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Live From...
9/11 Video Release; Troops to Support U.S. Border Patrol; New England Flooding; Crime in the Big Easy
Aired May 16, 2006 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get straight to CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre, working a developing story for us.
Of course, Jamie, it's the release of that videotape from 9/11 of that plane hitting the Pentagon. Haven't had a chance to see it. Of course a lot of conspiracy theories surfaced since not -- not being able to see that videotape. And now that might change.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, what we'll be seeing, Kyra, is a longer, more complete version of the images first broadcast by CNN back in March of 2002. This is video from a security camera that was at the corner of one of the entrances to the Pentagon that captured the plane hitting the side of the building.
Initially, we obtained only five still frames from that video, but now, after a lawsuit by the public interest group Judicial Watch, and the end of the Zacarias Moussaoui trial, the government is going to release the full, more complete video in which you'll see a little more clearly but perhaps still not enough to convince all conspiracy theorists the plane actually slamming into the side of the Pentagon, American Airlines Flight 77.
You can see it in these still images again that we broadcast originally back in 2002, but it's very indistinct. And that's helped fuel some of the conspiracy theories, people saying that perhaps a missile hit the Pentagon or that the Pentagon was destroyed by an explosion deliberately set by the U.S. government.
Of course, having been there on September 11th, having seen the plane wreckage and photographed it myself personally, I can tell you that that's nonsense. But nevertheless, those kinds of theories exist on the Internet. And one of the reasons that groups like Judicial Watch and CNN -- which, by the way, filed a freedom of information request for this back in 2002 -- have been wanting to get the full video out.
Now, when we get it -- and it will be posted on the Pentagon's Web site, as well as released by the Department of Justice -- you'll see two angles that are very similar, both from camera angles that are on -- from the same location to slightly different angles. One of them, you'll see the nose of the plane that looks a little more distinct. Another one, you see basically a white flash go by of the plane before it hits the building. We don't think these are all the images, by the way, of American Airlines Flight 77 that day. CNN reported back in 2002 that a nearby hotel video surveillance camera also captured part of the incident, although not from a very good angle. That tape was also confiscated by law enforcement authorities, and we don't know if that will be part of something that will be released or whether that tape will ever be released -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jamie, you were working that day. What do you remember? Where were you? And did you make your way over to that area to where the plane did hit?
MCINTYRE: Yes, I sure did. In fact, one of the interesting things was I was in the Pentagon, and, of course, I didn't actually feel the plane hit or know that it hit until I actually saw it on CNN, amazingly enough.
My office was so far on the other side of the building, and we were so involved with what was going on in New York, the first word I got was when my producer at the time, Chris Plante, arrived as the plane had hit.
He called in on his mobile phone. In fact, he was the first to report a plane had hit the Pentagon just about two minutes after it hit. And that's when I discovered the plane hit the Pentagon when I looked up and saw it on CNN.
PHILLIPS: And so once you were able to do that, did you make your way over to that area, or were they cordoning it off so you couldn't get through?
MCINTYRE: No, I did. You were able to get pretty close for a while. Eventually, they cleared out the scene.
As I said, I had a camera with me. I took pictures of some of the wreckage, some of the parts of the fuselage, a part of the cockpit, until they told us we had to move back away from the scene.
I saw thousands of shards of metal, of pieces of the plane all over the driveway. I didn't pick up any of them or touch any of them, but I saw them everywhere. And again, took some pictures of them.
So there's no doubt that the plane hit the Pentagon. I mean, for no other reason than we know the plane took off at Dulles Airport and people on the plane, you know, made cell phone calls. We know a plane hit the Pentagon.
It's just interesting to see the documentary evidence. Some people just don't believe it until they actually see it.
PHILLIPS: Well, and we'll show it to viewers as soon as we get it, Jamie, which could be any time now. I sure appreciate you helping us out. We'll talk again.
MCINTYRE: You're quite welcome. PHILLIPS: Middle ground, shaky ground, or grounds for political divorce? An uncertain landscape in Washington in the aftermath of President Bush's call for tougher enforcement of the U.S.-Mexican border, combined with new avenues toward legalizing illegal immigrants.
Mr. Bush calls the plan comprehensive and rational, but many of his fellow Republicans want reforms to begin and end at the border. And pleasing them raises fears among others that he's militarizing the border or overstretching the National Guard. He talked about that during a news conference you may have seen right here live on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Guard is -- the 6,000 -- up to 6,000 Guard in the first year of operation really is not going to put a strain on our capacity to fight and win the war on terror, as well as deal with natural disasters. And, of course, we'll be working in conjunction with governors to make sure that that's not the case, that it doesn't put unnecessary strain on other functions of the Guard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Philosophically, the line dividing House and Senate in the immigration debate is akin to the Berlin wall.
CNN's Andrea Koppel is watching both sides for us.
Hi, Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.
Well, in the first Senate vote since President Bush's speech last night, supporters of that comprehensive approach that President Bush is trying to push were able to beat back an attempt by those opposed to both the guest worker program and this earned path to citizenship and were able to defeat this bill that some say could have killed the more comprehensive approach by a vote of 55-40. Senators who were opposed to this border enforcement only approach that was proposed by Senator Johnny Isaacson from Georgia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHNNY ISAKSON (R), GEORGIA: If we grant programs that grant status to those that are here illegally and look the other way on our border, then the next time we bring this up in 10 or 15 years, it won't be 12 million, it will be 24 million. And worst of all, we would have lost control.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOPPEL: In another sign as to just how this issue has brought together really a strange bedfellows alliance, one of those who made the most impassioned statement in defense of President Bush and against this border-only enforcement approach was Democrat Edward Kennedy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I have my differences with the president, but he's absolutely right. He understands history. He's a border state governor, and he knows you can't do this by itself. Only at the border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOPPEL: But there are a number of other amendments, dozens perhaps, that the Senate is going to be dealing with between now and next week, Kyra, when they hope to have a final vote. One of the amendments that is next up is one that's been proposed by John Cornyn and Jon Kyl which would deal with how do you handle, how do you approach people who have broken the law, felons? And that's going to be voted on perhaps as soon as later this afternoon -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll be watching.
Andrea Koppel on the Hill.
Thanks, Andrea.
The Bush plan calls for the National Guard, not the Army Corps of Engineers. But at a briefing this morning in Washington, the head of Homeland Security floated a familiar analogy to explain the guest worker idea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It's like trying to dam a river. If you build a dam and you don't have a spillway to drain off some of the excess water in a way that's productive, you will eventually have to either keep building the dam higher and higher or the dam will break. We have to have a spillway for some of this economic pressure, and that's a temporary worker program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, you may know border enforcement and immigration in general now fall under homeland security.
From a downpour to a drizzle, the worst appears to be over as far as the flooding goes in New England. Recovery is another matter, and that's going to take a lot of time, effort and money.
Reporter Lauren Przybyl has more now from one of the hardest-hit communities in Massachusetts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAUREN PRZYBYL, REPORTER, WHDH (voice over): A footbridge under construction is swallowed up by the Spicket River. Despite they overnight loss, Methuen's mayor says engineers are satisfied with the structure of the dam. MAYOR BILL MANZI, METHUEN, MASSACHUSETTS: At this point they're telling us that we've done everything we can do by virtue of the sandbagging operation that you see here to ensure that the water flows where it's supposed to flow.
PRZYBYL (on camera): Methuen officials are trying to be proactive. You can see the water that's coming over this ledge here. Crews have brought in big piles of dirt. They're hoping to protect nearby businesses.
(voice over): Yesterday, some of these temporary dams were put in place made out of dirt and sandbags, but they breached overnight, sending water everywhere. Tony Gallardo's business sits on an elevated piece of property. He never thought he'd see water outside his door rising inch by inch.
TONY GALLARDO, BUSINESS OWNER: I don't know where this is coming from. Everything is backing up. They're blocking other areas, and it's affecting, you know, other areas because the water has got to go somewhere.
PRZYBYL: Congressman Marty Meehan arrives in Methuen to look at the mess. He says the loss of property in this area is devastating.
REP. MARTY MEEHAN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: But I don't have any doubt that given the devastation I've seen in the Merrimack Valley, this will qualify for federal disaster relief. I don't think there's any question about that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, in fact, Governor Mitt Romney is expected to ask Washington for disaster aid possibly as early as today.
Our thanks again to Lauren Przybyl with affiliate WHDH.
It's the kind of homecoming that nobody wanted. As the people of New Orleans struggle to rebuild their city, there's been an increase of another problem. The Big Easy's latest struggle when LIVE FROM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: There's another storm in New Orleans. It's not a hurricane this time. It's crime flooding across the city as it tries to rebuild.
Drew Griffin explains how murder is making an unfortunate comeback in the Big Easy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He was shot in broad daylight, shot in the middle of the street, shot to death in a city where the crime rate had become, at least for a time, a non- issue. But among all the pressures to rebuild New Orleans, now comes ominous indications that crime, gangs, drugs, and murders also are making a comeback.
Peter Scharf is with the University of New Orleans.
PETER SCHARF, UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS: We were all lulled. And I think what started in the beginning of 2006, we started having a significant murder resurgence.
GRIFFIN: Thirty-three murders so far this year, spiking last month with 13. Ronald Hilliard heard the gunfire of two shootouts in two days and says he's worried.
RONALD HILLIARD, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: I'm just trying to get back to the way it was before. And we don't need that.
GRIFFIN: Crunch the numbers, says Scharf, and New Orleans today, a city with less than half its pre-Katrina population, has a murder rate comparable with some of the most violent gang-infested suburbs of Los Angeles. Forty-five killings for every 100,000 people.
SCHARF: Which puts you in the top five or six, seven of the cities in the United States.
GRIFFIN (on camera): So New Orleans is right back to where it doesn't want to be.
SCHARF: It doesn't want to be, right. I mean, when you're competing with Compton, you're in trouble.
SUPT. WARREN RILEY, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: Not happening. Not happening.
GRIFFIN (voice over): New Orleans' police superintendent, Warren Riley, says crime is up, but it is not business as usual on his city's streets.
RILEY: We have had some increases in crime. However, nothing to compare with pre-Katrina levels of crime.
GRIFFIN: To underlie his point, Chief Riley on Friday released first quarter crime stats that he says show significant drops year to year. But it depends on whose numbers you use. The chief says far more people actually live in New Orleans than the city's own official count. The chief's count skews high because it includes the increased worker pool that commutes into the city during the day.
RILEY: This is the mean when you compare the daytime population and the nighttime population and you use the average -- 221,600 people. When you use that on a per capita basis, our violent crime is down 25 percent and our overall crime is down 5.4 percent.
GRIFFIN: Critics like Peter Scharf call that creative counting. Whatever the true statistics, the problem is New Orleans' criminals may be returning to this city faster than the New Orleans police and justice system can prepare for them.
The department is by its own count 200 officers short. Many police stations are still unusable. The jail, courts, and even patrol cars are in disrepair. In this spot last month, a shooting victim's body lay uncovered in the streets for all to see because police told CNN at the scene Katrina wiped out supplies, including tarps used to cover the dead.
(on camera): This is where that body was found, right at the corner of Luisa (ph) and Moray (ph), right in the middle of the street, in the middle of a neighborhood in New Orleans, like many, struggling to come back to life. Its residents trying to move in, but look where they're move into. Houses may be ready, some FEMA trailers, but also abandoned buildings, areas ripe for crime to return to this city.
RILEY: It's certainly something that we're focusing on, to make sure it does not become a problem in the city.
GRIFFIN (voice over): Police say there are indications that violent Latino drug gangs are following the heavily Hispanic labor force into the city, setting up the potential for turf wars.
Ronald Hilliard says he now sees it every night in his neighborhood.
HILLIARD: New people, strange people, people just coming from everywhere. You know, I think that's what's kind of causing it, too. Everybody trying to fight for some kind of ground, I guess.
GRIFFIN: Chief Riley says he is prepared, though he is asking the state for 50 to 60 state troopers to patrol the city's abandoned areas. And while he hopes to have his police force back to 1,600 officers in the next two years, what he says he really needs to control New Orleans is a force twice that strength.
Drew Griffin, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: President Bush opens the cookie jar, but will border governors reach in? Coming up, some states aren't on board with the president's immigration plan. We'll tell you who.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All this week CNN continues its yearlong (sic) look into the future, your future. And this month we focus on the workplace.
CNN's Miles O'Brien has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, at 5:00 I'm ready to run out the door screaming.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The current work environment is probably not very efficient. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some workspaces can be sort of cramped.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a cubical. They tend to -- to have less privacy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Phone calls are like hurdles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The future office might have more technology.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A relaxation room.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lighting actually plays a huge key into an office space.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just want to be more relaxed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are there most of your day, it really matters.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A noisy newsroom, glaring studio lights, a guy in a tie yammering over your shoulder. If you had the chance, you probably could come up with some pet peeves about your workspace as well. So if life in your cube seems as grim as a Dilbert cartoon, we have some new ideas for you to consider.
(voice-over): When it comes to office space, Steelcase designer James Ludwig is thinking out of the cube. He's trying some new shapes and sizes in office design.
JAMES LUDWIG, STEELCASE, INC.: It's about bringing architecture, furniture and technology together in new ways to make their people more effective.
O'BRIEN: For noise control, how about a real life cone of silence, ala "Get Smart."
DON ADAMS, "GET SMART": Something is wrong with the cone of silence.
O'BRIEN: Step into the cell.
LUDWIG: Industrial felt is a sound absorbent material. And the ambient lighting is created by LED, which also brightens when the space is occupied.
O'BRIEN: You need to collaborate with a co-worker, have a seat in the digital yert. Its hard outer shell reflects outside noise. The felt-lined walls inside keep conversations private.
LUDWIG: When two people come together, decisions are made more quickly, they tend to be smarter and they tend to have deeper impact, innovation flows more quickly through a network.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Another landing and takeoff option. Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is opening a fifth runway 9,000 feet long. It's expected to ease congestion at the world's busiest airport and cut delays in half. That could also mean fewer and shorter delays at airports across the nation, maybe even globally. A flight takes off or lands at Hartsfield-Jackson every 30 seconds.
The first planes are expected to start using that new runway later this month.
Well, a new survey rates customer satisfaction with everything from cell phones to airlines, and some of the responses may surprise you. Susan Lisovicz joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange with all the details.
(BUSINESS REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: More than four years, more than 700 terror suspects under lock and key. But where are the feds keeping all the big fish? That's a question a lot of people are asking at the Pentagon, parts of a comprehensive list of all prisoners held at Gitmo in the war on terror.
All the names of all the Guantanamo Bay detainees previously classified were released after The Associated Press filed lawsuits, but not one of the most notorious suspected terrorists shows up. About a quarter of the Gitmo detainees have been from Afghanistan. Dozens of those who remain will be transferred to a prison near Kabul later this year.
Hold the phone. Despite earlier reports, BellSouth now says it did not release any of its customers' records to the National Security agency. The Atlanta-based firm says an internal review turned up no evidence anyone at BellSouth helped the NSA collect information about the number, time and location of customer calls.
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