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American Morning

Latest on Men Arrested in Alleged Terror Plot in Miami and Chicago; Latest Violence in Iraq

Aired June 23, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Zarrella in Miami.
Who are the Seeds of David and why were they the focus of a terror raid at this warehouse behind me?

I'll tell you, coming up.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And clamping down on violence in Baghdad. The new government hoping to keep things quiet with an extended curfew.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Strong winds expected in Arizona today. That could be very bad news for firefighters. Firefighters battling major wildfires there.

A massive wall of dust in west Texas. Zero visibility being blamed for a series of accidents and injuries there.

S. O'BRIEN: And diagnosing a broken heart -- a look at a very real medical emergency ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Welcome back, everybody.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts in for Miles O'Brien.

It's the top of the hour and it's the end of the week, two great things.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it is.

The FBI closing in now on a suspected homegrown terror ring this morning. Seven men under arrest so far. They're going to be in court this afternoon. Some law enforcement sources say the men were casing the Sears Tower and the FBI's field office in Miami.

Two live reports for you this morning.

John Zarrella is in Miami for us. Homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is in Washington, D.C.

Let's start with you John -- good morning, John.

ZARRELLA: Good morning, Soledad. Well, in fact, this is the warehouse behind me where this organization, this religious group, as they call themselves, the Seeds of David, were raided yesterday afternoon at about 2:00 p.m. by federal law enforcement agents, the FBI, with assistance from local SWAT teams moved in, broke into this building. But apparently none of the men were here.

Residents in the area told us that afterward, police came out, showed them mug shots of the men, asked if they had seen any of them.

Now, we know that they were arrested, several of them here in Miami, at least five. We expect those five to be in federal court for their first appearance at about 1:30 this afternoon.

Now, this group, the Seeds of David, is alleged to have plotted to perhaps blow up or bomb the FBI building, which is about 15 minutes to the north of me here, as well as the Sears Tower in Chicago. But no bomb making materials and no weapons were found here at this warehouse, which the group called its temple. This was its place of worship.

But they did tell me, one of the men who we spoke with last night, a man who said he was part of the organization, that they were not terrorists. But he did admit they had some connections, at least loosely, to others in Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

"BROTHER COREY," "SEAS OF DAVID" MEMBER: We have connections to people in Chicago. You heard?

ZARRELLA: Yes.

"BROTHER COREY": So it's like we negotiate to help the peace. We try to bring as many brothers in to help them out. So...

ZARRELLA: But you do have connections w people in Chicago? But not terrorists?

"BROTHER COREY": Not -- no terrorists. We are not terrorists.

ZARRELLA: But there were connections to other members of this group in Chicago?

"BROTHER COREY": Yes, we have soldiers in Chicago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: This man, "Brother Corey," insisting repeatedly that they were not terrorists and added that they had no links, no relation to al Qaeda. He told me, in fact, that they were planning on opening a restaurant, that they ran a karate school here and that it was their place of worship and, in fact, that they worshipped out of the bible -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: So have you seen any increase in any kind of security or police action or anything like that, especially now that you've got this big celebration for the Miami Heat's big win?

ZARRELLA: No. In fact, there is no increased security right along since this operation went down. Police, authorities were saying there was no immediate threat in the Miami area. That celebration, some 200,000 people expected on Biscayne Boulevard, which is just about 15 miles -- or 15 minutes from where I am. That celebration expected to go on as planned, will go on as planned this afternoon about 2:00 -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: John Zarrella for us this morning.

John, thanks.

And as John mentioned just a little bit ago, the Sears Tower was named as a possible target in those alleged terror plots.

We're keeping an eye on this there this morning. So far, no security increase at the nation's tallest building. We're expecting to hear more from Chicago police some time this afternoon on that front.

So who are these terror suspects?

CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve, as we mentioned, live for us in D.C. -- Jeanne, have you heard of this group before?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Personally I have not. And there seems to be a little bit of confusion of whether it's Seas of David, Seeds of David. I defer to John, who says he believes it's Seeds. But officials do emphasize that there is no threat in Miami, in Chicago or anywhere else from this group.

Officials say members did not yet have what it needed to carry out their alleged plans to bomb the Sears Tower or FBI building in Miami and some other buildings in South Florida.

Sources describe these men as a religious sect that identified with al Qaeda. But a senior federal official says they are not al Qaeda.

Five of the seven arrested, sources say, are American. One, an illegal alien from Haiti who had overstayed a visa and one a resident alien.

The group appears to be what FBI Director Robert Mueller calls homegrown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "LARRY KING LIVE")

ROBERT MUELLER, FBI DIRECTOR: We actually are looking at a -- a -- a different way of attack that we're concerned about at this point, and that's the homegrown terrorist. If you look what's happened recently up in Canada, the -- 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: Robert Mueller will be speaking on this topic of homegrown terror today.

In addition, we are expecting press conferences here in Washington and in Miami at which we expect to learn a lot more -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, we're certainly hoping for that.

Jeanne Meserve for us this morning.

More details will be coming, hopefully, later this morning from a attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, and top FBI officials. We're expecting to hear that in a news conference today out of Washington, D.C.

Also, at 11:30 a.m. we're expecting to hear the U.S. attorney's office in Miami holding their own news conference.

You want to stay with CNN for live coverage of all those events and also for the most reliable news about your security -- John.

ROBERTS: A violent morning all around Iraq today.

Let's get right to CNN's Arwa Damon, who's live in Baghdad -- and, Arwa, what's going on there today?

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (AUDIO GAP) all of Iraq.

In fact, let's start with to the west of the capital in that volatile region of Al-Anbar Province.

Two more U.S. Marines have been killed due to enemy action. This is according to a U.S. military press release. One incident happening Wednesday, one on Thursday.

To the north of the capital, in the -- right outside of the City of Baquba in a town called Habib (ph) -- now this is where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air strike on June 7th -- a bomb detonated outside a Sunni mosque just as worshippers were leaving prayer, killing nine Iraqis and wounding another 11.

And to the south in Basra, a bomb near a marketplace kills two civilians and wounds another 18.

And, finally, in the capital, Baghdad, residents this morning woke up to gunfights, to U.S. helicopters flying overhead firing flares and smoke rising from central Baghdad, an area known as Haifa Street, where members of Muqtada al-Sadr's armed militia, the Mahdi Army, went -- they went to this street to try to set up a roadblock to private another attack on a Shia mosque that is located in that area.

They clashed with armed gunmen. Iraqi security forces became involved. The U.S. military provided air support. The situation now, though, is under control -- John.

ROBERTS: Arwa, it's the holy day, Friday, there in Baghdad. And typically there's a curfew in place during the noontime prayer sessions.

Has that curfew been extended?

DAMON: Yes, that's right, John, that curfew has been extended, in part because of the clashes that erupted in Haifa Street earlier this morning. It is now both a vehicle and pedestrian curfew. Previously it was just a vehicle ban. It started at 2:00 p.m. local time and has been extended until 6:00 a.m. This all in an effort, the government is saying, to prevent further escalations of violence -- John.

ROBERTS: Arwa Damon for us in Baghdad this morning.

Arwa, thanks.

It's coming up now to seven minutes after the hour.

A blinding snowstorm -- there, I did it again. A blinding sandstorm in the Texas Panhandle. Police counted 27 wrecks yesterday along an 11-mile stretch of Highways 62 and 82. At least one person was killed, a dozen others injured. Pictures showed dust flying everywhere and this is after the storm. The worst of it had passed by, by the time that emergency crews had arrived.

And that fire near Sedona, Arizona is still burning. It has grown to more than 3,000 acres now. Nearly 700 firefighters made their big push yesterday to contain it. It should be fully under control, but not until next week.

Time now for a check on the forecast.

Chad Myers is in the CNN Center in Atlanta -- any snowstorms on the horizon in Texas today?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not in Texas, no. Not high enough elevation there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROBERTS: Coming up, more on Thursday's terror raids in Miami. Five of the suspects are Americans. We're going to take a closer look at the issue of homegrown terror.

S. O'BRIEN: also this morning, a pair of Democratic proposals to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq defeated in the Senate.

How do the Democrats look now on the war?

We're going to check in with CNN political contributor James Carville about that.

ROBERTS: Plus, it looks like a heart attack and it feels like one. But doctors say it's something else altogether. A closer look at broken heart syndrome, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Seven men are in custody this morning, arrested in a series of FBI raids to bust up an alleged terror plot. Five of the accused are American citizens, raising some new concerns about homegrown terror cells.

Joining us this morning is George Bauries.

He is a former FBI agent and forensics expert.

Nice to see you.

Thanks for talking with us.

GEORGE BAURIES, FORMER FBI AGENT: Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: What -- when you heard the details of this alleged plot, at this point, what do you take away from this? What do you think?

BAURIES: Basically, the FBI and other law enforcement agents are looking at both domestic grown groups as well as, as we've seen in the past, international groups where there is leads that are generated overseas and then come to enter into our borders.

And we're seeing the entry or the development of a potential group that obviously was planning to do harm in some form or fashion and the law enforcement agencies intercepted it at a very early point.

S. O'BRIEN: Are you surprised or not surprised?

BAURIES: No, I'm not surprised. The government as a whole has realized that this is going to be the trend in the future, that we need to be aware of domestic groups and there's a large effort post- 9/11 to have a cooperative effort between local, county and federal resources to make sure that anything that stands out in a community is quickly addressed, as was done in this case here.

S. O'BRIEN: They broke into the warehouse and you didn't see them haul out, as we've seen in some past raids, haul out any bomb making material, as far as we can tell. There were no bomb sniffing dogs going in there. You have no fingerprint teams, that we could tell, going in there. You have no reports of increased police presence in either of the two cities that were named.

What do you think that is? Explain that to me.

BAURIES: Exactly. That means that it was a minimal threat. Actually, that was my position, to run-the forensic team in New Jersey for the FBI. And if there was any potential threat of either a device or large amounts of evidence, those teams would have had been sent in to process the scene. So this -- this shows that there's probably indications there was just a very, you know, simple investigation and they probably have a lot of tapes, consensual (ph) monitoring, things like that that could help, you know, strengthen the case without physical evidence.

S. O'BRIEN: John Zarrella has reported that the name of the group, as what people are telling him is Seas or Seeds of David.

Have you heard of either of those two versions of that?

BAURIES: I have not. But there are numerous groups out there that, you know, are -- could be extreme groups that just start to have common thoughts, common themes and they, you know, attempt to plot some kind of event against the United States. And I should -- I think this demonstrates, you know, a good working relationship in that law enforcement dramatically is doing a good job of handling a matter before it starts to steamroll into something larger.

S. O'BRIEN: What kind of link do these groups have with al Qaeda? Because they almost seem to operate, if you believe the eyewitness reports of how these guys walk around in sort of this paramilitaristic style with everything covered up but their eyes, you know, it almost -- and a uniform, I mean, very overt and it seems to me to be the opposite of what we know about al Qaeda operatives in the U.S. who do everything to avoid suspicion.

BAURIES: That's the exact point. A well-trained terror cell or group would not have taken any actions of walking around in that militant style. You don't want to stand out in a community, just like we had seen with the situation in Canada. You don't want any red flags to raise, you know, or anything.

S. O'BRIEN: So does that tell you that these guys are, you know, neophytes? Does it tell you that they don't have, you know, they're clueless, they're wannabes? Does it tell you that this is just a different take on al Qaeda here in the U.S.? if they're American citizens, maybe they have less of a reason to have to assimilate and blend in than people who are from other countries in this country.

BAURIES: Right. It shows that they're basically beginning the process, not well-trained and not experienced in good tactics.

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to hear several news conferences this morning.

What do you think we should be listening for to -- you know, what are the details that you listen for to see how important and how credible, how scary, really, for those of, you know, those of us who aren't the experts this plot is, the alleged plot is?

BAURIES: I'm very interested to see, again, what potential evidence was at the scene, and, also, what are their connections to other states and what's the link to Chicago, you know, in particular detail.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, the details coming out.

All right, we're all listening for that.

George Bauries is a former FBI agent.

Thanks for being with us.

BAURIES: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: We sure appreciate it.

BAURIES: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: And you want to stay tuned to CNN for the most reliable news about your security day and night -- John.

ROBERTS: Coming up, broken heart syndrome -- it looks and it feels like a heart attack, but your emotions are the trigger, not clogged arteries. Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains.

And later on, a vicious hit in a fight on the basketball court.

Was it a crime?

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Just about 20 minutes after the hour now.

The symptoms say heart attack, but it's not.

As Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us, broken heart syndrome may be the ultimate link between body and mind, and he has the story of one family's emotional ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two years ago, Karen and Denny Schillings took a family trip on a pontoon boat much like this one in the Baltimore harbor.

DENNY SCHILLINGS, BEREAVED FATHER: Suddenly we were all under the water and under the boat.

GUPTA: Karen thrashed below the murky water, struggling to reach the surface. Denny had already reached the surface, but no sign of the Schillings' daughter, Karin (ph), and her boyfriend, Andrew.

Karen and Denny Schillings were rescued and Karen treated for hypothermia at johns Hopkins.

KAREN SCHILLINGS, BEREAVED MOTHER: Then later in the evening, Denny came back in to tell me that they had called off the efforts that night to find Andrew and Karin. Not too long after that is when the chest pains started. GUPTA: Karen's first thought -- I'm having a heart attack.

(on camera): When it comes to chest pain and numbness down the arm, that's a heart attack?

K. SCHILLINGS: That's right.

D. SCHILLINGS: Exactly.

GUPTA: But they were saying it sounds like a heart attack, it looks like a heart attack, but not a heart attack.

K. SCHILLINGS: I knew something wasn't going right, that something was happening that they hadn't seen before.

GUPTA (voice-over): What they were seeing was called broken heart syndrome.

DR. ILAN WITTSTEIN, CARDIOLOGIST: A person can come in with all of the same signs and symptoms of a heart attack, but unlike a heart attack, where there's permanent damage done to the heart muscle, with broken heart syndrome, you really have a temporary dysfunction of the heart muscle.

GUPTA: It's caused by a sudden stress or trauma. And unlike a traditional heart attack, people with broken heart syndrome have no evidence of heart disease.

Dr. Ilan Wittstein was a consulting physician on Karen Schilling's case.

WITTSTEIN: She experienced stress perhaps on multiple levels -- the physical stress of being under water, being in freezing cold temperature, the absolute fear.

GUPTA: Cases like Karen's illustrate the profound impact that the brain and emotions can have on the heart.

DR. JAMES YOUNG, CLEVELAND CLINIC: We know that there is clearly a link between emotions, emotional stability and well-being.

GUPTA: Karen has not had any heart problems since Karin's funeral.

K. SCHILLINGS: There are a lot of things about this that maybe have changed my perspective on life. I am happy that Karin and Andrew are together, because that's what they wanted. So that's a good thing. Also, the idea that I should live my life now to make Karin proud, and that's what I've tried to do.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ROBERTS: And doctors still aren't sure why broken heart syndrome almost always affects women, mostly middle-aged and post-menopausal women.

Sanjay's report first aired on "ANDERSON COOPER 360," which you can catch weeknights at 10:00 Eastern.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, two Democratic proposals to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq and two big losses in the Senate. We'll take a look at whether the defeat hurts the image of Democrats.

Then later, a brutal take down on the basketball court. Take a look at that. Ow! Wow! That kid's knocked out cold. Will criminal charges follow? We've got that story just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

ROBERTS: Ooh. Ouch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: If you're single and playing the dating game, then you already know that things aren't always as they appear. In fact, a lot of times it's about lies and the lying liars that tell them. But help is on the way.

Miles O'Brien has more in this edition of Welcome To The Future.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LORRAINE: Well, I haven't had much success as far as finding a romantic partner.

In my dating history, I've dated all kinds of different people. I like to talk to people for maybe a week, then I want to meet them. I find that there's a lot of deception. Like one gentleman, he told me he was 35, and then when I met him, he turned out to be 50. I don't know how he thought he was going to pull that off, but he tried.

I love the idea of having the removable lie detector. I would like to know that you are just basically full of it and then I can move on and try and find someone more compatible with me.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: So who do these guys think they're fooling? Eventually, usually sooner rather than later, women like Lorraine will figure out the score.

There's got to be a better way for singles to cut through the baloney and the anxiety of meeting new people.

(voice-over): Sandy Pentland is with the MIT Media Lab. He says it's not what we say that matters when we meet new people, but how we say it.

SANDY PENTLAND, MIGHT MEDIA LAB: I've been building software that can read other people. It's called social signaling. This is reading your tone of voice. It's reading your gestures.

M. O'BRIEN: As you talk, the software measures the tone and stress level in your voice. It lets you know if you're hitting all the right notes or striking out. Pentland says it is 80 percent accurate.

PENTLAND: If I were talking to young woman, I might like to get a little feedback about how she is responding to it. Is she really going to say yes if I ask her out? so it's a cell phone that listens to the interaction and says oh, hey, she sounds interested.

M. O'BRIEN: In the future, Pentland predicts it will be commonplace and we will all be able to measure the sincerity of others, as well as ourselves.

PENTLAND: If everybody has this, we won't have so many misunderstandings and failed expectations.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning.

Welcome everybody.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts in for Miles O'Brien.

It's Friday morning.

S. O'BRIEN: It's Friday.

ROBERTS: And isn't that always something to celebrate?

S. O'BRIEN: We are happy about that.

ROBERTS: Happy as a clam.

S. O'BRIEN: However, lots to get to first, though.

Let's get right to Carol Costello with an update on the stories we're looking at -- good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

Seven men suspected of plotting terror attacks in Chicago and Miami due in court today. Six of the men were arrested last night in an FBI raid. Officials say the group was in the early stages of plotting an attack on Chicago's Sears Tower and Miami's FBI offices.

We're still awaiting more details and we could get them soon. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez expected to discuss the plot at a news conference at 10:30 Eastern.

Also, the FBI in Miami is scheduled to address the terror raids at 11:30 Eastern this morning. All people in Baghdad staying indoors today. The city is under an extended curfew. A senior official says it's a response to a morning gun-battle. No injuries were reported.

And the bodies of two U.S. soldiers abducted and killed in Iraq will be returned to their families this weekend. DNA tests have now confirmed the identities of Kristian Manchaca and Thomas Tucker. The men went missing after an attack south of Baghdad last week. At least one of the soldiers may have been tortured.

Some disturbing images out of Wichita, Kansas. A youth basketball player punching his opponent unconscious. You'll see it soon. It's all caught on -- isn't that terrible?

S. O'BRIEN: Oh my god.

COSTELLO: Yes, it's pretty bad. It's all caught on home video, as you can see.

ROBERTS: Wow! (UNINTELLIGIBLE) he continues to pummel him.

COSTELLO: He was mad. The victim's father, Dale Mestow (ph), was mad, too. He now wants criminal charges filed against the player. But the district attorney is holding off because both boys are minors. Wow! Apparently the other boy kind of started it by throwing an elbow. But we'll have to ask the father about that.

In the next hour, we're going to speak to Dale Mestow, the father, and his son Coulter (ph), to find out exactly what happened.

That's a look at the headlines this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: As you can imagine, they are angry. They are angry. They want legal action. We'll talk about that coming up in our next hour.

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