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American Morning
Al Qaeda Prison Break; Cartoon Outrage; Domestic Spying; Face Transplant; Talking Terror
Aired February 06, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Miles O'Brien.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Zain Verjee in for Soledad.
O'BRIEN: This morning, a global security alert for this man and a dozen other members of al Qaeda. They are on the loose after digging their way out of prison in Yemen.
Violence over those controversial cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed now turning deadly. More on this.
VERJEE: Is the White House breaking the law? That's what senators are trying to figure out today as they take on the administration's domestic spying program.
Facing the world, the woman with the first-ever face transplant goes before the cameras for the first time. We're live on that story.
O'BRIEN: And a return to glory for the team from Pittsburgh, a new generation of Steelers winning it all with a little razzle dazzle and a hometown hero.
We begin with a global search for terrorists in our CNN "Security Watch." A global alert is out for escapees from a Yemeni prison.
CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is in Washington with details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Interpol issued an "urgent global security alert" for the 23 prisoners who escaped from a Yemeni jail, including 13 convicted al Qaeda terrorists, amidst reports the men tunneled their way out of a highly- secure prison in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.
A U.S. government official with direct knowledge of the situation tells CNN a national manhunt is under way. Counterterrorism units are now on the streets of Sanaa trying to find the escapees. The official says the prisoners may have had inside help.
The escape is a major embarrassment for the Yemeni government, which had been trying to convince the Bush administration it had broken the back of the al Qaeda network in the country. The official call to the escape, a major setback for Yemen, but says the government there is sharing information with the U.S. about the situation. One of the escapees is the convicted mastermind of the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000. The U.S. Navy had been planning to bring another warship into Yemen for a port call, the first time since the bombing of the Cole, but now that plan may be on hold.
Interpol says the men pose a -- quote -- "clear and present danger." All nations are being warned to take precautions. The U.S. Embassy in Yemen is also taking security measures. There is great concern the prisoners might head into northern Yemen, an area where the government has little control over tribal chiefs, an area where officials say these men could easily disappear.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
Defending domestic spying. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will be in the Senate hot seat this morning supporting the Bush administration's use of warrantless eavesdropping.
CNN's Kelli Arena is on Capitol Hill with more. She'll be joining us in just a little bit.
A woman in France is facing the world today with a new face. We're talking about the patient who had a groundbreaking partial face transplant about two-and-a-half months ago. Here's a look at a press conference under way at a hospital north of Paris, maybe. There it is.
Coming up very shortly, we have an update on the woman's difficult journey back to normal from Jim Bittermann in Paris.
All right, I'm very sorry. We're having a tough morning here. I believe our server is not working. We can't give you any video.
VERJEE: The face transplant will be the first time she's going to be meeting journalists.
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
VERJEE: Isabelle Dinoire. She's having a hard time chewing and eating and speaking properly. But we will try and get back to Jim Bittermann for that. She's also been smoking a little bit. And doctors have said that...
O'BRIEN: Yes.
VERJEE: ... you know doesn't exactly help the situation there.
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
VERJEE: We'll see.
O'BRIEN: All right.
Tell you what, let's take a break. We'll be back with more in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VERJEE: Several hundred demonstrators battled security forces near the Danish Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan today. They were protesting the publication of several cartoons in European newspapers depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed. There are reports of one person being killed outside Kabul. This is the latest round of demonstrations worldwide over the cartoons.
On Sunday, thousands of demonstrators in Beirut, Lebanon set fire to the Danish Consulate. It took security forces several hours to move the crowd away from the building.
Our Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler joins us now from Beirut with more on what's happening today.
Good morning -- Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Zain.
Well in the aftermath of that protest that really did turn into pitch battles on the streets of the Lebanese capitals for several hours, religious leaders and politicians are really trying to dampen down the flames of anger surrounding that cartoon controversy. Particularly here in Lebanon where for 15 years there was a vicious civil war what really brought Christians and Muslims battling in the streets of this once divided capital. And that's a red line nobody here wants to cross again -- Zain.
VERJEE: These protests, though, Brent, more than just about the cartoons. What are some of the other deeper issues at stake here?
SADLER: Well, certainly what we have seen throughout the Middle East over the past several days has been an expansion of organized and generally peaceful protests against the battle that pits, on the one side, the principle of freedom of the press and those that would claim that the image of Islam has been desecrated as a result of cartoons.
Peaceful protests really broke apart here because many politicians and observers say that the Lebanese on the day before the Syrian protests, which targeted Danish interests and torched buildings, had really been hijacked by extremist elements that have an ax to grind against U.S. policy in the Middle East, in Iraq, as a result of not recognizing the Hamas-selected government in the Palestinian areas. But there's a real concern and danger that these cartoon protests may evolve into something far more dangerous in the near future -- Zain.
VERJEE: As another result, also, Brent, a boycott also of Danish products throughout the Arab and Muslim world.
SADLER: That's right. There are many observers who believe that there will be continuing efforts to mobilize Arab support for a boycott, and the latest, Iraq, to join that boycott by severing contact and expertise with Danish companies. These protests from Afghanistan to Iraq to the Egyptian capital Egypt to Syria and Lebanon, let's not forget that many of these country's populations the street feeling is anti-U.S. policy in the Middle East -- Zain.
VERJEE: CNN's Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler reporting.
In our next hour, we're going to talk to an Arab newspaper columnist about the cartoons and about the protests that they have sparked. We're also going to talk to a columnist at the "Philadelphia Enquirer." The "Enquirer" decided to publish the cartoons and we'll find out why -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Domestic spying without warrants. Once again, as we told you a few moments ago, the attorney general will be on Capitol Hill. He'll be questioned by senators about that program.
Here's Kelli Arena with a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): If the rhetoric is to be believed, we're going to have some very tense moments today on Capitol Hill. There are some lawmakers who just are not convinced that the president's domestic surveillance program is legal. And they are expected to press the attorney general to answer questions much more specifically than he has in the past.
Senators are having a hard time reconciling the NSA program, which allows the government to conduct domestic surveillance without warrants with existing law. The attorney general will argue that the president is on very firm legal ground and that the program is not only lawful but necessary. But, he says, he will not get into any operational details because the program does remain classified.
Now the Justice Department did send over to Congress a so-called white paper, basically laying out the entire foundation for their legal argument. And senators have had some time to go through that paper, look for any perceived weak points. And from what we have heard, they're ready to pounce.
Kelli Arena, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: A woman in France is facing the world today with a new face. We're talking about the patient Isabelle Dinoire who you see here in these pictures. She had a groundbreaking partial face transplant about two-and-a-half months ago. This is a press conference that's under way at a hospital just north of Paris. She'll be answering questions and making statements to journalists.
She's 38 years old and she's been going back and forth from the hospital since her operation where she got a new nose, a chin and a mouth. She also, apparently, according to "People" magazine, has got herself a book and a film documentary and is coming up to something like $8 million.
But we are awaiting this press conference. And here you see some live pictures.
We want to bring you an update, though, from Jim Bittermann who brings us more detail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It has been 10 weeks since the 39-year-old French mother of two made headlines around the world when she became the first person to undergo a face transplant operation. And doctors say after recovering behind closed doors, she is ready to get on with her life.
DR. BERNARD DEVAUCHELLE, FACE TRANSPLANT SURGEON: She is doing very, very, very well. She is normal. Normal, except maybe insensitivity.
BITTERMANN: According to an American magazine, which published pictures of her before and after her operation, Isabelle Dinoire is doing so well now that she has been eating strawberries and chocolate cake, trying to regain the weight she has lost. And, to her doctor's dismay, she has once again taken up smoking.
Her surgery, which became necessary after the family dog mauled her face, grafted the lips, nose and chin of a suicide victim onto her existing bone structure, an operation which doctors say is not only physically challenging, but psychologically difficult for a patient.
But from the outset, doctors said there was never a question about performing the operation.
DR. JEAN-MICHEL DEUBERNARD, TRANSPLANT SURGEON (through translator): When you saw this person's face, how severely disfigured, you will understand why we had to take on this challenge.
BITTERMANN: While the transplant surgeons have appeared in public, they have kept Dinoire away from the cameras, and in the hospital as much as possible. But now they say there is no medical reason for her to stay. When she does go home, it may be to even more publicity and money as well. According to one report, she has signed agreements worth nearly a million dollars for a book, a documentary and a feature film about her story.
Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: And here, once again, are the live pictures. That is the woman with a new face. She is wearing pink, Isabelle Dinoire. It's been reported in many papers that her medical progress has been so significant. She's even been able to take public strolls without drawing too much attention.
And, Miles, this is so significant for all of us, because her transplant, if it's ultimately successful, and the surgeons certainly think it has been, it means that a whole lot of burn victims and other people with facial injuries are going to have a lot of hope.
O'BRIEN: It's interesting, because there has been so many rumors and misinformation swirling around this story. At the heart of it was some sort of situation which a dog mauled her face, her own dog, a Labrador of all things. And there were all kinds of allegations about her emotional stability and through all of this. And I think a lot of what we're seeing here is to try to set the record straight. One of the rumors that was going around was that she was seen cavorting in bars not long after the surgery, which was knocked down by people who were close to the scene.
We will be watching this one very closely. And of course as information becomes available to us, we'll share it with you.
Kelly Wallace is in the newsroom this morning watching headlines.
Good morning -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles and Zain. Hello, everyone.
We're beginning with jury selection, which gets under way this morning in the penalty phase of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. You'll recall he is the only person charged in the United States in connection with the September 11 terror attacks. Excuse me. Moussaoui pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy charges. Officials say he attended an al Qaeda training camp and received money from the same group that funded the September 11 attacks. He could be facing the death penalty.
In Egypt, friends and relatives lashing out after a passenger ship sank in the Red Sea. Protesters trashed the offices of the company that owns the ship. They broke windows and set furniture on fire. Riot police fired tear gas to try and restore order. The ship sank Friday with about 1,400 people onboard. Only about 400 are believed to have survived. And we'll be getting a live update from Egypt just ahead.
Paying tribute to Coretta Scott King. Thousands expected to pay their respects at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. And that's where her husband preached in the 1960s. Her husband, of course, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. More than 40,000 people viewed her body in Georgia's capital this weekend. President Bush among those expected to attend her funeral tomorrow.
And a piece of South Carolina history becoming history. Crews demolished the 33-year-old Carolina Plaza Hotel using 500 pounds of dynamite. It only took about 15 seconds for it to all come down, but officials say it will take almost two months for them to cleanup all the debris. The University of South Carolina will use the space to build a new research center.
Time to get a check of the forecast.
Chad Myers at the CNN Center with an update.
And -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
WALLACE: Very windy in New York City this morning.
MYERS: It is. Feels like the coldest day of the year so far. The wind just blowing right through you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you guys.
VERJEE: Thanks -- Chad.
MYERS: Welcome.
VERJEE: Well sending e-mail is about to get a little more expensive for some Internet users, but for most of us that might just be a good thing.
Carrie Lee has that story and the rest of the financial news.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now let's be clear, the people receiving e-mails aren't going to have to pay for them, it's the companies that send e-mails. And if you have an e-mail account, I'm sure you have gotten a lot of spam, a lot of junk e-mail over the years.
Well now Yahoo! and AOL are set to rollout a service trying to curb that. The idea here to charge e-mail senders a fee to route e- mails directly to a user's mailbox without first passing through junk mail filters. Really seems like a win-win, because a company that has a legitimate message will be able to bypass those filters. And that means people receiving the e-mails are less likely to receive junk.
The first time that a company like this, Yahoo! and AOL, are charging the senders of e-mails. And the idea here is to curb the whole spam explosion. So I think it sounds like a win-win. They are set to start this very soon.
O'BRIEN: Yes, but it could be a slippery slope. Once you start charging for e-mail, could it change the way we do business on the Internet?
LEE: It could.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: I should add, though, it's optional. So if a company doesn't want to pay this fee, which is anywhere from a penny to a quarter of a penny per e-mail, they can simply say, well, I want to keep doing business the way I was.
O'BRIEN: And they end up in the spam catcher along with everybody else, maybe.
LEE: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: All right.
LEE: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: All right.
LEE: So interesting idea.
Anyway, turning to stocks, oil prices on the rise this Monday morning, two above $66 a barrel, up about 83 cents or so. This, after Iran ended all voluntary cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency. They say they are going to start uranium enrichment or continue uranium enrichment and bar surprise inspections to their facilities. So oil prices on the rise a bit.
That may be putting some pressure on stocks. Looks like a little bit of a higher open for today. But you know we saw a lot of selling last week, all of the major market indices down over 1 percent. A lot of economic uncertainty out there, so.
VERJEE: OK.
Carrie Lee, thanks.
LEE: OK.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Carrie.
Still to come on the program, that controversy over wiretaps. But you know we've been talking about all these phone calls that are intercepted. How do terrorists really communicate? How do they pass the word along? It may not be what you think. Kelly Wallace has been looking into this. She has a fascinating report for us. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VERJEE: A CNN "Security Watch" now. The Senate Judiciary Committee begins hearings today on the pros and the cons of spying on American communication. Some say it's needed to track would-be terrorists. Some say, look, it's just a violation of civil liberties. But just how do potential terrorists communicate and how can they be stopped?
AMERICAN MORNING's Kelly Wallace is here to show us -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Hello, Zain, great to see you.
You know while the debate is raging in Washington over whether it is legal or not to spy in the United States on Americans, we wanted to take a look at how terrorists communicate and what obstacles the National Security Agency could be facing as it tries to carry-out this surveillance. Well, as most of our viewers know, this is a top secret program. So, for some answers, we needed to get creative.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DENNIS HOPPER, ACTOR: What did NSA give for us?
BENJAMIN BRATT, ACTOR: They intercepted a call to Dema (ph) from an American.
HOPPER: Get out of town.
BRATT: The problem is, we can't listen to it.
HOPPER: Says who?
WALLACE (voice-over): Hollywood's take on super sensitive spying by the National Security Agency on American citizens, a program so secret no one in the know will talk about it. So, we had to rely on experts, like Ira Winkler, a former NSA analyst turned computer security guru who wrote the book "Spies Among Us: How to Stop Spies, Terrorists, Hackers and Criminals You Don't Even Know You Encounter Every Day."
Winkler says to avoid detection, bad guys might scramble data before it's transmitted.
IRA WINKLER, FORMER NSA ANALYST: A nice simple file like this, looks like that.
WALLACE: Other ways would-be terrorists try to fly below the radar online, hiding data inside a picture, setting up free e-mail accounts, numerous providers offer these, and using codes to communicate.
WINKLER: There's just so much data out there that it's almost impossible to find the right people that you are looking for just randomly.
WALLACE: Like Winkler, Rebecca Givner-Forbes spends her days monitoring the Internet. She's an analyst with the Terrorism Research Center. Her specialty, jihadist Web sites and chat rooms.
REBECCA GIVNER-FORBES, TERRORISM RESEARCH CENTER: This particular discussion thread has an immature aspiring jihadist asking for help with his explosives recipe.
WALLACE: She says it's hard to know if a posting is coming from inside or outside the United States.
GIVNER-FORBES: The software that they use, these message forums, allows for private messaging between members through the Web site. So they never even have to do so much as give out an e-mail address.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to bounce this call through nine different relay stations throughout the world and off two satellites.
WALLACE: Hackers in the movie "Sneakers" show just what the NSA may be up against when it comes to monitoring phone calls. Adding to the challenge, Winkler says, terrorists taking advantage of disposable cell phones and specialized telephone cards that can't be easily traced.
WINKLER: I could walk into any store and buy a card like this. And then I could plug it into this phone that I bring with me all over the place and that card is basically good anywhere in the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Find out where the phone was when it received the signal.
WALLACE: But as we see in "E-Ring," NBC's drama set inside the Pentagon, surveillance is just one part of the mission. Figuring out what it all means may be even more difficult.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And that is a real life challenge for the NSA, the National Security Agency, no matter, Zain, how the debate ends over the legality of its domestic spying program.
VERJEE: What about figuring out who to conduct surveillance on, how do they do that?
WALLACE: Again, you know, we want to know that answer and we don't really have anyone completely in the know. But the experts who monitor the bad guys for a living tell us they understand that what happens is if a known or a would-be terrorist is talking to someone in the United States, they create what's called a spider web. They'll look at who else this person in the United States is talking to and then try to monitor that person's phone calls, e-mails to create sort of a web, a potential focus, and then hopefully some leads will develop from there.
VERJEE: Do we know if they have caught anyone, any significant leads?
WALLACE: No. I mean this is such a -- so many people say we can talk and those that do have information say they can't talk about it. It's all classified. So again, you know details are tough to get.
VERJEE: Kelly Wallace, thanks so much.
WALLACE: Sure.
VERJEE: Good to see you.
WALLACE: Good to see you.
VERJEE: Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, if someone saved your life, how could you possibly repay him or her? Well, there is one way. And in a bit, you'll meet a woman who is alive because of the young man she saved. And who says God is dead? Turns out, he's a bail bondsman from Pennsylvania. Not convinced, well neither is the Department of Motor Vehicles.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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