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Suspected Drug Lord Arrested; Plane Diverted for Problem Passenger; London Terror Suspects Before a Judge; More 9/11 Tapes Released; Israelis Returning to Homes on Border; Former President Ford Admitted to Mayo Clinic; Air Travel Restrictions Loosened

Aired August 16, 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, I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
Disruption and diversion. A transatlantic flight. What happened on this plane from Heathrow that prompted U.S. fighters to escort it to Boston?

Fateful phone calls and the sound of fading hope. Today, new recordings of calls made from the World Trade Center on 9/11.

An alleged killer and drug kingpin captured. Is he the brains behind the massive tunnel on the U.S./Mexico border? LIVE FROM starts right now.

An alleged killer and drug kingpin captured. Is he the brains behind the massive tunnel under the Mexican border? Here how the Coast Guard took him down.

LIVE FROM starts right now.

An infamous Mexican drug lord. One of the DEA's most wanted captured by U.S. authorities. Let's get straight to the newsroom. Carol Lin working all the details on this developing story -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: His name is Javier Arellano-Felix. He is a drug kingpin in charge of one of the biggest drug cartels out of Mexico. Infamous, now, for being responsible, allegedly, for that tunnel dug between Tijuana, all the way to the United States and San Diego.

There were felony indictments that were handed down. He was captured off the shore of -- off-shore -- in some kind of off-shore operation. And he's been taken by the U.S. Coast Guard on shore to San Diego. His brother still wanted. The reward for the capture, $5 million.

We're going to hear more about his capture and the implications of this in a 2 p.m. news conference out of the Justice Department. But, you know, Kyra, he is in charge -- he is being charged in a conspiracy to import massive amounts of cocaine and marijuana. This is a big get for the Justice Department. We're going to be finding out more about this at 2 p.m. -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, great. I know you'll bring us the details. Like Carol said, we are expecting that live press conference from the DEA's office in the 2 p.m. hour. We'll bring that to you as soon as it begins. Carol, keep us updated on all the latest details.

Meanwhile, a story now that we've been following much of the morning, a flight from London diverted over a problem passenger. United Airlines 923 was bound for Washington but landed in Boston. It's still scheduled to fly to Dulles Airport. That's where CNN's Gary Nurenberg is, watching and waiting.

Gary, bring us up to date.

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good afternoon, Kyra.

Passenger members -- passengers, rather, and crew members of this flight have been questioned by the TSA about the incident on the London-Dulles flight in which a 60-year-old woman became involved in an altercation on board.

One law -- law enforcement official tells CNN it was with two other passengers, but a spokesman for United Airlines says the altercation was with members of the crew itself. That law enforcement spokesman said it is important to point out that, in his view, there was no security threat and tells CNN this incident is, quote, "not related to terrorism."

We have to be frank that in the developing stages of this story, we are getting conflicting information. One security source tells CNN that the woman was found in the possession of Vaseline, matches, two notes and a screwdriver. One of those notes in English mentioning al Qaeda. The other in Arabic.

However, an FBI source tells CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena that the FBI has no information about the Vaseline or screwdrivers, and that source says she had nothing that was threatening at all.

The pilot viewed the incident, whatever took place, as serious enough to divert to Logan Airport in Boston, where he landed the Boeing 767 with 182 passengers and 12 crew members at 10:13 this morning. He was escorted by jet fighters as he made that approach, the military having been advised on what happened on board.

Passengers were escorted off the aircraft, which was parked in a remote area of Logan, on the runway there. All of the bags were taken from the plane and were put on the runway. You can see bomb-sniffing dogs going over them for explosives.

There are some family members here at Dulles who are now awaiting the arrival of this plane, which is now hours late. We have no indication yet as to whether the exact plane, that 767, will be cleared for take off or whether authorities want to keep it in Boston.

The airline says it is trying to determine now whether the law enforcement officials will give them access to the plane or whether they should schedule a different flight to bring those passengers here. But at this point, Kyra, the story continues to unfold. That is the essence, rather, of what we know.

PHILLIPS: So Gary, we don't know when exactly the plane will land at Dulles at this point?

NURENBERG: Much depends on the questioning of passengers and crew in Boston, which at last report was still ongoing. That last conversation that we had with United, it did not know when the plane would leave.

PHILLIPS: Gary Nurenberg, thanks so much.

Well, formal charges are still up in the air, so it's up to the judge in London to decide if the suspects in the airline bomb plot should stay locked up. In the meantime, British airport screeners may have some explaining to do and other security scares.

CNN's Dan Rivers is following a number of stories for us. He joins us now live from Scotland Yard.

Bring us up to date, Dan.

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, 23 of the 24 people currently in custody in connection with this alleged terror plot have been appearing via a video link to a courthouse just around the corner from me now all day. It's a long, lengthy process.

What's happening are the police are putting the evidence before a judge to try and convince the judge that they should hold some of these suspects for a further period of time, probably another week.

We still don't know what the decision of that judge is yet. But it wouldn't be unusual for the judge to extend that period of detention. That has happened on numerous other similar cases before.

This is the first time, though, the police have used new laws which enable them to hold these suspects for up to 28 days. And what will happen is each week they will have to go back before that judge to ask once again for a further period of detention. This is the first time that's happened.

So that process is ongoing. It's a long, lengthy slow process. It's 23 people to get through, all done under high security, via a video link.

PHILLIPS: Dan Rivers, thanks so much.

Well, has it really been five years? Yes, today, New York City is releasing more tapes of emergency calls made on 9/11, desperate last words that have never been heard in public. CNN's Allan Chernoff is at a news conference where families of some of those victims are reacting.

What's the sense, Allan? ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, that news conference is just getting under way. We're actually at the newsroom at CNN here. But these calls as certainly as tragic as ever, even though it has been five years.

Most of these calls, more than 1,600, actually involved the fire department of New York. They're primarily internal phone calls and communications between dispatchers and firefighters themselves. And they illustrate the chaos that occurred on that fateful day.

As a matter of fact, one fire chief on these phone calls saying that "we are in a state of confusion." And, of course, the confusion is very clear from so many of these calls, a lot of off-duty firefighters wondering where they should go and a lot of mistakes made, of course, on that terrible, terrible day.

We do, within these 1,600 calls, have 10 calls that were made by civilians from inside of the World Trade Center. One of those, Melissa Doy. Her call, one of her calls, was actually used during the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the 9/11 conspirator who did plead guilty. And in that call from Melissa Doy, you hear her, first of all, talking with a 911 operator. That portion had been released during the trial.

Today, we have additional information from that call, the 911 operator staying on the line, talking to Melissa Doy as she apparently is overcome by smoke. The 911 operator continuing to say, "Don't worry, things will be OK. Say your prayers." And she keeps talking, the operator does, even as there is no response anymore from Melissa Doy.

So just a reminder of the tragedy, of course, of 9/11. And at this hour, family members are commenting on the release of these tapes -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Allan Chernoff, thank you.

Hezbollah rockets day after day. They turned many populated pockets of Northern Israel into ghost town. Now, like Lebanese on the other side of the border, Israelis are slowly trying to restart their lives.

CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney is watching the homecoming.

Fionnuala, definitely not easy.

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, day three of the ceasefire here and it does appear to be holding along the Israeli- Lebanese border. And as a result, as you mentioned, thousands of residents of towns and community across the north of this country beginning to return home.

Earlier in the day, we went to the town of Kiryat Shmona. That has a population of some 24,000 people, the vast majority of whom fled over the last months of this conflict because Kiryat Shmona has sustained almost daily rocket barrages. We caught up with one family, the Coens (ph), who were returning to their home after being away in Jerusalem for more than a month.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SWEENEY (voice-over): Coming home after the war. Mali Coen (ph) and her three children just arrived at Kiryat Shmona after sitting out the conflict at her sister's home in Jerusalem.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It was pleasant for me. I felt safer and the kids were safer spending their summer vacation in Jerusalem.

SWEENEY: Kiryat Shmona is known as Katyusha capital. Located within minutes from the border with Lebanon, rockets rained down on the city almost daily for more than a month, resulted in about 80 percent of its residents seeking refuge farther south.

Three days in to the ceasefire, the Coens (ph) are picking up the pieces. And while they don't expect the ceasefire to last, for them, there is only one winner.

"I don't think that Nasrallah won," she says. "He didn't win. I just think that there were some mistakes. But I believe everything will be OK. They cannot beat us."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I think the shooting should be stopped and there should be peace.

SWEENEY: Afak's (ph) father, Yigal (ph), stayed behind while his family went south. Last week, he was injured when a rocket exploded nearby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nasrallah is crazy, very, very crazy. He -- after seeing yesterday's talk, I see he is crazy. Ahmadinejad, Iran, crazy No. 1, crazy.

SWEENEY (on camera): Why do you stay?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because three peoples want the walk (ph), want to kill everybody in Israel.

SWEENEY (voice-over): Few expectations in the Coen (ph) family that the ceasefire will last. But as long as it does and even if it doesn't, the Coens say they won't be quitting Kiryat Shmona.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my city. This is my country I love. And not going to leave.

SWEENEY: "This is Israel. God is with us," he says.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SWEENEY: That is the really much the view reflected in the majority of people living in this part of Northern Israel. The sense, Kyra, that they may not have totally won this war. It may have been put off for another day. But Nasrallah, in their view, will never beat them -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Fionnuala, meanwhile, what's happening to the Israeli troops there on the border?

SWEENEY: Well, yesterday we went to a base camp where we had seen a lot of armored personnel carriers and tanks streaming across the border from Southern Lebanon.

We went back there again today, and there were fewer APCs and tanks. Indeed, we've been seeing far fewer tanks and APCs coming across the border, an indication that, at least in this part of Northern Israel, the numbers of troops and deployments are decreasing.

Now, the Israeli military say that at midnight tonight the Lebanese army is to begin deploying its forces in Southern Lebanon. And throughout the next couple of days gradually the Israeli military will hand over the posts and the place that they've occupied to the Lebanese military, pending the incoming force of that international operation -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Fionnuala Sweeney, thank you.

Well, an infamous Mexican drug lord, one of the DEA's most wanted, captured by U.S. authorities. Hear how the Coast Guard took him down. We're expecting a live press conference from the DEA's office. We'll bring it to you as soon as it begins.

The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So, how's he doing? The question everyone's asking after former President Ford is admitted to Mayo Clinic.

CNN's Brianna Keilar is in Rochester, Minnesota.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former President Gerald Ford is at the Mayo Clinic for testing and evaluation. That's the official word coming from representatives, as well as the former president's aide. They are not being specific about exactly what those tests are for.

We do know that former President Ford has been in the hospital several times in recent years. In 2000, he suffered a mild stroke during the Republican National Convention, and in 2003 he suffered a dizzy spell while playing golf in 96 degree heat.

More recently, in December he was admitted to the hospital. But one of his aides said that was for tests that had already scheduled. Though that was not the case in January. Suffering from pneumonia, he was admitted to the hospital for 12 days. And then more recently, in July, he was admitted for shortness of breath. As far as we can tell at this point, this admittance into the Mayo Clinic is the first time the former president has gone to a hospital in recent years that is not near one of his home communities in Colorado or California. And at this point, Mayo Clinic officials telling us that no further releases or updates are anticipated before early next week.

Brianna Keilar, CNN, Rochester, Minnesota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: No drugs, no radiation, no operations, possibly the best prescription for some men with early stage prostate cancer. A University of Michigan team found about half of prostate cancer patients are over treated, getting surgery or radiation when managing their disease would work.

That doesn't mean ignoring it. Men who opt to watch and wait need regular checkups, with aggressive treatment always a possibility later.

Well, they rushed to save lives at the World Trade Center. Some never made it back. Now their voices are heard again. Straight ahead on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, the airline's ban on liquids and gels has been tough on duty free stores. But now some of their most popular products are getting a pass.

Cheryl Casone is live from the New York Stock Exchange with more on that.

Hey, Cheryl.

CHERYL CASONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Kyra.

Talking a lot about air safety today. The Transportation Safety Administration has relaxed its ban on liquids bought in airport duty free stores only.

The new rules will allow passengers to take duty free items on board if they're delivered directly on to the plane by store workers. And that's because duty free products are relatively secure, as opposed to items that passengers are bringing from home or buying outside of the terminal.

This move, a huge relief for the $27 billion a year duty-free business, which relies heavily on sales of wine, liquor and perfumes for more than half of its revenue. Big dollars -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, despite the change, passengers, well, they still have to do without things like toothpaste, mouthwash. Are they getting any help? CASONE: Actually, this is kind of interesting. Leave it to big business. Some travel companies are stepping in to fill the void left by the security restrictions.

Avis is teaming up with Procter & Gamble to give away Crest products to travelers that are renting cars at the country's 25 busiest airports. Eos airlines, which is an upscale carrier that flies from New York to London with only 48 lucky passengers per trip, is offering free toothpaste, saline solution and makeup.

And for your really fussy travelers out there, Omni Hotels is giving guests free Kiehl's face moisturizers, French manicure kits and Aveda lip gloss. Because Kyra, I always do French manicures when I travel.

PHILLIPS: I was going to say. Kind of fun while you're passing time, right?

All right. What else is happening on Wall Street?

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, an infamous drug lord captured by U.S. authorities. Carol Lin has been working on the details on this developing story -- Carol.

LIN: Kyra, we're going to hear more in about 35 minutes from the Justice Department. But this is what we know.

Javier Arellano-Felix captured by U.S. authorities in some kind of off-shore operation off the coast of California. Arellano-Felix in the custody of the U.S. Coast Guard right now.

He is on the top of the Drug Enforcement Agency's most wanted list. There was a reward posted for $5 million for information leading to his capture.

The felony indictments include conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and marijuana on a massive scale. And you might recall, Kyra, the -- remember that tunnel that was dug all the way from Tijuana, all the way -- close to San Diego?

PHILLIPS: Yes, we did stories on that, a number of them.

LIN: That's right. Anderson Cooper gave us an inside tour of that tunnel.

He is implicated in this. This is one of the things that authorities say that he is responsible for. So we're going to be hearing more from Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, expected to formally announce his arrest and hopefully more details about this off-shore operation that got him.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll be following it. Carol, thanks. Well, communication was his specialty, his expertise, his sorely needed skill in the fight for Iraq, but then he said too much. Today, he's a former U.S. soldier whose story translates into a big problem for the military that kicked him out.

Here's CNN's Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wanted, a few good men and women who speak Arabic. For the U.S. military in Iraq, Arabic translators are absolutely vital. In some cases, Iraqis are preferred because they understand a lot more nuance, but there aren't enough to go around, plus Iraqi civilians generally cannot qualify for top secret clearances. So as of last year, the army had by one estimate about 1,850 Arabic speakers in uniform. That's right, fewer than 2,000 to translate for the tens of thousands of people it had on the ground in Iraq.

IAN FINKENBINDER, FORMER ARMY TRANSLATOR: I was collecting information on the streets with Iraqi civilians.

JOHNS: At the start of the war, Ian Finkenbinder was in the army. A trained cryptologic linguist, intercepting and interpreting intelligence information, doing critical work in Baghdad.

FINKENBINDER: Location of weapons, caches, locations of insurgent headquarters, who was insurgents, et cetera, et cetera.

JOHNS: He was so good that when his tour in Iraq ended, everyone wanted him to stay. So if Arabic speaking soldiers are so essential, why are we meeting Finkenbinder in this Baltimore coffee shop instead of a forward operating base in Iraq? If you guessed the answer, it's because Finkenbinder is no longer trying to hide it.

FINKENBINDER: I said that I was a gay soldier and would like to continue serving in the army as an openly gay soldier.

JOHNS: And that decision to come out and finally say what everyone in his unit knew or suspected, forced his commander to kick him out.

FINKENBINDER: It's really a waste -- a waste of time, talent and money.

JOHNS: Over a ten-year period, it happened to about 11,000 U.S. military personnel a study shows, at a cost of more than $363 million. Under the so-called don't ask, don't tell policy, gays in uniform have to keep their sexual orientation a secret, or they're out. Researcher Nathaniel Frank tracked this issue for years, he says a lot of people fired under the policy held sensitive jobs.

NATHANIEL FRANK, U.C. SANTA BARBARA: 800 of those have been mission-critical specialist. Over 300 have been linguists and over 55 of those have been Arabic linguists and we have a dire shortage of those. So we're really causing a brain drain here. JOHNS: The policy has always been controversial, but even now there are many who say there should be an outright ban on gays in the military.

PETER SPRIGG, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: It's not just a matter of prejudice. It's a matter of not wanting to be put into those intimate situations with someone of the same sex who may be viewing you as a sexual object.

JOHNS: Finkenbinder says many in his unit knew he was gay and there were never any problems, but there is a problem for the military. The policy is costing hundreds of millions of dollars and leaving the military short of Arabic-speaking soldiers in a region where understanding the language can mean the difference between life and death. Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

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