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CNN Live Today

Fourteen U.S. Marines Killed Near Haditha; Discovery Gap Filler Threat Gone; All 309 Passengers Alive After Plane Crash

Aired August 03, 2005 - 10:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The very latest in a live report from Baghdad straight ahead.
Also in Iraq, U.S. officials there confirm American Journalist Steven Vincent was found shot to death earlier today. His body was discovered in the southern city of Basra. That's not far from where he and his female interpreter were abducted by gunmen yesterday. She was wounded. Vincent had been in Basra several weeks and was writing a book about the city.

About 220 miles overhead, an unprecedented shuttle repair mission. Discovery astronaut Steve Robinson successfully removed two pieces of ceramic material that had been sticking out along the bottom of the orbiter. A live update on that is ahead as well.

About an hour ago in Canada, officials announced they'll be looking at everything, including weather conditions, to determine what caused the crash landing of an Air France jet in Toronto yesterday. That plane was landing under a heavy rainstorm when it overshot the runway and burst into flames. Amazingly, all 309 people on board escaped alive. A live report about 10 minutes away.

Good morning. I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. Let's get started.

We are following a developing story this hour. One that involves at least 14 U.S. Marines who have been killed in Western Iraq. This would be the deadliest roadside bombing of American troops since the start of the war and latest flash point in an extraordinarily violent 10 day period. Our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr is following the latest developments, as is CNN's Aneesh Raman in Baghdad.

Aneesh, let's begin with you in Baghdad.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning.

Word came from the military on the ground this morning, they confirmed that 14 U.S. Marines and a civilian interpreter died earlier today northwest of the capitol city in the town of Haditha. It was the result of a roadside bomb detonating as their assault vehicles went by. That area is in Alambar (ph) province, an area that is a hotbed of insurgent activity where ongoing operations exist to try and curb the flow of foreign fighters.

And to underscore that point, just in the past three days, 21 U.S. Marines have died. You'll recall that on Monday, seven were killed in two separate incidences. Six of them in Haditha itself as they were on a foot protocol killed by small arms fire. A seventh killed not far from there by a suicide bomber.

All of this underscoring, Daryn, how dangerous parts of this country remain and further complicating the discussions that are taking place between the U.S. military and the Iraqi government about any potential troop reduction in the months and year ahead. They had been planning all along to do it on a city by city basis. Cities that meet a certain list of criteria would begin the hand-over. But now the thought is that those cities once handed over, if they weren't insurgent targets before, could become exactly that. And these deaths again underscoring that the fight goes on in Iraq.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Aneesh Raman in Baghdad, thank you.

Now concerning that attack two days ago where the seven marines were killed, our Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon with new information on that.

Barbara, hello.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Daryn.

Well certainly one of the questions here now is whether there is a new insurgent offensive in Western Iraq. As Aneesh says, this is a very troubled area. No indication U.S. troops would be able to pull out any time soon.

The Marines are now conducting a full investigation into what happened Monday in Haditha, the same general area where those 14 marines were killed today. On Monday, six marines, they were all expert snipers, were killed in Haditha. We are told they were on foot. They were essentially on a foot patrol when they came under small arms attack.

This is very unusual in terms of the fact the first five Marines were killed in the initial attack by these insurgents apparently who were carrying guns, rifles, that sort of thing. If the Marines were outside of their vehicles, they would have had a lot of protective gear on. It's not clear how the insurgents came so quickly upon these Marines and were able to ambush them.

But part of the investigation is looking into something that is still very peculiar, the sixth Marine, the sixth man to be killed in this Monday ambush, was found dead about three miles away from his other five colleagues. The Marines are very urgently looking into this. What they don't know is what happened to the sixth man. Is it possible he was in captivity at some point briefly, taken three miles away and then was killed? They are looking into all of this. All six Marines, Daryn, were are told, were found stripped of their weapons, their radios, and their communications gear. The Marines are also scouring the town to see if any of that equipment shows up.

Daryn. KAGAN: Very disturbing reports. Barbara Starr, thank you for that.

Also from Iraq, insurgents have killed an American journalist. Steven Vincent was abducted and shot to death in Basra. His freelance work had appeared in "The Wall Street Journal," "Harper's" and "The Christian Science Monitor." In Sunday's "New York Times" Vincent wrote in an op-ed piece, "security sector reform is failing the very people it is intended to serve: average Iraqis who simply want to go about their lives. As has been widely reported of late, Basran politics (and everyday life) is increasingly coming under the control of Shiite religious groups."

We move on now. Five minutes past the hour. Mission accomplished. Just over an hour ago, U.S. Astronaut Steve Robinson successfully plucked two pieces of ceramic fabric from the underbelly of the shuttle. The procedure is considered both risky and unprecedented. It came amid concerns that the material could create overheating on reentry. That is a concern no more. Our Space Correspondent Miles O'Brien is in New York City, and from Tallahassee, Florida, we welcome former Discovery Commander Norm Thagard.

Gentlemen, good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.

DR. NORM THAGARD, FMR. NASA MIR ASTRONAUT: Good morning.

KAGAN: Miles, let's start with you. We were watching this just sometime within the last hour or so. Astronaut Steve Robinson made this look pretty darn easy.

O'BRIEN: You know, all the terms we used, Daryn, on this, it seems didn't seem apt when it finally happened. We called it high stakes. We called it dangerous. We called it unprecedented. All the things we used. And when we saw it, it was a cringe, or so it seems. But, of course, all of this has to do with the prep work which lead up to it.

Astronaut Steve Robinson, as you look at some live pictures as they wrap up their space walk now. They're kind of in the final stages. They had some other tasks on their agenda which were there previously and this space walk would have happened regardless, it's just the gap filler removals was added on after NASA took a look at some imagery of the space shuttle orbiter. As it approached the international space station last week, they saw the two protruding pieces of gap filler kind of like a paint chip or something like that, that kind of consistency, sticking out between some tiles. And Steve Robinson made his way over there, his feet braced on the end of the space station's robotic arm and , there you go, one, two, three . . .

KAGAN: A little pluck.

O'BRIEN: Walla. A pluck. A pluck and there it went. And that was it, you know, and he was ready with forceps and he had a hacksaw and all kinds of plan a's b's, c's and d's because that's what you do in space. But in the end, it came out simply.

Now let's remind people why this is important. That gap filler, first of all, not having it is not as big a concern because it's there primarily to stop chattering during launch. It may allow a little extra heating in but it's much worse if this scenario occurs, which is the gap filler is still there, creates a wake a turbulent wake of very hot plasma gas on reentry. The shuttle relies upon a very smooth flow of plasma over it as it enters the atmosphere at speeds of mock 25, bleeding that speed down. And anything that is not smooth creates turbulence, which creates a hot spot, which is not a good thing. And so now, not having those gap fillers there makes NASA breath a little easier.

We listened to Steve Robinson we saw that second gap filler come out. We didn't have a good camera view of the first one. But let's listen to him as he described what happened when he went to the first gap filler.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE ROBINSON: OK. I'm grasping it and I'm pulling. It's coming out very easily. Beautiful. Very nice.

UNKNOWN MALE: OK, Steve. DTA (ph) (INAUDIBLE) away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: There you go. He's grasping it. It's coming up beautiful. I expected him to say, I'm going to Disney World or something but . . .

KAGAN: He's on a better ride already.

O'BRIEN: Yes, he's got a better ride, that's for sure.

There's one other issue we need to keep our eye on here, Daryn, as they finish up this space walk. There is a piece of blanket that is loose beside the commander's window on the top side of the shuttle. Initially engineers thought, oh, that's OK, it doesn't get that hot there anyway. Not a big deal. But now there's some concern, what if it fell off what if it broke away during reentry? What could it do? What harm might it cause as a result. And so they're looking at that now and there is a possibility, it hasn't been taken off the table, they may have a fourth space walk to go and do something to that blanket, tuck it in or cut it or something. So we're watching that as well.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes, Miles, let's bring in Doctor Thagard here as former commander of this very ship. Would that piece of blanket, would that bother you the way it looks right now?

THAGARD: No, it wouldn't bother me too much because, again, that isn't a high heating area, if you're talking about the one up near the commander's window. And let me correct it. I was the payload commander for a science mission in '92 on Discovery but not the mission commander.

KAGAN: Not the big kahuna commander.

THAGARD: Right.

KAGAN: Right. But you know, on board the ship and I think you're well qualified to be part of our discussion here.

And let me ask you this, Norm. With all these cameras outside as we've said, you've been on board the ship but it was a different time when they didn't put all these cameras outside to look for these little pieces of potential damage that need to be fixed.

THAGARD: Right.

KAGAN: Is this an overwhelming amount of information or do you think it's helpful?

THAGARD: It's helpful and it does tend to be quite a lot of information. Maybe more sometime than you need. I'm certainly glad that I couldn't see the camera view from the bottom of the shuttle during ascent, while I was actually on an ascent. It probably would have bothered me a little bit.

KAGAN: Also the emotional aspect of this flight. This is something you can speak to as well having flown on board Challenger and then gone and flown after that. The importance the emotional importance of this flight after the last disaster.

THAGARD: I know how I felt after Challenger and that was, I've got to stay around and fly again. You certainly do want to validate what the folks had done on the missions where they were killed. You just feel like to abandon it at that point isn't the right thing to do. You want to go back and fly. You want to make sure that there is continued value in what the folks that went before you have done.

KAGAN: Well, there's a lot of value in watching all of this. And I could talk to both of you all day long. Other news to get to, though. So, gentlemen, thank you. Norm Thagard and Miles O'Brien. Thanks for our discussion of the space shuttle.

Well some say it is nothing short of a miracle. More than 300 people evacuated from Air France Flight 358 in only about 90 seconds. Incredible. We're going to have a live report from Toronto and more on the great escape, how it happened. That's right after the break.

And later, national ID cards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM RIDGE, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY CHIEF: We could come up with a system that would protect privacy rights, but also significantly enhance security.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAGAN: This is an interview you'll see only here on CNN. Former Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge telling us why he thinks this controversial idea is a good one.

And a very special little girl is born to a brain dead mother. Elizabeth Cohen has more on the bittersweet day for the Torres (ph) family. You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Weather is expected to be a prime focus today as investigators search for the cause of this fiery crash at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. The airliner tried to land during storms, skidded off the runway and burst into flames. Remarkably, all 309 people aboard survived the crash. What's more, there were no serious injuries. CNN's Mary Snow is at Toronto's Pearson International Airport with more on this harrowing tale.

Mary, something clearly went very right.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Daryn. Good morning.

And the word "miracle" keeps being used over and over again here in Toronto. We just came out of a news conference where a team of investigators said that there is a team on the ground, that the crash site has been secured. One of the first things they are going to try to do is secure the black boxes so they'll get more information about what caused Air France Flight 358 to skid off the runway and go into a ravine and then go up in flames.

Now Canada's National Transportation Safety Board saying it's looking at everything but, obviously, weather is likely a factor. The airport, at the time, had been under a lightening alert. There had been thunderstorms. And, as you mentioned, there were 297 passengers on board, 12 crew members, more than 40 injuries, all said to be minor. As one passenger put it, he thought everything was OK upon landing and then said at one point all hell broke loose. Another passenger said that he was aware that there were weather problems and described seeing black clouds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLIVIER DUBOS, PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: Actually the pilot told us that we would be late for like half an hour because of weather conditions, because of the storms. And then when we landed, it landed perfectly. A lot of people we all applauded, actually. There were lots of applause to the pilot for like 10, 15 seconds, and then the plane started to go off way and the whole thing started to bump and like shake everywhere in a very, very high speed and we started to see flames on fire on the outside. And that we really were holding to our seats and we thought we were we would just die at that point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Another striking factor of this story, the timing. The fire department says that it responded within 52 seconds of the plane calling for help. It said by the time it responded within that 52 seconds, three quarters of the passengers had already been evacuated from the plane. And he said the fire chief said that within the next minute or so, the rest of the plane was evacuated and then between a minute and two, the plane went up inflames.

Also, the crew is being credited. Officials here say that the pilot was the last one on board that plane. That he had walked back and forth to make sure that everyone had gotten out safely. One thing that investigators say they'll be looking at is the chute. Some of the passengers describing some of those chute's not working properly. Others said that some of them were working but that is one factor that's also going to be looked at.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Looking again at what went right. Possibly to save more lives in the future.

Mary Snow from Toronto, thank you.

Well, it is nothing short of shocking that not a single person suffered major injuries. But this next statistic may be just as surprising. According to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, more than 95 percent of passengers do survive airline accidents. Here now are the numbers. There were 568 airline accidents from 1983 through 2000. More than 51,000 occupants survived. Fewer than 2,300 died. And now from our Beth Nissan, she explains that race for survival can be decided in the first moments after the crash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSAN: How do you get 300 people out of a large, disabled airplane in under two minutes? Jennie Ziesenhenne just retired this week after 27 years as a flight attendant and instructor with Delta.

JENNIE ZIESENHENNE, FORMER FLIGHT ATTENDANT: You do not ever want this to happen. You always want to have your safe flights. You know, you just really pray it never happens.

NISSAN: Flight attendants are trained for exactly what happened on board Air France Flight 358.

UNKNOWN MALE: You can imagine people were screaming and panicking and everybody was really stressed.

NISSAN: As soon as the plane came to a complete stop, flight attendants started giving passengers commands.

ZIESENHENNE: We're taught our commands to be the same every single time. Release seatbelts, get up, get out. Release seatbelts, get up, leave everything. I believe that when panic starts, it's because people have not they don't know exactly where to go and what direction to take.

NISSAN: Flight attendants encourage people, urge people to move quickly and ask certain passengers to help along others who are slower, more unsteady, elderly, very young.

ZIESENHENNE: When people are boarding and they're sitting in your section, what you do is you start identifying who could help in an emergency. You also try to identify who would need help in an emergency.

NISSAN: Crowd momentum keeps passengers moving quickly toward exits flight attendants have identified as safe with doors that open away from flame and water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were two or three stewardess they were really pushing people and letting people jump as fast as possible. Very, very organized and they were just trying to get people out of the plane as soon as possible.

NISSAN: That, they did. Two-hundred-ninety-seven passengers and 12 crew members safely evacuated in what probably seemed to those people like the longest two minutes of their lives.

Beth Nissan, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, you have probably seen the ads automakers offering customers the same discounts their employees get on cars, but are you really getting a deal? We're going to have a CNN fact check.

And if you're looking to make some changes in your work week, sounds good on a Wednesday halfway through, Gerri Willis is here at work to tell us some tips on flextime.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn.

Who doesn't want to make their own schedules. We'll give you some tips for doing it when CNN LIVE TODAY continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's go ahead and check out the markets. They've been open about 53 minutes. Telling a very different story from yesterday. Oil prices forcing stocks down. The Dow is down 35 points. Nasdaq also in negative territory. It is down five.

Let's talk about your work schedule now. And, you know, 9:00 to 5:00 isn't what it used to be. A lot of companies are waking up to flextime as one method for employees to be more productive. If you think flexible hours would be good and a good fit for you and your job but you're not really sure how to broach the subject with your boss, this is why we have Gerri Willis working for us to help us with things like that.

Hi, Ger.

WILLIS: That's right. Hi, Daryn. Good to see you.

Tip number one, you've got to check the books. Did you know that one in four employees are eligible for flextime. I don't even think most people even know it. You've got to go look at your company's policy book, handbook, for employees and see if you're one of those people who may be eligible for this.

KAGAN: All different types of flex time out there. Whether you're talking telecommuting, changing your hours, job sharing.

WILLIS: Yes, there's a lot of different options out there for people. Tip number one is, obviously, the telecommuting. If your job is really based at your desk, you use the phone, you use the computer but you really don't use anything else, you might want to think about telecommuting.

And if you have a long commute everyday, you might want to think about just seeing if you can come in an hour earlier or an hour later. Lots of people job share. It's particularly popular with parents. When you share a job with somebody else, they take a few days a week, you take the other days a week. And then there's also the compressed work week where you do 40 hours but you do it in 40 days instead of five. Now that's a challenge but for some people it's the right option for their lifestyle.

KAGAN: Is there a way just to kind of try it out do you think?

WILLIS: I think that's really the way to start. Because look, at the end of the day, you don't even really know if it's for you unless you do it for yourself. It also gives you a chance to show your boss that you can handle it because, let's face it, there may be other challenges if you're working from home. So you definitely want to test it out, try it for a few days a week and see if it's really something that's good for you.

KAGAN: At the end of the day, you have to convince the company why it's good for them, not necessarily why it's good for you.

WILLIS: And that's really the key, Daryn. I mean you've got to convince them that this isn't all about your needs but it really helps the company. So when you're testing it out, the idea is that you up the ante, you make sure that you're producing even more than usual so you can show that you can handle this change. And keep in mind, you're going to be able to sell this more easily if you have a really terrific track record. If your boss really needs you, needs your work, he or she may be more willing to let you have a little flextime because they know at the end of the day you can handle the responsibility.

KAGAN: But you know, Gerri, I've seen people go for flextime and then layoffs come through, they're always at the top of the list of people who are out the door.

WILLIS: You know, that can really be true, Daryn. And the key here is that it's not for everyone. Look, if you're still climbing the ladder at work and you're really ambitious, you may not want to reduce your face time in front of the boss. Or if you're in an industry that is contracting, if they are laying off people and, you know, layoffs have been a problem this year. I don't have to tell you, you've reported on it, too, you may not want to do this. You've got to really consider your own personal situation. Sometimes the goodies are not the things you want to take. But if you're in a situation where it makes a lot of sense, go ask that boss.

KAGAN: All right. I think I'll do that. But I have like an hour and a half to go before I start suggesting that.

WILLIS: That's right.

KAGAN: Gerri, thank you.

WILLIS: Thank you.

KAGAN: Good thing we have Rob Marciano working for us today. He is taking a look at the weather.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Well, whether or not you think it's a good idea, some companies are banking on a future that includes high-tech national Ids. A closer look at the details and the debate in just a moment.

And she might head straight from first prize at a local beauty pageant to the front lines. This brave teen's tale is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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