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Killing Killer Flu Virus; American Contractor Taken Captive in Baghdad; Together Forever?
Aired April 13, 2005 - 13:59 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.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
LAURIE GARRETT, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Where are all the samples of the 1957 flu virus? Where are all the samples of the 1968, another great pandemic? And worst of all, 1918, which may have killed at least 50 million people worldwide?
And my knowledge is that the CDC cannot tell us where every single sample is, what laboratories around the world may have them, and therefore can't guarantee something like this might not happen again with a far more dangerous strange.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, and she talked about there a couple of things that she needs to look at, and that is the proficiency of these labs. And also, when it comes to the proficiency testing, it's very important, it still has to happen. But they have to make sure that the test panels that they get are not test panels with this deadly strain.
Am I explaining that properly?
GARRETT: You are. You're absolutely right.
PHILLIPS: OK.
GARRETT: And now here's -- and here's another question for you. How is it that if the whole point of the influenza surveillance system is that you are supposed to plot if there's a different what's called H, or hemoglutin in constellation (ph), in the circulating flu viruses, you're supposed to immediately warn the CDC. She explained that to us.
And this H2 type has not been in the world since 1967, '68. So how is it that all of these labs have had these panels since October and nobody noticed until March 26 of all of those labs that there was an H2 flu in the mix? And why was it that none of the American labs noticed it? It was a Canadian lab.
And we have ininvested more than $3 billion in prying to improve our public health infrastructure and our laboratory since 9/11. And yet, boom, everybody missed it.
PHILLIPS: It's amazing when you think about it. Well, obviously, Gerberding coming out, Laurie, and talking about what they do know. And now the steps that are in progress to destroy, from what I understand, all of these test panels. And if indeed laboratories come up with a panel with this virus, they are to report immediately to the proper folks.
And also, all the workers in these labs are going to be monitored to see if they get any type of I guess affect from what this virus could bring on. So...
GARRETT: Any flu-like systems ought to get reported immediately. If you work in any of these laboratories -- and it is well over 4,000. It's closer to 5,000 in 18 countries. And if you work in any of those labs, even if you're a janitor, if you're not directly working on the virus, and you develop anything akin to flu-like symptoms, you should report it immediately to your authorities and your supervisors, and tests should be conducted and samples should be sent to the CDC in Atlanta for immediate analysis.
PILGRIM: Laurie Garrett, our global health expert, thank you so much for helping us sort through all this today. We sure appreciate it.
GARRETT: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: Now we're going to move on to Iraq. And he went to bring water to the desert, but on Monday U.S. contractor Jeffrey Ake of northwest Indiana was kidnapped from a work site near Baghdad. Today he appears in a setting we have seen many times before, amid masked men with rifles, pleading for his life on video.
That tape turns up on the day of numerous bombings aimed at U.S. and Iraqi forces. We get the latest on all of it now from CNN's Aneesh Raman in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Arabic language station Al- Jazeera airing a video purportedly showing an American hostage kidnapped on Monday here in Baghdad in broad daylight as he worked on a reconstruction project. U.S. embassy officials here say the man's name is Jeffrey Ake. He's from the state of Indiana.
No word on what company he works for. But we do know that in South Bend, Indiana, a company called Equipment Express is doing work here in Iraq.
Also today, Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick arrived for an unannounced visit. He met with leaders of the transitional government, pushing a message we heard yesterday from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that this government needs to form quickly. He also went to the city of Falluja to check in on reconstruction projects there.
Now, both of these visits had violent backdrops. Yesterday, two car bombs in Mosul. Today, north of the capital city in the town of Kirkuk, 12 Iraqi soldiers died while trying to diffuse a roadside bomb.
Also, three bombs going off this morning, all intended to hit American military convoys. The first around 9:00 a.m. in western Baghdad. No U.S. casualties there. A fuel truck did catch on fire, causing some dramatic video.
The second, about an hour later, a suicide car bomb in western Baghdad hit a convoy. Five Iraqi civilians there were wounded.
And another about 11:00 a.m. local, hitting a convoy. Three Iraqi civilians wounded in that incident.
All of this underscoring the need for Iraq's transitional government to take shape and start dealing with the country's security.
Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Back now to that American being held hostage, Jeffrey Ake. Well, his company, Equipment Express of suburban LaPorte, Indiana, says it's played an important role in the war in Iraq. Besides water, that company has bottled and distributed cooking oil.
But officials don't want to talk to reporters. And the State Department says Ake's wife feels the same way. Others who don't mind sharing their reactions are understandably aggrieved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So close to home. I feel sorry for all of the people we are losing over there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just know him from coming in. He comes in probably four or five times a week and picks up his mail. And when I wait on him, you know, he's always cordial and nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes you take notice, huh, when something like that happens? Somebody you know -- and I don't know him, but I have seen him and I know of him, you know. But that's -- it really shakes you up a little bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Yellow ribbons are already going up in Jeffrey Ake's hometown, where the police chief says Ake's plight devastates all of us.
Ships that pass in the night are comrades in arms forever. Afghanistan apparently is looking for a long-term commitment from the Bush administration. But visiting defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld was gun shy today when the question came up in Kabul.
More on that from CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello, Kyra.
As you say, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spending most of the day in Afghanistan conducting a press conference with Afghan president Hamid Karzai. And the question on the table, indeed, was, does the U.S. have plans for a permanent basing relationship in Afghanistan? Hamid Karzai making it very clear he would like some type of arrangement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAMID KARZAI, AFGHAN PRESIDENT: The conclusion we have drawn is that the Afghan people want a longer-term relationship with the United States. They want this relationship to be a wholesome one, including a sustained economic relationship, a personal relationship, and, most important of all, a strategic security relationship that would enable Afghanistan to defend itself, to continue to be -- to prosper, to stop interferences, the possibility of interferences in Afghanistan, not have the reputation of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: But, of course, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, knowing full well this is a very delicate question, so he wouldn't walk down that road on the question of permanent basis. Very sensitive for a U.S. defense secretary to be talking about any kind of permanent basing in a Muslim country.
Here's what Secretary Rumsfeld had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: What we generally do when we work with another country is what we have been doing. We find ways that we can be helpful. It may be training, it may be equipping, it may be various other types of assistance, such as is the case here. But we think more in terms of what we're doing rather than the question of military bases and that type of thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: And, indeed, Kyra, whether one calls it permanent bases or not, it may be two sides of the same question. Because the U.S. is spending a considerable amount of money upgrading and improving the air bases and other fields that it does use in Afghanistan. And certainly the U.S. and the NATO allies preparing to stay in Afghanistan for some years to come to get Afghan security forces trained up.
So whether it's called a permanent base or not, no indication that the U.S. is leaving -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Barbara Starr. Thanks.
We're going to talk more about the possibility of a permanent base, too, with General David Grange coming up, and how that could play a big part in the war on terror.
Now moving on to searchers again fanning out across Hillsboro County, Florida, looking for yet another missing girl. This time a teenager by the name of Sarah Lunde.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is following the investigation, and she joins us now live by telephone.
Do we believe that it is an abduction, Susan, and if, indeed, a sexual predator is one to blame?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, there is no evidence of that right now. And that is why police have not issued an Amber Alert in this case because there is no evidence of that at this time. They have, however, put out a national missing child alert.
This is day two of the search for 13-year-old Sarah Lunde, who apparently disappeared from her home late Saturday. That's when her brother last saw her.
He said she had been at an outing at a church camp and came home early from it. After Sarah's brother saw her late Saturday, when he come home Sunday morning, he said the front door was wide open.
Now, the mother called police to report that her daughter was missing. She did not show up for school. Eighty deputies are out there looking for her. And they've conducted more than 200 interviews with people in the area so far.
The little girl has had a troubled history. Police says she comes from a broken home. Her mother has been in trouble with the law, some fraud arrests in the past. Her father has been arrested in the past -- he lives in another city -- on battery charges.
The sheriff's office says that this little girl has run away before, but she has come back. So they are calling this out of context and, in their words, "extremely suspicious."
Four years ago the youngster was (INAUDIBLE). She was (INAUDIBLE) a foster care for a time after her parents divorced. The mother does have custody of the children.
They have been looking at all the registered sex offenders in the area, as they normally do. They located all but one of 24 of them. One was said to have left the area before Sarah went missing.
There are 50 volunteers at least out there helping in the search. Hopefully with all of this publicity they will be able to find her -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Susan Candiotti, real quickly, we have been saying her name is Sarah Lunde. You said Lunde.
CANDIOTTI: That's right.
PHILLIPS: I want to make sure -- I want to make sure we get her name right.
CANDIOTTI: The police say it is pronounced Lunde.
PHILLIPS: Lunde. All right. Once again, we're going to follow the search there for the missing teenager, Sarah Lunde. Our Susan Candiotti working that story for us. We'll talk more about it later in the hour.
Thanks, Susan.
Meanwhile, straight ahead, the United States has more than 80 military bases overseas. How would putting permanent U.S. bases in Afghanistan affect security there and here at home? We're going to talk about it straight ahead.
And a couple that lived through the nightmare of identity theft fights back. How their strategy could help you straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
GEN. DAVID GRANGE, (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: ... some time of a mission.
PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk about the various types of missions.
As we look at this map of the Gulf region, I mean, there's at least a dozen or more bases from Bahrain to Jabuuti. And let's talk about why U.S. bases in these areas and why they pick certain locations.
You and I talked about the fight, save, distribute. Let's talk about fight first, and that's, of course, strategy behind war. You look at the first Gulf War, you look at OIF, Kuwait, for example. It makes sense that there would be a permanent U.S. base there. Let's talk about why.
GRANGE: Well, for fighting, you know, this is a military that fights what I call exterior lines. In other words, we have to usually go somewhere to fight.
And to -- when you force project over seas across the globe, you either fight your way in or you land somewhere at some base to assemble, regroup, reorganize, and then prepare to conduct a fight. Just like they did in Iraq when we went into, let's say, Kuwait to prepare to go into Baghdad.
PHILLIPS: Of course, because you've got to be able to have jets and helos that can come and go and refuel. You want to be able to get foot power in there. You want to be able to get supplies into a location. I mean, you can't fight a war, obviously, all coming straight out of the United States.
GRANGE: That's right. There's a limited number of aircraft to fly to the fight or go by ship across the oceans to the fight.
And so these bases are either already secured by our forces or allies, and/or they have what they call prepositioned stock. They have fighting vehicles, they have ammunition, fuel, those things you need to fight a war. And that takes a lot of bulk capability to move that from the United States. So it's good to have those things propositioned in regions where you may have to go to war.
PHILLIPS: OK. And another reason. Not just war missions, but what you and I have labeled the save tactic. And Sierra Leone, for example, let's talk about having bases overseas and how it helps in the mission when it comes to saving allied forces, civilians, et cetera.
GRANGE: Yes, what we're talking about here is things like humanitarian assistance. In other words, to go into a place like the tsunami countries to provide aid, immediate aid in disaster areas, for peacekeeping operations, for what they call NEO, noncombatant evacuation operations, taking Americans out of a hostile environment if it happened in places like Sierra Leone or in the past in Somalia.
It could be in the future. Let's say a war broke out between Pakistan and India. How do you get all those Americans out or other national citizens from other countries that asked us to help them? You want to be able to do that
PHILLIPS: And General, even, say, something like Falluja. You want to be close to Iraq and have the power to take civilians out of an area if indeed the military knows they're going to go in and try to clear out the terrorists.
GRANGE: Well, that's right. And Iraq is another example where I would suspect even with the continual (INAUDIBLE) ability of the Iraqi military and police forces that we'll have a base there for some time.
PHILLIPS: And you made a great point about distribution. The third point that we talked about in the humanitarian efforts and why it is important to have bases overseas to bring in supplies when something goes down, say, for example, in Haiti. We saw a lot of military respond, bringing in food and water and helping the people there.
GRANGE: That's right. And these type -- this type of these types of supplies, whether it be water, or whether it be medical supplies and food stuff (ph) in some of these remote areas, you want to have global reach. But once you get into the region, you want to have intra-theater air move those things by helicopter or by C-130 aircraft, or by vehicle shorter distances. But you need the hub and spoke capability, some place to start from that's near this crisis area.
PHILLIPS: So you...
GRANGE: And this is a great example in southwest Asia to have a base.
PHILLIPS: And finally, in Afghanistan, if that base is built there, you said probably the biggest asset would just be the deterrent to al Qaeda and the Taliban and the growth of terrorism in a country that created Operation Enduring Freedom and then leading into other operations to take down terrorists. GRANGE: Yes. I think President Karzai would like to have U.S. presence there for some time. It does him good; it does us good.
It allows you, if there's a problem with faction leaders in the future, you have big brother United States looking over your shoulder to back you up. If you have more Taliban-al Qaeda problems along the border, or it continues the way it is now, you want to have U.S. presence there.
And then, again, it's a key location for the United States if there was ever trouble in Iran, or if there was trouble with Pakistan, to be in that location. And you may not be able to use the bases you currently have. They may need those for their military. So you may want to build a more capable U.S.-oriented-type base for future operations.
PHILLIPS: General David Grange, if they start building, we'll talk again. Thank you, sir.
GRANGE: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, fight back against identity theft. Today a Senate panel talked about it today. And just ahead on LIVE FROM, you're going to meet a couple who experienced it first hand and turned their fight against it into a way to help all Americans.
And the search for who we are and where we came from. Scientists need 100,000 people from around the world to trace the human family tree. Are you interested?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. General Motors wants to try something brand new to boost its sales. I'll tell you why you might be in for a surprise if you're planning to buy a GM car in the near future.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Car maker General Motors is hoping that a little branding will give a boost in its weak sales. Susan Lisovicz live from the New York Stock Exchange.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Stories "Now in the News."
A U.S. embassy official identifies an American kidnapped this week from a construction site in Baghdad as Jeffrey Ake. That's the name on an ID card seen in that video that aired on Al-Jazeera. A company in Indiana called Equipment Express lists Jeffrey Ake as its president and CEO.
Detectives south of Tampa are questioning registered sex offenders as a part of the investigation in the search for 13-year-old Sarah Michelle Lunde. She lived in the area and was last seen early Sunday. Volunteers are helping to search a three-mile radius from Lunde's home, just a town called Ruskin.
Eric Rudolph has pleaded guilty to a deadly bombing at a women's clinic in Alabama seven years ago. He's expected to plead guilty in just about 30 minutes to three bombings that took place in Georgia, including the deadly blast in Centennial Olympic Park in 1996. Now, under a plea agreement, Rudolph will be spared the death penalty in exchange for four consecutive life terms in a federal prison.
Laboratories around the U.S. and 17 other countries are told to destroy test panels of the deadly 1957...
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Aired April 13, 2005 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
LAURIE GARRETT, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Where are all the samples of the 1957 flu virus? Where are all the samples of the 1968, another great pandemic? And worst of all, 1918, which may have killed at least 50 million people worldwide?
And my knowledge is that the CDC cannot tell us where every single sample is, what laboratories around the world may have them, and therefore can't guarantee something like this might not happen again with a far more dangerous strange.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, and she talked about there a couple of things that she needs to look at, and that is the proficiency of these labs. And also, when it comes to the proficiency testing, it's very important, it still has to happen. But they have to make sure that the test panels that they get are not test panels with this deadly strain.
Am I explaining that properly?
GARRETT: You are. You're absolutely right.
PHILLIPS: OK.
GARRETT: And now here's -- and here's another question for you. How is it that if the whole point of the influenza surveillance system is that you are supposed to plot if there's a different what's called H, or hemoglutin in constellation (ph), in the circulating flu viruses, you're supposed to immediately warn the CDC. She explained that to us.
And this H2 type has not been in the world since 1967, '68. So how is it that all of these labs have had these panels since October and nobody noticed until March 26 of all of those labs that there was an H2 flu in the mix? And why was it that none of the American labs noticed it? It was a Canadian lab.
And we have ininvested more than $3 billion in prying to improve our public health infrastructure and our laboratory since 9/11. And yet, boom, everybody missed it.
PHILLIPS: It's amazing when you think about it. Well, obviously, Gerberding coming out, Laurie, and talking about what they do know. And now the steps that are in progress to destroy, from what I understand, all of these test panels. And if indeed laboratories come up with a panel with this virus, they are to report immediately to the proper folks.
And also, all the workers in these labs are going to be monitored to see if they get any type of I guess affect from what this virus could bring on. So...
GARRETT: Any flu-like systems ought to get reported immediately. If you work in any of these laboratories -- and it is well over 4,000. It's closer to 5,000 in 18 countries. And if you work in any of those labs, even if you're a janitor, if you're not directly working on the virus, and you develop anything akin to flu-like symptoms, you should report it immediately to your authorities and your supervisors, and tests should be conducted and samples should be sent to the CDC in Atlanta for immediate analysis.
PILGRIM: Laurie Garrett, our global health expert, thank you so much for helping us sort through all this today. We sure appreciate it.
GARRETT: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: Now we're going to move on to Iraq. And he went to bring water to the desert, but on Monday U.S. contractor Jeffrey Ake of northwest Indiana was kidnapped from a work site near Baghdad. Today he appears in a setting we have seen many times before, amid masked men with rifles, pleading for his life on video.
That tape turns up on the day of numerous bombings aimed at U.S. and Iraqi forces. We get the latest on all of it now from CNN's Aneesh Raman in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Arabic language station Al- Jazeera airing a video purportedly showing an American hostage kidnapped on Monday here in Baghdad in broad daylight as he worked on a reconstruction project. U.S. embassy officials here say the man's name is Jeffrey Ake. He's from the state of Indiana.
No word on what company he works for. But we do know that in South Bend, Indiana, a company called Equipment Express is doing work here in Iraq.
Also today, Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick arrived for an unannounced visit. He met with leaders of the transitional government, pushing a message we heard yesterday from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that this government needs to form quickly. He also went to the city of Falluja to check in on reconstruction projects there.
Now, both of these visits had violent backdrops. Yesterday, two car bombs in Mosul. Today, north of the capital city in the town of Kirkuk, 12 Iraqi soldiers died while trying to diffuse a roadside bomb.
Also, three bombs going off this morning, all intended to hit American military convoys. The first around 9:00 a.m. in western Baghdad. No U.S. casualties there. A fuel truck did catch on fire, causing some dramatic video.
The second, about an hour later, a suicide car bomb in western Baghdad hit a convoy. Five Iraqi civilians there were wounded.
And another about 11:00 a.m. local, hitting a convoy. Three Iraqi civilians wounded in that incident.
All of this underscoring the need for Iraq's transitional government to take shape and start dealing with the country's security.
Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Back now to that American being held hostage, Jeffrey Ake. Well, his company, Equipment Express of suburban LaPorte, Indiana, says it's played an important role in the war in Iraq. Besides water, that company has bottled and distributed cooking oil.
But officials don't want to talk to reporters. And the State Department says Ake's wife feels the same way. Others who don't mind sharing their reactions are understandably aggrieved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So close to home. I feel sorry for all of the people we are losing over there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just know him from coming in. He comes in probably four or five times a week and picks up his mail. And when I wait on him, you know, he's always cordial and nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes you take notice, huh, when something like that happens? Somebody you know -- and I don't know him, but I have seen him and I know of him, you know. But that's -- it really shakes you up a little bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Yellow ribbons are already going up in Jeffrey Ake's hometown, where the police chief says Ake's plight devastates all of us.
Ships that pass in the night are comrades in arms forever. Afghanistan apparently is looking for a long-term commitment from the Bush administration. But visiting defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld was gun shy today when the question came up in Kabul.
More on that from CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello, Kyra.
As you say, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spending most of the day in Afghanistan conducting a press conference with Afghan president Hamid Karzai. And the question on the table, indeed, was, does the U.S. have plans for a permanent basing relationship in Afghanistan? Hamid Karzai making it very clear he would like some type of arrangement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAMID KARZAI, AFGHAN PRESIDENT: The conclusion we have drawn is that the Afghan people want a longer-term relationship with the United States. They want this relationship to be a wholesome one, including a sustained economic relationship, a personal relationship, and, most important of all, a strategic security relationship that would enable Afghanistan to defend itself, to continue to be -- to prosper, to stop interferences, the possibility of interferences in Afghanistan, not have the reputation of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: But, of course, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, knowing full well this is a very delicate question, so he wouldn't walk down that road on the question of permanent basis. Very sensitive for a U.S. defense secretary to be talking about any kind of permanent basing in a Muslim country.
Here's what Secretary Rumsfeld had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: What we generally do when we work with another country is what we have been doing. We find ways that we can be helpful. It may be training, it may be equipping, it may be various other types of assistance, such as is the case here. But we think more in terms of what we're doing rather than the question of military bases and that type of thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: And, indeed, Kyra, whether one calls it permanent bases or not, it may be two sides of the same question. Because the U.S. is spending a considerable amount of money upgrading and improving the air bases and other fields that it does use in Afghanistan. And certainly the U.S. and the NATO allies preparing to stay in Afghanistan for some years to come to get Afghan security forces trained up.
So whether it's called a permanent base or not, no indication that the U.S. is leaving -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Barbara Starr. Thanks.
We're going to talk more about the possibility of a permanent base, too, with General David Grange coming up, and how that could play a big part in the war on terror.
Now moving on to searchers again fanning out across Hillsboro County, Florida, looking for yet another missing girl. This time a teenager by the name of Sarah Lunde.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is following the investigation, and she joins us now live by telephone.
Do we believe that it is an abduction, Susan, and if, indeed, a sexual predator is one to blame?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, there is no evidence of that right now. And that is why police have not issued an Amber Alert in this case because there is no evidence of that at this time. They have, however, put out a national missing child alert.
This is day two of the search for 13-year-old Sarah Lunde, who apparently disappeared from her home late Saturday. That's when her brother last saw her.
He said she had been at an outing at a church camp and came home early from it. After Sarah's brother saw her late Saturday, when he come home Sunday morning, he said the front door was wide open.
Now, the mother called police to report that her daughter was missing. She did not show up for school. Eighty deputies are out there looking for her. And they've conducted more than 200 interviews with people in the area so far.
The little girl has had a troubled history. Police says she comes from a broken home. Her mother has been in trouble with the law, some fraud arrests in the past. Her father has been arrested in the past -- he lives in another city -- on battery charges.
The sheriff's office says that this little girl has run away before, but she has come back. So they are calling this out of context and, in their words, "extremely suspicious."
Four years ago the youngster was (INAUDIBLE). She was (INAUDIBLE) a foster care for a time after her parents divorced. The mother does have custody of the children.
They have been looking at all the registered sex offenders in the area, as they normally do. They located all but one of 24 of them. One was said to have left the area before Sarah went missing.
There are 50 volunteers at least out there helping in the search. Hopefully with all of this publicity they will be able to find her -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Susan Candiotti, real quickly, we have been saying her name is Sarah Lunde. You said Lunde.
CANDIOTTI: That's right.
PHILLIPS: I want to make sure -- I want to make sure we get her name right.
CANDIOTTI: The police say it is pronounced Lunde.
PHILLIPS: Lunde. All right. Once again, we're going to follow the search there for the missing teenager, Sarah Lunde. Our Susan Candiotti working that story for us. We'll talk more about it later in the hour.
Thanks, Susan.
Meanwhile, straight ahead, the United States has more than 80 military bases overseas. How would putting permanent U.S. bases in Afghanistan affect security there and here at home? We're going to talk about it straight ahead.
And a couple that lived through the nightmare of identity theft fights back. How their strategy could help you straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
GEN. DAVID GRANGE, (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: ... some time of a mission.
PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk about the various types of missions.
As we look at this map of the Gulf region, I mean, there's at least a dozen or more bases from Bahrain to Jabuuti. And let's talk about why U.S. bases in these areas and why they pick certain locations.
You and I talked about the fight, save, distribute. Let's talk about fight first, and that's, of course, strategy behind war. You look at the first Gulf War, you look at OIF, Kuwait, for example. It makes sense that there would be a permanent U.S. base there. Let's talk about why.
GRANGE: Well, for fighting, you know, this is a military that fights what I call exterior lines. In other words, we have to usually go somewhere to fight.
And to -- when you force project over seas across the globe, you either fight your way in or you land somewhere at some base to assemble, regroup, reorganize, and then prepare to conduct a fight. Just like they did in Iraq when we went into, let's say, Kuwait to prepare to go into Baghdad.
PHILLIPS: Of course, because you've got to be able to have jets and helos that can come and go and refuel. You want to be able to get foot power in there. You want to be able to get supplies into a location. I mean, you can't fight a war, obviously, all coming straight out of the United States.
GRANGE: That's right. There's a limited number of aircraft to fly to the fight or go by ship across the oceans to the fight.
And so these bases are either already secured by our forces or allies, and/or they have what they call prepositioned stock. They have fighting vehicles, they have ammunition, fuel, those things you need to fight a war. And that takes a lot of bulk capability to move that from the United States. So it's good to have those things propositioned in regions where you may have to go to war.
PHILLIPS: OK. And another reason. Not just war missions, but what you and I have labeled the save tactic. And Sierra Leone, for example, let's talk about having bases overseas and how it helps in the mission when it comes to saving allied forces, civilians, et cetera.
GRANGE: Yes, what we're talking about here is things like humanitarian assistance. In other words, to go into a place like the tsunami countries to provide aid, immediate aid in disaster areas, for peacekeeping operations, for what they call NEO, noncombatant evacuation operations, taking Americans out of a hostile environment if it happened in places like Sierra Leone or in the past in Somalia.
It could be in the future. Let's say a war broke out between Pakistan and India. How do you get all those Americans out or other national citizens from other countries that asked us to help them? You want to be able to do that
PHILLIPS: And General, even, say, something like Falluja. You want to be close to Iraq and have the power to take civilians out of an area if indeed the military knows they're going to go in and try to clear out the terrorists.
GRANGE: Well, that's right. And Iraq is another example where I would suspect even with the continual (INAUDIBLE) ability of the Iraqi military and police forces that we'll have a base there for some time.
PHILLIPS: And you made a great point about distribution. The third point that we talked about in the humanitarian efforts and why it is important to have bases overseas to bring in supplies when something goes down, say, for example, in Haiti. We saw a lot of military respond, bringing in food and water and helping the people there.
GRANGE: That's right. And these type -- this type of these types of supplies, whether it be water, or whether it be medical supplies and food stuff (ph) in some of these remote areas, you want to have global reach. But once you get into the region, you want to have intra-theater air move those things by helicopter or by C-130 aircraft, or by vehicle shorter distances. But you need the hub and spoke capability, some place to start from that's near this crisis area.
PHILLIPS: So you...
GRANGE: And this is a great example in southwest Asia to have a base.
PHILLIPS: And finally, in Afghanistan, if that base is built there, you said probably the biggest asset would just be the deterrent to al Qaeda and the Taliban and the growth of terrorism in a country that created Operation Enduring Freedom and then leading into other operations to take down terrorists. GRANGE: Yes. I think President Karzai would like to have U.S. presence there for some time. It does him good; it does us good.
It allows you, if there's a problem with faction leaders in the future, you have big brother United States looking over your shoulder to back you up. If you have more Taliban-al Qaeda problems along the border, or it continues the way it is now, you want to have U.S. presence there.
And then, again, it's a key location for the United States if there was ever trouble in Iran, or if there was trouble with Pakistan, to be in that location. And you may not be able to use the bases you currently have. They may need those for their military. So you may want to build a more capable U.S.-oriented-type base for future operations.
PHILLIPS: General David Grange, if they start building, we'll talk again. Thank you, sir.
GRANGE: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, fight back against identity theft. Today a Senate panel talked about it today. And just ahead on LIVE FROM, you're going to meet a couple who experienced it first hand and turned their fight against it into a way to help all Americans.
And the search for who we are and where we came from. Scientists need 100,000 people from around the world to trace the human family tree. Are you interested?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. General Motors wants to try something brand new to boost its sales. I'll tell you why you might be in for a surprise if you're planning to buy a GM car in the near future.
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PHILLIPS: Car maker General Motors is hoping that a little branding will give a boost in its weak sales. Susan Lisovicz live from the New York Stock Exchange.
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PHILLIPS: Stories "Now in the News."
A U.S. embassy official identifies an American kidnapped this week from a construction site in Baghdad as Jeffrey Ake. That's the name on an ID card seen in that video that aired on Al-Jazeera. A company in Indiana called Equipment Express lists Jeffrey Ake as its president and CEO.
Detectives south of Tampa are questioning registered sex offenders as a part of the investigation in the search for 13-year-old Sarah Michelle Lunde. She lived in the area and was last seen early Sunday. Volunteers are helping to search a three-mile radius from Lunde's home, just a town called Ruskin.
Eric Rudolph has pleaded guilty to a deadly bombing at a women's clinic in Alabama seven years ago. He's expected to plead guilty in just about 30 minutes to three bombings that took place in Georgia, including the deadly blast in Centennial Olympic Park in 1996. Now, under a plea agreement, Rudolph will be spared the death penalty in exchange for four consecutive life terms in a federal prison.
Laboratories around the U.S. and 17 other countries are told to destroy test panels of the deadly 1957...
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