Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Al Qaeda In Iraq Considers Current Situation Bleak, According To New Documents; Lifesavers Can't Keep Up With State of Emergency in Basra; Update On Separated Conjoined Twins; Planned Pentagon Memorial Groundbreaking; Cher Promotes Better Helmets for U.S. Troops

Aired June 15, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Where or when but al-Masri is an Egyptian who trained with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who was killed last week in a U.S. air strike. The military says that al-Masri may face rivals within al Qaeda in Iraq.
From Baghdad today news of a pile of seized documents that al Qaeda in Iraq definitely didn't want in the public eye. Details now from CNN's John Vause.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The information was found before the air strike which killed the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and was recovered from computer hardware, some drives, a laptop, as well as other documents. According to Iraq's national security adviser there is a good deal of detail as to why al Qaeda in Iraq considers the current situation as bleak.

MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We've managed to confiscate a very important document. These documents belong to al Qaeda in Iraq and the insurgents and terrorists working inside Iraq. We believe that this is the beginning of the end of al Qaeda in Iraq.

VAUSE: And the reason for that optimism, according to these documents, al Qaeda in Iraq has concerns about the growing number of Iraqi security forces providing a shield for U.S. troops, massive arrests, tightening of financial outlets, confiscation of weapons and ammunition, a media campaign which has weakened the influence of the insurgents, presenting them as harmful rather than beneficial.

One of the ways out of this entanglement, the word used by al Qaeda, is to try to involve the United States in another front, preferably a war with Iran. To do that, al Qaeda has been planning to release threatening messages attributed to Shia Iranians to carry out attacks and stage evidence so it looks like Iran was possible, leak information that Iran has ties to terrorist groups and is in possession of weapons of mass destruction and is attempting to carry out terrorist operations in North America and against other Western targets.

CNN can't verify the authenticity of these documents or the information, however, Iraq's security adviser says this is just the tip of iceberg and more information will be released in coming days. John Vause, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: That captured intelligence, those papers, the hard drives and the laptops all will be useful for sometime to come. That's what Iraq's national security adviser told CNN just a little while ago, bottom line, it's getting harder for al Qaeda to hide.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

AL-RUBAIE: There are many document is, many laptops. We found before we captured - killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi during and after, we have, on the same side he was killed, as well and after that it lead us to other hideouts all over the country, and when we chased them and confiscated some of these materials. So it's a rolling up program that actually started before we killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and it continued after that and is still an ongoing process.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Al-Rubaie says that the intel exposes al Qaeda's members, their whereabouts, their tactics, their strategies and their ideology. He predicts that the group's days are numbered.

Three years of war in Iraq and the relatively quiet exception to the chaos has always been Basra, Iraq's southern second largest city, more focused on oil than sectarian violence. Well, no more. Mosque attacks, road side bombing, civilian deaths, it's a state of emergency now in Basra and lifesavers can't keep up. ITN's Bill Neely reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL NEELY, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not a sound that should be heard in a mosque, the horror of her mother discovering her child dead in a holy place. This is Basra and it's not quiet here any more.

It's had its deadliest weeks since the invasion. This car bombing killed 31. The mosque massacre followed. There is a state of emergency. And at the center of the horror is a hospital that can't cope. The survivors of the car bombs struggle for breaths but there aren't enough machines to help them breathe. The doctors say they have fewer drugs now than under the height of sanctions under Saddam.

DR. HASANEEN MUHAMED AL ALI, AL SADER TEACHING HOSPITAL: Here we suffer from many problems. The first problem is the availability of the drugs. At least half of the drugs we prescribe for patients are not available in the hospitals.

NEELY: This man lost an eye in the bombing, his face is fractured, but from anesthetics to X-rays, the whole hospital is fractured in its darkest hour.

DR. MOAED JUMMA, HOSPITAL MANAGER: In the last bomb we received a lot of casualties, about 30 in a half hour. NEELY: Surgeons amputate more often because they haven't the drugs or equipment to save limbs. Even basic tubes and bandages are in short supply. In other hospitals this man might have lived. He didn't here.

In Basra, the slaughter has turned sectarian. The mosque victims were Sunni Muslims killed by Shia police. Britain has prime responsibility for security here.

At the start of the war, British troops protected the hospital, killing looters there. Now it's the doctors who are being murdered. Three this year.

But the rising toll from the violence is only the half of it. They have had no cancer drugs here for three years. More of Basra's children die from diarrhea now than under Saddam. And ironically, in a city of such bloodletting, this hospital is always short of blood.

These are the victims of a massive failure of government, of rebuilding, of security, three years on, and the worst horrors have returned to this chaotic city.

Bill Neely, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Back here in the U.S., in the United States, we want to take you live now to Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. More on those conjoined twins that were separated.

We are told the girls are doing well, serious condition, stable vital signs. Let's listen in to the hospital doctors.

DR. JAMES STEIN, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF LOS ANGELES: ... all the way through the hospital. A multidisciplinary approach for a surgery like this. We are all obviously extremely excited at how things went.

They went on schedule, even slightly ahead of schedule. There were no particular surprises in the separation which entailed separating the girls from the breastbone down through the pelvis. It involved splitting the sacs that contained the hearts, separating the liver, splitting the diaphragm.

We had to then divide the intestine between the two girls, separate all their pelvic yore bans, split their pelvis, the bony pelvis, rotate their legs in, and then finally get everything closed with tissue that had been expanded over about the previous nine months of their lives.

Anesthesia provided service that kept the kids entirely stable throughout the entire, I guess, what are we, 18 hours, or so of surgery. And seeing the girls today beginning to wake up and move and respond is great excitement for us all.

OK. Rick? QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) operating table. When separation finally happened, what was the feeling amongst the core of doctors and physicians, and the general mood in the operating room amongst them?

STEIN: I could speak for myself. I think that all through the day because things were going very smoothly, it was a very, very relaxed mood throughout the operating room. It always gets a little more exciting at the time of separation, there's something very surreal about it, but that quickly passes as we become very aware of the fact that the next eight, twelve hours, whatever it's going to be involves potentially the most difficult part of the surgery, which is getting everything hooked up and back together.

Rick?

QUESTION: The 24 hours, or 48 hour period after surgery (INAUDIBLE) why is that, and what are you specifically worried about?

STEIN: In that period, the girls have really undergone an incredible insult to their body, as you can imagine. And lots of things happen during that period. There are lots of fluid shifts. They may bleed. There may be early signs of infection, early signs of tissue breakdown where tissues that have been brought together show begin to show signs of not healing well. So we are concerned with a heightened sense of awareness for that first 48 hours. And that continues into the next several weeks as well but I guess with each passing day it does decrease a bit.

Yes?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

STEIN: The only -- the question really was what was shared and what will the impact of that be?

The only thing that we really had to decide to give to one child or another was part of the intestine. And what we did was we elected to give part of the small intestine to Regina. The smaller of the two children, and most of the large intestine, to Renata, the larger of the two children.

That potentially has implications down the road for their ability to have normal bowel patterns. It may be that Regina ands likely is that Regina will have an iliostomy (ph) the rest of her life which is where her intestine comes up to her skin. Beyond that, we would expect their lives, like professional athletes who are out there with iliostomies, will be entirely normal.

Yes?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

STEIN: Are you referring to the surgeons?

We, yes, we can no longer be apart. The answer is we actually -- we chose this time in their lives to separate them because there's not really a clear determination of one's self at 10 month's of age. It really happens later on. So we hope to avoid that aspect of it. At least at this point.

The kids are still very sedated and as soon as they are more stable, what we often do is put them side by side in the same bed because they really have been together their whole life and I'm sure there is some sense of losing something when you are separated. It's hard to imagine that there wouldn't be, but we do choose this time in their lives to avoid that as much as possible.

PHILLIPS: That's a pretty powerful statement there. Even though these doctors, this one of 80 in a surgical team talking about separating these conjoined twins they still want to keep them side by side, together in their room and in their bed because they've been together from the very beginning and they don't want to break that bond between the two, you are looking at Regina and Renata Salinas Fures (ph), 10 months old, they were joined from chest to pelvis, they had to separate their heads, their necks, their shoulders, their shoulders, their arms, their hearts, their longs, they shared part of a small intestine, all of the large intestine.

They are in serious condition now, but doctors say they have stable vital signs. The doctor saying it was so surreal when the separation happens but then the most difficult part takes place after that, and that's just making sure all the organs are functioning properly.

PHILLIPS: You can watch the rest of that news conference if you'd like at CNN.com/pipeline. Meanwhile, we'll keep updating you on everything that we hear about those twins.

"We will never forget." Words unveiled on a marker at the Pentagon at the site of planned memorial to victims of 9/11, our own Barbara Starr was at the Pentagon that fateful day, actually her birthday. And she was at the groundbreaking ceremony today. Barbara your thoughts?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, it is really remarkable to be standing here four and a half years later, a place that was the sight of so much tragedy and of course so much courage on 9/11. The ceremony here wrapping up. A number of dignitaries, what they did here today was dedicate a marker to the memorial that is now going to begin construction here. A memorial to the 184 people who lost their lives here in the Pentagon and also, of course, on American Airlines flight 77.

Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld who, of course, was on this site within seconds of the attack, carrying stretchers, helping the emergency workers, was one the key speakers today. His emotion came right to the surface.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Some day there may come a time when you might encounter a stranger here, maybe a child born after September 11th. Looking around, wondering what this memorial is all about. Well tell them this is where men and women became targets and were killed because they were free Americans.

Tell them that there have always been those who fear and oppose our country's values, our cause. And tell them that history is the epic story of those enemies defeated and freedom's triumph.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Kyra, an emotional, perhaps unexpectedly emotional Don Rumsfeld. Probably it's worth reminding people just for a moment at this point that on the morning of September 11th when the spot right behind me was in flames, people had died and people were grievously wounded, Secretary Rumsfeld and the senior military commander refused to shut this building down. They kept going. People stayed. People kept working. The war on terror began at that moment but the Pentagon kept running. The feeling here amongst the U.S. military, of course was no retreat, no surrender -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Can you just describe for us what that memorial is going to look like? I was reading about the steel benches and reflecting pools. Will there names be on those benches? Kind of give us a visual.

STARR: Right, Kyra. I think we do have, maybe, perhaps, a representation we can show our viewers. This was by a very young, innovative design team selected by committee, including family members of those who died here. And there will be benches as you say and pools and trees for all 184 people who perished here.

Visitors will be able to walk through this grove. They will be able to pause at each marker and learn something about the people who lost their lives here, what they were all about, and simply enjoy the very sheltered, secluded atmosphere here, just next to a busy highway, but people will be able to come here and pause and reflect in a very quiet area looking at all of the information about all of the lives that were lost on this site.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon there, just outside the Pentagon. Thanks, Barbara.

A man digs a 60-foot hole in his front yard hoping to find gold. Well, instead he finds trouble. We'll get to the bottom of things straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Yes, you can tell Otis is in the audio booth there, his favorite song. Forget that glass half full business, here's a new definition of optimism. Your metal detector goes off in the front yard and you assume it's gold, right? So you dig a hole. A really deep hole. It winds up on the news with reporter Jane Yamamoto of CNN affiliate KTTV in Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE YAMAMOTO, KTTV CORRESPONDENT: Dirt, lots of it piled high. The homeowner digging, hoping to strike it rich. CHIEF TROY AMENT, MONTCLAIR FIRE DEPARTMENT: The resident claimed he was looking for some gold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are friends, you know.

YAMAMOTO: Did he tell you he was digging for gold?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just said he was digging.

YAMAMOTO: The digging began 10 days ago after the homeowner's metal detector went off in his front yard. Apparently he got a bit carried away, hiring day laborers to help. And this is how far they got, a hole 60-feet deep. That's equivalent to a six story building. And it was a sophisticated operation.

AMENT: A 24-foot extension ladder that went down to a ledge that they created when they dug. The workers would climb to that ledge where they would hook onto a rope and they were lowered from that point down and buckets were lowered to them with a makeshift pulley season.

YAMAMOTO: And that's not all. They put a garden hose in the hole to give them air.

AMENT: There was a big concern that this would collapse. Our concern was for the life safety of who was in the hole. We stopped him from allowing people in the hole.

YAMAMOTO: A chain link fence was put in around it and now it's up to the homeowner to fill in the hole.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, their names are Tanisha, Nicole and Kelly, but if they're convicted, folks may refer to them as Thelma, Louise and Louise. They're suspects at two armed robberies in banks in suburban Washington, DC. Twenty-two year old Tanisha Beatrice Pierre, 23-year- old Nicole Howard and 23-year-old Kelly Alexander Phillips all face conspiracy and robbery charges.

Here's an attempted theft that was literally a bust. This woman was buying a soda one second. The next she was hurdling the counter to snatch some cash. What you don't see is that that clerk managed to grab her shirt and yank it off when she fled with all of three bucks. The clerk got his money back a few minutes later when the thief returned and said I want my shirt back.

She's known for outrageous outfits. Now Cher is focused on what the troops wear. That story straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's a side of an Oscar wining actress and singer that you don't often see, Cher is on Capitol Hill today testifying before a House sub committee in favor of better helmet liners for troops. Her support became public when she made a surprise call to C-SPAN. She appeared on a C-SPAN call-in show today.

She's donated more than $130,000 to a group that provides free liners with shock-absorbing pads and improved straps to keep the troops safer. You'll never confuse C-SPAN with MTV that really was Cher calling in the other morning and it really was Cher in person a week later promoting better helmets for U.S. troops.

CNN's Jeanne Moos turns back time just a little in a report that first aired on "THE SITUATION ROOM."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The singer known for flirtatiously playing with sailor's hats has turned her attention to helmets. Cher likes to wear her own outrageous head gear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look lovely as always.

MOOS: Now she's worried about what soldiers wear.

CHER, SINGER: It's the a difference between life and death.

MOOS: Man the battle ships, Cher has come to Washington to fight for the fighting men and women. Her weapon, the quietly serious C- SPAN.

CHER: The helmet becomes a weapon in itself.

MOOS: Cher has teamed up with a group called Operation Helmet, dedicated to supplying soldiers with padding that improves helmets. The Army has already upgraded theirs, but the other services tend to have old-fashioned webbing instead that allows the helmet itself to strike the head in an explosion. When fitted with the new padding, watch what happens. Remember Sonny and Cher, well now it's Bob and Cher.

BOB MEADERS, FOUNDER OPERATION HELMET: She is the real thing. I can tell you that. She has a heart as big as Texas.

MOOS: Retired Navy physician, Doctor Bob Meaders founded Operation Helmet because the military couldn't come up with the money to upgrade existing helmets. Cher herself donated over $100,000. She's been visiting wounded soldiers.

CHER: That one boy really touched my heart so much.

MOOS: When she went to autograph a picture for the boy in the hospital...

CHER: ... how do you spell your name? And I looked over and he had to look at his wristband because he had head injuries.

MOOS: This isn't the first time that Cher has been on C-SPAN. On Memorial Day Weekend, she called in at 4:30 in the morning without mentioning who she was until asked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And is this Cher?

CHER: Yes.

MOOS: Which prompted "The Daily Show" to use an "I Got through Babe" graphic. Cher is an unabashed liberal, who opposes Bush administration policies.

CHER: I just cannot bare these people for another moment.

MOOS: Cher will join Doctor Meaders when he testifies about Operation Helmet before a congressional subcommittee. A performer whose own head gear turns heads may have soldiers tipping their hats to her.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: We will join Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Eastern and for the live prime time edition at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

He is out of the hospital but it will be a while before Ben Roethlisberger is back on the steel. The star quarterback of the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers crashed his motorcycle Monday morning. He broke his nose, his jaw and suffered a concussion. He was not wearing a helmet.

Roethlisberger slipped away from the hospital late last night. The Steelers hope he will be able to play in the season opener September 7th.

A newly elected city councilman in North Dakota won't take office for a while. He has kind of got his hands full as a marine officer in Iraq. We tell you how he campaigned from Falluja. Coming up.

(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