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American Morning

America's New War: Some Details About Money Trail; Bush Plans to Thank FEMA Workers

Aired October 01, 2001 - 09:02   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now let's get some details on what investigators are learning about the money used to carry out these attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Our Susan Candiotti has been tracking all that from her perch in Washington.

Susan, what's the latest?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Officials in the Middle East now confirming the man who received money -- you might call it leftover cash from the hijackings -- flew from Dubai to Pakistan on September 11th, the day of bombings. Sources say the man is identified as Mustahfa Ahmed (ph). He allegedly received about $15,000 dollars from Mohamed Atta two other suspects involved in hijackings, according to sources, just a few days before the attacks.

Now while the money was apparently going from east to west, we are now learning more about how and to whom it as going and opposite direction. A source close to investigation tells CNN, Atta, who is believed to have piloted one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center, appears to have played a role of money manager for the group. Sources say about $100,000 was funneled to him from Pakistan to Florida banks. Florida was where Atta and some others in the plot were living and training to fly since last year.

Atta, sources say, in turn would buy money orders with the funds, and then distribute the cash to his coconspirators -- miles.

O'BRIEN: You say the trail leads back to Pakistan. Is it a dead end from there? Or is there something that investigators can do in Pakistan, or with banking authorities there to take it another step?

CANDIOTTI: Well, certainly that is what they are involved in doing right now, to trace the money to its very source. Of course, what they would like to try to prove is whether this money came directly from Osama bin Laden.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Susan Candiotti, thanks very much -- Paula.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And, Miles, in just about 40 minutes from now, New York City's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is scheduled to speak to the United Nations General Assembly. The world body is beginning a weeklong debate on measures to fight terrorism.

CNN's U.N. correspondent Richard Roth joins us from there.

Good morning, Richard.

Do we know what mayor's going to say?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: No, we don't know exactly what he's going to say, though it's likely there is going to be perhaps praise on both sides. I don't know, but certainly for the New York mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, who -- it's really the first time he has ever spoken here at the U.N. General Assembly. It's the first time in about 50 years that a New York mayor has appeared before the 189-member body right now.

Giuliani, a few weeks ago, gave a tour of ground zero in New York to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. That tour was arranged rather hastily. Relations haven't always been the best between Giuliani and the United Nations. He has been very harsh on cracking down on parking tickets and diplomatic scofflaws. That's how he probably would have been remembered here. Now things may have changed.

Things are also a little bit tense here at the U.N., because this building is always a potential target. Friday afternoon tens of thousands evacuated in a safety drill, as U.N. security tries to upgrade things.

Also on Friday, late Friday, the United Nations Security Council passed its toughest measure to date so far on terrorism, freezing assets of potential suspects wanted for terrorism, and ordering nations to comply with these types of measures. Giuliani will speak for a few minutes before the general assembly. He'll meet privately with Annan, and then after that, Secretary General Annan and 150 nations will start talking about terrorism for the rest of the week -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Richard, thanks so much for that update. We will coming back to you as close as we can to the time that the mayor will be making his remarks at the U.N.

More than 100 members of Congress will tour the rubble of the World Trade Center today. The lawmakers are taking a train from Washington to New York, where they meet with Governor George Pataki and the mayor to talk about problems that some of the recovery workers are facing. House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt says House members need to see firsthand the immensity of the loss and understand what the city actually needs to recover.

Yesterday's visitors to the attack site included House Speaker Dennis Hastert. He said it's something every national decision maker needs to see in person.

O'BRIEN: President Bush plans to thank FEMA workers later today, workers who have toiled around the clock to help with recovery efforts in New York and at the Pentagon.

CNN's Martin Savidge joining us live from the disaster zone at the World Trade Center.

Good morning, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles.

It is a very cool, very breezy, very grim, and gray day down here at ground zero. Of course would it be grim even if the sun were out shining. The fact it is not only serves to amplify that mood.

You are looking from our vantage point here, which is the intersection of Broadway and Cedar. In the background, that direction is off to the northwest. In the far distant background would be the World Financial Center. Of course, in the foreground would have stood the World Trade Center building. And off in corner you may see the shattered remains of a seven-story building. That is World Trade Center building number four, that is in the process of being demolished.

The city of New York says that there are at least two other buildings need that will need to come down. World Trade Center buildings five and six. Working all over the site on the ground today is a massive army of demolition equipment. They look like so many orange and yellow insects, carefully and methodically working their way through the debris pile. Every now and then, they kick up clouds of dust, smoke, and steam that almost obscure them, and also occasionally in the background, you may see the orange plume of a welder's torch, as they try to cut their way through the massive amounts of steel.

When President Bush travels to Washington D.C. and the FEMA headquarters there in the city, he is not only going to be addressing those workers there, but also his speech will be beamed down here to New York. Obviously those workers in the heart of ground zero are not going to be able to hear the president's comments, but there has been the opportunity made for those FEMA workers that will be nearby, in the area.

As far as officials death toll as it stands right now, there have been 314 bodies that have been pulled from the rubble; 255 people have now been identified. And according to numbers gathered from six different sources, there are 5,219 people that are still unaccounted for. They also have removed about 145,000 tons of debris. They still have a very long way to go. The mayor of New York says that the process could take anywhere from nine to 12 months, and the cost of just clearing this site alone could add up to about seven billion dollars -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Marty, as we understand it, some of the family members of the missing, are now confirmed dead, are being provided some access to the site. Can you tell us a little bit about that and how close they are able to get?

SAVIDGE: Well, it started off initially with the firefighters and the family members of the police officers that died in line of duty, and then last week, as the mayor pointed out, they began bringing what he referred to as the civilian family members down to this particular site.

It is a very carefully controlled and a carefully carried out process. It is not done in eyes of media, not done from a vantage point that we would see here, and that is obviously very understanding. It's a tremendously emotional scene for the family members to come down here. It's a process that could go on for quite a long time here.

All of the people that have been here have been extremely moved, whether they've been directly impacted by the disaster, or simply like many Americans, seen and witnessed it on television, and now seeing it firsthand -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, CNN's Martin Savidge, right near ground zero.

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