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London Terror; The Invisible Wound

Aired July 29, 2005 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: OK, we want to take you into listen to a portion of ITN coverage of the breaking developments in the London terror investigation. Let's go to ITN coverage right now.
UNIDENTIFIED ITN ANCHOR: We'll have the very latest from Scotland Yard.

UNIDENTIFIED ITN ANCHOR: The moment police moved in on the London hideout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ITN CORRESPONDENT: It's not exactly clear what it is, but we've now heard four shots coming from the direction of the flats over there. The police are moving everybody out in a hurry. They don't want people here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ITN ANCHOR: Also tonight, we're live in Nijad (ph), but is the aid for the starving too little, too late.

And after this, the street demolished in the wake of the Birmingham tornado.

UNIDENTIFIED ITN ANCHOR: Good evening, just look at this. It's the moment of surrender. Tonight on the evening news, we have exclusive dramatic pictures of the capture of two of the suspected London bombers. This one is Muktar Said Ibrahim, and he's wanted in connection with the attempt to blow up a bus in Hackney. He was arrested by armed police at a flat in West London, and next to him is the man wanted for the Oval Tube bombing, the men accused of bringing terror to the capital.

It was a humiliating end to eight days on the run. As police snipers trained their weapons on them, they were ordered to strip to their underwear before being taken away for questioning. Tonight we have the full story and all the pictures on the day which saw the three remaining suspected bombers all taken into custody, two here and one in Rome. In a moment, we'll be crossing live to Paul Davis at scene in West London, and to our crime correspondent, Dan Rivers, who's outside Scotland Yard. But first James Mates with those exclusive pictures of the moment two of Britain's most wanted were finally cornered.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JAMES MATES, ITN REPORTER: The moment the police close in on the suspected Hackney bus bomber. The sound of shots is almost certainly tear gas rounds being fired into the flat from the top-floor balcony. Shortly you'll see wafts of gas blowing back out of the now-open door.

Eyewitnesses spoke of hearing voices at this time inside the flat, shouting at men to take their clothes off and come outside. On a balcony two floors below, police wearing gas masks are trying to get into another flat. It appears to be empty, but right in the middle of the operation to capture men who tried to blow themselves up, a child appears. Apparently attracted by the police dog, he wants to talk to the officer. But it gets worse. Another child comes out on the balcony. It's a policing nightmare, the very real possibility of an explosion at any time, and children are out. Eventually an adult appears, but still followed by the children, the officer is forced to give up with attempted entry.

Two floors above, two men, naked at least from the waist up, have been ordered at gunpoint out onto the balcony there at the top of the screen. The man on the left appears to be following orders to lower his trousers. Both men seem to be suffering from the effects of gas.

The sound of shouting orders from police can be heard, though the words are hard to make out. The identity of the man on the right, the first to be turned around and taken away is unknown. But police sources have told ITV News they believe him to be the man who tried to explode a device inside the Oval Tube Station in South London.

The man on the left is believed to be and bears a striking resemblance to the photographs of Muktar Said Ibrahim. He's alleged to have attempted to blow up himself and the number-26 bus in Hackney on July 21st. An armed policemen covering every move, he is then ordered to approach and turn around.

Ibrahim was born in East Africa, coming from Eritrea to this country as a child. Despite having served two years in jail as a violent criminal, he was given British citizenship less than a year ago. As Ibrahim was led away, police are confident that eight days after these men tried, but failed to bring brutal carnage to London's transport system, they and their accomplices are now safely to custody.

James Mates, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED ITN ANCHOR: Today's amazing drama, the capture of two bombing suspects.

HARRIS: OK, you have been watching coverage from affiliate ITV, the network in Britain of the fast and furious events of the day as the terror investigation unfolds and continues to move forward at a rapid pace with the arrest of, now we understand, the three remaining, suspected attempted bombers from last week, 7/21, just eight days ago. Those dramatic pictures, again, from ITV Network. We're waiting a press briefing from Scotland Yard. That is expected at the top of the hour.

And here you have, as clearly as you can see there, all four now of the suspected bombers now captured. At it 2:00 this afternoon, at the top of the hour, 24 minutes from now, we're expecting this update on the events of the day from Scotland Yard. When it happens, CNN will bring it to you live.

More LIVE FROM after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: We're talk healthy issues now, those affecting the thousands of military men and women now home from the Iraq War, not physical injuries, the Purple Heart variety, but serious, mental, emotional, psychological trauma. The Pentagon says a third of returning veterans are dealing with a degree of stress-related mental trouble. Some of those cases tragically extreme.

CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Stefanie Pelkey says her husband Michael left for Iraq in March, 2003, a happy and proud feather just three weeks after their son Benjamin was born.

She says in the four months he was in Iraq with the Army's 1st Armored Division, he saw people killed and experienced the anxiety and fear so many soldiers go through. When he returned home, Captain Michael Pelkey was a different person.

STEFANIE PELKEY, WIDOW OF PTSD VICTIM: He did not understand what was happening. I did not know what was happening to my husband.

TODD: About six months after his return, Pelkey says her husband became more anxious and forgetful, felt chest pains and began sleeping with a loaded gun under his pillow.

At two bases where he was assigned, she says, long waiting lists and other gaps in the system kept him from getting adequate treatment.

Stefanie Pelkey says her husband then began having violent nightmares. The Pelkeys finally got a civilian doctor who diagnosed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. That was one week before Michael Pelkey put a gun to his chest and pulled the trigger.

PELKEY: He looked as if he were sleeping peacefully except for the wet spot on his chest. His pain was finally over. No, he wasn't in Iraq, but in his mind, he was there day in and day out.

TODD: Stefanie Pelkey has joined members of the U.S. military's medical branches on Capitol Hill, calling attention to the numbers of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with emotional scars.

COL. CHARLES HOGE, U.S. ARMY PSYCHIATRIST: Fifteen to 17 percent of service members surveyed three to 12 months post-deployment met the screening criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

TODD: Stefanie Pelkey and military officials say that, until recently, returning servicemen were given only a questionnaire to fill out regarding their emotional state with little follow-up.

But Pentagon officials say a program has been in place since January, three months after Michael Pelkey's death, to screen all troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan for Post-Traumatic Stress within six months after their return.

WILLIAM WINKENWERDER, ASSISTANT DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have a series of periodic screenings and assessments that are designed to identify mental health problems early so that they can be addressed. These screenings occur throughout a service member's career or their time -- their whole time in the military.

TODD (on camera): Stefanie Pelkey adds that since her husband's death mental health services at one base where they were assigned have improved, with better staffing and more streamlined diagnoses. But Pelkey and military officials say a huge problem that remains is the stigma that's attached to post-traumatic stress. Many returning service members are afraid to admit they might have a problem, and it's often not diagnosed until it's too late.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Unfortunately, there are other cases like Captain Pelkey's, though not as extreme, in most cases. Steve Robinson is the executive director of a Gulf War Resource Center, an advocate group for Gulf War veterans. Steve, good to talk to you.

STEVE ROBINSON, DIRECTOR, GULF WAR RESOURCE CENTER: Good to talk to you.

HARRIS: Well, you just heard it from the colonel. Fifteen to 17 percent of service members -- I had to jot this down -- three to 12 months post-deployment meet the criteria for PTSD. When you do the math here, 135,000 service personnel in country, the number is probably bigger for folks who are connected to this war. That is a potentially huge number.

ROBINSON: Yes, it's going to get bigger as the war closes down. Remember that we've got over 1.4 million people who have served in this war either once, twice or now going on three times. And to reexpose them over and over, a lot of these people haven't even begun to seek services because they know they're going to go back to Iraq.

HARRIS: I see. A Pentagon says there has been a problem in place to screen all soldiers for PTSD within six months after deployment. What do you think of that? Is that a good first step? Is it progress? What is it? What does it represent?

ROBINSON: I met with Dr. Winkenwerder in 2003 as the war was beginning to take off, and we talked about the need for screening, and for them to just now put this program into place -- it's really a problem for veteran service organizations like mine who have made them aware of the kind of problems that they would be coming home with. And you know, I'm glad they've taken the step, but it's two years into the war.

HARRIS: Help us understand what is going on. Are service personnel essentially being handed a piece of paper and being asked to tell us about your mental health issues?

ROBINSON: Yes, they're given a D.D. Form 2795 or 2796. And what it is, is a pre-deployment or post-deployment screening form. It has a series of questions that ask them if they have any problems. They're supposed to self-report. And if they do have a problem, then they're supposed to be given a referral to the appropriate mental healthcare provider or an orthopedic surgeon, whatever it is. The problem is these soldiers are afraid of reporting their mental healthcare injuries.

HARRIS: Why is that?

ROBINSON: Because there's career stigma. The stigma of people thinking you can't do your job. There's the stigma that you may be removed from your leadership position. But what we need the secretary of defense or the joint chiefs of staff, someone to conduct an anti- stigma campaign to bring these people forward so we don't have any suicides.

HARRIS: So what do you want -- what do you want from Donald Rumsfeld?

ROBINSON: We want Donald Rumsfeld, as the secretary of defense, to proactively reach out to the returning veteran, to provide them face-to-face mental healthcare intervention for every soldier that's come back from Iraq that's been exposed to a traumatic event.

HARRIS: Well, we understand it's hard to get that, that there are long waiting lists to see healthcare professionals?

ROBINSON: Well, you know, if we can deficit spend on the cost of the war, then we can deficit spend on the needs of the returning veterans when they come home. It's an obligation we have to our war fighters to take care of them after they faithfully serve this nation.

HARRIS: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, describe it. What does it look like? What does it feel like?

ROBINSON: Many people report just anxiousness. Sometimes when they come back from Iraq, they're still very hypervigilant. The soldiers I've met and worked with at Walter Reed, for example, they won't walk in groups when they go downtown. They're constantly scanning the rooftops for snipers. They won't walk next to a trash can. They can't sleep well at night. They have nightmares. They profusely sweat. Some turn to drinking, some turn to drugs. If you don't get to them when they come back and give them kind of care they need, there is typically a spiraling event, where they begin to spiral down and things just get worse and worse. That's why we need early intervention, and often.

HARRIS: Congress: Helping, hurting?

ROBINSON: Well, again, the veterans service organizations have been telling Congress for quite some time that the V.A. has not had adequate funding to prepare for the needs of these returning veterans. And now suddenly two, three years after we've been saying it, the lightbulb has come on, and in the committee of -- the Veterans Affairs Committee in the House and in the Senate, just yesterday, they approved $1.5 billion of additional money that the V.A. needs just to maintain services for veterans from previous wars and get ready for the needs of those coming back.

HARRIS: Oh, boy. Steve Robinson, executive director of the Gulf War Resource Center. Steve, thank you.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

HARRIS: Unbelievable images and unimaginable disaster. Hundreds are dead as flooding gets out of control. We're live on the scene next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Horrible news from overseas. It's monsoon season in India where torrential rainfall is fairly common, but nothing like this. Look at these pictures. The city of Mumbai, formerly called Bombay, more than three feet of rain fell in 24 hours. The death toll in and around Mumbai from flooding and mudslides is approaching 800.

CNN's New Delhi Bureau chief is Satinder Bindra, and he joins us from Mumbai -- Satinder.

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, this death toll continues to mount, and it's mounting steadily. Here in Mumbai, some 370 dead. The city, which is the financial capital of India has received its heaviest rainfall in almost a century. This rain has got in its wake a host of problems, chief among them landslides. These landslides have crushed dozens and dozens of homes. Survivors, very few, many people killed when rocks and mud fell on their home. Now rescue work is ongoing, this is ongoing for the fourth straight day, but very little hope now left of finding survivors.

The city has 17 million people, and their lives have been turned into virtually a living hell. Many schools have been shut through this week. Banks have been shut. The transport system collapsed. Power lines are still down in many areas. Phones aren't working. And across this city, tens of thousands of animals have drowned, which means the risk of disease is still all present.

Guess what? Meteorologists are predicting even more rain, which means this misery for people here is likely to continue.

Back to you.

HARRIS: Boy, that is horrible, CNN's Satinder Bindra in Mumbai, India.

More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And coming up in our second hour of LIVE FROM, amazing new video of the arrests today in London and Rome. All four suspected would-be bombers are now in custody. Yasin Hassan Omar, the man suspected of the attempted bombing of the Warren Street Station. Muktar Said Ibrahim, the man attempted -- suspected of attempting to bomb the Hackney bus, and then there is Osman Hussain, the man suspected of the attempted bombing of the Shepherd's Bush Station. And Osman Hussain was arrested, captured in Rome, but we can tell you all four of the men suspected of the attempting bombings of 7/21 bombings are now in custody. New details live from London, and we expect to hear the latest from Scotland Yard in a live press briefing at the top of the hour. That and all of the day's news is just ahead on LIVE FROM.

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