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CNN Live Today

Lawmakers Scrutinize Controversial Ports Deal; Inside an Afghan Prison Uprising

Aired March 01, 2006 - 10:30   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: On Capitol Hill, the Senate is now voting on the -- and on the verge of renewing the Patriot Act. Congress first passed the measure in the weeks after 9/11 and granted broad, new powers to law enforcement. Now some critics fear the Patriot Act can trample on civil liberties. The House is expected to approve the measure and send it to the president.
And just minutes ago, President Bush arrived in New Delhi, India. He is hoping to hammer out a deal with the Indian officials that would separate that country's nuclear programs into civilian and military operations. The president began his trip to South Asia with a surprise stop, though, in Afghanistan.

And in Pennsylvania, opening statements are under way this hour in the trial of an alleged serial killer. Thirty-two-year-old Hugo Selenski is accused of killing two suspected drug dealers and burying their bodies near his house. Police say they have uncovered the remains of at least five people in his backyard. Prosecutors want the death penalty.

And health officials in the Bahamas have opened a probe of bird deaths to see if they are linked to the deadly bird flu. Now, over the past few days, at least 15 flamingos and a half dozen other birds have been found dead on the southern Bahamas island of Inagua. And in just the past month, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has spread to 20 new countries.

Now, in our own CNN "Security Watch," U.S. ports in a storm. In this hour on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are scrutinizing the Bush administration's deal that allows a state-owned Arab company to take over operations at six U.S. ports.

Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff will be confronting lawmakers' concerns. And also, what you're looking at right now is a hearing where we're expecting to hear from Vice Admiral Terry Cross, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. A document was released this week that showed that the Coast Guard had serious concerns about this port deal days before the deal was secured with that Arab company.

Now joining me to talk about that and more is CNN security analyst Clark Kent Ervin. He is a former inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security. He's scheduled, also, to testify later today.

Clark, good to have you.

CLARK KENT ERVIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Thank you so much, Carol.

LIN: Clark, I want to share with our audience what President Bush said about the port deal and what may happen next -- with our audience. He said this yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; The only way it won't happen is if there is a true security threat to the United States of America. Here we are trying to put a coalition of the willing together to protect America, to win the war on terror. And I would ask the critics and the people that are skeptical what kind of signal does it send to our friends in the Arab world?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Clark, that's a fair question. You are opposed to this deal, as I understand. And you're going to be testifying before Congress. If a British company can run the port deal, why can't an Arab company?

ERVIN: Well, it is indeed a fair question. But I have several responses. First of all, I think it's fair to say that most Americans did not realize that foreign companies operated so many of our port terminals in this country. Perhaps even a British company should not be allowed to do so in this age of terror. But that having been said, there's a big difference between a company and a country, and there's a big difference between Britain, which is our best ally, and the United Arab Emirates which, at most, has a mixed record on terror.

LIN: Conversely, though, if there is a deal struck and there are friends to be made in that country, couldn't they be handy, you know? They know the area. They know the players. They speak the language. Isn't it possible that they could be our best ally in that sense?

ERVIN: Well, certainly, UAE has been helpful recently with regard to the war on terror. But as I say, the record, at best, is mixed. Two of the 9/11 hijackers were from that country. At least some of the financing -- in fact, the majority of the financing -- coursed through the UAE banking system. The UAE was one of only three countries in the world that recognized the Taliban regime before 9/11. And the nuclear smuggler, A.Q. Khan, shipped nuclear components through UAE to Iran and Libya and North Korea.

LIN: But this specific company, Clark, what would they have to prove in the next 45 days to you to be convinced that they could securely come here to the United States and oversee our ports?

ERVIN: They'd have to prove to me that they could make it safer, that it is safer for the United States for this deal to be approved. No one on the other side of this question has been able to make the case that we'll be safer if this deal goes through. The best case that the other side has been able to make is that we won't be any less safe because we're already pretty unsafe as it is.

LIN: Right. ERVIN: That's a very, very troubling argument. It is right to say that we don't inspect very much cargo, only about 6 percent. It is right to say we don't have very much nuclear detection equipment and much of the equipment that we have doesn't work very well.

LIN: So...

ERVIN: But to conclude from that that since we're so bad off this won't make this any worse off, is that the standard we should set for ourselves in the post-9/11 world?

LIN: All right, so what are the promises that that company has to make? Are you talking about boots on the ground, technology to be brought over to the United States?

ERVIN: This is the problem, Carol. The administration and supporters of this deal make the claim that, after all, the Customs Bureau will continue to conduct inspections and the Coast Guard will remain in charge of port security if this deal goes forward. That's true.

But it's also misleading, because it fails to point out that all that means is that the Coast Guard is going to be in charge of continuing to do what it does, and that is simply promulgating security standards and checking the plans of the port terminal operators to make sure that those plans conform to the standards. The actual day-to-day implementation of those standards is left to the port operator.

Just knowing what the security vulnerabilities are at the ports, just knowing what the plans of the Coast Guard or the Customs Bureau are, just knowing which cargo containers the Customs Bureau, if any, will inspect, is information that a country tied to terrorism will have if this deal goes forward. I don't think we can afford that in the age of terror.

LIN: Clark, we're going to have to leave it there. Clark Kent Ervin, we'll be looking forward to your testimony later today.

ERVIN: Thanks so much, Carol.

LIN: Be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

And now, a firsthand report from inside an Afghan prison uprising. At the top of the hour, we told you authorities had regained control of the prison. But for four days, armed inmates, including terrorist suspects, rioted.

American prisoner Edward Caraballo -- Caraballo barricaded himself inside the cell. Caraballo is a former cameraman for ABC News, where he worked with Anderson Cooper. And he called Anderson during the uprising, and you are going to hear from that interview shortly of what was going on inside.

But first, how did Edward Caraballo wind up in an Afghan prison? Anderson has that sorry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pul-e-Charkhi Prison. It looks medieval, but was built when the Soviets occupied Afghanistan in the 1970s. The conditions inside, according to a U.N. report a couple of years ago, some of the worst on earth.

We don't know how many prisoners are actually in there, but we're told some 300 of them are members of the Taliban or al Qaeda. They began rioting over the weekend, after being told they were going to have to wear prison uniforms.

Inside the prison, along with the rioters, Veteran American Cameraman Ed Caraballo.

RICHARD CARABALLO, ED CARABALLO'S BROTHER: The project that he was working on was a documentary on the War on Terror.

COOPER: But Caraballo went to Afghanistan with Keith Jack Idema. Idema, a former soldier, billed himself as a counter-terrorism consultant, but had a checkered past. Idema claimed he and his assistant, Brent Bennet, were working with the U.S. and Afghan governments to track down terrorists, which the U.S. government denies.

But the Afghan government said Idema, who had named his group Task Force Saber Seven, was acting on his own, running his own private prison. All three men were arrested, tried and convicted. After appeal, Caraballo got a two-year sentence.

His brother says he didn't get a fair trial.

R. CARABALLO: He was just a filmmaker, shooting a film.

COOPER: Idema was able to run this Web site from his cell, actually giving updates on the riot.

Caraballo gave up the relative comfort of that cell and began distancing himself from Idema. He converted to Islam and moved to a different cell block, one that was taken over by the rioters.

R. CARABALLO: I'm worried sick.

COOPER: Richard Caraballo is worried about this brother, worried that despite Ed's conversion to Islam, he'll be targeted by some of the prisoners who want to send a message to the Americans.

R. CARABALLO: He's a perfect brother. Through rough times in life, he's been there for me and I've tried to do the same for him.

COOPER: Anderson Cooper, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And now, to that phone call. This is what Ed Caraballo told Anderson at the height of the uprising.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

E. CARABALLO: The gates are all open. Every -- the prisoners are all walking around, heavily armed with chains and knives and whatever they can -- they have to -- to fight.

And they're afraid that the police are going to storm in and kill more people. So today, you know, I had been -- I had been walking a thin line, Anderson, because everybody, you know, all the prisoners know I have a mobile. And I've been letting whoever, whatever prisoner call their family to let them know they're OK. And I've been able to -- so I've been able to keep my mobile.

They sort of see me as one of them, so, because I'm Muslim, so they haven't bothered me. But they said it's nothing personal, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), you know, we know you're our brother, but we want to talk to the American ambassador.

COOPER: What is it that they want the Americans to do or the American ambassador to know?

E. CARABALLO: They want to stress that they were not trying to escape, they were just protesting conditions here.

COOPER: The last report that we had was that Afghan units had actually pulled back from the perimeter of the prison. It didn't look like, according to this last report I read, it didn't look like that they were going to try to move in. Have you seen any efforts to regain control of the prison?

E. CARABALLO: No. The Americans -- the American authorities have spoken to the U.S. Consul Adrianne Harchick (ph). I've been in contact with her constantly throughout the past couple of days. She's done a really good job of keeping me safe, but she says the Americans can't extract me, that it's not their job. It's up to the Afghans.

COOPER: How much more do you have on your sentence, Ed?

E. CARABALLO: Four months.

COOPER: It said that there are many al Qaeda prisoners in this prison. Is that the case? I mean, can you describe what that is like?

E. CARABALLO: Well, there are two blocks. Block one, which has the criminal side; and block two, which has the al Qaeda political criminals. And it's block two that started the uprising. And they're in communication, this block and that block, they're in communication just by yelling from the floor through each other.

COOPER: How close are you to the al Qaeda prisoners?

E. CARABALLO: Right outside my door, Anderson.

COOPER: They're right at your door? E. CARABALLO: That's correct.

COOPER: What do you want people to know, Ed?

E. CARABALLO: Well, I want people to know that -- I don't know. I just want to -- just -- I would say to the American forces or any -- or the Afghan forces, that they should not storm the prison at this point. The prisoners just want to get their message across and they've asked me to do that for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Once again, that uprising is over. Caraballo tells Anderson that he has four months remaining on his prison sentence.

CNN's "ANDERSON COOPER 360" airs weeknights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

And this just in to the CNN Center. We've been monitoring the Senate vote on the Patriot Act, and the vote just came in at 81-18. It has passed. The Patriot Act has been renewed. It now has to go to the House for a vote, and then back to a full vote on the joint House and Senate.

In the meantime, a downer of a day on wall street Tuesday. We're going to see if the markets are showing signs of a bounce-back, straight ahead.

And new technology that could help keep our troops safer in battle. What the future holds when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back.

Just a few minutes ago the Senate vote came in on the Patriot Act. It is 81-18. It has passed. With some of the controversial provisions. For example, allowing investigators roving wire taps on suspects, as well as the ability to get access to library, business, medical records, a wide ranging set of powers for investigators in the war on terror. The bill now goes to the house. It is expected at the moment to pass through the House, and then on to the president for his signature.

Now, this week CNN looks into the future of security. Today, we focus on those who protect our country and defend our freedom, and possible new tool that is might help keep them out of harms way.

More from CNN's Miles O'Brien in a segment we call "Welcome to the Future."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had over 900 Iraqis in combat, but we like to do this work with fewer American lives at risk. Pretty much have to drive everywhere in Iraq. We did probably several hundred convoys in these thin-skinned pickup trucks. In the time I was there, we had a half-dozen killed and 43 wounded. Unmanned convoys would reduce casualties entirely. But we still have a long ways to go, particularly when it comes to convoys and IED defects.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, have been blamed for more than 700 U.S. military deaths in Iraq. But what if we could put robots in harm's way instead?

(voice-over): Scott Meyers is an executive with General Dynamics, a company that specializes in unmanned warfare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe the way we operate right now for the military, it will completely different 15 years from now due to robotic technology.

O'BRIEN: Right now the unmanned vehicle is not entirely autonomous. It uses sensors, as well as commands from a manned lead vehicle to avoid obstacles and navigate rugged terrain. But it all goes well, Meyers says it could lead to completely unmanned convoys.

But don't look for robotic soldiers anytime soon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We consider these robots as really co- combatants, and not that we're replacing soldiers, but they can be more effective and do their job safely.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Researchers right now test the robotic vehicles at up to 15 miles per hour. And ultimately, those vehicles must prove that they can operate at least 55 miles per hour.

It has been six months after Hurricane Katrina, and the next hurricane season looms in three months. Far too much evidence of the disaster stills lingers throughout the Gulf Coast. You can just tell by these pictures.

Last hour on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," Miles O'Brien talked with Mississippi governor, Haley Barbour, about a laundry list of issues on his rebuilding agenda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. HALEY BARBOUR (R), MISSISSIPPI: We have a huge mountain in front of us that we have to get over, issues like debris removal. With the long term issue of affordable housing.

We've got our kids. The families are back. Ninety percent of our kids are back in school on the coast. Some are not in the same school because the school was destroyed. But we have, according to the State Department of Education, about 90 percent of the coast school kids are back in school on the coast. The big employers are back open. In fact, we have a labor shortage there. We've got a huge amount of temporary housing. But as you know, these travel trailers particularly -- we've got 36,000 of them -- they are not a good solution. And they will be a very bad solution if we have a bad hurricane season.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Now, unfortunately, the National Hurricane Center says the 2006 hurricane season could repeat or even exceed the past two years, if you can imagine that.

Now, you can catch AMERICAN MORNING each weekday starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

All right, what would you do for money? Think about that question, and then ask yourself if you would do this. The reward for becoming a walking billboard, straight ahead.

And one of baseball's home run greats dressing out for spring training. Yes. But this isn't exactly a regulation uniform, you might say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Let's take another look at the stories making news coast to coast.

It's Ash Wednesday, the day after Fat Tuesday. And in tribute to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast recovery, the Empire State Building is lit up in purple, green and gold, the official Mardi Gras colors. Purple represents justice, green stands for faith and gold stands for power.

A Maryland state senator saves the life of a man choking in a restaurant and later learns that that man is his election rival. "The Washington Post" reports the incident happened Monday in Annapolis. The paper says Senator John Giannetti saved Democrat Jim Rosapepe by performing the Heimlich maneuver.

And talk about putting your neck on the line. A man in Maine inks a $5,000 deal with a Web hosting company after auctioning the back of his neck as advertising space. Mark Greenlaw (ph) says he doesn't mind being a walking billboard. He says he needs to bring home more money for his family. Who thought of that one?

Now, Barry Bonds provides laugh for his Giants teammates and fans. Maybe he wants a date. He donned a strapless dress and a wig to impersonate Paula Abdul for the mock spin-off of TV's "American Idol." Young player sang before judges in the charity fundraiser. The second round takes place today. No word on if Bonds might don a dress again. Maybe a full-length number this time.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: All right, a fascinating medical story. Coming up, a disease once confined to adults is now showing up in more and more children. I'm going to talk with a neurologist about what is being done to detect multiple sclerosis in younger patients.

And also ahead, more on the president's trip to India, including the quest for a landmark nuclear deal that's raising eyebrows around the world. The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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