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Al Qaeda Number Two Releases Message; Father of Killed Marine Shares Story; NASA Decides Fourth Space Walk Not Needed; Police Break up Drug Ring of Miami School Employees

Aired August 04, 2005 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're defeating the terrorists in a place like Iraq so we don't have to face them here at home. And as well, we're spreading democracy and freedom to parts of the world that are desperate for democracy and freedom. The comments by the No. 2 man of al Qaeda make it clear that Iraq is a part of this war on terror and we're at war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Mr. Bush is hosting the president of Columbia at his Texas ranch. In al-Zawahiri's video vent, he blames British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the recent attacks in London, while not, in so many words, laying claim to those bombings himself. He does, however, promise Americans horrors surpassing 9/11 if U.S. troops remain in the land of Mohammad.

More now from our CNN senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ayman al-Zawahiri not only blaming Tony Blair for the attacks in London but also saying that there would be more attacks to come.

And I think as we step back and analyze this latest statement by Ayman al-Zawahiri. It's his third this year. He had one in February, one in June. It's clear that he's not claiming responsibility for the attacks in London and perhaps, again, when we analyze it, try to get an idea of when this was recorded. Was it after the July the 7th attacks that killed 52 people, plus the four bombers? Or was it recorded after the failed July the 21st attacks?

He does make a reference to the attacks. But he doesn't make -- significantly, doesn't make a reference to the attack in Sharm El Sheikh, the bombing in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. He is, of course, Egyptian. It might be natural to expect that he would have made reference to that.

Now, the Sharm El Sheikh bombing came about 12 hours after those failed bombings in London on July the 21st, coming in the early hours of the morning of July 22 in Egypt. So perhaps reasonable here to assume or to deduce, at least, that Zawahiri, making this particular speech, after those July the 7th bombings. But, again, it's not clear.

It definitely seems to be him. It looks like him. It sounds like him. This is exactly the type of things we've heard from him before. But in all other respects, this message sounding particularly similar, if you will, to other messages from Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, that the west, that the United States and its allies, great Britain, need to get out of Muslim lands, to stop stealing their oil.

Otherwise, the attacks in Afghanistan, in Iraq against U.S. and British troops, in Washington, in the United States, New York as well, would continue.

So he seems to be using the attack in London as an opportunity, perhaps, to rebroadcast a message that we've heard many times before. But quite significant, not actually claiming credit for these attacks.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Same target, same tactics, same intended victim, same day of the week, no apparent connection.

That's the word from the London police investigating the catastrophic bombings of 7/7, and the copycat attacks that fizzled two weeks later. A suspect in the latter plot currently being held in Italy reportedly told investigators the same thing.

Police add that they can't say anything categorically this early in the process.

And they wish their New York counterparts haven't said so much either. Reckless and unhelpful are a couple of words being used in the aftermath of a public briefing yesterday by NYPD officials who are privy to the London investigation.

The New Yorkers said that, while it was first thought the attacks relied on high end military grade explosives, they later proved to be homemade concoctions made of mundane ingredients. They were transported in coolers, the New York briefer said, and detonated by cell phones.

None of those details had come out before but New York police say all are from open and unclassified sources.

John Bolton has made his first public comments as U.N. ambassador to the United Nations. It came as the Security Council adopted a U.S. drafted resolution condemning recent violence in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We call upon the governments of Syria and Iran to honor their commitments to assist Iraq under this revolution and other relevant resolutions, including U.N. Security Council Resolution 1546, and to implement the pledges they have made to support stability in Iraq at the conference of Iraq's neighbors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: In the fight for Iraq, Iraq's transitional prime minister announces a 12-point security plan to combat the insurgency. This as five Iraqi police officers were killed near Kirkuk. U.S. military reports more than 50 insurgent deaths this week. Nearly 30 U.S. troops also have been killed this week.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim sat down with the father of a slain Marine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOSCOVITCH, FATHER OF KILLED MARINE: I was at work Monday evening and was notified by my wife that two Marines were at our house.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Monday evening, Jim Boscovitch would find out his 25-year-old son, Jeffrey, was missing in action. On Tuesday he would learn his son was killed, one of six Marines who died from sniper fire near the city of Haditha, one of 20 Marines who died in Iraq this week.

BOSCOVITCH: This is Jeff on a gunboat. He was on the Euphrates River.

OPPENHEIM: Jim Boscovitch showed us pictures, and he talked about who Jeff was and who he was to be. In the past, the son had convinced the father that the war in Iraq was worth fighting.

BOSCOVITCH: Months ago my son, and he's done this on more than one occasion, has corrected me and straightened me out about why he's over there.

OPPENHEIM: And in the future, Jim told us, his son was to be a police officer. He planned to get married this fall to his girlfriend, Shelly, and Jim said he son was due back home in September.

BOSCOVITCH: There isn't a minute that I don't stop thinking about him when he was growing up, before he left for Iraq, his -- what we were going to do when we got back. Looking forward to a wedding. You know, being a part of his life.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): All that's in the past?

BOSCOVITCH: Yes.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): As much as he is sad, Jim Boscovitch says he's angry too, especially at reports his son may have suffered a violent death. And he is mindful there are other families in Ohio going through the same emotions.

(on camera) Is it harder that more have died? Does it change your emotions?

BOSCOVITCH: Of course. Of course. I wouldn't wish what I'm going through on anybody.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): It may be several days before Jeff Boscovitch's body is returned to his family. Jim Boscovitch says it will only be then he will feel the weight of his oldest son's death.

BOSCOVITCH: You have to try to work through it, and that's what we're trying to do as a family right now.

OPPENHEIM: Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: No more emergency missions for Discovery. We're going to go live to mission control in Houston, Texas, for the latest on the shuttle mission.

And your drug prices could be coming down. Generic brands getting ready to branch out. That's straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

Who says you can't be everywhere where at once? Beginning Monday at 3 p.m. Eastern, Wolf Blitzer takes us inside "THE SITUATION ROOM." Your security, your business, your politics, your breaking news. And it's Wolf. Why wouldn't you watch? Every day 3 p.m. He digs up the stories essential to you, challenging the reporters and experts you trust for the inside scoop. Don't forget "SITUATION ROOM" premieres Monday 3 Eastern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This week in history in 1945 a U.S. Air force B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb leveled the city and killed, over time, nearly 150,000 people.

In 1990, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait and quickly gained control of the country.

And a Korean airliner slammed into the rocky hills of the Pacific island of Guam on August 5, 1997, but there were at least 30 survivors.

And that is this week in history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Live pictures now, the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, as he addresses the Los Angeles World Affairs Council in Los -- in Beverly Hills California. Let's listen in. We're expecting him to comment and remember those Marines that died in the line of duty in the past two weeks.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: ... I see, and even the trustees. The -- many years ago I lived in this state down in Coronado. It was, I think, more than six decades ago, during World War II. My father was out on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. And I think back to those years and how much I loved living in this state.

During those years and of course since those years, California has given our country tens of thousands of volunteer soldiers and sailors, and airmen and Marines. I meet with them all over the world. They are doing a truly superb job for our country and for the world.

I'd like to mention one, southern California, with gritty drive and a Silver Star. Seriously wounded in Iraq in combat that was so intense it was described as almost a hand grenade throwing contest. This man, Corporal Timothy Tardiff, refused medical attention until the battle has been won.

Later, he was evacuated. He called his wife from the transit hospital in Germany, Landstuhl, and he said, "Honey, I could come home right now, but I feel I have responsibilities, and I'm going to go back to Iraq."

Apparently, he borrowed a uniform, convinced a doctor to let him out of the hospital, got on a flight back to Iraq and went with his squad. And how fortunate we are to have people like that, troops like Tim Tardiff, who have absolutely no quit in them.

And today, obviously, the news is not good, and we remember those who've fallen in the line of duty, including 21 Marines killed in the last few days in Iraq. Patriots, they were determined to stop the terrorists from reclaiming Iraq and from launching more attacks on our people.

Our nation needed them. Our nation called on them in battle. And we mourn them now in death. Our country will honor them by completing the mission which -- for which they fought so hard and nobly.

I was in Iraq and central Asia last week, where I met with the troops, these amazing men and women in uniform who are serving our country with such courage and such professionalism. And despite the difficulties, and there are difficulties, to be sure, they're making solid progress in helping to set the conditions for Iraqis to successfully defend their young democracy.

Once Iraq is safely in the hands of the Iraqi people and a government that they elect under a new constitution that they're now fashioning, and which should be completed by August 15, our troops will be able to, as the capability of the Iraqi security forces evolve, pass over responsibility to them and then come home with the honor they will have earned.

It's been nearly four years since terrorists launched their attack on our country, killed some 3,000 innocent people. As we've seen, the enemies of civilized society remain deadly even today. We saw it most recently in London last month.

While most of our people are determined to defend our country and our way of life, a few seem attracted to the seductive idea that we might be able to retreat behind convenient fictions that obscure the lethality and the intention of the enemy. I want to mention a few of those fictions and then talk a bit about the way ahead in the global war on terror, the struggle between civilization and extremists and then respond to some questions.

PHILLIPS: From the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, there in Los Angeles, California, before the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, recognizing those lives lost in Iraq in just the past few days and even prior to that.

We want to take you now to Brook Park, Ohio, where the mayor, various political leaders, family members and fellow Marines are honoring those who died with this wreath laying ceremony, honoring the Marines that lost their lives fighting this war on terrorism. More than 1,800 men and women have died since this war began.

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Staying inside. Space officials say there's no need to send astronauts on another repair mission outside the Shuttle Discovery. Let's go to CNN's John Zarrella, who's gathering details from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Hi, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

First of all I want you to see this. This is what Miles left me. He took all the good props.

PHILLIPS: Yes, but...

ZARRELLA: I got this.

PHILLIPS: But you have a gap filler, OK? That tops anything Miles could possibly have. Let's not forget that.

ZARRELLA: There you go. I have gap filler.

Yes, the mission management team, we had been concerned the last couple of days about the possibility of having to add a fourth space walk because of some puffy blanket material, thermal material that had showed up underneath Commander Eileen Collins' window, just above the letter "D" in Discovery.

Well, after doing testing for the last 12 hours in wind tunnels, they have determined that that blanket material would not be dangerous to the vehicle if, in fact, it should come off during the re-entry to the earth's atmosphere, so the mission management team deciding no fourth space walk. And about two hours ago the astronauts got the word from Julie Payette (ph), who is the spacecraft communicator here in Houston.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you see we have good news. The MMT just got to the conclusion that the blanket underneath the CD arm window is safe for return. There is no issue. We had new analysis that showed that the transport would be no issue, and we came to the same conclusion with the aims tunnel test, so basically no EVA 4.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: So Kyra, you know, the only other things the astronauts did today on a rest day was they all took some time to pay tribute to the Columbia astronauts. They did that this morning after first wake up.

Now just time to button up the spacecraft and start thinking about coming home very early next Monday morning before 5 a.m. at the Kennedy Space Center -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: I think that's where everybody would be smiling, even those -- the crew of the Columbia. They're looking down from the heavens and smiling on the success so far. Thanks, John.

ZARRELLA: Yes, they are.

PHILLIPS: What do a doctor, a sheet metal worker and more than a dozen current and former Miami-Dade County School employees have in common? No, it's not a bad joke. It's true. They're among 29 people arrested today.

Federal prosecutors allege that all are members of a Miami drug ring seeking to obtain and distribute the powerful painkiller oxycontin.

CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti joining us more -- live with this report. And Susan, I guess we should point out that even we talk about some of these individuals even being school bus drivers. It hasn't been confirmed that they were dealing to kids, right?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's true. There's no indication of that at this time, Kyra.

The authorities say that the ring was mainly made up of Miami-Dad School County employees, and the common theme was to illegally obtain oxycodone, which is of course, a painkiller. The defendants are charged with illegally getting their hands on thousands of pills, turning them around and then selling them on the street.

Now, because more than half of the 29 people charged in this 84- count indictment are school bus drivers and attendants, investigators are calling this investigation Operation School Bus Stop. Authorities again stressing there is no evidence -- no evidence any of those charged distributed oxycodone, also known as oxycontin to children.

The suspects include a doctor who wrote medically unnecessary scripts that were, in turn, sold on the street.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK R. TROUVILLE, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION: Some of the employees of the Dade County School Board were paid $100 to $300 simply to allow their name and their insurance card to be used. Others were paid upwards of $400 to $500 when they themselves would go to the pharmacy to deliver and/or pick up the prescriptions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, the one doctor who was charged in this scheme was also charged last year by the state of Florida and called the largest prescriber of oxycontin to Medicaid recipients in all of 2000 in the state of Florida. So he's got a couple of cases, evidently, against him.

And how much are some of those tablets selling for on the street? Thirty-four dollars apiece, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Susan Candiotti, thank you so much.

Good news for people taking prescription drugs. More generics could soon be hitting the market. Susan Lisovicz with more, live from the New York Stock Exchange -- Susan.

(STOCK REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Susan.

Well, that wraps up this Thursday edition of LIVE FROM. Thanks so much for joining us. Now here with a preview of what's ahead on "INSIDE POLITICS," one of my favorite men on the Hill. Ed, hi.

ED HENRY, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": One of my favorite women in Atlanta. Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right.

HENRY: President Bush, working from his ranch, responds to a new threat from al Qaeda. We'll go live to Crawford, Texas, to find out what the president said.

Plus she's best known for her role in the 2000 Florida recount. Now she's running for the Senate. So why is Katherine Harris' makeup the talk of the blogs? Find out when I go "INSIDE POLITICS" in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN Center. "INSIDE POLITICS" is next after a quick look at the stories now in the news.

An ominous warning from Osama bin Laden's No. 2 man. Al Jazeera broadcast a videotape of Ayman Al-Zawahiri, warning the U.S. and Britain of more destruction. "INSIDE POLITICS" with Ed Henry will have more in just a moment. There's a charm for NASA. A space official says a fourth space walk won't be necessary to fix a torn blanket on the Shuttle Discovery. NASA had worried the blanket could tear and strike the orbiter during reentry.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is condemning a bus shooting in northern Israel. Police say an Israeli soldier opened fire, killing four Israeli Arabs, wounding five others. Israeli media say the soldier was a West Bank settler who recently went AWOL. They're reporting that he was pulled from the bus by an angry mob and then killed. That's not yet been confirmed.

Stay with us. We'll see you tomorrow, but "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.

END

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