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American Morning

America Strikes Back: Secretary Powell's Visit to Region Comes as Airstrikes Against Afghanistan Continue into Second Week; Health Officials Awaiting Results of Latest Anthrax Tests

Aired October 15, 2001 - 10:01   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary Powell's visit to the region comes as the airstrikes against Afghanistan continue now into a second week.

And for the latest on his mission and the ongoing airstrikes, CNN's Christiane Amanpour joining us live overseas in Pakistan, the capital city of Islamabad.

Christiane, hello.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, Pakistan is one of America's most serious allies in this fight against terror. And to that end, the secretary of state is coming here to offer support for what he calls the bold, courageous move that President Pervez Musharraf made in standing with the...

(AUDIO GAP)

... about a half hour ago, and there was, as you say, a general strike called for today and protests in defiance of his visit. But those have been lukewarm at best. Many shops remain open. Many businesses remain open. And it was just in the hardline Islamic militant strongholds, if you like, those parts of the country, where there was some closure of businesses, and there have not been the same kind of street protests today as there have over the last several days. Now of course this visit comes as the U.S. air campaign goes into its second week. And we have received pictures from Kabul and elsewhere, showing the air raids around the capital city, also Kandahar and Jalalabad.

According to eye witnesses and sources contacted by CNN, they report that this is the heaviest daytime bombardment since the air campaign began. And course the Pakistanis say they want an assessment from General Powell as to how long this campaign will go on, and whether they see -- quote -- "light at the end of the tunnel."

At same time, the political solution for Afghanistan will be on top of the agenda here. You know both Pakistan and the United States talked about possibly having the former king of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah (ph), head an interim broad-based alliance. And of course Zahir Shah today sent a delegation to meet with the Pakistani president and other officials. It is not sure whether that delegation will meet with General Powell while he is here. But this issue is very much on top of everybody's minds here at this particular time -- Bill.

HEMMER: ... on a Monday, bringing us up to date on what's happening there in Pakistan. Christiane, thanks to you.

Still ahead this hour, CNN's Miles O'Brien on the tenuous political relationships in the region, and Miles will be in CNN's new map room to walk us through that area. Again, we will have that for you coming up momentarily here as we continue on a Monday morning -- Catherine.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pentagon officials say they don't know what the caused death and destruction in the small Afghan town of Kuransk (ph), west of the Jalalabad. Officials insist the town was not on the target list.

And CNN's Nic Robertson was taken to the town by the Taliban. He has the latest now on his trip into Afghanistan and a statement from Al-Qaeda.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a rundown hospital in Jalalabad, 1 1/2-year-old Azibullah (ph) clings to his father, Achmed Zai (ph). Achmed says he remembers hearing the call to prayer early Thursday morning. Then, he says, planes started dropping bombs. His four other sons died in the attack, he says, and his wife was also injured.

In the bed next to him, Mohammed Shah Khan (ph) has a similar story. His wife died in the bombing raid. All he has left, he says, is his 3-month-old daughter Allie (ph).

In the next ward, Samina (ph) sits silently waiting. Doctors say her parents were killed in the same raid on the village of Koram.

And so the patient list goes on. Rachmed Barby (ph) also orphaned in the Koram raid, according to doctors.

In Koram, anger over the attack is still palpable and so, too, memories in this village where 90 percent of the houses appeared destroyed still fresh. Masdoud (ph) describes how he escaped the bombing. "My boys went in this house here and I went there. My three brothers and mother are dead."

The hunt for the living is more or less over, even though some villagers still sift through the debris. All around, dead livestock add to the stench in the air. A hundred yards away, an unexploded bomb juts out of the ground, evidence, villagers say, they were attacked by Americans. Others display bomb fragments, for them, more justification to hate America.

Journalists were brought here by the Taliban. But the anger among the villagers seems authentic to reporters experienced in Afghanistan. And the number of bomb craters and variety of armaments seen here suggests this was not an error. The Pentagon won't comment on specific targets. But it says it has strived to avoid targeting civilians, aiming only at the stronghold of the Taliban or al Qaeda. Asked if the hard to reach hillside cluster of houses could have been mistaken for a terrorist training camp, the answer a firm no.

"Does Osama use these field tools and are these Osama's clothes?" Seagoul (ph) says, passing off items in the devastation around him.

Keen to leave no stone unturned in their efforts to prove their innocence, villagers unearthed the remains of what they said was a girl. Several dozen fresh graves now litter the almost totally destroyed village. Many others, villagers say, have been buried elsewhere.

(on camera): Taliban officials and local leaders say 200 people died here and while it is impossible to independently verify such figures, it is clear the attacks have greatly fueled anti-American sentiment in the area.

(voice-over): In nearby villages, demonstrators come out to protest in front of international journalists. "Death to Bush! Death to Tony Blair!" the cry. And while noisy, they appear readily controlled by the Taliban, able to show the support they command.

UNIDENTIFIED AFGHANI: Yes, all the people is so angry about it and so angry about that action, maybe that people that they injured and dead, they are common people, not belongs to the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Arabic people.

ROBERTSON: At the request of journalists, Taliban officials did show the pinpoint accuracy of American missiles. The radar at Jalalabad Airport, they say, took a direct hit the first night of the strikes. The airport is now out of action, the Taliban airport commander says, because communications are also down.

Away from targets, life appears to have some normality. In downtown Jalalabad, most stores are open and fuel readily available at the pumps. While some people are still heading to the countryside for safety, a very senior Taliban official announced that after the first week of strikes, they have widespread popular support. Few in this area appear ready to argue with that view.

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ROBERTSON: Now sense the destruction of that village, an announcement from the Al Qaeda organization of Osama bin Laden. That announcement a special messagain in their terms. They say that if the United States continues to destroy what they call civilian homes of Afghans, there will be serious consequences.

Back to you.

CALLAWAY: Nic, when you were taken to the town by the Taliban, how restricted were you? Were you able to move about freely? ROBERTSON: Well, the Taliban laid down some restrictions for us right from the outset, and they said, that while we were working inside Afghanistan, we always had a to have a government representative with us. We could not go freelancing and looking up into other stories by ourselves. They said that was for our safety. However, we were prevented overnight from leaving the hotel by armed guards. We certainly weren't free to move around.

But when we were taken to that village, we were allowed complete free reign. We didn't have people standing over our shoulder. We were able to go and talk to whoever we wanted, look at whatever we wanted, and certainly, there were absolutely no restrictions placed on us there. We also were told we could select any other places that we wanted to visit inside Afghanistan, and we chose to go -- we asked to go to the airport, because we knew the airport had been subject to attacks, or it had reported, we knew the Pentagon had been targeting airports in Afghanistan. The Taliban agreed to take us there. They showed us radar installation they say was targeted on the first night, taken out by a cruise missile. They told the commander of the airport, told us the airport was out of action, that its communications were down. The runway was slightly damaged, but they had no aircraft operating at that time.

Now, we left very early the following morning, so it was impossible to verify and see if the Taliban would have taken us to other locations. We certainly, when we were on-site, we were able to speak with whoever we wanted, given free reign on those sites and areas. In the hospital, for example, able to talk to whomever we wanted about whatever we wanted. So wherever we were, we had a free hand, but we were told absolutely, categorically no operation on any story without the Taliban being present.

HEMMER: All right, Nic. CNN's Nic Robertson reporting to us live from Pakistan, thanks, Nic.

Well, U.S. government officials say that authorities have foiled four overseas bombing plots in the days since September 11th. Sources tell the Associated Press that the targets included U.S. military and diplomatic locations, including the U.S. embassy in Paris. Over the past month, officials say that they have rounded up 225 people overseas, but the FBI reportedly believes that several people involved in plotting attacks are still at large in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.

Also back here in the U.S., health officials awaiting the results of the latest anthrax tests. So far, several cases have been reported in Florida and in New York, and also anthrax tests under way in Reno, Nevada and in the state of Massachusetts.

Three reports this morning: Jason Carroll is in New York, Mark Potter in Florida, and James Hattori is stationed out west in Nevada.

Jason, we begin with you this morning in New York. Good morning to you.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, good morning to you, Bill.

Early yesterday, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced that three people who were investigating the anthrax scare here at NBC were exposed to anthrax spores. One police officer and two lab technicians who were investigating that very suspicious letter were exposed to a small number of spores, but that does not mean that they were infected with the disease.

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DR. STEVEN OSTROFF, CDC: The presence of spores, either on somebody's face, or in the nasal passages, does not necessarily imply that they were exposed to a sufficient number of spores or that that will ever then lead to any type of disease. And as long as you give these individuals antibiotics to keep them from getting the disease, there is essentially zero likelihood that they will develop disease in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: And right now, you are looking at a live picture coming to us from Hamilton, New Jersey. This is a significant part of the story as well. That suspicious letter was postmarked September 18. It was actually postmarked from Trenton, New Jersey, which is nearby Hamilton, but the letter was processed at that mail center you see there in Hamilton, New Jersey. The letter was initially addressed to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw. His assistant is the only person who has a confirmed case of anthrax. She has a cutaneous form of the diseases, which is a skin infection. A second employee is showing similar symptoms. Both of them are being treated with antibiotics. Both of them are expected to make a full recovery -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Jason. Jason Carroll watching the front there in New York.

CNN's Mark Potter near the scene of that first case. That was in Boca Raton, Florida. Mark's there again this morning.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Well, health officials here have ordered a second round of blood tests for employees here at American Media in Boca Raton. They say that's normal when you are checking for possible anthrax exposure. They say you simply can not get a good reading from just one blood test.

Now if you recall, some 300 employees last week were given blood tests, also nasal swabs, and health officials tell CNN that five of those employees were found, in the words of the CDC official to be mildly reactive to a test for anthrax antibodies. But they warn categorically that those tests are preliminary, they are certainly not at all conclusive and they could even be reversed with subsequent testing. We have other cases already, early on in this investigation, where false positives turned out later with subsequent testing to be negatives. So far now, we have one person who was tested positive for anthrax, the gentleman who died, Robert Stevens, two others exposed to anthrax. Those are the numbers here right now, three, not eight or more. Ten as have been reported over the weekend. And the FBI investigation continues.

Meanwhile, the Secretary for Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson in Washington says that this is terrorism of some sort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY THOMPSON, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: There's no question it is bioterrorism. It's a biological agent. Its' terrorism. It's a crime. It is terrorism, but whether or not it is connected to Al Qaeda, we can't say conclusively.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: Now, meanwhile, this case could be critical for the -- this week could be critical for the FBI investigation, because they are expecting some lab results back, including a test, some samples that were taken here at the building, swabs that were taken out of here, and those results could help, depending on what they are, define the future course of this investigation. This case increasingly depending on science and lab testing as it proceeds.

Now in the old fashioned gumshoe area, the FBI has also over the weekend has been talking to -- trying to talk to 800 employees and visitors to the building. That process is still under way to see if they can develop leads that way.

And finally, the FBI confirmed reporting this weekend that a real estate agent who happened to be married to the editor of "The Sun" newspaper, one of the papers here, in the building behind me, did rent a building to two men who turned out to be involved in the hijacking, but the FBI diminishes that, saying that they consider that just to be a strange coincidence. No known link between anthrax, that apartment and the events here.

Bill, back to you.

HEMMER: So much is strange these days.

Mark, thanks,

Mark Potter in Boca Raton.

Now in Reno, Nevada, health officials there expecting some important anthrax test results later today. A contaminated letter was discovered at an office building there.

The latest from CNN's James Hattori, who is watching things this mourning in Reno again for us.

James, good morning. JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. As you say, we are still awaiting word from the Centers for Disease Control, analysis of the anthrax-contaminated letter that was received in the Microsoft office behind me.

Nonetheless, health officials here say that employees showing up for work here, including six people tested for exposure, can literally breath a little easier.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From interviewing these individuals, our investigators have determined that they handled the contents of this letter or this envelope very, very carefully. We think their exposure in this case was extremely minimal. And for that, we are highly optimistic that we will see no cases of human anthrax in this situation.

HATTORI (voice-over): Optimistic, because four of six people who came in contact or close proximity to an anthrax-contaminated letter sent to Microsoft here at Reno have tested negative for airborne exposure.

The other two preliminary negative, their final results due this morning. So far, none has reported suspicious symptoms. In any event, health officials say because the amount of anthrax detected in the letter is so tiny and not airborne, the public health threat is also very small.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: According to the health department, they said that there is a very low risk. But any risk is obviously an emotional concern. But the employees I talked to seem pretty comfortable at this point.

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HATTORI: Now while concerns have eased a bit here, they haven't gone away, and as you can imagine, the Microsoft employees here will -- that will be on their minds as they show up for work. So the first order of business will be the latest briefing from health officials -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, James, we will wait for that.

James Hattori, thank you, live if Reno, and certainly, there are many questions surrounding this issue. In our next hour, we will take some of these questions.

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