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Outtakes Show Zarqawi Fumbling with Gun; Former DHS Spokesman Granted Bail; Moussaoui Speaks Out at Sentencing

Aired May 04, 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: From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. You're watching LIVE FROM.
Is he the leader of a feared terror organization or a bumbling incompetent who barely knows one end of the gun from another? He's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's top man in Iraq, famous for his tough talk and trash talk. Now the U.S. military has found something that may take him down a notch.

CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, is with me now -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, in case you were wondering whether this battle is as much about image and perception as it is about what's going on, on the ground, there's evidence of that at today's Baghdad briefing, where Major General Rick Lynch took time out to show what he said were outtakes or excerpts from that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi video that made the rounds on the Internet just a short time ago.

He said that these clips showed Zarqawi as a little less than the competent military leader that he tried to show in his clips. Essentially, in those clips, Zarqawi was mocking the United States. But the U.S. military used some of the captured footage, they said, to show that he wasn't such a competent military leader after all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. RICK LYNCH, U.S. ARMY: What he didn't show you were the clips that I showed, wearing new balance sneakers with his uniform, surrounded by supposedly competent subordinates who grabbed a hot barrel of a just-fired machine gun. Have a warrior leader Zarqawi who doesn't understand how to operate his weapons system and has to rely on his subordinates to clear a weapons stoppage. It makes you wonder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Coincidentally, today up on the Hill, Kyra, a hearing under way about how the use of propaganda by -- by terrorist groups and the use of the Internet to distribute that propaganda is creating a real problem for the United States.

And that image of Zarqawi that he sent out to show essentially that he was still in charge, that he was still a force to be reckoned with, is something that the U.S. feels it needs to counter. And so when they came upon this footage, they felt it was important to put it out there, too -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK, and we had -- there were some outtakes -- I don't know -- there we go, right here. This is where you see him not really understanding how to use this gun. And you see his flackies come in and help him out.

Jamie, how did the military -- you said this was circulated on the Internet. But do we know who put these outtakes on the Internet, who got access to this videotape?

MCINTYRE: Well, the outtakes were captured apparently by the United States in a raid in an operation recently. So they apparently found what they think is the raw tape that was used to edit the tape that we saw on the air. And essentially what you see here is he's firing the machine gun, but he's only firing a shot at a time. And then somebody has to come help him un-jam the gun.

It's the kind of thing that -- it happens when you're making video. And of course, they edited it to make it work as fearsome as possible.

What the U.S. is doing is trying to use those outtakes against him in what essentially is a propaganda war in this battle for hearts and minds.

PHILLIPS: Barney Fife of al Qaeda. Jamie McIntyre, thanks so much.

Let's get straight to Carol Lin. She's in the newsroom working a developing story out of Florida -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: This is a story we've been following for the last couple of hours.

A gunman goes into the Baptist Medical Center, just outside of Jacksonville, Florida, in Fernandina. He shoots three people and then runs. Takes off and ends up at a local elementary school and then shoots and kills himself outside.

None of the students were injured. But in total, Kyra, the gunman, as well as one other person, has died in this incident.

This is what we know, according to local authorities. They believe that there was some kind of relationship between all of the victims and the gunman and that this may be domestic related.

The two wounded have been flown to a Jacksonville hospital. Again, this happened about two hours ago. And thank goodness none of the kids were hurt in that elementary school.

PHILLIPS: All right. Carol Lin, thanks so much.

Legal maneuvers, the courtroom outbursts, the gut-wrenching testimony. All things of the past. Zacarias Moussaoui headed off to prison for the rest of his life. The admitted al Qaeda conspirator was formally sentenced this morning, but not before some 9/11 families and Moussaoui himself got one last chance to speak out.

CNN's Kelli arena is at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At 7' 2," it's hard for Garth Joseph not to stand out, especially as an American basketball player in Iran.

GARTH JOSEPH, BASKETBALL PLAYER: I was skeptical of coming here. Just like everybody in America, you know, my wife she was kind of -- very concerned. She went on the Internet. She tried to find the embassy. We didn't have an embassy here. She was very mad.

RAMAN: But last October, Garth came anyway, leaving behind his life in New York and becoming one of 20 foreign basketball players in Iran, a country very much at odds with his own.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: We apologize for that. We'll bring you Kelli Arena's piece. That's actually a pretty good piece by Aneesh Raman out of Iran about a very unique basketball player. We'll bring you that and hopefully Kelli Arena's piece a little later in the hour.

Meanwhile, a former homeland security official is out of jail for the moment. Brian Doyle faces charges of soliciting sex from an agent posing as a minor via the Internet.

CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti joins me now from Barstow, Florida. Susan, what's the latest?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, after spending almost a month in jail, between Maryland and here, Brian Doyle, that former deputy press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, is now free on bond, free on $200,000 bond.

He was able to put his orange jump suit behind, that you have to wear in jail, and walk out of jail in his civilian clothes again. And the plan is for him to fly back to Maryland later today.

His lawyer didn't want him to talk specifics about the case, but he did allow him and encourage him to make a short statement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN DOYLE, ALLEGED SEX OFFENDER: I want to thank Mr. Copley for giving me my freedom. And I appreciate their understanding and their guidance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Mr. Copley in this case is the prosecuting attorney here in Polk County, Florida.

Now, in a word, Mr. Doyle described the situation before him as humiliating. And his lawyer said that his client is very, very depressed. The plan is to send him back to Maryland to be examined by some psychiatrists who specialize in psychiatric dysfunction -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Susan, do we learn anything new in the courtroom?

CANDIOTTI: We did. This is the first time we had a chance to hear from the police decoy. Remember, Doyle thought he was talking to a 14-year-old girl. And police say it turns out it was a detective who was talking with him, both on the Internet and on the telephone.

And the decoy testified in court that Doyle, she said, wanted to perform sex acts on her, or the 14-year-old girl, and also indicated that he was prepared to come to Florida to possibly follow through. She also testified that he told her that he had sent other young girls pornographic materials and had conversations with them, as well, over the Internet.

Now, the lawyer told us afterwards that some of this information, in his words, "even scared the hell out of me."

What happens next? There will be an arraignment later on this month. Then we will learn even more information about evidence in this case. But in the meantime, again, he plans to fly back to Maryland later this day to go back home, and his lawyer said he'll be working with him to see what kind of a defense they might able to be to put up -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Susan Candiotti, thanks so much.

President Bush is threatening to veto, but Senate Republicans apparently are not listening. Today they pushed through a spending bill that's $14 billion more than the president requested.

Most of the $109 billion measure goes to the military and hurricane relief. But it also spends billions of dollars on aid to farmers and the Gulf Coast seafood industry.

Republican leaders in the House are vowing to kill the extra spending. President Bush has never vetoed a bill.

Well, we talked about the legal maneuvers, the courtroom outburst and that gut-wrenching testimony. All things of the past as Zacarias Moussaoui heads off to prison for the rest of his life.

The admitted al Qaeda conspirator was formerly sentenced this morning, but not before some 9/11 families and Moussaoui got one last chance to speak out.

Once again, here's CNN's Kelli arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even though Zacarias Moussaoui had heard what the judge had to say, that he would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, he still did not seem to buy it.

As he was leaving the courtroom, he said, "I will be free/ I'll be free before the end of G.W. Bush."

And one family member responded, "In your dreams."

Moussaoui did get an opportunity to speak in court today. He -- he started by responding to some victim family members, who had gotten up to speak directly to him. One woman, Rosemary Dillard, telling him that he had destroyed her life. Another, Abraham Scott, saying that he hopes his cohort, Osama bin Laden, would one day be in the courtroom.

Moussaoui responded to them, saying, look, you know, "You say that we're evil." Made reference to the fact that the United States is really the one that is evil. He said that, you know, "I have fought for my beliefs. You think you rule the world. I will prove that you are wrong."

He says the United States didn't want to hear the truth, that we wasted an opportunity to know why people like he and Mohammad Atta have so much hatred. He threatened, "We will come back again. If you won't hear, you will feel. God curse America. God save Osama bin Laden. You will never get him."

The judge had cut him off at one point, told him to keep his comments to his sentencing, not to making political statements. And then she told him, she said, you know, "You said yesterday as you left this courtroom that America lost and you won." She said, "Everybody here in this courtroom will leave and is free to go about their business as they please today. You are going to be sentenced to a maximum security prison for the rest of your life."

She also told him at the end, "You came here to be a martyr and to die in a big bang of glory, but to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, you will die with a whimper."

Moussaoui is headed to the maximum security prison Colorado. It's known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies. He'll join the likes of Richard Reid and the Unabomber and Eric Rudolph, although he won't be seeing any of them. He'll be spending the rest of his days in isolation.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Alexandria, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And much more reaction to the Moussaoui sentence is coming. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Brian Birdwell survived the 9/11 attack at the Pentagon. And Lori Van Auken lost her husband at the World Trade Center. They're going to join me next hour to talk about the jury's decision to spare Moussaoui the death penalty.

Convenient, efficient, popular, cheap. The same things that make mass transit appealing for the masses make it still a tempting target for terrorists. Homeland security is given U.S. transit systems a head's up after a couple suspicious incidents in Europe.

People in two European cities were arrested after being seen videotaping in and around subway stations and inside subway cars. In both cases, the people claimed to be tourists, but their video showed no tourist sites, just station footage.

DHS says there's no specific or credible intelligence of an immediate threat to any U.S. transit system.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night, the most reliable news about your security.

Drugs and violence, but not the kind that you think.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You need these answers, right?

EDNA BOYD, MEDICARE RECIPIENT: I need the answers.

ROBERTS: And you're not getting them.

BOYD: I'm not getting them and I don't know if I'm going to get them.

ROBERTS: That's frustrating.

BOYD: That's very frustrating. To the point right now where I thought if it would help I'd punch someone in the nose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Tough little ladies and men tackle big government over Medicare. A blow by blow account when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Eleven more days, May 15, as you probably heard, is the deadline for Medicare recipients to sign up for drug benefits or face higher premium. Tens of millions of people have done it, but millions more still don't have it.

Now comes a government report confirming what many in both groups already knew. The process is harder than it should be.

CNN's John Roberts filed this report for "THE SITUATION ROOM".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS (voice-over): We found 80-year-old Edna Boyd at the Washington legal aid office Wednesday, looking for advice on the new prescription drug plans, unable to get the answers she needed from the Medicare hotline. BOYD: They just sort of skating it, and when I get one number, I get another number. When I get that number, I'm to the point now where I actually had to say after getting a lot of numbers, could I speak to someone with a pulse?

ROBERTS: A Government Accountability Office investigation, out Wednesday, found Edna is not alone. That almost a third of the time, information from the hotline was either inaccurate, inappropriate or incomplete. Or in some cases, the call was dropped altogether.

The web site, where people can sign up for coverage, was described as difficult to use, complicated. It would cause users confusion. You don't need to tell that to Lily Simmons of Auburn, Georgia.

LILY SIMMONS, MEDICARE RECIPIENT: It hasn't answered any of my questions.

ROBERTS: Democratic Congressman Pete Stark, who asked for the report, is demanding Medicare delay the May 15 signup deadline because of the problems.

REP. PETE STARK (D-CA), HEALTH SUBCOMMITTEE VICE CHAIRMAN: The government's doing a really lousy job of explaining a complex bill to old and addled seniors, like myself, who need patience and counseling and understanding. And they're not getting it.

ROBERTS: In front of Congress Wednesday, the Medicare chief hotly disagreed with the GAO findings.

DR. MARK MCCLELLAN, MEDICARE DIRECTOR: Incomplete and inaccurate and out of date...

ROBERTS: Dr. Mark McClellan admits in January, when the GAO did its investigation, there were issues, but they have since been addressed, he says.

MCCLELLAN: Our goal is to make sure that our beneficiaries can get the help they need when they want to enroll in coverage, and that's reflected now in the hundreds of thousands of calls we are answering every day.

ROBERTS: But Edna Boyd, who tried just that same morning, without success, to get answers, disagrees.

(on camera) But, I mean, you need these answers, right?

BOYD: I need the answers.

ROBERTS: And you're not getting them?

BOYD: I'm not getting them. And I don't know if I'm going to get them.

ROBERTS: That's frustrating. BOYD: It's very frustrating. To the point right now where, if I thought it would help, I'd punch someone in the nose, but I don't think that would help.

ROBERTS: Democrats are betting the White House will wait until the 11th hour, then extend that May 15 deadline. It's already been pushed back for the lowest of low-income seniors and people in the Hurricane Katrina zone.

But critics are concerned that if the White House waits too long or doesn't extend it, tens of thousands of seniors will be pushed into decisions they don't fully understand.

John Roberts, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: You can join Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM" this afternoon at 4 Eastern for more. The live prime-time edition, at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Well, from this file, desperate times call for desperate measures. A Washington state grandmother is trundled off to the hoosegow after pulling a bank heist, but wait until you hear the reason why.

This is 55-year-old Kathleen Pavone Gruel (ph), in action. She passed a note at a Seattle area bank threatening to blow it up unless she got some cash. She made off with about 1,400 bucks but didn't get far before the cops caught up.

Chained and contrite, she told the judge she never intended to hurt anyone. She says she needed the money -- you got it -- to pay for her prescription drugs.

Hurricane season is less than a month away. And some home owners are still trying to get insurance payouts for last year's damage. Even more are worried about their coverage should disaster strike this year.

If you have an insurance fear or frustration, we want to hear from you. E-mail us at LiveFrom@CNN.com. Caroline Gorman (ph) of the Insurance Information Institute will be here to answer your questions. That's in the 3 p.m. hour of LIVE FROM.

More people are hopping into hybrids. We'll tell you just how many are putting the gas-saving pedal to the metal.

The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: High gas prices are making hybrid cars a more attractive option for a lot of people. Susan Lisovicz joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange with all the details. Hey, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, that is certainly one bright spot in the big auto market. The problem is, it is a tiny part of auto sales.

Sales of hybrids in the U.S. more than doubled last year to just under 200,000. But that comprises just over one percent of overall sales, because about 20 million vehicles were sold last year.

Toyota and its Lexus luxury division accounted for 70 percent of all hybrid sales. The Toyota Prius is certainly a name that's been out there for a while, by far the biggest seller with more than half of the market.

New models introduced last year include the Lexus RX-400-H, the Toyota Highlander and the Mercury Mariner, which comes from Detroit. Ford -- Ford is the smallest player so far in the hybrid market, with just about, for the Mercury Mariner, about one percent.

The hybrid Toyota Camry comes out this summer. Experts say that could be the vehicle that finally shows whether hybrids will join the mainstream because that is such a perennial best-seller.

And there you see the top five states that sell the most hybrids. No surprise, California on top by far. But you see a lot of other coastal states in there, as well. Not such a novelty anymore in those states.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, gas prices so high, why haven't hybrids grabbed a bigger share of the market?

LISOVICZ: Because they cost more, Kyra. Dollars and cents. They can cost $3,000 to $4,000 more than their gas-powered counterparts. Of course, a lot of folks are trying to temper that with tax credits and other perks, for instance, such as giving you access to the HOV lane during rush hour. That could be quite attractive.

Also some experts say that we Americans are always conservative about adapting to new technologies. Well, if oil keeps rising, that may not be so difficult to do -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, give us the deal on Wall Street.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf joins us now for your forecast.

I'll tell you what, Reynolds, you missed a busy day yesterday. From Tonga, all the way to the United States, a lot of action going on.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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