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American Morning
How Safe Are We?; Baghdad Clashes; Extended Crefew; Cheney On The Record; Minding Your Business
Aired June 23, 2006 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Seven men under arrest so far, suspected of plotting attacks that may have involved the FBI's offices in Miami, and the Sears Tower in Chicago. Got extensive coverage for you this morning. John Zarrella's in Miami, Keith Oppenheim's in Chicago, Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve in Washington D.C.
John, let's start with you. Good morning.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Soledad.
Well, in fact, we expect some, if not all of those men, to be in federal court in Miami this afternoon and perhaps as early as 1:30. This nondescript building behind me is where much of the activity went down yesterday afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA, (voice over): Federal authorities say Thursday's raids disrupted a terror plot being hatched in Miami's Liberty City neighborhood. Agents swarmed a windowless warehouse where the suspects have been living since March. Law enforcement sources tell CNN their alleged targets included the FBI building in north Miami and the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago, the tallest building in North America.
Seven men are now in custody. Five are Americans. All are said to be radical Muslims. Senior federal sources say the suspects are not related to al Qaeda. Neighbors in Liberty City said the men caused no problems but found something odd about them.
PATRICIA SANDS, LIBERTY CITY RESIDENT: All you could do is just see their eyes. And they had their whole head wrapped up. Just their eyes showing. And like they standing guard, one here and one there, like soldiers.
JONATHAN, LIBERTY CITY RESIDENT: They talked to nobody. They were not here they say -- some of the people said they speak to them and they just nod their head or something and just keep their head straight. They was acting like they was in military training.
ZARRELLA: But a man, calling himself "Brother Corey," told me the men who were arrested are members of a peaceful religious group known as "Seas of David" and are not terrorists.
"BROTHER COREY," MEMBER "SEAS OF DAVID": Because we study and we train through the Bible. Not only physical -- not only physical, but mentally. We study and we worship that we have the sense of direction that got other people in the right direction. We are not no terrorists. We come here every morning and we have the sense to go to work. We are not and (ph) a homeless -- this is not no homeless shelter for a terrorist attack. You hear me?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: Now while they insisted they were not terrorists, they also called themselves soldiers. And when I pressed him as to why they called themselves soldiers, Soledad, he didn't really have much of an answer for that.
Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right. Let me ask you about increased security. There's a big rally, obviously, to celebrate the Miami Heat's win. Are you hearing any more reports if there will be more security there? Are they going to go ahead and cancel that? What's happening on that front?
ZARRELLA: No, not at all. In fact, there would have been plenty of security as it is. They expect a couple of hundred thousand people in downtown Miami. Literally 15 minutes from where we are now down on Biscayne Boulevard. That rally's expected to take place about 2:00 this afternoon honoring the Miami Heat, the NBC champions. Not being canceled and no additional security. Everyone has been reassured in Miami that there was no immediate danger from this group anyway.
Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: John Zarrella for us. Thanks, John.
Sears Tower in Chicago among the suspected target. CNN's Keith Oppenheim is live for us there this morning.
Good morning to you, Keith.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
And we're really not seeing any changes out here, except there are a bunch of satellite trucks from the news media present. Otherwise, there's really no outward change in law enforcement that we can see here near the base of the Sears Tower. A quick statement I'm going to read to you from building management, which is interesting. They said, "law enforcement continues to tell us that they have never found evidence of a credible terrorism threat against the Sears Tower that has gone beyond criminal discussions." So the implication from that, Soledad, seems to be that building officials, at least, seem to think this is more about talk at this point and not yet about a plan of action.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And what about residents? Do they think the same thing?
OPPENHEIM: Well, this isn't a real residential area of Chicago. On the other hand, we did talk to a lot of people who were walking through here last night after the ball game. Some didn't know about it. But when they did find out about it, they were generally relieved to hear that federal authorities were on the case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no guarantees. So you can't stop living just because of terrorists. So you keep coming to work and hope for the best.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They attacked the World Trade Center twice. We didn't think that could happen. So, yes, I think it's very possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: I'm going to just show you this morning's the "Chicago Tribune," which has the big headline "FBI Sears Tower Targeted." But interestingly, Soledad, the photograph is that of federal agents on the scene in Miami, showing that the action is in Miami. The reaction here in Chicago. And we are expecting reaction from Chicago police later today. Back to you.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right, Keith Oppenheim for us this morning.
We heard a little bit from a member of the "Seas of David" just a moment ago. CNN Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve live in Washington D.C.
Jeanne, have you heard of this group before, "Seas of David"?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, I haven't heard of them. Sources are using the word homegrown to describe them. They tell CNN that five of these men are American. One is an illegal alien from Haiti who overstayed his visa. And another is a resident alien. We don't know from what country.
They're described by law enforcement officials as members of a radical Muslim sect. They allegedly intended to bomb these sites -- the Sears Tower, the FBI building in Miami and I'm told also by sources other buildings in south Florida may have been targeted. Sources say that this group had done some surveillance. In the course of which they took some pictures. But authorities say they did not yet have the capability to carry out any planned attacks. That they did not yet have bomb-making equipment. More information, of course, on who they are and what they allegedly were up to will come out of those press conference this is morning in Washington and also in Miami.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: So officials think that they are radical Muslims, in spite of some of the contradictory things we're hearing about, you know, religious backgrounds and, you know, talking about David and the Bible at the same time? And does that mean there's a connection to al Qaeda?
MESERVE: Well, I can only tell you what my sources told me and they talked to me before we interviewed "Brother Corey" down there in Miami. They did use the words radical Muslim to describe them. But a senior federal official tells CNN flatly, they are not al Qaeda. Several government sources I spoke to have described them as al Qaeda- inspired. And those same sources say at least one of the men have pledged an oath to al Qaeda, although it is not clear exactly what that means.
Now FBI Director Robert Mueller talked a bit last night to Larry King about the sorts of threats he sees from groups like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT MUELLER, FBI DIRECTOR: We actually are looking at a different way of attack that we're concerned about at this point, and that's the homegrown terrorists. If you look what's happened recently up in Canada, in London last year, July 7th and July 21st, you will see that they're homegrown terrorists that have come together without any orchestration by bin Laden or somebody else outside the country. The same was true in Canada. And we have disrupted a number of such plots in the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: And Mueller expected to give a speech on that very topic, homegrown terrorism, today.
Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and top FBI officials, in fact, are going to be holding a news conference as well. Jeanne Meserve for us this morning, thanks.
That news conference, 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. And then, at 11:30, the U.S. Attorney's office in Miami is going to hold their own news conference. And at noon, FBI Director Robert Mueller is going to talk about the threats of homegrown terrorism. You want to be sure to stay with CNN for live coverage of all three events. And you want to stay tuned to CNN for the most reliable news about your security as well.
John.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: A mobilized militia at the center of violent clashes in Baghdad this morning. Let's get right to CNN's Arwa Damon who's live in Baghdad.
What can you tell us, Arwa? What's going on there?
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the situation has quieted down right now, but Iraqis this morning in central Baghdad did wake up to a fire fight, to smoke rising and to American Apache helicopters flying overhead, firing flares into a street known as Haifa Street.
Now what happened is that the Mahdi militia, that militia loyal to radical Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, apparently went down to that area to try to set up a road block to prevent insurgents from attacking a Shia mosque that's located just nearby. This is a mosque that came under attack last week in an incident that killed 11 Iraqis.
While they were down there trying to set up this checkpoint, they came under fire by armed gunmen that perhaps operate in that area. Iraqi security forces did respond, along with U.S. air support, and they brought the situation under control. That's what we're hearing right now is that the streets are calm.
But also close to Baqubah, north of Baghdad, in that area of Habib. Now this is where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in that strike on June 7th. A bomb detonated outside a Sunni mosque there as worshipers were leaving Friday prayers, killing nine Iraqis and wounding another 11.
John.
ROBERTS: Arwa, there's also an extended curfew in place there as well. Usually it's lifted at dawn but it's been extended for the day?
DAMON: That's right, John. This is according to the Iraqi government. Now normally on Fridays there's a curfew from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. This is a vehicle curfew to prevent, perhaps, suicide car bombers or car bombs from detonating in the capital.
What the government has done, and this is because of the clashes that erupted in Haifa Street, although this situation is under control right now, they want to prevent further escalations of violence. They've extended that curfew to include both vehicles and pedestrian traffic. It started at 2:00 p.m. and it has been extended until 6:00 a.m. on Saturday.
John.
ROBERTS: And what happened in Baqubah yesterday? We're hearing talk from the military that they may have wrapped up another senior member of al Qaeda?
DAMON: Yes, that's right. We got that information from a press release that was actually released today. According to that press release, there were raids conducted Monday in the vicinity of Baqubah, just southwest of that city actually, in which they detained what they are calling a senior al Qaeda official. He is believed to be responsible for facilitating foreign fighter operations throughout central Iraq. He was detained and another three individuals also believed to be linked to al Qaeda in Iraq were detained in that raid as well.
John.
ROBERTS: Arwa Damon for us from Baghdad. Arwa, thanks very much.
A blinding snowstorm, well, let's make that a sandstorm, because a snowstorm in June would really be big news. But this is big enough anyways. Yes, a blinding sandstorm in the Texas panhandle. Police counted 27 wrecks yesterday along an 11-mile stretch of Highway 62 and 82. At least one person was killed, a dozens injured. Pictures show dust flying everywhere. And this is just after the storm. The worst of it passed by the time that emergency crews arrived.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Oh my gosh.
ROBERTS: Time for a check of the forecast now. We've been having some weird weather this week and Chad Myers is here to tell us whether or not we're going to get any over the weekend.
Good morning, Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Across America, protest is in the air. Bruce Springsteen's tapping into it with his new album. It's called "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Session." The tribute to the folk music of Pete Seeger. I spoke with Bruce Springsteen last night, right before his show in Madison Square Garden. He talked about the roots of his own music.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, MUSICIAN: I knew that, you know, gee, I had this one thing that I did well, that was the only thing that I did well, you know. And I was really concerned about protecting it, you know. And I know what protecting it meant was retaining connections to my friends and the community I came up in. And if you cut yourself off from the sources of life, you dry up and you die, you know? That was something I always thought about and I still think about it to this day. If I had any advice to young musicians is, is know what to value about yourself and protect those things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: My full, exclusive interview with Bruce Springsteen is coming up at 7:40 a.m. Eastern Time.
ROBERTS: You are one lucky duck.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I love him. Yes.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to that, too.
Coming up, another exclusive. Vice President Dick Cheney talked with CNN. Hear what he has to say about the Iraq War, the CIA leak investigation and his images as the Darth Vader of the Bush administration.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Also ahead this morning, is the government of Iran fueling the insurgency in Iraq? We'll take you live to the Pentagon and get a closer look this morning.
ROBERTS: Plus, thousands of U.S. auto workers facing a huge decision today about their future. Andy has that story in "Minding Your Business." It's all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: The Senate shot down a pair of Democratic proposals to start withdrawing troops from Iraq. It happened on Thursday. Vice President Dick Cheney's been a staunch opponent for any time line of withdrawal. And he echoed that sentiment when he sat down with an exclusive interview with our Chief National Correspondent John King.
John, good morning.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
Always interesting to talk to the vice president. He was, of course, a key architect of the Bush plan to go to war in Iraq. Now a key messenger, if you will, as the administration tries to sell the war in this midterm election year.
You mentioned those Democratic proposals. The vice president, in our conversation, said any plan to withdraw the troops from Iraq now would not only lead to defeat in Iraq, but he called it a very dangerous signal in the broader war on terror.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The worst possible thing we could do is what the Democrats are suggesting. And no matter how you carve it, you can call it anything you want, but basically it is packing it in, going home, persuading and convincing and validating the theory that the Americans don't have the stomach for this fight.
KING: Well, you disagree with the Democrat's plan. But they are stepping into a political environment in which the American people clearly, some have anger, some have dissatisfaction, some have doubts about this war and the administration's plan for this war. Fifty-four percent of the American people say it's a mistake. Fifty-five percent say things are going badly in Iraq. Fifty-three percent in our polling say the American people actually support a timetable. Why is it that the administration has failed to articulate to the American people that? The American people don't think you have a plan, sir?
CHENEY: Well, they're wrong. We do have a plan. It's there for anybody who wants to take a look at it. The Democrats have repeatedly made this charge. It's simply not the case. There's a good plan in place.
KING: You say it's wrong to publicly set a timetable.
CHENEY: Yes.
KING: And I understand the argument for that. You key the terrorists off to what you're going to do. Has the Iraqi government been told privately, you need to meet certain benchmarks, training your troops, improving security, by a date certain because the American people are not going to pay for this forever?
CHENEY: No. I think they know full well that we're expecting them to take on more and more responsibility. It's one of the reasons the president went to Baghdad recently. In all of our conversations with them, they know what we're trying to do and they've stepped up to that task and that responsibility.
KING: I have spent a fair amount of time in recent months in court with your former chief of staff, Louis "Scooter" Libby, who, of course, is charged in the CIA leak investigation. One of the things that his defense has introduced as evidence is this. It's a copy of this "New York Times" article that started all this, by Ambassador Joe Wilson, and these scribbles are allegedly yours. Is that a fact?
CHENEY: John, I'm not going to comment on the case. I may be called as a witness. Scooter Libby, obviously, one of the finest men I've ever known. He's entitled to the presumption of innocence. And I have not made any comments on the case up till now and I won't.
KING: And you say you may be called as a witness. The president urged everyone very early on to cooperate in this investigation. Does that mean if you are called as a witness, that the administration would, under no circumstances, sight any privileges, either to shield you from testifying about certain issues or to protect certain documents or anything like that?
CHENEY: Well, you're getting into hypothetical now and I'm not able to answer that. We have cooperated fully with the investigation from day one.
KING: I want to close by asking you a few questions about yourself and your image. Critics say Dick Cheney has become this dark, nefarious force in the administration that believes in secrecy at all price. That believes congressional oversight is a nuisance. True?
CHENEY: Well, I don't think I've changed any. I think I've been very consistent over time. I think partly it's important to remember how significant 9/11 was. And we are now engaged in a constant effort, obviously, to protect the nation against further attack. That means we need good intelligence. It means there have to be national security secrets. It means we need to be able to go after and capture or kill those people who are trying to kill Americans.
That's not a pleasant business. It's a very serious business. And I suppose sometimes people look at my demeanor and say, well he's the Darth Vader of the administration. It's the other thing that's working here, John, is I'm not running for anything. My career will end politically with this administration. I have the freedom and the luxury, as does the president, of doing what we think is right for the country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: The vice president says it's liberating that he's not running for president. By that he means can he do whatever he thinks is right and not worry about the polls, Soledad. But friends say, of course he cares about his image, of course he cares about his low public standing, but they say he has a role in this administration and he performs that role, that comes first before his own standing in the polls with the American people.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Oh, everybody cares about their standing in the polls. Sometimes especially the people that say they don't even look at the polls.
KING: Those people (ph) most of all.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, really.
What did the vice president have to say about North Korea?
KING: I was quite interesting. I asked him about a proposal put forth by a former Democratic secretary of defense saying the Bush administration should launch a cruise missile strike and knock the missile that North Korea is prepared to test off its launch pad. Dick Cheney downplayed that scenario. He said if you're going to launch one cruise missile, you better to be ready to go into a full scale war. He said diplomacy is the way to go for now.
It was also quite interesting. He said U.S. intelligence has no idea what the payload is atop that missile. Could it be a satellite? Could it be a test warhead? Could it even be a nuclear weapon? He said they do not know.
He also said that while the intelligence now says the new long- range missile in North Korea has could conceivably reach the continental United States, he called their missile technology "fairly rudimentary."
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: John King for us this morning, chief national correspondent. Thanks, John.
KING: Thank you.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Part of the best political team on TV.
Ahead this morning, much more on those Miami terror raids. How significant are the arrests that were made? We're going to check in with a former assistant director of the FBI.
And then later, portraits of sacrifice. One man's emotional gift to the families of fallen U.S. troops. That's ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Keep working or take $140,000 and run? The deadline to decide ticking down for tens of thousands of GM workers. Andy Serwer "Minding Your Business" and he's got more on that this morning.
Good morning, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. The deadline is, in fact, today for tens of thousands of United Auto Workers at General Motors. Last March the auto giant announced it was looking to lay off or furlough or get buyouts from 30,000 of its 113,000 hourly employees. They wanted to get 30,000 people by the year 2008. It looks like they're going to get more than 30,000 just today. They'll likely get as many as 38,000 employees according to published reports at both GM and Delphi, the parts company. There are several alternatives here for auto workers. They can retire early. Or if they have more than 10 years of experience, they can simply sever their ties with the company and get $140,000. GM says it could get as much as $3 billion annually in savings if 30,000 employees go, which it looks like they're going to be doing.
John.
ROBERTS: So what happens if they get more than 30,000? Do they take everybody or . . .
SERWER: At this point, yes, they're going to take everybody. So it really looks like it's just a whole bunch of people. And they're closing down shifts at various facilities as well.
I want to tell you a little bit about Chrysler.
ROBERTS: Yes, I was just going to ask, in the market to buy a car.
SERWER: Yes. And we told you the other day, John, it looked like they were going to be offering employee pricing for everyone. The auto company has confirmed that they are going to be offering major, major incentives. That's good news for customers, bad news for shareholders.
Just to give you an idea, already the incentives are already pretty steep here. Chrysler $3,668. Ford and Nissan also near that $3,000 range. So here we go again with the summer price wars for our auto makers.
ROBERTS: And something on Nimi (ph) coming up in your next appearance.
SERWER: Yes, it looks like nuclear power plants are coming back, John. We'll tell you all about that, coming to your town? We'll see about that one.
ROBERTS: Maybe not.
SERWER: Yes, Nimi, that's it.
ROBERTS: We're going to see a lot of that. Thank, Andy. Appreciate it.
SERWER: You're welcome.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, an AMERICAN MORNING exclusive, my interview with Bruce Springsteen before his concert last night at Madison Square Garden. The boss talks about his new album and the political edge is a very big part of it. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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