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CNN Live Today

New Video From Bin Laden's Number-Two Man; NYC Police Reveal Sensitive Bombing Info; Ohio Marine Battalion Loses 19 Members

Aired August 04, 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: You guys have a -- can't quite hear you guys but you have a -- whatever you're saying, have a great day in New York City. We'll go ahead and get started with a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
Al Qaeda's number two man blames British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the recent terrorist attacks in London. In a videotape aired on al Jazeera, Ayman al-Zawahiri warns Britain and the U.S. that there is more to come. We have details coming up on that in just a minute.

Canada's transportation safety board will interview the crew of an Air France jet that crash and burned in Toronto on Tuesday. During a news conference this hour, a spokesman told reporter an emergency was never declare as the plane came in for a landing. All 309 people onboard survived the accident.

Another space walk could be in the stars for Discovery's astronauts. NASA is expected to announce today whether a torn thermal blanket below a cockpit windows needs repairs. They're concerned the shuttle could be damaged if a piece if the blanket tears away during re-entry.

And Congress investigates whether Baltimore Slugger Rafael Palmeiro lied under oath. Palmeiro told the House Committee that he not taken steroids. He is currently on a 10-day suspension after testing positive for steroids.

Good morning from CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Daryn Kagan.

Our top story this morning, the top lieutenant to Osama bin Laden has released a new videotape. It has an ominous message. Ayman al- Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command, is vowing more attacks on London and the U.S. The videotape aired a short time ago for the first time on the Arab network al Jazeera. CNN International Correspondent Nic Robertson has been studying the tape and he joins us now with a closer look from London.

Nic, hello.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

Well, the very clear message we're hearing from Ayman al-Zawahiri is that Tony Blair, the British prime minister, is to blame for those attacks in London. What is interesting about this statement from the number two at al Qaeda is that he doesn't claim responsibility for the attacks in London. Indeed, it's difficult to tell if he's referring to those July 7th attacks where there were four bombs detonated, 52 people killed, or if he's referring to the attacks on the 7th and those failed bombings on the 21st of July. So it makes it a little difficult to date exactly when it was recorded.

But the message is broad and it sounds very much like messages we've heard from Ayman al-Zawahiri before saying that the United States can expect more bloodshed, attacks worse than those in New York, than those in Washington and those witnessed now in Afghanistan and those witnessed in Iraq. He promises more attacks if the United States, he says, doesn't stop its hostile policies to Muslims around the world and stop stealing their oil. This is vintage Ayman al- Zawahiri but he does seem to be taking the opportunity of these bombings in London to step up to this sort of al Qaeda platform again and launch these same messages. But very clear, as far as Britain is concerned, he says Tony Blair is to blame for his policies in the Middle East, and he says that there could well be more attacks in London.

KAGAN: Speaking of that, Nic, this comes on the day -- it is four weeks to the day of that first attack on the London subways and the bus and also the city already on high alert today.

ROBERTSON: Very high alert. There's been higher security over the last week than perhaps the weeks before. But today particularly high and people very concerned and cautious today. The July 7th bombings killed 52 people and the four bombers. Exactly two weeks to the day later, that's when the failed bombings occurred. And exactly two weeks to the day today from those failed bombings. So clearly this was a day when the police knew they to be ready, knew they had to try and build public confidence by having a high profile on the London transport network and that's what they've done. People have to go to work here. They know that they have to use these transport means to come to work, but it doesn't stop them being concern of a repeat attack.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Nic Robertson live from London.

Nic, more from you later. Thank you.

In New York, police detectives there have helped their British counterparts in the investigation of the London bombings, but there's also concern that the New Yorkers may have compromised the efforts as well. As issue, an NYPD briefing that revealed sensitive and guarded details on the deadly July 7th attacks. Our Deborah Feyerick has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The bombs used in the July 7th attacks in London were detonated using cell phones and they were made out of basic household materials, not high- end military explosives as investigators first believed. New York City police officials released the details while briefing private security directors in New York City. A law enforcement source confirms investigators believed the bombers used a peroxide based explosive called HMDT. It can be made using hydrogen peroxide found in hair bleach, citric acid used to keep food fresh, and heat tablets used by the military to warm food. A law enforcement source confirms the bombers kept the materials cool using high-end commercial refrigerators at the house in Leeds. Also the bombers may have carried the explosives to London in coolers stash in the back of two cars.

A law enforcement source tells CNN the briefing was based on information gathered in part by NYPD detectives sent to London immediately after the bombings. It was shared with private security directors to increase awareness at New York hotels, Wall Street firms and storage facilities. New York City's police commissioner told security directors the materials and methods used in London could easily be used in New York.

A police spokesman says British authorities gave the NYPD the green light to share the information. Scotland Yard declined comment. But a British police source tells CNN it's reckless for another police force in another country to give out what's considered privileged information on an investigation being run by British agencies.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: The U.S. State Department is issuing a warning to Americans living or traveling to Great Britain. This caution comes two weeks after the failed bombing in the British capital, four weeks to the day since the deadly first attacks. The State Department says that the threat of another attack remains and urges Americans to maintain "a high level of vigilance."

We are also following for you a number of new developments out of Iraq this morning. Four more U.S. troops have died in what has become an extraordinarily violent week. A U.S. Marine died in combat in Ramada yesterday, while three U.S. soldiers were killed last night in a bombing near Baghdad. Since Sunday, 27 American forces have been killed in Iraq.

Despite the surging violence, President Bush vowed that the U.S. will stay the course in Iraq. He says those who have died will be best honored when the mission and its noble cause is successfully completed.

The latest deaths push the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq to 1,825.

The deaths have thundered through dozens of homes and countless families. But no place has endured a greater sense of loss than Brook Park, Ohio. That is a blue collar suburb of Cleveland, also the headquarters of a Marine battalion that lost 19 members this week. Our Keith Oppenheim has spoken to family members. He'll be with us in a moment.

First, though, our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): As U.S. troops moved through the town of Haditha in Western Iraq, a crater marks where a roadside bomb killed 14 Marines on Wednesday. It was the latest of two deadly attacks in far Western Iraq where U.S. and Iraqi forces have been moving throughout this Euphrates River area conducting simultaneous raids to isolate insurgents still controlling much of this Sunni stronghold. U.S. commanders believe the insurgents are now stepping up their response. The roadside bomb attack was one of the most lethal in months.

BRIG. GEN. CARTER HAM, REGIONAL OPS DEPUTY DIR.: We are seeing larger amounts of explosives. We are seeing different techniques that are being used in an effort to counter the efforts of coalition and Iraqi security forces to protect folks while they are moving. Different types of penetrators, different techniques of triggering the events.

STARR: On Monday, six Marines on a sniper patrol were kills by small arms fire. Five killed in the initial attack, the sixth was found dead three mimes away. Jim Boskovitch believes it was his son, Corporal Jeffrey Boskovitch, the Marines found.

JIM BOSKOVITCH, FATHER OF MARINE: I would suspect that, knowing my son, that he was probably shot several times and giving up for dead and probably tried to head back in the direction, in the river, back to his base.

STARR: The violence that killed Jeffrey Boskovitch and 20 other Marines comes as Iraqi and U.S. officials are meeting to discuss where the country is secure enough for Iraqi forces to take charge and let U.S. troops come home. The U.S. ambassador subtly warning, he is now worried about civil war.

ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: One of the biggest challenges facing Iraqis is overcoming the loss of trust among the communities. This underlies current political and sectarian tensions. In part, it also underlines the insurgency.

STARR: The group Ansar Al Suna claimed responsibility for the attacks and posted a video on its Web site claiming to show a dead American. The Marines say they are looking at that video trying to determine if it is a United States Marine killed by the insurgent.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: As we mentioned, 19 of the U.S. Marines killed this week came from a single unit. The 3rd Battalion 25th Marines in Brook Park, Ohio. Our Keith Oppenheim is in that Cleveland suburb. He has spoken to grieving family members, including the father we first met in Barbara's report.

Keith, hello.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

I'm going to walk alongside this fence here at the Marine reserve center. And as I go, you can see all the things that people have left in memory of the soldiers who died. There are flags, flowers. There are lit candles. If I step down here, you can see that someone left a bunch of flags to represent the number who died in the Ohio battalion, 19 flags here on the ground.

Last night, as you indicated, Daryn, I did get a chance to talk to Jim Boskovitch, who we saw in Barbara's piece, and he talked to me about the loss of his 25-year-old son.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOSKOVITCH: I was at work Monday evening and was notified by my wife that two Marines were at our house.

OPPENHEIM, (voice over): On Monday evening, Jim Boskovitch would find out his 25-year-old son Jeffrey was missing in action. On Tuesday, he would learn his son was killed. One of six Marines who died from sniper fire near the city of Haditha, one of 20 Marines who died in Iraq this week.

BOSKOVITCH: This is Jeff on a gun boat. He was on the Euphrates River.

OPPENHEIM: Jim Boskovitch showed us pictures and he talked about who Jeff was and who he was to be. In the past, the son had convinced the father that the war in Iraq was worth fighting.

BOSKOVITCH: Months ago my son, and he's done this more than one -- on one occasion, has corrected me and straightened me out about why he's over there.

OPPENHEIM: And in the future, Jim told us, his son was to be a police officer. He planned to get married this fall to his girlfriend Shelly. And Jim said, his son was due back home in September.

BOSKOVITCH: But there isn't a minute that I don't stop thinking about him when he was growing up, before he left for Iraq. His -- what we were going to do when he got back. Looking forward to a wedding. You know, being a part of his life.

OPPENHEIM: All that's in the past.

BOSKOVITCH: Yes.

OPPENHEIM: As much as he is sad, Jim Boskovitch says he's angry, too, especially at reports his son may have suffered a violent death and is mindful there are other families in Ohio going through the same emotions.

Is it harder that more have died? Does it change your emotions?

BOSKOVITCH: Of course. Of course. I wouldn't wish what I'm going through on anybody.

OPPENHEIM: It may be several days before Jeff Boskovitch's body is returned to his family. Jim Boskovitch says it will only be then he will feel the weight of his oldest son's death.

BOSKOVITCH: You have to try to work through it and that's what we're trying to do as a family right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHEIM: Daryn, as you heard in that piece, Jim Boskovitch is supportive of U.S. presence in Iraq, despite the fact that his son just died there. But there are differences of opinion that we have heard from other families. And, in fact, here at this memorial fence, there's something I want to point out, which I think explains briefly what that -- those feelings are. This button says, "support our troops, bring them home now." And there, of course, you see a yellow ribbon tied around a peace symbol.

And on another topic, Daryn, I'll point out, that we have heard from officials here at the Marine center that for the families of Marines, they are going to bring in a crisis management team this weekend. And that team is not only to give crisis intervention help and support to families who have lost Marines, but also to those who still have sons and daughters serving in Iraq right now.

KAGAN: Keith Oppenheim live from Brook Park, Ohio.

Keith, thank you.

Let's talk a little bit about what the Marines are doing there. U.S. Marines in Iraq have one of the most challenging and dangerous military assignments in the country. They are charged with keeping the peace in the tumultuous Anbar province. That is a region of insurgent hot spots of Falluja, Ramadi, and Haditha. The danger can be measured in the numbers. Of the 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, some 23,000 are Marine. That is 17 percent of American forces, and yet Marine deaths are disproportionately high, their fatalities account for 29 percent of all U.S. troops killed.

Weather news to get to as well to today. The eighth tropical storm of the season. Calling it Harvey. It has brushed past Bermuda. Where will it go next? How strong will it be? Your weather is just ahead.

He testified before Congress that he had never done steroids. Now some congressional leaders say Rafael Palmeiro may have committed perjury. You're going to hear what a body language expert has to say after revisiting the tapes of his testimony.

And we'll follow-up on the baby born even while her mother was brain-dead from cancer. You're going to hear her pediatricians prognosis and how the family is doing.

You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.

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KAGAN: Let's check in on weather.

Rob Marciano, you have a little tropical storm to talk about out there.

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KAGAN: Talk about things heating up here in Atlanta, Megafest has descended here in Atlanta. Thousands, hundreds of thousands have turned out for the massive religious revival. The headliner, the Bishop T.D. Jakes will join me right here on the set to talk about his ministry and his message.

And if you are in the process of relocating, Gerri Willis has some pointers on picking the right neighborhood.

Hi, Ger.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn.

If you're shopping for that perfect house, we've got the cheat sheet that will help. We're up next.

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KAGAN: Let's check out the markets. Kind of slumpy, if that's a technical term we can use. The Dow is down 44 points. The Nasdaq also in negative territory. It is down 11 points.

OK. So you're ready to move. You need to choose a new neighborhood, which can be, by the way, at complicated as buying a new house. You have to think about schools, crime rates and potential neighbors. That all comes into play. In today's "Top Five Tips: Home Edition," Gerri Willis has a cheat sheet on how you can choose the right neighborhood.

Good morning.

WILLIS: Hey, good morning, Daryn. Good to see you.

Tip number one is, check the report card. Look, you know how this is. Most people, particularly people with children, they're most concern about the schools. And fortunately, there are some great Web sites out there to check out how good the schools are. Start by going to the National Center for Education Statistics at nces.ed.gov. You can find this on the web later, by the way, if you don't pick up these Web sites. This is going to give you information on the amount of money spent per student, student/teach ratios, graduation rates. In short, all the stuff you want. There are other great Web sites as well, including schoolmatch.com and greatschools.net.

KAGAN: You're going to want a safe neighborhood.

WILLIS: You do want a safe neighborhood. You know, and Daryn, I think a lot of people have the misconception out there that if they move to the country or the suburbs, crime goes down. It's not necessarily true. If you want the lowdown on crime in your neighborhood, you can always go to the local police department. It is that simple. Check out the local newspaper. Look for the police blotter and see what kinds of crimes are reported on a daily basis because, let's face it, you're going to be walking in and out of that house, be outside, you want to know what's going on. Check it out.

KAGAN: So if I'm looking for a new house, why do I care about job growth in that area?

WILLIS: Well, job growth and economic stability is key to what's going to happen to your property value. Let's face it. If you live in a one horse town that has one big industry, one big employer, you're really unstable because if anything happens to that employer, people could lose their job, prices for homes could destabilize, actually go down. So you want to know whether or not prices will stabilize. Go to departmentoflabor.gov. You can see the location here. Click on buy location and you can see quick synopses of local economies just by finding your area's economy at a glance page.

KAGAN: A friend who's making a move in California, we were talking about property taxes and how they're different depending on where you live.

WILLIS: I'm telling you, mostly they're different, mostly they're higher everywhere.

KAGAN: Yes.

WILLIS: I think that's the real problem. This is critical when you're looking for a house, obviously, and it's one of the first things people typically want to check out. Go to the town's Web site, find the assessor's web page, taxes assessor, give them a call. You want to know if the property's going to be reassessed anytime in the near future because that typically means higher taxes. And don't think for a minute that having a ton of industry located in your town is necessarily the solution, Daryn, because sometimes those industries are given economic breaks. So you want to conduct a sophisticated analysis.

KAGAN: Might be getting a bit ahead of ourselves here but once you move, you might be moving again, so you want to think about the resale value of your house.

WILLIS: Yes, it's important to know what prices are doing in your local area and it's easy enough to figure out whether they're on the rise or the fall. The pros look at something called days on market. This is simply the number of days it takes to sell a house. And if that number is going up, up, up, that means that market is slowing down, that it ultimately could be subject to lower prices, maybe no price change. You want to be in a neighborhood where over time prices will go up. And one great Web site, I've got to get this in here, domainia.com.

KAGAN: Domainia. WILLIS: Domainia.com. You can find out what houses have gone for in the neighborhood you're searching for. Now there's a little lag in time generally and it doesn't cover absolutely every neighborhood in the entire country, but it's a great way to find out what the neighbors are paying for their properties.

KAGAN: All right, Gerri Willis.

Gerri, thank you.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

KAGAN: We're going to go from home to the faithful. He is one of the most well-known religious leaders in the U.S., Bishop T.D. Jakes. There is the man. I'll be speaking with him in just a moment.

Also, dramatic video of the effort to rescue 14 stranded in the Arkansas River. Details just ahead.

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