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Voice of a Terrorist; African Taliban?

Aired June 30, 2006 - 13:33   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Bin Laden speaks again. We don't see him, only hear him on a recording posted on the Web. We're not sure when it was made, only that it was after June 7th, the day he -- his pointman in Iraq died the way al Qaeda lives well, violently.
CNN national correspondent David Ensor has reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATL. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the new nineteen-and-a-half-minute audiotape posted on the Web, the speaker purported to be Osama bin Laden praises the slain al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a lion of jihad, saying he died in a, quote, "shameful American raid." The CIA is analyzing the tape to authenticate the voice, but an intelligence official says she no reason to doubt that it is, indeed, bin Laden, who addresses President Bush directly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I say to Bush, you should deliver the hero's body to his family, and don't be too happy. Our flag hasn't fallen. Thanks to God, it has passed from one lion to another lion in Islam. You have prevented Abu Musab from entering his homeland alive. Don't stand in his way now.

ENSOR: The tape comes just over three weeks after Zarqawi's death, and less than a week after a videotape from bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: They don't seem to be feeling the head of the war on terror, because they're releasing these tapes. We've had three from Zawahiri in the last three weeks. We've had three from bin Laden in the last three months. It's their way of staying relevant.

ENSOR: Addressing President Bush, bin Laden also he said that, quote, "We will continue to fight new Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan. We will drain your money," he said, "kill your men and send you home defeated."

(on camera): Analysts say the tapes are also an effort by al Qaeda central to capitalize on the popularity of Zarqawi among Islamic extremists. Even though bin Laden's deputy in the past urged Zarqawi not to kill so many Shiites in Iraq and was ignored.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: Straight to the newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield working details on that developing story -- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A story coming out of Chicago, where -- look at these picture right now. This helicopter, a Chicago Fire Department helicopter. And apparently there was some sort of problem forcing it to make an emergency landing, and now we're looking at that helicopter on its side, and this is tape from a bit earlier of someone looking inside that aircraft inspecting it. We're told that this has taken place off Lake Shore Drive near 39th Street, and that right now the southbound Lake Shore Drive is closed. We're also told that there are no reported serious injuries. There were three people on board. And of course when we get any more information about what may have happened here, why the helicopter is now resting in this position, and really how the three onboard managed to survive, we'll be able to bring that to you.

PHILLIPS: Looks like it skids up. It's upside down, isn't it?

WHITFIELD: Well, yes, it appears to be that way, at least on its side. And we know at least that there was a reported emergency landing. But did something happen in the interim during that emergency landing, or once they already touched the ground? Don't know.

PHILLIPS: All right, we're follow up. Fred, thanks.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Well, is there an African Taliban? It's a growing concern in light of the capture by an Islamic militia of Somali's capital earlier this month. The movement's leader is the former head of a U.S. designated terror organization. The State Department says money and weapons are flowing in from groups in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other Arab nations.

One U.S. observer says that Somalian stability is the most serious threat to the Horn of Africa in Decades.

John Prendergast is a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, an independent, nonprofit organization, that works to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts. He was on Capitol Hill yesterday to testify about Somalia. and today he's joining us.

I want to talk about testifying in a second, John. But you know, you were just in this area, you and I were talking about this not long ago. I want to say maybe less than two months ago. What is your biggest concern today, because this was your worry when we talked previously?

JOHN PRENDERGAST, INTL. CRISIS GROUP: Well;, at the time, before the Islamic militants took control of the capital, they had -- they were harboring a few al Qaeda suspect. That's about the extent of the action that we could monitor in Somalia at that time. Now, they've consolidated their control over the capital and they're expanding. So there's greater territory and more difficult places for us to access with our intelligence capacities to know who and what is going through those areas.

So the biggest problem, I think, is just the intelligence black hole that exists now in a large part of southern Somalia, where people can go in and out, move material and weapons, and plan operations against targets in East Africa.

PHILLIPS: So, John, the concern is this Union of Islamic Courts, right? Does that consist of a number of jihad groups, and are those groups definitely linked to al Qaeda? I apologize for the noise behind me. We got some international fans back there watching the World Cup. Sorry about that. But anyway, can you just put that connection together for us about why this Islamic Court is such a concern?

PRENDERGAST: Yes, the Islamic courts are a complicated mixture of -- it's a coalition, basically of a number of clan-based smaller courts. Many of them are just conservative courts looking to provide security in Mogadishu.

There's a few of the courts, though, that are associated with people who have long ties to terrorist organizations internationally, and those few bad apples can spoil the whole bunch. We simply don't know yet whether those few bad apples are going to, in fact, take control of the organization, although the early indication is now that Hassan Dahir Awes (ph) has now become head of the overall Islamic Court Union. We now may have a problem, because he does have a long history of support for terrorist groups.

PHILLIPS: All right, now let's go back to when we talked about the Somali warlords, secretly underwritten by the CIA and the Department of Defense. How is that coming back to bite the U.S., or do you think it hasn't gotten that drastic yet? My guess is you're going to say it's been a big problem?

PRENDERGAST: It's yet another very unfortunate chapter in U.S. history in Somalia, where the U.S. provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to warlords every month to try to investigate and follow and actually capture the al Qaeda suspects. They only were successful doing that capturing one of them.

But in the meantime, we empowered all of these forces in Somalia, particularly in Mogadishu, that have been the predators that have been feasting on and creating Somalia's misery now for the last 15 years, and been the principal source of the anarchy that the Islamic courts are coming in against.

So we've actually created and provided support, popular mobilization, for the Islamic Courts to expand their base, and we've allowed for a small element of Somali society to radicalize and now take control of the capital city. And I think this is principally a result of the United States not really understanding the context in which they were engaging and just providing the assistance to big men who they thought could have enforce their objectives. But ultimately, it's blown up in our face.

PHILLIPS: John Prendergast, always appreciate your insight. We'll stay on top of the story, as we always do, and continue to talk with you. Thanks, John.

PRENDERGAST: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Got another developing story in the newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield working that for us. What have we got, Fred?

WHITFIELD: Well, Kyra, yesterday at about this time we were reporting the death of a 12-year-old at the MGM Studios in Orlando, Disney's MGM Studios. Well, today, new information in this developing story.

Susan Candiotti is on the line with us now. And, Susan, what do we understand about this 12-year-old boy now and why he may have died?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We just got a report from the medical examiner's office about the results of the autopsy preliminary findings about 12-year-old Michael Russell, who fell unconscious during a one-minute ride called the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at MGM Studios.

And this is what the statement reads: "No evidence of injury was found, but congenital heart abnormalities were detected, which will be further evaluated. The cause of death," the statement says, "will be left pending until results of additional studies are obtained."

And so, Fred, to recap here, we had a 12-year-old boy who was riding the Rock 'n' Roller coaster yesterday. He collapsed during the ride. His father tried to administer CPR to him, and then they called paramedics. There was no defibrillator at that time. Not knowing whether that would have made a difference. Nevertheless, the boy was pronounced dead at the hospital.

An autopsy was conducted this morning. And according to the statement from the medical examiner in the Orlando area, no evidence of injury found. But they did find some evidence of congenital heart abnormality, which will be studied further. They're leaving the cause of death pending until they complete additional work -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: So terribly sad, Susan. Meantime, while we were awaiting the autopsy results, as well as MGM, of course, was waiting autopsy results they also inspected, I understand, the Rock 'n' Roller rollercoaster ride to make sure and try to determine whether there were any kind of technical problems on that ride. And they learned that everything was all right.

CANDIOTTI: That's right. The ride was shut down need immediately after this happened, not surprisingly. That's the normal routine. And afterwards they did a thorough inspection. Someone from the state of Florida was asked to observe the inspection. And the ride was reopened this morning, reopened this morning, when the park opened up again. Two passengers at 8:00 this morning, and Disney said they could find no problem, no technical problems at all, with the ride. Again, a tragedy all the way around.

WHITFIELD: All right, Susan Candiotti, thanks so much for that update. Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Fred, thanks so much.

Well, weather's always worry when it comes to the space shuttle, and the Space Shuttle Discovery is on the launchpad. Will it lift off tomorrow afternoon or not? We're going to have the latest, coming up next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, a cautious countdown at KSC. NASA says that tomorrow, the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery is a go, weather permitting.

Our technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg joins me now from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Hey, Daniel.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra, that's right. The weather here right now is actually fairly all right here at the Kennedy Space Center, but that's not what matters. What matters is at 3:49 tomorrow afternoon, that's when Shuttle Discovery is scheduled for launch. The launch window is about five minutes or so. So they really don't have much time to work with.

What they're looking for are these thunderstorms that could be in the area. Right now there is a 60 percent chance that the shuttle launch will be delayed by at least a day. They would move it to Sunday and then try again on Tuesday and Wednesday. But there's a 60 percent possibility that these thunderstorms will be in the area. They could cause lightning strikes or rain, and that would just prohibit the shuttle from taking off.

You can probably see the countdown clock over my shoulder. It is stopped at T minus 11 hours. In case you're wondering why that is, that is a planned delay. They are loading in some experiments on board Discovery right now. They're also testing some of the communication systems and that kind of thing. It will pick up again at about 11 p.m. tonight. There are a couple more delays between now and tomorrow and then, of course, they hope it will be a smooth way until the launch. But technically speaking, they say on they're track. It's just the weather at this point -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about some of the other concerns, Daniel. Engineers are really concerned -- once again, it was the foam concern, like what we saw at Columbia. And they don't want to it break off, of course, during takeoff. Now are they still concerned about this? This was something they were talking about a couple days ago. What precautions is NASA taking to prevent it?

SIEBERG: They're absolutely still concerned about it. You'll remember that during Columbia, there was a fairly large piece of foam that came off during its ascent. It was about a pound and a half worth of foam, which is about roughly the size of say a suitcase worth. Big enough to do serious damage to the wing. That caused Columbia to burn up. And, of course, we remember that that killed all seven astronauts on board. So they're still taking it very seriously. With Discovery about a year ago, some foam did come off then. A smaller piece. I would say a briefcase compared to a suitcase. Did not do any serious damage at that time, but they're still going to be keeping an eye on it.

Here I have what the foam looks like. This is a fairly small piece of foam. This piece is about -- gosh, it's really light. I mean, it's .02 pounds. And so it's extremely small. But this piece, this size piece right here, is what they say would be an acceptable size piece to come off the nose of the external fuel tank. There's some different amounts of it throughout the external fuel tank. It's necessary.

And there will be pieces come off regardless. They can't stop that entirely from happening, although they have changed the design of the shuttle a little bit to sort of minimize the amount of foam coming off. They'll also be using a lot of cameras on the ground. Also some planes flying overhead to monitor the foam that's going to come off, assess and see how serious it is.

Plus, when Discovery does dock with the International Space Station, it will, in a sense, go belly-up, and they'll get some high resolution images of that, as well. They'll process all that data and see how safe it is to return to back to Earth -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: That's pretty awesome to see all the cameras working with each other. Nothing something else a lot of people don't know is the launchpad is near a wildlife sanctuary.

SIEBERG: Right.

PHILLIPS: So actually, they worry about birds, as well, right?

SIEBERG: That's right. There are actually hundreds of birds in the area. A lot of vultures, pelicans, you name it. They're all over the place. You might remember back with the Discovery launch about a year ago, there was actually a bird that was struck just as it was starting to take off.

And these vultures can weigh four to six pounds. So if you remember, I mentioned the foam piece being about a pound and a half. These birds can be pretty big. In that case, it didn't do any serious damage. But NASA is taking it very seriously. They're doing a number of things, including using radar -- they're using radar to monitor, to see how many birds are in the area at a particular time.

And as of today -- or yesterday, I should say -- they've started to round up some of the vultures and the birds that are in the area, because it is a wildlife sanctuary. They will protect them. Eventually, they will release them after the launch. And also, because there are a lot of vultures in the area, because it's a wildlife sanctuary, they will protect them. Eventually, they will release them after the launch.

And also, because there are a lot of vultures in the area, they've asked visitors over the last little while to see if there's any roadkill, and they're trying to collect that so that the vultures have to go somewhere else.

So they're trying to clear them out as best they can without doing any harm to the birds, Kyra, but they're taking it all very seriously and hope, of course, it all goes smoothly tomorrow.

PHILLIPS: Daniel, thanks. We'll talk to you again at 3:00 Eastern. Appreciate it.

CNN brings you Discovery countdown to liftoff beginning at 7:00 Eastern tomorrow morning. Be sure to join us for special live coverage with our own Miles O'Brien beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific.

Well, a classic case of she said, she said? LIVE FROM slings some rehash about the biggest drama to hit daytime since Luke and Laura got hitched.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Busy day today. Fredricka Whitfield, you're working something out of Tennessee now.

WHITFIELD: That's right, out of Selmer, Tennessee.

Remember the case of Mary Winkler, the pastor's wife who was arrested in connection with the death of her husband? Well today, during a bond hearing, a statement was read by an FBI agent. The statement, according to the agent, was from Mary Winkler. This taking place at the bond hearing, where in the statement, she reveals that the couple had been arguing about money and that she just snapped.

She told police that she didn't remember actually getting the gun out of the closet, but remembers holding the gun and then hearing a boom. And in the statement, Mary Winkler said that her husband asked why and that she replied only that she was sorry. All that taking place today during a bond hearing in this statement of Mary Winkler, according to the FBI agent who read the statement in court today.

PHILLIPS: Fred, for so long we've been asking that question, why did she do it? We weren't hearing anything about a motive and authorities weren't saying anything about a motive. So now for the first time, we're hearing that she's saying it was about money?

WHITFIELD: That's right.

PHILLIPS: And kids -- she had a couple of kids. We didn't know if it had anything to do with them. So I guess this sort of put some of the speculation at rest.

WHITFIELD: Right. Well, this is the statement that apparently she made to the FBI agent. And, you know, her memory clearly a bit cloudy, according to the statement, but remembering just a few details, you know, about the gun, and about what her husband, his last dying words what he said to her. But, you know, why it had to come to this, no good explanation on that, only that she is saying she clearly snapped. PHILLIPS: All right. Fred, appreciate it. Thanks so much.

Well, after the flood, there's work to do. The Northeast is cleaning up. Straight ahead on CNN, we'll tell you how it's all going down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, did the wedding march morph into taps for Star Jones Reynolds' TV career? Well, in a statement, the ABC Network says that the freebies Star got for her 2004 mega wedding had a negative impact on the show.

Reynolds talked to CNN's Larry King about that angle of a story that seems to have more legs than a millipede.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STAR JONES REYNOLDS, FORMER "VIEW" CO-HOST: I had my own resources outside of "The View" that had nothing to do with my performance on the show. And, yes, Star 100 percent confesses, used my celebrity 100 percent.

And if you ask me, was that a mistake, I'm going to tell you yes. If you ask me if some of my viewers were turned off by it, I'm going to tell you yes. And if you ask me, would I have done it the same way again, I would say no, 100 percent.

And I believe very strongly that when you make those corrections, then either people accept it or they don't.

And, Larry, the ratings, sadly to tell you, were the best ratings that "The View" has ever gotten. In 2004, of the top 10 shows, half of them had to do with the planning of my wedding. Those are the numbers that have been provided.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, tonight, Larry devotes his show to the late Patsy Ramsey, the mother of slain child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. Family members and friends join Larry to remember Patsy Ramsey tonight at 9:00 Eastern.

The second hour of LIVE FROM starts right now.

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