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American Morning

Four More U.S. Troops Killed in Baghdad and Ramadi; London on High Alert

Aired August 04, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien. Overnight developments from Iraq. Four more U.S. troops killed in Baghdad and Ramadi. Now 27 Americans dead in just five days. We're live at the Pentagon, looking at what's behind the sudden rise in casualties.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien. London's on high alert this morning, four weeks after the deadly transit bombings, two weeks after a failed second attempt. This is disturbing new details are released about exactly how those bombs were made.

We're live in London with the very latest.

M. O'BRIEN: And a day after that dramatic repair mission in space, NASA engineers worried about a tattered blanket covering the shuttle. They are considering yet another risky repair space walk, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Good to have you with us this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome, everybody. We got more word of U.S. casualties out of Iraq today. In fact, that is where we begin this morning.

Three U.S. soldiers killed overnight when their vehicle was blown up on the outskirts of Baghdad.

Also a Marine killed on Wednesday during combat operations in Ramadi. That word according to officials.

It brings us right to Barbara Starr this morning. She's at the Pentagon for us.

Barbara, good morning.

Terrible news to start with, really.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Soledad. And the surge in violence is getting a lot of attention here. As you say, one Marine killed, again, in Ramadi, in western Iraq, three Army soldiers killed yesterday in Baghdad. Sketchy details, but according to some reports for that Army unit, that is the third fatal attack they've suffered in the last 10 days.

Now the 14 Marines that were killed yesterday, all that is left of that terrible attack is a huge crater, but it's significant to look at the picture of that crater, an indicator how large that bomb blast might have been that destroyed their multi-ton vehicle. As the violence continues, commanders are growing more concerned that the attacks are growing more lethal. Listen to what one commander had to say here at the Pentagon yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. GEN. CARTER HAM, CHIEFS DEP. DIR. FOR REGIONAL OPS: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: What General Hamm is talking about is two very significant developments, that they are seeing explosive devices with penetrators. In other words, aimed at going through the armored vehicles that U.S. forces are riding in to protect themselves. They are also seeing shaped charges. Those are special charges insurgents are using that focus the blast that caused more lethality.

Now, all of this coming as families and friends gather in Ohio where some of those Marines died. And discussions go on with the Iraqis about when to turn security over, when U.S. forces can come home. But at the point, Soledad, the count is more than 1,800 U.S. troops killed in Iraq -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon with that update for us.

Barbara, thanks.

A little bit later in this hour, we're going hear from a couple. They lost their son in a roadside bombing that took place Wednesday -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: We're learning some more about the bombs used in the deadly attacks in the London transit system. New York City police are revealing new information not only about the composition of the bombs, but also how British police believe they were detonated.

Deborah Feyerick with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The bombs used in the July 7 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 officials released the details while briefing private security directors in New York City. A law enforcement source confirms investigators believe the bombers used a peroxide-based explosive called HNDT. 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, stashed 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.

(on camera): A police spokesman says British authorities gave the NYPD the green light to share the information. Scotland Yard declined comment. But a British police force 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)

M. O'BRIEN: Let's take up that point with Nic Robertson. He joins us now from London.

Nic, the authorities there a little bit upset that New York authorities released this information, aren't they?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not the first time, Miles.

When those pictures of the bombs were released a week or so ago, the police here appealed to the media not to use them. Now, we've seen most of the sort of substantial information leaked to the media, if you will, coming not from British sources on this, but U.S. sources. And a British policeman today called this unhelpful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEP. CHIEF CONSTABLE ANDY TROTTER, BRITISH TRANSPORT POLICE: I think it's unhelpful at the moment. It's not the sort of thing we would be releasing right now, but our focus in London is very much on what we can do today and for the weeks and months ahead, to protect Londoners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: And the police here have played information very close to their chest. What they tend to do is release information they think will help further their investigation, not hinder it or put other information into the domain of potential other terror cells -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Nic, you're in front of a courthouse where there's a hearing under way right for one of the men charged in this incident. Tell us about that.

ROBERTSON: First man to be charged, Ismael Abdurahman, a 23- year-old. He looks from people who are in the court, as if he's of East African origin. What he's essentially being charged with is withholding information or having information that police say could have helped the police catch Issac Hamdi. That's one of the suspected bombers who was picked up in Rome on Friday last week. So the police essentially charging him with having information that could have helped apprehend or bring charges against somebody involved in acted of terrorism -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Nic, it's now been four weeks since the initial attack. What's the feeling among commuters at this point? Are they more or less nervous?

ROBERTSON: I think today, particularly people are concerned. If we remember the first bombings four weeks ago, the next failed bombings came exactly two weeks after that. This is another two-week mark today. And security on the underground network and the transport network as a whole has been particularly tight today. And people are concerned, and that's why there's been this high-profile security presence. Police want to ensure public confidence in what they're doing. We're seeing tourism -- or tourism has dropped off in this city. And what the police and the government here want to do, reassure the public and tourists that London can be safe -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson in London, thanks -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Investigators in Toronto are hoping to learn more about what caused Air France flight 358 to skid off the runway on Tuesday. Officials say it's still too early to know what role the weather might have played in the accident.

CNN's Chris Huntington live in Toronto for us this morning.

Chris, how long before investigators feel they have a handle on what caused the accident?

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the lead investigator yesterday said it will be as long as it takes to give a truthful answer. As you can well understand, they do not want to speculate on any of the myriad possible causes as to just what happened in those last final minutes that led 358, Air France flight 358, to lose control and crash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An international team of 50 investigators, led by Canada's Transportation Safety Board, began combing the wreckage Wednesday of Air France flight 358, trying to figure out what caused it to skid off the runway and burst into flames.

REAL LEVASSEUR, LEAD INVESTIGATOR: We will be looking at all aspects of this accident. Weather is one of them. Aircraft performance is another one. Hydraulic pressure, brakes is another one, spoilers, thrust-reversers. We will look at all of those. And just for your information, an accident normally seldom happens as a result of one cause.

HUNTINGTON: Investigators have recovered the so-called black boxes that may reveal what the plane and the pilot were doing in the crucial final moments. Air France says the six-year-old Airbus 340 was in perfect condition when it took off from Paris on Tuesday.

Passengers described turbulence during the descent, but some thought they were in the clear by the time they were landing.

YASMIN LADAK, PASSENGER: When we did touch down, people started clapping, just happy that we did touch the ground. And a couple of seconds after that, the plane just started jerking quite violently. And the next thing we knew, we were off the runway, and I could see flames in the distance or behind me.

HUNTINGTON: Investigators have not yet interviewed the passengers, nor the flight crew, nor air traffic controllers. Firefighters made it to the crash in just 52 seconds, perhaps because just three years ago they had conducted this exercise, eerily similar to the conditions they found with flight 358.

JOHN KALDEWAY, PRESIDENT & CEO OF GTAA: We practiced this against the hope that it will never happen, that we don't need to do this. But we train and we practice, and yesterday the event that we wished would not happen did.

HUNTINGTON: Many questions focused on the weather. Hundreds of flights were canceled or diverted from Toronto Tuesday as storms rolled through the area, and a lightning alert had been in place at the airport for nearly four hours before flight 358 touched down.

Officials say the decision to land was ultimately the pilot's, and emphasize that if the plane had been hit by lightning, that alone would not have caused the crash.

LEVASSEUR: We've had many cases of aircraft that have been hit by lightning, and it's normally not a problem.

HUNTINGTON: Investigators will also look at the conditions on the ground, and the possibility of pilot fatigue. Now, Air France confirms that it was the co-pilot actually at the controls when 358 touched down. He's 43 years old, said to have more than 2,500 hours of experience at the controls of an Airbus 340.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTINGTON: Soledad, many passengers have said that they felt that they were too far down the runway. This is something that other eyewitnesses on the ground are speaking about, and indeed the Canadian transport minister confirmed this is something they're focusing on in the investigation.

S. O'BRIEN: So are you saying pilot error there, too far down the runway, meaning they landed too far along? HUNTINGTON: That is certainly one of the's of pursuit for the investigators. Another is the fact that simply why was the decision made to land in the first place when indeed the airport was under a lightning alert, had been for several hours, had suspended ground operations. That is a question. When they review the communications between air-traffic controllers and the pilot, that is certainly something that they will be listening for.

S. O'BRIEN: Certainly a case of way more questions than answers, at least at this point. Chris Huntington for us with an update -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Nasa engineers will soon decide if yet another space walk is needed to repair a damaged thermal blanket on Discovery. Photos of the 20-inch-by-4-inch blanket show it is punctured at one end and poofed-out at the other. I believe that is a technical term, poofed out.

Engineers were testing samples of the material last night, running it through a wind tunnel. There's concern it can tear away and hit the orbiter on re-entry.

NASA officials say they were absolutely relieved by the ease of yesterday's repair, which you saw her live on AMERICAN MORNING. Astronaut Steve Robinson didn't have a problem removing the protruding gap-fillers from the shuttle's underbelly. He says, based on that success, he will be confident in any decision NASA makes regarding the damaged blanket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN ROBINSON, FROM DISCOVERY: We have so much -- there are so many engineers on the ground looking at lots more data than we currently have right now, that we have a lot of faith in what they're going to decide. It seems unlikely that we would do that, but based on what we just saw on the plan that they came up with, all our good support folks on the ground, the plan that they came up with for removing the gap-fillers, that was an outstanding plan. That came together in just a couple of days, and it worked perfectly. So we have a lot of confidence in whatever is going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Just to be clear, the concern is not that the shuttle would be overheated if the blanket were tattered as it is now, but rather the concern is pieces would fall off and hit the surface of the shuttle, the shuttle perhaps damaging one of the key control surfaces during re-entry. Those decisions are being made as we speak. An important briefing from NASA coming at 1:00 Eastern Time, what you'll hear about on CNN.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, that American journalist killed Wednesday in Iraq. We'll find out why some say his death might have been payback for a story he wrote. S. O'BRIEN: Also, much more on the London terror investigation. The attackers used household items to make their bombs. So how worried should we be about these revelations? A look at that's up next, on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Now four weeks to the day since the deadly suicide bombings began in London, and we're learning more about the explosives that were used. They were made from everyday household items. Nothing high tech as originally thought. That's according to a New York City Police Department briefing on Wednesday. What are the implications for the U.S.? And why is the New York City Police Department releasing all this stuff?

Joining us now security analyst Pat D'Amuro, who has answers to all these questions for us, or at least we'll try.

Pat, let's talk about the fact that this kind of stuff can be found in a drugstore or a medicine cabinet. That's troubling, isn't it?

PAT D'AMURO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is, Miles. But for years, that information has been available to people on the outside, through books, through Internet sources.

M. O'BRIEN: I Googled how to make a bomb this morning, 15 million hits. So it's out there, isn't it?

D'AMURO: The information is there, and people are tapping into those databases and pulling that information out.

M. O'BRIEN: So that is troubling. Would it be more troubling if you had discovered it was an exotic plastic explosive, C-4 or Semtech or something?

D'AMURO: Well, we've seen Al Qaeda and other groups try to use more technically advanced explosive material -- TNT, C-4, other devices like that. What we're seeing now is that they can't readily get their hands on that.

M. O'BRIEN: And that's good. That's good.

D'AMURO: That's a good thing. It's a good thing.

M. O'BRIEN: Sadly, they're resourceful.

D'AMURO: That's right, and they're able to obtain household items and make them explosive devices, IEDs.

M. O'BRIEN: What's interesting about this, though, is that this particular device they cobbled together was not an easy thing to deal with. In other words, it was unstable, even at room temperature, had to be kept in a refrigerator or a freezer, but they were still able to pull it off. What does that tell you?

D'AMURO: That's another danger to the community that you just mentioned, that these things are very unstable. These improvised- explosive devices are very unstable and they have to be kept at certain temperatures and stored in a certain way. The fact that they're able to do that, it's common to have refrigeration, it's common to get these products. It stays under the radar in many instances.

M. O'BRIEN: So what do you do to defend against it, if it's something as simple as hydrogen peroxide, commonly available, widely available, how do you go after that as a member of the authorities?

D'AMURO: Well, obviously drugstores, if someone is coming in buying gallons of hydrogen peroxide, hopefully they'll be notifying something that's something up and something's a little strange. The best way to protect against this, Miles, is reaching out to the community. If the community sees something that's just not right, to report those matters to law-enforcement agencies.

M. O'BRIEN: In this case, they had commercial freezers and refrigerators in what amounted to a flop house. I think that could, of course, arouse some suspicion. Let's talk about the release of information. New York City authorities releasing this information. The British authorities saying that wasn't very helpful. How did that happen?

D'AMURO: I don't know. Last night we heard that British authorities did authorize this. This was coming, obviously, from the NYPD. And today we hear from the authorities did not. Hopefully there will be closer coordination before information is released like that. It is irresponsible if you're not working with your partners in these type of investigations, making sure that information doesn't get disclosed.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, what's your take on it? Assuming for a moment the London authorities would go along with this, is it a good idea to get this information out?

D'AMURO: At times, it may be a good idea to get information out. But you want to be careful that you don't negatively affect an investigation. For example, you don't want the types of materials to get out if you're looking for that, if you're looking for subjects dealing with that type of material.

M. O'BRIEN: Because obviously they know now you're on their trail, right?

D'AMURO: That's right.

M. O'BRIEN: So then what next, then? Will the London authorities -- is it incumbent upon them to explain further what they know, do you think, now that the New York authorities have released this information?

D'AMURO: Well, I think it puts the authorities in London in a tough spot, because they haven't even disclosed this information to their own citizens yet.

M. O'BRIEN: So they're going to confirm what New York has confirmed from them, right?

D'AMURO: They're probably going to have to say a little more.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, Pat D'Amuro, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

D'AMURO: Still ahead this morning, we're "Minding Your Business," three weeks now added to Martha Stewart's house arrest. Andy will tell us why, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Martha, Martha, Martha, not going to be free of that ankle bracelet anytime soon.

With that story, Andy Serwer "Minding Your Business."

She was supposed to get off. It's not been extended.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That's correct, Soledad.

She was supposed to get it off next Wednesday, August 10th. Now, however, Martha Stewart will have to wear that ankle bracelet and have to home confined for another three weeks. She does get to leave for 48 hours a week to go see her doctor, go to church, or for other things like work. But now it turns out that she's going to have to stay at home until August 31st.

S. O'BRIEN: Why?

SERWER: And the big question is why. Well, it's not completely clear, Soledad. However, it may be linked to a "New York Post" story on Sunday that revealed that she was visiting a yoga class in Bedford, New York, and also did a little shopping for books.

And also, there was a picture of her, you can see right here, riding around on an ATV, a mule, one of those four-wheel drive jobs. "The Post" is saying that' it's because of these kinds of activities that the home confinement was extended. No confirmation at all. It's not clear that these activities were illegal, first of all, or violated the terms of her confinement, number one. And so we really don't know if this is what caused her to have to stay home for another three weeks. But...

S. O'BRIEN: Clearly, her parole officer somehow made some kind of complaint, which led to the more time.

SERWER: That's correct. And her spokesperson did confirm that she is going to be up there for another three weeks. And she turned 64 yesterday. So not a very happy birthday time for Martha at all.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, well, you know, maybe she'll stay inside for the next three weeks just to be safe. SERWER: Making a cake, eating the cake, those kinds of things.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, thanks, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: I wonder if she's going to put a file in that cake. Who knows.

SERWER: All right, still to come, another potential problem for the Shuttle Discovery. Does that damaged thermal blanket pose a serious threat? Big question this morning. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, 14 Marines killed in Iraq in one day, all from the same battalion. We talk this morning to the mother and father of one of those young men. Those stories ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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