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CNN Live Today

Terrorist Communication: Real or Phony?; Quake Relief; Russian Rebel Uprising

Aired October 13, 2005 - 12:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here are the latest headlines.
A lethal strain of bird flu has been confirmed in Turkey. And it is also likely present in Romania. That is the finding today from European health officials. Lab work on the Romanian case is expected to be completed by tomorrow. And if confirmed, it would mark the deadly strain's first known presence in Europe.

And there are apparently new legal concerns for the Senate's majority leader. "The Washington Post" is reporting today that Bill Frist has been subpoenaed to overturn his personal papers in a probe of possible insider trading. At issue, the Tennessee Republican's sale of family-related stock just before a profit report sent its value tumbling.

And CIA Director Porter Goss will become the manager of all U.S. intelligence-gathering operations. Under the plan, Goss will set the standards for secret human intelligence operations. Also announced this morning, a new national clandestine services group to be housed within the CIA.

Hello again. I'm Carol Lin at the CNN Center in Atlanta. And you're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.

Up first, developing news in the war on terror. A communication between terrorists, real or phony?

Well, earlier this week, the U.S. says it intercepted a letter by al Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, a letter meant for Iraq's top man in Iraq. Well, actually, al Qaeda's top man in Iraq. Now, just a while ago, an al Qaeda-linked Web site claims the letter is a fake, that the U.S. made it up.

Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre is here to help us sort through all of this -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, just to be clear, Carol, the U.S. government doesn't claim to have intercepted the letter. They actually say they recovered it during a counterterrorism operation some time after it would have been received by the al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

It was purportedly from Osama bin Laden's number two, Ayman al- Zawahiri. And it was dated July 9.

The Pentagon -- I'm sorry, the director of national intelligence, the newly created office, actually posted the complete unedited letter in both English and Arabic on its Web site and said that it has "the highest confidence in the letter's authenticity." There hasn't been a direct response yet to the claim by al Qaeda that the letter is a fake, but U.S. officials in the past have said that those kinds of statements from al Qaeda are unreliable.

Again, the posting of the entire letter is a reflection of the fact that the U.S. government believes it is authentic and it will stand up to scrutiny. They say it provides the most comprehensive look at al Qaeda's strategy not just in Iraq, but also around the world. And it reveals that the organization is under some stress both in sources of funding and also being cut off with -- from some of the information, some of the top al Qaeda leaders are cut off from information and somewhat isolated. There's everybody a plea for assistance from Zarqawi in Iraq, sort of back to the main headquarters.

So Carol, at this point, the U.S. government simply standing by the letter, saying they believe it is authentic despite what al Qaeda in Iraq is claiming.

LIN: All right. Jamie, thank you very much.

Now we want to move to the storms in New England. The region watches and waits. More rain has moved in. The eighth consecutive day of wet weather. It's threatening even more flooding.

In other parts of the northeast, streets in Hackensack, New Jersey, became shallow rivers as heavy rains inundated the town. And in New Hampshire, the town of Alstead, near the Vermont state line, suffered extensive damage. At least 12 homes were washed away and dozens more heavily damaged. New Hampshire Governor John Lynch says damage in the state could run in the tens of millions of dollars.

In the meantime, heavy rains turned parts of Hartford, Connecticut, into small lakes. A flood warning remains in effect for the Connecticut River, but levels are dropping. Classes at the University of Bridgeport were canceled because of a power outage.

So, is there any relief in sight? Or should New Englanders brace themselves for more misery and more anguish? CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen at the weather center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: In the meantime, we want to move now on to northern Pakistan, where there's more panic and fear. Strong aftershock swept through the region in the wake of Saturday's 7.6 earthquake. Authorities are saying the death toll in Pakistan alone could be as high as 25,000. And Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says 2.5 million people are homeless, living in the open air and freezing temperatures.

U.N. officials who took an aerial tour say they saw a town destroyed -- more towns -- one after another destroyed in this earthquake. In the meantime, Pakistani officials say relief efforts have reached a new phase.

CNN's Matthew Chance is in the devastated do town of Muzaffarabad and filed this report a short while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, six days after this devastating earthquake struck this region, the relief effort is now slowly gathering pace. The emphasis of it, though, has changed away from the rescue attempts to try and find survivors.

Rescue teams that have been flying in from around the world are not ruling out the possibility of finding more people alive buried in the rubble, and they're continuing their work. But clearly the emphasis is now trying to try and provide emergency relief to the many, many people who have been made homeless, perhaps as many as 2.5 million people, according to the Pakistani authorities, to give them the kind of medical attention they need, and above all, shelter as well, as the weather begins to get much more cold here in this very high altitude area of northern Pakistan.

Jan Egeland is the United Nations emergency relief coordinator. He's been in the region over the course of this day trying to assess the needs. And he used the opportunity to call on the international community to provide more helicopters and more emergency relief.

Here's what he had to say.

JAN EGELAN, U.N. RELIEF COORDINATOR: The tiny roads that went to these villages is gone in a hundred places. To reach them, we can only go by helicopter. We have too few helicopters. The world needs to give us helicopters.

CHANCE: Well, the situation is so desperate in many of the outlying areas away from towns like -- cities like Muzaffarabad and some of the bigger population centers, that some of these remote communities are still to receive any attention whatsoever. And that's really part of the big problem. A great deal of desperation of many people out there who survived the quake but are now in terrible need of medical attention, extremely angry.

It's also becoming a security concern for some of the rescue teams that we spoke to, saying that when they arrive on the ground, they are greeted with a great deal of frustration, a great deal of anger that they've been left out there so long without the kind of medical attention and assistance that they need so badly.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Muzaffarabad, in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Fighting the war on terror, the U.S. government has accused Syria and its president, Bashar al-Assad of supporting terrorism. Assad is an extremely powerful leader who has a major influence on American lives.

Our Christiane Amanpour has done an exclusive interview with him. He doesn't give many of those. So she is going to join us live next with what he has to say about U.S. allegations.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: In southern Russia, police say they've mostly put down an attack by up to 100 militants in government buildings in the town of Nalchik. But officials there say some resistance remains.

Dozens of people have been killed, and Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling for a complete blockade of the area.

So joining me now with more on the rebel uprising is Ellen Pinchuk, Moscow bureau chief for CTV -- Ellen.

ELLEN PINCHUK, CTV MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Carol. And we're hearing that after this fierce day-long gun battle, the Russian authorities say they are now getting the upper hand. They say there are still two hotbeds of resistance left.

Rebels are holed up in a police station in Nalchik, as well as a store. They appear to have several hostages in there with them. But the authorities saying they hope to have that resolved in the next few hours.

Also, with the fall of nightfall, there's a big cordon around Nalchik. The airport has been shut down. No trains are going there, not even public transportation, as authorities worry that some of those rebels might try to sneak out of the city under the cover of night. An order of shoot to kill has been issued to anybody who offers resistance to law enforcement -- Carol.

LIN: All right, Ellen. Thank you very much. Ellen Pinchuk, working a developing story in Russia.

In the meantime, he's an extremely influential world leader. He is accused now of supporting terrorism. So why do so many Americans know so little about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad? Well, one reason is he rarely gives interviews. But he did give one to our Christiane Amanpour. She is going to join me later with a CNN exclusive.

Plus, battling the insurgency in Iraq. Can U.S. troops crack down only days before the referendum vote?

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: As President Bush looks to end the insurgency in Iraq, he has focussed a great deal of attention on neighboring Syria, a country accused of supporting the insurgency and being a state sponsor of terrorism. The Bush administration is putting a great deal of pressure on the country's president, Bashar al-Assad.

Mr. Assad is one of the most influential leaders in the world when it comes to his impact on American lives, affecting everything from what you pay for gas to your security.

Now, if you don't know much about the man, there is good reason for that. He rarely gives interviews. But, he spoke with our Christiane Amanpour, our chief international correspondent. She got an exclusive interview with him, and she joins us now from the Iraqi capital with more.

Christiane, what was it like to meet the man?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, as you say, he rarely gives interviews. In fact, this was his first major television interview. And he spoke for the first time in English, for the first time publicly in English, obviously feeling some of the heat that's being turned up on him and wanting to communicate and perhaps give -- be given an opportunity to talk to the American people, as well as our global audience.

I'm in Iraq now, which is the scene of the Americans' worries about Syria. This is where they think that Syria is interfering in that they believe Syria is providing a safe haven and gateway to insurgents here.

And that is what I began by asking President Assad about yesterday in Damascus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: The United States is extremely angry with you and your government. It accuses you of facilitating, providing haven, and now actively supporting the insurgency in Iraq. What are you going to do to stop doing all that, to stop allowing the insurgents into Iraq?

BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIAN PRESIDENT: I wouldn't say this is true. It's completely wrong. You have an aspect of the problem. The first aspect is no country can control his borders completely. And example is the border between the United States and Mexico. And many American officials told me, "We cannot control our border with Mexico." But at the end, they end up saying, "You should control your border with Iraq." This is impossible, and I told Mr. Powell that for the first time we met after the war. I told him, "It's impossible to control the border." And we asked for some technical support, but we did many steps to control our border, as I said, not completely, but we did many steps. And we'd like to invite any delegation from the world or from the United States to come and see or borders to see the steps that we took, and to look at the other side to see nothing. There is nobody on the other side, American or Iraqi.

AMANPOUR: And yet, everybody I talked to, even commanders on the ground in Iraq, say that the bulk of the foreign insurgents, or the Iraqi insurgents, are coming from Syria. Why can't your forces go house to house? Why can't you actively stop this, close it down? ASSAD: I said it's impossible for any country to stop it down. But many officials said the number is between 1,000 and 3,000 insurgents, as they call them, or terrorists. The Kurds in Iraq is the reason, not the border. We should be very frank about this. The problem is political, not the border with Syria. When you have chaos, it's fertile soil for terrorists. This is the problem.

AMANPOUR: Do you agree that it's a bad thing? Would you like to see the insurgency stopped?

ASSAD: Regardless for the United States, one, our interest as Syria is to have stable Iraq. And when you have insurgency or terrorism or anything like this, you will have more chaos. When you have more chaos, you will have fragmented Iraq. That means affecting Syria directly. This is contagious. So from our point of view, we should help the Iraqis being stable. But they must be -- we should differentiate between insurgency and the Iraqis who fight against the American and British troops. This is something different. I'm talking about the people who killed the Iraqis, those who we call them terrorists. We are against them completely.

AMANPOUR: Why have you stopped, according to your ambassador in Washington, intelligence cooperation with the United States?

ASSAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): There cannot be security cooperation when the political repercussions are the exact opposite, further attacks from the U.S. administration. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, because of the weak analysis and knowledge of the region by U.S. agencies, in many cases, this security cooperation has had a negative effect on Syrian interests. We have lost faith. Syrian security and U.S. agencies have lost trust, so cooperation stopped. However, there has been an attempt to resume cooperation lately, through mediation by some Arab and European states. We said we have no objection, as long as it goes through a third party. Now, those Arab and non-Arab parties went to say that to the U.S. side, to say, "What do you want from Syria." So far, no response.

AMANPOUR: What is your condition for helping the United States, and are you prepared to help the United States?

ASSAD: You mean in Iraq?

AMANPOUR: Yes.

ASSAD: Definitely. We don't have any problem, and we said that publicly. They talk about stable Iraq, we have a direct interest in stable Iraq. They talk about unified Iraq, we have direct interest in unified Iraq. They talk about supporting the political process, we have interest in that, for that will help with stability. So there's no differences. We don't know what they want. I think they don't know what they want.

AMANPOUR: There's also talk about potentially the U.S. bombing safe havens and insurgent strongholds inside Syria. Has that happened?

ASSAD: Never. AMANPOUR: If it does happen, would you consider that a hostile act? Would you retaliate?

ASSAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We will deal with every situation if and when it happens. I cannot really go into a hypothesis at this point. However, there is no such safe haven or camp of the kind to be bombed.

AMANPOUR: Mr. President, you know the rhetoric of regime change is headed towards you from the United States. They are actively looking for a new Syrian leader. They're granting visas and visits to Syrian opposition politicians. They're talking about isolating you diplomatically and, perhaps, a coup d'etat or your regime crumbling. What are you thinking about that?

ASSAD: I feel very confident for one reason. Because I was made in Syria, I wasn't made in the United States. So I'm not worried. This is Syrian decision. It should be made by the Syrian people, nobody else in this world. So we don't discuss it in Syria.

AMANPOUR: What would happen, do you think, if there was an alternative to you? Who is the alternative to you?

ASSAD: It could be any Syrian, any national Syrian, and we have a lot. I'm not the only person who's eligible to be president. We have a lot of Syrians, so we don't have any problem about that. But no Syrian would be allowed to be president if he's made anywhere outside our borders. This is a Syrian principle.

AMANPOUR: I want to ask about reform here in Syria. When you became president, tragically because of the death of your brother, you were almost the accidental president of Syria. And people had a huge amount of hope. You were young, you were a new face. There was a moment where there was a Damascus spring flowering, reform, a little bit of democratic progress. And then it all came to a grinding halt. Now you've started a little bit again after the party congress in the summer. And yet, people say it's still not enough, we can't go in slow motion now because the pressures on us are so intense. What is your plan for this?

ASSAD: Let me comment on "accidental president." I cannot accept it because this means we ignored the opinion of the Syrian people who made me president. So it's not accidental, it's by their will.

Second, when asked me about my plan, you should ask me first, do I have all the requirements? No. We don't have. This will be the answer, because we have many factors. Internal factors and external factors. Internal factors is your will, your history, your tradition, your goals, and many other factors. The external factors are the peace process, stability in the region, what's going in Iraq, the support that you get from the developed countries in reforming in your country.

Because when you say reforming, it's not only political reforming. It's the reforming in general, what you mean political, economical, technical, and all the other aspects of reform. So we don't control all these aspects. That's why we have a lot of obstacles to go forward. When you talk about the speed in this plan, regarding this plan, it's a matter what car do you have. You cannot go to fast or very fast in a old car. So you need this new car. What pillars do you have? You should put pillars when you have reform. These pillars constitute the base when you have this building upon this base. If it's not strong enough, it will fall. So these pillars related to our history and to these factors that I mentioned.

AMANPOUR: But are you committed to it?

ASSAD: Definitely. And we're not perfect. Nobody's perfect. We are going steadily and consistently. Maybe not too fast, but we are consistent, we are committed. And not only the government, the majority of the people support this process. But we still have a long way to go. That doesn't mean we didn't do. We did a lot. We recently started studying modern law for multi-parties in Syria. We have multi-parties, but we're looking for more open law. We had private universities during the last two years. We had private media, private schools, private banking. We had many things we did during the last five years. For me, I don't think it's slow. It's fast. But we always want to be faster, and this is normal, and this is right, and want to achieve more. This is normal ambition.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: We're going to take a short break. And when we come back, I asked the Syrian president about another issue that's putting a great deal of pressure on him and the Syrian regime. That is the murder of the Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri last year, and the impending publication of a U.N. investigation into who may be to blame. Some believe Syria will be implicated.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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