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Three U.S. Soldiers Charged in Detainee Deaths in Iraq; Ramadi: Iraq's Most Dangerous City; New Book Reveals New York Subway Terror Plot
Aired June 19, 2006 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Getting word now that some U.S. soldiers have been charged in the deaths of three detainees. Let's get straight to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. And Barbara, this is all just coming in to both of us. This is separate, though, from Haditha and Hamandiya, right, the other two investigations we've been following?
BARBARA STARR, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely, Kyra. This is a completely separate incident.
The U.S. military now reporting that three members of the 101st Airborne Division are being charged with the following. They are being charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, communicating a threat and obstructing justice in connection with the death of three male detainees in Iraq, in southern Iraq, on May 9th.
The only details we have are the location, southern Salaheddin Province. What we are told by the military is now these three non- commissioned officer and two soldiers being charged with murder, attempted murder and the other counts. A criminal investigative command investigation was initiated back on May 17th. The incident happened on May 9th, and the unit commander had immediately ordered an inquiry at that time.
We are told the soldiers remain in pre-trial confinement, awaiting a hearing to determine if there will be a court's marshal against them. We do not know if they are being held in Iraq or back here in the United States.
Again, three members of the 101st Airborne Division being charged with murder and attempted murder in relation to the deaths of three male detainees in Iraq back in May -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Barbara Starr, I know you'll let us know as you get more information. Thank you.
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PHILLIPS: Eight thousand U.S. and Iraqi troops on the move right now in a region called the Triangle of Death. They're looking for two American soldiers and becoming an ever-widening search. The two were reported missing Friday after insurgents attacked their checkpoint just south of Baghdad. Today on the Internet, an al Qaeda-linked group claims it's holding the hostages. So far, we have no proof.
Meantime, the parents of one of the soldiers, Private Thomas Tucker, has released this statement. It says, "In a recent telephone message the parents still have on their message machine, Thomas sent the following greeting, 'Be proud of me, mom, I'm defending my country. Tell sis and my nephews hello for me. I'm OK, I'm on my way.'"
You think Baghdad is dangerous? Well, Ramadi is generally the most violent city in the most dangerous province in Iraq, and U.S. forces are there getting rid of the roadside bombs, laying groundwork for permanent security.
CNN's Nic Robertson is with them every step of the way.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, all right!
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's dark and about to get very, very dangerous. Captain Peer (ph) says he is taking us on a special mission into the volatile town of Ramadi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This area right here, I personally lost two vehicles and blown up twice right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I'll be honest with you, at any second we could blow up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any second?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
ROBERTSON: He's been hit six times and lost two soldiers to IEDs, roadside bombs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before you step out, just always look down and look around. (INAUDIBLE).
ROBERTSON: On this mission, there were so many roadside bombs, commanders called in a gun ship to help clear the road described as a minefield. The captain sent his mission to search for security outposts deeper than ever into insurgent territory. Just two miles from the base they've already discovered 10 IEDs, rendered harmless in controlled detonations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To my left, this is all going to be a combat outpost. This will be a logistical area, in and out. (INAUDIBLE).
ROBERTSON: More controlled detonations?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More controlled detonations.
ROBERTSON: By putting in these combat outposts just one night after other new combat outposts went in, what the Army hopes to do is keep the insurgents off their guard and use that to their advantage.
With improving light, the push to press home that advantage, troops searched areas previously hard to access, discovering bomb- making equipment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Playstations, cell phones, explosives, rice bags (ph), a combination thereof. It would equal about 15 IEDs, just enough to fill in the hole that we found already tonight.
ROBERTSON: Later, they would find more. But with daylight, the emphasis switches to building the new bases....
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's getting ready to launch an RPG. That's what he's thinking right now.
ROBERTSON: ... and securing them in the very hostile environment.
(on camera): As the outposts are being built, this is what the soldiers are going to be doing -- looking, watching, waiting, ready in case a suicide bomber comes down the road to try and target the new observation points.
(voice-over): Although U.S. troops were most of the muscle behind the operation, it is the Iraqi army who will ultimately run these outposts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The real success is going to be the Iraqi army and the constant presence of the Iraqi army right here in this area.
ROBERTSON: But high hopes are tempered with reality. The Iraqi army is already based in some less volatile parts of Ramadi, and even there, they are yet to bring stability and an end to the roadside bombs. And that means for the foreseeable future at least, many more dangerous missions for Captain Senti (ph) and his men in Ramadi.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Ramadi, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, a couple of mason jars and a paint can. How did al Qaeda plan to use such simple objects to turn New York City subways into death traps? Chilling details, straight ahead on LIVE FROM.
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PHILLIPS: Well, it used to be one of the country's most dangerous cities. Are the bad old days coming back to New Orleans? Well, the mayor today asked for the National Guard and state police to help patrol his city after five teens were shot to death over the weekend. Police are desperate for leads. They say it's either drug- related or a revenge attack. Crime plummeted in New Orleans in the months after Hurricane Katrina, but has been creeping up ever since then. Almost ten months after Katrina, more possible victims are still being found. Workers cleaning a house in New Orleans last week found the body of a man who had drowned. DNA will tell whether it's the man who lived at the house, who has been missing since September.
Fast, convenient and a tempting target for terrorists. The New York City subway system, which has -- which a new book says has -- was days away from a lethal attack by al Qaeda in 2003.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick picks up the story.
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DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In 2003, two years after 9/11, al Qaeda was reportedly within weeks of carrying out a cyanide gas attack in New York City's subways. Details of the 2003 plot are revealed in a new book, "The One Percent Doctrine," by journalist Ron Suskind.
According to excerpts in this week's "Time" magazine, al Qaeda planned to use devices, including mason jars, to release deadly hydrogen cyanide gas on subway trains. Suskind says, quote, "There would be several placed in subway cars and other strategic locations and activated remotely. This was well past conception and early planning. The group was operational. They were 45 days from zero hour."
CNN security analyst John McLaughlin is a former acting chief of the CIA. He says the subway plot was taken very seriously, but says the book overstates the gravity of the terror threat.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: This was important, but it wasn't the center of our universe at this point. When you saw heightened security alerts, they were as a result of a variety of threats, a variety of reports. This was just one of many. This was -- what you see in this excerpt are a few frames from a much larger and more complex movie.
FEYERICK: The subway attack was called off allegedly by Osama bin Laden's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. That prompted fears another 9/11 style attack might be in the works.
MCLAUGHLIN: As important as such an attack would have been, it wouldn't have been the spectacular kind of attack that I think al Qaeda is looking for.
FEYERICK: Subways have been terror targets before. In 1995, 12 people died in the Tokyo subway after a sarin nerve gas attack by members of a doomsday cult. Conventional explosives were used in deadly train attacks in Madrid in 2004.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, for your safety, please start moving down!
FEYERICK: And last year in London. (on camera): The former head of the FBI in New York tells CNN agents were never able to confirm whether the alleged terrorists had entered the United States or made their way to New York. There was also a lot of talk in the intelligence community at the time as to whether such a chemical attack could actually succeed.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
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PHILLIPS: Well, the Medicare buck doesn't stop at the Supreme Court. Without comment, justices today refused to get involved in the new federal prescription drug program, specifically the part requiring states to pay back part of the money that they're expected to save under the new system. Several states wanted the measure blocked, but the high court says the fight belongs in a lower court.
The court did agree to hear a planned parenthood challenge to a type of late-term abortion. The Bush administration wants to reinstate a federal ban on a practice that anti-abortion groups call partial birth abortion. Congress voted for the ban in 2003, but the law has been challenged by doctors who can be sent to prison if they violate it. The court already said it planned to rule on the issue this fall.
Kids have a new secret weapon in the cell phone battle with adults. Now they can break the rules and get calls in school and only a rare few teachers will know.
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PHILLIPS: Live pictures now from our affiliate KPHO in Sedona, Arizona. Quite a fight in this area. Fire crews are trying to coral a wildfire that's tripled in size in just 24 hours. It started yesterday in the scenic Oak Creek Canon. You know, Sedona is really famous for those red rock formations. People started scrambling to get out, even more firefighters had to move in. So far they haven't lost any homes, but their fight grows tougher as those winds pick up. The weather forecast for today called for high temperatures approaching 100 degrees, single-digit humidity levels and winds of around 10-to-20 miles per hour with higher afternoon gusts, we're told. As you know, the dry and windy weather can help those wildfires spread. But we're keeping an eye on the firefighting efforts where that blaze is headed in Sedona, Arizona.
Water is the big worry in Houston. As much as 10.5 inches of rain fell overnight and this morning, creating flash floods over much of the city. It's mainly roads, but also some houses. Emergency crews have rescued about 500 people from the high water.
Now when it comes to cell phones, children may have one big advantage over adults, at least when it comes to a certain ring tone. CNN's technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ring tones can give your cell phone a unique sound but they can quickly turn into a symphony of noise. So what if your ring tone sounded like this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't hear a thing.
SIEBERG: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need to get my hearing checked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't hear it. No, not at all.
SIEBERG: Here's the catch. There's a good chance that kids can hear the ring tone known as the mosquito but adults can't.
Yeah, I can hear that. A high vibration. A high pitched tone.
SIEBERG: Presbycusis is the natural hearing loss from aging. The damage or loss of some of the thousands of hair cells in the inner ear and the first to go as we age are those that hear high frequency sounds. These tech-savvy teenagers are designing 3D characters and creating video games at the ID Tech Camp in Atlanta. The idea of a kids only ring tone got them thinking about the possibilities.
MICHAEL EVERTS, ID TECH CAMPER: If I was in a class or something and text messaging sometimes when you're vibrating you can hear it through your pocket, against the wood of the desk or something. But if this -- you know if I use this ring tone when a text message came, I could hear it but the teacher couldn't.
PAUL COSTA, ID TECH CAMPER: But if people actually want to not get caught they just need to talk like text message their friends or anything. This would be a really good ring -- this would be a good ring tone in school.
SIEBERG: Ironically the sound was originally used by store owners to deter kids from loitering outside. But now the idea has been turned on its ear.
(on camera): Not every wireless carrier is making the ring tone available to download. But it's catching on fast. And with the younger generation, where there is a will, there is often a way. Daniel Sieberg, CNN, Atlanta.
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PHILLIPS: Well, a first for the Episcopal Church. A woman is chosen to lead. Katharine Jefferts Schori has quite the resume and quite a few challenges from within the church. You're going it meet her, straight ahead on LIVE FROM.
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