Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Zarqawi Killed by U.S. Air Strike; USS Cole Returns to Middle East; Cervical Cancer Vaccine Approved

Aired June 08, 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 at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. The image seen around the world, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi dead. Inside the mission, the impact, and the future of the insurgency. All ahead on LIVE FROM.
Over the next three hours, we'll hit all the big questions. Who was this man who became the face of Iraq's insurgency? How does the focus change for his followers and his foes?

Plus, the mission that took him out. F-16s with precision weapons. How is there any evidence left at the scene?

And the talk on the streets. What happens next? Will Iraqis feel safer? And is America safe right now?

We begin with the mission. How did U.S. forces know where to strike and when? CNN's Barbara Starr has been piecing it together for us from the Pentagon.

Barbara, what have you learned?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, it appears that it was over the last six weeks that this end game to get Zarqawi actually began. Over this period of time, U.S. military, U.S. intelligence officials, developing information they got from Iraqis who were working with Zarqawi, also apparently from citizens in the Baquba area, where Zarqawi eventually was found.

What we are learning is that they initially were tracking the man known as his spiritual adviser, Shaikh Abd al-Rahman. But this man also described to us by other military officials now as his runner, as his guide, a very overwhelming feeling on the part of intelligence that if they could get Rahman, they would know where Zarqawi is. That is a picture of this so-called spiritual adviser now that you see, that was put out by the U.S. military in Iraq.

So it was yesterday that they found Rahman and Zarqawi were headed to a meeting together in this house in Baquba. U.S. military officials said they launched the air strike, absolutely convinced that they would both be there. Two F-16s dropping 500-pound precision- guided bombs. The decision was to go with an air strike as opposed to ground forces, because they did not want Zarqawi to escape.

But there is a lot of very cautious, circumspect analysis. Here, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, speaking at a NATO ministers meeting in Brussels, warned, expect more violence. Nobody thinks this will be the end. Let's listen to Rumsfeld.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The death of Zarqawi, while enormously important, will not mean the end of all violence in that country. And one ought not to take it as such. But let there be no doubt, his -- the fact that he is dead is a significant victory in the battle against terrorism in that country, and I would say worldwide, because he had interests well outside of Iraq. He was an integral part of the global war on terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Kyra, the U.S. military putting out two photos of the dead Zarqawi. Let's look at the first one.

They acknowledge they cleaned him up for this photo to be taken. Cleaned the blood and debris off his face. Some of the photography of Zarqawi simply too gruesome, we are told, for public viewing. So the first photo, which I think we have, is the one you see that was shown at the briefing of Zarqawi, cleaned up.

Later, a second photo was released by the U.S. military, showing Zarqawi with blood and debris on his face. We are now told by military sources that Zarqawi, of course, after that strike, a devastating strike, suffered extraordinary severe trauma to the back of his head, his chest and his neck. We are not seeing those wounds, of course. The military saying they're not suitable for public viewing. They do not want to inflame the Islamic world with this.

Officials also telling us Zarqawi's body at this hour remains at an undisclosed location in Iraq -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon, thanks so much. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed by two 500-pound precision-guided bombs dropped by a pair of Air Force F-16s.

Let's bring in CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd, in Los Angeles. Huge coup for the Air Force today, Shep.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Yes, absolutely, Kyra. This is a real step forward in the -- in the war on terrorism and against the insurgency in Iraq. It is a great day for U.S. forces, a much need victory, I might say, and it's a great day for the Iraqi people, and of course, the prime minister, Nuri al-Malaki, of Iraq.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about time sensitive targeting and also precision weapons. All our sources, including yours, seem to think it's possibly two types of JDAMs. Is that right? Do we know, have we been able to confirm whether they were penetrating or surface blast?

SHEPPERD: No, we have not. And I doubt we're going to get those kind of details. These are operational details that it's unlikely the Pentagon will provide. What we have heard so far is it is two F-16s dropping two precision-guided munitions, 500-pound bombs. These are normally JDAM bombs, Joint Direct Attack Munitions. They are satellite-assisted bombs.

The inertial navigation system of the airplane is upgraded by global position satellites, GPS. Those coordinates for the target are typed into the bomb, in the bomb and the system in the airplane. And then the bomb is able to accurately, very accurately, navigate down the coordinates that are typed in from the updated inertial navigation system in the airplane.

These bombs are accurate within three or four feet. They're extremely accurate. There's two types of bomb. One is a surface blast. One is a penetrating blast. From the visuals that we've gained, it looks to me like we're looking at the penetrater, but I can't tell for sure just by the visual.

PHILLIPS: Well, it sure shows why the military uses these types of weapons. I mean, the purpose is to hit that target, like you said, within three or four feet. And obviously, the object is to get the target without collateral damage.

SHEPPERD: Yes. Let me tell you a couple things about that. Normally, we have airplanes on alert and airplanes orbiting over Iraq that are on call. This was undoubtedly a preplanned mission because of what we've heard about the intelligence available.

Collateral damage is a relative term. You can see that anybody in that house was going to get killed, whether there were men, women, children or Zarqawi. So we had to have very, very good intelligence with everything going on and, you know, the sensitivity about civilian casualties. They had to know that Zarqawi was there and there at that time.

So this is a real coup for intelligence and cooperation between the Iraqis and the Americans, who were able to keep this secret for a long period of time.

PHILLIPS: Shep, my sources also telling me there was some strafing that was involved with 20 millimeter canyons. Can you explain to our viewers why that tactic would be used?

SHEPPERD: That's what I have heard. People in the area report that there was strafing with 20 millimeter cannons. The F-16s, of course, have those 20 millimeter cannon on them. And likely what it would be used to do was to get everybody fleeing from the area.

So you would get the house with the bomb and then anybody that took off, you'd be after them with 20 millimeter on the ground. You would keep the Army forces away, as was said, so you don't alert the people in the house to scramble.

PHILLIPS: Well, you know how badly the military wanted Zarqawi. What does this mean overall for the war on terror? SHEPPERD: Yes, it's too early to tell. But clearly, it's a victory and a message. It's a message within Iraq and to the war on terrorists everywhere that we are watching you. We will be able to find you. And when we find you, we're going to be able to get you. It may be hard and it may take a long time, but your next visitor may be a 500-pound bomb that you don't see and you don't hear coming.

My visits to Iraq, I've repeatedly asked, do you think you're really going to get this guy? And I've repeatedly been told, we have come very, very close. We're going to get him. I heard the same thing about Saddam Hussein, and we got Saddam Hussein.

Now in Iraq, what this probably will mean for the insurgency is the Sunnis and the Ba'athist revengists have to say, we're sitting on the fence. We're going to decide who's going to win this and who we're going to throw in our lot with.

There's lots to be done in Iraq. The Iraqi security forces have to take over. They're better to do what needs to be done, left in the country. And we're going to slowly slip away and support them. But this is a major, major step for Iraq.

PHILLIPS: Major General Don Shepperd, always appreciate your time.

SHEPPERD: My pleasure.

PHILLIPS: Word of al-Zarqawi's death spread quickly through Iraq. CNN producer Cal Perry is in Baghdad.

Cal, tell us how this all unfolded.

CAL PERRY, CNN PRODUCER: Good afternoon, Kyra.

We were told at about 11 a.m. to expect a very important announcement from the prime minister, and we got exactly that. He addressed the Baghdad press and said simply, quote, "Al-Zarqawi has been terminated."

He was joined by the U.S. ambassador and General George Casey. The U.S. ambassador calling Zarqawi, quote, "The godfather of sectarian violence and killings around Iraq."

As the ambassador tried to leave the press conference, he was asked what does this mean for America? He gave a thumbs up, said, "This is a great day for America."

General George Casey also hailing this as a huge victory, saying this is a significant blow to al Qaeda. This is exactly the day that many people believe the prime minister needed, a day in which he could show Iraqis that he's serious about fighting terrorism. He campaigned on this issue. He said the new government will take this as their No. 1 issue, and he's certainly taking advantage of that -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: What's the sense of how this affects the insurgency? PERRY: Well, when you talk to Iraqis, they're very resistant to be optimistic. They've gone to the polls three times, and violence has continued. Today, four bombings, the first in the morning targeting police. They're a consistent target of the insurgency. And tonight, two car bombs, killing more than a dozen people. Two dozen, in fact, killed throughout the day, scores others wounded.

Clearly, this is something that people hope will end violence, but optimism on the street these days in Baghdad is really hard to find.

PHILLIPS: Call Perry, live from Baghdad. Thanks so much, Cal.

And with al-Zarqawi out of the picture, what will the picture look like? Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, joins us now from Yemen.

Christiane, tell us about the influence over the insurgency in Iraq.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zarqawi, obviously, the elimination of Zarqawi is, as all your guests, and analysts, and reporters have been saying, a major achievement and a major step forward, and a major psychological blow to that part of the insurgency that he controls.

It is conventional wisdom, it is generally accepted and assumed in Iraq, amongst U.S. commanders and others that he controls only one portion, and it may be the smaller portion of the insurgency. That the bigger more entrenched home-grown portion are the Iraqis themselves, the rejectionists, who have taken to the insurgency over the last several years. Who are often termed as the Saddam loyalists or the Fedayeen or disaffected Ba'athists, those kinds of people.

So many people today, while announcing the significant step that has been achieved by the elimination of Zarqawi -- don't forget, he's the man who pioneered these bloody beheadings that then were always publicized on their web site. The wave of kidnappings, the brutal kidnappings in Iraq, the massive suicide bombings against the civilians. So this is really a major thing that he has been terminated.

Obviously, though, the question has to be, now, and all eyes will be on, what kind of inroads does one death, albeit an important one, make in the overall ability and desire of the insurgents to continue?

The effort is going to be to try to keep penetrating the layer of support that any number of these insurgent groups has amongst their own operatives. Plus amongst the civilians, because that's where they live. They live in the environment, in the community. And civilians are either terrorized into not giving them away, or they have been up until now, or they actually, some of them, support them. So making inroads into that is going to be key.

Plus, with the other politically announcement that was made in Iraq today by the prime minister of the filling of the serious and important defense portfolios, their security portfolios, the whole emphasis must now be on pulling people into the political process, trying to show the Sunnis who are still holding out that, actually, there's more to be gained by joining the process, trying to vest all Iraqis with the sense that their best hope lies in the political process and not with individual either insurgents or militias.

PHILLIPS: Christiane, obviously Zarqawi knew that the U.S. military and a number of other militias were after him. Do you think he named a successor, knowing that he could possibly be killed? Do you think someone is ready to take his place?

AMANPOUR: Well, hard to tell whether he actually named, but certainly the U.S. Major General Caldwell, who was explaining some of the operational details today of how the air strike happened and who they caught and what they're now focusing on, saying that they have already identified an Egyptian by the name of al-Masri, who they believe may be the logical successor to Zarqawi.

Apparently, he was one of the first to establish an al Qaeda cell in Baghdad shortly around the time of the war, after the war there. And he -- they say -- is the focus of their attention now, trying to get as much intelligence as they can on who he is, where he is, and to try and eliminate him.

They say they've come up with a treasure trove, in their words, of information, subsequent to the killing of Zarqawi, and this is going to be presumably a major focus of their efforts now to try to keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get as much intelligence from the community and from members of those organizations as they can.

PHILLIPS: Christiane Amanpour, live out of London, thank you.

It was a casualty before America fully realized that terrorists had declared war. Now the USS Cole returns to the scene, or at least the vicinity of the crime that almost sank it. Setting sail for a war zone, coming up next on LIVE FROM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now Zarqawi has met his end. And this violent man will never murder again. Iraqis can be justly proud of their new government in its early steps to improve their security. And Americans can be enormously proud of the men and women of our armed forces who worked tirelessly with their Iraqi counterparts to track down this brutal terrorist and to put him out of business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: An active national monument. That's how the commander of the USS Cole describes his ship as it heads for its first Mideast deployment since October 1, 2000. That was the day a small boat crammed with explosives blasted a huge hole into the ship at a refueling port in Yemen. Seventeen sailors were killed, but the Cole survived.

Commander Master Chief Pat Reynolds requested duty on the USS Cole as it rejoins the war on terror. He joins us now via telephone from the ship.

Master Chief, glad to have you with us.

MASTER CHIEF PAT REYNOLDS, U.S. NAVY: Thank you, Kyra. Glad to be here.

PHILLIPS: Well, you're headed to the Middle East for the first time since the Cole was attacked. Give me the mindset of the sailors.

REYNOLDS: The mindset is great. We've got a great bunch of professional sailors out here that are ready to do their duty for their country, as they've been all along.

PHILLIPS: Now if I remember correctly, having the chance to go aboard the ship, where it was attacked you actually have a memorial set up, right, remembering the sailors that died?

REYNOLDS: Yes, ma'am, we do. We have 17 stars for the sailors that perished that day inlaid into a passageway in our crew's mess, where the crew eats, as well as plaques commemorating their sacrifice in the crew's mess itself.

PHILLIPS: Master Chief, what is it like to walk through that passageway -- that passageway down there on that side of the ship where the blast happened? Do you get chills when you walk through there?

REYNOLDS: I do -- I do get chills. It is hallowed ground on board this ship, and it's a memory of something bad that happened. But more importantly, it's a reminder to what happened the days following that when the crew came together and saved the ship and saved the other shipmates that were injured.

PHILLIPS: Tell me why you requested to be on the Cole. Was it because of the crew and that mentality to come together?

REYNOLDS: Exactly. It's -- you know, the event was a tragedy. The real heroism and the heritage was how the crew came together in the days after when they had no power and no water and no facilities. And they persevered and went above and beyond the call. They saved their shape mates and they saved the ship so we can go back out and conduct maritime security operations again.

PHILLIPS: Have sailors come up to you, Master Chief, and said, "Wow, I can't believe I'm on this ship. Just knowing what happened, knowing the history behind this, and this is a pretty amazing day that we're heading out again."

REYNOLDS: You bet. I've been on several deployments in my career. And by far, this is the most professional crew on board this ship that are the most motivated to go out and do well and show their country proud. PHILLIPS: Master Chief, tell me the mission that you will be working through on this ship. Is it security operations? Tell me exactly what you'll be doing and what assets you have.

REYNOLDS: Yes, ma'am. Primarily we're conducting maritime security operations in support of the global war on terror, protecting American assets abroad and our allies.

PHILLIPS: Put it in layman terms for us, Master Chief. Not a lot of people realize the capabilities of your ship. For example, if there is a threat, if there's some sort of terrorist activity, how are you able to respond?

REYNOLDS: Gee, I guess it would depend on the event that occurred, you know. It's a multiple-mission capable ship. We're capable of boarding ships. We're capable of conducting strike operations and defensive operations in defense of other ships in our group.

PHILLIPS: Master Chief Pat Reynolds, I know this is far, far away from Lubbock, Texas where you were reared. We wish you the best of luck and stay in touch with us.

REYNOLDS: Thank you very much, Kyra. You guys have a good day now.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate it.

We've got some other developing news today, and that's a new vaccine against cervical cancer. The Food and Drug Administration gave thumbs up today to Gardasil. And women's health advocates are cheering.

Here to tell us more about it, our senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Now we're just getting word of this. I hope I pronounced it correctly.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Gardasil.

PHILLIPS: Gardasil.

GUPTA: This is huge, Kyra. I mean, there's no doubt about it. We're talking about cancer here. We're talking about actually knowing exactly what caused the cancer, in this case, a virus. And more importantly what we're hearing today is that there is a vaccine to prevent that cause from actually letting the cancer ever take hold. It's a huge deal.

How would it work exactly? We found out. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, ready? Go. GUPTA (voice-over): She had no symptoms and didn't know anything about the disease. So Denise Visbal was stunned when, like hundreds of thousands of other women every year, she was diagnosed with precancerous cells in her cervix.

DENISE VISBAL, PRE-CANCEROUS PATIENT: It was shocking, scary. Very scary. We needed to do surgery right away. If we hadn't gone right away, we would -- we would have had to have done a hysterectomy. It would have gone up the uterus. It would have been pretty bad.

GUPTA: For almost 10,000 women in the United States every year, those precancerous cells turn into invasive cervical cancer, and close to 4,000 women die from it. It's caused by the human papilloma virus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that more than half of sexually active people get at some time in their lives, over six million Americans every year.

DR. DENNIS CHI, SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: Most women who are infected with the virus, as high as 70 percent, actually clear the virus and don't have any precancerous or cancerous conditions.

GUPTA: But for the 10 percent who do develop abnormal cells, the virus can be lethal if not caught in time.

Now there's a way to prevent the virus from ever taking hold in the first place. It's a vaccine. Typically, you think of vaccines for the measles or chicken pox, but Gardasil protects against cancer. Trials showed the vaccine could lower cervical cancer rates by 70 percent.

DR. JOHN SCHILLER, NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE: It was a great feeling. We really thought that, hey this is going to be a vaccine that could work.

GUPTA: Dr. John Schiller is part of a team that worked 15 years to develop it.

SCHILLER: The group that would benefit the most from this vaccine would be adolescents and young women who have not been sexually active yet.

GUPTA: More than four percent of girls have had sex before age 13.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to tell my daughter.

GUPTA: So Merck has launched an aggressive campaign to market Gardasil. The vaccine was found to be safe for girls as young as 9. Now experts are discussing whether to give them the vaccine. But conservative groups worry that would send young people a message that it's OK to have sex before marriage, and they oppose recommending the vaccine for schoolchildren.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not feel it should be made mandatory for school attendance.

GUPTA: But if it's not required, many worry those who need the vaccine most would not get it, since it costs nearly $500.

DR. RUTH FADEN, PHOEBE R. BERMAN BIOETHICS INSTITUTE: Once people leave the school system, it's harder to monitor. It's harder to promote. It's harder to ensure widespread adoption of a vaccine.

VISBAL: Do you have any questions?

GUPTA: Denise plans to use the vaccine as an opportunity to talk to her 10-year-old daughter, Annabel (ph), about sex.

VISBAL: I think it's a wonderful thing, a vaccine that prevents cervical cancer? I mean this is big.

GUPTA: She's grateful there's a vaccine that could prevent Annabel from having to go through what she went through.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: The age range, 9 to 26. That's pretty significant.

GUPTA: It is, and it's very controversial, as you might imagine. Here's the premise. This vaccine works best if given to somebody before they've ever had sex. That's plain and simple.

Once your body's been exposed to this virus, the human papilloma virus, a type of sexually transmitted virus, the vaccine may not work as well. So the makers, people are making the recommendation, saying we've to get this medication out to people before they ever have sex. Of course, talking about 9 year olds here, you can see where the controversy comes in.

PHILLIPS: Imagine the conversations. Now what about if it's in the family? If cervical cancer is in the family?

GUPTA: So there might be people who are at higher risk, there's no question.

PHILLIPS: Right.

GUPTA: But what's so interesting about cervical cancer, unlike a lot of other cancers which may have a pretty strong genetic component, with cervical cancer, one of the few cancers you have a really specific virus, in this case, causing the cancer.

I find it so interesting. Because you talk about lung cancer. People say, "Well, I was a smoker for so many years. Was it the cigarettes? Was it some environmental exposure?" We don't really know for things like lung cancer.

With cervical cancer with have a pretty good idea. At least about three quarters of those cervical cancers are caused by this virus. So it's really still about preventing that virus from ever taking hold in the cervix. And again, this vaccine now approved today just moments ago could do that.

PHILLIPS: So how expensive is it and will insurance cover it? GUPTA: Those are questions that are still going to be answered, because the FDA literally just sent a letter to Merck saying, "OK, have at it now." How -- it is expensive. It's $300 to $500. We're talking about three shots over about a six-month period. If insurance doesn't cover it, the people who probably need it the most may not get it at all.

I mean, you can see the problems here. If insurance does cover it, it means having those conversations, again, with your daughter at some point, as well.

I should add, as well, we don't know the long-term results. This was really, really fast, Kyra. It was sort of amazing to watch. This whole process took just about six months in terms of approval, which is really fast. We don't have long-term data yet. We don't now how it will work in pregnant women, for example. We don't know about men, whether they should be taking this vaccine, as well. Those questions will be answered.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll stay on it. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

GUPTA: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the face of the Iraqi insurgency, is dead. What about the people he reportedly killed? We're going to hear how their families are reacting to the news today, when LIVE FROM continues.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com