's out. And they want him out in Washington. They don't want him back here in Illinois. PHILLIPS: John Kass, we'll be reading your columns, checking in. I'm looking for the next investigative report on behalf of you.
Thanks, John.
Well, a real life case of fear factor off the coast of Texas. It's boy versus shark and the boy who lived to tell about it.
And why having a new baby really pays in Australia.
Plus the more the merrier says Fidel Castro when it comes to screening Michael Moore's new movie.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: The film "Fahrenheit 9/11" is a box office hit in communist Cuba. That As CNN Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman reports, that message the Cuban people are getting from it isn't exactly what the government intended.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): It's the movie Bush bashers all over the world love to see. And nowhere in the world is that easier than in Cuba, the only country in the world where the communist state has organized screenings of "Fahrenheit 9/11" in cinemas nationwide.
The pirated version is also shown on state-run television after a predictable introduction. These curious Cubans went to Havana's Charles Chaplan theater to see the controversial film.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Bush is no good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It gives you an idea of the peril the world is in led by a man with such a small brain.
NEWMAN: That's certainly the message Cuba's government wants to get across. But it's getting more than it bargained for.
(on camera) And that's because Fahrenheit 9/11 is presenting another unintended message. And that is that unlike in Cuba, in the United States someone can make a box office hit that not only criticizes but at times even ridicules the president without going to jail for it.
(voice-over) Many said what most impressed them was that "Fahrenheit 9/11" could be made at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The film shows that the alternative media, in other words, independent media, is possible in the United States.
NEWMAN: This mother and daughter say such a bold film could not be made here. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): No, it can't because people are afraid. Everyone here is afraid, fear that is unnecessary because when I have something to say, I say it.
NEWMAN: Not so for Cuban dissident film makers who, unlike Michael Moore, are definitely out of work in this country where opinions that damage the credibility of the state are outlawed.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well you can't find a much more bitter rivalry than the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Now there's word they might be teaming up. What's that all about?
Mary Snow knows she is at the New York Stock Exchange right now -- Mary?
MARY SNOW, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: And Kyra, bitter just begins to describe it, but these bitter enemies on the field may soon be business partners.
"The New York Post" is reporting that management for both teams looking in to a plan to merge the Yankee's owned Yes Cable Network and the Red Sox owned New England Sports Network.
Now, the talks are said to be in a preliminary stage, but both sides would like to create a big, regional powerhouse networks. Combining the networks could give both teams more leverage for cable operators and also could bump up advertising.
I don't think it's going to do anything about their rivalry, though -- Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right. What about those oil prices hitting an all-time high?
SNOW: Yes, they climbed once again today above the $44 a barrel record, the highest level since crude futures began trading 21 years ago. Part of the problem, OPEC is pointing out that it has nothing in reserve that can be brought to the market quickly enough to cool off surging demands. Fears over possible terror attacks, though, are also helping fuel the rally.
On Wall Street, stocks are slipping on the oil news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average now down 64 points. The Nasdaq down more than 1.5 percent.
And that is the latest from Wall Street. Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Mary, thanks so much.
Well not being nice could cost you at work. Isn't that the truth? Why it pays to treat your co-workers well.
And a battle of wills, boy versus shark. Wait until you hear how he survived.
And "Live From New York" -- it's Bill Clinton? Saturday Night Live is calling.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: In the news now, a plane crash in Texas killed six people. The small plane slammed into a house outside of Austin. Authorities are at the scene as the investigation gets under way. An FAA official says the plane may have been on its way to a nearby airport.
U.S. Officials say al Qaeda reconnaissance that prompted increased security measures was several years old in some cases. But homeland security officials say that some of the information was updated this year.
We'll have a live report on the threat alert just ahead.
Army Private First Class Lynndie England is going through a preliminary hearing over alleged abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. England, now about seven months pregnant, has been seen posing in photos with naked Iraqi prisoners. A military investigator says that England and other guards didn't think the photos were a big deal.
A surveillance tape from a Utah convenience store may show Mark Hacking, the man arrested yesterday and charged with killing his wife. Police think the video may show Hacking around the time Lori Hacking disappeared. Mark Hacking told police his wife never came home from jogging.
