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Faces Of Some of 24 Terror Suspects Under Arrest in Britain; U.N. Draft Resolution in Hands of Security Council; Mike Douglas Passes Away; Mike Wallace Interview

Aired August 11, 2006 - 15:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The logjam eases. Air travelers carry on, without carrying on very much.
Here's what we know right now.

London's Heathrow is slowly, but surely returning to normal, or what's becoming the new normal. The only bags going into the cabin are clear plastic and beyond that to get to ride, passengers don't get to take much else.

In the U.S., homeland security chief Michael Chertoff meets with TSA staff at Reagan National Airport. He says security will remain as passenger friendly as possible.

U.S., U.K. and Pakistani investigators are still working the al Qaeda angle. Two of the 24 suspects now in custody reportedly met with a Pakistani thought to be linked to that terror group. He is still at large.

And for the first time on CNN, you are about to see the faces of some of the 24 terror suspects under arrest in Britain. Some are teenagers. Some are related and those who know them say all of them are innocent. More now from ITN's Paul Davies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL DAVIES, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fasil (ph) Hussain says he hasn't slept his three sons were arrested by the police on Wednesday night.

He wanted to protest their innocence but broke down in front of our camera, leaving a close family friend to answer our questions about the three brothers arrested here at their home in Walthamstow. Tanvir, Umair, and Nabeel Hussain.

You know them as well as anybody?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody.

DAVIES: Have they shown any signs of being radicalized or talking about violence or anything ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at all, Paul, not at all, without a shadow of a doubt, anyone who knows them. He's the father. I know them, the community knows him. Anybody who knows his three children will swear on the Koran, anything, that -- to say they are innocent.

DAVIES: The father is convinced the police have made a mistake.

He insists his children have nothing to do with anything like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Paul. They went to pray. They went to pray and that's their guilt. They went to pray and they are Muslim.

DAVIES: The names of 24 people arrested in London, High Wycombe and Birmingham are now known, their details and some of the faces emerging. One is Don Stewart White who changed to Abdul Waheed after converting to Islam some months ago. He's 19, he lives in this house in High Wycombe. It's thought he's the ton of a former Tory counselor and recently married.

There's Amjad Sarwar who was arrested with his brother. He's 28, from High Wycombe and is thought to be married with children. On an Internet dating site, he called himself kind and honest and says he reads everything and loves cricket.

Many of those arrested come from a small area of Walthamstow in East London.

(on camera): Waheed Zaman who was arrested when police burst into this house in Queen's Road, Walthamstow on Wednesday night was a student of biochemistry described as a highly intelligent and serious young man, he was also head of the Islamic Council at London's Metropolitan University.

Just a few streets away, this house in Ravenswood Road, Walthamstow was also raided by police and we now know the 23-year-old man arrested here, Amin Tariq has worked as a security officer at Heathrow Airport for the last few years.

(voice-over): But again and again we know that those who know the accused questioning the police intelligence. Intiaz Kadir (ph) told me he knows six of those arrested and they are not terrorists.

Do you think they could be capable of any of the things that are being talked about?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, definitely not. I know at least three of the gentlemen since they were children. I know that they are very good-natured, and very gentle. Practicing young Muslims.

DAVIES: Almost all those arrested are young with family's like Fasil Hussain's, waiting to hear what will happen to them.

Paul Davies, ITV News, East London.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: New hopes for a peace resolution at the U.N.. Breaking news from the United Nations. Let's get right to CNN's senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth, with the latest. Richard?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, we have here in our hands, well, the draft resolution as worked on by the United States, Britain and France. Haven't read it all the way through but the United States is ready to present this to a vote in a matter of hours. We can tell you under this resolution, 15,000 U.N. troops would monitor the withdrawal of the Israeli soldiers and then help the Lebanese army enforce a truce.

Now it calls also for a full cessation of hostilities but it does not say whether this should be immediate or not. The resolution does ask Israel to get its forces out of southern Lebanon at the earliest. There will be in about three hours, a meeting of ministers, Condoleezza Rice, the British foreign secretary and the French foreign minister and maybe some others, they will likely vote maybe as early as that hour.

Should consultations under way now pave the way for that to take place. So it's a very fluid diplomatic situation, U.S. officials think Lebanon is ready to accept this and getting indications that Israel is ready to accept this. It would be a more robust U.N. peace- keeping mission, though.

Right now there's a meager 2,000-man deployment that's been there since 1978, basically to monitor old truces and other withdrawals by Israel. Now the word is under this resolution, they will be given more strength to try to police that area. The test will be when troops get on the ground and see where Hezbollah is and what Israel does. Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So the next move then is just waiting to see what happens with the vote, right, Richard?

ROTH: That's the big thing is waiting to see if the vote takes place, then they would have to, as one minister says, the test will be whether Lebanon and Israel fully accept it.

PHILLIPS: OK. Keep us updated, Richard Roth from the U.N.. Thanks so much.

Well, presidents of Iran tend to get their views across in big speeches or statements in state run media. But not always. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a rare TV interview to CNN's Christiane Amanpour not long after taking office last September. Well, this week, among everything going on in the Middle East, he sat down with Mike Wallace and Mike will tell us all about it straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, as you just heard from our Richard Roth at the U.N., a draft resolution is in print and in the hands of Security Council leaders. Does this mean peace in the Middle East or at least one step closer?

CNN's Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler joins us now from the capital with reaction, but first, Brent I am being told you got word of a convoy hit by Israeli gunfire in the Bekaa Valley?

BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, Kyra. Some breaking news just in. I can confirm according to Lebanese security sources that a convoy consisting of United Nations vehicles escorting Lebanese army troops, some 200 of them in their vehicles, out of the position deep in the danger don have been hit deem in the western Bekaa Valley near the town of Fariyah (ph) famous for its wine here in Lebanon.

This strike, we understand, according to Lebanon's acting interior minister, Ahmed Fatfad (ph) has killed three and injured 10 as a result of that strike. It's understood the casualties include Lebanese soldiers as well as civilians. Security sources on the ground here say they believe an unarmed plane, a drone armed with two missiles, unleashed those missiles and attacked that convoy made up of vehicles from the Lebanese army as well as the United Nation's peacekeepers in Lebanon. So a very serious development there, Kyra.

On the diplomatic front there now may be a solution, a diplomatic solution hovering over the battlefield of southern Lebanon. There is expected to be a vote at the United Nations Security Council in the coming hours as Richard Roth was reporting. The text of that resolution now in the hands of members. And there is cautious optimism in the office of the Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora that this will see a lot of traction out of New York and hopefully response on the ground.

Now, the parliamentary majority leader, Saad Hariri, had this to sigh about the ongoing diplomatic effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAAD HARIRI, LEBANESE CABINET MEMBER: I think if you look four days ago where we were, and where we are today, I think we are very close, finally, final status in that (ph).

SADLER: So the beginning of the end of the war, do you think?

HARIRI: I think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SADLER: Diplomats have been working close to the wire to get the final pieces in place so that final draft could be put before the Security Council but this really is, if it comes into effect, Kyra, going to be a very complex and dangerous mission that would involve international peacekeepers working hand in hand with the Lebanese army to create a situation where the heavy fighting could stop after that vote, if it's passed, within days, and it could see Security -- it could see United Nations, helmeted peacekeepers on the ground soon afterwards and eventually it would hope to lead to a more permanent solution to separate Hezbollah from Israeli forces and give Israel the border guarantees that Israel demands and hopefully lead to exchange of prisoners.

But all that is a long way to go. Initially they are trying to stop the heavy fighting which means preventing Hezbollah rockets hitting Israel and Israel continuing with its heavy offensive actions. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Brent Sadler live form Beirut. Thanks, Brent.

Back to the U.K. airline plot now, one day after new security rules went into effect at U.S. airports, many travelers are still trying to get the hang of what is and is not allowed. You probably know by now that liquids and gels are prohibited, including beverages, lotions, creams, toothpaste and hair gels.

But you can still carry on baby formula, breast milk or juice if you are traveling with a baby. Essential medicine is also allowed.

Laptops computers, cell phones and other electronic items, including iPods are also still permitted on domestic trips. These of course are the current rules, as any frequent flier can tell you, things are always subject to change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Strange as it may seem these days, there used to be a time when you could go to the airport, show them your ticket and get on the plane, no security lines, no metal detectors, no questions asked. U.S. airport security began to evolve after a series of hijackings in the late 1960s, some involving fugitives seeking a safe haven in Fidel Castro's Cuba. President Richard Nixon started the Sky Marshal program in 1970, but the marshals couldn't be on every plane. In 1972, the FAA gave the airlines one month to start searching all passengers and their baggage.

Those who remembered when flying was considered luxury transportation complained. They said metal detectors and security lines had taken the romance out of flight but the precautions seem to work and they quickly became the new norm.

In the mid 1980s, check-in agents began asking two questions that frequent flyers could soon recite by heart, has anyone unknown to you asked you to pack a bag on this flight? Have any of the items you are traveling with been out of your immediate control since the time you packed them?

For anyone who wanted to get on the plane the answers were obvious. After the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, the FAA started screening portable computers and radios more carefully especially on flights from Europe and the Middle East. By and large it seemed to work. It seemed to be enough until 9/11.

In the wake of the worst terror attack in U.S. history, the government took over direct responsibility for airport security and announced new precautions. Some of them didn't last. A short-lived ban on paper or foam cups, for instance, and a ban on small scissors.

Others did. We are still taking off our shoes as we go through security. Now in the face of the latest airline security scare, new restrictions on carry-ons. If history is any guide, some of them may be rescinded. But others may become the new norm. Just the latest restrictions for travel in an increasingly complicated world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, singer, sailor, star maker, Mike Douglas was all of that and more. After his service in World War II he joined the big band of Kate Kaiser (ph) but his real fame came as one of the first afternoon talk show hosts on that new medium, television. His guests included everyone from Tiny Tim to Tiger Woods, Richard Nixon to the Rolling Stones, family and friends who planned to celebrate Douglas' 81st birthday, well, they are mourning his death instead.

Among them, CNN's own legendary talk show host, Larry King.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: The first thing you think of and anyone would say this about Mike Douglas, is -- nice guy. He was a genuine nice guy, you didn't see a mean bone in his body and he was a heck of a singer. He had a major hit record once called "The Men in My Little Girl's Life." It was impossible to listen to that record and not cry. He had a geniality about him. It was easy to be around him. He wasn't the world's most incisive interviewer but he had a relaxed measure about him and he also had an incredibility ability to get great guests.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Remember entertainer Mike Douglas, dead at 81.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, back in March I sat in this very chair and asked Mike Wallace what he planned to do with his so-called retirement. Well now I have a better idea. On Tuesday he scored an eye-popping interview with the colorful, controversial, sometimes caustic president of Iran and LIVE FROM has scored another interview with Mike.

Mike, thanks for being with us.

MIKE WALLACE, CBS CORRESPONDENT (on phone): My pal. You know something, I saw you, we watched CNN over there in Tehran. And it's fascinating what a good job CNN does.

PHILLIPS: Well, we've been lucky actually to have unique access there, Mike. Our Aneesh Raman got exclusive access to actually do reports from there, so it's nice to know that you have been able to be in touch with what is happening there as you were there, sitting down with the country's president, why did you want to do the interview, Mike.

WALLACE: Why would you want to interview the president of Iran at this moment. The man calling to have Israel wiped off the map and who has called the Holocaust a fairy tale, he's a fascinating man, Kyra, really. PHILLIPS: You know, this is someone who said that the Holocaust never happened. Mike, you are Jewish. What was it like to sit face- to-face with this man, knowing he said that and have to interview him?

WALLACE: I asked him about the Holocaust, obviously, and I think you will be interested in his reply about all that. What he believes is, look, the Holocaust took place in Germany. Then put Israel in Germany, or put Israel in the United States, don't put it in his neighborhood you know, in Jerusalem or whatever. It's an argument.

But the man is -- he's a fascinating guy, a true believer, self- assured, self-righteous, he's an interesting man, he's a really interesting, thoughtful guy.

PHILLIPS: But he's controversial. And I want to ask you a question now, you have quite the reputation in Iran, you always seem to score the big interviews there. We could never forget 1979 with Ayatollah Khomeini, you asked the now famous question, here it is. Let's take a listen.

WALLACE: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Imam, President Sadat of Egypt, a devoutly religious man, a Muslim, says that what you are doing now is, quote, a disgrace to Islam and he calls you, imam, forgive me, his words not mine, a lunatic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: OK, so, mike, let me ask you this, because the president of the United States has said, hey, Iran is the axis of evil. Ahmadinejad many leaders say is a madman, is a lunatic.

WALLACE: The man is not a lunatic.

PHILLIPS: So you didn't do the "forgive me Mr. President these are not my words, but others, they believe you're a mad man" you didn't ask him that.

WALLACE: I asked him everything that you would have been happy to hear me ask him. All the questions, why would you want Israel wiped off the map? He acknowledged, of course, that the Holocaust took place, but he believes that if the Holocaust took place in Germany, well that's where Israel should have set itself up as a state.

Look, all I'm telling you is he is a fascinating man, savvy, self-assured. Genuinely interesting fellow.

PHILLIPS: Well, you got into some good q and a with him. Let's listen to what he said about attacking Americans when you asked him about that.

WALLACE: Yes. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: You have a special unit of martyr seekers in your Revolutionary Guard. They claim they have 52,000 trained suicide bombers ready to attack American and British targets if America should attack Iran.

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is unfortunate. You are thinking about the bomb as well.

WALLACE: I am thinking about reality. I have asked the question, do you have ...

AHMADINEJAD: Yes, I am talking about reality, as well, and your thoughts have been put on paper, and I see.

WALLACE: Oh, of course.

AHMADINEJAD: So, are you expecting the Americans to threaten us, and we sit idly by and watch them? With our hands tied.

WALLACE: Have Americans threatened you?

AHMADINEJAD: We have a long civilization, a very ancient civilization and culture.

And also we believe in talking. We believe in dialogue and thinking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Interesting, believing in dialogue, believing in thinking, yet, he didn't hesitate when you asked him about attacking Americans.

WALLACE: No. Look. This is a man, Iran, the president of Iran, supports and has for, I don't know, 20 years, Hezbollah. They give them $100 million a year. Iran does that. And they make missiles and rockets in Iran and send those missiles and rockets to Hezbollah. What can I tell you, it's a crazy world, isn't it?

PHILLIPS: Yes, it is, and some say he's a crazy man. Mike, he sure follows you. He even asked you, he thought he got out of retirement and obviously you said, nope, that's not the case. We're sitting here together.

WALLACE: That's correct.

PHILLIPS: I don't think you are ever going to retire Mike but we are looking forward to the "60 Minutes" interview this coming Sunday. I appreciate your time.

WALLACE: You're a dear.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Mike.

WALLACE: Bye.

PHILLIPS: Susan Lisovicz has the closing bell after a quick break. You are watching LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Wolf Blitzer live in THE SITUATION ROOM. He will be interviewing secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. You won't want to miss that, once again, Condi Rice in THE SITUATION coming up in just about, I believe it's 5:15 Eastern Time, that interview, yes, should air.

Also, Susan Lisovicz, we have the closing bell coming up but I want to let you know we got a call from the TSA, we had something wrong in our script. Juice is prohibited. If you are going to the airport and ready to fly we have said the wrong thing and we apologize, public affairs called, juice is prohibited.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And the TSA would know, got that, Kyra, thank you.

PHILLIPS: Check. OK. Now, explain this to me, big terror threat yesterday, the market goes up, good consumer spending numbers today, the market sells off. Please make sense of that.

LISOVICZ: It's perverse, I know, not only that, Tuesday, remember, we have been telling you for months investors clamoring for the Fed to stop raising rates. The Fed stops on Tuesday and guess what, the market sells off.

You can't call the market -- I can always give you an explanation that's coming from some camps but it's just unpredictable. It's volatile. The market defied a lot of expectations yesterday, showed resiliency, but then you had these strong numbers for retail for spending today. And now there is this fear of inflation again. Kyra, great job ...

PHILLIPS: Have a good weekend.

LISOVICZ: You as well, great interview with Mike Wallace, and there you see it's been a tough week for the markets, all three averages down on the week and down on the day. Now let's go to Wolf Blitzer and THE SITUATION ROOM live from Jerusalem.

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