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Three Hostages Rescued in Iraq; New York Bouncer to be Indicted for Murder; Neo-Nazis Suspected in Stabbings; Search for Missing Milwaukee Boys Continues

Aired March 23, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Hello, everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips.
Unfolding this hour, fresh details of a rescue mission in Iraq. Coalition forces burst into a home near Baghdad to find three surviving colleagues of murdered American hostage Tom Fox. The Christian peace activists were by themselves, their captors gone.

The story live now from CNN's Nic Robertson. He's in Baghdad -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, it all played out at about 8 a.m. in the morning in Baghdad time. This operation, we understand from British officials, had been planned for several weeks. They said military officials and civilians had been involved in the planning. There was some surveillance that had gone on, of this property.

But according to a U.S. military spokesman, it was the arrest of detainee and the information that detainee provided just hours before the 8 a.m. raid that made the raid possible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. RICK LYNCH, U.S. ARMY: From the time we found the intelligence, to the time we released the hostages, was eight hours -- or correction, three hours. The hostage rescue took place at 8 a.m. in the morning. So 5 a.m. in the morning, on or about, we got the actionable intelligence. We did some preliminary surveillance. We did some preliminary missions and then we conducted the hostage rescue at 8 a.m. in the morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, it was British Special Forces that led the operation. U.S. Special Forces were there, as well. No shots were fired. And they had a big surprise when they got into the house and found the three men. The three men were in relatively good condition, we're told, but their captors were nowhere to be seen. That raises the question did they know that they were about to be rumbled? What exactly happened there? Not clear.

The three men, the Christian peacemaker team, former hostages, were taken for a medical checkup, then transported to the British embassy in the very secure Green Zone, the international zone in the center of Baghdad. According to a British embassy official, the three men had been smiling, relaxing and enjoying their new-found freedom.

The British peace activist, 74-year-old Norman Kember, told one British official, it's great to be free and I'm looking forward to going back to the U.K. -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So Nic, U.S. military has always stuck to the policy that they don't negotiate with terrorists. Do you know if, at all, the British military had any type of negotiations going on with these men?

ROBERTSON: Absolutely not clear. The British have taken -- also take a very tough policy when it comes to dealing with kidnap situations. They say that they were in discussions with Canadian officials and Iraqi officials in the month since the four men were kidnapped but there's no indication at this stage that there was any kind of negotiation going on with the kidnappers.

Indeed, it seems that the best information is that it was the -- it was the detainees who provided the information about where the men were that led to their -- led to their release. That's the best information that's out there at the moment, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Nic Robertson live from Baghdad. Thanks, Nic.

We expect to learn more about how the hostages were rescued in the next hour. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will brief reporters. And of course, CNN will there be live. That's at 2 p.m. Eastern. Stay with us.

He's a convicted felon who was working as a nightclub bouncer. She was a graduate student found dead after leaving his bar. In the next hour, Darryl Littlejohn will be arraigned on charges of murdering Imette St. Guillen.

CNN's Allan Chernoff standing by now with an update -- Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, Darryl Littlejohn is expected to plead not guilty to murdering Imette St. Guillen, the graduate student from John Jay College who was murdered. She was raped and strangled after leaving the bar where Littlejohn worked as a bouncer.

Yesterday, a grand jury indicted Littlejohn on charges, murder one and murder two. That is murder in the first and second degree. There was no rape charge, but the sex crime act was actually worked in to the murder one charge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES HYNES, KINGS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The charge of murder in the first degree, which carries a sentence upon conviction of life without any possibility of parole, alleges that the defendant intentionally caused the death of Miss St. Guillen during the course of committing or attempting to commit one of four enumerated felony sex crimes. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Those sex crimes include rape and also sexual abuse.

Now, the police commissioner also spoke at the press conference. And he detailed the evidence against Mr. Littlejohn. First of all, the simple fact that some witnesses actually did see Littlejohn escorting St. Guillen out of the bar at 4 a.m. in the morning on February 25. Her body was found 17 hours later.

Also, the DNA match. His blood was actually identified on the plastic ties wrapped around Miss St. Guillen's wrist. And also, animal hairs from two jackets owned by Littlejohn were found on the tape that was on Miss St. Guillen's face, as well as the blanket that was wrapped around her body.

The police commissioner also said that the investigation is continuing and that only 20 percent of the forensic analysis has yet been completed, meaning that there certainly much more evidence when this case actually does go to trial -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Is it true, Allan, that Commissioner Kelly also said that Littlejohn is a person of interest in some other unsolved cases?

CHERNOFF: That's absolutely true. And he has actually appeared in two police lineups for a rape and also a kidnapping. But the victims there were unable to identify Mr. Mr. Littlejohn. The police commissioner said he remains a person of interest.

PHILLIPS: Allan Chernoff, live from New York, thanks so much.

Let's get straight to Carol Lin. She's working on a developing story for us out of Florida.

Carol, what is it?

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, Kyra. It's out of the Tampa-St. Pete area. Deputies have surrounded a trailer in connection with a stabbing investigation. Two people stabbed next door, a mother and a 17-year-old boy.

Let's get Doug Tobin. He's the public information officer for Pasco County Sheriff's Department.

Sir, as we're looking at these live pictures of this neighborhood, tell us what led you to this particular trailer, this home.

DOUG TOBIN, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, PASCO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Well, Carol, as you mentioned before, at 12:30 this morning, the Pasco sheriff's office had a report of a stabbing. We entered the house, found two individuals stabbed multiple times, a 45- year-old white female and a 17-year-old white male.

We've continued to investigate that throughout the morning and now to the early afternoon hours. Right now we're just waiting to serve a search warrant of the house that's right next to where the victims were found.

LIN: All right. This house has been -- or this trailer has been described to us as a place where Nazi flags are flown on a routine basis. There was some sort of dispute between that household and the victims. Can you tell us more about that?

TOBIN: Yes, Carol, there's been an ongoing dispute between these two neighbors, the victim's house and the house right next to it, which would be just to the west of the victim's house. The house in question is on 9321 Peak Street (ph). They do fly swastikas. I was there this morning, and they had two neo-Nazi...

LIN: We're looking at that picture right now, sir.

TOBIN: They had two neo-Nazi type flags. They were out front. Again, at this point, though, there has been a history of neo-Nazi activity in the neighborhood but no clear evidence this is actually related to the stabbing.

LIN: All right. So what are you looking for inside then? Have you been able to make contact with the people inside?

TOBIN: The last information I have was about 11, 11:30, we had not made contact with the individuals inside. Again, we're in the process of serving a search warrant, and that's what we're going to be moving toward this afternoon.

LIN: Right, why the caution, though? Why the caution, sir?

TOBIN: There's a history of -- a long history in this neighborhood -- again, neighbor dispute. We believe there's a history of weapons inside the home.

LIN: So you feel they're armed and dangerous right now?

TOBIN: We believe there's weapons -- there's a history of weapons inside the home, so we're taking every precaution necessary.

LIN: All right. So you have that home surrounded. When do you plan on executing that search warrant then?

TOBIN: Well, that's entirely up to commanders on the scene. When they feel that they have the search warrant in place and the people in place, they'll go ahead and execute that. It's quite possible this all could end peacefully, and that certainly would be our No. 1 intention.

LIN: But obviously you're prepared for the worst. So can you give us an idea of the profile of this stabbing victims? Were they likely victims of a neo-Nazi?

TOBIN: Well, again, we have two victims this morning, and we're still looking into that. We had a white female, 45 years of age, and a white male, 17 years of age. The last information I had is the most seriously injured was the white male, and he's critically -- severely critical, last information I had, and he has not improved since he was transported out of here this morning.

LIN: All right. Doug Tobin, public information officer with the Pasco County Sheriff's Department. We're going to stay in touch with you. We want to be there when your officers serve that search warrant. We want to see how the situation is going to go down. And we hope it's going to be peaceful.

TOBIN: We certainly do, too, thank you.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: Carol, thanks so much.

Anxious times, a far-flung search and a growing public response. We're back in Milwaukee, where two young friends vanished Sunday and hadn't been seen since. Specially trained dogs are on the hunt now, and the FBI's child abduction response team and FBI profilers are on their way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNE SCHWARTZ, MILWAUKEE POLICE SPOKESWOMAN: We're going to keep this level of search up as long as we have -- as long as we have reason to believe that -- you know, what we're doing is getting us somewhere. We have two young boys who have been missing for a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And so far the state of Wisconsin and two private companies have put up $17,000 for information leading to the boys' return.

CNN's Jonathan Freed is with the families.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Suburban Milwaukee is being turned upside down. Police are looking for any sign of two children, close friends, 11-year-old Purvis Virginia Parker and 12-year-old Quadrevion Henning. They call him Dre. Both missing since Sunday afternoon. They disappeared without a trace.

GARRY HENNING, QUADREVION'S GRANDFATHER: I slept in his bed because -- I slept in his bed. That's my boy. I just want him home. Tearing his grandmother's heart out.

FREED: When children are reported missing, you often hear family and friends saying they're good kids who never get into trouble. In this case, Dre Henning's grandfather says he's got the documentation to prove it.

G. HENNING: This is a kid that had high academics. You know, this is a kid -- homework.

QUENTIN HENNING, QUADREVION'S FATHER: He's a "yes, sir; no, sir." He's southern hospitality. He's a real good kid.

FREED: Dre and Purvis were last seen around 3 p.m. on Sunday, heading to a playground at a nearby school. The families called police when they weren't home after dark.

ANGELA VIRGINIA, PURVIS' MOTHER: I hold on to this, because when I hold on to it, I know he's coming home.

FREED: Purvis Parker's mother says her son is a quiet boy who's dreaming of becoming an artist. She hopes Purvis can hear her now.

VIRGINIA: I want you to come home to me. I need you here. My family's not complete without him. He's my only son.

FREED: Police say they have mounted a massive search for the boys.

CHIEF NANNETTE HEGERTY, MILWAUKEE POLICE: Right now we have no substantial leads, nor do we have -- nor have we had any evidence that there has been a crime committed.

FREED (on camera): Are you satisfied with the effort that's being made on the part of police and...

G. HENNING: Between -- speaking for my family, we are more than satisfied.

FREED (voice-over): Although police are not yet conducting a criminal investigation, Dre's grandfather still has a message for anyone who may have abducted the children.

G. HENNING: Don't make them suffer. That's all. Just please don't make them suffer.

FREED: The families say the more time passes without word, the harder it is for them to keep up hope.

Jonathan Freed, CNN, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, they're poor, hungry and desperate. These African villagers surely risk their own health by eating diseased chicken. But are they also risking a bird flu pandemic? We're going to talk about Africa next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The world's poorest continent and a disease that could strike millions of people. While bird flu remains a pandemic only in birds, many health experts worry that Africa is poised to become the hot zone where a human pandemic could erupt.

CNN's Jeff Koinange takes a closer look at Nigeria, where poverty and a lack of information are making a bad situation worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like a scene out of a Hollywood movie, health workers arrive, fully outfitted at a farm in northern Nigeria, where the bird flu virus has contaminated the entire chicken flock.

Curious villagers can only stare in disbelief at the sight before them in what must seem to them like aliens invading their remote village. But on this day, these local health officials aren't taking any chances. The H5N1 virus is spreading, they say, and no chicken within a 100-mile radius is safe.

Still, they are hopeful they can contain it.

MOHAMMED SEYYU, NIGERIAN AGRICULTURAL MINISTRY: The worst case scenario is a situation where you find it's spreading like a wildfire. And that is what we do not hope for. That is what we are not investing in. That is what we are prepared to prevent.

KOINANGE: All 5,000 chickens on this farm are to be culled. And the officials waste no time stuffing the live birds into plastic bags before tagging them.

They are then carted into pits like this. This one's an old, disused water well about 30 meters deep. And tossed in, with the hope that no one would be desperate enough to climb down and drag out the contaminated chickens for personal consumption.

But that's not how Abubakar Mohammed and Abdul Al-Ali (ph) see it. They are poor, unemployed and hungry. They see the culling of chickens more a waste than a deterrent.

ABUBAKAR MOHAMMED, UNEMPLOYED: This meat is great meat for me.

KOINANGE (on camera): It's good meat?

MOHAMMED: Yes, I eat.

KOINANGE: Why?

MOHAMMED: I no money, no eat, no money, no food.

KOINANGE (voice-over): That seems to be the general feeling among a largely uneducated and misinformed public, despite warnings from the government. Without hesitation, they dip into the shallow pit and come up with the arm loads of dead and possibly contaminated chickens. They do this until they feel they have enough, they say, for a meal they otherwise simply cannot afford.

(on camera) Now, because this area of Africa is impoverished and the people poor, dumping of chickens into pits like the one behind me is just a temporary reprieve, and the young men like Abdul Al-Ali (ph) and Abubakar can literally come in, pick up the chicken, take it home and cook it. And this, officials here say, poses the biggest risk.

(voice-over) And they also say it's the illiterate and the uninformed population here that they'll have to concentrate efforts on to prevent bird flu from mutating into a human form. Not so much the cooking but handling the dead animals without protection.

Bird flu, so far, has been largely confined to birds. Fewer than 100 people worldwide have died from bird flu. The fight against bird flu in Nigeria, it seems, will have to be quickly stepped up to avoid this seemingly runaway virus from taking on new, unsuspecting victims.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Kano, in northern Nigeria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Dr. Alex Thiermann is trying to head off a potential human pandemic. He works with the OIE, the World Organization for Animal Health. And his group is working with the World Health Organization to monitor the spread of bird flu.

Now you and I were having the same reaction as we were looking at that piece.

DR. ALEX THIERMANN, OIE: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: What do you make of that?

THIERMANN: First of all there are ways that these birds have to be destroyed, the ways that they're killed, and it's not what we saw in the piece. We have to humanely kill them. There are methods of animal welfare that need to be followed. And then they have to be destroyed, buried and disinfected. And we didn't see any of that.

PHILLIPS: So if they are not destroyed, buried and disinfected, what they're doing, say in that one area, that village, could make matters worse, could cause a spread?

THIERMANN: In particularly what we saw in that piece, the risk of humans are very high. Because the transmission of the accidental infection because humans are really normally not infected by this is through exposure to the high density of the virus.

And if these birds have died of influenza, their feather, the manure around the feathers, is where the virus is present. The risk is that, not of consuming poultry meat.

PHILLIPS: Now we're talking to you because you have an interesting perspective. You think that if we deal with the issue of bird flu in Africa that we cap actually keep it from coming to the United States. Is that right?

THIERMANN: Absolutely. And more importantly if we're really worried about the possibility of it becoming a pandemic, it is in situations like Africa where the virus can mutate and become a pandemic form. It is not in the U.S. where this would happen. And once it becomes a pandemic, there's no way we can contain it and keep it outside of the U.S.

PHILLIPS: So what's happening right now, then, to focus on Africa? Is the United States focusing on Africa? Because it seems we keep talking about what we're doing here in the United States, from Tamiflu to quarantine to strategies to preparing for this, versus focusing on putting money and efforts into Africa.

THIERMANN: Exactly. I think the preparedness and how to deal with pandemic, should it occur, is wise thing to do. But I think we should also take care of what to do in the countries where the disease occurred, to make sure that we minimize any chance of that disease ever becoming pandemic, and that problem occurs in Africa and in Asia. Therefore, we need to be putting the resources.

PHILLIPS: What's happening right now? Is anything happening right now on behalf of the United States?

THIERMANN: Resources are being mobilized but certainly not quick enough, and these are countries don't have the infrastructure like the U.S. for an early detection and take action by rampant destruction, rapid action. So we need to help not only with resources but helping them out in infrastructure that will allow them to detect and react as rapidly as is needed.

PHILLIPS: All right. So let's say the money goes over to Africa. The efforts are pure. The information is there. Doctors are sent over there. Africa struggles with so many other issues, HIV/AIDS, for sure. I mean, someone has to monitor that money and make sure that it's going toward the issue of bird flu versus something else.

THIERMANN: Absolutely. And what we're advocating is not only for bird flu, but the money needs to go to strengthen the veterinary infrastructures of these countries, the ability to detect and react.

Because today is avian influenza. A couple of years ago it was SARS. West Nile Virus, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). When we're done with the avian influenza, there's going to be another emerging disease that's going to threaten human population. And if we don't help these countries to detect and react, we're going to be faced with this coming over and over again from the countries that don't have the proper infrastructure.

PHILLIPS: Even Jeff Koinange pointed it out, though. We're talking about people that depend on the chickens, no matter what, just to survive. I mean, they would starve if they didn't take the risk and want to eat these chickens. So how do you deal with that? How do you deal with the everyday issue of, look, I need those chickens just to live and feed my family?

THIERMANN: Very, very essential. And that's why what we recommend is the programs to help with the eradication, the control of the disease, has to be accompanied by compensation. There has to be an incentive for these villagers, these farmers that depend on the four or five chickens that they have, that they're going to be properly compensated so that they come forward and turn in these sick birds and that they don't hide them or smuggle them to the next village because that's the only thing they have. PHILLIPS: Interesting. So they're actually doing that. They're even protecting, possibly, sick birds because they don't want to take the risk?

THIERMANN: Exactly. They may not even know that their birds were just infected, contaminated by their neighbor's bird. They haven't shown the signs yet. So they move them to another village. They hide them.

As we saw in the United States, with New Castle Disease when it infected California. We saw people that were raising fighting cocks that, in order to prevent the government from destroying them, they would put them in the trunk of a car and move them to New Mexico and other states. Obviously, this is not likely to happen in countries where all they have is five or six chickens.

PHILLIPS: Will you be going to Africa soon?

THIERMANN: Yes, I was in Chad a couple of weeks ago, and we're going to continue to monitor what happens there.

PHILLIPS: So let's talk after your next trip.

THIERMANN: Be glad to.

PHILLIPS: Doctor Thiermann, thanks so much.

THIERMANN: Thank you very much, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, he stormed into politics with a sterling resume. But Duke Cunningham's appetite for high living laid him low. His luxury loot is headed for the auction block today. The floor is open. Want to bet on something? LIVE FROM returns right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

PHILLIPS: Who sings that song?

It's a Wal-Mart unlike any you've ever seen. Guns and camping gear are out. Plasma TVs, expensive wines and sushi are in. It's the new Wal-Mart in upscale Plano, Texas.

Wealthier shoppers are the last frontier for a company that's pretty much conquered, cornered, consumed the rest of the retail market. If sales are strong in Plano, Wal-Mart plans to take the new stores to other affluent communities nationwide.

Dell is making a big push into the video game market.

Susan Lisovicz live from the New York Stock Exchange with that story and the rest of the day's business news.

Hey, Susan. (STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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