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Videotape Surfaces of Civilian Helicopter Downing; Insurgency Increases Attacks; Terror Suspect Expected to Plead Guilty
Aired April 22, 2005 - 13:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: We're going to start with more grisly violence, more chilling video and another day of prayer desecrated in Iraq. Every new attack shoves the post election lull a little further into history and adds to the burdens on the still to be named Iraqi government.
Today brought a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad and a second claim of responsibility with a second piece of video from yesterday's downing of a civilian helicopter.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote has the latest now from Baghdad -- Ryan.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, let's start by talking about that video. It may shed some light on this commercial helicopter that was downed Thursday in Iraq.
It first appeared on the Al Jazeera television network. They say that they got it from the Army of Mujahideen. That's a group that we've never heard of.
In any case, in it you see a Russian-made helicopter flying in the distance and then you hear two very loud thuds and you see that helicopter burst into flames and fall to the earth.
Now, we can't independently verify the authenticity of that video, but it does appear to be very consistent with some video that came out late last night. In that video you see what appears to be wreckage of that commercial helicopter.
Now the U.S. military is saying that it believes this helicopter was shot down, but it is not prepared to say that decisively yet. The Bulgarian defense ministry has said that.
In any case the U.S. military is saying that all 11 individuals that were on board, their bodies have been recovered from that site. They are -- they include the bodies of six Americans, three Bulgarians and two Fijians.
And I should tell you that another batch of video came out last night, some very gruesome video, I should add, and in it you see an apparent survivor of that crash, later described by the company that was chartering that helicopter as the -- a Bulgarian crew member. In it, he pleads for his life. He is pulled up, told to walk and he is executed.
And lastly, here in Baghdad, more violence, a suicide bomber in a car, just outside a Shiite mosque here in the capital, detonating the explosives in that car. The casualties at that this point stand at at least nine dead, and at least 25 wounded -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Ryan Chilcote, live from Baghdad, thank you. We'll talk more about those videotapes that Ryan mentioned with Major General Don Shepperd coming up in the next hour.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And now to Washington and the ultimate battlefield promotion. President Bush today nominated Marine General Peter Pace, a familiar face from all those Pentagon briefings, for the chairmanship of the joint chiefs of staff.
Pace currently is vice chairman under Air Force General Richard Myers, who's retiring later this year. Assuming he's confirmed by the Senate, which seems pretty likely, Pace will be the first Marine ever to be America's highest ranking G.I.
And the war in Iraq will continue to rank very high on his list of priorities. As we mentioned, hopes that the January election might have been a turning point in the insurrection grow dimmer by the day.
CNN's Barbara Starr is keeping tabs at the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The deaths of 11 civilians on a charter helicopter is just the latest violence in a violent week in Iraq. U.S. officials believe the helicopter was brought down by hostile fire. Insurgent video shows the execution of a man which the tape suggests apparently survived the crash.
After weeks of decline, attacks now number about 50 a day. U.S. officials are watching closely to assess what the insurgents might do next.
LAWRENCE DI RITA, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: If the commanders wonder whether they're marshalling their dwindling capacity on being able to conduct these kinds of what appear to be better coordinated attacks, but more spectacular and perhaps fewer more spectacular attacks. That's speculation.
STARR: One senior military officer tells CNN there is concern, however, insurgents may keep trying to overrun a U.S. military outpost. Already the insurgents have failed twice to do just that. In March, there was a coordinated insurgent attack on the U.S. troops guarding the Abu Ghraib prison. Earlier this month, Marines near the Syrian border repelled a series of three car bomb attacks at their base.
DI RITA: The fact is that the security forces and coalition are developing some capacity to interrupt these things or to stop them before they cause real damage.
STARR: Iraqis are still bearing the brunt of the attacks. Government officials say they have recovered dozens of bodies from the Tigris River and from a stadium, and the al Qaeda network in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the attempted assassination of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he believes the long-term trend in Iraq is still positive.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Generally, we're going to see the insurgency be less successful over time. Still lethal from time to time. Don't mistake me.
STARR (on camera): But one senior military official says it's still very premature to talk about breaking the back of the insurgency or bringing the troops home.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And a war being waged in heartland America of the meteorological sort. Cold, dry air on one side, warm, moist air on the other, with the all-too typical result: tornadoes wrecking homes in rural Kansas. And if you've been watching CNN, you know more are possible in the southeast today and tonight. So far we've heard of no new outbreaks and no injuries from yesterday's tornadoes.
There's also a high probability of camcorders in the region, and here's another Kansas twister, captured by a storm chaser, Reed Timmer. He was a guest on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REED TIMMER, STORM CHASER: A tornado is actually quite small in diameter, but that can be deceiving sometimes, because just because a tornado is small, it doesn't mean it's weak.
You can see the circulation at the bottom of the tornado. You can see that it was extremely violent. And we were probably initially an eighth of a mile away from the tornado, at this point. And then we actually got much closer just after this, probably a couple hundred yards. And we could see little vortices spinning on the bottom, and trees getting shot up in the air. There's softball sized hail falling from the sky. So guess it's a good thing I brought my bike helmet out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: CNN meteorologist Orelon Sidney, she doesn't have her bike helmet on, but is watching our skies from the weather center upstairs.
Hey, Orelon.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Orelon, with the titan and ripping the paper we've got it all covered. Thanks, Orelon. All right.
HARRIS: We are certainly tracking this potential for severe weather and tornadoes for you this hour. Storms spawning tornadoes that hit the heartland, and more nasty weather moving across the southeast. As Orelon mentioned, right now we're tracking them for you and we'll let you know if they really get ugly.
And next, the only man charged in the United States in the September 11 attacks expected to plead guilty this afternoon. We'll bring you the inside story on how he was caught.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Thirteen years in prison, that's the sentence handed down by a British judge on a man who admitted conspiring with shoe bomber Richard Reid. Prosecutors believe Saajid Badat backed out of a plan to detonate a bomb aboard an American airline jet bound from Paris to Miami in December of 2001.
In sentencing Badat, the judge said he believed the would-be terrorist had had a genuine change of heart. The guilty plea was the first major conviction for a terrorist plot in Britain since September 11.
Will he or won't he? Zacarias Moussaoui is the only person charged in the U.S. in the 9/11 conspiracy. He faces six counts and has indicated he will plead guilty to at least one of those charges today in federal court. But his own lawyers are going to court in a bid stop him.
CNN's Bob Franken is in Alexandria, Virginia, with the latest twist in, Bob, this already strange case.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And as a matter of fact within the last couple of hours, the defense attorneys have filed a motion entitled "Sealed suggestion of defense counsel, as to defendant's incompetence to plead guilty and for a sentence of death."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): In the federal courthouse just nine miles from where a hijacked plane slammed into the Pentagon on September 11, Zacarias Moussaoui will plead guilty this afternoon to six charges growing out of the attacks, if he keeps his word. He's changed his mind before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem is, in representing Mr. Moussaoui, it's -- it's essentially a 24-hour time bomb. You don't know when it's going to explode.
FRANKEN: Moussaoui used to be called the 20th hijacker, although never by prosecutors. He was already under arrest on that September 11 after erratic behavior at a Minnesota flight training school.
But officials in Washington refused to allow a search of his laptop computer, in spite of various warnings he had ties to al Qaeda and despite the fact he had paid for the instruction with close to $7,000 in cash.
Different theories of his involvement include the possibility he was a potential replacement hijack pilot on 9/11 or that he was preparing to take part in the second wave of attacks.
His defense lawyers continue to object to the finding by Judge Leonie Brinkema, who he's frequently ridiculed, that Moussaoui is now mentally competent to plead guilty to charges that carry the death penalty. Execution could be up to a jury.
PETER WHITE, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: This is a very unusual death penalty in that Zacarias Moussaoui didn't kill anyone. Zacarias Moussaoui was in jail, in fact, when September 11 happened.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: Even so, prosecutors say they relish the idea of arguing for the death penalty before a grand jury from this area -- Kyra.
HARRIS: CNN's Bob Franken, Bob, thank you.
PHILLIPS: It was August 13, 2001, Minnesota flight instructor Clancy Prevost got a new student. He was pleasant but not your typical pilot. He was a bit overweight, unshaven, wore Dockers that didn't fit very well. He didn't appear nervous or very excited.
Little did Clancy know, he'd just shaken hands with the only man now charged in the U.S. in connection with September 11.
Dean Staley joins us now. He's an anchor and correspondent for Northwest Cable News in Seattle, Washington. He got the exclusive interview with the man who turned in Zacarias Moussaoui, but you won't see it on television.
Good to see you, Dean.
DEAN STALEY, ANCHOR, NORTHWEST CABLE NEWS: Good to be here.
PHILLIPS: Let's talk about why he will not go on camera and why you had to write this in an article.
STALEY: Yes, took me a year to track down Clancy Prevost. And I've been talking to him for the last two and a half years or so about going on camera. You know, I'm a broadcaster, so obviously I have an interest there.
And he has been pretty consistent all along that he did not want to go on TV. And I can only tell you in terms of his reasons -- you know, I'm not a spokesperson for the guy. He's just someone that I managed to track down and get to know a bit.
Here's a guy who's in his late 60s. He's a recovering alcoholic. This summer will mark his 11th year of sobriety. And I think he's just one of these people who, he sort of found a rhythm to his life and, at a time when so many people are trying to jump into the spotlight just for the spotlight's sake, here's a guy who doesn't feel the need to do that. And he feels like maybe getting in the middle of this and being on television and being the center of this whole thing might sort of upset his life in a way that he's just not prepared to do right now.
PHILLIPS: Well, he's definitely an interesting character and you mention in your article that right away, he noticed that something was strange about Moussaoui, that something wasn't right; he was suspicious. What do you think it was about Clancy Prevost that gave him the ability to, I don't know, maybe ask more questions than another trainer?
STALEY: Well, Clancy is a very gregarious guy. He's a very outgoing guy. Anyone who knows him, knows that you know, he loves to joke, he loves to talk, he loves to get to know people.
And in fact, more than a year ago, I interviewed Al Johnson, who was another flight instructor at that school. Mr. Johnson actually died this week in Minnesota after an ailment. But Al at the time told me -- you know, I said, "Why do you think Clancy saw in Moussaoui a threat where no one else seemed to recognize it?"
And Al Johnson told me, said Clancy was that kind of guy. He likes to go after people and get to know them. He's an outgoing guy, and he doesn't just walk in and do his job in the sense of, "Well, I'm a flight instructor. I'll teach people what I can and then I'll go home." He really likes to get to know his students.
And I think ultimately it's those qualities that led Clancy in this case to get to know Zacarias Moussaoui well enough to say to himself, you know, something's wrong here.
PHILLIPS: Well, no doubt he did get to know Zacarias Moussaoui very well. You write in your article that he said that Moussaoui was a terrible student. Here's -- here's a quote that I pulled from your article. You wrote, "Prevost remembers that 'we were sitting up in the cafeteria and I'm thinking, I'm going to stay here for two or three hours because I don't want to go back to the classroom building and try to teach him something because you can't. There's no awareness of anything.' Moussaoui seemed equally discouraged."
Interesting, Moussaoui was a poor student.
STALEY: He was absolutely horrible. In fact, he had spent a couple of months in Normand, Oklahoma, just outside Oklahoma City at the Airman Flight Academy, trying to learn how to fly just a Cesna. And in the time that, Kyra, you and I could go in and maybe after a month of flight training learn how to fly a Cesna, solo in a Cesna, they wouldn't let him anywhere near the plane.
And I actually spoke to one of the managers in the flight school last summer, I think it was, who told me, he just didn't have it. Whatever "it" is, he didn't have that ability.
PHILLIPS: And then there was the conversation that Prevost had with Moussaoui about this plane crash that happened in the Middle East, this charter flight to Mecca. So he starts putting two and two together and then he writes this, "He asked Moussaoui" -- or you write, rather, his quote -- "'Hajj, Ramadan, what is that? Are you Muslim?' Here Moussaoui's emotion betrayed him for the very first time. According to Prevost, Moussaoui suddenly got very grave and in a low, stern growl said, 'I'm nothing'."
STALEY: Yes, this is sort of the crux of the whole story. I mean, Clancy up to this point had been going about his job as flight instructor, doing his best as a flight instructor to try to teach this student, who wasn't really qualified to be there, try teach him whatever he could and sort of keep him occupied during the time that he was at the flight school.
And then this moment happens, where he asks him, really just by way of getting to know him, "So, you know, Ramadan, Hajj, tell me -- tell me about yourself. Are you Muslim?"
And when he got this stern reaction from Moussaoui, that was the moment where the light went on. And he said to himself, "Wait a second. What are we doing here? There's something wrong with this guy."
And from that point on in the story, you'll see that, you know, moment by moment there are things keep adding up that tell Clancy Prevost, you know, we've got to get this guy backgrounded. And he wouldn't really stop until he felt like his managers were going to call the FBI and bring in the authorities, at least to check this guy out.
PHILLIPS: Well, and then he did confront his boss. He said to his boss, "Should we be doing this? Do we know what we're doing, training somebody woe don't know anybody about to get on the flight deck?"
"He said, 'He paid the money; we don't care.'
"I said, 'You'll care when there's a hijacking and they'll wonder where he learned how to work all those switches? And all the lawsuits start rolling in. Then you'll care.'
"He said, 'We're not worried.'
"I said, 'OK'."
So here he was trying to convince them to call the FBI. Why he did get so much resistance?
STALEY: Well, to be fair, Alan McHale (ph) is one of the principles. He was one of the -- sort of the assistant manager at the flight school. And to be fair to him, I talked to him on the phone. He did not want to comment for the story.
I did talk to John Rosenblum (ph), who was the head of the flight academy in Eagan, Minnesota, at the time, and he told me there was resistance on his part and he may have told his assistant manager, let's give this some time and see what happens. Because there wasn't anything to go on at that point.
Remember, this is pre-September 11, so no one had any idea that someone might show up at a flight academy with these sort of intentions. And Rosenblum (ph) told me at the time. Although he did concede that he was under business pressure to sort of keep the simulator time filled, because the arrangement was that the Pan Am Flight Academy was leasing bulk time from the Northwest Airlines on these simulators. So they've got this overhead. So their job is to go out and find students and sign them up and, you know, paying students in order to pay that overhead.
But he said that didn't enter into his considerations at all. He was really just trying to give a student that they didn't know anything about a fair break. He told him, "Look, let's give this a couple of days. Find out what you can about this guy." He really didn't think there was any urgency to it. This guy is not going there. He'll be at our flight academy for the next few days.
And so Rosenblum (ph) said, you know, he wasn't too slow to pull the trigger. He just wanted to sort of see what was going on and not do anything precipitously.
PHILLIPS: Well, not only did he turn in Moussauoi, and here we are now watching him face the courts. I love how you wrapped it up talking about Prevost just being this moral clarity of a monk and the wonder of a man awakened for the first time at the age of 66 from a life of drinking. Does he even realize he's a hero?
STALEY: You know, I don't think he's call himself a hero. In fact, he quoted to me -- I talked to him just this morning, and he loves this quote. I think it was F. Scott Fitzgerald. He said that "Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy." I think it was Fitzgerald who said that. Clancy loves the quote.
And essentially, I think he's a guy I think a lot of us probably know someone like him in our lives. Here's a guy who's taken time out from his life in his 50s, after a life of alcoholism, to get clean, to get away from alcohol. He's taken the time in AA to sort of get to know himself and understand himself and how he works. And I think out of that comes some sort of enlightenment, you know, that he sees the world in a calm sort of way.
He certainly does not feel the need at this point, and my phone's been ringing off the hook from people from different networks, saying, you know, "Can you talk to us about this or, you know, even better, can you get Clancy to come on and talk about this." And I talked to Clancy, and he sort of said, you know, he's not interested. He's happy to let someone else take the credit. He's happy to sort of sit on the sidelines and watch this all play out.
PHILLIPS: Well, Dean Staley, thanks for bringing us the story. It was an incredible exclusive. And thanks for letting us have it first. I appreciate it.
STALEY: Always good to visit with you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: It's a pleasure. Dean Staley, thank you so much.
CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: We want to show you some pictures now. This is from a short time ago. Look at this, Kyra, some pretty nasty weather. We've been telling you most of the afternoon, part of the morning about bad weather rolling into the southeast. Pictures from just a moment ago, downtown Atlanta here.
PHILLIPS: Can we fly out?
HARRIS: No, I don't think so.
PHILLIPS: No? I guess I'm not going anywhere this weekend.
HARRIS: No, no, no, no, no. I would imagine Hartsfield-Jackson is pretty socked in right now. That's downtown Atlanta. Do we have the tower cam, the live picture? OK.
PHILLIPS: Scott said he's getting a shot at the airport.
HARRIS: Oh, really?
PHILLIPS: Just for all the folks that want to fly out.
HARRIS: Well, see, there's the radar. Well.
PHILLIPS: See, that looks OK.
HARRIS: Makes you wonder the direction the storm is moving in.
PHILLIPS: Hmmm.
HARRIS: Yes, OK, we're hearing that it's going toward the airport.
PHILLIPS: Our director/meteorologist.
HARRIS: You're not flying out.
PHILLIPS: I guess I'm staying home this weekend.
HARRIS: I won't allow it.
PHILLIPS: All right.
HARRIS: Wall Street got a much needed rally yesterday. Let's see if the bulls are back again today. Kathleen Hays has the numbers live from the New York Stock Exchange.
Hi, Kathleen.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired April 22, 2005 - 13:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: We're going to start with more grisly violence, more chilling video and another day of prayer desecrated in Iraq. Every new attack shoves the post election lull a little further into history and adds to the burdens on the still to be named Iraqi government.
Today brought a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad and a second claim of responsibility with a second piece of video from yesterday's downing of a civilian helicopter.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote has the latest now from Baghdad -- Ryan.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, let's start by talking about that video. It may shed some light on this commercial helicopter that was downed Thursday in Iraq.
It first appeared on the Al Jazeera television network. They say that they got it from the Army of Mujahideen. That's a group that we've never heard of.
In any case, in it you see a Russian-made helicopter flying in the distance and then you hear two very loud thuds and you see that helicopter burst into flames and fall to the earth.
Now, we can't independently verify the authenticity of that video, but it does appear to be very consistent with some video that came out late last night. In that video you see what appears to be wreckage of that commercial helicopter.
Now the U.S. military is saying that it believes this helicopter was shot down, but it is not prepared to say that decisively yet. The Bulgarian defense ministry has said that.
In any case the U.S. military is saying that all 11 individuals that were on board, their bodies have been recovered from that site. They are -- they include the bodies of six Americans, three Bulgarians and two Fijians.
And I should tell you that another batch of video came out last night, some very gruesome video, I should add, and in it you see an apparent survivor of that crash, later described by the company that was chartering that helicopter as the -- a Bulgarian crew member. In it, he pleads for his life. He is pulled up, told to walk and he is executed.
And lastly, here in Baghdad, more violence, a suicide bomber in a car, just outside a Shiite mosque here in the capital, detonating the explosives in that car. The casualties at that this point stand at at least nine dead, and at least 25 wounded -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Ryan Chilcote, live from Baghdad, thank you. We'll talk more about those videotapes that Ryan mentioned with Major General Don Shepperd coming up in the next hour.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And now to Washington and the ultimate battlefield promotion. President Bush today nominated Marine General Peter Pace, a familiar face from all those Pentagon briefings, for the chairmanship of the joint chiefs of staff.
Pace currently is vice chairman under Air Force General Richard Myers, who's retiring later this year. Assuming he's confirmed by the Senate, which seems pretty likely, Pace will be the first Marine ever to be America's highest ranking G.I.
And the war in Iraq will continue to rank very high on his list of priorities. As we mentioned, hopes that the January election might have been a turning point in the insurrection grow dimmer by the day.
CNN's Barbara Starr is keeping tabs at the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The deaths of 11 civilians on a charter helicopter is just the latest violence in a violent week in Iraq. U.S. officials believe the helicopter was brought down by hostile fire. Insurgent video shows the execution of a man which the tape suggests apparently survived the crash.
After weeks of decline, attacks now number about 50 a day. U.S. officials are watching closely to assess what the insurgents might do next.
LAWRENCE DI RITA, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: If the commanders wonder whether they're marshalling their dwindling capacity on being able to conduct these kinds of what appear to be better coordinated attacks, but more spectacular and perhaps fewer more spectacular attacks. That's speculation.
STARR: One senior military officer tells CNN there is concern, however, insurgents may keep trying to overrun a U.S. military outpost. Already the insurgents have failed twice to do just that. In March, there was a coordinated insurgent attack on the U.S. troops guarding the Abu Ghraib prison. Earlier this month, Marines near the Syrian border repelled a series of three car bomb attacks at their base.
DI RITA: The fact is that the security forces and coalition are developing some capacity to interrupt these things or to stop them before they cause real damage.
STARR: Iraqis are still bearing the brunt of the attacks. Government officials say they have recovered dozens of bodies from the Tigris River and from a stadium, and the al Qaeda network in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the attempted assassination of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he believes the long-term trend in Iraq is still positive.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Generally, we're going to see the insurgency be less successful over time. Still lethal from time to time. Don't mistake me.
STARR (on camera): But one senior military official says it's still very premature to talk about breaking the back of the insurgency or bringing the troops home.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And a war being waged in heartland America of the meteorological sort. Cold, dry air on one side, warm, moist air on the other, with the all-too typical result: tornadoes wrecking homes in rural Kansas. And if you've been watching CNN, you know more are possible in the southeast today and tonight. So far we've heard of no new outbreaks and no injuries from yesterday's tornadoes.
There's also a high probability of camcorders in the region, and here's another Kansas twister, captured by a storm chaser, Reed Timmer. He was a guest on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REED TIMMER, STORM CHASER: A tornado is actually quite small in diameter, but that can be deceiving sometimes, because just because a tornado is small, it doesn't mean it's weak.
You can see the circulation at the bottom of the tornado. You can see that it was extremely violent. And we were probably initially an eighth of a mile away from the tornado, at this point. And then we actually got much closer just after this, probably a couple hundred yards. And we could see little vortices spinning on the bottom, and trees getting shot up in the air. There's softball sized hail falling from the sky. So guess it's a good thing I brought my bike helmet out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: CNN meteorologist Orelon Sidney, she doesn't have her bike helmet on, but is watching our skies from the weather center upstairs.
Hey, Orelon.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Orelon, with the titan and ripping the paper we've got it all covered. Thanks, Orelon. All right.
HARRIS: We are certainly tracking this potential for severe weather and tornadoes for you this hour. Storms spawning tornadoes that hit the heartland, and more nasty weather moving across the southeast. As Orelon mentioned, right now we're tracking them for you and we'll let you know if they really get ugly.
And next, the only man charged in the United States in the September 11 attacks expected to plead guilty this afternoon. We'll bring you the inside story on how he was caught.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Thirteen years in prison, that's the sentence handed down by a British judge on a man who admitted conspiring with shoe bomber Richard Reid. Prosecutors believe Saajid Badat backed out of a plan to detonate a bomb aboard an American airline jet bound from Paris to Miami in December of 2001.
In sentencing Badat, the judge said he believed the would-be terrorist had had a genuine change of heart. The guilty plea was the first major conviction for a terrorist plot in Britain since September 11.
Will he or won't he? Zacarias Moussaoui is the only person charged in the U.S. in the 9/11 conspiracy. He faces six counts and has indicated he will plead guilty to at least one of those charges today in federal court. But his own lawyers are going to court in a bid stop him.
CNN's Bob Franken is in Alexandria, Virginia, with the latest twist in, Bob, this already strange case.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And as a matter of fact within the last couple of hours, the defense attorneys have filed a motion entitled "Sealed suggestion of defense counsel, as to defendant's incompetence to plead guilty and for a sentence of death."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): In the federal courthouse just nine miles from where a hijacked plane slammed into the Pentagon on September 11, Zacarias Moussaoui will plead guilty this afternoon to six charges growing out of the attacks, if he keeps his word. He's changed his mind before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem is, in representing Mr. Moussaoui, it's -- it's essentially a 24-hour time bomb. You don't know when it's going to explode.
FRANKEN: Moussaoui used to be called the 20th hijacker, although never by prosecutors. He was already under arrest on that September 11 after erratic behavior at a Minnesota flight training school.
But officials in Washington refused to allow a search of his laptop computer, in spite of various warnings he had ties to al Qaeda and despite the fact he had paid for the instruction with close to $7,000 in cash.
Different theories of his involvement include the possibility he was a potential replacement hijack pilot on 9/11 or that he was preparing to take part in the second wave of attacks.
His defense lawyers continue to object to the finding by Judge Leonie Brinkema, who he's frequently ridiculed, that Moussaoui is now mentally competent to plead guilty to charges that carry the death penalty. Execution could be up to a jury.
PETER WHITE, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: This is a very unusual death penalty in that Zacarias Moussaoui didn't kill anyone. Zacarias Moussaoui was in jail, in fact, when September 11 happened.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: Even so, prosecutors say they relish the idea of arguing for the death penalty before a grand jury from this area -- Kyra.
HARRIS: CNN's Bob Franken, Bob, thank you.
PHILLIPS: It was August 13, 2001, Minnesota flight instructor Clancy Prevost got a new student. He was pleasant but not your typical pilot. He was a bit overweight, unshaven, wore Dockers that didn't fit very well. He didn't appear nervous or very excited.
Little did Clancy know, he'd just shaken hands with the only man now charged in the U.S. in connection with September 11.
Dean Staley joins us now. He's an anchor and correspondent for Northwest Cable News in Seattle, Washington. He got the exclusive interview with the man who turned in Zacarias Moussaoui, but you won't see it on television.
Good to see you, Dean.
DEAN STALEY, ANCHOR, NORTHWEST CABLE NEWS: Good to be here.
PHILLIPS: Let's talk about why he will not go on camera and why you had to write this in an article.
STALEY: Yes, took me a year to track down Clancy Prevost. And I've been talking to him for the last two and a half years or so about going on camera. You know, I'm a broadcaster, so obviously I have an interest there.
And he has been pretty consistent all along that he did not want to go on TV. And I can only tell you in terms of his reasons -- you know, I'm not a spokesperson for the guy. He's just someone that I managed to track down and get to know a bit.
Here's a guy who's in his late 60s. He's a recovering alcoholic. This summer will mark his 11th year of sobriety. And I think he's just one of these people who, he sort of found a rhythm to his life and, at a time when so many people are trying to jump into the spotlight just for the spotlight's sake, here's a guy who doesn't feel the need to do that. And he feels like maybe getting in the middle of this and being on television and being the center of this whole thing might sort of upset his life in a way that he's just not prepared to do right now.
PHILLIPS: Well, he's definitely an interesting character and you mention in your article that right away, he noticed that something was strange about Moussaoui, that something wasn't right; he was suspicious. What do you think it was about Clancy Prevost that gave him the ability to, I don't know, maybe ask more questions than another trainer?
STALEY: Well, Clancy is a very gregarious guy. He's a very outgoing guy. Anyone who knows him, knows that you know, he loves to joke, he loves to talk, he loves to get to know people.
And in fact, more than a year ago, I interviewed Al Johnson, who was another flight instructor at that school. Mr. Johnson actually died this week in Minnesota after an ailment. But Al at the time told me -- you know, I said, "Why do you think Clancy saw in Moussaoui a threat where no one else seemed to recognize it?"
And Al Johnson told me, said Clancy was that kind of guy. He likes to go after people and get to know them. He's an outgoing guy, and he doesn't just walk in and do his job in the sense of, "Well, I'm a flight instructor. I'll teach people what I can and then I'll go home." He really likes to get to know his students.
And I think ultimately it's those qualities that led Clancy in this case to get to know Zacarias Moussaoui well enough to say to himself, you know, something's wrong here.
PHILLIPS: Well, no doubt he did get to know Zacarias Moussaoui very well. You write in your article that he said that Moussaoui was a terrible student. Here's -- here's a quote that I pulled from your article. You wrote, "Prevost remembers that 'we were sitting up in the cafeteria and I'm thinking, I'm going to stay here for two or three hours because I don't want to go back to the classroom building and try to teach him something because you can't. There's no awareness of anything.' Moussaoui seemed equally discouraged."
Interesting, Moussaoui was a poor student.
STALEY: He was absolutely horrible. In fact, he had spent a couple of months in Normand, Oklahoma, just outside Oklahoma City at the Airman Flight Academy, trying to learn how to fly just a Cesna. And in the time that, Kyra, you and I could go in and maybe after a month of flight training learn how to fly a Cesna, solo in a Cesna, they wouldn't let him anywhere near the plane.
And I actually spoke to one of the managers in the flight school last summer, I think it was, who told me, he just didn't have it. Whatever "it" is, he didn't have that ability.
PHILLIPS: And then there was the conversation that Prevost had with Moussaoui about this plane crash that happened in the Middle East, this charter flight to Mecca. So he starts putting two and two together and then he writes this, "He asked Moussaoui" -- or you write, rather, his quote -- "'Hajj, Ramadan, what is that? Are you Muslim?' Here Moussaoui's emotion betrayed him for the very first time. According to Prevost, Moussaoui suddenly got very grave and in a low, stern growl said, 'I'm nothing'."
STALEY: Yes, this is sort of the crux of the whole story. I mean, Clancy up to this point had been going about his job as flight instructor, doing his best as a flight instructor to try to teach this student, who wasn't really qualified to be there, try teach him whatever he could and sort of keep him occupied during the time that he was at the flight school.
And then this moment happens, where he asks him, really just by way of getting to know him, "So, you know, Ramadan, Hajj, tell me -- tell me about yourself. Are you Muslim?"
And when he got this stern reaction from Moussaoui, that was the moment where the light went on. And he said to himself, "Wait a second. What are we doing here? There's something wrong with this guy."
And from that point on in the story, you'll see that, you know, moment by moment there are things keep adding up that tell Clancy Prevost, you know, we've got to get this guy backgrounded. And he wouldn't really stop until he felt like his managers were going to call the FBI and bring in the authorities, at least to check this guy out.
PHILLIPS: Well, and then he did confront his boss. He said to his boss, "Should we be doing this? Do we know what we're doing, training somebody woe don't know anybody about to get on the flight deck?"
"He said, 'He paid the money; we don't care.'
"I said, 'You'll care when there's a hijacking and they'll wonder where he learned how to work all those switches? And all the lawsuits start rolling in. Then you'll care.'
"He said, 'We're not worried.'
"I said, 'OK'."
So here he was trying to convince them to call the FBI. Why he did get so much resistance?
STALEY: Well, to be fair, Alan McHale (ph) is one of the principles. He was one of the -- sort of the assistant manager at the flight school. And to be fair to him, I talked to him on the phone. He did not want to comment for the story.
I did talk to John Rosenblum (ph), who was the head of the flight academy in Eagan, Minnesota, at the time, and he told me there was resistance on his part and he may have told his assistant manager, let's give this some time and see what happens. Because there wasn't anything to go on at that point.
Remember, this is pre-September 11, so no one had any idea that someone might show up at a flight academy with these sort of intentions. And Rosenblum (ph) told me at the time. Although he did concede that he was under business pressure to sort of keep the simulator time filled, because the arrangement was that the Pan Am Flight Academy was leasing bulk time from the Northwest Airlines on these simulators. So they've got this overhead. So their job is to go out and find students and sign them up and, you know, paying students in order to pay that overhead.
But he said that didn't enter into his considerations at all. He was really just trying to give a student that they didn't know anything about a fair break. He told him, "Look, let's give this a couple of days. Find out what you can about this guy." He really didn't think there was any urgency to it. This guy is not going there. He'll be at our flight academy for the next few days.
And so Rosenblum (ph) said, you know, he wasn't too slow to pull the trigger. He just wanted to sort of see what was going on and not do anything precipitously.
PHILLIPS: Well, not only did he turn in Moussauoi, and here we are now watching him face the courts. I love how you wrapped it up talking about Prevost just being this moral clarity of a monk and the wonder of a man awakened for the first time at the age of 66 from a life of drinking. Does he even realize he's a hero?
STALEY: You know, I don't think he's call himself a hero. In fact, he quoted to me -- I talked to him just this morning, and he loves this quote. I think it was F. Scott Fitzgerald. He said that "Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy." I think it was Fitzgerald who said that. Clancy loves the quote.
And essentially, I think he's a guy I think a lot of us probably know someone like him in our lives. Here's a guy who's taken time out from his life in his 50s, after a life of alcoholism, to get clean, to get away from alcohol. He's taken the time in AA to sort of get to know himself and understand himself and how he works. And I think out of that comes some sort of enlightenment, you know, that he sees the world in a calm sort of way.
He certainly does not feel the need at this point, and my phone's been ringing off the hook from people from different networks, saying, you know, "Can you talk to us about this or, you know, even better, can you get Clancy to come on and talk about this." And I talked to Clancy, and he sort of said, you know, he's not interested. He's happy to let someone else take the credit. He's happy to sort of sit on the sidelines and watch this all play out.
PHILLIPS: Well, Dean Staley, thanks for bringing us the story. It was an incredible exclusive. And thanks for letting us have it first. I appreciate it.
STALEY: Always good to visit with you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: It's a pleasure. Dean Staley, thank you so much.
CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: We want to show you some pictures now. This is from a short time ago. Look at this, Kyra, some pretty nasty weather. We've been telling you most of the afternoon, part of the morning about bad weather rolling into the southeast. Pictures from just a moment ago, downtown Atlanta here.
PHILLIPS: Can we fly out?
HARRIS: No, I don't think so.
PHILLIPS: No? I guess I'm not going anywhere this weekend.
HARRIS: No, no, no, no, no. I would imagine Hartsfield-Jackson is pretty socked in right now. That's downtown Atlanta. Do we have the tower cam, the live picture? OK.
PHILLIPS: Scott said he's getting a shot at the airport.
HARRIS: Oh, really?
PHILLIPS: Just for all the folks that want to fly out.
HARRIS: Well, see, there's the radar. Well.
PHILLIPS: See, that looks OK.
HARRIS: Makes you wonder the direction the storm is moving in.
PHILLIPS: Hmmm.
HARRIS: Yes, OK, we're hearing that it's going toward the airport.
PHILLIPS: Our director/meteorologist.
HARRIS: You're not flying out.
PHILLIPS: I guess I'm staying home this weekend.
HARRIS: I won't allow it.
PHILLIPS: All right.
HARRIS: Wall Street got a much needed rally yesterday. Let's see if the bulls are back again today. Kathleen Hays has the numbers live from the New York Stock Exchange.
Hi, Kathleen.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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